Eagle Byzantium

More than 30 pirates were shot dead, and the remaining 40 people, wounded or not, were all captured and brought to the small fortress of the village. The villagers and soldiers surrounded them, seized their weapons and armor, and waited for the Earl Commander to come and deal with them.

The pirates' proud turbans and felt hats were also torn off by the angry villagers, and then everyone realized that these guys, who were originally very scary, actually had faces similar to those of farmers and shepherds, and their faces were full of fear that could not be concealed.

After seeing two cavalrymen coming with small flags, Diogenes understood and stood at the entrance of the village himself, asking the twelve Tekopo soldiers to raise the horn and blow it together. He wanted to create an effect of shocking the enemy for Gawain's appearance. In the sound of the horn and the exclamations of the pirates, Gawain, with a red hand feather on his helmet, wearing the holy armor that only the Grand Duke of Byzantium was qualified for, riding a black horse, and under the support of the strict Tekopo mercenaries, walked into the fortress.

"Oh my god, we won't meet the Roman emperor today, will we?" Even several rough pirates shouted in their hearts when they saw Gawain's majesty.

"I am called Lusser by the Varangians and Akin by you Turks. I am the earl commander and sword-bearing noble who was canonized by the Golden Book. Remember the last words you heard in the world." Gawain under the iron helmet had a stern face and his eyes were as sharp as the sword he wore. Then he ordered the soldiers around him, "Leave the youngest one to go back and repeat my words, and execute the rest."

The iron rod danced with a shadow and hit the back of the pirate's head directly. His eyeballs bulged out, and he fell to the ground one by one, twitching and dying. The youngest pirate who was pulled out, with his legs apart, urine flowing rapidly, looking at the execution scene in front of him, was out of his mind - Gawain asked not to use swords and bows and arrows, but to use iron rods directly, which was fast, economical, and shocking.

Then, the released little guy, blindfolded and tied up, tremblingly walked out of the village passage and went along the mountain. "I hope he can meet the patrol cavalry of the Zahas bandits and be redeemed by his comrades." Gawain said sarcastically.

In the plain below the village, several rows of wooden stakes were quickly erected, and more than 70 pirate bodies were densely tied to them. Then Gawain just said one sentence, "From the front one and a half miles to the Gallipoli Fortress, all the farmers immediately abandoned their villages and retreated to the fortress and refugee forts. I will soon take a full three brigades (the military system of the ancient Byzantine military district, about 10,000 people) of troops to Erainus to completely conquer them."

This is the "clearing of the field" in ancient wars, creating an empty no-man's land between the enemy's camp and the enemy's camp, which is conducive to one's own attack.

After learning about the battle in this village, the remaining three or four groups of Zahas pirates who were looting elsewhere all quickly fled back to Erainus, and panic filled the pirates' nest.

Their main team went to the Holy Sea to rob things everywhere, and there were only a few hundred people left in the nest. There was a lack of large ships, and only small boats that could operate along the coast and inland rivers. If it was really as the little guy who was released said, this "Gawain. Lusser" brought a full three brigades and came to clear up under the emperor's order, then he must have his own fleet.

Among this group of pirates, there were some Turks, some pure pirates who came from Crete to make a living, and some Saracen habitual bandits drifting on the sea. Except for the former, most people advocated peace talks with Gawain's team, withdrawing from the Erainus area, or directly surrendering to the imperial army.

After a quarrel, they still selected ten representatives and came to the city of Gallipoli to discuss.

Gawain lined up all the troops and led them out. Five hundred Tekopo mercenaries were dressed in scarlet clothes and carried embroidered quivers. The light cavalry also added feathers to their horses' heads and covered them with linen collected from the fortresses and towns. They lined up on both wings of the team, blocking the view of the pirate representatives. Behind them were all the conscripted civilians and military servants, holding flags to increase the momentum of the formation.

From this point of view, the pirate representatives believed that Gawain alone brought two thousand elite troops to negotiate peace. On the plain, all the representatives bowed down before Gawain's horse, which was wearing an exaggerated and gorgeous red feather decoration, and listened to the earl commander's request:

"All pirates must surrender unconditionally, hand over the chief culprit Zahas's officers, and the rest of the cowards will not be questioned;

Hand over the Erainus stronghold and all large and small ships;

Hand over the peasants, men and women, and property previously looted from Gallipoli, Abydos and other places;

Those who surrender and are willing to follow the army can be registered, and those who are willing to farm can be awarded idle land and property;

Those who dare to resist stubbornly..."

Gawain raised the horse-head copper staff and pointed to the rows of wooden stakes hanging the bodies of their companions in front of the ten pirates, "The combatants will be executed immediately, and the oarsmen will all have their right hands chopped off - I will make sure you can never return to the sea again."

This was a trick he often used in the business world before, hitting the opponent in one corner, and then the lion opened his mouth wide, using all means to break and swallow up the opponent's chips that had lost their footing.

"You don't have much time left!" Gawain saw that the ten people were still hesitating, so he shouted in Turkish, and then pointed at the sea over there, "My fleet has already set out, and the army will also be dispatched to attack your stronghold soon. If there is no result soon, we will all follow the last rule."

At this time, the rightmost man in the team of ten people squinted his eyes and tried to see if there was really a fleet and sails on the sea according to Gawain's instructions. Then he heard the whistling sound of a blade being unsheathed, and then he thought for a tenth of a second, and then watched himself separated from his neck, flew far away, and rolled on the mud.

Gawain's long arm was horizontal, and blood was dripping on the Macedonian short spear in his hand.

A correct version in 16-9 Book Bar!

The other nine people shouted, all shuddering, and knelt down directly, expressing their willingness to lead the Count's army to Erainus.

At dusk, when more than 700 pirates filed out of the nest and surrendered to Gawain's cavalry, they suddenly realized that Gawain's only bargaining chip on the sea was a lonely rowing warship, which belonged to the Republic of Amalfi.

Then, Diogenes led 120 Tecopo mercenaries and rushed into Erainus' camp and water gate, seizing more than a dozen small warships and 500 men and women who were captured and prepared to be sold as slaves in Africa.

All is fair in war, and Gawain used the smallest victory to exert the greatest power.