Now it's just Randy and the cardinal, which means that the spoils have begun......

"Naples was captured by me, and according to the agreement, Naples belongs to me." Randy was the first to speak, making his attitude clear.

"It was fought by the coalition forces, and our Papal States also sent tens of thousands of troops, and Naples should be jointly controlled." Bishop Heard was-for-tat.

"This is not the same as what was said, and the soldiers of your Papal States, either dare not attack and dare not fight hard, are almost the same with or without."

"Please pay attention to your attitude, Your Majesty Randy, I am the Pope's envoy, and the Pope is the voice of Jesus Christ on earth."

Although Napoli has not yet been captured, the two men have had a major disagreement over the future of Napoli, which is not a good thing.

At the same time, the city of Naples ......

Narcisse was also busy......

Unlike the coalition monarchs outside the city, who were busy entertaining, Narcissus was really busy boosting the morale of the demoralized Eastern Roman soldiers, who seemed to be dead parents, to get back into battle.

But when this guy delays time on the grounds of tidying up the battlefield and burying soldiers, and at the same time cleans up and buries a large number of tens of thousands of corpses of Eastern Roman soldiers in various poses and various causes of death, and at the same time has to comfort the Eastern Roman soldiers, it is not a big deal, and we will still win.

When such a thing is said, the credibility and effect can be imagined.

Therefore, the morale-boosting effect of Narcisse can be imagined, that is, it has no effect at all.

It will take at least a month or two for this group of Eastern Roman soldiers to regain their combat effectiveness, and even if they barely recover in the end, they will definitely leave a psychological shadow, and when they fight against the coalition forces in the future, especially the Normans, they will inevitably have a fear mentality, and even lead to the defeat of some battles that should not have been lost.

But there was nothing Narcis could do, not only could he not restore the morale of the soldiers, but Narcisse did not even know how he would resist the coalition attack when the coalition army attacked the city three days later.

When Harold urged him to pay the money for the second time, Narsis gritted his teeth and took out more than half of his savings, and this ** cunning and brazen mercenary, but extremely powerful mercenary.

Harold patted his chest and told him, "I have a plan to restore the morale of these Eastern Roman soldiers and hold the city." ”

Narcisse was very surprised, and even a little incredulous, that he was so extremely intelligent that an Eastern Roman could not do anything, why could a foreign barbarian have a way.

"What the hell is the plan?" Narcisse asked, confused, but Harold laughed and said he would understand in three days.

When Harold returned to the garrison with his guards, the gullible people stepped forward and asked, "Boss, do we really need to make efforts to help this group of Eastern Romans defend the city?" ”

Harold slapped his thigh: "How is it possible, I'm not a fool, who can trust anyone in this world?" My brothers all followed me out to earn money, but they didn't follow me to die in vain. ”

"So, what are your plans, boss?"

Harold looked around him, and all the old brothers who had been the first to follow him in the world, loyal and unbetrayal, beckoned them to come closer, and whispered his plan in a low voice.

This group of mercenaries are all veterans who have been mixed with more than ten or twenty years, although most of them don't know a word, but they have a lot of combat experience, after hearing Harold's plan, they all said that they understood, and they slapped Harold's ass, and the mercenaries were so lively for a long time, Harold assigned tasks again, and repeatedly emphasized that they must not leak secrets.

"But Boss, why did you write to the Norman king when you already had a plan, saying that you were willing to sacrifice the city?"

"This is just a delaying tactic, that dead eunuch used the collection of corpses as a delaying tactic, who would believe such a reason? The other party agreed to push the boat down the river, eighty percent wanted to take advantage of the situation to paralyze those Greeks, and then take the opportunity to raid and take Naples, I couldn't rest assured, so I secretly agreed with him that the city would be surrendered in three days. ”

"I see, Boss Wise!"

Three days passed in a flash, and Narsis finally did not let the Eastern Roman soldiers muster up the courage, looking at the outskirts of the city that had been cleared, the dark red land and the endless stretches not far away, where tens of thousands of Eastern Roman soldiers were buried, Narcisse muttered in his heart, if it really can't work, he will take his henchmen and flee to Sicily by boat.

May 17, 1103 A.D., ......

After three days of rest, the 84,000 allied troops were neatly clothed and gradually approached Naples from the east, south, north, and three directions under the leadership of King Randy.

Looking at the well-groomed coalition soldiers, the morale of the Eastern Roman army became more and more low, although it was very reluctant, but all Narciss could think of was Harold and the unreliable Varangian mercenaries under his command.

But these unreliable guys, I don't know why, haven't appeared until now.

"Damn! What the hell is going on with those bastards Varangians? Why haven't you come yet? Seeing that the coalition forces were getting closer and closer, Narsis was sweating profusely and couldn't help but complain loudly.

"General! Checkmate! Oh no. ”

Just as Narcis was in trouble, the heralds sent to the Varangian army garrison because he could not wait, rode quickly towards the wall, and then jumped off his horse and ran up the wall.

"What's going on?" Narcis asked.

"The Varangians are all gone, but there is a little boy there, and he said that the Varangians had given him a gold florin, and that he had given the letter to the Eastern Romans, and that we would come to him today, and that I had brought the letter." The herald breathed his breath as he pulled a letter from his pocket and handed it to Narciss.

"What the hell is that guy up to?" Before Narsis could open the letter, another herald came to the west.

"What's wrong again?" Narcis asked.

"Docks! At the docks, a group of Varangians snatched dozens of ships and sailed to sea. ”

"Did you escape? Those damn mercenaries, I knew they couldn't be trusted. Narsis cursed as he reaffirmed his determination to run to Sicily and hide.

"Not only did they escape, but they burned all the boats that were left to go to sea."

"What? You say they burned all the beds? Narsis shouted as he pulled the herald by the collar.

"Yes...... Yes! ”

"Damn, those goddamn Varangians, are you trying to drive me to my death?" Narsis was so dizzy that he nearly collapsed.

At this time, the coalition forces had advanced enough distance, and Randy drew his sword and shouted, "Soldiers, look, in front of you is Naples, the richest city in all of southern Italy, and inside the city are those Greek heretics who have been spurned and will surely go to hell after death, look at their cowardice now, thinking of their arrogant virtues of that day, a pile of rubbish." ”

"Me! The Norman King, the leader of the Seventeen Nations of the entire Catholic world, and the guardian of the Catholic world, Randy von Hoffmann, promises you that you can deal with those heretics as much as you want after the city is broken, and I will give you ten days to evolve the city to your heart's content, and kill anyone who disobeys! ”

The murderous order to slaughter the city was passed down by the heralds on fast horses, and at the same time, on the east and south sides, Philip II of France and the Duke of Charles of Burgundy, also issued the same order to slaughter the city, to completely eliminate Naples from the map, so as to fairly divide the whole of southern Italy, this is the final result of Randy and Hilde's discussion that day.

After hearing the clamor of the other party's slaughter of the city, and then thinking of the destruction of all the sea ships, Narsis suddenly seemed to think of something crucial, looking at the dead letter in his hand, in order to determine the idea in his heart, Narsis immediately opened the envelope and read it as fast as he could.

"To--damned eunuch Narciss, may you live a long life."

The above sentence, which was rather unfriendly, was directly ignored by Narciss.

"I am sure that when you read this letter, I had already left by boat with my men, but make no mistake about it, I am not fleeing, I am now swimming against the current, taking great risks to the north, along the coastal road to attack the back of the enemy. That's what I'm talking about, burn all the ships, put an end to the escape, and at the same time spread the word that the enemy will slaughter the city for three days after the fall of Naples! In order to survive in such adversity, the Eastern Roman soldiers must be able to burst out a hundred times their combat power, fight against the enemy army, and defend Naples, this is all my plan. Also, remember, you owe me a favor and 100,000 florins. ”

Reading the letter, Narsis understood Harold's alleged plan.

This is basically to use the 30,000 Eastern Roman soldiers and 100,000 inhabitants in the city as bargaining chips, as long as the plan goes a little wrong, such as the other party does not abide by the agreement and takes the lead in attacking, or it is not stimulated as Harold imagined, or the rumors spread by Harold The soldiers do not believe it, as long as there is a slight mistake, then the whole of Naples will be finished.

None of this was Harold's business, as long as he could make a slight gesture and run to the unprepared places in northern Italy to burn and loot, he could swagger back to Constantinople, put the responsibility for the defeat on himself, and even make up some military exploits for Basil II to reward him.

"I owe you a grandma!"

With a shout, Narsis turned to his lieutenants, guards, and heralds, and shouted, "You see! The ship is gone! There is no way back! The enemy wants to slaughter the city, don't you fight hard? Waiting to die? Give me orders to the whole army, and give me desperate resistance if I don't want to die. ”

These dozens of men immediately ran away, forcing the Eastern Roman soldiers out of the battle with fear and desperation, in exchange for enough combat power to defend the city.

The whole of Naples exuded the atmosphere of mourning little by little, and the Eastern Roman soldiers were in despair and could only fight to the death.

In order to prevent the enemy from shooting down the carrier pigeon to obtain information, the intelligence system used code language, and the Norman spy's intelligence network was ineffective at this moment, and the coalition forces who did not know what had happened in the city still had great confidence in breaking through the city.

Although some people have raised objections before, shouting out the slaughter of the city before the battle will make the enemy desperate and rise up to resist, but Randy laughed and retorted: "Naples is a port city, and there are hundreds of sea ships moored in the port to the west, even if you can't transport all the people of Naples at one time, it is not a problem to transport tens of thousands of people at a time, so it cannot be said that there is no way out, on the contrary, such a threat will further deepen the possibility of the other party's escape, I am afraid that it will not take a while after the fight, The soldiers would run in the direction of the harbor. ”

Despite the arrogance of the coalition forces, believing that the enemy was nothing more than a chicken and a dog that could be wiped out in an instant, Randy took out all the siege equipment he brought with him in order to minimize casualties and further show off the strength of the Norman kingdom.

With one hundred and twenty-eight counterweight catapults, and three siege carts improvised over the course of three days, Randy believed that he would be able to capture the city even if the Neapolitan defenders had the courage to resist.

So the Eastern Roman soldiers began to revolt......

As mentioned before, the Apennine Mountains traverse the entire Italian Peninsula, so the Italian Peninsula is mountainous, hilly, and many places are rich in high-quality stones such as marble and flower rock steel, so stone is absolutely indispensable.

At the mouth of the three city walls, after the commanders of the coalition army issued the order to slaughter the city, the coalition army quickly vacated a few places, and the Norman engineers who operated the siege equipment adjusted the angle, manipulated the counterweight catapult, and threw large pieces of stone over!

In the blink of an eye, hundreds of stones roared towards the outer walls of Naples.

On the city wall, there was an uproar!

As mentioned before, the Apennines can provide sufficient stone, as the largest city in southern Italy, the governors of the two Sicilies, even the most mediocre kind, also know the importance of Naples, and when Narcisse took over as the governor of the two Sicilies, Naples already had two inner and outer walls, all of which were made of granite, a large piece of stone was constructed using rammed earth, with many towers, towers, towers, caves, horse roads, everything, and strict garrison.

Narcis was also a talented governor, although during his tenure, the offensive and defensive positions of the two Sicilies and northern Italy had been exchanged, but Narcis's maintenance of the Naples city wall was still in place, so the garrison of Naples has always been maintained at a high level, if the Norman catapult attacked the Naples wall at this moment, I am afraid that it would take a year and a half to have a harvest, but the bad thing is that Narsis was too smart, and before that, he built a temporary outer city outside the city of Naples.

The outer city is mainly made of wood, how can it withstand the indiscriminate bombardment of catapults?

Narcissus also took it for granted that he still regarded the coalition army as a barbarian, and it was impossible for him to have such a terrible siege method in any case, and this first round was due to Narciss's mistake, which caused the Eastern Roman defenders to suffer a big loss.

(End of chapter)