Eagle Byzantium

As he spoke, David, the builder, walked to the reading desk in the center of the hall, followed closely by his mentor, adviser and Holy Oak George, the Patriarch of Kutaisi. "I believe that this letter of mine will surely impress Gawain." Furious."

"By the way, how should Lati Liparidis deal with and execute their family?" Holy Oak George asked cautiously.

The Lati Liparidis mentioned by the instructor was a great prince of the original Kingdom of Georgia. He was entrenched in the south of the entire country and was also the biggest cancer that hindered the unification of the Kingdom of Georgia. Now Lati has just been captured by the builder David, and all his duchies have been merged into the royal domain. This is the most critical step for the country to become stronger, but what should be done with the captured Lati?

"There is no need to kill him. Exile Lati. If any of the surrounding countries dares to take him in, it will also give me an excuse to start a war. Well, let Lati directly act as my messenger and rush him to "Go to the palace of Tarsus," King David said casually, raising his handsome beard as he picked up his pen and scribbled on the exquisite paper. Mentor, we have to speed up the progress immediately. The current goal is to regain Tbilisi. This great city is still in the hands of the Turks and Kurds. In addition, it has swept the entire eastern part of the kingdom. I want my country to take over the Uk Xinghai (Black Sea) ) and the Khazar Sea (Caspian Sea). In that case, a decisive battle with Gawain will not be a problem in the future.”

Poor Duke Lati, who lost all his territory south of the Mukovali River (now the Kura River in Georgia) and was exiled, carried the young king's letters through the city of Kars like a bereaved dog. , then came to Lake Van, and ran non-stop for a month before finally reaching the city of Tarsus.

By this time Gawain had returned triumphantly with his guards.

In the palace, Patriarch Anselm's ostrich head was red, angrily complaining about Gawain and Anna's religious policies, "It is simply unreasonable. Previously, in the transept of St. Paul's Cathedral, Caesar and the Patriarch How did people promise me? But now I find that you, the Patron, are adopting an excessive policy of condoning the heretical believers in the country. "

Gawain, who had just finished his journey, sat a little tiredly on a chair, side by side with his wife Anna. He did not want to quarrel with Anselm, but just said: "Nearly half of the soldiers in my army are Armenians, Syrians and Paulists. Believers, their beliefs are closer to the ideals of the Patriarch of Antioch, John Oakshilt, and these warriors also respect Oakshilt as the real Patriarch - I guess this is no big deal. ?”

"Don't forget, Gawain, you are a Catholic, a Catholic who belongs to the Pope of St. Peter!" Anselm was so angry that the tip of his nose turned red, and he nodded his crutch, "And I am your patriarch, and I will do everything. We stood with you, including the previous impeachment of Sambel. But what about you now? There are no more than ten Catholic churches in Seleucia until here, and there are only two or three counties that pay tithes, and there are many people who openly refuse to pay. Your Highness Gawain, I hope you will pay attention to the army. , you must also focus on faith, only the latter can save your soul.”

"Maybe it's because I'm an Orthodox Christian?" Anna held up her sleeves and whispered to help her husband.

"Your conversion is postponed for the time being, my Highness Caesar. Although it stands to reason that you should follow your husband's beliefs and adopt the etiquette of our Catholic Church. But now the results of the unity of the two religions in Tarsus are so shabby, I have no shame. Write a report and send it to Rome." The Patriarch groaned angrily, and then he took out a scroll of paper from his robe, "Now there is such a rebellious behavior!"

Under the secret collusion between Gawain and the Holy Sisters, the Pauline and Reformed synagogues have slowly integrated. Not only that, Armenian churches and monasteries have also secretly joined in, occupying most of the Anatolian Plateau. , while Anna The Greek Orthodox Church that they believed in had retreated to Calle Adio, and was being protected by two powerful ladies, Ingrina and Qise; as for Anselm, who originally believed that Gawain would "unify the two religions", he found that he The actual results were also dismal.

If this continues, the heretical Monophysitism will generalize and achieve great victory in Asia Minor and Syria. This is what Anselm is most afraid of seeing.

What made Anselm even more dissatisfied was that the Pauline and Protestant monasteries and synagogues were expanding at an extremely fast rate. They were like blooming flowers in spring and summer, spreading to swamps, salt lakes, pastures, woodlands and everywhere on the entire plateau. Villages and towns, and the "Catholic Church of Tarsus" led by Anselm has been in a few cities in recent years, and is generally not popular and respected.

The scroll he just sent was unfolded by the Royal Ink Officer in front of Gawain and Anna. It was revealed to be a petition. The author was actually a low-level monk under Anselm. Roland Bandinelli, a young canon law student in Bologna, Italy, now blatantly wrote a public petition. The petition was to be sent to Gawain, which stated that "The Pope of St. Peter has become obsolete and corrupt. Tarsus should have its own diocese, church and appropriate patron saint, and reform the canon law to make it better." To serve the people of Jesus, the new Church should be neither like St. Peter nor the Greek Orthodox Church; it should be 'Tarthusian'."

"What nonsense!" Gawain was furious. He tore Roland's petition to pieces and threw it under his scarlet boots. Then he slapped the armrest and shouted at Anna and Anselm, "Exile this Roland to the abandoned monastery in the Angras Wilderness."

When Hertomia was ordered to leave and draft the punishment order, Gawain, who was still angry, stood up, panting and patting his chest to assure the Patriarch, "I will immediately give all twelve monasteries in the plateau to you at once. Starting next year, the counties of Sis and Caesarea will begin to collect tithes. Please rest assured, Patriarch. As for Anna, I will quickly convince her to convert to Catholicism. Please give me some time."

After Anselm finally left with satisfaction, Gawain and Anna walked through the palace corridor under the moonlight, and at the small floating dock at the end, they took a boat to the small lake in the forest garden.

"You are deceiving poor Lord Anselm again." Anna snuggled in her husband's arms, feeling the gentle wind of Tarsus, and looking at her red nail polish in the moonlight in the swaying boat.

"What can I do? You and I had a standard Orthodox wedding at the beginning, how can I ask you to abandon your faith! But I started my career with the support of the Catholic Church in Rome, and it was my brother Peter who baptized me. Now I am a saint, so it is not convenient for me to change my mind every day - I have to take ethics into consideration, how difficult it is to be caught in the gap!" Gawain scratched his brown hair and hugged his petite wife to defend himself.