The hall was filled with dancing and drunken people, and when Tancred entered, all the Normans and Armenians burst into applause and raised their glasses to congratulate him on his conquest of a great and rich fortress and a beautiful and lovely bride.

Tanfred himself was a little fluttering, perhaps he had just exerted too much force on Mesander on the couch, and when he stood in front of the wall of the hall, the torch shining in the mirror embedded in it, reflecting his figure, his face was slightly red, and he raised his wine glass, as if to congratulate himself: "Raul, now that I have occupied the entire mountains of Marash, and there are tens of thousands of Armenian soldiers willing to be loyal to me, I will soon lead my uncle's thousands of troops here, not only without the snort of the two bastards of Gawain and Baldwin, I can also take Antioch City in advance, and cut off the tentacles of Gawain and Baldwin's power - wait for me, Raul, to screw Gawain's head off in the future - I have sworn that I will surpass him in ten years, and now there is still half the time, and the sword that protects me will be invincible! ”

Suddenly, in front of his eyes, the bald-headed Pak Ade was half-kneeling down in a cloak, followed by the son Hercules, who was also in the same motion, and Tancred hurriedly asked why.

"Our father and son have followed you all the way since Nicaea, and we have done a great deal of feats that your Excellency and Lord Bohemond will surely recognize—please grant us father and son a castle, preferably in the mountains of Marassy." Parker Ade was blunt.

The Armenian nobles from Maras, of course, Fer, the commander of Tubersena, and Kusus, the commander of the city of Ravedra, reacted very quickly to this sentence. There was an uproar, "Shut up Parkade." You'll have to figure out where you are, you're just a wandering aristocratic mercenary. Still trying to claim the castle from you? ”

For a while, Tancred didn't know what to do, so he could only stay where he was with his wine glass, he really didn't take it into account: Pak Ade and his son followed him all the way, gave advice, and fought into battle, of course, it would not be selfless dedication, they just wanted to be properly paid, just like the Turkic mercenary Osto. He gave me the Acropolis, but also asked for a whole ten thousand gold Byzantis.

So Parker Ard was right, unrelenting, and in the face of countless criticisms, he always knelt down there, insisting that the Norman boy give him a suitable fortress.

"My loyal comrades-in-arms, it is better to be like this, when I have received the tribute from Marash and Samosata, and I will be like Estus. Give your father and son fifteen thousand gold coins to buy a beautiful castle. Tank Red reluctantly promised.

Hearing this, Hercules quietly fell from behind. knocked his father, signaling to think in the long run, don't be too anxious and persistent. The bald head also understood, and expressed his gratitude to Tanfred for his kindness. As soon as there was a reward for this money, he and his son bought the castle later. Inevitably, he will continue to be loyal to the Norman regime with his soldiers and horses.

Seeing that this problem had been solved, Tanfred was so proud that he immediately raised his glass and said to the crowd, "The fortress of Samosata has been returned to me, and the Turkic pagans and unbelievers on the other side of the river, when they learned of this, have retreated, and the gate to the Holy Land has been opened to us!" And Barak, the ruler of Edessa, sent a letter saying that he was willing to give up his city. Next, I entrust Bred, Ostu, and Pak Ade father and son to lead the army to continue the advance towards Edessa, uprooting the Turkic fortresses along the way, and opening the road to Edessa. Then he turned to his relative Richard and said, "Send fast horses and send letters to my uncle and to the priesthood of Admar - they will no longer have to go through the Cilician Gate and look at Gawain and Baldwin, but will be able to join me here by the mountain roads of Caesarea and Marash, and will be able to obtain supplies not only from the Armenians, but also with Antioch!" ”

Early the next morning, several horsemen, carrying dense cylinders on their backs, rode through the valleys and wilderness of the Marash mountains at a gallop, and shrubs and flowers of all colors swept behind them and rushed towards Heraclia.

About a day and a half, when the hundreds of thousands of pilgrim camps had just arrived in the city of Karon and were about to go to the Cilician Gate, and then to join forces with Gawain and Baldwin at Tarsus, Tanfred's messenger arrived in time to bring such a message.

Ademar did not dare to slack off, and immediately convened an emergency meeting to discuss the route.

There is no doubt that the meeting was once again divided into two distinct camps:

Bohemond, Normandy Robert, and of course Raymond, were reluctant to take the smooth road of the Adana River to Antioch;

And Godfrey, who was wounded and lying on a stretcher, did not hide his inclination, anyway, I was going to go through Cilicia, and if I had taken the mountain road of Caesarea, perhaps I would have died of my injuries in the bumps on the way, and with Godfrey were the Venerable Hugh, the brother of the King of France, and the plebeian pilgrims of Peter, the hermit;

Blois Stephen and Flanders Robert mediated in the middle, but reason told them that in any case, it was the safest and safest route to take Cilicia, with no enemies along the way, and a well-supplied castle to provide supplies.

"If you walk on the Caesarea mountain road, it is rough and difficult, and the horse manure is excreted together, and mixed with human breath, which will cause more war horses to get diseases." Flanders Robert was worried.

"Won't those Armenian lords provide for us?" Bohemond spoke proudly, as if from here, all the way to Edessa and Antioch, had been his personal possessions.

"I, I saw that high, high, Gawain's face, and I felt, felt unpleasant." Raymond of Provence echoed in and said that his attitude was very intense.

Ademar was helpless, and although he was the chief of the Council of Cardinals and the agent of the Pope's Holy See, he had little choice in the face of this group of lords and warlords in the march - since Raymond said that he would go through Caesarea, that was the only way, "Then we will march separately, and those who are willing to go through the mountains of Caesarea will follow His Excellency Bohemond, and those who are willing to go through the Cilician Gate will follow His Excellency Godfrey." ”

Soon, under the Taurus Mountains, opposite the city of Caron, a huge army of pilgrims "parted ways"—about eighty thousand men, including Blois Stephen and Flanders Robert (who saw that Ademar had followed Bohemond and Raymond, and had no choice but to stand there), marched towards the city of Caesarea; The rest of the nearly 40,000 men, including 15,000 soldiers and more than 20,000 civilians, followed Godfrey, Hugh, and Peter the Hermit as they rolled out of the canyon passage to the Cilician Gate. (To be continued.) )