Eagle Byzantium

The battle for the Thracian field commanders was actually a competition between the forces of the Catholic Church and the forces of the Orthodox Church in Bertin's kingdom. The former's power is mostly concentrated in coastal cities, merchant groups and mercenary teams, while the latter's power is mostly inland Zupan nobles and Slavs.

"You should ask your child to lead the army, not Vladimir." Giaquinta stood up and walked to Burdine and said earnestly. Seeing that her husband did not respond, she added angrily, "Don't forget After you lost Zara, who helped you expand your power to Ohrid? The glorious warriors of Apulia and Bari? We are also shrewd businessmen in Italy and crowned by the Holy See, but those Zupans are not your brothers either. When you were humiliated, they flocked to submit to the Greek emperor in Constantinople at that time. The current situation is the same. Not only can you not trust them, but you also have to guard against them. It is best for these people to be driven. "

After listening to his wife's words, Bodin remained silent. Frankly speaking, he also believed that what his wife said made sense, but he did not dare to publicly offend his brother Vladimir, and he did not want to delay his stay in Northern Threi. Sri Lanka's flank war, because it is related to the success or failure of the entire battle.

Even if Gawain recruits ten brigades, he is in a "main line defense, flank attack" situation, and can still have contact with Gawain: Gawain's throne will not be secure, he is just a tile after all. A good mercenary named Barbarian started his career, but he has orthodox Machiavellian blood flowing through his body. The blood of the emperors of the Don Dynasty. If given time, John and Isaac can hold back Gawain, they can take the opportunity to integrate the entire land of Macedonia, Serbia and Bulgaria, and they can also pull out 50,000 troops who dare to fight. At that time, the West The second place of Emperor Mayang is by no means a foolish dream.

Therefore, Bourdin felt it was inappropriate to leave the flank war in the hands of the fledgling Lalic, even if he was his own son. After all, Bourdin's head is not so hot that family affection overwhelms his reason. He has been able to occupy the east coast of the Adriatic Sea for so many years, and of course it is not just because of his bloodline.

Finally, Burdin made a proposal that made his wife extremely angry but helpless: the supreme commander of the Thracian front would not be given to Vladimir or Lalic, but to an experienced man named Kadam. The Bulgar mercenary who fought (he was originally Alexios He played a great role in the war against the Pechenegs and Cumans in the north and had high prestige), and came to command Mosia (another name for the Bulgarian region), the Zupan Army in Wallachia, and then The entire army was supervised by the Orthodox Bulgarian Bishop Aklida.

This will not only pacify the group of traitors in Bulgaria, but also prevent the brothers and sons from their own camp from having internal strife with their respective factions. Instead, all direct military forces will be concentrated in Magolon Castle and Sophia Castle to monitor Thessaloni respectively. Key and Philipsburg.

This deployment made Bourdin very proud. He believed that "there are nearly 10,000 elite soldiers stationed on this line of defense. Coupled with the dangerous mountain passes, it is not a big problem to hold on for one to three years."

Soon the news came that the five brigades commanded by the enemy general Melo had left Fort Philip in a mighty manner and were heading towards the entrance pass of Fort Sophia, the famous "Trajan Gate" (a mountain pass). ) pounced.

Trajan's Gate was once a sad place for Emperor Basil II. Back then, he also broke through the pass here and led 30,000 soldiers to besiege Fort Sophia. However, he failed to capture this place after besieging it for several months, so he could only return to the Philippines. Fort Lippe retreated, but was ambushed by the Bulgarian army. An extremely fierce battle broke out at Trajan's Gate. The emperor finally broke through the encirclement under the protection of Armenia's elite infantry, but most of the troops Some of the soldiers died in the battle and were captured, and many flags symbolizing the glory of the team were captured. The emperor who had just succeeded was also seriously challenged. The military nobles of Asia Minor launched a rebellion, and then Bulgaria annexed almost all of Macedonia, Serbia and The Dalmatia region was also the source of the hatred that Basil II fought with Bulgaria for more than 20 years and blinded 15,000 prisoners of war.

After Melo's five brigades arrived here, the well-informed Bertin, after receiving reports from the fierce Serbian mountain scouts, immediately led the army to leave Ohrid and rush towards Fort Sophia - where Macedonia and Serbia were located. The location of the four wars with Bulgaria is extremely important. "As long as we hold on At Fort Sophia, Gawain's army must be as helpless as Emperor Vasily the Younger a hundred years ago. When the opponent's energy wears off, we will capture the fighter planes in time and defeat them. Five brigades, five brigades, as long as they are defeated. Even if we can eliminate half of them, Gawain will be severely weakened and unable to take care of himself!"

A few days later, the fast-moving Bertin and Vladimir arrived at Fort Sophia with 12,000 people, 4,000 of whom were his Royal Guards, and the remaining 8,000 were Slavic Zupan lords and private soldiers from various places who came to join the army. Soldiers. The morale in Fort Sophia is high, supplies are constantly arriving from all over, and the hearts of the local farmers and indigenous people also turn to their side: they fortify the walls and clear the fields, carry grains and small livestock on vehicles, and transport them to Fort Sophia, determined not to leave any Coming down to support the enemy was considered as a means of destroying their homes and relieving the enemy. Many people also volunteered to stand guard and scout for the enemy.

But soon Burding received the latest news from the front line:

After Melo's five brigades occupied the "Trajan Gate", three of the brigades began to frantically build civil and military forts along the platform at the mountain pass. The remaining two brigades were on the left and right, and one set up camp in Sti. The other occupied the military town of Constantia and controlled the Orknesia River to facilitate the supply of supplies in the direction of Philipsburg.

The five brigades formed a large clover-shaped field camp fortress, and did not advance at all. Instead, they used vehicles, wooden fences, earth ramparts, artillery positions and mountain fortifications to form an "iron wall walnut". All light and heavy artillery aimed at the land in front, threatening the nearby Berdin military town "Iltiman".

In this way, it was Berdin in Sophia Castle who did not dare to make any rash moves.

The most nervous were the 500 Berdin soldiers in Iltiman. They did not dare to abandon this "observation post" and retreat, nor could they take the initiative to attack Melo's "Philipsburg Front" (unless they wanted to die). They could only stay in place in a daze, losing the initiative and not knowing what to do.

In fact, Melo was also constantly pacifying and suppressing his generals and sergeants. Many centurions fiercely demanded to continue to advance and attack Sophia Castle, but they were all rejected by Melo. Letters from the Emperor of Adrianople also kept flying in, with the same content, "All troops shall be used as winter camps, carefully build complete and strict barriers and store food and grass. Centurions and sergeants must train their subordinates well, and no one shall recklessly violate my supervision and regulations. Those who violate the ban will be killed without mercy!"