Eagle Byzantium

Burrill was leisurely walking on the colonnade in front of the outer gate of the palace. No sunlight could enter here. The walls and railings were covered with cool and fragrant flowers and plants. As long as you passed through this guard post, you could walk out of the palace. , you can follow the arrow path and return to his official residence.

At this moment, he saw Lord Caesar in an ancient silk robe sitting on a chariot by the fountain in the small square in front of him, looking at him with a smile.

"Another thing has been done. It is worthy of being the commander-in-chief of all officials and the emperor's right hand." Macaulinus complimented bluntly and disgustingly.

"I didn't do anything. I just reported the current financial situation of the empire to the palace manager truthfully. As for whether he will talk to the emperor, I don't know." Burrill was also clueless, "Your Majesty Caesar. When you enter Brachna Palace, do you want to pay homage to Her Majesty the Queen, who is blessed by the Blessed Mother?”

"Yes, the Dukas family, including me and the queen, are all grateful to you, Lord Prime Minister?" At this point, Caesar stood up and whispered these words as he passed by Burrill.

"No, this is my duty. As for what it turns into in the end, I have no control over it and I don't know about it." Burrill still answered this way.

Macaulinus sneered in his heart. After the Prime Minister left, he looked at the beautiful Brachna Monastery on the peak of the palace mountains with an unfinished look.

In the meeting hall, the emperor sat on the throne. Melais, the royal ink officer, and other court officials stood on the left and right, while Nicodemya, the great eunuch, knelt down and bowed before him. "I am aware of what you said." Emperor. Alexios with a depressed and sad expression Tone, "I never thought that the national treasury and the private treasury of the royal family have declined like this, but I can't give up easily. I remember that when I went to Durazzo to face the brave Norman bandits, I could only deploy five guards. Hundreds of people, but I He still begged a large number of magical artifacts from the church and sold them to piece together tens of thousands of troops and horses. Although he was on par with the gangsters, it severely dampened Guiscart's morale and defeated his son Beau in Theroponnese. Simond, Jeannot The Man people have not dared to invade the territory for many years. Now that the imperial capital is surrounded by enemies on all sides, the governor has finally opened up a situation in Asia Minor. He cannot fail because of lack of money. If it is really necessary to grant land in lieu of payment, I am determined to implement it. ”

"That's true, but..." Little Bird Nicodeemia had difficulty speaking, but Alexios stretched out his hand to stop him, "My Royal Ink Officer, please write in the golden book Draft an order in the edict." Then, the emperor walked up to the eunuch with a certain indifference. Naihe's sad voice said, "Zahas's armed forces did not go to rescue Nicaea, but boarded the coast of Gallipoli to burn and kill them. They were riding in light boats made of Sinop wood. I don't know. , whether they will further attack Thessaloniki and Corinth in the future.”

The great eunuch also suddenly felt that the entire palace had turned gloomy. "Your Majesty, you are saying that Zahas might be involved with the Norman gangsters..."

Alexios nodded, "It was all Macaulinus who was an out-and-out bastard who allowed Bohemond to escape back to Calabria and lead the Normans to become my enemy. Maybe this is what I am doing." My dear brother-in-law had planned it a long time ago. He hates me for being jealous. I am more hostile than the Norman bandits. Therefore, once Zahas's fleet crosses the Holy Sea and joins the Normans, the entire empire will face the worst and most terrifying situation, and I myself may even die from it. The throne fell to dust."

After saying that, the emperor walked to the small table in front of the throne, arranged two horseshoe-shaped tokens, and said to the eunuch with a wry smile, "Look, there are two emergencies on the border. It is autumn now, and there are a large number of Pechenegs." Thrace has been invaded, and urgent documents are like flakes; in addition, according to my spies, Bohemond's mother Geta has already He is critically ill, and the Norman lords from all of Italy and Sicily have come to visit, so I have every reason to suspect that this group of lawless guys are also preparing to swarm, and Zahas's fleet is still wandering on the Holy Sea, and can go north at any time, or perhaps. Go west and join forces with my enemies, can you tell me now what I should do? "

The little bird Nicodeemia immediately knelt down and cried, both for the emperor's plight and for the emperor's trust in him. He said with sincerity, "I am willing to spend all my wealth to prepare for the emperor's expedition, but since After the emperor inquired about it, I thought that everything had its own priorities - Bohemond would not easily leave his mother who was seriously ill in bed to get the tower. I could secretly arrange for an excellent doctor to do so. The army went to help her prolong her life and hold off Bohemond. Then it seemed that your majesty could meet with the Slavic king of Zata, Constantine Bertin, and shake hands with him to make peace in exchange for the coastal defense force in the Adriatic Sea and go on an expedition with your majesty. The servants of the Pecheneg gangsters. As for Zahas, he can only last for a while. After losing Nicaea and Prusa, his bandit behavior will not last long. "

As expected of Nick Demia, even the Imperial Ink Officer kept nodding in agreement with this suggestion and plan.

Emperor Alexius also expressed his approval, "Now that four thousand men from Giliki Arslan have been sent, I have hired another five thousand Cuman cavalry. After making peace with Bertin, I can also obtain thousands of Slavic mercenaries." Since The Pecheneg wolves tried to attack me with Zahas, so I responded by contacting the Cumans farther north to attack them completely, and then restored peace to the border of the empire. Then I went to deal with the others. enemy."

"May your Majesty be victorious!" Immediately all the court officials knelt down and worshiped.

At the cape of Calabria, under the Saracen Tower (a sentry tower built by Italians to resist Saracen pirates, which is everywhere on the coast), there were flames everywhere. Bohemond covered his face and walked into a tent quickly with sobs, accompanied by several old squire knights.

In the tent, an old woman in a gray robe was lying on the couch. Several doctors were busy with her. When she saw her son Bohemond with tears streaming down his face, she smiled and said to the doctors, "I have some instructions to tell my useless son, otherwise I am afraid it will be too late."

"You are getting better, believe in the Lord, madam." The chief doctor said this respectfully, and then took all the others to bow to Bohemond and then left temporarily.

"Mother..." Bohemond grinned, full of snot and tears, and threw himself directly in front of his mother's couch.

Geta looked at her red-bearded son, forced a smile, and tremblingly stretched out her dry hand. Bohemond quickly leaned forward to touch his cheek, thinking that his mother wanted to touch him.

With a crisp sound, Geta slapped Bohemond in the face, and his snot flew onto the mattress. "No one is here, why are you still pretending?"