Eagle Byzantium

After receiving such an answer, Feier felt at ease.

But soon a violent and alarming situation broke out. The Jerusalem army that had originally besieged Haifa and Acre suddenly negotiated peace with the city's defenders, withdrew the siege, and began to rapidly move northward, crossing the entire Tripoli coast and rushing into the Tartus area.

Then the army commanders, King Baldwin and Duke Bohemond, brazenly issued a declaration of war against Tancred, the master of Antioch. It lists several of Tancred's "unpardonable crimes":

Usurped the castle and power of his uncle Bohemond, and did nothing to save him while he was captured;

Secretly colluding with the Turkic pagan enemies in an attempt to murder King Baldwin;

After the capture of Jerusalem, he took possession of the spoils for himself, violating the previous oaths between the lords;

Of course, the most important thing is that Sambel's secretary handed over fatal "physical evidence": Sambel accepted a large sum of money as a bribe from Tancred and promised to support him as the king of Jerusalem and conquer the entire holy city and even the church. The laws and dignity of the sect were given and received privately, and completely trampled under their feet. It was really indignant for both humans and gods.

For this series of criminal accusations, the Holy See's special envoy Lord Maurice fully accepted and recognized it, and letters of impeachment and conviction were being sent to Rome quickly.

Weapons of criticism cannot replace criticism of weapons. Therefore, before the Vatican's decision was issued, Baldwin and Bohemond formed a crusade and rushed into the southern border of the Antioch State and quickly attacked the Orontes River. Come.

"What is coming will always come. I will mobilize the entire army of Antioch City to fight them head-on, and I will also ask my subordinates to guard Samosata. If this place is finally lost, I will retreat to the other side and continue to fight with these bastards. Fighting to the last breath! "Tancred was furious after receiving the letter of challenge, and he was in the main tower." "Four Sisters Tower" announced the plan to all his subordinates in the hall, "Don't take any chances with Bohemond. He has brought countless ruins from Apulia and Calabria. If I fail, this group of ruins will be destroyed." They will take all your property, women, and territory as their own.”

In addition, Tancred also sent letters asking for help to the surrounding areas - Marash, Aleppo, Mosul, Danish Mond, Damascus, Cyprus, Tripoli, and even as far away as the court of Isfahan. The "Great Seljuk Sultan" Sanjar Arslan received a copy, "If Antioch falls into the hands of the radical Bohemond again, you will lose all barriers within three years. The armies of Christ had free access to Persia and Mesopotamia.”

In the secret room, Tancred even confessed to his wife Messander, "If the Turks ask for my sincerity, I will accept everything."

"Then hand me over as a hostage," Mesander said.

"No, I will never send you anywhere again where I cannot see you. In this way, I am willing to convert to Mohammedanism to win their support-someone, please add this to my secret message! "Tancred no longer cared about anything.

Antioch's letter for help was first sent to Aleppo. Ridwan Toutushi urgently summoned vizier Daura and mercenary general Osdu. The two people were in complete agreement, "The time has come At this very critical moment, we must fully support Antioch, otherwise we will be the next to die."

Naturally, the second recipient was Marash. "Damn it, we were counting on Tancred to reinforce us. Unexpectedly, he was the first to suffer." Fehr complained at the joint meeting of nobles, and then he immediately asked Parker Ad and his son went to Tubersena, Saliki went to La Vodra, while he and the other generals stayed in Marashburg, "each mobilized the nobles and the people in preparation for the battle."

After nightfall, Fell hugged the gentle widow (the widow of the former commander of the city of Lavodra, Cusus) and slept soundly all night until the panicked slave stood in front of the bed the next day, "Your Excellency the regent, in Mara There is an emergency between Shihe Pass!"

Feir hurriedly put on his robe and jumped off the bed. He walked to the watchtower on the promenade of the mountain fort and looked in the direction pointed by the slave:

In the fields and mountain roads, many soldiers wearing gray and black armor suddenly appeared at the four trading centers on the border between Gao Wen and our own side. They were all the "village militia" under Gao Wen. They expelled all the residents and residents. The caravan entered the foraging field, and then waved various tools - "It's in Build a city?" Feier was shocked, his voice trembling, "It turns out that these fortresses have long been expected by Gawain to be used to attack our bridgehead... But the question is, where did Gawain mobilize these soldiers? "My scouts didn't know anything about it at the time, so we were not prepared or aware of it at all!"

The answer is that this civilian army came from the counties of Seleucia and Tarsus, with 700 people from the former and 900 people from the latter, forming a mixed task force and marching quietly to Mortal. Calgary, and at this moment drove to the fortification site to start building fortifications.

In this way, the task force was "dispatched from another place", which caught Fehr, whose attention was focused on the Fanka Frontier Area and Sis County Area, completely off guard.

The task force and civilian army's project progressed very quickly. First, trenches were dug out, fences and wooden fences were erected for the buildings in the settlement yard. Then, they began to build earthen walls around the settlement yard, and gradually the Maras Fort was built together. A "blockade" that was blocked for three kilometers began to form.

Fer hurriedly dispatched two thousand soldiers from Maras Fort and handed them over to the leadership of General Firouz. They rushed down the mountain and prepared to overwhelm the task force of the village socialist army and prevent them from successfully building a blockade.

But at this moment, Dorus Lambert led 1,200 border troops from the border area to the battlefield. The two armies lined up across the "market blockade line" and began to fight endlessly - Gao Wen's border people were more united and brave, and were good at using spears and bows and arrows; while the Armenian mountain heavy infantry were more well-equipped - for a while, the battle was difficult to resolve. At this moment, the 300 civilian troops in the Dorus front line took the opportunity to attack from the side of the front line, carrying crossbows and muskets to climb the high ground, and fired volleys at the Armenian army below. The smoke and fire filled the entire valley.

The Armenians retreated after being volleyed, but after resting their formation, they came back and forth again, very bravely.

A correct version in 16-9 Book Bar!

The battle lasted until dusk, and both sides suffered heavy casualties and could not decide the winner. Firouz could only withdraw the team temporarily with regret, leaning against the mountain fort to observe the situation.

Fell, who was supervising the battle on the castle, hurriedly sent a message to request the troops of the two castles of Tubercena and Lavodra to rush to reinforce. But before the reinforcements arrived, Gawain's Red Hand Brigade and Guardian Brigade came from the left and right, from the direction of Vanka City and Castabala City respectively, shouting and attacking all over the mountains and plains.

"Damn it, the despicable Gawain was prepared." Fell cursed, "I can only ask Pakard and his son to defend Tubercena and block the enemy's left army. Don't let them encircle Marash!"