Eagle Byzantium

After entering the city, Andodat charged all the 300 Saracen, Turk and Greek leaders who occupied the castle to fight, and then ordered the Pisidian border troops to stay in the city to garrison, while the remaining armies rested and reorganized.

During this period, Andodat suddenly accused Birel, the infantry commander of the Pisidia Border Army, at a military meeting, for having privately communicated with the Duchess of Tuscany, and was suspected of accepting his instigation for rebellion.

As soon as he finished speaking, several "postmen" wearing patterned cloaks, soft hats and swords came in and took Birel away and placed him under house arrest.

This seems to be the first time that a postman has taken away a high-ranking commander in the army as a secret policeman. Those present, including General Monomachus, did not dare to say a word for his subordinates. Everyone was sweating, because they were The mushroom-headed Andodat just said coldly, "Don't be alarmed. General Birel's whereabouts will naturally come to light soon. I personally believe that he is loyal to His Majesty Gawain. The postmen will examine it carefully. His letters and actions will have a fair outcome."

Then Andodat continued loudly: "On the Western Front, His Majesty will soon rule over the imperial capital of the Roman Empire, and our goal on the Eastern Front is to completely capture the entire Tripoli!" After that, he deployed on the map. Said, "Right away Pixi The Dia border army and the county army were guarding several castles in Tripoli, Beritus, and Jubail respectively, while I led all the main forces south to attack Sidon and Tyre - yes, the Pope had asked us before targets are limited to Tripoli , but now the papal orthodoxy is in Bari - the new Holy See, His Majesty Anselm Bonifazius, has issued a new edict, entrusting His Majesty Gawain to be the leader of the entire Eastern Expedition and to have control over the entire Tripoli suzerainty, so we go to the west We don't have to be afraid of Sigurd Magnusson's Norwegian army at all, and we don't have to be bound by the old order. That is to say, we are going to attack the city openly. After capturing the castle, we will give them appropriate rewards and then send them away. He leaves."

In addition, further south on the Tire front, there was Raymond's illegitimate son Portland, who was besieging this wealthy city with the support of a Venetian fleet. Now in the eyes of Andodat, Gawain's agent, Tyre is of course also an indispensable part of the entire "Tripoli Strategy Plan". Andodat had already formulated the "attack on Norway" in a private military order. Magnusson adopted the policy of focusing on diplomatic solutions and focusing on military solutions to Portland.

But Andodat was not reckless. He divided the spoils obtained in Tripoli into three parts. One part was given as an extra reward to all the soldiers, one part was sent to Bohemond in Antioch, and the other part was given to Jerusalem. Baldwin.

Bohemond was in dire straits in Antioch, and Baldwin was in dire need of money and military supplies due to the siege of Acre and his imminent expedition to Egypt. Therefore, they both sent secret envoys, which was equivalent to a promise to Gawain to Andodat, "You will seize the entire territory of Tripoli, and we will not interfere in any way."

In addition, when the "Sutri City Incident" broke out, Baldwin's Patriarch Sam Bell and Bohemond's Patriarch Maurice were both panicked and made their own plans: now they expressed their support for Tuscany Neither the Pope nor the new Pope in Rome is a wise move and has no practical benefits...

As for the man who was supported by Henry the Fifth in Ravenna, he was like a dead man and never spoke.

In the end, only Anselm of Bari was determined to make friends. He sent envoys to contact Sambell and Morris respectively, saying that he fully respected their "patriarchal rights" in the dioceses of Jerusalem and Antioch and recognized their ownership of the two places. Sovereignty over the property of churches and religious orders and personnel rights.

What's more, at this time, Baldwin also intended to win over Sambell, hoping that the Holy City Kingdom could get rid of the dictates of the Holy See and become attached to the royal power of the Eustace family.

So Sam Bell and Morris also privately acquiesced to the existing order.

In the spring of the following year, Andodat's Eastern Front Army was reinforced by the Samosata and Marash border troops. In addition, Andodat also respected the heretics of the nomads (whether Christian or Christian) in the eastern part of the territory. Crescent Church) tribal beliefs and land, hired about 4,000 Lebanese archers, together with the previous 3,000 Maronite mercenaries, and the same number of German poor Han troops, actually formed an army of no less than 30,000 people , began to advance towards Sidon City.

The whole Levant trembled.

At the same time, Gawain in Gallipoli issued an order: the entire eastern half of the country's tax revenue last year should be used to fully support Andodat's military activities without any delay. This order was directed to the county chiefs, herders officers, Wright, and For Polibi and Ryan Stein.

Magnuson, who originally besieged Sidon, was still puzzled when he saw the overwhelming troops who were not sure whether they were friends or foes. He was frightened and sent people to Andodat's camp to ask him what he was doing. Intend.

Wasn't it agreed that each group would attack a city?

But Andodat was very cold. He replied bluntly that the pope who originally issued such a decree has been deposed, and the leader of the Eastern Expedition recognized by the new pope is my majesty. After speaking, he took the papal decree. Come out and show it to Magnusson's messenger.

The envoy saw that the signature and seal belonged to Bonifazius of Bari, and he protested that he did not recognize this person's legal authority at all.

As a result, Andodat said that it was impossible not to admit it: There are 30,000 troops here that are recognized, and you only have 5,000. If you use doctrinal arguments, I am from a monastery and you are not my opponent, so let's use weapons to argue with each other. .

As a result, the Norwegian expeditionary force under Sidon collapsed instantly. Magnusson was so angry that he boarded a ship with only a few hundred people and left the coast in dejection. Not knowing where to go back, he circled around and went to Antioch to join Bohemond. Most of the remaining Norwegian soldiers were leaderless and were all absorbed by Andodat at the cost of each receiving a very high amount of "leather coins".

When the news reached Tyre, Portland and Jordan were stunned. They begged Jerusalem to mediate arbitration, but received no reply.

A few days later, leading the battle for Andodat was the Pisa fleet, a total of six large ships, sailing to the sea outside the city of Tyre.

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The people of Pisa deeply resented the Venetian ambush at Rhodes. Therefore, they are willing to serve as Gawain's vanguard. Behind them are four large ships led by Gawain's pirate Wen Moha, twelve Pamphyrian light warships, six sunfish ships, and dozens of Skua ships. Boats are densely packed all over the sea.

The unprepared Venetian warships suffered a catastrophic disaster. One was sunk immediately, the other was burned by fire skuas, two were busy and were caught with iron hooks by the Pisa ships, and the last two were lost. Fazi actually rushed to the seaside city wall of Tyre and begged the original enemy to take him in!