Eagle Byzantium

One day later, I first noticed that something was slightly wrong in General Matthew's camp: behind the fog on the plateau, the Guardian Brigade camp opposite him seemed to have fallen silent. Just last night, it was still a scene of smoke.

Several scouts and light cavalry carrying quivers walked in an evacuated formation across the stalemate plains and arrived at the camp of the Guardian Brigade that had already approached Philomelon. Then they discovered that it was indeed an empty camp, and the company was on guard. Neither the cavalry nor the secret sentries were seen.

Matthew was so surprised that he rode his horse to the foot of the mountain. He saw that there were all the tents and tents on it, covering the entire hillside in an orderly manner, but there was not a single person or beast of burden. , "Quick, go and report to His Majesty the Emperor - this brigade coming from the enemy's side suddenly retreated towards Angrasburg with unknown purpose."

At this time, Branas had already led all the soldiers of the brigade, rushed to the Sakarya River, and really started to advance towards Angrasburg. At first, the soldiers quietly drove their animals, carried luggage, and pulled the baggage carts, and evacuated along the pass. Now the sun has risen, shining on the fields and rivers, and the soldiers are marching as much as they can. They moved their feet and sang hymns and war hymns loudly.

And in the Angrasburg tower, Diogenes, who was guarding the fire, had a dull and desperate look on his face. He was wrapped in a dirty turban and leaning against the wall lonely with his iron flail, squatting there with a handle. The dagger was whittling a piece of wood. The officer had no idea what he was whittling or what he was whittling for. He just sat there blankly, doing this to kill time.

The siege of the fortress lasted for such a long time. It was first besieged by two enemy brigades, then turned into one, and then turned into Gawain's second line of border troops, but even so Diognis could not rush out or repel them. enemy. The messengers who desperately sent out to report the emperor's news only said "Hold", "You must hold", "Anglas successfully contained a large number of enemies, I am very pleased", "Please find a way, please hold", none of them any changes.

For the emperor and Gawain, this period of time passed quickly, but for Diognis, time had stood still, and the same was true for the entire garrison of the fortress. Looking down through the shooting hole in the tower, soldiers on the battlement fence were lying together in twos and threes, tired and bored, with shields, single-edged knives, hooks, and slings scattered around them. Below was the stretching siege camp—Walter and Monomachus did not carry out any strong attack, but quietly besieged the castle, waiting for the moment when it was ready...

"The Guardian Brigade has withdrawn. Where did it go? Is it going to concentrate its efforts to capture Angrasburg first? Or is it going around to another flank in an attempt to pose a threat to my camp?" The emperor, who got the military information in the imperial camp, asked He was also very surprised and summoned the generals to ask such a question.

Everyone immediately started talking, gathered around the sand table, and started discussing.

But at this moment, several eunuchs suddenly ran in with pale faces and tremblingly told the emperor a shocking news, "Bohemond gathered ten thousand soldiers in Taranto, Apulia, and Calabria, and he quickly They rushed to the city of Bari and expelled Ancona and Venice. The siege, and then went north to defeat 5,000 Ancona mercenaries at Foggia. Now the great rebel is clamoring to cross the sea and drive directly to the city of Durazzo, destroying everything in the empire along the way, Durazzo and Larry. Samoa, Corinth, Thessaloniki..."

"Stop talking!" The emperor suddenly felt that his eyes were dim. He staggered two steps involuntarily, as if his boots had stepped on soft sand, and then he fell down on the seat, holding his fists weakly and breathing heavily.

"Bohemond...how could he move so quickly...he should never have the strength to organize and hire so many soldiers." After a long time, the emperor said painfully.

The lush and fertile low-lying fields of Foca are divided by clumps of dark woods. The Norman knights drove their horses slowly past the battlefield where a fierce battle had just broken out. In this battle, the Ancona mercenaries' front line was destroyed. collapsed, more than a thousand people were massacred, and the rest all fled. Bodies and pools of blood were gathered together, covered with the marks of horseshoes that had rushed by. "I love Italy. It is always as young and beautiful as a girl, and has a pleasant climate. It is much better than Anatolia and the Levant." Bohemond, overlooking the hillside, said intoxicatedly as he pulled the reins. Arriving, the Calabrian light soldiers beside him stood in rows holding golden-rimmed holy flags and flying leopard battle flags. The Duke of Apulia survived the disaster and quickly regained his majesty after returning to his hometown.

Bohemond's cavalry blitz not only defeated the Ancona army attacking Bari, but also forced the Venetian fleet to evacuate. Pope Eugene Owenseth in Rome sent him the honor of defending Christianity and praised him as being as great as his father.

But if the emperor's doubts were to be resolved, the answer was: Gawain's bank in Bari took out all its assets and gave Bohemond 30,000 Byzantine gold coins at one time, 10,000 of which were paid in cash and 20,000 were guaranteed by the bank's own credit (in history, when Charles of Anjou organized 30,000 people to invade Naples and Sicily to destroy the enemy Hohenstaufen dynasty for the Pope, the pro-pope cities such as Florence provided military support of 144,000 florins of gold coins to the Angevin army. This beautiful coin engraved with lilies was stained with blood since its birth). Of course, there were also private assets of the Pope and funding from the generous Duchess of Tuscany, Matilda - the Pope could naturally tolerate and support the existence of Bari, just as he would not tolerate the forces of Komnenos and Henry IV going deep into Italy to infringe on himself.

With this money, his own prestige and reputation, and the full support of the Pope, Bohemond could certainly quickly raise a group of troops - he didn't even have to worry about the source of soldiers, because with the rise of the Eastern Expedition, there were mercenaries all over southern Italy, and as long as he threw coins, he would have no worries about no one.

The messengers from Ancona City who begged for a truce stood dejectedly in front of Bohemond's horse. They said they would sever their friendship with the Greek emperor of Constantinople, dared not defy the anger of the Pope and His Highness, and expressed their willingness to compensate Bohemond with 20,000 grosso silver coins.

"Very good, where are we going next?" Beside Bohemond, two Norman noble knights, Gay...... and Claret, who had not had time to immigrate to the East before, asked the ambitious prince.

Bohemond raised his red beard and pointed to the east, where the end of the Foca Plain was the vast Adriatic Sea. "I will follow in my father's footsteps and go to Durazzo to meet the Greek emperor if he can return alive from the Anatolian Plateau..." (To be continued ~^~)