Eagle Byzantium

The question asked by Titishius was very strange, and Stable Master George was confused for a while. He spread his hands and answered, "Are there any conflicts and contradictions between these two goals? I was ordered by the emperor to lead the elite troops of the empire to recover the entire Anatolia."

"If it is really just an imperial order, then I personally suggest that the Stable Master and all the troops stand on the line of Abydos and Smyrna, neither advancing nor retreating, and let everything stop at today's victory, that's it." Titishius' tone continued to be obscure but calm, "But if the Stable Master has the great ideal of reviving the Roman Empire, then he can continue to make great strides and re-hang the flag of my Lord in all the towns and fortresses in Anatolia."

Titishius said so because although he was of Turkic origin, he had been baptized many years ago.

These words made the stable master understand. He slowly walked to the noseless foreign general. Titishius lowered his head slightly and covered his face with his cloak. "Isn't the Lord of my soul Christ? Isn't my secular Lord Your Majesty? The Roman emperor is always the protector of believers. He has the natural mission to recover the Holy Sepulchre and the Lord's territory from the pagans. I, the stable master, am the pioneer of the emperor. This is also my duty. I will not give the glorious banner of the emperor's 'patron of believers' to those Frankish barbarians with ulterior motives."

"Yes, I said too much." Titishius lowered his head, wrapped his cloak tightly and stepped aside humbly.

Then, George turned to all the generals and staff and ordered, "Release all prisoners of war, settle them on the barren land of Abydos to cultivate, and exempt all taxes for the year; in addition, send a messenger to Konya City to ask Giliki Arslan to send troops to assist me in my march to Nicaea in accordance with the agreement with my emperor in advance; send a letter to Constantinople to request further assistance and supplies from the emperor; finally, reward all the captured spoils to the soldiers and military servants, and do our best to collect food and beasts of burden, and move camp to Prusa in three days!"

At this time, no one noticed that Taitsius, who was in a corner, shook his head slightly.

On the coast of Nicomedia, beside the ruins of the palace left by the ancient Roman emperor, a large black flag was erected, with a wolf head printed on it that violated the doctrine of the Crescent Moon Sect, but this was the symbol of the Turkic army and the gift given to Zahas by the Seljuk Sultan. Zahas was reluctant to discard it, which symbolized the source of his legitimacy to rule the entire Nicaea.

Zahas, wearing a Persian-style gilded helmet with tassels and exquisite armor with relief, sat under the wolf-head banner. He was surrounded by slave soldiers riding horses in strict armor. The emir held the battle report sent from the Abydos front in his hand, "Ask Musetto to gather the defeated soldiers and go to Nicomedia to meet me." Obviously, there was not much reaction.

"But according to intelligence, the Greek army is going to meet with the Sultan of Roma and march towards Nicaea." The emir's son-in-law, Abul Kasim, stood aside and reminded.

"My child, look at our brave warriors, what is the most indispensable thing for them when they are fighting and living?" Zahas, who was gray-haired and had been fighting wits and courage with the Byzantine Roman emperor for a long time, squinted his fox-like eyes and asked his son-in-law.

"It's courage, it's will, it's the persistence to wield the sword to destroy the pagans for the sake of the scriptures!" The son-in-law Abul Qasim thought that his father-in-law was testing him with questions, so he covered his chest and shouted to his father-in-law with a dignified manner.

But Zahas had an expression of "You are so stupid that I am almost helpless", and then he squinted his eyes and pointed at the towering golden tent behind the big banner, "It is this thing, it determines the fighting style of all our warriors. The Turks are a flying arrow and a rolling cloud, shooting straight from this side of the Great Wall to this far away place. The tent proves that we are a group that doesn't care about the city at all. The city is a boring fetter, and we just have to keep grazing. As long as there is a tent that can shelter from the wind and rain, it's fine. When we are hungry and cold, we can go to rob the city. Once we integrate into the city, we have to change from robbers to the robbed. What a tragic and stupid behavior."

Then, Zahas slowly The letter was rolled up. "We don't care about Nicaea or Prusa. Now the Turkish warriors holding the wolf-head banner are here, on the coast of Nicomedia, opposite the Holy Sea with infinite wealth. Now that we are here, why should we turn back for a place like Nicaea? Abul, when we crossed the grassland, the Turkish tents were wheels; when we crossed the desert, the Turkish tents were camels; now that we are crossing this ocean, the Turkish tents are ships, sails and decks - convey my order, everyone board the ship, change the cavalry into sailors, and attack the rich islands of the Greeks in the Holy Sea, Chios Island, Lesbos Island, and even land on Gallipoli and Constantinople, burning, killing, looting, and doing everything."

After saying that, Zahas laughed. He stood up from his seat, took the bow and quiver handed over by a slave soldier, and slowly walked to the terrace on the edge of the cliff, looking at the blue Holy Sea below (which generally refers to the Aegean Sea and the sea around Constantinople). In fact, the Holy Sea was originally called the Sea of ​​Arches. Later, because the pronunciation was similar to "holy", it became a rumor. But in everyone's heart, this sea area is naturally sacred. Whoever can possess its beautiful face can dominate the land and the sea. As for the Emir of Nicaea, he was very familiar with this sea. He was captured by the Byzantine Romans in his early years, and later served as a mercenary general under the Roman Empire. Later, because he stood on the side of Alexius's political enemies, he was liquidated after he ascended the throne, and then escaped from Constantinople. However, after all these years, he knew the internal strife of the Byzantine palace and the weaknesses of the army very well. The essence of the fleet of the Byzantine Roman Empire was originally concentrated in Cicilia in Asia Minor. With the loss of Asia Minor, this fleet was also wiped out. Therefore, Alexius now has no powerful warships at all. In the past, facing the Normans' maritime invasion, he could only rely on the help of Venice and Amalfi, two maritime republics. Then, it was perfect for Zahas to use his own fleet to harass Constantinople, which happened to hit the "soft spot" of the emperor.

Thinking of this, Zahas pulled out an arrow from his quiver and shot it toward the rolling sea. "This time, the arrow of the Turkic warrior must be firmly nailed on the Golden Gate of Constantinople!"