"The Xanthi brigade was almost completely killed in the battle of the Drava River, and there were only seven survivors!"

"General Nikephoros was killed and martyred, and the brigade burned the battle flag at the last moment!"

"Your Majesty!"

"According to the imperial military system, the Xanthi Brigade of the Thracian Military District can be directly abolished!"

Alexios listened to Betak's report and closed the report from the west.

Although I had expected the victory, I didn't expect it to come so quickly.

The Second Legion, which the Emperor had quietly dispatched, had already boarded the ship, but it had been hovering over the Black Sea without triggering it.

However, the situation did not develop to the point where the reserve team was needed.

"General Theodosius is doing a great job!"

"This victory of the Empire can serve as a warning to many evil bandits."

Amid the praise of the Imperial Supreme, the Emperor's minister Betak also closed the battle report he had been reading about the battle of the northern attack on Hungary.

"The Imperial Army has simply destroyed the troops of the Kingdom of Hungary!"

"Even after capturing King Bella, everything is now at the mercy of His Majesty's arrangement."

The emperor's trusted courtier said lightly, fighting is the responsibility of a warrior, and negotiation is the duty of a civil official.

"Your Majesty!"

"Next, please leave everything to Weichen!"

"I will use their king for the greatest benefit for Your Majesty, and land, gold, and women will fill the treasury of the empire."

Listen to that!

However, Emperor Alexios held his chin in contemplation, and finally waved his hand and rejected Bertak's proposal.

"Even if the Magyars choose to give in for the time being, what then?"

"Can we still annex this country all at once?"

The Imperial Ministers listened from the sidelines, and the main points of the negotiation must depend on the will of the Imperial Supreme.

"Let Bella hand over the hostages!"

"In addition, a contract was signed that the Kingdom of Hungary must send 20,000 hussars as a servant army every year to follow the empire in all directions."

"We don't want land, those pastures are coming, and there will be no citizens willing to immigrate there."

"We want gold, and ask them to hand over the ransom of 800,000 gold pieces."

"In addition, the Kingdom of Hungary must maintain trade with the Empire, and the Magyars are obliged to protect the Empire's merchants who do business within its borders."

"Warn them that any act of harm to the Imperial caravan will be considered a provocation!"

"There will be no second forgiveness in the Empire, let them think about it and reply!"

"Yes, Your Majesty!"

"I'll get the Kingdom of Hungary to sign a contract soon!"

Betak agreed in a relaxed tone that it was the prerogative of the victors.

Moreover, although the Kingdom of Hungary has no money, the royal family is one of the richest royal families in Europe.

This ransom is fully affordable for Hungary.

What's more, after the empire lost the eastern territory of Anatolia, it has been in short supply of war horses, and has to buy them at high prices.

Thanks to the imperial capital of Constantinople, it was well connected by sea and land.

The Cuman-Kipchak alliance north of the Black Sea has always provided the empire with high-quality war horses.

The Bulgarians in the western part of the empire were also nomadic and skilled in horse breeding.

It was this dismal operation that maintained a certain number of cavalry troops, and the empire was not defeated by the Seljuks.

But being controlled by others is never pleasant.

Now the Kingdom of Hungary will have a steady stream of cheap and high-quality war horses imported into the empire.

"Licinius should be back in the imperial capital soon!"

Emperor Alexios probably never expected that his favored retainers would not only successfully complete their tasks, but also greatly exceed their quotas.

When the Supreme of the Empire returns to the imperial capital, a big surprise awaits him.

…………………………

Bordeaux, Kingdom of France.

The harbor here has opened its shipping lanes, and the fleets of the Eastern Empire are lined up with the fleets of the Duchy of Aquitaine.

Richard, Duke of Aquitaine, Prince of England, is preparing to sail to the Holy Land.

In order to maintain secrecy, the Duke drove away a large number of civilians stationed in the harbor.

A small number of sailors were scattered on the ship, who did not know the movements of this fleet.

Because once King Angelwin learned about Prince Richard's actions.

No one can guarantee what the continent's most influential king will do.

And Prince Richard, in order to avoid being intercepted by the English fleet at sea.

Not only did they choose to travel secretly, but they also had to arm the entire ship in case of contingency.

After all, in addition to the hidden pressure of King Henry II, the cruising of the Egyptian fleet in the Mediterranean was also an inevitable threat.

Although the Eastern Empire and Egypt each supported their own proxies to fight, they had not yet officially declared war on each other.

This is the tacit understanding between Emperor Alexios and Saladin, and no one will easily show their swords until the last moment.

Once unsheathed, it is a killing move, and the opponent must be killed!

The two kings had already felt each other's edges from a distance, but they were silent and sharp.

It was too difficult for the current Roman Empire to subdue Egypt.

And to face the alliance between the Eastern Empire and the Kingdom of Jerusalem is also a huge pressure for Saladin.

Therefore, both sides are far away from the resort, and do not use ultimate force.

So much so that the Egyptian grain fleets could sail at sea, and the Roman fleets could be at peace with the pagans.

But Prince Richard, who belonged to the same House of Anjou as King Baldwin, was not so lucky.

Saladin's two-year contract with King Baldwin has arrived!

As the biggest winner of the return, the great eunuch Licinius naturally wanted to ensure the safe arrival of the prince.

The Roman Emperor would definitely be interested in this noble blood.

But on the way back, Licinius just got a bad message.

After striking Duke Aquitaine on the side, the eunuch was embarrassed to discover a situation.

Prince Richard's discord with Princess Alice is not just due to the political marriage between their two countries.

The real estrangement is that Princess Alice is actually Prince Richard's own sister.

Both the prince and the princess were born to Eleanor, the current Queen of England.

It's just that Princess Alice was born to Eleanor and King Louis.

Prince Richard, on the other hand, was born to Eleanor and King Henry.

And this marriage was actually facilitated by Eleanor of Aquitaine.

The news was like a thunderbolt on a sunny day, and Licinius was speechless.

As a court eunuch, he actually made a mistake of common sense.

The most important thing is that the composition of the French royal family has never been revealed to the outside world.

So much so that the great eunuch made a mistake and made a promise to King Philip, and it was a promise made for the emperor.

Now Licinius was convinced that he would not be able to fulfill his promise to the King of France.

Unless Prince Richard himself is willing to have incest by blood, but looking at the prince's current avoidance, it is almost impossible.

In the Eastern Empire, this kind of scandal has long been accustomed to people.

For example, Andronikana took his niece, Baldwin III, king of Jerusalem.

The evil deeds of these two men even attracted the hunt of the previous Supreme Emperor of the Empire, Manuel.

Andronica's affair with her niece is insignificant to the Imperial royal family.

But the important thing is that the misconduct of the two is equivalent to breaking the alliance between the empire and the heavenly dynasty.

This is the most unforgivable sin!

The interests of the empire are above all else!

But now Prince Richard's resistance means that he will never agree with such a thing as blood incest, and the prince's marriage with the French royal family is likely to fall through.

When the time comes, neither the King of France nor Princess Agnes will probably let him go easily.

You must know that Princess Alice followed Prince Richard to leave Paris, leaving her own family and taking the risk of an unmarried girl leaving the palace.

This kind of thing was also an immoral act in the Middle Ages.

The eunuch was depressed and thought about how to persuade the prince to accept the French princess's embrace, so as to facilitate this beautiful event and add another arm to the emperor.