Eagle Byzantium

When it was really night, Mamikonian, standing on the gate tower of Castabala, also looked around in surprise and horror: in the wilderness just north of the castle, people were fleeing and crying everywhere, and teams of soldiers were passing quickly with flags raised in the firelight. They were the Gimages Brigade led by Gregor, who had joined Gawain's cavalry who arrived earlier; at the river bend southeast of the castle, the Guardian Brigade had sent an infantry detachment by boat, occupied the river island on it, and began to line up the boats to form a double-lane blockade line; what frightened Reuben even more was that the Red Hand Brigade, which gave him the deepest fear, also lined up with large infantry spears like a forest and a mountain, and came from the southwest along the mountain range.

Add to that the 4,000 Normans who rushed from Tubercena and Lavodera, which means that by the time of using the clepsydra (at night), Prince Reuben still had more than 6,000 Armenian soldiers around him, and the Castabala City that he was approaching but was blocked by Gawain, and they were completely surrounded by the iron wall!

When the nobles who were still in shock asked the supreme commander Reuben, he was sweating and his tongue was stiff. He sat on the chair, "All the cavalry rode horses, surrounded the infantry and baggage, and then the soldiers and servants began to erect pitchforks, dig trenches, and set up camps. After resting, we will concentrate our elite forces to open up the road to Castabala City."

Gawain, who learned of the other party's move, sneered and knocked the horse-head scepter on the sand table in front of his legs, making a thumping sound, "Let him set up camp and dig trenches, and our army will be stationary. Set up Set up sentries and take turns, and select elite archers to set up a formation facing the direction of Castabala City... Tomorrow, invite Earl Richard, Earl Dodo, and Earl Burke to come and establish a camp with me as the command center! "

In the early morning, several light soldiers suddenly rushed out from the secret gate of Castabala City Wall. It seems that their goal is to break through Gawain's line and connect with Prince Reuben, but they were shot by the Gimages Brigade and the Jinat Archery Team, leaving many bodies and fleeing back.

An hour later, the lords invited by Gawain all rode to his scarlet tent on time. This eye-catching tent is on the hillside, with a low wall made of stones on three sides and one side facing the front, within the sight of the besieged Prince Reuben, which seems to be a pressure and a mockery.

Among them, Richard is the earl of the Normans, Dodo is Godfrey's subordinate, and Burke is Baldwin's loyal deputy commander. Gawain called them over, "I promise to fully implement the previous treaty - the fortress of Castabala itself and the plains up to the city of Sis belong to Baldwin, all the castles of Marash belong to Bohemond, and I want the plains and mountains around the city of Vanka." Several lords nodded, expressing their respect for the unchanged treaty, "Then the siege will last at least three months, or even longer. Do you have any difficulties?" "So long?" Earl Dodo was surprised. "Castabala Castle is very strong, and a strong attack is not advisable. My strategy is to first besiege and kill all the troops camped by Reuben, and then use this to intimidate the castle defenders to surrender. During this period, we must repel and eliminate Reuben's reinforcements coming from the north. Eat one, fork one, and watch one. So after calculating this way, I think three months is the minimum. So I have to warn you that this is definitely not the war form of the past era where a group of knights were mobilized, a group of serfs and free mercenaries were pulled, and then they fought with others for a month and then disbanded. We have to mobilize soldiers, prepare equipment, and mobilize all the people to support us. There may be complicated diplomatic wars. We will not pay attention to any style and etiquette when dealing with the enemy. This is a cruel annihilation war. Reuben's people will either be killed by us or captured by us. They have no other way out. It is our skills that give them this terrible fate." After saying this, Gawain narrowed his eyes and slowly pumped the scepter back and forth in his hand to strengthen his tone.

All the lords present subconsciously looked at their hands, as if they smelled a faint smell of blood...

In the end, everyone regarded Gawain as the commander of the camp, with the right to execute anyone who failed in his duty, not only his own soldiers, but also Richard's foreign aid. Everyone designated a defense and siege area, with Richard in charge of the east; Earl Dodo and Earl Burke led their troops to monitor Castabala on the westernmost side; Melo's Red Hand Brigade surrounded the southwest of Reuben's camp, and the Gimages Brigade and Gawain's cavalry surrounded the north; the Guardian Brigade spread out along the rivers on both sides of Castabala Castle, surrounding and monitoring other aspects of the castle.

In this way, Reuben's camp and Castabala Castle were not only divided, but also besieged separately.

"We also dug trenches and erected forks and dog-foot poles!" Under Gawain's notice, all the sieges and camps, whether Seleucia, Adana or the Norman side, were deployed and operated in a unified manner. They dug a deep pit every 120 annas, and lined up forks, ropes and bells outside to prevent the enemy from crossing; then they used the excavated soil to build a tower-shaped earth platform on its side, and inserted dog-foot poles or spikes on it. Each earth platform was guarded by five soldiers. The army's tents were all arranged on the front line behind the earth platform and deep pits, surrounding Reuben's camp.

"Organize all cavalry, separate them into squadrons, wander around all mountain passes and streets inside and outside, cut off all external passages of the enemy camp, capture the enemy's dead soldiers and messengers, and monitor and warn of reinforcements coming from any direction."

"Raise hunting dogs in the camp, patrol along the blockade every day, and search for any fish that slip through the net!"

As the days passed, Prince Reuben felt the rope around his neck tightening. The one holding the rope was the terrifying Gawain. The Armenians had set up a makeshift camp with only simple fortifications such as vertical fences and earthen trenches. All the tents were facing outwards, and the baggage was surrounded in the middle. This was originally just a stopgap measure to defend against the enemy in a field battle, but now Reuben could not go anywhere except here, not even to the nearby Castabala Castle. Because the entire perimeter of the camp was full of enemy camps, earthen ramparts, and troops, tightly surrounding them, so tightly that not even a bird could fly out... Reuben was convinced of this, and the first person to be besieged was On the first day, he sent out ten of his best riders in different directions, trying to send a message to Vanka. As a result, the bloody heads of the ten riders were hung on the flagpole of Gawain's camp that afternoon. On the third day, Reuben sent out several messengers, some of whom were not riding horses, swimming with leather bags, and some crawling along the bushes. As a result, before they had gone half a mile, they were all found by the hounds of Gawain's camp, and their heads were chopped off and displayed to the public. Five days later, Reuben, with a gloomy beard on his face, felt that he would surely perish if he continued like this (because he only carried half a month's worth of food reserves when he went to war), so he could only find Golpan, a monk of the Apostolic Church who was with the army, and begged him to be an envoy to negotiate with Gawain. (To be continued ~^~)