News of the presence of enemy troops on Egnandia Avenue reached Ohrid, and the entire court of Berdin was in disarray. Pen "Fun" Pavilion www.biquge.info

Just yesterday, when the envoy from Durazo arrived here and told him that the legion of the crusade organized by the pope was about to come to the aid of the avenue, the queen of Berdin, Giaquinta, was still full of excitement on her face, and a large banquet and singing and dancing were immediately held under her orders, and the queen and a group of her close ministers brought from Italy praised each other at the banquet, and Giaquinta also claimed that it was because of the efforts and intrigue of her and her favored retainers that Tuscany was able to assemble this elite group against Gauvin, Blatantly ignoring the sacrifice of the local Zupan nobles in the army, "If the sky falls, the spear tip of the Norman knights can also lift it again, and once that group of weak Greeks faces the charge of the knights, the queue of 100,000 people will be instantly crushed!" Gia Quinta's argument won the approval of a piece of flesh.

"After the victory, the Catholic churches should be erected in the castles of Pécs and Russ to repay the generosity of His Holy See." Contarini, the queen's favorite and court buyer, took the opportunity to raise his glass.

But how could the enemy now, as if passing through the Kastorian Pass, appear between Lake Ohrid and Lake Prizren, and threaten the Boulevard?

At this time, the courtiers of the palace were in a panic, and now the army of nobles in the whole country was either in Sophia Fort or in Prizren, and there were not many troops left in the city.

Fortunately, Giaquinta is a woman from the Norman tribe after all, and she has seen a lot of martial arts, so her attitude is still calm and arrogant, "Continue to send scout troops to see where the enemy goes?" ”

At dawn, red and golden clouds covered the clear blue of the lake, and the scouts in Ohrid detected signs of the enemy's cavalry movement on the western shore of the lake, "and it looked like they were going to cut off the Egnandia Highway and prevent the Crusade in Durazo from joining us." ”

Giaquinta hurriedly sent a messenger to Durazo to ask for reinforcements from Almosh.

However, on the way, the messenger was captured by all the rangers sent by Branas, who ordered the messenger's letters to be found and burned, and stripped of their clothes, cut off their tongues, and after separation, they were all terrorized, and they were all tied to their horses and sent back to Ohrid. When several messengers with mouths covered in blood rolled on the floor of the palace, writing contradictory hostile situations, the queen on the throne was terrified.

Because all kinds of information were interfering with her already short insight.

Branas lied that he had brought 20,000 cavalry and 10,000 infantry, as well as fifty cannons capable of destroying the walls, and that he had annihilated the outposts of Durazor, and that in three days he and all his troops would attack Ohrid along the Egnumdia Highway.

And Gia Quinta actually believed it, she did not have the calmness and bravery of Anna when she was pregnant and alone in Seleucia against pirates, and she wanted to abandon the city and flee under the influence of her favored ministers. But Contarini reminded her that there was also a Prizren castle nearby, and that there were 8,000 elite troops under Grand Duke Vladimir.

"Then call Vladimir to come to the rescue here!"

Vladimir, who received the letter, was angry and dissatisfied, "Tell the flattering Italians and Normans around her to repel the enemy, I am bad enough here, the enemy has tens of thousands of elite troops stationed on the opposite side." Besides, how could there be 20,000 cavalry and 10,000 infantry who could pass through the Kastorian pass, and what could they say about fifty guns? It must be a small team bluffing, as long as you hold on to Ohrid for three days, you will be able to grasp the real situation of the enemy, and it will not be too late to rescue when the time comes. ”

Giaquinta was then distraught, in fact, her Ohrid is also known as "Samuel Tsar's Fort", which was the capital of the Bulgarian Empire, Samuel Tsar has been building in this city for many years, the castle is oval-shaped, with thick walls and many arrow towers, and there is a side next to the vast lake, easy to defend and difficult to attack. Therefore, Gia Quinta relied on the garrison team, and it was not a problem to hold on for a while.

At this time, Branas used another strategy, he asked several brave and experienced subordinates to change into the clothes of the court messenger of Ohrid, rode to the city of Durazo, and went to release a "false report" to the Crusaders: Berdin had inflicted a large number of casualties on the Gawain besieging army in the fortress of Leswono, and Berdin demanded that all the Crusaders should not go to Ohrid again, to break through the Kastoria Pass, and give priority to the recovery of Larissa, Macedonian Pera and Thessaloniki. Anyway, it's true and false, and it makes a mess of all parties.

Just when the generals of the Crusade Army were still "suspicious", Branath evacuated from the vicinity of Egnandia Boulevard, led his team to obtain the following and supplies of a small local Slavic tribe called "Betia", and sneaked into a hidden hill between Lake Ohrid and Lake Prizren, cutting trees and erecting fences, waiting for the fighters.

After three days, Giaquinta, who had been in the fortress still but always on his mind, felt that three days had passed, so what was left to do?

Branas gave her the answer: a detachment of Nika and Optishkin with only three guns suddenly appeared in the southeast corner of the city, raided and captured several villages, then dug trenches to connect them, set up forts, and then fired cannonballs at Ohrid's corner tower.

Soon the court in the city was in chaos again.

"Countless enemies are coming!" This is what people mourn together.

Giaquinta ran to the corner, looking at the enemy artillery fort on the hillside below, the sound of firing commands in the smoke continued, and he didn't know how many guns were there. The cannonballs whizzed and smashed under the city walls, and some of the people behind the battlements lay on the ground, and some crawled low. Giaquinta didn't know why, and could only shout "Why haven't Vladimir's reinforcements come yet, why haven't the reinforcements from Dulazo come yet", and once again had the idea of abandoning the city and fleeing.

In fact, at this time, the Crusade army of Durazo was originally ready to be mobilized, but because of the false report of Branas, the two sons of the former Venetian consul Feleje, were more cautious, and sent several waves of scout cavalry to reconnoiter in the area of Lake Ohrid, and sure enough, there was a battle with Branas's sentry cavalry, and the return told the crowd, "There are many enemies in Fort Samuel, the number is ominous, the equipment is unknown, but it seems that the city walls are bombarded with artillery." ”

Only then did Almosh order the whole army to rush to Ohrid along the Egnandia Boulevard.

At the same time, Queen Giaquinta's letter full of fear was again sent to Prizren, in which she clearly stated to Vladimir, "The enemy is shelling so hard that if you don't send reinforcements, I will have to abandon the royal capital and flee eastward." ”

Vladimir, who had no choice, could only draw five hundred cavalry and five hundred infantry from the camp and advance in the direction of Ohrid.