On the day of the eclipse, King Edgar had just returned to Westminster from the Wild North, and as he approached the city gates, the barefoot Princess Elfwen jumped out of the carriage and screamed like a star to the ancient oak tree in the marble vault.

"What a valiant princess!" Ulf's guard, who accompanied the king, exclaimed.

"Christina has always complained to me that my daughter does not look like a Christian at all, and alas, I am worried that she will be a good queen of the Franks in the future, if she is crazy all day long." The king had a warm smile on his face, like the sun shining brightly, infusing every inch of his beard.

At this time, the sun suddenly dimmed, and before the people of Westminster realized what was happening, the temperature began to plummet, and the priests and monks who accompanied them were the first to react, and then began to chant the scriptures aloud, which was just like the vision of the Lord Jesus at the crucifixion, and the young princess also stopped, looking blankly at the black hole in the sky, and behind her, the palace and church of Westminster also seemed to shake in the wind, like a temple about to crack.

Edgar closed his eyes, feeling the force of nature—unlike the others, he knew what was going to happen next.

The best of times are about to pass, and then a decade of drought, famine and plague will sweep across Western Europe, France will become a volcano that will wake up, and finally be ignited by the leaders of Christendom, the Rhine Valley will be a river of blood, the Danube valley will be left without grass, and countless creatures, men, women, and children, will embark on a pilgrimage of bones until the Kingdom of Heaven descends to achieve final liberation.

He knew all this, so he had been preparing for more than ten years, during which the wastelands reclaimed by the Clunians had provided England with a large reserve of grain, the county governors appointed by the royal family had surveyed every inch of the country, and a large number of testimonies showed that after the widespread use of multi-nursery rotations, the old frontiers of Wessex and Mercia had finally recovered from the catastrophe after 1066, and now even provided thousands of improved horses. As for the villages along the coast, spurred on by the whaling industry, many of them began to order the best weapons and tools from Greenwich merchants, and to equip their new Noorite fishing boats with fine iron.

Some of the remaining Danish lords in the north had secretly opposed the king's involvement in the German civil war, and it was with the support of Norman and Kent merchants that the king was able to secure the expedition with force and money. After the expeditionary force succeeded in seizing a large territory, everyone, including the once dismissive Walsiov, praised the king's foresight, but what no one knew was that Edgar's real purpose was to use the war within the empire to temper his army, and the fleet escort that constantly carried out sea cruises and supplies became more and more experienced, and the militia of the southern counties that had been repeatedly rotated had finally returned to the level before Hastings, and as for the royal family and the guards of the major lords, the army was served, In this war, the war skills were also shown to be no less than those of the Norman knights.

Maybe when little Guspatrick returns, he can make a truce with Henry, and then let the Italians deal with this Augustus, after all, there is more than one Roman Empire in the world, and the Rome in the east is about to enter the era of sunset.

Before coming into the world, he had met the famous "Gordon Pasha" in London, a retired general who had been involved in the suppression of the Taiping army in the Far East and looked almost indistinguishable from the fortress of Sevastopol, but when it came to the rise of the Madi Mujahideen in the upper Nile, the veteran of the empire was still worried.

Although it was 800 years ago, the conflict between the cross and the crescent moon seemed to be the same as it was then, and Edgar had the ambitions of an imperialist.

I will accomplish the unfinished work of my previous life, and let the military boots walk all over the Ka'ba!

The little princess of Elfwen rushed over as if she were flying, and Edgar opened her arms, hugged her daughter in her arms, and then raised her head high: "My little sun! ”

In the darkness, the king's daughter smiled brightly.

At the same time, far to the east, in the Thracian plain, the khan of the Pechenegs had just taken his last breath.

Angus soon received the news, and the red-robed Emperor's Janissaries rode from the Coastal Highway to the Northern Military District fortress of Meisembria, where they conveyed the Emperor's latest will to Angelo Keltopolos (Angus, son of the Celts), the newly appointed commander of the fortress.

"Your Excellency must immediately dispatch an elite attack and intercept the rout on the south bank of the Easte River!"

"I understand, please return to Your Majesty, I will march on Presslav at once, set up positions and outposts, and do my best to intercept the enemy."

The Varangians immediately understood what Angus meant, relying on his less than 1,000 troops here, it was definitely not enough to intercept tens of thousands of defeated enemies head-on, but it was more important to control the hub of the enemy's northward escape.

As long as Lord Angelo did not refuse to send troops, his mission would be completed, and it would be too harsh to force this new favorite of the emperor to go out into the field and capture the Pechenegs.

In fact, the Roman officers around Angus had begun to turn pale at this time, and John and Kyriakush and others seemed to be a little dissatisfied with the commander-in-chief agreeing to attack so easily, but they had just accepted the military salary brought by the other party, and it was inconvenient to oppose it on the spot, not to mention that the emperor was in full power at this time, and it was obviously not the best policy to disobey in front of the Praetorian Guard.

"My lord, now is not the time to strike!" As soon as the envoy left, Simerios Solomon began to persuade loudly, "In the previous rebellion, our losses were too great, and now the fortress can't even get together a hundred war horses. ”

"What about your tribe? Can't even two hundred cavalry be recruited? Angus gave him a look, and Gillick, who had changed his name to Gregory, immediately shouted loudly on behalf of the lord.

Several Pecheneg lords exchanged glances with each other, and finally Kyriakush could only come out and answer in person: "It has been almost gone, since the outbreak of the rebellion, the cultivated land has been abandoned, after the death of Prince Varazettus, most of our tribe has also dispersed, as far as I know, most of the young and strong tribesmen have given up farming and joined Tatush and other Khanbergs in the north, as these Andronicus lords can testify." ”

Andronicus, who was betrayed by his companions, had no choice but to take the lead: "Most of the Scythian units placed in the military region have indeed dispersed, and the rest are old, weak, sick and disabled, and the garrison is insufficient, and it is impossible to control the countryside, so we can only hold on to the fortress and wait for the support of the capital. ”

"Then why didn't you say a word when the envoy was here?" Gillick was a little angry, if he could not complete the emperor's mission, Lord Angus could not guarantee the position of commander, in his opinion, these people in front of him were clearly perfunctory, each more hateful than the other.

"Forget it." Angus finally began to speak, "In that case, this time I will only take you to attack, there are not many troops, I will bring the Latin cavalry, plus your guards are enough, but then we will not be able to block Preslav, then we will be overwhelmed by the routs that arrive one after another." I have decided that only Master Andronicus will be left here, and that all the others will follow me to ambush the fleeing Scythians, and when His Majesty's army arrives, I will personally explain it to His Majesty, and then follow the main force to pursue it north, and try my best to atone for my sins. ”

There are some fierce Latin knights on the side, and the lords can only agree one by one, and then go back to prepare for the dispatch of troops.

"You're all going with me this time." Before Gillick could speak, Angus said to him and Maeve at the same time, "I need all the hands that can use the sword, you follow me here, this time, we must build up the merit, otherwise ......"

"Nothing else, if we can't defeat it, we'll die here." Maeve pulled the bowstring, her eyes narrowed slightly, as if she was riding a birch arrow, and then turned her bow arm to the side of Angus's face as she opened it full, "To be honest, I feel bad this time, but I still choose to believe you, bastard, I believe that at least you won't turn your back on us no matter what, and that's enough." ”

With a blazing gaze, the highland girl gently threw the string, and an invisible arrow suddenly hit.