Eagle Byzantium

"According to theory, it should be returned to His Majesty the Emperor, but Antioch has been besieging the city for such a long time. I estimate that the city's supplies have been exhausted, and the pilgrims have also consumed a lot of supplies and money, so some expedient measures must be taken." After the round of shelling ended, with the sound of the noose creaking, Gawain whispered to Bohemond and Baldwin.

It seemed that there was indeed a breakthrough in the matter, so Bohemond continued to carefully explore the tone, "How about we submit a document to the emperor and be willing to return the city of Antioch to Constantinople, but at the same time request that the pilgrims be temporarily allowed to leave." Lease for three to five years and use the food and money earned to arm the pilgrims and support their journey to Jerusalem?”

"This kind of thing doesn't matter, but what matters is the name of the signature, to Constantinople."

"I am willing to participate in the Imperial Expedition Privy Council, and then I might as well report it to His Majesty the Emperor in this name."

"Hula la", another burst of stone bullets was thrown out from the stone machine in a storm, smashing countless gravel in front of the dog gate. The siege team raised their shields to cover the ground, and the flying stones hit On it, there was a sound like hail.

Then he continued to remain silent. Gawain breathed a sigh of relief and pressed his hand on the wooden fence. He frowned and looked at the dog door that was being destroyed. When the soldiers below put their shields down again, they raised their shields. The sword made a louder fighting sound that resounded through the sky. "This is good, everyone will benefit, and the emperor will have an explanation." Gawain said it with some reluctance.

Then, Bohemond excitedly held Baldwin's hand, and then pressed his hands on the Grand Duke's shoulders. "Don't worry, I am not joining the Privy Council to seize power. Major matters should be decided by you and Titicius together." , I am also doing everything for the pilgrims, for the pilgrims Everything for the pilgrims, for all the pilgrims. As long as we capture the Holy City, we can return Antioch to the emperor, and return the Holy City to the Holy See and all the pilgrims. We can build some buildings around the two cities. Fortress, responsible for the defense of two great cities."

"Okay..." Gawain also held Bohemond with his backhand, staring at him with his light blue eyes, and laughed.

Then, there was an earth-shaking loud noise, setting off a tumbling wave of dust, which rushed directly into the anti-rock camp. The hair of the three people was stirred by it: the gate tower in front of the Antioch Dog Gate finally couldn't bear it and collapsed completely. Coming down, the siege infantry queue suddenly took a few steps back, and again Lifting up the shield, bricks and wooden strips rolled around among the ruins. The smoke gradually dispersed in front of everyone's eyes. Through the collapsed gap, the rows of streets, houses, churches and temples in Antioch City could be seen. The tip of the iceberg is exposed, which actually creates greater temptation for people.

"Come on!" Seeing this, the military servants holding pickaxes and shovels rushed out first. The people in front of them carried various wooden boards on their backs to resist the stones thrown by the Turkic soldiers on the ruins of the wall, and then followed them along. They set up a pile of rocks, and the accompanying soldiers swung their swords and battle axes, stepped on the built wooden planks as bridges, and rushed forward in large numbers to kill them. The resistance of the Turks was gradually declining. Because they lost too much blood in the previous field attack, and it was obvious that Yaghisian had withdrawn the stronger soldiers into the acropolis - some soldiers who did not even have armor and only had robes were easily killed. They chopped down or pushed them to the ground, and the helmeted pilgrim soldiers raised their hammers and battle axes, raining down on their bodies, and wailing sounds were heard everywhere.

Then, the shouts and encouragement became louder and louder, and the number of siege soldiers crowded in the gap also expanded rapidly. They stepped on the corpses of the garrison soldiers and did not accept and could not accept the surrender of any enemy soldiers. The shadow of the gap in the wall is also the "watershed" between the city and the outside. Several desperate Turkic soldiers rushed out from there. , wielding a three-edged machete in his hand, but Croato, a Norman foot knight at the front, held the sword fiercely, and before the opponent's machete could be cut down, he quickly reached out and stabbed the front man with the sword blade. The opponent's machete fell down from his abdomen, covering his abdomen, and his screams were extremely shrill. Then Croteau pushed him away and chopped down another pagan soldier.

Gawain saw that the pagan soldier was not dead on the spot. He was still holding the battle flag, leaning against the rammed earth fault of the city wall, stretching out his hands. He didn't know whether he was demonstrating to Croto or begging for mercy, because of the noisy crowd. , there are figures jumping everywhere in the black smoke But Crotto's answer was straightforward: He held the hilt of the sword with his backhand, knelt down in one step, and plunged the sword into the chest of the flag-bearer, then stirred it a few times, and the opponent's blood overflowed. Teeth, opened and screaming miserably, died.

The remaining Turkic soldiers were stabbed over by the Italian veterans of the Red Hand Brigade or others who followed, and then many people broke through the city wall and rushed in. Crotto was extremely proud of himself and threw the captured battle flag towards the crowd. The green flag slid for a while and was stepped on by groups of soldiers rushing in.

After a while, the flag of the cross was raised on the collapsed tower of Antioch.

After a while, the bolts of the city gates were broken, the heavy gates of the dog gates were pushed open, the gaps in the walls were smashed wider by the servants with pickaxes and shovels, and the falling stones were cleared and dragged away by rope bags. Soon, the armies began to unite with foot and cavalry, raising flags and entering from the city gates and gaps in the city. Two minutes later, the palace area of ​​Antioch was captured, followed by the arena area, the market area and the square area. The crescent flags were cut down and burned one by one, and then the flags of Christ were raised everywhere.

Lords such as Bohemond, Raymond, Gawain, Hugh, Baldwin, Stephen, etc., entered one after another from various city gates and gaps. When Gawain, wearing a red hand feather, crossed the fourth stone bridge across the city river, the river water had been stained with fire and blood, and corpses were floating everywhere. When he led his guards into the mosque in front of the palace area, the bodies of the Crescent believers who were massacred after the fall of the city were already scattered all over the street, but the burning and killing continued. In front of a white mosque, Gawain rode a horse and saw a Norman soldier swinging a sword and slashing a Crescent woman who was protecting her child on the steps until the mother and daughter were chopped into pieces. Several Calabrian soldiers went in and out, kicking the rolling heads, and people kept screaming or falling to their deaths on the top of the tower.

A burst of shouting came from the other side of the third stone bridge. A large number of disheveled, prisoner-like figures crawled out of various warehouses. They faced the butcher knives of the Franks and Normans. Before they had time to explain anything, a group of them were chopped to death. The others knelt down, raised the crude crosses made of various things on their necks, and begged for help. (To be continued ~^~)