Then, Zahaas lowered his bow and continued to laugh proudly, "Come, prepare me another letter in Norman, my allies should be ready to do the same!" ”

Although Zahas made up his mind to invade the islands of the Byzantine Sea, the decision of George Warden to advance towards Nicaea did not change in the slightest, and the two armies went their separate ways in Asia Minor like thick arrows that diverged from each other.

Before advancing to the city of Prussia, the Sultan of Rom Giliki. Arslan, having kept his promise, took a full 7,000 Turkic soldiers from the fertile Lydian plain around the city of Konya, through the long and barren Ohas Gorge, to the camp of the Warden Chief, and expressed his willingness to follow the battle, and then he told George that he had sent another 4,000 soldiers to help the Emperor himself, first to destroy the Pechenegs and then the Norman bandits.

The arrival of reinforcements from the Sultan of Rûm (albeit another group of Turks) cheered the whole camp, and the Byzantine Roman Empire did not value any race or tribe, anyway, the authority of the state was controlled by the Hellenistic aristocracy, and the other foreign barbarians were all here to work, and as long as they could contribute, they could receive military salaries.

"Because of the exploits of capturing a tower in Abydos and defending the banner in the Battle of the Meadows, Stephen was promoted here. Gawain was the flag officer of the Red Hand detachment, commanding a column of infantry. In front of the camp, in the presence of all the soldiers of the detachment, Farov issued this letter of commission, which not only had his seal, but also the pen and ink signature of the head of the royal stables.

Then, Farov reminded Gawain, who received the letter of appointment, that "many people have stopped when they were the 'flag officers and columns', some have died in battle because of recklessness, and some have disappeared without accomplishments, this position of commanding thirty soldiers is the starting point of all glory and may also be the end of disaster, put your talents to good use, and see if it is a good piece of iron that can really withstand forging." ”

In the midst of the mighty march towards the city of Prussa, Gawain rode on Sabina's back, supervising and directing the march of the sixth column to which he belonged. He presented Erickson with the armor of the Turkic slave soldier he had killed in the Battle of the Meadows, and gave him a sharp, single-edged saber to carry the flag next to him.

According to the Byzantine military system, a detachment of 300 men could be divided into a maximum of 24 columns, and in the case of cavalry, it was generally divided into four columns, each of which was commanded by a grassroots "flag officer". Later, under the regulations of Leo VI of the Macedonian dynasty, an infantry detachment adopted a relatively modest approach, dividing into eight columns of thirty men each, and the remaining sixty veterans with the most effective combat effectiveness were assigned to the detachment commander as a reserve "banner soldier". In addition, from Leo VI's point of view, the infantry detachment must rely on the sixty "soldiers" to undertake the assault mission of intersecting the enemy's blades, while the remaining eight columns are cannon fodder, lined up in dense formations, holding each other to block the enemy; The reason why Leo emphasized the importance of "division" means that for the Romans of this era, most of them have lost the courage to fight with barbarians and pagans head-on, and can only rely on the formation of columns, sticking to the art of war and tactics formulated by the emperors of the past dynasties, "obedience" and "patience" cooperate with religion, and become the essence of the entire army, rather than "courage" and "courage". It is far from the majesty of the ancient ancestors.

Then, in the same way, the sixth column of the Red Hand detachment commanded by Gawain is theoretically also part of the cannon fodder meat shield. But fortunately, the Red Hand detachment, after all, is the most elite Inner Palace Varangian Guard, so the term "cannon fodder meat shield" does not exist for this army, in the previous battle of the meadow, almost all the samurai of the detachment, using heavy weapons, went forward one after another, tearing apart the defense line of Musetto's army, leading their own side to victory.

In addition, each column of 30 soldiers shared two light mule carts, one carrying shields, armor and weapons (the soldiers of ancient Rome carried these things directly on their backs, which shows the decline of the current wind of hardship), and the other carrying tools, grain, pots and stoves, grinding plates, etc. In addition, there were two mules, horses and donkeys, which could be used for additional dispatch, but the pack animals in Captain George's army were so scarce that they were reduced to numbers on paper.

The army set up camp in the wasteland ten centuries southwest of Prussa, just as Phiteas flew away with one hand and a small flag on his shoulder, arguing with other servants and robbing the place of the camp near the water source for the lords to rest. A stern military order, directly through Farov's hand, was transferred to Gawain.

"On the east side of the camp, there is a stream and a swamp that makes it difficult for the heavily armed infantry, but across it is an old stone bridge which we can cross to obtain supplies from the Sultan of Konya, which the horses of Zahaaz from Nicaea may also attack. Take your comrades with you and go to sweep the enemy at this bridgehead and set up an outpost. "This is what Farov calls a combat mission.

Gawain, who stood in front of the baggage mule cart, looked at the Earl Commander, and at the vast wetland of which he had spoken of a wide expanse of unsightly curved trees and mist-shrouded wetlands, and indeed a solid black stone bridge, which seemed to be a relic of ancient Roman times, spanning it.

"I need support, Commander." Gawain demanded.

"Then I'll send you another train of Benevento's light crossbowmen." Farov said that this was the best help he could, "Also, four extra mules and horses and two mule carts for you." ”

A pine burned silently in his hand, illuminating the heavy night, and also flashing the same heavy chain mail that Gawain was wearing, and he followed the light, and looked behind, thirty Varangian guard warriors, twenty crossbowmen from Italy, following his banner, calmly along the bridge, and at the end were more than fifty unarmed military servants, carrying four sparkling mule carts, the sound of the wheels was long, and in the swamp where it was impossible to discern the direction, along the gray-white stone bridge like a snake, Walking lonely, and looking into the distance, the campfire of the army camp was like a star floating in the night.

"I'll leave this detachment to you, remember, don't be finished." This was a complete but terrible nonsense that Faroff had said to him before he left.