Eagle Byzantium

"It doesn't matter. The worst we can do is imprison you. Anyway, the Greek emperor will attack Cilicia soon, and the destruction of the isolated and helpless Gawain will be imminent. When the emperor destroys Tarsus, we will You dedicate yourself to him, and in the end you can be naked on a leash with Gawain. Entering the Coliseum, where you will be criticized and tortured by thousands of Constantinople athletic hooligans, the emperor will probably even ask you two to ride donkeys with spiked saddles, and then enjoy the ecstasy. " Pakade smiled sinisterly, his bald head flashing in the sun.

If ordinary people heard this, they would be completely paralyzed.

But who is Bohemond? He is an out-and-out hero. This is not the first time he has suffered such a disastrous defeat and frustration in his life. He has seen many storms and waves, and he has experienced hundreds of battles: after a quick and short mental calculation, He learned that Emperor Komnenos was definitely the mastermind behind the scenes, and would definitely take revenge on this guy to the end in the future, but for now, it was better to delay and save his life.

"I ask for treatment as a noble. You can imprison me, but you must allow me the freedom to raise ransom and enjoy normal meals. My injured subordinates should also receive proper care and treatment. If you change your mind after a while, you can open The price is high, but after the ransom is collected, I must abide by the sacred contract and restore my freedom." Bohemond, who was tied behind his back, held his head and talked.

Then, Bohemond was taken to the Maras Castle dungeon and locked up.

Of his 20,000 troops, less than one-fifth of those who returned to Antioch were captured, and about 10,000 of them were sold as slaves to Merrick. This was the tragic end of Bohemond's expedition to Marash.

After listening to the description, Gawain was dripping with sweat. He showed a rare look of panic. He unconsciously rubbed his mustache with his hands, turned his back to the Baldwins, and did not say a word for a long time.

In the end, Baldwin was anxious. Just as he was about to speak, his wife held him back. Goldschild winked and shook his head quickly, meaning to wait for Gawain to think about it carefully.

A full moment later, Gawain couldn't think of anything. After all, the more anxious he was, the more his mind went blank. He turned around with his eyes wide open, and the next question he asked was, "The Jimmagis Brigade...I Where’s the brigade?”

Gregor's brigade arrived at the city of Issus three days later and suffered considerable losses. They abandoned almost all their baggage and beasts of burden and suffered nearly half of their casualties. Three companies suffered total annihilation during the retreat. Tragedy, a detachment battle flag and dozens of guns were also seized by Saliki.

But compared with Bohemond, it is still lucky. After all, the main force and structure are still there.

Gawain immediately asked the great Earl Mero to go there and bring money and food to comfort and reward the soldiers.

When Mero arrived there, many of the Gemage soldiers cried loudly.

Gawain, who heard the news in Castabala City, also shed tears. He angrily said to the Baldwins: "The Red Hand Brigade is guarding Sebastian, and the Guardian Brigade is guarding Vanka. Now Since the emperor did not come immediately, I will lead the main force of these two brigades to Marash to kill all the Ani bastards and avenge the humiliation suffered by the Jimeguis Brigade!"

In the end, Baldwin was very calm. He hurriedly stopped Gawain, "This is no different from the mistake Bohemond made. What we should do is to wait and see the situation, try to use diplomatic means to rescue Bohemond, and Asking for help from my brother."

Gawain frowned, looked at Baldwin who nodded to him, and regained his senses, "Yes, if I act impulsively, the situation will continue to deteriorate."

So after calming down, Gawain immediately asked Mero to select 500 militiamen in Sisi County, recruit them to the Gemegis brigade team, and let them go to their camp in Zephyrim City to rest. To restore fighting spirit and vitality. Then Gawain sent an urgent message to Wright, "Now that all the armor of Gemmagis Brigade is damaged, you can organize the local surplus manpower, whether children or women and old people, to work hard to weave chain mail. Give him a reward and quickly add him to the Jimeguis Brigade."

After doing all this, Gawain ordered Branas of Fanka City, "Reorganize your brigade and border cavalry, or divide them into five teams, three out and two out, and attack Marash in turn. Northern Territory; In addition, I also ordered the Red Hand Brigade to go to Melitene to intimidate Feier, coerce them to ensure Bohemond's safety, and release him as soon as possible."

Two weeks later, Gawain's measures really had an effect: many Armenian nobles in Marash began to spread the word, saying that they intended to release Bohemond, but demanded an extremely high ransom.

It turned out that after Fer and Pakard captured Bohemond, Merik was rewarded with 10,000 prisoners of war, and returned to Erzurum in triumph, preparing to make a comeback and take back the plateau from Gawain and Theodorus in the future; while Osdu received all of Bohemond's baggage and 2,500 prisoners of war, and also returned to Aleppo in triumph. At the same time, Ridwan, Dukak, and Kobha of Mosul decided to eliminate their differences and past grudges under the mediation of a mysterious elder of the Crescent Church. They met at a border in the Azaze region, broke their arrows and swore an oath to each other, forming the "Great Seljuk Alliance", vowing to expel all pilgrims from the East. Then, Dukak mobilized 10,000 troops, set out from Damascus, contacted Tripoli, Tyre, Sidon and other cities, and besieged Gawain's Jubail and Beirut castles. The local garrison force was only 3,000 border troops; Ridwan invited Kobha to form an army of 30,000 people to attack Antioch fiercely.

The entire Levant region suddenly seemed to be in the position of the Crescent Church again.

But at this moment, Fer and others suddenly realized that they had nothing else to do except guarding the captive Bohemond, and there was no direction or capital to attack. Because the money extorted by the kidnappers was distributed to the mercenaries after the war, nearly one-third of the soldiers dispersed, some returned to their hometowns, and some returned to the Armenian Plateau tribes. Marash Castle was short of money again, and Gawain's brigade took turns to use the scorched earth strategy. The somewhat overwhelmed Governor Fer called everyone together and asked whether they wanted to exchange Bohemond for ransom.

Most of the nobles had no objection, because Bohemond was really annoying in the dungeon: he first shared a large prison with merchants such as Birleoni, but after only two weeks in prison, this red-bearded bastard "enfeoffed" 14 barons, 5 earls and a "Grand Marshal of the Latakia Navy" in prison. All the enfeoffment objects were fellow prisoners. The last glorious title was given to Birleoni, and Bohemond also signed a promissory note with them for a full 140,000 Byzantine gold coins. After signing and sealing, this group of people launched four prison break riots. In the most intense one, three "newly promoted barons of Antioch" and a earl were beaten to death. After the riot was suppressed, Bohemond was transferred alone to a fortress called Nixandar in the mountains to continue his imprisonment. The prisoners in the Marash dungeon, who had lost their leader, went on a collective hunger strike.

Check out the correct version in 16-9 Book Bar!

"The best way to deal with this bastard is to get a good ransom for him." Most of the nobles said bitterly. (To be continued ~^~)