Eagle Byzantium

In addition, the news of the emperor's army's arrival in Durazzo quickly spread throughout the Dirhacium and Epirus regions. The Roman residents in the local towns and villages suddenly felt that the true imperial orthodoxy had arrived, especially after they saw the emperor's grand and solemn military appearance. The news spread from one person to ten, ten to a hundred, and soon everyone took action.

The people here had been scourged by the Norman army in Sicily before. Food was looted and many people were forced to do hard labor to build camps. Now their anger burned across the Pindus Mountains and the coastal plains. Many people took up their weapons and contacted the local Slavic tribes loyal to Gawain to stand shoulder to shoulder: farmers and herdsmen attacked the Norman strongholds in Sicily everywhere, killing and capturing lone enemies, while the towns abandoned their previous promise to pay to the Kingdom of Sicily, turned loyal to the emperor and sent supplies to the army camp.

The Normans in several fortresses in Epirus could not stay there. They could only defend their strongholds alone, while others risked escaping and were surrounded and killed in the wilderness. The area originally occupied by the Normans quickly collapsed with the arrival of Gawain's flag.

The emperor sat in the imperial camp, cordially receiving the representatives who came to serve every day, settling their lives and dividing the land rights fairly.

Finally, even the island of Corfu, where the Venetian fleet was stationed, was continuously rebellious. Local residents attacked, poisoned, and set fire to ships one after another. The entire fleet was so embarrassed that it stayed on the island during the day and had to sail into the city of Durazzo at night to prevent the locals from making trouble. It was exhausting.

Durazzo became increasingly isolated, with nearly 20,000 people trapped by Gawain. They dared not fight in the field, and the surrounding villages and towns were occupied by Gawain. All supplies had to rely on sea transportation from Venice or Sicily, and each dispatch of Venetian ships also cost a lot of money. Moreover, after the arrival of winter, storms often occurred on the sea, which brought great danger to the crew and oarsmen of the shipping.

The city-state of Venice was increasingly trapped in difficulties and could not continue.

The only previous situation similar to the current one was the Battle of Durazzo sixteen years ago. Although Venice also paid a heavy price that time, it soon obtained "compensation" beyond its ideal from Emperor Alexius. But what about now? Who can make up for their losses?

The worst situation first appeared in the Hum region: the fleet carrying Almosh and Hungarian soldiers returning home encountered a strong hurricane in the island group. Many Hungarian nobles on the deck probably saw the power of the ocean for the first time in their lives. The lead-gray clouds were not as docile as usual. They galloped like wild horses and spit out lightning like monsters, burning and shining on the ferocious sea surface, mixed with the wind that roared like thousands of swords. The huge waves lifted and smashed the long centipede-like ships of the Venetians. The towers on the ships were washed away and destroyed. Many brave sailors fell into the water and drowned. The food and fodder were soaked, and various bags and barrels floated on the cabins and decks.

The fleet originally planned to land in Zara, but now it can only approach Ulcinj in a desperate attempt to survive. The half-drowned people crawled all over the beach. The sea water farther away was full of dead horses, dead people and various goods, which were rolled around in the white waves and foam. But before they entered the small fortress on the seashore, the cavalrymen of the two brigades on the northern line led by Branson discovered them.

Almosh, with bitter seawater flowing from his mouth and nose, saw the enemy cavalry standing in a semicircular formation on the hill opposite the beach, and he instantly despaired - this group of cavalry held a strange flag, with a large and round "Byzant gold coin" pierced on the top of the spear shaft, and six equally enlarged "Tasso silver coins" (marking six detachments) strung below, and four fluttering ribbons tied below, anyway, it was a striking money string - Almosh knew that this was Gawain's brigade, and it was definitely not a good thing.

The Barros who survived the disaster strictly asked Almosh to "talk" with the other party.

So Almosh went to Bramson's siege camp and begged him to respect the royal family and let them go. As a condition, all Hungarians were willing to hand over the remaining ships, horses and weapons. Almosh also promised that when he returned to the throne, he would immediately sign a peace agreement with your emperor, recognize the empire's sovereignty over Hungary and become a vassal, and pay a large tribute every year.

Soon Almosh saw that the enemy general sitting opposite him, named Bramson, looked at him kindly, as if he was looking at a pile of glittering gold.

After a long time, Bramson coughed a few times and said in the German dialect that all Hungarians could understand: It stands to reason that he should not act on his own when encountering such a thing, and it is best to report to His Majesty the Emperor for a decision, but if Almosh can hand over the hostages to show his sincerity, he, as the supreme commander of the Empire's northern army, has the power to treat everyone well.

On the beach, the dejected Hungarian returnees and Venetian sailors were sitting densely, surrounded by soldiers from the Philomelon and Hierapolis brigades, and were under strict supervision.

Almosh walked back quickly with his head down, and he asked the most distinguished barros, "Five people stay as hostages, and the rest will return home with me."

But no barro responded to his call, so Almosh became excited. He knelt down in front of everyone and cried, saying that he could not stay here. "My brother, the current king has suffered a stroke and is dying. He sent him before A letter saying that he was in very bad health No, the throne must be passed to me as soon as possible. This is why you and I returned to the country...Hungarian tradition advocates establishing the elder rather than the younger in order to preserve the strength of the kingdom. You see, your brother's son is too weak. , it is impossible to lead the kingdom in the future I can survive in the cracks, but I can! I am strong and in my prime, and can take on heavier responsibilities." After talking a lot, Almosh saw that the Barrows were still indifferent and had no regard for the overall situation. When he didn't realize it, he went crazy again and cursed everyone. He was ruthless and ignorant of the general situation. He also pulled his beard and hair and cried out that his son Bela was only one year old now. He was his only child and the future star of Hungary. "How can you just watch your motherland suffer like this?" Losing the future due to selfishness?”

In the end, Gellert, the Hungarian Prime Minister who accompanied him on the expedition, stood up and said that he was worthy of five noble Barrows and was willing to stay as a hostage.

Almosh was ecstatic, embraced Gellert in tears, and kissed him repeatedly...

In the end, the Hungarian barros surrendered everything they still had, but Bramson also allowed them to continue riding horses, carrying the necessary weapons, and leave towards the north, because it was not very safe to cross the barbarian dense area there. thing.

The Venetians who climbed ashore together were not so lucky. They were all detained and their boats were confiscated. Seeing this scene, the city of Ulcinj could only choose to surrender, because there was no hope of resistance.