Eagle Byzantium

"This is the original covenant. All of you promised to return the cities and lands recovered along the way to me!" Alexius gritted his teeth and offered the peace treaty signed at the time.

Gawain put his hand to his ear, and after hearing the emperor's long shout, he continued to shout back, "But strictly speaking, I did not offer the oath of covenant to your majesty, because when Godfrey, Bohemond and others swore to you in the Grand Palace, I had already taken Anna across the strait..."

"Shut up, and you are not allowed to mention Apat!" The emperor also put his hand to his ear. When he heard Gawain actually mentioned the eldest princess, his anger was uncontrollable.

Gawain opened his mouth, tilted his head and frowned. After listening to the emperor's protest from a long distance, he nodded and shouted with all his strength, "So I am not bound by the covenant, but I am still helping the pilgrims attack Antioch. Your Majesty, what do you think? After Antioch is taken, I will hand this great city over to you personally."

"I don't trust you at all, you bastard!"

"Why do you have to do this? Anna is about to get married to me..."

"Don't mention Apat!"

The two of them went back and forth, in front of thousands of troops, across the deep canyon and wilderness, and continued to argue.

"Are you going to hand over Antioch to Bohemond? He is not trustworthy, even worse than me." Gawain shouted nakedly, "Your Majesty, please consider it. There is no need to make such a big fuss. When the time comes, I will join hands with your friend Lord Raymond to return Antioch to the empire - and at the same time, in a year, I will return Sicily and even Seleucia to you."

"You are a liar who seduces women, even the devil thinks your words are untrustworthy. Unless you sign a pledge! I am not afraid that you will break the contract, I want to make it clear to the world that you should be punished." The emperor asked.

"Okay~~~" Gawain's righteous voice came long, and soon his herald and the emperor's imperial ink officer came out and handed over the pledge. Emperor Alexius read it carefully. Then he wrote his name in purple ink and whispered to the imperial officer, "Let's let Gawain go for now... News came from Dalmatia that Berdin actually accepted the crown given by Rome, declared his conversion to the Catholic Church, and proclaimed himself king."

Melales's hand holding the writing implement trembled slightly. He was first amazed at the emperor's intelligence, and then he couldn't help but admire the emperor's shrewdness: Your Majesty may have known the news of Berdin's rebellion before, and the direction that Berdin might attack, whether it is Thrace, Bulgaria, or Macedonia, is now the concentration of wealth in the empire. It's hard for the emperor to be so patient. He already knew that the attack on Seleucia was impossible, but he still firmly commanded the army and came to Miliocephalon, just to get Gawain's oath first. Then go to the other side of the empire to suppress Berdin, and then turn around to deal with Gawain, so that both trust and practical benefits are not lost-no matter what you do, you must maximize the benefits, this is your Majesty's skill.

Prince John, who previously accused and questioned Your Majesty, was still too young after all.

"I swear by this oath. From now on, Gawain is not allowed to occupy or plunder the interests of the empire outside Seleucia, nor is he allowed to occupy any additional land. He can only receive the Danish pilgrims. And the Holy Roman Emperor, the Holy Apostle of the World, Alexius Komnenos, is also willing to withdraw his troops.

From this day on, after a year of property taxation, the empire will take over all the military towns and ports in Seleucia and Cilicia. Gawain must hand them over unconditionally. This is his own oath. If he violates it, he will be punished most severely by God. The emperor can also have no mercy and take any military action against him and his army, destroying and ravaging any personnel and materials following Gawain."

After concluding this oath, Gawain dismounted and solemnly took the document with the emperor's seal from the herald, bowed and saluted, and prepared to put it in the hanging bag under the saddle.

The imperial army at the foot of the mountain, like a dark cloud, turned from the rear to the front, and the infantry and baggage carts began to turn first and headed towards Pamphylia. The wheels of the car were rippling, and the soldiers' shouts came one after another. All the Pronian cavalry and Cuman cavalry were the rear guards, accompanied by the Varangian guards in full armor, surrounding the emperor. Alexius stared at Gawain, and Gawain was stunned at this time.

"After handing over these two places, where will you and Apat go?" This was a piece of paper attached to the oath by the emperor. Gawain noticed it at this moment and fluttered in the wind.

Gawain peeled it off, took the reed pen handed over by the herald, quickly wrote some Greek on it, and then handed it to Muzafiadin. The Turkish army servant tied it to the arrow feathers, galloped down the hillside, and shot it into the trunk of an isolated cedar tree about 200 feet in front of the emperor's carriage, and then left.

After handing it back to the emperor, he unfolded it and saw Gawain's reply: "I think I will go to the Holy Land, or an island somewhere, and become a businessman, trying to make money to support myself and Anna."

"Let's go..." The emperor lowered his head and threw the note into the wind. Then, without any expression, he pulled the reins, panted and turned the horse's head back, followed by a long guard, and headed back to the endless plateau. "Send a fast horse to tell Taitsius to increase the number of troops going to Antioch to assist to 8,000, so as to prevent the group of pilgrim lords from complaining about the empire."

The fast horse carrying the emperor's urgent letter also rushed in the opposite direction and entered the noisy military camp near Philadelphia. At that time, the dark-skinned Prince John had put on armor for the first time, ready to go to Miliocephalon in the name of escorting Danish pilgrims to help his father attack Gawain's army, but now his father has sent a message: He has temporarily ceased fire with Gawain and will return to Dalmatia and Epirus quickly to suppress Berdin's rebellion.

A correct version at 1619 Book Bar!

"What a joke! If father had thought it through beforehand, he shouldn't have decided to do this. But now that the army has arrived at the plateau, why worry so much!" John opened the letter and said with disapproval, "Since there is now a gap between us and the Catholic pilgrims, why not just kill Gawain? Berdin is just a minor problem."

But he didn't say these words. Instead, he put the letter away, stood up from his chair, and faced the Danish prince Sven, Sven's fiancée Florina, and the "mad" Count Reinstein who were standing in front of him. (To be continued ~^~)