The commander of the siege position on the river island was the Grand Duke's Temacchi general Branas, he was a confident general, the command post and flag were directly on the bank of the river island, and more than 300 German and German soldiers armed with long swords surrounded him. Pen | fun | pavilion www. ｂｉｑｕｇｅ。 ｉｎｆｏ

"Your Excellency, as you can see, we are fighting very well. Now the ships of the Grand Duke and Count Adana have covered the entire river, and several breakout attacks in this castle have been broken by us, previously using cavalry on the north side, but were defeated by Count Duoduo and Count Burke, and today they are using ships, and you have seen the ending. Now the camp of the Grand Duke and Ruben has been temporarily suspended for three days, but the fighting in Castabaras has not stopped, and today we have set up a huge stone cannon to besiege this fortress, and you must have witnessed the destruction of the tower just now. "Branas, dressed in a beautiful cloak, waved his fist in front of the silent Anselm, and it seemed to him that such a massacre of Christian brothers was a normal order, and he was full of joy at the great victory—at least so did the Patriarch, but he did not dare to speak out—for by the camp the remaining Armenian soldiers, who had been captured after the ship had been burned and capsized, were sitting by the fence, gathering like winter flies, and many were burned, The howl shook the earth.

Among them was a group of men, bound and kneeling, the brigade general's tall German soldiers, shouting German to each other, and then cutting off the terrifying sword in his hand, and the bloody head and body kept falling to the ground, as if slaughtering livestock, challenging Anselm's fragile nerves.

"That's the spies in the city who tried to swim to camp in Reuben, and we will be put to death immediately if we catch them." Branass pointed pointedly, answering the patriarch's doubts.

So the patriarch did not want to stay here, so he asked Branas for a pass, and the general arranged for him a boat, and then made a detour to Gawain's camp: all the earthen ramparts and wooden fences here were surrounded by the camp where Prince Ruben was, as Branas had spoken, and besieged it to the death, and everywhere there were fluttering flags marking the area guarded by the generals or lords, and the patrolling soldiers led the hounds with bells around their necks, and the high poles carried quivers, and the whole atmosphere was very terrifying.

In front of the high ramparts, shallow pits were dug one after another, and in each shallow pit were there were soldiers and servants, who, using tools, erected five wooden frames with shafts side by side, and then secured them with three layers of planks, and then began to tie ropes to each of the five axes, and erected a swing arm pole, and tied leather pockets and scorpion tail hooks at the tops, and under the supervision of leather whips and weapons, the captured Armenians in burlap overalls were carrying rounded stone bullets into the shallow pits......

Anselm looked out at Reuben's camp, hastily constructed in a low-lying area near the river, now gray, the wooden fence was incomplete, and there were dead men and horses around him who had not had time to reduce, full of grief and despair. This made the eyes of His Excellency the Patriarch moisten, and according to what Branass had just said, "We have killed and captured nearly four thousand Armenians before, and now Ruben and the remaining six thousand are all besieged by us in this camp, and the Grand Duke has given them the opportunity to negotiate, and we will see it today." ”

"He regarded the killing of his brother Christ as a meritorious act!" With a sense of anger and justice that arose from the bottom of his heart, Patriarch Anselm got off the back of the donkey and walked quickly to the scarlet tent where Gawain was, and then he looked up and saw several Armenian heads hanging on the flagpole in front of him, and immediately became frightened again, so he lowered his head and handed over the document to Diem, the standard-bearer of the Praetorian Guard in front of the door, and then slowly paced in.

In the tent, Gawain stood there, his tall figure particularly conspicuous, and he was quickly conversing in Greek with the monk dressed as the Apostolic Church, the monk lowered his head, making him even shorter, and his momentum was completely suppressed by Gawain.

"His Royal Highness the Prince will hand over all the mines in Vanka City, and send five thousand serfs to you, the Grand Duke, to serve as the miners." This seems to be a new condition that Gorpan proposed three days later, with the permission of the prince.

Gawain scoffed, "What I want to deprive is Reuben's ability to use weapons and endanger us in the future. Instead of asking for a few mines and pastures, I am very sorry why His Royal Highness the Princely Prince is always wrong. ”

"His Royal Highness the Prince is also willing to compensate you with 70,000 gold coins, and promises not to engage in any actions against your lords after surrendering......"

"The current situation is that Reuben must die." Gawain unceremoniously interrupted the other party's speech, which made Anselm, who was standing at the door, tremble with fear, "No one thinks that he should continue to live, not even his former ally, Lord Bohemond." Therefore, if His Royal Highness the Prince wishes, I can only guarantee that he will be given a dignified and honorable way to die, and there is no need to say anything else. ”

"Your evil deeds will be condemned!" Gorpan shouted angrily, he had no illusions about continuing the negotiations—Gawain had only used the three days to bring powerful catapults from the territory.

"On the stage in the future, what will be separated will not be evil deeds, but clown-like madness." Gawain slashed the scepter from his hand, and several tall warriors of the Guard immediately stepped in, shoved poor Anselm aside, and stepped forward to restrain Golpan, who was fiercely resisting, and he cried out miserably, "Let go of me, let go of me, I want to see His Excellency the Patriarch." ”

"I didn't want you to die in that hopeless camp." Gawain then waved his hand, and the warriors dragged Golpan away, and then Gawain exhaled, took out the sundial and walked to the door of the tent to take a look, and after determining the time, he saw Anselm cowering in the shadow corner, "Patriarch, what are you doing at the front?" ”

"Damn Gawain, why did you deceive me into writing false letters to Reuben? Why slaughter so many brotherly believers here? Why did the Patriarch or the City of Rome take such a nasty action without consulting him? ”

However, the above are Anselm's mental activities, in fact, he just turned his eyes sharply in place, shrugged his shoulders, sweat continued to drip down his chin, Gawain squinted his eyes at him, and then no longer asked anything, and walked out arrogantly.

Brother Golpan, who was dragged on the ground with his hands in his hands, cried, and then he heard the sound of thunderbolts: the five-pole stone thrower that Anselm had seen before was now staggered and swung down by the shouts of soldiers and servants and the pull of many ropes, and at the same time five heavy stone balls, out of their leather pockets, crossed a distance of about five hundred feet, and smashed freely into Reuben's camp...... (To be continued.) )