Eagle Byzantium

It can be said that the emperor had anticipated this "worst and most stalemate" situation during the careful planning and deduction in the past few months, so he believed that to defeat Gawain, direct confrontation alone was not enough, there must at least be a hidden " "The trump card" caused Gawain to be in chaos.

"Now is the best seaworthy season, and although Gawain does not need to consider the land threats of Marash, Danishmund, and Trabzon for the time being, all of his mobile military forces have also been contained. , and the core of his territory is completely empty, with all the coastline The island of Cyprus has been surrendered to me. It forms a convenient and quick springboard with Crete, Rhodes Island and the Gulf of Atalia. Come on, Gawain, see my anger and skill! "Emperor! After saying that, he laughed in front of his close guards,

Ten days later, Archduke Apsomatos, the governor of Cyprus, stood on a high tower in the port of Kyrenia in the north of the island. He watched in horror as countless black cockroaches cut through the waves and came like locusts. They seemed to have suddenly arrived. As if emerging from the mist of Crete or Rhodes' "Eye of the Sea" in the west, the sound of the conch horn is heart-wrenching and frightening, and the flag on the mast whirrs.

"The emperor's trump card is actually..." Apsomates was horrified, but the imperial officials assigned by the emperor kept reminding him that he had the responsibility to cooperate with this huge fleet on the expedition, and he also had to Providing it with a lighthouse, supplies, and a mooring base.

Cold sweat ran down Apsomates's cheeks, and he asked the imperial officer with some confusion, "Where is the goal of the expedition?"

"Of course it's the city of Seleucia. It's Gawain's old nest. It contains many of Gawain's weapon workshops and trading bazaars. It doesn't have as many reed swamps as there are along the coast of Cilicia, which is convenient for ashore operations." Qin Guan Without thinking, he pointed to the ocean and said.

Kyrenia is only half a day’s journey from Seleucia by boat!

Anna, her daughter Helena, and almost all the female officials were in the old palace of the Seleucia Acropolis. Accompanying her were only three centuries of the Seleucia civilian army, plus forty "Annato" who belonged to Anna alone. Leah Guards”.

Almost the next morning, Hertomia, the imperial ink officer, looked horrified and hurriedly said "Excuse me", then went directly into the old palace bedroom. Biana was playing with Helena in her arms, but at this moment, there was a shrill horn outside the window. The sound made the female Caesar's nerves tense up. She asked the ink officer who walked in first, "Are there any enemies?"

"Yes, His Highness Caesar, please go to the small tower in the east of the city to watch." Hertomia stretched out her hand.

At the small tower towering in the east of the city, the warriors of the Anatolian Guard stood there anxiously, carrying bows and arrows. When they saw Anna arriving, they all half-kneeled to salute. Anna walked behind the battlements where wooden platforms were set up everywhere, and stood tall with her height. Look down.

An extremely large number of ships appeared on the sea of ​​Cyprus, including gaff-rigged rowboats, jib-rigged boats, and several relatively large three-decker warships. They formed two fronts and dropped anchor. The military port on the west side of the castle was blocked by groups, and the horns that communicated with each other were loud and intensive, exaggerating the tense atmosphere when the second war was coming.

And below the east side of the city where Anna is located, beside the sandbank at the mouth of the river, several ships with their sails lowered are docked there. There are many ships behind them that are quickly approaching here. There are actually turbaned and barefoot pirates standing on the deck, making a sound. With rude shouts, they kept shooting arrows at the shore and the top of the city. The remaining pirates, numbering in the hundreds, had already They jumped out of the cabin and went ashore, divided into several columns, and headed towards the river bridge. Along the way, they burned and looted several sacred farms, paper mills and sawmills. One of the leaders was wearing a white felt hat, wrapped in Wearing a red robe, he was riding on a horse, with a wolf-head war flag fluttering behind him, which was particularly eye-catching in the blazing firelight.

"It's...Zahas..." Ana, who was holding her waist with her pregnant belly, looked at the ferociously fluttering wolf-head battle flag and said in surprise and uneasiness.

Then, several arrows flew over and brushed against the stone wall of the crenellation. The guard warriors hurriedly raised their shields and helped Caesar down from the crenellated wooden platform. "Where is Seleucia's fleet?" Anna asked eagerly, and then she He answered himself, "Most of them are in the port of Malrus, led by Andreev and Zalguba, to meet up with the Adana fleet. Together, we were originally prepared to fight against Apsomatos. There were also two vehicles and ships at Alamein Fort, but it didn't help. The number of enemy ships was five or ten times ours, not only Zahas. Yes, and Apsomatus’s—Father, have even the former enemies joined forces to deal with the country of Tarsus?”

This is Alexios's trump card.

Originally, after the Emir of Nicaea, Zahas, was defeated by the Imperial Steward, he took ships and plundered everywhere along the Holy Sea. Later, he was defeated by Gawain in Gallipoli and fled to the Peloponnese Sea. He was expelled by the emperor's brother Sebastocrat and the Venetians, and fell all the way to Kairouan in North Africa, where he continued to play the role of "Sea Nomads".

Until before the war, the emperor sent a secret envoy to sneak into the caravan, and actually made a wish to Zahas, "You have more than thirty warships and more than two thousand strong pirates, as long as you are willing to surrender to me and help me deal with Gawain. I can order the Grand Duke, the governor of Crete, to set aside a large area on the island. I will give you a piece of land, and all your subordinates will be regarded as sailors of the imperial fleet, enjoying land and salary. In the future, after the Kingdom of Tarsus is destroyed by me, I will additionally give you the fields and harbor fortress of Rhodes Island. And you are allowed to plunder Levantine merchant ships freely in these waters.”

Zahas, who had long dreamed of the beautiful scenery and fertile land of Asia Minor, gave up being a wolf on the sea and was willing to be the vicious dog of Emperor Komnenos.

At this moment, he was sitting on the bow tower of the largest warship, wearing chain mail and squinting his fox-like eyes. He stood between the commander-in-chief of the Imperial Navy, Arthasidus, and the ruler of Cyprus, Apsomatus, looking at the city of Seleucia surrounded by arrows, and said triumphantly, "As expected by His Majesty the Emperor, there is no defense here at all, and our team is no less than 4,500 people here. Gawain's fortress is going to be completely destroyed. This is also a revenge for the Battle of Gallipoli!"

"It is said that Her Royal Highness the Princess and her wicked son with Gawain are also in the city. It's really..." Arthasidus was a little sad, and Apsomatus also frowned and bowed his head in silence.

"You don't have to worry at all. If Her Royal Highness can surrender and condescend to board my ship, I will definitely send her and the child to His Majesty the Emperor safely. If Her Royal Highness is stubborn and does something against the Lord (committing suicide), then we can't do anything, right?" Zahas squeezed his light gray eyes, and then announced loudly to raise the flag on the mast and launch a general attack on the city of Seleucia! (To be continued ~^~)