After bidding farewell to the city of Za'tar and the Venetians, the subsequent march towards the mouth of the Sava River appeared very steady, as Gawain had said to the Brotherhood, "As long as Constantine is defeated. Berdin, seize and destroy Za'tar, then there will be no hindrance to our next action. His prophecy was very accurate: when the Slavic army heard of the defeat of the prince, all the hedgehogs were gathered in Pécs in the north and Pskogery in the east, and did not dare to do anything pleasant against the Red Hand company.

Even the Sava bandits, who had always been known for their ferocity and greed, most of them were a mixture of Slavs and Bolgars, and after seeing the battle flags of the Dalian army and the tight marching formation, they also fled into the boundless dense forest.

The Dalian detachment of 6,000 men marched rapidly and nervously along the meadows and plains along the turbulent Sava River, and every day Gawain sent out three groups of Cuman light horsemen in the morning, noon and evening, and four sentinels to spy on the news.

However, Peter's army of 100,000 pilgrims did not arrive on time to join him on the left side of the river, as Gawain had estimated.

"Muzafiadin and Bramson, I entrust you with the company of craftsmen and the company of cavalry, to find the gentle meanders of the Sava River, and to build a pontoon bridge. Giovanni led two infantry companies, and Andreev commanded the 'Eldest Princess' Sailor Bow Company, which was responsible for guarding and protecting. and my camp, keep in touch with scouts and heralds. In the crimson tent of the Grand Duke, Gawain summoned several members of the Brotherhood, handed them the homemade military tokens, and assigned them a task, at which point Giovanni took the opportunity to complain, "I don't think Bramson is up to the task, because the city of Niš is deep on the other side of the river." Bramson will definitely run to loot the money, which will worsen the relationship between our army and the city of Niš. ”

Bramson was furious again. Pounding the chain mail on his chest, he half-knelt in front of the Grand Duke. "Giovanni has spoken ill of him, and I beg the Grand Duke to punish him for damaging the innocent honor of a knight."

"Didn't you say you weren't a knight?" Gawain quipped, and then he relieved, "All right, don't argue, so that the Grand Duke will leave the task of building the pontoon bridge to the two of you together, and Giovanni you go and monitor Bramson's every move, and don't let him do anything about himself." ”

So both of them reluctantly took the token. "The lord of the city of Niš is a self-proclaimed Grand Duke canonized by the Roman Emperor Alexios, and his name is Tapan. It would be best if he could receive us, and if he got any trickery to confront the Dalian team, he would not attack without mercy! Gawain gave this very decisive instruction, and the implication was that Tapan dared to make it difficult, so that the two lovers would attack as hard as they had done with the city of Za'tar, so that the Bulgarian land on the right bank of the Sava would also be terrified of the Dalian.

It seems like. The Grand Duke was ready to show his might at any time, and he was a little distressed that he could not fight.

Soon the Dalian Brigade was in action - the soldiers of the company formed a small group and attacked from all sides, collecting and recruiting small boats from the surrounding area. The company of craftsmen then connected them with the ropes they had carried, and fastened a number of spears into them, and Bramson carried his two-handed sword behind his back. Pulling the reins, he rode a hundred Cumans. At the same time as Muzafi Addin, step over the still swinging pontoon bridge. On the other side of the Sava River, where there were fertile meadows, Bramson let the cavalry relax for a while, and after crossing the river with Giovanni's two infantry companies, "Fury" and "Wallachia", and Andreev's company of archery, they marched in the direction of the city of Niš.

Niš, located in the central heart of Bulgaria, halfway between the Sava River, Morava River and Thracian River, is a transportation hub, surrounded by forests and steppes. The local Grand Duke Tapan himself was a descendant of the "Macedonian Bulgarians" (referring to the mixture of the Bulgars and the Macedonian Greeks), and at this time Tapan did receive an edict from Emperor Alexios: not to help the Red Hand United, but to defend on the spot, and block Gawain's advance with Berdin of Za'tar.

At this time, Alexios. Komnenos has not yet received the military information that the city of Za'tar has tragically fallen.

The hesitant Grand Duke of Tapan, after receiving the report of the scouts, hurriedly walked out of the castle with three hundred cavalry, and then after walking out of a dozen or so guri, he saw Bramson and Giovanni fighting.

Bramson then rode out of the array and shouted to Tapan in the local dialect, "Our army is a large army loyal to His Majesty the Emperor, and it is also an expeditionary force in the Holy Land under the Holy Crown, and no place occupied by believers, including Constantinople, should stop the march of our army." ”

"I have just received an edict from the Emperor, and His Majesty has asked me to block your banner in the city of Niš." Tapan spoke in a somewhat panicked tone.

"This is impossible, the Red Hand Dalian has just captured the city of Za'tar to avenge the defeat of His Majesty's former Durazo - Burdin has already paid His Majesty the Emperor a confession and five thousand silver coins of atonement." Bramson said with a righteous face (almost all the members of the Dalian team, except for Gawain, thought that they attacked Za'tar and indeed avenged Alexios), and then held up the paper stamped by Berdin, and said in a very affirmative tone, "His Majesty the Emperor would never issue such an order, and the order you received is not a false order?" ”

At this time, Tapan was crying and laughing and was very distressed: he didn't expect that even the most powerful autonomous monarch in the empire, Berdin, would be easily defeated by this army, and he didn't care whether the edict sent by Alexios was true or not, and no matter if there was any misunderstanding or festival between him and Gawain's army, the plan for now was to protect the city of Niš, and it would be really miserable if it was like Za'tar.

Therefore, the conditions of Tapan's negotiation were that the Red Hand Dalian Brigade could not enter the city, but could camp outside the city, and Tapan could provide cheap supplies to sell to the Dalian Army's military market, and the two sides made an oath not to deviate from each other's invasion.

After the two hits were reached, Gawain, who was decorated with red feathers, rode Sabina, together with the rest of the company and the baggage, and crossed the three pontoon bridges on the river and came to the city of Nish to set up camp, "The pontoon bridge cannot be dismantled, ready to meet my brother's team at any time, Peter will never overtime at will, there must be something happened on the way." Gawain said to his subordinate craftsmen.

At the same time, in the wilderness outside Fort Philip, Alexios, riding on a black steed, raised his gold-studded sword, "My sons, draw your bow and shoot at the heretics and thieves, and shoot all thirty arrows in your quiver!" ”

The whole Byzantine army cried out with a thunderous cry, and then the bowstrings rang violently, and countless arrows whistled out, flying out of the companies of the Emperor's army, Pecheneg, Cuman, Magyar, Tekopo, and the Greeks, sweeping across the sky, and then striking at the opposing Pauline army, and every heretic could look up and see in horror that there were seven or eight arrows falling at him at the same time!

It's like God smashing down the thunder and lightning on the earth. (To be continued.) )