Eagle Byzantium

At this time, Mikhail only left hundreds of cavalry to watch the Turkic troops interspersed in, blocking the formation between himself and Raymond. Then he commanded all the infantry without hesitation, turned collectively, and The baggage convoy was sandwiched between the vanguard and the rear guard. In the middle, Gungun retreated in the direction of Castamonu City, faster than Duke Guillaume who rushed there. Even Duke Guillaume and his retinue of knights looked at the Roman auxiliary who was meandering away. The army's backs and dust were stunned.

"The enemy suddenly sent out cavalry and cut off the connection between my team and Earl Raymond's. I had warned the Earl not to go too deep, but the Earl didn't listen. He first ambushed the Kalabi Valley, and then was attacked by the enemy. The army cut off the left wing. When victory was impossible, I chose to surrender Kastamonu." This was Mikhail Eustace's statement after the war.

It is said that when this statement reached the emperor who was marching to Adrianople, Alexios was furious, but regretted it: while he was controlling the situation on the front line, he was in turn sent back by the front line. was deceived by false news - when he was at Sinop Castle, Harold He divided his army to support General Theodoro, and adopted a deceptive strategy to the outside world, saying that he was still commanding the entire army, but in fact it was Mikhail. This kind of false news was inexplicably sent to the king intact. Even the emperor was "hiding" the location of the military secretariat in Constantinople.

"If I had known this earlier, I would have definitely left Mikhail in Sinop!" But there will never be any regret medicine in this world. The emperor himself was also suffering in his heart and couldn't express it. He understood that it was the chief guard of the palace who was here. Taking revenge on Raymond angrily is also taking revenge on myself...

It was too late to say anything. Guillaume looked back and saw a hellish scene: Raymond's five phalanxes were outflanked on the flanks. They could have persisted for such a long time without wavering, but at this time, the sky was full of shouts of killing and blood. In the fog and dust, they collapsed one after another quickly.

The Duke of Aquitaine looked up to the sky and sighed, not forgetting to recite a poem, "I am like a small boat tossed in the stormy waves,

I don’t know how to cover up my gloomy sadness. "Then he said to his followers, "We cannot evacuate Castamonu, which is the territory of the Greek emperor. We don't know what kind of suspicion and liquidation we will suffer if we fail - change the route, let's go to Germanico first. Fort, go and meet Marshal Conrad, and then decide whether to advance or retreat - it is best to turn back south and go from Cilicia. Stephen Gauvin, as the patron of the big hospital, will always help to meet us! . "In this way, the Duke of Aquitaine and his entourage rode wildly, along the narrow and winding mountain road and the thorny woods, towards the German Castle in panic.

At the same time, when the baggage train passed through the mountain road, Mikhail suddenly stopped his horse and said to his well-trained personal soldiers, "The military strategy of the previous emperor mentioned many times that retreating will be attacked by the enemy at any time. The cavalry is chasing, so we have to constantly change the vanguard and rearguard, and exchange The five hundred cavalry I arranged earlier will arrive soon. You and I will lurk on both sides of the pass and use arrows to cover their passage. If the enemy comes to chase, follow my orders. If you shoot a volley of arrows from a high position, you will accomplish great feats."

The soldiers agreed without hesitation and spread out into two wings on both sides of the mountain pass. Each man was covered with a black cloak. He took out the tube and equipped it with sharp and poisonous arrows. He lay down behind the bushes and rocks, his eyes He stared at the wilderness over there without relaxing.

On the bloody battlefield in the sloping valley over there, the pilgrim soldiers continued to collapse, escape, and be killed. Danishmond's cavalry surrounded them from all directions, slashing and slashing with their scimitars, and the dust stirred up by their horse hooves The pilgrims were unable to open their eyes at all. The cowardly ones were killed one after another on their backs, with blood and corpses splashing all over the grass. The brave ones clung to their positions until they were chopped into pieces alive. One after another, the battle flags were cut down or captured by the Turks. Although many Frank soldiers showed amazing bravery and fighting will and stood to the last breath in the face of powerful enemies, their array was out of control, so everything was lost. It is futile and hopeless.

Raymond, who was holding the holy spear, held the sword with his other hand and fought on horseback, but it was of no avail - soon, the emperor's 500 Tecopo cavalry also fled, and the frightened Raymond also gave up his command. At the post, side by side with the spear-wielding Vallott, he led the Provence Guards in a bloody battle to the left to break through.

After most of the people were killed or wounded, Raymond finally broke out of the encirclement, with Varro rushing in front of him, "Heading towards Kastamonu. Damn it, I feel more and more that that Greek emperor is There is no doubt that he wants to kill us! He was the one who killed Xiu Ding." Vallo roared as he galloped on horseback. He had always been deeply blaming himself for Xiu's innocent and tragic death. He participated in two expeditions with the purpose of digging out the remains of Xiu Ding's death. The truth and finding the real murderer came true.

Raymond, who was lying on the saddle, looked embarrassed and didn't say a word. He looked back at the mountains of Gangala. The screams of the pilgrims in the camp shook the earth and spread all over the countryside - a full More than 100,000 people who were unable to escape in time, most of them old people, women and children, must have been massacred by the Danishmunds.

But what can be done? He had failed and had no military strength to resist the wolf-like pagans. The young commander of the Greek Empire's auxiliary legion would definitely find him to account for when he returned - Raymond thought seriously in his heart.

After running for more than an hour, the mountain pass leading to Kastamonu appeared in front of them. Vallo shouted angrily and continued to move forward. Raymond also followed behind about ten feet away.

Under the setting sun on both sides, the dense trees quickly retreated and disappeared on both sides, and unknown birds kept flying in fright.

Mikhail's 500 rearguard cavalry passed here a minute ago with flags. Soon Mikhail saw the "enemy pursuit" and the tip of the so-called "holy spear" Shining brightly, vicious hatred suddenly surged in his heart, "Yu Duo Shia, no matter what, no matter what, even if it means death, I will be here to avenge your humiliation! Let it be the survival of the Eustace family. We were just in Pafo forty years ago. Just a humble Orion farmer from Laconia.”

Immediately afterwards, the chief of the palace guard decisively issued the signal of "shoot at the same time on both wings", and many cloaked soldiers stood up suddenly, regardless of the situation (even if some soldiers saw a special man in scarlet clothes beside Raymond) The Cobo cavalry, who had no time to stop, violently shot down the arrows in their hands in batches.

At that frozen moment, Raymond first saw a flag suddenly flashing on the top of the mountain. Then when he sensed danger, two deer sprang out from the grassy mountain road and crossed in front of his galloping horse. Pass. (To be continued ~^~)