Eagle Byzantium

Spring has arrived. With a few dry winds from the ocean, the roads and land throughout Apulia and Bari have become solid again, and from time to time, fine dust is raised, shaking the new grass and branches.

The horseshoes wrapped in horseshoes, clattered, trampled a puddle into a jumping pulp yellow. The leading Norman knight holding the red flying leopard flag slowly drove his horse to a high place, where he could see the outline of the entire Bari city and the outer positions. Then, the horn sounded, and more and more flags followed him, gathering like clouds in a place with good visibility. Bohemond, wearing a deer hair shawl and shining armor, finally rode here.

Behind him was Tancred, whose eyes were no longer passionate, but still had a fierce fighting spirit. "Hey, take your lance and pierce through the city of Bari, Tancred, fight like an indestructible mad bull, for Raul, for your sister, for the shame of Aversa, slaughter everyone here, not even chickens and dogs."

"The sword of the expedition to the East will be washed with the dirty blood of the Greek dogs in Bari." Tancred answered his uncle without hesitation, and then he clenched and stretched his arms back and forth, "Gawain, see the horror of Tancred after being blessed by anger."

"Your Excellency, this time I have to see Gawain's bloody head in person before I put down the sword in my hand." Over there, Earl Havre also responded hatefully.

At this moment, the wind and clouds were surging, and many military servants and soldiers were busy on the top of the city wall of Bari. On the highest tower, under the fluttering Labran Cross, Diogenes was there, monitoring the marching formations and camp arrangements of the Normans. "Their infantry is enough to surround the three sides of Bari. And they are doing so now. The army is equipped with archers from Calabria and Sicily. The flags tell it all. There are about 10,000 infantry, including 1,200 fully armed knights with chain mail, and countless craftsmen and military servants. All the Normans have gathered under the city!" The guard officer, who was very skilled in making an estimate, jumped off the tower. Sitting on the basket controlled by the pulley, it slid down to the ground quickly. Gawain was sitting on the railing of the stable with his legs crossed. After hearing the report from the guard, "All the walls and defense areas of Bari City are divided into people. I and Taitius will be the core reserve team, Diogenes, you and Francesco will be responsible for the defense of the front wall to block the enemy, the Venetians will block the port to prevent the enemy from entering, Muzafiadin will be the sentry and dispatcher in the tower, and Andeodate, you will monitor the guards and protect St. Nicholas Cathedral. If an area cannot be defended, don't fight hard and sacrifice. Retreat to the next line of defense in time." Then, Gawain carried the phosphorus sword on his shoulder, stepped up step by step, and walked onto the top of the city with flags flying. He looked down proudly at the Norman army coming all over the mountains and plains.

Bohemond and Tancred also saw Gawain with his eye-catching red feathers. Bohemond raised his head and gritted his teeth, then drew his sword and dismounted, and came to the red flying leopard flag, where a trebuchet had been erected by a craftsman. The location was very conspicuous, and the entire enemy and our camp could see it. The entire hill was densely covered with hundreds of armor flashing. Norman knights with lances like a forest.

The rope under the trebuchet tied the Greek noble Metzjos who was captured by the Normans. He was captured by hounds and light infantry when he was about to hide in the mountains of Calabria. Now his body was tied up in the shape of a "big" and held down by several Norman knights. He was roaring and wailing when Bohemond walked in front of him, pointed his sword at the distant city wall of Bari, and shouted angrily to all his subordinates on the hill, "I don't have any ransom demands for the people of this city, not even the thought!" Then the red light moved, and Metzjos howled miserably, and his left arm was cut off by Bohemond.

"Beautiful Lady Ingrina, I am still yearning for you! I hope you know that here a noble named Metzjos died heroically, with his longing for you." Then, Metzjos, with his head throbbing with pain, kept calling out the name of his beloved. Then Bohemond continued to howl and cut off his right arm, then his left foot, then his right foot, one sword after another - in front of tens of thousands of city and attacking personnel, the local wind was strong, the grass was rolling, and everyone's face was horrified, even including Anselm, the former Bishop of Bari, who was also riding a horse, standing under the flag, and covered in armor.

Finally, Bohemond finally put an end to the suffering of this low-ranking nobleman by chopping off his head. Then the servants put the broken limbs and head into the catapult. With the sound, they flew all over the sky, flew across half the sky, and were thrown into the defensive position of Bari City, rolling everywhere. Many Greeks ran in panic, collecting and piecing together the body of poor Metzjos.

"When the city is broken, everyone will suffer the same fate as him!" Bohemond's words were by no means a threat.

Then all the Norman knights howled like wolves, and they knocked their lances against each other, making a sound like a landslide and sea splitting.

Suddenly, at the top of the city of Bari, the Greek army also pushed three hooded figures, and then the hoods were lifted. Looking at his feet tremblingly, Gawain jumped onto the battlements and pointed at these people with the sword of phosphorus fire. Three people, "These are all spies sent by Norman gangsters to infiltrate our city. Originally, I hoped to torture them and release them back according to the laws of the nobility, but Red Hands holding cross swords and flags, including Archangel Michael and Saint Dimitri, the city’s guardian saint, said to me in yesterday’s dream - Gawain, the enemy is coming, there is no need to let any of them go back, sacrifice The more blood I sacrifice to the enemy, the more power I can draw from the sword in my hand. Then, all soldiers, the choice is in your hands. What should you do for the sake of the city?"

The Bari militia and the Italian company below the city, and the Tecopo mercenaries above the city, all shouted, "Sacrifice the flag, sacrifice the flag, sacrifice the flag!"

Several Varangian warriors tightened the ropes in their hands and pulled the heads of the three people to the battlement. Gawain raised his sword and dropped it. Blue-green phosphorus fire roared out, and screams filled the sky. The wind and clouds reversed the current. , the horses of thousands of Norman knights under the city neighed like thunder in terror, and the queue continued to retreat, mixed with people's curses and shouts.

Soon, Gawain was holding three heads that had been tied together like skin bags, and raised them high. The people in the city shouted like a tide, "Saint Michael, Saint Dimitri is equal to me." exist!"

"Bang", then the stone-shooting machine purchased from Venice on the top of the city used the heads of the three Norman spies as projectiles and shot them out with a roar, crossing the moat and falling on the Norman outpost. In front of me, a cloud of dust kicked up.

"Get ready to fight!" Francesco stood on the earth platform under the city. Then the Bari militia and the Greek exiles stood up from behind the earthen ramparts, gripped the spears in their hands, and shouted, row after row, along the ramparts. flat. (To be continued ~^~)