Eagle Byzantium

Everyone in the city of Gandia hesitated. They looked at John, whose boots were torn, and knew that he had come here at the end of his rope, but he could still call himself "Komunen"? If the remarks coming from the imperial capital are accurate.

Several garrison soldiers with swords came up and surrounded John and Axepochus.

Now the rebels in Crete still occupy the White Mountain as a resistance stronghold, and are engaged in protracted small-scale battles with Venice and the local garrison. Moreover, it is unknown whether Gawain, who has achieved complete victory on the mainland, will attack here soon.

In order to have a flexible bargaining chip in the future, the local Venetians and lords temporarily "protected" John to watch the further development of the situation.

On the seaside, inside the ocher stone wall, John sat in the iron-barred window, listening to the rolling sound of the midwinter waves outside, closing his eyes and saying nothing.

When he thought of Titicius, he felt as painful as missing an arm: This slave general's death was really unworthy. His body is probably still lying in the wilderness of Philippi, being torn apart by hyenas, right?

Without Taticius in the military, John lost half of his confidence in anything he wanted to do.

A few days later, the remaining fleets of Little Roger and Gonletto, with four remaining ships, also arrived in Gandia...

These two people also had an extremely embarrassing escape, especially Gonletto who almost died in the frozen sea of ​​Uxen. To him, the black ocean was as terrifying as hell. What made Gonletto even more miserable was his Dalian company. Less than a third of those who ran back lost all their horses and heavy equipment.

And little Roger, the prince of Sicily, actually saw Gawain standing on the cliff of Scutari on the east side when his fleet passed through the Sea of ​​Marimara.

Little Roger saw that the other party was standing on a large rock washed by the sea, as if he had received the news and was waiting for him here. Behind him were many Tarsus warriors carrying kite shields and holding flags. Gawain was tall, riding on the saddle of an old black mare. Because of the distance, little Roger couldn't see his expression clearly. He probably just felt the mockery on his face.

In order to show his unyielding spirit, little Roger deliberately grabbed a javelin in front of everyone on the ship and threw it towards the place where Gawain was. The javelin finally fell into the sea. When Gonletto on the ship behind saw it, he couldn't help being very angry, but it was the prince who hated him.

So when he entered the castle, Gonletto almost stabbed little Roger with a sword.

Now, as the two chase each other, they dramatically meet Emperor John, who "was launched a coup by his mother and lost the capital before he could see the enemy."

The three of them got together. Gonletto hated Little Roger for ruining his large company, while Little Roger was hostile to John who issued orders indiscriminately. John had nothing to say or blame anyone, and frankly admitted his mistake.

The other two were also tired and tired. After all, it is not a rational thing to find someone to take the blame here. Little Roger stood in the middle and asked Sicily, Venice, Hungary and John to form a grand alliance against Gawain. "In addition, Also want to win over Tuscany With the new and old popes, they strive to unify the two and once again take charge of the Holy See. In this way, the man who was established by Gawain in Bari will naturally become a shady person. When the orthodox Holy See puts pressure on him, he will not believe Henry the Fifth. Dare to help Gawain openly."

Little Roger also pointed out that the forces in Thessaloniki and Durazzo are still in a wait-and-see state for the time being and have not yet decided to vote for Gawain. The forces in Constantinople that resist Gawain still exist. "No matter what, John He is still a temporary orthodox Roman emperor."

"Although Bohemond of Antioch and Baldwin of Jerusalem were once considered allies of Gawain, they should not sit back and let Gawain become too powerful and threaten themselves. They are also targets that can be attracted." John also added, " All the Pulonia estates in the plains of Gandia, Chania and Messala, I can edict with a gold book In the name of the book, we gathered together and organized a group of soldiers and horses to protect the sea area. Our army will join forces to first destroy the rebels on the island, and then use it as a base to launch a battle with Gawain. Continue to fight. Crete is so dangerous that it won’t be a problem to hold on for five to ten years.”

At this time, little Roger took the opportunity to throw out his ambitious plan. He proposed to let the Sicilian army land on the land of Moria and Thessaly. At that time, the Sicilian Norman army would use the city of Corinth as its supply base, while Goletto would go to Athens and Thessaly. Ronica recruits troops to win over Isaac and Ceces to continue to side with his camp and deal with Gawain together.

Originally, little Roger thought that Gonletto would definitely agree.

But this man and a group of Venetian nobles raised their swords and surrounded the conference room. "I'm sorry, we still have ten thousand citizens trapped in Constantinople. If the negotiations are fruitless, I will You two must be handed over to Gawain in exchange for the safety of the people."

"You should listen to my grand plan!" Little Roger shouted this and was pushed into the cell. He was locked up with John, Aksepokos and Sicilian Fleet Admiral Abhe, waiting to be punished. .

The four of them were really bored. Although their future was uncertain, they calmed down. They tore the fine linen covering the tables, chairs and altar into small pieces, painted them with dye, and made a set of "Tartsus Bridge" that was popular throughout Europe and Asia. Use it to kill time.

A full month after the Feast of the Entrance of the Virgin, Gawain left Anna, who was pregnant and expecting childbirth, in the city of Prusa, while he crossed the sea and arrived at the Gallipoli Fortress.

At this time, the Hierapolis Brigade had already occupied the entire Western Thrace, but Gawain ordered them to stop and maintain the existing borders.

The rest of the brigades continued to trap the huge Constantinople.

Check out the correct version in 16-9 Book Bar!

Gawain and Anna were not in such a hurry, because this capital was like a red apple rotten in their hands. If they entered rashly, they would face all kinds of obstacles. In other words, Gawain was waiting for the people in the city to reach an agreement and take the initiative to welcome him in as a legitimate and reasonable emperor.

For this moment, Gawain could wait until next spring, when the food from Anatolia, Bithynia, Mysia and Thrace could not be delivered to Constantinople, and hunger would help the people here "clear their heads".

In the "temporary Gallipoli Palace" converted from a barracks, Little Sunfish and his grandfather accompanied Gawain, responsible for receiving the "salary and reformist" people from all over the world, including the blind former imperial Caesar Macolinus and Theodora and his wife. The former was Irene's brother and the latter was Alexios' sister. Gawain warmly embraced the two and said that he would protect the estates and rights of the ducas and Komnenos.

This was obviously said to Irene in the city, Isaac Komnenos of Durazzo, and of course Dalasena who was under house arrest in the Imperial Monastery beforehand.

Gawain was waiting for these people to express their opinions and surrender.