Eagle Byzantium

With this in mind, the Gimages soldiers fought bravely and defeated the old and weak Mabolo who were blocking them, forcing them to flee in all directions. Finally, they saw Bohemond's people fleeing like a tide not far away, as well as the white flag with gold edges.

"Sir, you must bypass Samosata. You can't go there!" In the chaos, Gregor grabbed Bohemond's horse and shouted.

"Then how do we go?"

"Break out toward the Syrian Gate. The Grand Patron and Lord Baldwin will support us."

Bohemond looked ashen, but he still said proudly, "I don't want to see Gawain in such a miserable defeat. This is more painful than dying a martyr."

However, Bohemond did not threaten the Gimages Brigade, because Gregor told him clearly, "Please allow me, my brigade will break out toward the Syrian Gate from now on. I will no longer accept your control. All the generals and centurions will be responsible for the Tarsus Kingdom."

"That's it. I will break out toward Samosata. If you want to take a long detour, then go ahead. After all, I owe Gawain a personal favor this time. If we can successfully break through the siege, I hope we can revenge together in the future." Duke Antioch promised happily, and then ran towards the more rugged Samosata Mountains with the big flag. He also hoped that the Gimages Brigade could divert the enemy's attention and cover his whereabouts in disguise.

When they reached a narrow area adjacent to the highlands on the bank of the Euphrates River, about thirty miles from the city of Samosata, Ostulus Borduca led five thousand Suvak soldiers, crossed Samosata without attacking, and directly seized a key point on the other side of the river in this area like a whirlwind, intercepting almost all of Bohemond's baggage camps, obviously having taken the initiative.

Seeing that his retreat was blocked, Bohemond hurriedly ordered Richard and Reinold to lead all the infantry, and the vassal army still following the flag, to engage in a fierce "battle for the passage" with Ostulu's army. In the pass and under the hills, nearly four thousand Suvak soldiers adopted a dense spear phalanx combat method: the soldiers in the first three rows raised their spears, knelt, lowered their waists, and stood upright, while the soldiers in the fourth row at the back raised their bows and arrows and threw them - in addition, there were another thousand Suvak soldiers who boldly detoured to a high flank and also used bows and arrows to shoot at Antiochus' attacking column. Richard had made several fierce attacks, but all of them failed. The advantage of cavalry assault could not be used here, and Bohemond was in great distress.

Soon, the pursuers of Puckard and Merick came from the north, and Bohemond's team was caught in the middle, like a walnut crushed by the claws of an iron clamp, with casualties and escapes everywhere. In the end, Bohemond gathered the knight team and the Holy Banner Company, and went up to a hill with a dense forest to resist stubbornly. "Send four war horses, rush out from the trail, and ask for help from Samosata, Antioch, Jerusalem, and Tarsus. No matter which way, I will dig temporary fortifications here, and I can hold on for at least a week."

"Don't let Bohemond, the big bandit, go." At the same time, Puckard and Merick also issued such an order.

The brutal battle unfolded in the last narrow place.

Under the banner, Bohemond adopted the traditional Norman defensive tactics, dividing all knights and cavalry soldiers into three battle lines, a total of six horizontal teams, with shields and swords on horseback in the front, followed by mixed crossbowmen and infantry spearmen, guarding the remaining baggage and flags at the end.

Once the Armenians broke through the formation, the Norman knights rode back quickly and defeated more than ten attacks in succession; they persisted for a day and a half, and Bohemond also took the time to distribute baggage supplies, let the war horses take turns to rest, and let the infantry dig trenches and set up fences, as if they were really going to fight to the death for a week.

At this time, two messenger cavalrymen had already rushed to Samosata.

The defense of Samosata was previously handed over to a group of knights from Galilee, about fifty knights and five hundred infantry, and the officers supervising the army happened to be Joseph and Edian.

The two resolutely rejected the messenger's request for help and imprisoned him, saying that he was just a spy from Armenia or Danishmond, who tricked us out of the city.

Another messenger, who was heading towards Antioch, was caught by Ostus's team before he went far and had his head cut off.

The last cavalryman who was heading towards Tarsus was extremely lucky to catch up with the rear guard of the Gimges Brigade. "We have broken through as a detachment." Several centurions shouted to the cavalryman, and then the battle broke out - the Fer and Saliki brigades who had returned came after them. The two sides fought fiercely while trying to compete for the road to squeeze each other. The detachment was soon broken up into various companies that rushed westward. The messenger also abandoned his horse, picked up his sword and fought shoulder to shoulder with the 14th skirmisher company of the Gimges Brigade, fighting the pursuers, and finally died on the battlefield.

Therefore, Bohemond was completely cut off from receiving foreign aid. He was defeated too quickly, and those with ulterior motives could easily plot against him, but those who were willing to help him were simply out of reach.

However, the tenacious Duke Redbeard persisted on his battlefield until the third day. He defeated Merick's fierce attacks one after another, and almost most of the Norman knights had hallucinations: because of our miraculous fighting, reinforcements will arrive soon.

But it was Ostus's thousands of Suvak soldiers who came like a forest of spears. The mercenary general eliminated all other Bohemond's men who tried to break through, captured the wounded Earl Richard, and then re-arranged his formation with unrivaled momentum, and pressed Bohemond's remaining positions against the whistling crossbows and stones. In an instant, Bohemond's tactics failed in front of the tidal forest of spears. Some knights died with proud tenacity, and the rest were captured with their horses dead and their weapons destroyed, including Bohemond, Reinold, and his holy flag representing his great merits.

It is said that when Bohemond was captured in front of the horses of the enemies, Merick whipped him severely with a whip to vent his anger. Although the Duke of Antioch's face was covered with wounds, he looked contemptuous and said nothing.

Then the Pacade father and son and Ostus rode over.

When Bohemond saw Osdu, he immediately shouted angrily, "You capricious Turkic rat, I regret not catching and killing you, and letting you find a bastard master who is in collusion with you, that is, the treacherous villain Ridwan!"

The correct version is in the 16-9 book forum!

Osdu did not answer.

Pakard took the initiative to speak, "Your Highness, after all, we have a master-servant relationship, so we will not kill you - the Greek emperor of the Brahena Palace should be more interested in you, so we will send you to Constantinople."

Hearing this, Bohemond laughed, "Relying on Marash, a country that is about to perish? Moreover, there is not even a piece of sea water, how can you send me to Alexios?" (To be continued ~^~)