"Sophia?!"

On the third day of the siege, John entered the siege camp sleepily as usual, only to wait for an unexpected man.

"I'm not letting Jeffrey look at ...... Oh my god, I really shouldn't believe a cripple......"

"Brother, don't worry, I asked Yustina to bring me here."

John looked at the innocent-looking handmaiden with some annoyance.

"Your Majesty, I am just obeying the orders of the princess. Moreover, Her Royal Highness the Princess is now the Governor of Epirus, and she does have the right to intervene in the military operations in the territory. ”

"Sophia! This is the battlefield! Even if the camp was relatively safe, Murad didn't think he would have an accident at the beginning! ”

"If you take such an opponent too seriously, it won't do you any good morale. Besides, I'm not here to see the scenes of the battle, I've seen enough of the lookout in Constantinople. Sophia took out a manuscript from her bosom that seemed to be in a hurry, the handwriting was scribbled and messy, and it didn't look like Sophia had written it herself, "Brother, haven't you always wanted to know who the marionettes that the Ottomans have been pinching in Epirus are?" The results of the investigation have been obtained. ”

John took the manuscript and laid it out on the table. Written above are the names of those whom John has seen or not, including the Venerable Dariani.

Most of these warlords have been erased by a horizontal bar, indicating that they have been eliminated, and in the center of this manuscript, John sees a glaring name.

Ripper Ducasse-Komnenos.

To be precise, John would never have imagined that it would be the Ducasse-Comneens who would become the Empire's number one lackey. Michael Ducasse founded the Ducasse-Komnenos dynasty in Epirus, and although he was a stranger to the imperial family, at least he spent his life fighting for the people of Epiru. I'm afraid he didn't expect that after experiencing the defection of the imperial nobles, his descendants would take the lead in oppressing the people of Epirus.

"After the control of the Epirus changed hands, the Dukas-Komnenos dynasty still had descendants left in Epirus?" John had to be suspicious of the man named Ripper, a name that was neither orthodox Greek nor Latin-like. Moreover, the influence of the Ducasse-Komnenos in Epirus has long since faded, and the sudden emergence of a descendant of a former ruler who has become the leader of the local warlords in one fell swoop is a little too dreamy.

"It could be a remote branch of a family, or an illegitimate child...... Or maybe it's just a mercenary who was forcibly raised by the Ottomans under the name of a descendant of the Duckas-Komnenos family. In any case, he is now our enemy. Sophia sat directly in the seat that belonged to John, "When I came, I could see the majestic walls of Fort Gombrigne in the distance. Without a little effort, I'm afraid it's not that easy to fight. ”

"Don't worry, Your Highness Princess, so far, our plans have gone well."

"What's the plan?"

Fort Gombrigne does not have a moat in the literal sense of the word. The castle is surrounded by a hill wall on one side, relatively flat meadows on both sides, and only on the west side of the city wall is a small river that is neither wide nor turbulent, and flows all year round, the Gillijie River.

The river supplied water to the civilians of Fort Combrigné and the surrounding villages and towns in peacetime, and could also serve a relatively limited role in stopping enemy forces in wartime.

"Your Royal Highness, before returning to Genoa to study military techniques and combat theory, I spent several years in Florence, specializing in military architecture, walls like the Fort de Combrigne, which unfortunately I dabbled in." Pointing to the Gigliję River, Giovanni said, "The walls of Fort Combrigne may seem to be very strong, but in fact they have a fatal flaw. The Gillijie River does not seem to make any waves, but its presence makes the surrounding soil very unstable, and when the groundwater overflows to a certain extent, the ground is damp and soft, and it can no longer support the heavy walls, so the walls will continue to sink. It's a terrible vicious circle. When the structure on one side of the wall completely collapses, patches of the wall will collapse with a bang. When the time comes, not to mention the light infantry, even the heavy cavalry of the Phoenix Legion can charge as if they were on the ground! ”

"If the land is sinking every day, won't the Ottomans notice it?" Sophia was skeptical.

Giovanni smiled and went on to explain: "This process actually goes on silently, and you can't find the clues without observing your own feelings. Collapse, on the other hand, is only a matter of moments. Taking a step back, even if the Ottomans and the warlords had already figured out that something was wrong with the walls, how could they have thought of such a plan? Even if they thought about it, unless they could drain the entire Gilligee River in a few days, they couldn't change the status quo at all. There were only two paths in front of them - to go out of the city and surrender, or to go out of the city and surrender after a battle to the death. ”

Perhaps it was the prayers and sermons of the missionaries from Constantinople who worked day and night, and the besieged camps received good news one after another.

First, Gyerj really came as promised, and joined the siege with his elite 3,000 light and heavy infantry who were good at mountain warfare. After hearing about Giovanni's strategy, the war artist couldn't help but be amazed.

And the second good news is that it is raining in Epirus.

Summers in the Mediterranean climate tend to be dry.

One day, John was staring at a bunch of grapes in the camp when suddenly the sound of pouring rain came from outside.

With lightning and thunder, the water level of the Jilijie River soars, and there is even a tendency to overflow the riverbank.

"Okeanos is on top...... The rain was nothing short of a miracle. Sophia clenched her fists to her chest and whispered to herself.

John took advantage of the situation and shoved a grape into her mouth.

"Sophia, haven't you always scoffed at this kind of thing?"

"But there are some things that I can't explain for the time being...... Maybe there will be wise people to answer my doubts in the future, but for now, I can barely credit the gods. ”

After speaking, Sophia opened her mouth slightly again.

"It's sweet."

……

"Mura, how do I feel...... Have you gotten shorter these days? ”

"Fart, Lao Tzu is a head taller than you!"

"That's not right, I always feel ......"

While the guards patrolling the walls were still thinking, one rainy night, a loud noise rang through all the valleys of Epirus.

"Gyerj, let me show you this time, the heroic posture of the Phoenix Legion!"