Eagle Byzantium

After hearing this, about twenty of the original "Fifty Captains" from Diognis's team and about a dozen of the Plonian knights who surrendered together looked at each other: The captor was secretly laying a stake. Taking advantage of Gawain's trust, place him and his old troops (that is, us) in Angrasburg, and then take advantage of this moment to rebel, surrender the castle and return to the imperial army?

Everyone looked at the official who was standing beside the emperor's statue solemnly, silent and embarrassed.

Everyone usually talks about the morality of loyalty, but after the disaster of the Battle of Manzikert, almost all the military nobles in Asia Minor retreated to Thrace, Macedonia and other places, which has always been a bit of a dilemma. Now that Gawain has recovered nearly half of the Anatolian Plateau, everyone has surrendered, and the land in the sacred fief is guaranteed. Moreover, there is no need to distract himself from managing the land like the original governor of Plonia. Supervising taxes, as long as you can perform meritorious deeds, your rewards will increase, which is good.

So does the arresting officer in front of me have selfish motives? Because his wife would be threatened by the new emperor if she stayed in the imperial capital?

While everyone was speculating, Diognis repeated his original speech, but no one took the initiative to stand up and ask Kaicheng to surrender. After all, what is the difference between surrendering now and joining the Theban Holy Order before the Battle of Chaeronea?

In the end, Diognis glanced at everyone, walked slowly towards the wall, picked up the kerchief and wrapped it carefully around his forehead, then tied the saber, and then faced the sunlight from the perforation and picked up the things on the long table. The amulet given to him by his wife Gu Siyun was tied to the armor on his chest, wrapped in an old cloak, holding the iron flail, and walked out of the hall step by step, crossed the volcanic stone bridge, and came to the battlement. forward.

Below, around the Sakarya River, thousands of the Emperor's troops are forming formations. The Black Madonna's battle flag, the crimson purple royal flag, and the New Army's battle flag with a blue background and white cross are flying towards our faces. The soldiers demonstrate The noise of the chanting was so loud that as soon as Diognis leaned on the crenellation, he saw the ceremonial guards of Titicius, Michael and Theodorus below.

The three generals all saw the towering rocks and city walls, with Diognis standing behind them. Mikhail was the most familiar with him, so they rode forward a few steps and raised their hands.

As a result, before he could say anything, Diogenes above raised his flail and faced the wind on the plateau and shouted to all the besieging troops below the city, "I and all the soldiers in the city point to the icon of the emperor in front of us. I swear, this is our destiny, and we will never surrender!"

As soon as these words came out, Mikhail immediately froze.

Not only that, all the captains of fifty and the knights of Plonia standing next to Diognis in the battlements were also extremely surprised, but the silence was only for a moment, and then everyone raised their fists and responded in unison. The arresting officer is coming.

Everyone feels that this plateau, where countless heroes and heroic deeds have been born, is about to give birth to a new great power. This power will combine the bravery of the Seljuk Turks, the prosperity of Romania, the vitality of the Varyag and the The elegance of Greece is mixed together to create a new world, a new pattern of ocean and land!

"Stubborn!" The old general under the banner of the Black Madonna waved his hand angrily, and then under the trebuchet beside him, the rows of soldiers and gunners standing in front shouted and pulled off the slings and pulled the swing arms. Turning over, countless hurled stones rolled in the air, flying towards Angrasburg like a torrential rain...

Then, the defense battle of Angrasburg broke out. It guarded the important trade route of Ikonium and also controlled the water transportation junction of the Harris River and the Sakarya River. Those who refused to surrender were stationed here. Diognis and the 1,300 officers and soldiers under his command, the guard even shouted, "That Norman woman is just a trophy I plundered. Even if the emperor executes her, it will not affect me in the slightest."

The emperor's 30,000 troops took turns storming Angrasburg, using catapults to smash it, building siege towers, building blockade trenches and other means. However, the defender and his castle were still stuck like a nail. far away.

In the cities of Caesarea and Iconium, Sheriff Giovanni, who was in charge of all matters, also began to dispatch all civilian troops and hire Ogus people, and began to harass the emperor's supply lines to gain time for the defenders to capture the officials. .

As for strong reinforcements, there is really no way to count on them now - all the elites Gawain can use are concentrated in Marash.

When the news reached Castamonu City, John was a little puzzled and furious, "What happened? Who gave Diognis the impression that I was going to use his wife to blackmail him? I just admired his military skills." I just hope that he will come and pledge his loyalty. Damn it, I don’t know how long the Ani people’s Marash Fort can hold on, so I’m sending the order. No matter what, we must do our best to capture Angras Fort as soon as possible!”

At this moment, news of the battle situation from all parties also reached Gawain, who was personally supervising the battle on the Marash battlefield.

"Angrasburg is under siege day and night by the emperor's tens of thousands of troops."

"Bohemond, Baldwin, Tancred, and Ridvan fought many battles in the Tartus area, and each had their own victory or defeat. Now Tancred's army is out of strength and has begun to retreat towards the city of Antioch."

"The Seljuk Sultan of Isfahan Palace was assassinated by the Alpine Old Man Hassan faction and died of his injuries. The Jihad originally organized by the Eastern Turks has died midway."

The most urgent thing for Gawain was this military situation. "Apsomates of Cyprus took the opportunity to counterattack. His army reoccupied Paphos and crossed the mountains and began to march towards the city of Kyrenia. There were only guards there. He is a detachment of the Brigade, and there is still no definite evidence whether the Egyptian side is behind the scenes to reinforce him.”

Finally included in it was a letter from the court of Tarsus, written by Anna herself, "Dear husband, I heard that your army is like a ribbon in the night, tightening the golden apple of Marash. Tie it down, I hope it becomes the next sparkle in my crown Bright pearl, for this I praise you, and I can't help but long for your glory in the palace, especially with Sebastian..." Gawain was so frightened that he jumped over quickly, because he Understand that Anna often saves the key words of revealing her feelings at the end of her letters.

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Sure enough, the last sentence was, "Actually, I am also here to ask for help. Hertomia begged me to award the honor of conquering Maras Castle to Dorus Lambert, who has always been loyal and brave to us. Although doing so may make Some regular brigade soldiers feel embarrassed, but please don’t make it public and keep it as a little secret between us - after all, now that the Earl of Merlot is injured in his arm, and Branas is newly married, the most suitable candidate is Dorus. ”

"Except for the two people in front of you, you really don't take the rest of the people in your eyes." Gawain shook his head helplessly and shrugged, then he looked down the mountain peak.

The arrangements for a full-scale assault on Marash were almost in place, just waiting for his order.