Eagle Byzantium

"Yes, but all the belongings and goods in the entire camp belong to the victor. All the captives, except the knights and nobles, will be reduced to prisoner-of-war slaves and distributed to the victor..."

"I must remind you, His Highness the Grand Duke, that Christianity does not allow brothers and sisters of the same religion to become slaves, let alone enslave them like you!" After Anselm heard this, he immediately corrected him angrily. .

However, Gawain was not angry either. He smiled, shrugged his shoulders, and corrected what he had just said, "I made a mistake. Thank you for the patriarch's accusation - all prisoners of war will not be reduced to slaves, but will be made up by me." Join the 'Logistics Corps'." Anselm was filled with anger, because this "Logistics Corps" is just a variant of the name for military camp slaves.

But before the Patriarch could continue to pester, the group of nobles actually agreed to it with all their heart, "All civilian soldiers are at the disposal of His Excellency the Grand Duke. Anyway, they were originally tenant farmers or serfs. Use them to provide security." The security rights of the nobles are unquestionable.”

Gawain nodded with satisfaction, "As for you, you still need to suffer here for a while. After all the fortresses from Kastabala to the ridge promise to give up resistance, I will naturally release you back. I promise to remove you. In addition to a large number of my troops stationed in several key mountain forts such as Tranzac, Vanka, and Corgison, I will ensure the stability of all the Ani people's original property."

The more than seventy surrendered nobles were immediately happy, which greatly exceeded the Patriarch's expectation - how could these martial arts nobles and gentry be so unethical? The prince's body was still cold, and they all rebelled collectively. Not only did they lay down their weapons and give up resistance, they also Provide key fortresses to the victor...

But what made the Patriarch scream even more terrifying was that this group of nobles really didn't do anything after that. Instead, they walked directly to the tent arranged by the winner and settled down as usual. The remaining captured Armenian civilian soldiers all had dull expressions and sat together. More than 4,000 prisoners of war were guarded by less than fifty red-handed cavalry. After the military servants brought in the food, this group of people They can also queue up to receive the food in an orderly manner, and then sit numbly in the mud pit or beside the baggage truck, and groups gather to eat.

"Your Majesty the Holy See, I must report to you. No matter what the cause of this war is and what the outcome will be, there is no doubt that Constantine, who is dominating the mountains of Cilicia, .Prince Reuben, and His majestic army of 10,000 infantry, cavalry and archers was surrounded and eliminated in a narrow camp about 3,500 feet long and less than 1,500 feet wide on an open and low-lying river valley plain. ,distance Only more than ten days had passed since the outbreak of the beacon fire. Gawain used my seal to send deceptive letters and successfully lured Ruben out. What's more frightening is that Gawain's matter was operated without any moral principles. Guilt and omissions - because a few days ago, at the meeting in Antioch, Lord Bohemond presented Reuben's nobles Taprenz, Edessa, Lavodella, and Tubersa The secret letters between the Armenian and Greek city lords , as well as the correspondence between Taprunzi and Reuben himself - Reuben's crime of "endangering the pilgrimage" in it is clear and fatal. This is a heavy blow to Your Majesty's diplomatic career with the Armenians. I don't think so. "I couldn't help but mourn." These were the sad words recorded by Anselm in a letter in the camp, "Ten thousand Armenian soldiers were besieged crazily by Gawain's cavalry and new trebuchets, and they persisted for only a few days. It collapsed, the prince himself died, and the armies of Gawain and Bohemond captured all the surviving nobles and soldiers. The grand duke of Seleucia openly declared before me that he would make all the captives slaves in the camp. It was really shocking. ——I mean, these soldiers are very disciplined and brave. It’s hard to imagine how miserable they will be after becoming slaves. Maybe Gawain will send them to the iron mines to torture them to death in the future.”

After thinking for a while, the patriarch, who was leaning in front of the book, sighed, dipped his reed pen again, and continued writing, describing the current development of the situation to Pope Odar Urban who was far away in Rome, " Since that group of nobles invested money, Gawain's army has easily accepted many fortresses on the mountains that are easy to defend and difficult to attack. But if you think about it carefully, maybe all the armed elite of the Armenians are surrounded by this lightning-fast battle. Wasn't the fundamental reason for the attack and destruction due to the lack of resistance? News came today that even Fanka City, the capital of Ruben's kingdom during his lifetime, had handed over the key to the city gate, and 300 of Gawain's most ferocious and loyal cavalry entered. That glorious and dangerous castle... Ruben's dynasty was destroyed. Holy See, I must tell you frankly that Gawain, whom you trusted before, has now turned into a ferocious war beast. , the castle he lived in became the mouth of the bloody lion of Nineveh, devouring everything around him, and the former Greek princess who was behind him and cohabiting with him, as described in the Bible, seemed to be riding on The terrifying temptress on the giant monster with seven heads and ten horns. Gawain is the scarlet monster with blasphemous words all over it, and Anna Doukas is even more dangerous. She rides on the saddle of the beast. Extremely beautiful but also dangerous It was extremely dangerous. She wore scarlet or purple clothes, a golden crown, and held a golden wine cup, which was full of greed and lust. She indulged in it with the monster under her crotch, roaring in the wilderness. , hurting innocent lives, with the abominable and blasphemous word "Babylon the Great" written on her forehead. Yes, please believe me, Your Majesty, sooner or later they will get married and become the emperor and queen of Babylon... "

After writing, however, Anselm trembled as he held the letter paper. He wrote down all his grievances, but he did not have the courage to send it out. In the end, he made a choice: he placed the paper full of words on the candlestick, held it up and watched it burn to ashes. Anselm felt relieved, and did not think much about the rest.

However, Castabala City was still resisting. Even though he knew that the prince was dead, Gawain did not pay much attention to the fortress for the time being: he was busy dividing the "cake" after the victory with everyone. All the Seleucid soldiers withdrew from the Syrian Gate according to the prior agreement and handed it over to Bohemond, which made Bohemond smile; at the same time, Gawain also separated the main force and occupied almost all the fortresses in the Armenian plains and mountains. With the cooperation of the joint letter of advice from the nobles, there was almost no resistance along the way. Now only the northernmost Corgisson Fortress still maintained a hostile attitude.

Almost overnight, the map of the entire Cilicia changed dramatically.

"Increase the number of large Plane guns to seven." Gawain looked at the still standing Castabala Fort and said to the little sunfish next to him, "Also, install large water wheels between the boats on the river to solve the army's flour grinding problem first." (To be continued ~^~)