There was silence in the city of Thessaloniki, except for the crackling of torches, and Shishman standing in front of a pile of firewood and grass on which Mikhail's body lay down.

In the fierce battle during the day, he and Lazar and others desperately snatched back the body of the governor Mikhail, and now they plan to cremate the body of the governor on the spot.

Shishman handed the torch in his hand to Lazar and said, "Light it and send the Governor on his last journey!" ”

Lazar's eyes were red, his lips trembled, and he tried to say something, but he held back, and he threw his torch on the pile of firewood, and the fire immediately burst into flames.

"Originally, according to the doctrine, the body of the Governor cannot be cremated, but there is no way, the Bulgarians are besieging Salonika very urgently, and now they don't know when the city will be broken, so they can only cremate the body of Lord Mikhail, so as to avoid humiliation in case the city is broken by the rebels!"

Shishman said bitterly, the Orthodox Church prohibits cremation, and if there is no accommodating reason for cremation, the deceased is not allowed to be buried in his church, and he will not be able to pray in his church for a long time, which is the greatest harm to the hero's death!

"Let's go, Thessaloniki is leaderless now, if we don't clean up the mess immediately, and wait for the Bulgarians to launch another large-scale offensive tomorrow, I'm afraid we will become the swords of these rebels!"

Shishman gritted his teeth and insisted on turning away, Lazar wept, Mikhail had always been a good man, and the Roman people of Thessaloniki had always treated things like their own children, dealing with things fairly and justly, and the people missed the governor as much as they missed their father.

When Shishman arrived in the square outside the Doge's Palace, the crowd knelt on the ground and prayed silently for the fallen Roman hero, low sobs filling the crowd.

"Roman, Mikhail, our beloved Doge, who died in today's battle, is the pride of Thessaloniki and worthy of the honor of the Romans, and on his deathbed bestowed upon me, Shishman Osfin, commander of the Saloniki militia, to continue to defend the country! I solemnly swear here that I will lead you to repel the murderous Bulgarian rebels and avenge the loss of our loved ones! ”

Shishman cried out, and the voice spread throughout the square from the Doge's Palace, and slowly the Romans stood up, and gradually a little ripple spread, and finally converged into a torrent, and a voice resounded in the square: "Vengeance!" Revenge! Revenge! ”

Having lost their beloved governor Mikhail, their relatives and friends, their father, brother and husband, the angry Romans could not hold back and wanted to vent the feelings buried deep in their chests, and their roar shook the sky, the Romans would not give in, and as long as there was one Roman alive, they would continue to fight in Thessaloniki!

……

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……

In the Bulgarian camp outside Thessaloniki, Theodor was visiting his wounded soldiers, and he was not an ordinary general with no courage and no strategy, and he would easily be overwhelmed by anger.

Although the siege was still a failure today, Theodor saw hope in it, the Romans mobilized the people, their veterans were drastically reduced, and as the Romans continued to fill this meat grinder with days of siege fighting, their morale inevitably began to decline, and perhaps tomorrow they could take Thessaloniki.

Ivan Arsen hurriedly rushed into the injury room, Theodor looked at his younger brother who was hurrying towards him, his brows furrowed slightly, Ivan was injured and should rest in his camp, if there is no important matter, he should not come to him late at night.

"Brother, it's a big deal! The emperor has gone to Burgas! ”

Ivan was anxious to speak, but blood foamed out of his mouth, and he was slurred.

But Theodor still understood the meaning of the matter, he stood up, his eyes widened, he grabbed Ivan's shoulder and shook it vigorously.

"Ivan, are you sure you're right? Did the Roman emperor go to Burgas? Was it a message from Constantinople's insider? ”

Theodor couldn't believe it, the Roman emperor gave up Salonica and went north to dig up their lair, is it possible?

If Saloniki is lost, Constantinople's connection with southern Greece will be completely severed, will Alexios be so short-sighted, and besides, the Bulgarian rebel army is not only them, even if the emperor occupies Burgas, Theodor is also confused!

"Gather all the generals, I want to have a military meeting! It's not easy, I really don't understand the emperor's words, if it were just Burgas, he wouldn't have to give up Thessaloniki! ”

Theodor was confused, he could not imagine that the emperor would mobilize a large army to fight directly on the Sophian Plain, but all Bulgarians had a mysterious confidence in Sophia, just like the Romans believed in Constantinople.

If the Emperor's strategy was successful, he would not only be able to tear the Bulgarian territory in half, but also control the main communication routes, leaving Theodore's rebels alone deep into Roman territory.

Just as Theodor was about to return to the main tent, there was a loud shout from inside the city of Thessaloniki, Theodor stopped the people around him from speaking, he listened intently, and faintly heard the cries of "revenge", "revenge", "revenge", this is the voice of the Romans.

Ivan turned his head and saw that his brother's face was pale, and he also heard the call from Thessaloniki just now, yes, there can't be a mistake, did the Romans take the wrong medicine, how did they fight for so many days, but they became more and more courageous.

Looking at the fact that everyone on their side, from the general to the small soldiers, was injured, if it weren't for the idea of breaking the city and looting and looting, the Bulgarians would have stopped fighting a long time ago.

Theodore had a feeling that he might not be able to take the city of Thessaloniki, and even if he could break the city, he would only get a ruined wall, and the only motivation for him to continue to insist on attacking here was a breath of unyielding.

"Brother, don't we have a truce, the Romans in Thessaloniki don't know what's going on, but the morale is rising, and tomorrow we will fight them, I'm afraid that they will hit their heads again, I suggest that we surround them and not fight, and by the way, let the brothers recuperate for a few days!"

Theodor intuitively sensed that Ivan had a bad idea, but when he looked back and saw that the soldiers around him were all depressed and depressed, Theodor already knew that even if he tried to fight again, the soldiers would not listen to him.

Theodor knew that if he insisted on going his own way, it would be fine to continue the planned siege tomorrow and win, but if he failed again, a mutiny might await him.

"We will cease our troops, and tomorrow the siege will cease."

Theodor let out a long sigh, is this the end of the Bulgarians!