Eagle Byzantium

Gawain asked Hallam to command the border troops of Melitene, while Orson guarded Sebastian. "The Red Hand Brigade and all the cavalry regiments are under my direct jurisdiction. From now on, they will begin to move to Caesarea." Go to the city of Tarsus as a general reserve force to support all parties. "

With the hasty arrival of the Patron, all people in the vast triangle of Elbistan, Sebastian, and Melitene, regardless of their status or ethnic group, were mobilized. They were originally forced to dig the canal. The Crescent Cultists were also suspended from their mission and began to turn around or dismantle Gawain. Fortresses that are not needed, or those that Gawain needs, are built. Oxen carts, mule carts, back carts or wheelbarrows are meandering through the mountain roads. Half of the people are harvesting wheat and other crops. Except for some of their own, the rest are all hoarded. Go to the granary of the nearby military station; half of the other people are doing such labor.

At the same time, the Orthodox monastery on this plateau and the preserved mosque outside the cave monastery were all found by Gawain's civilian army expropriation team: the great patron now claimed that he was not only the patron of the Seleucia Hospital, At the same time, “I am also the patron of churches, monasteries and mosques throughout the Anatolian plateau, from the Black Sea to the Cyprus Sea.” “I have been ordained and canonized, and I have received Antioch The recognition of the Patriarch has the right to appoint the patriarchs of the entire region. No matter how you escaped from the jurisdiction of Constantinople and Antioch in the past, from now on, 70% of your serf labor will be levied, and another 50% of your serf labor will be levied. Finally, for every fifty monastery households, a qualified caravan and the equipment of a border soldier can be obtained. If there is no real thing, money or grain can be used. "

When the Orthodox monasteries expressed their fierce dissatisfaction and resistance, what awaited them was the extremely barbaric behavior of the expropriation team.

In front of the Holy Trinity Monastery in the mountains outside Sebastian, three expropriation teams rushed to the masonry wall. After reading the "expropriation notice", the leading soldier raised a long-handled crescent axe. "Bang bang" several knocking sounds, broken wooden bolts of the heavy door It flew randomly, and when it made a sound of breaking, the two soldiers behind held up the iron-clad beam unloaded from the carriage and said, "By the order of Caesar and the Patron, there is no problem in collecting and inspecting it!" Following this command, the beam swung twice and hit the On the heavy door, the door latch was smashed off. A dozen soldiers shouted and pushed open the damaged door panel and swarmed in. They tied up everyone in the monastery hiding in the hall with ropes and held them down on their knees. On the corridor, the soldiers then began to hold torches, He split open the cellar door, climbed up the dark long ladder, dragged it with his hands and held it with his arms, and took out the silver candlesticks, gold-covered icons, vessels, coins, etc. one after another. There were sounds of splitting and smashing everywhere. There were hymns sung by monastics with their heads bowed.

The remaining soldiers also carried ropes and captured the serfs and livestock belonging to the Holy Trinity Monastery. Then the monastery man tried to raise his head. In the sight of the ruined heavy door that was constantly shaking, a knight suddenly walked in with his head held high. He came directly on horseback. This man was wearing a ruffled mink hat with a root stuck in it. White heron feathers, chainmail around his neck and gloves, his face covered with It is a twisted scar, covered with a bright smock, with a fire sickle, a Khitan snow paper tube, and a short sword hanging on the shoulder straps. The lower body is wearing Cuman-style breeches, and cashmere trouser covers are put on under the knees, tied with ropes. The retinue held up an extremely long spear and tilted it slightly before following in through the gate.

"I am the newly appointed deacon of Holy Trinity Monastery. My name is Sigma. Now everyone who has nothing to do with this monastery, get out of here!" The knight shouted roughly, and then showed the ring and scepter to Those present watched.

After he finished speaking, his followers rushed up the corridor with shouts, cut the ropes of the clergy who were tied up, and then stabbed them with spears and hit them with iron rods to drive them away from the monastery, "because The new deacon has taken office" and the original clergy have lost their qualifications to stay here.

As a result, more and more monasteries were occupied by doves and rude soldiers from Gawain's army.

The manpower that originally belonged to the monastery, including many masons, joiners, carpenters, and coachmen, were also forcibly separated from their original posts. Many of them had vowed to dedicate their lives to the Lord and were determined not to do anything for the Lord. Soldiers whose service was stained with blood and filth now even began to mutilate themselves in order to escape the labor from the army: cutting off their fingers, cutting off their ears, pricking their tongues, etc. But it was of no avail. Groups of expropriated soldiers still found them with ropes - those with cut off fingers went to pull the ropes, those with no ears went to carry bricks and wood, and those with tongues stabbed went to drive the carts. And Gawain gave a stern order, "If a skilled person dares to harm himself, then his eyes must be pierced to make him mutilate even more completely."

Soon, a wooden platform was erected in the wilderness outside the city of Melite. Twenty monastery laborers who still disobeyed orders and cut off their fingers were chopped down by soldiers in front of many people, including the Crescent believers who were digging the canal. After removing the head, there is no upgrade penalty of "piercing the eyes" at all, but it can be achieved in one step.

Under such crazy oppression and mobilization, first a road across Elbistan was paved in an instant, connecting the traffic between Caesarea and Melitene, and then the seven fortresses originally planned by Gawain were repaired and tidied. Each fortress built a core military station and granary, occupied the key passes and water sources, and formed a defense network on the plateau. As for the northernmost city of Sebastian, Paul's followers, armed immigrants, and the manpower that was forcibly conscripted strengthened and raised its walls, and built many multi-faceted military forts around the city.

What remained here were the 40 border army centurions that were formed, of which 12 were stationed in Sebastian, 14 were scattered in the seven fortresses, 6 were stationed in the city of Melitene, and the remaining eight cavalry centurions were assigned to Orson's brother Hallam to serve as mobile forces. After discussing with the Saint Sister, Gawain still felt that the garrison was insufficient. "Anyway, it's not for expeditions. Once there is a war, the more people we can recruit to guard the city and the fortress, the better." So the Saint Sister immediately issued the Archon's Order - 30,000 Paulicians, the elderly, the weak, women and children, all went to various fortresses to defend themselves after the border was alerted, and about 6,000 strong men went to Sebastian City to assist in the defense.

More organized Crescent Cult armed groups were "placed" in the riverside area of ​​the Sanus River, where they lived in their own camps. Every once in a while, a batch of vehicles would be sent from Melitene to transport food to supply them. If they dared to escape or resist, there was no need for the army to be dispatched. The surrounding wilderness and highlands within dozens of miles could directly starve them to death. (~^~)