Eagle Byzantium

Billioni's speech made all the Armenian nobles excited. "You can use this money to directly hire some Sagittus cavalry and Kurds to fight for you." Billioni promised very generously, and then Parker Ade and Feier shouted to entertain the distinguished guests with drinks.

"His Majesty the Emperor of Rome not only recognized your legal kingdom in the golden edict, but he is also willing to fully support you politically and financially." At the banquet surrounded by the sound of musical instruments, the emperor's emissary Potphilus also repeated this To cheer up everyone who was originally depressed.

"What kind of reward do we need to give?" At this moment, Hercules, the son of Pacoad, became sober. He knew that there is no free lunch in the world.

Billioni smiled gracefully and raised the wine cup, "We took such a big risk, especially you, who left behind a fortune of two hundred thousand gold coins in Rome and Pisa to come here. Of course, we also hope to get a lot of money." Of rights. Dear King Ferdinand, you know Venice. Merchants carried Dalmatian cedar wood, iron and slaves on their ships. Amalfi merchants carried Tuscan wool and salt from the Po River from Italy to Egypt to sell the goods and then ship them. If we go back with the silk and spices there, what is the profit margin?”

Feir held the wine glass and shook his head blankly - the Armenian fighting nobles had always been indifferent to these things.

"Twelve hundred percent - that's the amount of profit." Bill Leoni replied, when he saw that Feier was still confused about this series of numbers, "That's twelve times my friend, equal to When you get on the ship, you throw one Byzantine on the deck, and when you return, it turns into twelve, shining with gold.”

At this time, Fair opened his mouth wide and nodded longly to show that he understood, "But what can we Armenia do?"

The dual consuls of Pisa and Rome laughed, "Did you know? Previously, we had been competing with the hot duck merchants for the interests of ports in Sicily, Cordoba, and Kairouan, but we turned a blind eye to such rich Eastern trade. This It is the biggest lose-lose situation for Pisa and the Red Duck people. Now we also aspire to occupy the crescent-shaped area of ​​the Levant, Cilicia and Egypt like Amalfi and Venice. rights, but latecomers often have to make more efforts and sacrifices - so they must get the recognition and support of your country, Sultan Ridwan and His Majesty the Roman Emperor. Now the Rela Duck people are preparing to get it from His Majesty the Emperor. Mining rights for alum in Phicaia in Thrace and Fugliana in Smyrna, a necessity for all weaving and dyeing clothes; in addition, the Pisan Chamber of Commerce hopes to obtain in Maras We will transport the blankets, honey, and grains here along the trade routes of the Sivas Plateau to Nishmund and Trabzon for sale. We will then obtain raw silk from there and transport it to the emperor's capital along the Uxen Sea. From there, the alum and frankincense will be sent back to Italy and the Frankish lands for sale - I have calculated carefully that this 'Sivas trade route', which is independent of Amalfi and Venice, can get 100% A profit of three thousand!" After saying this, Bill Leoni's eyes were shining, "Once there is a huge financial income, we will work harder to support you and Ridwan to unite Gawain and Boxi. Mond, and the Amalfi and Venetian Chamber of Commerce behind them are driven out of the Levant and Egypt! I call this plan 'two birds in the forest are worse than one in the hand', 'hunting birds of prey first'."

"But as far as I know, Amalfi and the Venetians seem to be on the side of His Majesty the Emperor." Feier asked the Emperor's emissary with some confusion.

"His Majesty, His Majesty, has become disgusted and disgusted with these two city-states. They blatantly sided with the enemies of the empire, and their destruction would not be far away." Potrufis said softly, and then everyone laughed heartily. Clink glasses to each other in congratulations.

Only Hercules was a little preoccupied and walked to the corner of the pillar alone, pouring himself a drink...

No one knows how drastically the situation in the East and the West has changed in the few days following the fall and massacre of Samosata. Amid various conspiracies, the old alliance has been silently destroyed and abandoned, and the new alliance has been destroyed and abandoned. Interest conflicts are growing like wild weeds in spring.

A few days later, as Estu expected, Bohemond was unable to rely on his previous victory to penetrate into Marash and capture the city: all the pilgrims, including the Normans themselves, were unwilling to fight for the lord's northern expedition. They strongly and collectively demanded to "go to the holy city and die".

Bohemond had no choice but to remember the correctness of the advice in Gawain's letter, so he could only hand over Samosata to the management of his own Earl Richard, who had a hundred of the bravest knights around him.

Subsequently, Bohemond and his nephew, who had been very unhappy with each other before, "put aside their past feud" and led an expedition team composed of about 6,000 core soldiers along Aleppo and Antioch, preparing to follow Raymond Behind Germany, march towards Jerusalem.

At this time, Gawain had already gathered the Jimegis Brigade, the Red Hand Brigade, and all the cavalry, and made the decision to "send the Jimegis Brigade to help in the Holy City attack in two months." After making the promise, he began to swear an oath in the city of Tarsus and went to the plateau to resist the invasion of the emperor's troops.

In the center of the city square, in front of "St. Paul's Cathedral" where the foundations were being excavated and stones were being moved, Gawain personally lectured nearly 10,000 soldiers, "I have no rebellious intentions or disobedient behavior towards your Majesty. I originally just wanted to Appointed as patron of a large hospital, retired from military circles and politics Just two days ago, I delivered a "Saint's Prayer" I wrote to Patriarch Anselm (the Patriarch next to me at the moment). The expression on the bishop's face is subtle), more than 200 divine personnel looked at It was agreed that my prayer would be required by all Christians in Cilicia, so I thought that if I were not the military leader of the pilgrims, I would be a very good patron of the hospital - but I think people Ah, in the journey of life, we not only have to rely on individuals The struggle of the pilgrims must also take into account the course of history. Now the entire team of hundreds of thousands of pilgrims not only relies on our large hospital, but also relies on me as the patron to perform escort duties on the plateau, so it is really difficult to retreat. We can’t just sit back and watch Seleucia’s loss.”

"I am willing to follow the battle banner of the great patron and defend Seleucia until death!" All the soldiers present shouted, holding up their shields and weapons.

"From now on, discard the royal flag originally given by the emperor and change the flag!" Gawain took the opportunity to wave and shout. (To be continued ~^~)