Eagle Byzantium

When Guy and Clare expressed hesitation about crossing the sea, Bohemond laughed loudly and said, "The king of the Île-de-France will do his best to help me - right, my relative, William Grandmeny" Le?”

Later, in the flag team of the Norman knights, a middle-aged man with powerful and gorgeous armor came over slowly, holding the bridle, and respectfully saluted the Duke of Apulia on horseback, with a smile on his face, "Of course, King of France He has already promised me that in order to avenge his brother Hugh, he has spent a lot of money to let the merchant ships of Marseille city come to reinforce us, and they have a charter issued by the Holy See of the Pope. Any city-state can operate in any sea area. This fleet must not be stopped."

The people around him, whether they were Guy and Clarey, or even Reynold and Richard, who had always followed Bohemond, were stunned, as if they were seeing people who had returned from hell, because they had been in Foca earlier. On the battlefield, this person was always hidden in the flag team behind the duke, and people are more familiar with him - when the French king's brother "the noble Hugh" was inexplicably killed on the Asia Minor plateau, William Grandmenil who accompanied him was also That is Bohemond's brother-in-law, who mysteriously disappeared.

However, when Bohemond was captured, William Grandmenile miraculously appeared from Italy, traveled through Lombardy and Liguria, and then appeared in the court of the French King, telling all of France face to face, "Kill Hugh, he is undoubtedly the emperor of Greece. I survived the hardships and came to your palace to tell you this bloody and hateful news."

The intimate ministers in the palace were extremely angry and immediately asked the King of France to declare war on Constantinople. However, the shrewd King of France stopped the anger of his servants. He asked William Grandmenile to go back and contact Bohemond, " Is it possible to organize a coalition of Lombard and Apulian troops to expedition to the Kingdom of Greece? France will provide selfless support in terms of money and ships.”

Soon, amid the roaring waves, Bohemond's huge army rode dozens of Marseille merchant ships and long ships collected from the Taranto and Bari areas, carrying 3,000 horses, 10,000 infantry and 800 infantrymen. The knights and the sergeants who received knight training shouted the battle cry of "Guiscat's Legacy" and headed straight for the Dirasium Military District. The target was naturally its core capital, Durazzo.

The tragic war twenty years ago is about to happen again.

The emperor's younger brother Sebastocrat Isaac, who was originally preparing for preparations in the Ragusa area, hurriedly led the eight thousand elites at hand southward to rescue Durazzo.

However, it was just a false shot by Bohemond - he and his revenge army landed at the port of Apollonia, and then the red-bearded Duke quickly sent a light force to capture and seize the road leading to the interior of Thessaly. The pass cut across the passage and blocked the hurried Sebastokrat in a flat wasteland.

Not long after the battle began, the 800-strong Norman cavalry galloped and charged with lances, crushing the emperor's left wing. The shocked Sebastocrat was still holding on to the center and ordered the archers to line up and shoot fiercely. , to stop Bohemond's attack - but Bohemond obviously did not Wishing to repeat the defeat at the hands of Larissa when he was young, he recruited more crossbowmen from Benevento, Bari and Calabria, and turned around and shot the emperor's younger brother's army to pieces - -Isaac was so frightened that he abandoned his team on horseback and fled towards the city of Durazzo.

But Bohemond then bypassed Durazzo without hesitation. He was unwilling to waste time in this strong city. His army crossed the mountains directly from the south and began to follow the "Egg" left by the ancient Roman era. "Via Egnatia" (Via Egnatia) is a very important and wide troop transport road. It starts from Constantinople in the east and passes through the Thracian plains and Macedonian plains to the Epirus region. , the lifeline of the empire in the west) quickly moved towards the richest region of Thessalonica, "Let us discard the rigid ideas of the knightly class. There is no honor to be gained here. All we have to do is attack, kill and plunder." ! " Bohemond howled like this, sweeping towards the east, and his battle flag made the whole of Greece, Macedonia, Thrace and even the imperial capital Constantinople feel trembling.

When the news reached the emperor of Philomelon, the red-bearded bandit chief had entered an area less than fifty kilometers west of Thessaloniki.

The emperor was horrified.

The emperor was also greatly distressed.

He confronts Gawain here, and also plays the Zahas pirate card. He thinks that Gawain is tired of dealing with it. In ten days, he will be able to gather all the troops, complete all battle preparations, and defeat Gawain (poor Gawain) Alexios had not yet had time to know the situation in Seleucia). But when Gawain changed hands, he played the Bohemond card again, making him vulnerable from both sides, so within ten days, he had to make a decision!

The emperor has no more than three choices:

He divided his troops back to support Macedonia, and led the main force to continue the confrontation with Gawain;

Return to the west of the empire with all your strength and defeat Bohemond to death, but the eastern territory is obvious - Afillon, Philomelon, Angras, and even more areas will be lost to Gawain and Theodorus;

The third option is to concentrate on fighting to the death. First defeat Gawain, his mortal enemy, and at least push him back to Tarsus, cripple his army and severely damage him, forcing Gawain to accept a peace treaty that is beneficial to the empire, and then turn back. Defeat Bohemond, and then slowly deal with many enemies.

Not only Alexios was faced with these three choices, but all the imperial generals and nobles were the same. For the first time, a fierce quarrel broke out in the imperial military meeting. After all, every choice was really related to the interests of different factions. It is different from carrying the sedan chair with the emperor before.

The Thracian general Ceces strongly advocated breaking up the war and making peace with the opposite Gawain, and returning the main force to repel Bohemond, which was the second option. He quoted the financial documents sent by the Imperial Prime Minister Burrill, "Your Majesty's mobilization of tens of thousands of people to the plateau has depleted the public and private treasury. The war cannot last three months. If Gawain persists, we will defeat his base." , his army can still retreat to the camp city, and even if the camp city is defeated, If we can retreat to Iconium, what's the point of killing a large number of enemies if we run out of money? By then Bohemond has already burned Thessalonica and Thrace, and the empire will be taxed for the next year. , all your Majesty’s armies and even your empire will completely collapse!”

Brenus and his entourage cautiously agreed with the third option. After all, he and many of the Plonian nobles were based in the southwestern region of Anatolia, that is, in the Mysia and Lydian plains. It is also a land rich in manpower and financial resources. "After His Majesty retreats, it will be difficult for us to resist Gawain's offensive. In that case, all the foundation of the empire in Asia Minor will be destroyed, and Gawain will be able to gradually encroach, swallow up, and directly approach the imperial capital."

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Finally, Titicius, who was extremely experienced and prestigious (of course for soldiers, the nobles looked down upon him) agreed with the first option, "Your Majesty, please allow me to bring my six thousand new troops back to the imperial capital quickly. I will We are confident to defend Thessaloniki!” (To be continued~^~)