Heavy iron boots creaked against the wooden floor, Angus looked preoccupied as he stepped into the back hall, and the embers on the candlestick suggested that the chief nobleman had spent another sleepless night: perhaps this would be the purple-robed nobleman's last madness.

"Come on, my dear Lord Angus." John Ducasse Jr. had just put his foot in his suede boots, "Women are really not good at this, and your captive almost strangled me with my own chain mail." ”

"I believe the adults have punished her."

"Of course, ......in my own way," the chief nobleman smiled, "why are you so sad, has the enemy attacked the city?" ”

"Not yet, but ......"

"Rest assured, I'm still here, am I? When the soldiers saw my flag, they knew there was hope, after all, no Ducasse would joke with his life. ”

"If the enemy knew that the Lord was here, he would probably start attacking the city immediately."

"It would have saved a lot of trouble, but they weren't that stupid. Lord Angus, you need to meet the leaders of the enemy and remind them of this. ”

"Reminder of what?"

"I, John Ducasse, am waiting for them in Adrianople." John held his head high, as if to show off his magnificent beard, "but not as an enemy, but as a master." ”

"They have at least 30,000 voices to challenge that, and more importantly, 30,000 bowstrings."

"The barbarians can't take this place, but they can try. What I want to tell these Scythians is that they can be friends again, and that if they are willing to serve the Empire and provide it with troops as it has done in the past, the Empire will allow them to settle north of Haimos, and they will be paid more and will not be threatened by the Cumans as they were on the north bank of the East. ”

"Adults should understand that it is difficult to collect the arrow from the string."

But what do they want? Did Tergu really think that he could change his riding boots, put on a purple robe, and play the role of Emperor of the Romans at the Blachna Palace? As long as they are not asking for imperial power, why can't the empire give it? What is the difference between loot and military pay? He could even claim to his own barbarians that the great Romans were paying tribute to them! Who made him have an army of 30,000 now......"

Angus felt that John was fantasizing that the enemy was already in the city, how could he choose to bow his head without bloodshed? But he is not an imperial nobleman after all, he can only obey orders.

"Tell Solomon that he too can get his women back, and his share of the silver and gold, and then he can go back to his wretched horseskin tent, like his allies, and take a slow count. However, if he has greater ambitions, the Empire can make another deal with him......"

Clever choice, the enemy is not unfoundable – Divide et Impera.

Angus began to look at the young aristocrat in front of him, what was he willing to pay for the final victory?

After receiving the order, everything was done faster than expected, as if the chief nobleman had already prepared everything, and as he rode out of the fortress, Angus glanced back at the city walls, looking for a pair of familiar eyes, when a thrush fluttered its wings from the top of the flag, the summer green wind passed through the chainmail rings, and the shoulder straps hanging from the shield trembled slightly, and he felt the gasps of the squires behind him so clearly audible.

A cart followed, heavy ruts crushing the dilapidated Military Boulevard, the axles moaning as the whip swung. Angus was not in a hurry, he needed to organize his thoughts before meeting the enemy chieftain, the point of this mission was to delay, and there was no need to urge.

The Pecheneg people are cunning and capricious by nature, and John Ducasse Jr. reminded him that he must be very careful when dealing with these people—a hundred years ago, the Grand Duke of Rus' Svyatoslav was attacked by his Pecheneg allies at the Seven Waterfalls, and his skull was made into a wine bowl by the Khan of Kulia.

There were a few suburban houses near the Hebro River, and the last time he passed through this place, Angus had seen a group of maidens in the vicinity scrubbing in the river, as if seduced by the god Pan, and showing their beautiful little legs, but now there was nothing in the direction of the riverbank, except horse manure.

The procession soon approached the enemy's tent, the Roman flag held high was already surrounded by dozens of cavalry, and a horse soon ran out of the seemingly loose Pecheneg sentinels, and the Cuman mercenaries stepped forward and negotiated with them with great pride.

Angus began to observe the surrounding camp, where the enemy's tents were encamped on a flat ground between the woods and the river, surrounded by barricades, most of the horses were grazing nearby, and only about a thousand were fenced by spears, as if they were being fed.

The Cuman mercenaries had followed several sentries into the camp, and then, after a long time, another Uzi cavalryman approached the people from the direction of the Great Tent and gave them orders in an unpleasant tone.

"It looks like he's telling us to hand over our weapons." The translator prompted.

The Uzi man wore a short sheepskin robe, with extremely thick bones and exposed muscles, and although not as tall as Angus, he had a very broad chest, and because his mount was much shorter than the Latins, he looked like a giant.

Angus didn't say a word, just shook his head, and said that he would never unload his weapon, and unexpectedly, the other party did not hold on, presumably having just run into a wall with the Cumans.

The camp of tens of thousands of people resembles a bustling city, and as soon as you enter the walls, you can smell the pungent smell of roasted turnips and roasted mutton, and all kinds of weapons such as spears, guns, bows, and arrows are piled up around the campplaces, and even the good steel swords and spears of Thessaloniki. Along the way, the stripped nomadic warriors raised their heads defiantly from time to time, several of them in the intention of scaring them, but Angus simply ignored them, escorting the cart and following closely behind the Uzi.

There was a time when these horse thieves wandering in the Don Plain did not even dare to attack the fortress of Sakr built by the Romans for the Khazar Khan. Then this people rose to lightning and replaced the Khazars and Magyars as the "allies" of the empire on the northern shore of the Black Sea, but even then, the purple-robed nobles in the palace were only worried that these herdsmen would further harass the Cherson Military Region and disrupt the trade routes, who would have thought that they would one day follow the old path of the Goths and Bulgarians, and go straight to the west gate of Constantinople.

The Uzi man stopped ten steps before the big tent, picked up a silver medal, and said in a loud voice.

After a long time, a handsome slave walked out of the tent, not looking at the warrior, but looking Angus up and down, with a look of jealousy.

As he stepped forward, he casually took the silver medal from the hands of the Uzi, and then said to Angus in skilful Greek: "The Khan has told your lord to come in and speak now." ”

So Angus handed over the whip to Gilik, took only the interpreter, and prepared to enter the account to meet the Khan.

As soon as he entered the gold tent, the feeling of coolness on his face was unexpected, and Angus looked fixedly, but there were drunken nomadic nobles sitting around, and the Cuman mercenaries actually joined them at this time.

"The Roman emperor can't find a warrior, how can he let a male pet fight for him?" As soon as the Khan of Tergu opened his mouth, all the nobles burst into laughter.

At this moment, the Germanic-looking nobleman beside the khan seemed to say something, and the khan nodded, and someone brought a golden cup for Angus, and poured a cold sweet wine on it.

Angus secretly looked at the prince who spoke, and had already guessed that this person was the former king of Hungary, Solomon.

Solomon did not know that the messenger in front of him was the one who had taken his wife, but he felt that the young Roman general was quite kind, so he raised a bowl of wine to him.

"Greetings to the Khan, Lord John Ducasse, the Governor of the Dilakim Military Region and the Glorious Empire's Chief Nobleman." Angus took the golden cup and drank it down, then saluted loudly.

Pecheneg Khan had an extremely wide forehead, a handful of goatee on his chin, and two fine lights shot out from time to time in his slitted eyes: "Last year, I went south to herd horses, defeated the right wing of your country, and slaughtered the city, just because my family was restless, and the war was temporarily stopped. Now that I'm riding 30,000 horsemen here, why didn't your emperor come, but sent a group of rat thieves to entangle all day long? ”

"His Majesty the Emperor is blessed by the Lord, commands all nations, and has no grudge against the Khan, but someone on your side has been lured by my traitor, abandoned the tent, and besieged my city-state, and the Emperor does not want to meet with the Khan's sword soldiers, so he sent my Lord John to wait here, relieve the army with the Khan, and reaffirm the old alliance."

"How many warriors do the Romans have who dare to come and ask us for an oath?" Kuteskeberg laughed, "Didn't the Romans shrink into the shell of the turtle and send a lamb to save him from death?" ”

Seeing that his father-in-law was deliberately trying to embarrass the young man, Solomon glanced at Tergu, and sure enough, the Khan of Pecheneg had already shown impatience.

"The Roman Emperor is the Lord of the world, the protector of the people of Christ, and has an oath with your ministry since ancient times, not to mention that if it comes to war, the Emperor has now defeated the Normans and the Seljuks, and there is no danger in the rear. As for you, my Cuman friend, who is also here, do you still need me to remind you of the state of your war in the steppe? Your army has crossed the River Esther and Haimos, and behind it is the capricious Tatoosh rebels, and under the city of Don, if the Khan's 30,000 herdsmen have been damaged before this fortress, can you still hope to keep the booty? On behalf of the Emperor himself, Lord John of my family is willing to make an alliance with the Khan, promising your troops to settle on the banks of the East, and the Drista that Tatoosh now controls will then be owned by the Khan, which is a gift from Lord John to the Khan. ”

The Pecheneg nobles showed their greed, and even Solomon couldn't help but look at the cage that had been carried forward.

Large and small metal boxes were opened one after the other, revealing jeweled tiaras, silk with figures embroidered, black gold and ivory carvings, and a large number of bowl-shaped gold coins......

"Good!" Kutaiskberg suddenly shouted, which startled Angus, and then secretly despised this nomadic nobleman—who had been intimidating just now, and now he was like this again, and sure enough, the barbarian is capricious by nature.

That night, the Khan of Pecheneg, whose attitude had changed drastically, personally hosted a banquet to entertain him, and Angus finally breathed a sigh of relief, and exchanged glasses with many nobles on horseback, while secretly observing the deposed king of Hungary.

Solomon looked absent-minded, and seemed to be unconcerned about Kutaisberg's sneering from time to time, until his gaze collided with Angus's meaningful gaze, and his expression gradually appeared thoughtful.