Eagle Byzantium

The small church in this village is not so much a church as it is just a shack-like worship room made of bricks and wood. In the next two days, Peter sat like the most professional painter and bricklayer. On the temporary scaffolding, covered in mud , Bai was inside the black hole, squinting his eyes and busy. He first had to outline the "area" with rattan, then used a plain pen to draw the lines of the characters and scenes, and finally used paint to color it, "About no It can't be completed in two weeks."

Gawain took off his armor, wore a jacket, held an axe, and worked hard to split a log into different wooden strips in the muddy yard outside the chapel, and then glued them into a framed square plank. , and it had to be smoothed with a heavy plane, because immediately on top of it, Peter was going to paint the icon in "pastel colors".

Many villagers came to watch, and there were also people who helped inside and outside. People in this era, especially farmers, were incredibly religious. Many of them did not know where they were in their huts, but they tried their best to take out whatever they could. He bought a coin, an egg or a small bag of salt, piled them on the wall cabinet of the chapel, and asked Gawain and Peter to exchange them for expensive paints and reed tube pens.

There were many people, led by the elders, petitioning in front of the tax collector's brick yard - he was the only one in the entire village who could live in such a "luxurious" residence, but this man named Pheobis was still there He complained about the damning and poor conditions, and said that he was willing to stay in this hellish place because he served the emperor wholeheartedly, sorting out the land and account books, and collecting taxes. He hoped to save up his salary as soon as possible and then cross the sea. Go to the law school in Thessaloniki to further his studies, and then he will be able to show off his talents in the capital and rise to great heights, because he has now won the favor of the Grand Duke Caesar Macaulinus of the Empire - "The two preachers are doing this It is a glorious and hard work, and we hope to use the fire to cook them a hot meal every three days." The village elder, wearing a rumpled dress, stood humbly at Pheobis who was sitting at the accounting table.

"Where did those two people come from, my friends?" Pheobis put the pen on the small shelf, then used his white fingers to stroke his beautifully built beard covered with fine crumbs, and lowered his head. Asked loudly and sweetly.

"The deceased pilgrim, Your Excellency."

"It's that group of guys who came from Rome or the Frankish countryside again. They are lowly guys who messed up the order of the empire. They are hateful and despicable country bumpkins." Pheobis said softly from his cherry-red lips. Spitting out a string of curse words in Greek, "I have warned you before, my friends, the Caesar of the Empire——"

As he spoke, Pheobis suddenly stood up straight from the bench, and the other farmers also opened their eyes skillfully, took off their felt hats, and followed the tax collector, solemnly heading west for a while. They paid attention to the ceremony until Pheobis finally reported the title of Caesar of the Empire, "Salute to you - the most noble Caesar, co-emperor of the empire, deputy of the great Augustus, chief prince of Asia, The chief nobleman of the court, His Excellency Macaulinus, who is based in the city of Abydos 350 miles away, wishes you all the best. The recent notification sent to various regions requires us to be on guard against Zaha from Nicaea. The thieves' spies are working carefully, and Zahas may soon join forces with the Pechenegs in the north to send armies and fleets to sack Prusa and even the capital of Rome, so be careful!"

"But the border guards of the original military region have not patrolled the border of our village for several months." The elder's words meant that he suspected that Zahas's army was really coming. The most noble Macaulinus My lord, what weapons can be used to repel this.

But Pheobis rolled his round eyes and rebuked the villagers in a very stern tone, saying that the Chief Grand Duke had his own behavior. Then he proposed that it was okay to use the stove, but the rent for the stove must be paid. Pay it, and the other one will be paid immediately——As he said that, the tax collector got up again, and the villagers We can only continue to take off our hats and pay attention to the "distant" Lord Caesar, and we don't know if he can know that Lord Macaulinus wants to recruit people from the rural market towns under various military regions to join the army, and military service has been banned. A list was made, and soon he would take over the recruitment work in this area.

"Our village has paid enough taxes last year, so the military service this time should not be allocated to our head, right?" The elder was cautious, while the tax collector hesitated twice, roughly agreeing with the elder's question. Then the villagers felt relieved. They said goodbye one by one from their houses and filed out.

The next day, when Gawain was sitting in front of the endless black cultivated land, eating a mixture of acorns and berries, Peter came over and said, "Glasses, alumina, egg whites, egg yolks, lime, honey... ...." He reported the list in one breath, and then He gave Gawain a wooden board, on which various things he wanted were vividly drawn with black ink, because Peter knew that Gawain was "illiterate." "These are all background colors for blending. You can go fifteen miles away." Get these things ready in your town.”

Gawain readily agreed. He must repay kindness and kindness to these villagers. When Gawain walked out of the dirt road at the entrance of the village carrying a huge basket on his back, several children followed him like flying. , following the deserted road covered with holly and firecracker willows, heading towards the town pointed by Peter.

The backpack was full of small copper coins, salt, cloth and other things that could be exchanged. The tax collector Phoebus stood in front of the door of his courtyard, looking at Gawain with caution and contempt, and Gawain looked back at him, said nothing, and continued on his way.

When he was walking back along the original path with all the "light colors" he had exchanged, suddenly there was a lot of dust behind him, and a cavalryman wearing a conical helmet and a soap-colored cloak shouted and passed by him, heading towards the village where he lived.

When Gawain walked to the chapel, he found that all the villagers had gathered in the open space in front of him in a state of panic. The tax collector Phoebus and the Turkish-looking cavalryman holding a whip on the saddle stood aside, facing everyone.

"Let me introduce you. This is the Caesar of the Empire from Abydos. Salute to you!" After saying this, Phoebis and the other villagers collectively took off their hats and saluted for a long time towards the endless west. "The most honorable Caesar, the co-emperor of the empire, the deputy of the great Augustus, the chief prince of Asia, and the chief noble of the court, His Excellency Mercolinus, sent a Pecheneg patrol cavalryman with your order. The scale of this war may be very large. So His Excellency Mercolinus's order went to the county governor, and then from the county governor to our local government office, and then to my hands, Phoebis. Now time is running out, so I will make a long story short - our village must provide your army with fifty modis of grain and a salary of one and a half solid gold coins, as well as a sergeant wearing armor, a small flag, weapons and a horse, as well as five military servants and two mules."