Eagle Byzantium

After hearing Gawain's words, Anselm remained silent, but his throat made a loud noise, a bit like thick phlegm stuck there, rolling up and down. Gawain knew this patriarch very well, and behaved like this That is to say, he began to weigh the interests.

The next step was to put some firewood into the burning stove. Gawain exhorted with a hopeful and aggrieved tone: "I am an old friend of the Holy See. He is equal to my father, and I am equal to his son." , we are kissing again Just like brothers, don't you count as the son of the Holy See? In addition, people, you have to look forward. His Majesty the Holy See is now very old, and he may have to pass away in a few years. We will deal with his death now. Gotta pay attention.”

"That's the truth, cough."

"So my idea is to immediately ask you to draft a document and send it to the city of Rome, saying that I am willing to become a vassal of the Holy See like Sicily and pay vassal tax to the city of Rome every year, but the condition is that I hope to become a 'Catholic' Apostle' and ask you to return to Rome to take up the post of Cardinal of a certain diocese."

The whites of Anselm's eyes doubled. His appearance showed the sequelae of snoring. Although he tried his best to deal with religious affairs on weekdays, he always couldn't sleep well. His appearance showed a swollen throat, drooling mouth, sparse hair and a chin. Short bulge, but even so he was against Rome The Holy See of the city still holds a warm yearning: I am almost sixty years old, and I serve as patriarch in such an important area as Tarsus. There is no reason why I should be worse than Sambel and Maurice in Jerusalem. "You can do it, come on Anselm!"

After making up his mind, Anselm swallowed his foam completely, stretched out his hand, and clasped it tightly with the smiling Gawain, "I will draft the document right away!"

Soon after, a large number of old and new ships that set sail from the new port of St. Paul set sail and arrived at the port of Salamis in Cyprus - Andodat, the former governor of Tarsus, commanded two brigades, plus nearly 10,000 civilian troops, The new auxiliary troops, working day and night, arrived in Beritus and Jubail by boat. Afterwards, they met with Plagit, the remaining officer here, and officially began to move along the west side of the Lebanon Mountains. Heading north along the coastal passage, they arrived after a few days to occupy the "Pilgrim Mountain" less than two miles away from Pola Port. They prepared roads and fortresses on this mountain, began to erect siege equipment and laid out siege artillery, overlooking the fortresses and walls in the city. On the other hand, Wen Moha led a fleet (including four large stern ships supported by Amalfi and Red Duck) to tightly block the sea surface of Pola Port.

At the same time, Andodat sent a letter written by the former Patriarch of Antioch, John Oakshilt, to the mountain plateau on the east side, which was addressed to the Maronite believers who lived in the mountains. They had previously obeyed In the letter, the Patriarch of Antioch requested that all Maronite mountaineers obey the authority of Tarsus from now on and provide assistance in the siege of Tripoli.

The Maronite leader said yes, but only if "we are allowed to keep our arms and our mountain fortresses."

Andodat also personally stamped the reply, "Absolutely."

At the beginning of October, more than 3,000 Maronite soldiers came down from the mountains and camped on the side of the Tarsus Guards, strengthening the siege of Andodat.

Previously, after learning that the situation was not good, the city of Tripoli sent a messenger to the city of Damascus to plead for military assistance or diplomatic mediation from their original suzerain, Dukak Toutushi.

The city even offered to pay 50,000 gold coins as a reward if Tarsus was willing to withdraw its troops.

But Tripoli, which has always been the most important shipbuilding base in the Levant and has complete docks and ports, has long been a battleground for Gawain. Now he doesn't care about money or people, only this city. Dukak was also a somewhat weak figure. Faced with the request for help from the vassal city, he did not dare to send out troops to fall out with Gawain. Instead, he sent a secret envoy to the court of Tarsus to plead that he had "no intention of provoking", which was tantamount to secretly attacking Tripoli. Give and sell!

The desperate city of Tripoli began to seek help from the Fatimid court in Egypt.

This is their only remaining hope.

But now Fatima's momentum is even more declining than before. Before the Christian Expedition, it lost its vast territories in the east and west and could only maintain influence in Egypt itself and some seaport cities in the southern Levant. Then it was invaded by the emerging Turks and lost its control over Baghdad and Syria. power. Domestically, famine, religious persecution, corruption and internal strife are prevalent. The fertile Nile River can no longer bring food. Coptic farmers have died or fled in large numbers. Christians and Jews are forced to wear black robes and special symbols and suffer discrimination and abuse, with ulterior motives. The generals and ministers were each supported by a Berber, Turkic, Armenian or Ethiopian mercenary army and fought against each other. The caliph was just a noble prisoner detained in a majestic and gorgeous palace.

Now that the Christians have regained Jerusalem, the territory that Egypt can control has shrunk. Fortunately, the powerful Grand Vizier Everdel has implemented arbitrary and iron-fisted rule and can stabilize the shaky situation. However, after the Battle of Assur, Avdele was defeated by the coalition forces of Gawain, Baldwin, and Bohemond, and lost most of his elite army, so he hid in his official residence in Ashkelon and was too embarrassed to leave.

So after the letter of help from Tripoli reached him, Avdele immediately believed that "it would be harmful rather than helpful to start a war with Tarsus and Jerusalem at this moment." Then he asked several envoys to take a boat to the Cairo palace to tell the Fatima Caliph Musta Ali, "From now on, our country must take rectification of taxation, rest and recuperation as the best policy, and strive to maintain peaceful relations with other countries."

Efdal did this, in addition to justice, of course, he had his own selfish motives: most of the dynasty's elite were still concentrated in the Ashkelon area, and he stayed here to try to firmly grasp this armed force, unwilling to mobilize it at will to maintain his power.

The letter from the Grand Vizier was delivered to the gate of the Caliph's palace. Guarding this place was an Armenian guard. Its commander was Ashot, who was called "Swordsman", and was also the brother of Mahadezeri, who had defended the castle in the Battle of Kars and was later captured and beheaded by Gawain.

It was late at night, and the Caliph was sleeping in another palace, the "West Palace", so the letter was taken by General Ashot, whom he trusted.

Unexpectedly, when the servant raised the candle, he accidentally burned the corner of the letter. General Ashot hurriedly asked two Coptic clerks to tear out the half-burned letter paper and put it on the table for rescue transcription.

Check out the correct version on the 16-9 book forum!

It doesn't matter if it is copied, just copy the bloody "Crow Palace Incident".