Eagle Byzantium

The furious emperor spent an unhappy night. When he got up the next day, he walked to the river hall of Brachna Palace accompanied by his guards, and then he remembered such a crucial issue. "Hugh, why was he killed?"

According to the prince's report, the murderers left behind arrows, Fei Yi, and carriage carriages regulated by the Roman Empire at the scene of Xio's murder. However, in the eyes of Alexios, all these were just evidence that the messengers intentionally left behind. , transferred the world's suspicion to the Tecopo soldiers I hired, leading to the conclusion that "the Roman Empire had previously betrayed its faith towards the pilgrims, and when faced with Hugh's accusations, it took the opportunity to kill them on a secluded mountain road."

"Miles, what content of the agreement did the dead brother of the King of Ile-de-France want to give me?" The emperor thought slowly, sat down on the throne, and asked the imperial ink officer.

The imperial ink officer took out a transcribed kraft paper roll from the document box and said, "Your Majesty, this was taken out from Xio's body at the scene. It was originally soaked in dirty blood. Our scribe specially copied it. , lest your holy hands and wise eyes be stained.”

"Well, did the murderer intentionally not take away and destroy it? It seems that he is determined to sow discord between the Western pilgrims and the empire." The emperor opened his somewhat aging eyes (in fact, he was the same age as Gawain) Not much different), carefully read this so-called "Five Articles of Resolution of Antioch", which is also a voting letter specially written by the pilgrims to themselves:

1. The emperor must express sufficient sincerity for the pilgrimage before the pilgrims will consider handing over the city of Antioch and returning it to the empire (?);

2. Because Titicius and Diogenes escaped from the battlefield, resulting in extremely difficult counter-siege operations and starving to death of many innocent pilgrims, the emperor strongly requested that the emperor punish these two imperial officers who neglected their duties (?);

3. The emperor should continue to provide the pilgrims with food, horses, and various logistical supplies. Otherwise, the pilgrim armed forces will overturn the oath of allegiance they made when crossing the sea and will no longer hand over any newly captured areas to the emperor;

4. The emperor must guarantee the neutral status of Cyprus, Latakia and Seleucia, so that they can continue to provide assistance to the Pilgrim armed forces and berthing and transit services for ships. As for the status of these areas after one year, it will be determined by the Pilgrim Military Conference Negotiate a solution with the emperor (?);

5. Finally, the emperor should carefully consider the alliance with the king of Babylon in Egypt and give an answer as soon as possible.

After the emperor read it, he sneered angrily and pushed the document aside. Melais next to him hurriedly asked His Majesty what he understood from these five resolutions.

"Don't be anxious. Our focus now is on the city of Antioch in the far east. The real murderer will surface soon. Yes, that's right, my friend Meles, just wait quietly in the palace. , maybe in five days, maybe in seven days, everything will change through the mouth of my spy and the carrier pigeon. It is extremely clear. In addition, ask John to try to contain Gawain on the side of Philadephia and limit everything to diplomatic debate instead of resorting to force. By the way, let my stubborn son, Every day, the situation should be recorded as a report and sent to the imperial capital with horses and the best messengers. "

"In terms of armaments..." Melais asked cautiously.

The emperor frowned, stood up and walked to the silver plate that mapped the entire terrain of Anatolia. He spread his hands on the edge and observed, "Let John change the deployment of the army and appoint Tatisius as general." , deploy all the elites in Fort Alamein , support Nika Kallegos and prevent Gawain from turning against him and attacking at any time. As long as we hold on to this seaside fortress, Gawain will not do anything. I will immediately gather 10,000 elite troops and cross the sea to Brusa. The city serves as John's backup. Also, Finally, I wrote a letter of credence for me and sent it to the King of the Gauls (King of France), saying that I felt sincerely pained and angry about the murder of his brother. However, I hope that this incident will not affect the diplomacy between the two countries, and we must be vigilant. The alienation of the insidious person, if the king is still Anger and irrationality go to the head, and if you want to become my enemy, then I will be forced to completely close the land roads to Anatolia and the Levant for pilgrims, and will also close the borders of Normandy and Flanders. In the conflict, no effort was spared to support the king of Britain."

The emperor's "letter of credence" was a combination of soft and hard tactics. He actually knew in his heart that the truth of Hugh's death might never be clear, but what was certain was that all enemies of the empire would use Hugh Capet as a scapegoat, overtly or covertly. Article, seeking all kinds of interests like a greedy ghoul, don't place your fantasies on the case itself, it is better to spend your energy on preventing the consequences of this attack case.

Then, the imperial ink officer wrote quickly, analyzing the meaning expressed by the emperor step by step, and wrote it down in elegant words. Alexios, on the other hand, was preoccupied. He stood under the lobby of the River Hall, looking up at the icon murals, constantly planning and comparing the direction of the situation...

In Antioch, Bohemond, with his unique arrogant but restrained excitement, stroked his red beard with his hand. Once his wish came true, he would make this typical gesture. Tancred and other Norman warriors followed him and walked into the crowded St. Peter's Church. "We must be on guard, we must!" Bohemond then turned around, raised his fist, and kept repeating his point of view. "The Greek emperor was treacherous before, and now Hugh was mysteriously attacked and killed in his territory. I think the emperor must be afraid of facing the sincerity of the pilgrims. He wants to unilaterally tear up the previous oath!"

"That's not up to us." Several angry lords shouted.

"Just send the five resolutions to the Greek emperor. We should implement the power we originally had in the resolutions!" Several others also joined in. The so-called "power we originally had" meant that the five big guys would divide up the cities and towns of Antioch, and the five of them also agreed to pool the tax revenue together and take out 10% to buy supplies for the pilgrims free of charge. Now that Hugh was killed for no reason, almost all the pilgrims were eager to implement this agreement.

Including Raymond, who was closer to the emperor, he did not dare to say anything against the mainstream on this occasion, and could only adopt the attitude of "no questioning, no interruption, no speaking".

Amid cheers, Bohemond was the first to jump onto the steps of the viewing platform and announced loudly, "Antioch is temporarily in my hands. I will protect this city of extraordinary significance to Christ and believers like I protect Taranto, no, like I protect my own eyes."

"When can we go to the Holy City?" Many lords raised such questions while expressing their congratulations.

A perfect version in 16-9 Books and Bars!

"Spend a winter here. Next year, we will gain an advantage over the Greek Kingdom and make the domineering emperor apologize. We will also wipe out the pagans of Azaze, and after we have secured our flanks and rear, we will advance to the Holy City in one go!" Bohemond, as if he were a leader, issued this order ambitiously. (To be continued ~^~)