Eagle Byzantium

The lords who attended the dinner hurriedly carried the old King Coloman up the stairs to the third-floor bedroom. Coloman fell on the cushions, his mouth and nose were crooked, his eyes and fingers could not move flexibly, and his breath was hoarse, which made him look even uglier than before.

His son Istvani stood beside him at a loss, holding a candlestick. The servants were in a mess, and the jars filled with wine were poured on the king's couch. The crimson color instantly spread around, making people feel desperate like blood.

Apart from the couch and the desk, this room was full of manuscripts, all of which confirmed Coloman's nickname "Book Lover", but the royal family and barons who followed him were not influenced by this elegant atmosphere at all. They continued to surround the poor old king, waving their arms and shouting, asking the king to make a decision, and did not take Crown Prince Istvani seriously at all.

Finally, Koroman took the golden edict written on vellum from the clerk with shaking hands (they learned it from the Byzantine court) and asked Istvani to read it out. The content of the edict was obviously the emergency plan he prepared.

It represented another attitude of the king, that is, to cooperate with the church to send troops to Serbia. It was sad that Koroman first thought of regretting before raising objections, because he had been threatened enough by the archbishop.

However, Koroman still kept a hand. He announced that the entire expeditionary force was composed of three parts. One part was the royal court army led by his palace chief counselor Klembod, one part was the state army (most of the fiefs in the Hungarian state were controlled by Barrow) led by his brother Almosh, and the last part was the light cavalry recruited from the Cumans and Szekes, led by the kingdom's "Gyula" (similar to the palace prime minister) Gellert.

So in the edict, the king took the opportunity to order that all serfs, craftsmen, etc. were not allowed to take the opportunity to escape in the name of participating in the holy war.

In this way, the barons finally had no more dissent and left one after another.

"I wish you get better soon and continue to lead this kingdom, my brother." Almosh, who was the last to leave the bed, raised his eyelids, looked at Koroman who was panting and silent on the bed, and then looked at the trembling Crown Prince Istvani, smiled contemptuously and coldly, and then walked towards the door of the palace.

Finally, the sound of the copper buckle shaking and hitting the door remained...

In front of the palace fence, Almosh walked out and smiled at the waiting palace minister Gellert, "That stubborn Tonuzoba who doesn't know what's good for him has fled to his distant castle."

"I have discussed with the archbishop that no matter the outcome of this expedition, when we return, we will order this team of weak fathers and sons to abdicate and win over all the barros."

"Of course, my future majesty." Palace minister Gellert replied flatteringly, "In the future, the glory of the Albade royal family will be inherited and carried forward by you and your son Bella!"

Five days later, 12,000 Hungarian soldiers, with flags, gathered from the palace and set out, crossed the ferry of the Drava River, and headed towards the port of Zara, where a Venetian fleet was waiting for them.

Gallows were erected in the fields and roads along the way, and the bodies of serfs who disobeyed orders were hung on them. They all wanted to join the holy war army to Serbia but were not allowed to, so they took risks and were hanged. The priests who had made impassioned speeches before dispersed, and no one fought for their right to live. The remaining serfs who were not hanged were terrified and forced to return to the fields, crawling and curling up in reed huts or animal skin tents, and continued to live the rest of their lives under the oppression of the church and the lords.

Forty Venetian ships passed the city of Zara, and about a day later, they transported many soldiers to Durazzo, which is located in the middle of the Adriatic Sea.

At this time, Durazzo had become a temporary large military camp, with brown tents of the Sicilian pagan guards, white scaffoldings of the Tuscan militia, colorful dome tents of the Norman knights, and the Hungarian bag-style nomadic tents, which was a magnificent sight. Venetian merchants were everywhere, like frogs jumping in a swamp. They took the opportunity to sell the goods that could not be sold because of Gawain's cut-off route to this group of troops, and strictly prohibited merchants from other city-states from getting involved in the business here.

The Roman residents in the city hated these outsiders, so the army did not dare to stay in the city, and all stationed in the surrounding fields.

On the seashore beach with rolling waves, the generals of the various armies continued to argue about the date of the march to Ohrid and who should be the supreme commander. Soon Almosh also joined the debate with great interest. He believed that Hungary dispatched 12,000 people, Sicily 6,000 people, Tuscany and Venice each 3,000 people, and the person who contributed the most should be the commander.

In Sofia, the rumbling of Lesvorno's artillery became more and more rapid and intense day by day.

Finally, when the supreme commander of the Eastern Expedition fell on Almosh's shoulders, he ordered "to break camp in three days and march along the road to Ohrid", and then he actually spread out the map and began to "divide the power of the Kingdom of Greece" with everyone. Sicily demanded Epirus, Venice wanted Desyuram, and Hungary announced that it had power over Thessalonica and Macedonia (without considering how to govern at all).

Just as everyone was holding beautiful dreams and holding daggers to divide and divide on the map - at the Kastoria Pass, an elite force of Gawain's side, like a bent python, was walking on a road surrounded by gray-white rocks and green mosses, advancing towards the two lakes where the city of Ohrid was located.

This team was led by General Branas himself. "Shahnami, I want to become the conqueror of Savoy and enjoy the triumphal ceremony. I still have to take this gamble. Anyway, the emperor has entrusted all the three brigades to me, and I can act freely when the time comes." Branas, covered with a blanket, walked beside the queue, looking at the undulating and complex mountains and streams on the opposite side, and the faintly shining lake, and then looked back at the small Kastoria Castle, which was full of crowded and messy huts. There was nothing worth lingering on a plateau lake, and it was more motivated to capture the palace of the great king of Ohrid.

For this reason, he selected five detachments: three guard brigades, one each for Nika and Opshikin, four hundred shooting army gunners, and a thousand precious cavalrymen, each cavalryman had two war horses, and three equally precious Persian perfume bottle wheeled cannons. Except for the soldiers carrying ammunition and food, they were all tied to the mules and horses accompanying the team. The small number of shells made them particularly precious.

A correct version in 16-9 Book Bar!

As for the Vardar Valley camp, he left it to General Lekapenos to command it and continue to confront Prizren City to paralyze Vladimir.

The stars flew, and the army marched thirty ancient miles in about a day.

On the second day, the outpost cavalry suddenly appeared on the Egnandia Avenue: when the patrol team outside Ohrid City set up the pot to prepare to cook, a group of Vardarite cavalry holding horn bows suddenly rushed out of the woods, shouting like wild beasts, beat the patrol team to pieces, captured seven people with lassoes, and left like lightning.