"Emissary? Although I have issued a document granting permission for the Frankish barbarian king's brother to pass, I have not yet sent out a greeting party. Prince John put down the paperwork and replied to the Seleucian envoys, meaning that he did not expect Hugh to walk in such a hurry and disappear on that unknown road, "Even if the Callegos family strictly forbids the opening of the border on a date outside the field, Hugh can walk from the Milio Sephalon area, and there will be no threat from the remnants of Konya." ”

In the face of the prince's explanation, the eight envoys of the Seleucian side, who were served by the Freedom Society and the Brocade Brotherhood, were very cautious, and they did not dare to speak until they had finished saluting the prince, "The Grand Duke did not dare to disturb His Royal Highness the Prince at first, but the day he saw off his leave has passed ten days now, and it stands to reason that he will be able to reach Philadofiam in three days, but the Grand Duke has not waited for Hugh's return from arrival, and his heart is uneasy. ”

"It is true that Hugh has never come to me, let alone Philadofiam, and the sentry cavalry on the border has never heard from him." The prince said with great certainty behind his back, and then he vaguely felt that something was wrong, so he looked at the staff beside him, and then at the Seleucian envoys standing in a row under the steps of the hall, and was silent for a while, "If it is really missing, the imperial side is willing to join forces with the Grand Duke's army to search for that section of the road." ”

Then, the prince handed over the documents to the confidential officer, instructed him to report the matter to the imperial capital as soon as possible, and set off fireworks to give an alarm on the beacon tower outside the city.

When the envoys had retired, the prince sat down in his seat with a blank face, and the rest of his staff had already retreated, except for his most trusted slave attendant, Axepocos, standing at his side with a sword, and at the bottom of the steps there was another man bowing his head and bowing: it was Tetisius, the commander of the march of Asia.

"The current situation is very serious, for Your Majesty and the Empire." The Slash-Nosed General bowed his head, his tone full of sadness, "Theognes is not safe on the island of Cyprus, I have sent a secret letter, and the Archduke of the Governor there is not to be trusted. However, the first thing to be resolved at present is to strengthen the defense of Alalmanburg, in case Gawain takes advantage of this incident, and asks His Majesty to bring a large army from the imperial capital"

"General Tetisius, I am the highest official in this military region, although your title is the head of the march of Asia, but it is also a military position, and this military position has no basis for continuing existence." With a look of disgust, the prince looked at the general who fell in front of his boots, "What's more, since Gawain has sent an envoy to inquire, it is enough to prove that he has no intention of using force against the empire for the time being, he and his sister have made an agreement with their father to return the land, how can Gawain, as a warrior from Varyag, take the initiative to destroy his reputation?" ”

"His Royal Highness the Prince, the humble me and Gao Wen have fought together for a long time, he has principles, but he has no bottom line."

The prince let out a dumbbell laugh and said that your answer is simply ridiculous, how can a principled person have no bottom line?

"Gawain's principles are only for profit, and he does not show any dedication and observance for the Lord." Tetisius clearly answered the distinction between "principle" and "bottom line", and urgently requested, "Please allow me, lowly one, to command the troops of all military districts, to support the Callegos family in Alarmanburg, and to spy on Seleucia." ”

However, the prince did not have enough trust in him at all, and John's idea was to "stick to his own opinion", "You can't accumulate too many main forces in the border fortress, or you must keep a mobile army that can support everywhere in the city of Philadophiam, which is the wisdom of the ancient emperor." And there is no definite answer to the question of Hugh's disappearance, and it is still necessary to rely on shrewd diplomacy. ”

But the exact answer was not long in coming:

Within two days, Hugh and Hugh were exhumed from the decomposing corpses of the mountains and forests on the border between Seleucia and Pamphylia, and the whole scene was horrific, and Hugh's body was in a different place.

This made Prince John, who had learned the news, even at the end of the summer, trembling his hands holding the report, his back as if soaked in ice water, and a terrible chill. But when he looked at the written words below, he felt that his heart had been pressed even more, "In the grave pit of the corpse, there are the remains of the chariot carriage stand regulated by the Empire, which seems to have been used by the murderer to examine the corpse; In addition, in the woods where it was located, several weapons called Arrows were found, which were only used by the Imperial army, not by the Franks and Normans. ”

Eventually, the city of Seleucia sent a note that it was a terrible event, and that the emperor and His Holiness of Rome, as well as the many pilgrims of Antioch, must be made aware of it, and asked the prince and the archduke to conduct a joint face-to-face investigation to get to the bottom of the matter. However, at the end of the document, Gawain did not point the finger of suspicion at the Komnenos for the time being, which made John breathe a sigh of relief, "Return to your Grand Duke, just say that the Empire is willing to accept his suggestion, and we can meet in the Milio Sephaloon region." ”

Next, the horse's hooves of the herald kept consuming time back and forth on the road, and just as the prince waited patiently for the other party to reply, a message came from the city of Seleucia, "The king of the Îleucé de France, because the road is blocked, does not know about this matter; But His Excellency Vallo, Counsellor General of the Palais de France in Port-Saint-Simon, was on his way; In addition, William, Earl of Norman, was also missing in the attack, and his fate was uncertain, and Lord Bohemond, the commander-in-chief of the pilgrims' army, expressed grave concern and sent his relative and subordinate Earl Richard to join the meeting. ”

In this way, the problem became more and more complicated, and more and more forces were involved, and the prince did not dare to be self-dictated, so he repaired a letter about the state of affairs and sent it to the imperial capital urgently.

In the Brachna Palace, Alexios got up and sat on the couch. Komneños looked at the letter sent by the heir, her jaw was about to fall to the floor, and Marlena, who was wearing a tulle nightgown next to her, also held the emperor's arm in some surprise, and even asked what was wrong?

"Someone's playing tricks on me, Gawain, or Bohemond?" The emperor threw the letter at the head of the bed, furious, and then he put on his nightgown and stood up, "With this Hugh's death, the enemy I may have to face now is not only the Turks on the plateau, but also the Turks on the plateau, no matter what, Gawain and that Apate, the adultererous ****, will definitely take advantage of this incident to get an excuse not to return my territory in the coming year!" The "adulterer ****" in the emperor's mouth was deliberately accented, which made the chief lady of the court lying on the couch feel very embarrassed.

But the emperor, who did not notice any of this, slowly walked to the front of the dormitory, and looked at the curving elevated canal between the palace and the ridge in the night, and the anger in his heart welled up, "If Gawain dares to behave in the slightest disrespect, I will not keep my agreement with him, and lead the army directly to conquer Seleucia." ”

(End of this volume) (To be continued.) )