Although the Norman fleet in the Gulf of Averon was destroyed, the war was far from over, and after the Norman supply ships of southern Italy avoided the ancient waters off Brindisi and occupied the island of Corfu further south, they began to increase their troops, and mercenaries from Lombard Minor refilled the ranks for Duke Robert. By this time the Greek emperor had not yet arrived, and the Venetian fleet was based far away in Dalmatia, and their "sea master" was stationed in the port of Dilacium, satisfied with his previous victory, and had no desire to go south, which gave Robert Gisca, Duke of Apulia, a precious respite.

Audrick paid the price for his weakness, he became an oarsman, his lord Drogo could not bear the life of a captive, he had already died, the Flemish man was still unwilling to accept his fate before he died, he was pale, his finger bones were thin, and he only told Odric with his last love that he had decided to leave him his entire inheritance.

What inheritance, Odrick smiled bitterly to himself, Drogo's mind was obviously burned, the armor and horses of this Flemish knight had long been auctioned off by the Venetians, and he had left no inheritance in his hometown, if it weren't for his stature and martial arts, Duke Robert's young son Bohemond would not even look at their master and servant.

In the darkness, the spy instinct of the English awoke instead, he knew that he could not sink here, that he was no longer a fisherman's son, that he seemed to mingle with the Venetian oarsmen who spoke all languages, but that he was not that man, never again.

"Capua reversed?" One day, Odrick, who was scrubbing the cabin, heard a voice, clearly belonging to a Venetian.

"Shh......h It was the Count of Capua who took refuge with the Emperor. ”

Although Giordano of Capua called himself a prince, the Venetians called him "Gastardo" by the Lombards, and as an Englishman, Audrick did not know what these names actually meant, but automatically replaced them in his mind with the Anglo-Saxons and Danes, earls or governors, and the like.

From the whispers of the two Venetians, Audric discerned some incoherent fragments, and he himself filled in the remaining details - Emperor Henry's offensive was not going well, the Tuscan direction was completely controlled by Matilda's army, the emperor could only march from Verona to Romagna, the Teutons' strategy in this narrow passage was not smooth, and the city of Rome did not go as Henry and Clement III wished, but no one expected that at this time, an accident would happen in Capua.

The Venetians were clearly not optimistic about the Emperor Henry, and it was now clear that no matter how arrogant the Emperor had been when he coronated Lombardy in Pavia, Rome remained a rock solid, and all attacks were held back by the apostolic see's allies on the periphery of the Eternal City, even if there was a rebellion by the Count of Capua. In the minds of the Holy See, this was just another internal strife among the Normans, and Giordanor's target was clearly Duke Robert Giska, a capricious jackal who would never send a single soldier to Henry under the city of Don.

When everything went dark again, Odrik's pupils were dilated like cat's eyes, and he could hear his own heartbeat, such a message was a precious gem at the bottom of the lake for a spy, and if he could regain his freedom, he could come up with a dozen people who could pay for the news - if...... Freely!

The Venetian fleet triumphantly controlled the entire Byzantine harbor, and sat back and watched the Normans attack the city all summer, and the Byzantine guard George Palaioleg was also the object of these Italians' evaluation, while an English spy lay dormant quietly in the bilge of the harbor.

The reason for the delay in the disappearance of Emperor Alexios was that his Praetorian Guard was seriously undernumbered! The tension in Kiev has long since dried up the supply of soldiers, from the Neva to the Dnieper "Seven Waterfalls", the children and grandchildren of Yaroslav are torn apart, the Basil Empire received 6,000 elite Varangians at one time, after the Battle of Manzkert, these northern warriors killed each other in the internal struggle of the empire in exchange for a reward from someone who claimed to be the emperor, and in the previous mutiny, the emperor himself wiped out a large number of Varangian guards and "immortal legions", Now he was left alone with the single-edged axes of silver and black gold that were used in the armory for bounty.

There was no good news in the West either, the Danes had just finished a civil war, the Norwegians and the English seemed to be preparing something great, and none of their best samurai was willing to leave their king.

Historians like to boast of the loyalty of the northerners, but Alexios understood that this was nothing more than the power of money, and the northerners were especially fond of winning gold and silver by any means necessary, as exemplified by the famous Norwegian king, Harald Hadrada, the "lightning of the north" and the "Bulgarian arsonist", when he was arrested by the emperor for corruption, he believed that the king of Mikrigad had violated the traditional rights of the northerners, and then joined a rebellion and killed the old emperor for the new emperor.

Alexios Komnenen, who had been on the horse for half his life, knew all about the plundering of these barbarians, and while the citizens of Constantinople complained that the Emperor's Praetorian Guards were graffiti all over the holy Hagia Sophia and blasphemed the Father with their vulgar runivan, Alexios was well aware of the more barbaric things that the Praetorian Guards had done.

But now he only hated that the number of these northern barbarians was too small!

The rescue of Dirakim could not be delayed any longer, and God knows how threatening the capital would be if Robert Giska, who had come out of the country almost empty, once he gained a foothold. If the invaders were not held back in the west, the fate of the Komnenians and the Roman Empire would be bleak, and Alexios would be just another humble Greek king in the past few decades, playing the role of the lord of the world in the remnants of an ancient empire.

It has been said that when the famous general Baddas Scoleru was captured before the Emperor Basil, who asked him how he should rule, Bardas replied: "Destroy the upper echelons of the army; Do not let the soldiers be happy, but drain them with harsh taxes, so that they may be honest and peaceful; Don't let women interfere in politics; Maintain majesty at all times; Don't let too many people know about your plans. ”

Alexios inadvertently practiced the words of Badas, and he was extremely strict with all his soldiers and attachés, and the winged units were supervised by white-robed guards with Bakurum, and the ironclad cavalry wore colored iron-scale cuirasses over the lined soft armor, but their horses were not armoured. The Emperor's officers wore blue-gold shoulder straps, the purple trim of their capes hinted at their nobility, and above their heads, a Varangian Praetorian Pennant fluttered in the air, almost identical to the red robe of the Praetorian Guard's chief attendant.

The essence of the empire was here, and Alexios looked at the Varangians of less than two thousand with a solemn expression, including some blacksmiths and cooks, and Emperor Komnenos felt a fear of fate - this is only the auspicious feather of the old army, such a noble relic, but one can't help but ask: where are the war horses, where are the knights?