Eagle Byzantium

As a result, before Raymond finished speaking, several border soldiers used iron rings to lift the door and stuffed the shrimp cannon with shotgun shells on the outer wall, and fired a wave of shots at the platform where the one-eyed earl was. The platform was immediately riddled with bullet holes, and Raymond cursed and dodged back again.

The current situation is in full swing, and even Robert of Flanders cannot control it: Gawain's generals only asked him to persuade Raymond to surrender, but they would not give the other party too much leisure to consider carefully. The general attack and bloodbath on the Eagle Tower may be launched at any time. In particular, the Calegos party stationed there has long been listed as a "bandit party", and Gawain's army, especially the Niketas party, all hope to kill them all as soon as possible.

"Please think about it as soon as possible, Raymond! I don't want the dukes and lords who marched east with me to fight each other to this extent." Robert waved his hand and shouted sincerely, standing next to the smoke from the cannon, and then begged the messenger in the siege camp to report the situation here to Gawain, the patron of Iconium City, as soon as possible.

But the order was withheld by Gregor, Birrel and other generals before it left the camp. "We don't want the merit of capturing the Eagle Tower of the Grand Earl of Laodicea to be reduced to a negotiation of laying down arms and accepting surrender."

Robert felt helpless that Raymond was in danger. In the eyes of Gawain's men, the other party had become the most tempting prey. So the earl sighed and stood in front of the beautiful valley hillside, watching the lonely Eagle Tower destroyed by the dense shooting of various firearms and muskets in the setting sun. It was coated with a flame-like color, like a terrible furnace. "We all came here with the idea of ​​atonement, but on the way we took on greater and heavier sins because of our greed. Will we all die alone in the furnace we created in the end?"

That night, Earl Robert left Laodicea on horseback.

After he returned to Flanders, a lowland country in the north of Europe, he was soon involved in the vortex of the struggle between the King of England and the King of France for this rich land. Robert, as a high-ranking noble, surrendered to the King of France. When fighting against the citizen army loyal to the King of England, he crossed a turbulent river in armor and accidentally fell off his horse and was swept away, losing his life... A brave warrior in the Eastern Expedition ended in such a tragic way.

At the same time as Robert left, the miners of Tranzac had dug an underground tunnel more than 110 feet long in the foundation of the Eagle Tower, leading directly to the cellar of the Eagle Tower. Then, the wheels sparkled in the torches: a cage cart carrying dozens of Cilician pigs was pushed in. The Cilician pigs were raised on acorns in the forest. They were meaty and hairy. They bit and fought hard in the cage, looking particularly fierce.

At this time, the Crescent Moon believers among the miners were all clamoring in dissatisfaction, "Wrap them with hay immediately, pour some light oil on them, and drive them into the tunnel to burn! This Eagle Tower will soon collapse halfway." The leading officer ignored it and pointed at the entrance of the dug tunnel and shouted orders.

But changes soon appeared. Several soldiers who stayed behind saw that the guards in the Eagle Tower cellar also opened the floor and dug a vertical hole, but they didn't seem to want to fight. The leader shook the torch a few times and whispered that he was the guarding officer who had abandoned the dark and joined the light. He was originally a famous Pronia knight in the Laodicea region. Now he encouraged seven companions to swear to turn to the camp of Caesar Anna Ducas and be willing to besiege the army to infiltrate the tower and wait for an opportunity to seize the gate and open it.

The gate of the Eagle Tower is embedded, with protruding gate towers on the left and right for protection. There is a curved "Z"-shaped corridor in front to the outer wall, and there is no shelter or protection. It is very difficult to attack directly, and even the Khitan Xue Dazhan blasting vehicle is useless. Now the measures taken by the internal garrison officer seemed to be the best solution. The news was first passed to General Leotius, the "General Supervisor of the Siege", who approved of it. He told Decius and Gregor while calling Acropolites and Becchus, "You simply select thirty Pisidian border soldiers and ten Niketus followers to attack directly from the tunnel, and seize the bottom floor and gate of the Eagle Tower from inside and outside. I will organize the assault soldiers to attack from the gate and cooperate with you." Without further ado, the two former Pronian knights who were ordered selected the tunnel assault team. All the soldiers stood at the dark tunnel entrance, wearing light leather or linen armor, holding torches, wearing sharp swords, and looking at the pigs grunting in the cage cart next to them. These lucky guys were still biting everywhere, not knowing that they had escaped a disaster by some strange coincidence and did not have to turn into burnt and smelly roasted pigs. At this moment, Raymond was gathering most of the officers and holding an emergency meeting on the top floor of the Eagle Tower.

The garrison officers were mainly divided into three categories: "outsiders" were the knights and sergeants of southern France brought by Raymond from Toulouse and Provence, and "natives" were the gentry and landlords of Prounia in the original Laodicea region, and finally a group of "bandits" whose core was the Calegos and some Tecobo people brought by Raymond from the emperor's team.

The first two categories strongly advocated surrendering out of the tower, "Gawain will not harm us, and will find a ship for us to go to sea and return home", "We have always obeyed the military service of the great earl, but now we cannot all be buried in the tower for your personal glory".

But the bandits were stubborn to the end. They certainly knew that Gawain would never forgive them, so they had the fierce idea of ​​"everyone buried together".

In the prayer room on the bottom floor of the main tower, the relief of the crucifixion of Jesus hung on the stone wall, and the various officers below were arguing endlessly, just like the disciples at the Last Supper.

Raymond sat on the stone platform below with his sword in his hand. He never gave an order to decide. He was also fighting fiercely in his heart. To be fair, he wanted to surrender, even if he ran back to Toulouse in despair, even if he lost all the money he had before the expedition. Half power is good too. But now most of the guards trapped in the Eagle Tower are Kallegos and Tecopo. It is not known whether he will trigger a mutiny if he gives the order to surrender.

"I hope Robert can bring Gao Wenfang relatively lenient conditions tomorrow, so we still have to discuss it." Raymond thought silently in his heart.

At this time, dozens of ferocious-looking Kallegos gangsters stepped forward with axes and sabers in their hands, shouting and surrounding Raymond and Burns, shouting, "It's time to make a decision!"

Raymond thought carefully, so he mustered up his power, stood up holding the hilt of the sword, knocked the bottom of the scabbard heavily on the floor, puffed out his beard and cheeks, and roared loudly and intermittently, "Stick, hold on until the end. ..."

"Ahhh!" After hearing the words of the great count, all the Kallegos gangsters grabbed their weapons and screamed wildly, then turned around and rushed down.