Eagle Flag of Epirus

　　 "Master Justinian, one hundred and fifty archers sent by Thebes arrived at the barracks yesterday."

　　 "The three hundred heavy infantrymen of Papadolos' family have already set off from Modong Fortress, and it is estimated that there will be three days to arrive."

　　 "The Regency of Senna from Patras also sent thirty Latin knights and more than two hundred militias with bows and arrows to help."

The barracks outside Athens, the army is gathering here at the moment-in just a few days, Justinian has completely integrated all the power of the Peloponnese, this time without the constraints of the previous Prince Theodor, all opposed him The old nobles and Latins were completely expelled and deprived of all their property. In addition, he also received a large amount of ransoms from pizza merchants as a condition to release them from the city of Athens.

But now Justinian has no time to be complacent. He got news from the Sea Ross pirates. Macedonia in the north has become the main battlefield between Mikhail and Theodore. In addition to Thessaloniki, others The situation in this place is precarious. On the other hand, the Latin Empire and the Bolgars are even more eye-catching. Without him, if Antonia is the only one, it will definitely cause trouble. Therefore, in the past few days, the northward intervention in Thessaloniki in the Civil War of Epirus has also been put on the agenda by Justinian, and all the troops that can be deployed are now assembled on the Attica Peninsula.

"By land? I think it will be more secretive if you are on the sea. If you go directly from Thessaly's march, it is so powerful, you are not afraid to attract the fear of the Dukas family? Not to mention, there are still a lot of entrenched there. Crusader warlord, Alexander of Memphis was killed by you, and his remnants flowed there. The power should not be underestimated." In the military tent, Igor was sitting at the wooden table looking through the records of the grain and waste statistics over the past few days.

Justinian was looking at the entire map of Greece and Macedonia in front of him, drew something in circles on the map with a quill pen, turned to look at Igor behind him, and replied: "This is the effect I want. It’s such a huge and powerful voice. If they don’t have any fear of me, then it’s the most dangerous. Just like the first thing a hunter in the wilderness does is to let go of his hound roar to let the prey know that he exists. ."

"But it will undoubtedly be extremely dangerous. I have seen many people but this is the first time I have seen a stranger like you. Do you know what it means to do this?" See you in Igor, Constantinople There have been too many intrigues, all kinds of things are difficult to enumerate, but one thing is the same, that is the decency of the nobility, but in Moriah, he saw Justinian pull the fig leaf fiercely. Do not leave an inch down. Of course, this allowed Justinian to squeeze out an astonishing war potential by relying on the barren Peloponnese, but it also means that after this, the land of aggressive size will be a sea of ​​corpses and bones-because in those old nobles In his eyes, Justinian was more hateful than the Latins.

　　 "Of course I know this. The dangers you mentioned are huge, but the benefits are also huge." After speaking, Justinian turned around and looked at the mottled map in front of him again.

　　 He finally waited for this day, and he has been preparing for nearly a year, and all the layouts have finally paid off at this moment. But not everything is foolproof, the only problem still exists...

Closing the account book in his hand, Igor slowly said: "The food and grass are enough for the Peloponnese for the next year, plus the warehouse goods left by the pizza merchants, the logistics can completely keep up, but It seems that there are not many troops that Moriah can assemble now."

Justinian nodded. This is the biggest problem he is facing now. "Most of the new army composed of young and middle-aged people has been stationed in Macedonia for almost a year at this time. The half of the garrison that Sri Lanka can transfer can only be assembled in Athens with only two thousand troops."

"Then if you go north in such a stately manner, I am afraid it is like a lame old hunter leading a little milk dog to catch a bear." Igor didn't mean to be joking, in fact, even though Justinian was suppressing the Latin rebellion Afterwards, his reputation gained great popularity, but it brought not only a large number of enemies, but also the emptiness of the squeezed Moriah. Under the condition of ensuring the security of the homeland, the army that Justinian was able to take away this time was not enough. Too many, rashly entering Epirus will undoubtedly take a lot of risk. In addition to the Dukas nobles, Macedonia still has a large number of crusaders entrenched.

"That's why I'm going to bother you to take a trip." Justinian said as he threw the key on his waist onto the table in front of Igor, and this key was used to open the Pisa merchant's treasury. Hoarding the wealth that Baron Pierre had accumulated throughout his life and the goods that the merchant group had planned to ship to the East have now become Justinian's wealth.

　　 "This is?" The young Varyag picked up the key on the table and rubbed it carefully and asked with a smile.

Justinian said indifferently: "Why should you ask knowingly? Everything in the treasury is at your disposal. Except for the twenty pounds of gold and one hundred pounds of silver sent by Romanus, the pizzas' goods are believed You can easily get rid of it in the Eastern Holy Land. When you and I meet again, I think you can bring back a powerful army."

"Go east to recruit soldiers? Are you sure?" Igor couldn't help being shocked by Justinian's thoughts. Although he guessed that Justinian would want him to recruit troops overseas, he thought he was going to Italy, but he didn't expect to investigate. Steinney wanted him to go to the Holy Land.

In the face of Igor's suspicion, Justinian was very sure, "Yes, it is there." Although the Roman world has undergone tremendous changes with his arrival, Justinian believes that he is in a distant holy place. I shouldn't have had much influence yet. If all is not surprising, in 1204, King Amarik of Jerusalem had re-signed a peace agreement with Egyptian Sultan Al-Kamil. In the following year, he died, leaving his young daughter Maria ascended to the throne. At this time, in 1207, Maria, who was only 16 years old, was not even married, and could not control the chaos in Cyprus, Beirut and Sidon. The Germanic Crusaders, who had been at odds with the French, were returning to Germany in large numbers. The opportunity that Justinian can take advantage of-these high-quality troops will establish the famous Teutonic Knights in more than ten years. If they can be cut off as mercenaries, they can greatly expand their combat power.

　　 "Let the Crusaders attack the Crusaders, it might be a bit unrealistic." Justinian's amazing thoughts made Igor unable to look sideways, but the other party was confident.

　　 "But what if the Crusaders knew that they were attacking a group of heretics who had been expelled from the church?" Justinian asked with a meaningful smile on his face.

　　 At this moment, Igor was also stunned and contemplated. Yes, he also heard about it when he was at sea. The Pope in Rome had expelled the membership of the Crusaders who ransacked Zara on the way. If that were the case, the frustrated crusaders from the Holy Land would attack them without any psychological pressure.

Justinian went on to say: "Although the Venetians later handed over a penitent note to make this matter unsolved, but considering that the war between the Holy Land and the Egyptians caused news of the news to be blocked, many people must have a little understanding of this matter. If they now know that they can stay in the East to fight and have a generous reward, they will happily go.” Justinian had considered this matter for a long time. Most of the Latin Crusaders in the Roman Empire were France and Italy. Nobles, they and the Germanic Crusades cannot deal with it by themselves, relying on this brutal army is enough to wipe out the enemy. The only thing to beware of is that the Teutonic Knights are uniquely anti-visitor, as long as they don't fall into the same way as Conrad, King of Poland, it is not a big problem.

Seeing Justinian's insistence, Igor also happily put the key into his pocket, looked at Justinian and asked: "You just trust me so, give me all these things~www. readwn.com~I’m not afraid that I will embezzle it? Don’t forget, we are pirates, and it’s also possible to betray you if we can go to the Sacrament."

　　 "I believe you won't do this." Justinian shrugged and answered easily.

　　 "It's because of Miss Antonia? I just owe her a favor, and it doesn't mean that I am one of her people. It was not necessary to help you this time." Igor said mercilessly.

But Justinian shook his head and said: "Of course I know this, but the real reason you helped me is not her, but because of the map!" When I came to the pirates alone, I was murdered by a group of pirates. Surrounded by the Ross pirates, what surprised him was that the chief of the island was a thin and thin young man who was about the same age as himself, that is, Igor in front of him. At first sight of him, Justinian knew that this was a difficult character to deal with, and sure enough, when he mentioned Antonia, the other party didn’t react much until Igor saw what he was carrying with him. There was a special map in it, and his attitude changed dramatically. Therefore, Justinian was convinced that the reason for everything was the map that Vasili, the leader of the resistance army, gave him before his departure in Constantinople. You can be sure that these two people must have great connections.

In this regard, Igor, who was guessed at the center of the matter, smiled faintly and did not deny: "It is true, because I drew this map. I asked you how you got it. You said it was given by a friend, so I chose It's the same for helping you now. But not because I believe in you, but because I believe in Uncle Vasily's vision, which can be regarded as repaying the money I borrowed from him before. You entrusted me with the task, and I took it. "