After listening to Taprenz's account, the two uncles and nephews hated the Emperor, Gawain, and even Admar, believing that this was still Constantinople's diplomatic power against their Normans: it was clear that I, Bohemond, had been appointed commander-in-chief of the march in Asia Minor, and now it was the Council of Cardinals and the Privy Council of Imperial Expeditions, which had completely eradicated the honor of his title. What's more, what kind of partition and equal opportunity are there to do in the port of San Simon, which is tantamount to angering the chamber of commerce city-state of Pisa, and Bohemond owes Pisa a debt of forty or fifty thousand Byzantian gold coins because of the expedition!

And this group of merchants, though soft on the backbone of the Roman army, had a tough attitude towards him, a debtor, and "in the future, after the capture of Antiochus, if the absolute lease rights of the city-state in the port and the city here are not secured, then the state-state will not be afraid to take decisive measures." ”

It must be known that the Pope of Rome also has a large interest in the city of Pisa, and once Pisa draws Bohemond's debts, a little ink and parchment, into the file of the Pope's income, then the Holy See will be angry and directly punish the duke, then the territory of Apulia and Calabria will sooner or later be snatched away by my ill-intentioned uncle, but there is really no way out.

"Tancred, I brought you out of the Italian countryside in the first place, didn't I? Now that you own the entire territory of Marash and Edessa, can you extract 30,000 from the rich annual tribute, no, as long as 20,000 gold coins are given to my uncle and me, and after surviving the difficulties and occupying the city of Antioch, I will return it to you in full for two years at most! Suddenly, with a smile on his face, Bohemond grabbed his nephew by the shoulder, and pleaded.

"But uncle, it's just a gathering place of castles for the Armenian and Greek lords who have submitted to me, and they all have their own soldiers and fiefdoms. The annual tribute to me is also very limited, and the only city I can directly control is Samosata," which was a little caught Tanfred off guard, but when he reacted, he honestly said that it was too difficult to organize such a thing.

But Bohemond snorted and wept, and was so distressed that he did not give up. In the end, Tancred could only reluctantly agree, and first borrowed 7,000 gold coins from Barak, the consul of the richest city of Edessa (he was a Greek), to tide over the difficulties for his uncle.

And the last two combined, since Ademar also couldn't bear it, his own side simply pretended to be confused, as long as he could divide a piece of land after the city of Antioch was seized, it would not be too late to seize the whole territory after the Normans established the kingdom in the future. When the time comes, whether it is the emperor of Greece or the pope of Rome. You don't have to look at it.

On the other side of the Falfa River in front of the Dog Gate, on the soft beach where it meets the Orontes River, under the flat twilight lead clouds, several soldiers of the Guardian Brigade were erecting long, pointed trunks of trees with their hands and feet, and stood up every five anna feet apart. Point upwards and then insert it under the dirt to tamp it down. Another group of junior recruits, carrying wicker baskets full of gravel and mud, built up layer after layer at the gap between the stumps, split the wicker on both sides with small sickles, and tied them tightly to the stumps on both sides, and so on. Soon the "barricades" of the field camp were made - the side facing the river was also dug out of the earth, making the banks of the river steep slopes.

The foundations of the whole camp worked like this, and there were men and beasts of burden carrying stumps and wicker baskets everywhere. The soldiers, who had been rested from exertion, sat and wiped their sweat and looked at the distant but majestic walls of Antioch, "The old man was hung out again. ”

The acropolis towers of the mountains, on the dark walls, unkempt and ragged patriarchs, like rotten flesh or rotten cloth, were slowly dragged down by ropes and iron rings, and hung halfway up their waists.

"Dead?" A soldier asked, squinting through the half-finished stump.

Soon, Patriarch Antioch's feet moved slightly, "Ha! A Benevento man who was stepping on a mound of dirt and holding a bow and a crossbow pointed because his eyes were the sharpest. A few soldiers with chain helmets and amphorae crouched down in frustration and cursed, while the others smiled and took the "Seleucian" copper coin thrown by the former, which of course they all called "saffron" and "twenty, twenty." Who's going to bet on tomorrow's share, and who's going to bet on tomorrow's share? A "banker," wearing a nose guard, tossed stacks of coins in his hand with a tinkling sound, pointed to the patriarch about the size of a grain of wheat and hung on the wall, and walked through the crowd of soldiers, asking questions.

A slight whistle sounded, and the people hurriedly put their coins in their hands, and then sat down, waving their tools and continuing to work hard—on the road that had just been opened in the barracks, Judge Giovanni was solemnly looking down at the crowd of brotherhoods, and inspected the road, and if he caught the soldiers gambling in private, and the stakes were still the same as the miserable patriarch, the punishment would have been of the order of a resolute measure.

So all the soldiers of the brigade continued to work silently, and the camps of the Guardian Brigade and the Red Hand Brigade stretched in a rectangle along the riverbank, while Gawain's scarlet tent, together with the Twin Cavalry Company, was in the shape of a "pin" with the camps of the two brigades in the small camp behind them, and the Jina soldiers of Orson and others were also arranged in several smaller camps, arranged further behind, not far from the camp of Tetisius.

In front of the altar tent, all the lords gathered, and Stephen of Blois pointed to the sand table of the city model and said aloud:

"Now, except for St. Paul's Gate and the Dog's Gate, all the other frontal gates and bridges of Antioch have been sealed and blocked, and Agee has been trapped in the city, and now that His Excellency Gawain and Godfrey and Peter the Hermit have come with all the people, we can completely stand in front of St. Paul's Gate and the Dog Gate, and form a strong oppressive advantage—now we shall follow this gate until the newly constructed position on the eastern hilltop." At the Shengquan Stone Fort', urge everyone to dig the trenches horizontally, and then build a stone wall to defend against the enemy, connect the two, and the army will be stationed behind it, and then erect a powerful rock and siege tower, and arrange the stone throwing carts and crossbows on it, and fire at the wall in front of them. Once the gap is opened, our army will take turns attacking it in batches to capture the holy city of Antioch! ”

"Ladies and gentlemen, before the reinforcements of the Turkic king of Aleppo, Kmadwan, arrive, break through the walls, capture the acropolis, and kill Yaji. Xiyang can make the Lord's soldiers invincible in the next battle! Ardmar's eyes lit up, and he and the hermit Peter cried out.

"Except for the Venerable Hugh, and the men of the Count of Blois and the two Counts of Robert, who continue to monitor the other sections of the wall. General Tetisius, Gawain, I, Tancrad, Lord Raymond, Lord Baldwin, Duke Godfrey, all gathered the elite cavalry who could fight, and took turns to set up a guard in the position from the Holy Spring Stone Fort to the front of the Dog Gate, to ensure that the siege equipment and towers were completed as soon as possible. Bohemond was also impassioned.

"Gather all the civilian pilgrims, build fortifications, and make stone-throwing equipment, and the work must be completed within five days. The time for a decisive battle with the Turks is coming soon. Gawain, adorned with red feathers, was full of energy, staring at the sand table model of Antioch, holding the hilt of his sword.

"The decisive moment is coming, and the warriors of Christ will surely get the palm leaves of victory!" Then the entire camp erupted in unison. (End of this volume) (To be continued.) )