Eagle Byzantium

At the banquet in Mamistra City, delicious fruits picked from various plateaus were piled on gold and silver plates. The plates of every lord and general were filled with delicate and delicious mutton, Cheese, venison, roe deer, and gorgeous wine bottles inlaid with pearl turquoise are served on In the hands of the beautiful Saracen dancers, like birds, they shuttled through the seats of the banquet to the light music of pianos and drums, speaking fluently in Greek or Latin (which is also their essential livelihood skill) and victorious. The warriors joked and joked, laughing everywhere.

Mero wore a beautiful silk cloak and carried a long sword. He led the two lords of Sicily and the tied Polybius Blechamios to the eyes of Gawain and Baldwin. .

"How big a trophy is that?" Baldwin said with a smile.

"The son of General Feraredos, the owner of the Germalicia Castle." Mero extended his hand and introduced.

"Untie his rope, the son of the great general should be our guest." Gawain said enthusiastically, and then he saw Mero giving him a look, and he thought about it, so he continued, "But no matter what, it is a great honor for me to have the master of Jemalicia come to my banquet as a guest - then, the camp manager, please tell me, which warrior has achieved such a feat?"

"It's the brave Cilicia Genate, His Excellency Monomachus Sklerru." Merlo stepped forward and took the exquisite box handed by Gawain, "Great, there are three hundred pieces in it. Please give the Byzantine gold coin to the warrior before me and invite him to come to the honored seat beside me.”

Mero nodded and handed the box to Monomachus. Then several military servants and musicians invited Monomachus to the table. Even Polybi, who was loosened, was laughed at by several people. The dancer pushed into the seat.

Then Gawain and Baldwin clapped their hands. Indicating that the feast can continue.

Asba, who was left hanging on the spot, immediately looked at this scene and felt that he had been greatly insulted. His blood surged, and he hit the armor with his fists, saying loudly, "Your Excellency, General Stratigos. In this cavalry battle in the Lamplun area, I and my private soldiers also made great contributions. Why do you favor one over the other?"

Gawain picked up the cheese juice and was about to clink glasses with Gottschild, his face filled with confusion. Then he got angry and poured down the wine glass, spilling the juice, and said angrily to the camp manager, "Such a feat, my dear friend Mero, why didn't you report it to me in time? This is a huge mistake on your part."

Mero immediately approached him and whispered a few words. Gawain nodded, and then in front of all the generals. Asked Asba, "The camp manager just told me a very terrible thing, that is, on the battlefield, you actually let the enemy go privately out of friendship?"

"Yes, I served under General Ferraledos..."

Before Asba finished expressing his "love and justice" passionately, Gawain interrupted him mercilessly with a roar. "Your friendship is simply pedantic and cheap. If you let the enemy go privately at the critical moment of the battlefield, it will derail the entire battle. And you will kill countless comrades!"

Throughout the banquet, the musicians and dancers screamed in fright as the general shouted. Then there was a deathly silence. All the lords and generals stared at each other, but no one dared to say anything. Even Monoma sitting next to Gawain Kusi's head was also spinning rapidly, and he just lowered his head, while Asba, who was standing in the middle of the banquet hall, was slapped on the head and scolded, and his whole body was shaking in embarrassment, "I, I am a famous person in Cilicia... ..."

"Shut up, you incompetent idiot! Neither the military government of Seleucia nor the Red Hand Brigade welcomes a self-righteous guy like you who ignores military regulations and rules. Go back to your castle and become a bandit. , from now on you will only have to pay taxes and have no chance to win glory on the battlefield - Camp Manager , canceled all the spoils allocated to this Lord Genat, and then told him and his 'warriors' to get lost." When he mentioned the word "warrior", Gawain, who was sitting high on the chair, used it deliberately. In a sarcastic tone, "All the proceeds from this march will be rewarded to Monomachus."

Then, the Orson and Kallegos brothers present, as well as other Frank and the generals of the Red Hand Brigade, all laughed loudly. Asba gritted his teeth, clenched his fists, and felt that the world was spinning. He was alive. For more than forty years, no one has ever dared to humiliate himself like this. Even when he was young and fought under General Ferraledos, the general would not treat him so lightly.

As a result, that night, Asba took his two hundred cavalry and angrily left the Mamistra City camp and galloped towards his castle.

After hearing the news, Gawain was not surprised at all. In the back garden of the city mansion, he sneered and said, "You stupid man full of stupidity, let him escape to his own castle..." ....”

The next day, after Gawain got up, he pretended to ask about Asba's whereabouts. Mero and other camp officers took the paperwork and reported that Asba left the camp with his troops and crossed Sidnus River, returned to his home fortress of Kole Adio.

Gawain was furious, "Who allowed him to go back privately?"

"It was you who told him to get lost at the banquet last night."

"I was drunk last night, does that count?"

The guards around him tried to hold back their laughter, thinking that the general who had been drinking cheese juice would actually get drunk, and was obviously looking for an excuse.

Finally, Gawain made a decision: immediately confiscate all the fields and estates of Aspar, who violated military orders and left without permission, and take half of them back to the Holy Estate, and give the other half to Monomachus Skleru. After Monomachus received this "green ink reward document", he was sweating profusely and repeatedly cried out in shame. Fortunately, he had followed Melo's request at the beginning, otherwise he would be the one who was unlucky now.

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

A few days later, Gawain sat firmly in Mamistra and "dealt with Baldwin according to merit": Polybius was imprisoned in Seleucia as a captive when he returned to the army, and his Gemarycia Castle was owned by General Oson, but Oson could not violate Polybius' wife and children, and had to send them to Seleucia; the three brothers of Calegos got the city of Sicistra as a reward; all the spoils, which were equivalent to about 100,000 Byzantine gold coins, were divided into 60,000 for Gawain and 40,000 for Baldwin; the seven castles at the foot of Mount Amonus to the Syrian Gate were all given by Baldwin to his subordinates, earls, barons, and knights.

At the same time, the news came: Aspar, knowing that Gawain was going to punish him, "brazenly" attacked and plundered many villages and towns between Tarsus and Zephilim, and then fled back to his own Castle of Colleadiou, gathered all his clans to defend it, and formed an alliance with the Turkish noble Toulon (who escaped from the Battle of Zephilim) who had previously fled to Castle Maujiburd, forming a pincer attack. (To be continued ~^~)