"Alpha, you go and send out all the professional hussars, Finnish hussars, and the Hungarian rangers who have recently defected to harass each other, and entangle those Greeks, who have just experienced a great battle, are in a state of fatigue, and it is impossible for the army to recover so quickly, and try to help our Italian allies, and pay close attention to the news of Cardinal Hilde and Governor Witte."

"Yes! My King! ”

Captain Death's Alpha, who has a gloomy face all year round, grinned and showed deep white teeth.

Randy turned to look at Forster, the leader of the diplomats: "You personally take people to the Greeks, find out how many Italian prisoners they have, try to find a way to keep them restrained, not to destroy the corpses of the Italians, especially Governor Andrew, whether dead or alive, tell him that I am willing to exchange the Greek prisoners for them, and if the amount is not enough, I can replace it with money." ”

"It seems like a difficult task, but I'll do my best, Your Majesty!"

"And you, Nemulis, get all your men into action, destroy roads, bridges, poison, pollute water, and use all the means at your disposal to slow down those Greeks as much as possible."

"Yes, Your Majesty!"

"Bishop Peter, my friend, I think that after this terrible defeat, the Pope will be very angry, and even make some irrational judgments, and I hope that you will be able to give the Holy See some persuasion in your personal name to calm him down."

"Yes, Your Majesty."

Randy did this to silence Pope Innocent III.

After defeating the foreign enemy, the struggle between the pope and the feudal royal family within the Catholic Church will definitely become the mainstream of contradictions, and if the pope uses this to blame Randy for misjudgment, it will lead to the annihilation of the Italian army, and it may even be said that the demise of the Italian army is caused by Randy's death, so deliberately to stink Randy's reputation.

Randy aided the remnants of the Italian army in this way, and was even willing to spend his own money to ransom Italian prisoners of war, just to silence the pope, and the so-called resignation of Archbishop Peter is just a step down the papal see, what can really shut him up is the exchange of interests under the table, coercion and temptation......

Each assigned their own tasks, and Randy sent messengers to make the French army come to rendezvous quickly, and sent messengers to run to the city of Budapest every day, shouting:

"You have been abandoned by your emperor, surrender quickly." That's the case.

At this time, the Greek generals on the walls would shout: "We will not surrender, His Majesty's army will defeat you, and it will be your turn to surrender." ”

At the same time, the Norman messenger would say, "Do not be delusional, your emperor has decided to leave you and flee, you have been abandoned." ”

As evidence, Norman emissaries would throw some legionary flags on the ground, as well as the helmets, armor, and shields of the Eastern Romans, most of which had been captured in the previous battles of Italy.

The Norman envoy was answered not by a polite rebuttal, but by arrows fired from compound bows and Greek crossbows.

The morale of Budapest City was worn down little by little, and Forster, with great eloquence, tact, and quiet compliments and threats, succeeded in obtaining a promise from Basil II to stop the cavalry harassment, and the two sides completed the prisoner exchange in August, and Basil II promised to exchange the corpses of Andrew and Maffeo for his general Narciss.

During this time, Landif received more than 7,000 Eastern Roman soldiers.

The Italian army captured by Basil II, as well as those crusaders numbering more than 11,000, and the remaining 4,000 Randy promised to exchange 50,000 florin gold coins, and Basil II generously promised that Randy could collect the corpses of the Italians at will without spending any money.

After watching the bodies of Anderlu and Maffeo, who had barely gathered the fragments of their stumps and carved them into face models with silver masks, and used spices to hide the stench of their corpses, were placed in a marble coffin and the bishop presided over the funeral, Randy returned to his tent and listened to Foster's report.

Basil II did have the idea of retreating for the time being and reinvigorating himself.

It takes iron to build an empire!

I don't believe that an empire needs iron will!

It takes iron and blood to maintain the authority of the Empire!

Defeating the enemies of the Empire requires Iron Will!

While iron is important, it's not just iron and blood that can sustain an empire.

Basil II, who had been emperor for decades, naturally understood this truth.

Sometimes sovereigns need wisdom or cunning more than iron and blood, as in the fight against powerful barbarians.

It's not that the empire fears them, and it can't be said that the empire can't defeat them.

Rather, it would be too costly to defeat them, and the benefits that the Empire could gain would not be enough to compensate for the Empire's lost resources, so it was necessary to use other non-military means.

For example...... Diplomatic negotiations!

At the same time, Basil II gradually realized what kind of person the commander-in-chief of the other side was during the month of prisoner exchange and truce.

Young, handsome, talented, resourceful, although the other party's attainments in war have not yet been revealed, but based on rumors alone, Basil II does not believe it, but in a little detail, such as a password and a gesture when the two sides meet, Randy can command thousands of cavalry like an arm, looking at his relaxed appearance, you can clearly know that this is not a temporary idea, or a deliberate rehearsal, it seems to be a habit.

"In other words, this guy's command skills are also very good." Basil II makes a preliminary judgment about Randy.

An opponent who was outstanding in all respects, and most importantly was more than thirty years younger than himself, who seemed very healthy, and who would live for at least another thirty years, Basil II really did not meet when he was young.

It's a pity that Randy's style of action is very careful, and he is not like the average young talent, because he has the ability, so he is proud of his talents, and his eyes are empty, as if the whole world is his own.

Although Randy was extremely arrogant in and out of his words, he was a little more reserved and cautious than them.

The knights of the guards beside him, and the looming figures in the distance, seemed to be ready to pounce on him at any moment.

"This young man is not easy to deal with."

Of course, this is also Basil II's determination to kill Randy, or defeat him, because he doesn't know if there will be anyone in the Eastern Roman Empire who will be able to stop this guy after his death.

With his daughter?

Looking at the history of the Eastern Roman Empire, there has never been a female emperor.

Basil II was not optimistic about his daughter, in fact, he did not know his daughter, when Basil II's beloved wife, the Eastern Roman Empress died in childbirth, he did not treat his daughter very much, and his perennial war career outside the country also made him not have much time to get along with his daughter so far.

He didn't know when his daughter had grown into a formidable, qualified, and even extremely good heir to the Eastern Roman Empire.

It's a good thing he doesn't know, otherwise he would have been the one who was restless.

Assassination, homicide, poisoning, especially the emperor's open guns and arrows, are also specialties of the Eastern Roman Empire, and the swords and swords within the royal family are very powerful, which will make Basil II look down on his daughter, so he doesn't care too much about these, but he will have to suffer a big loss sooner or later.

August 1, 1103 A.D.......

Some time had passed since the fierce battle in the morning, the smell of blood had cleared in the air, the exchange of prisoners between the two sides was very successful, the Norman light cavalry also wandered around the Hungarian ravine for several days, recovering the Venetian governor and the cardinal of the Papal States who had almost starved to death, and the French army of 50,000 also came to join the Norman army, and the coalition army and the Eastern Roman Empire submitted war letters to each other, agreeing that in fifteen days, that is, in the middle of the month, the two sides would meet and fight to the death.

Before that, Basil II had a whim and proposed to Randy that the two sides meet each other before going to war.

Of course Randy was very reluctant to let himself do such a dangerous thing, who knows if that sinister and cunning bastard was a trap arranged in advance waiting for him to drill, even if it wasn't like that, there was nothing to talk about, could it be that talking about it would solve the problem at hand? Don't be naïve, okay? If the world was really so gentle, then the earth would have been unified hundreds of years ago.

But Randy ended up going, and was forced to go.

Although Basil II said that he only wanted to see Randy, the others seemed very excited, Bishop Hilde, who was temporarily lame, and Governor Werther, who temporarily broke an arm, and Randy's subordinates, all wanted to meet the emperor of the Eastern Roman Empire.

"This is a historic moment! The face-to-face conversation between two of Europe's most powerful and hostile kings would be exciting even if you think about it, right? ”

Norman Archbishop Peter, who is a clergyman but is actually more like a warrior, says to Randy.

"You know, although I am a king, I am actually a very reserved person, and this kind of thing is not very suitable for me."

"How so? Your Majesty is the most eloquent person I have ever met, and there is no one, not even the eloquent orators of ancient Greece, who are certainly not as eloquent as Your Majesty. ”

"This is the best time to show the strength of the Norman army, if they don't go, they will think of it as timidity, which will affect the morale of the army, and even affect the decisive battle fifteen days later." Death Knight Captain Alpha said.

"Alright! You convinced me, take all the cavalry with you. ”

"If you bring too many people, you will also be mistaken for cowardice," Alpha continued.

"In fact, I suddenly remembered a plan, if we were in the midst of the alliance, we would find an opportunity to kill the Greek Emperor? What do you guys think? Randy said excitedly.

There was a cold scene off the field......

"Alright! I'm kidding ......"

The camps of the two sides are only 20 kilometers apart, and most of the middle is flat grassland and open land, there is no special terrain, and the two sides only need to walk to the middle of the camps of the two sides at the same speed.

After that, it's time to choose who will join the alliance!

Although people will be ridiculed for carrying too many troops, if they bring too few troops and cannot reflect their own prestige, everyone finally compromises, two hundred royal knights, two hundred field orders, two hundred Norman heavy cavalry, two hundred Finnish light cavalry, two hundred professional hussars,

Randy's five cavalry forces were each selected to be fully armed.

Randy also freshens up and dresses himself, and although he only makes do on weekdays, he must not make ends meet at such times.

"Let's go!" After freshening up, Randy took the lead and ran first.

The Cardinal of Rome, the Doge of Venice, the King of France, the Duke of Aquitaine, the Duke of Burgundy, the Death Knight Captain Alpha, the Norman Archbishop Peter, and fifty knights of the Guards followed.

There were five phalanxes in total, and a thousand elite cavalry followed behind, although the number was only a thousand cavalry, but from a distance, it looked dusty, and the cavalry clouds filled dozens of miles, looking like thousands of horses.

Basil II on the opposite side was one step ahead, and when he saw a young man with blond hair and blue eyes, a heroic appearance, and a pure white cloak behind his back, he rode his horse and ran unusually flamboyantly, knowing that it was his opponent coming.

Seeing that the thousand cavalry behind Randy was divided into five phalanxes, while advancing at full speed, the phalanx did not change much, the cavalry seemed to grow on it, holding blades and riding spears without moving, and at a glance he knew the height of his horsemanship, and couldn't help but exclaim: "Good demeanor, good cavalry!" ”

Basil II is a strong man, and now he wants to talk to Randy, and he is naturally broad-minded, but the generals behind him are a little indignant, and the commander of the first wing of the ironclad holy cavalry, General Dulusus, is not convinced, and said loudly:

"Your Majesty, why should you be angry with others to destroy your own prestige? The ironclad holy cavalry is the world's first-class cavalry force, this matter has long been decided, what is the ability of the barbarian small state, but deliberately showing, if Your Majesty does not believe it, the last general is willing to ......"

"Well, my general, if you want to show your prowess, stay in fifteen days! If these barbarians really don't know how to raise and insist on fighting the Greek warriors, there will naturally be a moment for you ironclad holy cavalry to fight in Chicheng, but please be quiet now, we are here to negotiate. ”

"Yes, Your Majesty!"

When Dulusus heard Basil II's words, he immediately relented, bowed his head and stopped talking.

The horse that Randy was riding was fast, and it didn't take long for him to run to the center of the two armies' camps.

Randy showed off his horsemanship, and did not slow down when he was only five meters away from Basil II, until the next second, just before he was about to collide with Basil II's warhorse, he used the reins, and the horse stopped instantly, glaring at the ground with its hind legs, kicking its front hooves wildly, and roaring in its mouth.

Basil II didn't care, and the breeze raised by the war horse blew the Greek emperor's hair back, but his complexion did not change at all, and he was very indifferent.

"Old fox!"

Randy scolded secretly, but said apologetically: "Yu doesn't have much time to ride this beast, and he has no intention of disturbing His Majesty, forgive me!" ”

Basil II cracked his lips and shook his head, saying: "I am the Roman Emperor, Caesar, the successor of Augustus in ancient Rome, Constantine, Justinian, the Lord of New Rome, the King of kings appointed by God, from Europa to Asia Minor, the greatest supreme of Africa, the conqueror of the world, whoever comes, report by name." ”

"It's really an old fox!" Randy cursed in his heart, feeling that Basil II was not angry with him for his rudeness, and he was very well tempered, but he would listen to Basil II say this, but he felt that he had not done enough before.

Basil II's string of titles and titles, and who is the one who came as if asking the courtiers?

If Randy answers, it will inevitably be short of breath, and this momentum will be taken away by Basil II, but if he doesn't answer, how can he negotiate?

Basil II's question was extremely vicious, which would make it the turn of the rebels to be angry, and the pale face of the death knight Alpha was even paler, and he snorted coldly and wanted to step forward, but was stopped by Archbishop Peter next to him.

"Don't be impulsive, Your Majesty has his own way!" The archbishop whispered.

At the same time, looking ahead, Randy smiled and did not agree to Basil II's question, but turned his horse's head and walked towards his own camp.

(End of chapter)