Chapter 61: The Prince Dies

Although Ruben did not hear the words of the soldiers, the prince saw the low and desperate morale around him, and the many suspicious and contemptuous eyes around him, and he felt shivering in the rain, so he stepped on the mud, jumped up a slightly higher mound, and began to cheer up the soldiers and nobles, and he kept saying that there was a strong reinforcement from the city of Vanka, and even the cavalry of the chief Danishmund, and suddenly that the emperor of Constantinople also learned of the treachery of Gawain and Bohemond, and was sending a denunciation, and forcing Gawain to withdraw his troops; Finally, Ruben thought of something else, saying that the Western Patriarch of Rome and the Eastern Patriarch of Antioch had united to denounce Gawain, and that he would soon be unable to stand the military and diplomatic oppression and withdraw from the siege. Pen, fun, pavilion www. biquge。 info

In the end, what answered Ruben was a wave of terrifying stone bullets fired by Gawain's besieging troops from the northeast, and they flew densely at the same time, the projectile distance was very close, and the target was hit in an instant, which was difficult to judge with the naked eye, and it was difficult to dodge with the body. The prince originally thought that Gawain's artillery crews would stop for about half a day because of the exhaustion of stone bullets, but he was obviously wrong: Gawain's new artillery players had just come up with a new tactic through actual combat, that is, in the cannon attack, they deliberately left two five-shot guns without firing, and after the enemy had drilled out of the shelter to move, they were unexpectedly and quickly fired.

It just so happened that a gunner, standing under the leather shed on the earthen ramparts, saw that in the corner he was watching, a certain noble man in black fire rat fur, and his attendant and the gold-edged embroidered umbrella cover, were making an impassioned attack on the enemy, so he decided that this was a great nobleman of the enemy, and called a five-pole cannon under his control, "Shoot the stone and pull the rope!" In the raindrops, the gunners and soldiers gritted their teeth, quickly placed the rounded five stone pills on the leather pockets of each of the five guns, smashed the scorpion tail hook into the soil and fixed it, and then the gunner on the earthen rampart finished observing, raised the horns in his hand, and blew three times in a short manner: dozens of gunners shouted, and pulled their ropes backwards violently, and the scorpion tail hook flew up, the leather bag was raised into the air, and swung in a dashing manner, and the five stone bullets flew out in an instant—the gunner saw it over, Then, within a distance of about a few dozen feet around Prince Ruben, five clouds of mud and flesh smoke burst up, and the Armenian soldiers who were watching in the distance immediately scattered and fled.

About seven members of the court retinue were around the prince, plus three nobles who died instantly, their bodies shattered, and the rest covered their faces, crawling around, shouting, and about a few seconds later they found the prince on the other side of the mound, his face as white as Seleucian tissue paper, lying in the mud, his clothes shattered like garbage, covered in blood and mud: the cannon hit, and after a stone pellet hit the mud beside him, it spun and skid a distance, knocked him over, and crushed him on the lower half of his body.

Many of the attendants were in a hurry to drag the prince out from the stone bullet, but the doctor shouted that he must not do this, as it would cripple the prince's lower body, "first dig a hole with your hands under the stone bullet, then put a board between the body and the body, slowly pry the stone bullet up, and then drag the prince out." ”

"What do you say, bastard, what do you say, bastard." The prince gasped in pain, his hands flapping and pushing violently, his nostrils began to flow horribly blood, the corners of his eyes began to turn red, and he was still scolding the doctor, "I'm going to drag it out now, quick, who's going to help me." The prince's roar soon turned to a cry, and he grew weaker and weaker, until his body stiffened and his eyes fell silent.......

With tears in his eyes, a nobleman cut off a piece of the prince's fire rat fur cloak with a sword, covering the face of the dead body, and then stood up and looked at the miserable scene around him, the cold rain was still falling tirelessly, "It's okay, we should surrender." ”

"You say, 'Surrender to all.' Confirmed that Ruben is dead? Inside the tent, hearing the news, Anselm and Golpan, who had been placed under house arrest, stood up and mournfully drew crosses in succession.

The rain was still dripping outside, and Gawain put his knife on his plate, looked at the messenger who had come to ask for surrender, and then whispered to the deputy heraldic officer beside him, "Find out which five-shot cannon is for its exploits, and give a good reward to all the gunners." When Wright received the order and was about to leave, Gawain grabbed his arm again, "Don't worry, finish your meal before leaving." So Wright leaned against the Grand Duke and continued to eat. Over there, the gray-haired Agnes wore a man's cloak that covered her ears, pulled up her long hair, put on a crescent-style wrap, and continued her meal, smiling proudly and easily.

Then Gawain picked up the plate on the table, filled it with food, walked down in person, and handed it to the negotiator, "Eat......

The messenger immediately grabbed it with his hand and devoured it, and Gawain laughed, "You are not as polite as the monk of the Apostolic Church, and I like it very much—and tomorrow all the Armenian soldiers, all the men and women, all on foot, will come out with their belongings and baggage, and the nobles will come together in a group to perform the surrender ceremony in front of my tent, and sign the paperwork asking General Mamikonian of the Kastabara Fort to come out and surrender together. ”

When the messenger had clarified the conditions and had departed with a full stomach, Anselm stood up with difficulty, paced in front of Gawain, who had his back to him, and could only congratulate him softly on his brilliant victory, and took the opportunity to plead, "In this battle, both the enemy and the enemy have gained a reputation for good fighting and bravery, and ask the Grand Duke to return all the nobles who have been captured, and to allow the proper treatment of Reuben's son Torus, which is also a good thing in accordance with the virtues of knighthood." ”

At this moment, Gawain turned to the patriarch thoughtfully, and then said, "This is natural...... I also need this group of nobles to go to the many castles around Vanka City, in front of the many castles on the Torus ridge, and persuade me to surrender all the strongholds and give up resistance! ”

The next day, in the camp of Ruben by the castle of Castabara, several desolate trumpets sounded, a red sun rose in the sky, under the gray clouds, everywhere there were dark brown muddy earth and roads, Gawain rode a silver horse by the scarlet tent, and the Turkic servants around him rode a black Sabina, the eagle stood on his shoulder, and behind Gawain were the staff generals, including the Patriarch and Golpan, surrounded by the soldiers of Gemaggis, who were lined up in a neat line, and where the gap opened by the camping fence, The remaining 4,000 or so Armenian soldiers staggered out of the procession, and a clown from Gawain's camp circled in front of their procession, constantly whirling and singing the singers, and running around with their battle flags and laughing.

"Please allow us to bury all the bodies of the war dead, including the prince." When more than seventy Armenian nobles came up to Gawain and bowed, they made such a request. (To be continued.) )