Eagle Byzantium

Soon Anna's reply came all the way from Tarsus, stating that she would take a guard of honor to Purussa, Smyrna and Trabzon this winter to inspect, supervise the construction of local city defenses and commercial ports, and to In the letter, she mentioned to her husband, “My time The spy has made contact with the Ducas family in the imperial capital. They are willing to overthrow John's imperial capital on the condition of protecting my mother, my youngest brother (Adyoan), the Mikhails and Gu Siyun. The government will lead our troops into Constantinople at the appropriate time.”

It was stamped with Anna's seal.

In the Palace of Taulis, after Gawain finished reading, he added a sticker on it, "The entry of Constantinople cannot be slow, but you must not be impatient. You can calmly handle the affairs in the territory, especially the New Port of St. Paul." The construction, the issuance of national debt and the preparation of the fleet, as well as the distribution and training of navy land, will be discussed and decided with relevant tasks. After my victory in the Eastern Expedition, we will make long-term plans to capture the imperial capital."

Now Anna is very well-behaved. She no longer interferes in strategic matters and follows her husband's ideas and plans in everything.

Any stickers written by Gawain, Anna will do.

Time flies, and the winter at the end of the next year quickly disappears. On the Erzurum mountain road, Kabeamiya rides a yellow-haired mare with a white muzzle. Under the protection of a group of believers, another mule Carrying a bamboo cage on his back, inside which lay a fat and prosperous rabbit cat, he walked slowly towards Tbilisi along the restored trade road.

There is a lot of white snow on the peaks and ridges, but in the direction of Kars and Ani City ahead, business travelers and pedestrians suddenly increase, and this ancient trade road has regained its vitality: because Gawain has annihilated many separatist and evil-doing people. The small Turkic countries (they either acted as mercenaries or plundered the trade routes) made this place unified and connected again.

As a result, Kabamiya received a second letter from Gawain during the journey, requesting her not to go to Tbilisi again, but to go to the Taulis Palace instead. "At that time, I may conquer Alam." A unique mountain sect, where you can take a rest in the lake palace.” In the footage, the Holy Sister pursed her pink lips, with a few strands of black hair covering her slightly blushing cheeks on the plateau, and put Gawain's letter into the box under the saddle, heading towards the bifurcation of the road. It seems that she is happy no matter what, and she will be able to spend some time with Gawain again.

At this moment, in the wilderness outside the city of Taulis, countless troops and banners were shining in the eyes of the world, shaking their nerves, and gathered under Gawain's camp.

Shirvan Pasha's kingdom sent a thousand Alan soldiers as agreed;

Lati, Grand Duke of Georgia, came to join him with five hundred cavalry;

The two Kurdish vassal states of Shirvan and Haddadi gathered two thousand people to follow Gawain in the war;

The Seljuk kingdoms gathered together 10,000 elite Turkic soldiers and thousands of craftsmen and military servants, holding the flag of the Sultan and led by the auxiliary minister Muhammad Tapo, who served as one of Gawain's wings;

Kobuha, the governor of Mosul, asked his general Boaisas and 3,000 soldiers to come to help in the battle;

Finally, even though the Caliph of Baghdad did not send any troops, he did present fifteen battle flags made of brocade to enhance his prestige.

Gawain, who was riding a black mare to inspect many armies, couldn't help but sigh in his heart, how could I, who was canonized as a saint by the city of Rome, come here to receive the banner of the Caliph, and then command a large number of Seljuk soldiers? What about the warriors of Gus, Kurds and Khorasan who went to raze a sect’s stronghold in the mountains of Persia?

But Hassan and his sect must die!

I, the majestic King of Tarsus, the future ruler of the New Roman Empire, will never let an old bastard who hides in a mountain fortress and plays tricks on his own free reign, secretly threatening me and my men, let alone if this battle is fought well. The eastern border can have at least ten years of peace.

In addition, the Mountain Sect is just a group of fanatical believers. The cost of annihilating them militarily is very low, but the prestige gained in politics and diplomacy is very high. It is definitely a very cost-effective deal.

After the army gathered, the first one to suffer was the important city "Ardabil" in the southwest corner of the Khazar Sea, on the border between Shirvan and Persia. This city's glorious history is as old as Persia, and its name means As the "Glorious Garden City": it is in the "Union The commander-in-chief of the army, Stephen Gawain, only managed to hold out for three days before surrendering with all his strength. The four thousand Persian Ismaili heretics in the city, even if they were not Assassins, were captured and handed over to the Seljuk princes. In the hands of generals, they were either sold into slavery or killed outright.

At the same time, Gawain sent ten envoys to the Eagle Castle, ordering Hassan and his followers to surrender, destroy the battlements and curtain walls of various strongholds, twist all the city gates, and not resist the power of the army. Then he can "if you If you can leave the city and leave your fate to me, I am willing to spare the lives of the believers in the mountain sect and allow the Seljuk Sultan to carve out a flat and controllable territory for them to settle."

But Hassan, who was secretly hiding in the room, instigated his subordinates to detain the ten envoys. Then, perhaps feeling afraid, he released everyone again and wrote back to Gawain, "The castle is not destroyed overnight. Regarding the matter, please let me deal with five of them first, and your army will not advance for the time being, and each of you can express your sincerity in negotiating peace."

Gawain said yes, and asked all the troops to rest in Ardabil for half a month, waiting for news from Hassan.

However, information soon came that Hassan was willing to surrender and was preparing to collude with Kara Khan to fight against the armies.

So Gawain ordered the entire army to no longer be bound by the truce, and to advance along the mountainous and rugged land of Gilan, along the shore of the Sea of ​​Hazar, sweeping the outer forts and castles of various mountain sects like a raging storm, and immediately executed any believers on the spot without asking about their identity, age, or interrogation.

Just seven days later, that is, in the third month of the year 1105 of the Christian era, Gawain's army had advanced to the valley under the steep Eagle Castle, and in front of the people of the mountain sects, beheaded thousands of heretics who had been captured earlier one by one.

Human heads rolled on the dry and cold land. The Assassins in the Eagle Castle on the top of the mountain saw all this. They were furious for revenge for their companions. They gathered like clouds and knelt in front of the meditation room of "Grand Master" Hassan, shouting "Three Seljuk Sultans (referring to Alp, Malik Shah and Sanjad) tried to besiege me, but they all returned in defeat. Therefore, the flood here is flowing down from my feet, and the flying birds are not as high as me", asking Hassan to take a tough attitude against the enemy who knows nothing.

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Finally, Hassan wrote a letter and sent it to Gawain's scarlet tent camp at the foot of the mountain. The tone in it was arrogant:

"Mortals cannot climb to the peak where I am,

Even eagles and eagles cannot do it.

My dogs here can only bark at the stars in the sky,

but you are not as good as them, because the mountains of Alamut block all the sunlight and stars."