Upon arriving at the mansion, there was very bad news, and Axepocus told him, "Gawain has returned with his main force to besiege Prusa, and it seems that he is going to fight to the death." Pen %Fun %Pavilion www.biquge.info And General Tetisius, short of weapons and food, began to complain to us. ”

"Let the ship send four newly-cast bronze cannons plus three hundred firearms. He also told Tetisius that he was trying to raise more supplies and salaries, and that he must persevere. John commanded.

And Axep Coughuston stepped down and told the Emperor the second, and more heavy, bad news, "The two great natives of Crete have started a rebellion against our rule, and they have received sufficient rebel men from the villages of the island to besiege the imperial mansions and fortresses in the north. ”

John couldn't help but be stunned when he heard the news.

The two great Genat nobles who organized the rebel party were Kurtatzis and Kalyrgis, the former living on the most fertile plain of the island, the Mesala, and having the allegiance and unity of most of the village communities; The latter, on the other hand, was the towering king of the White Mountains, and won the love of countless mountain archers and ship sailors.

It is almost certain that the Cretan revolt against Emperor John was the result of Anna. Ducasse's prodding, she is said to have met with local representatives, paid a large sum of money, and promised to provide military assistance to the rebel party.

"The House of Kurtatzis responded to Apate's call and was willing to serve the rebellious state of Tarsus as their suzerain. But the Carlyrgis refused to pledge allegiance to Gawain, and they were willing to rally under the banner of St. Titus to seek justice for the dead Emperor, but in essence they wished to establish a kingdom outside of our control. Axepocaus then dissected the details of the other party.

John's fingers trembled with a heavy heart, and he turned his back to his henchman slave, and he was slow to make a decision.

"Your Majesty, we must put down the rebellion, and if Crete is not safeguarded, then soon the rebellion will spread along the sea to the regions of Moria and Thessaly."

"I understand everything you say......," replied the young emperor, full of distress and exhaustion, "but where else can the empire send ships and mobile troops?" There are no soldiers to send, no soldiers to send. ”

Axepocus gritted his teeth, then avoided the others, and said what was really in his heart, "It's better to borrow troops from the Venetians to help them suppress." ”

"What!" The young emperor was immediately full of surprise, he had also considered such a plan, but he never dared to mention it, "The previous cession of the harbor on Corfu Island to the Venetians has already made me gain great criticism from the people, where can I still use the weight of borrowing troops now?" The emperor quickly rejected the plan to quench his thirst.

"The only way to cut out the Modon on the southern promontory of the Peloponnese is to allow the Venetian shipping routes to bypass there and enter the Holy Sea. In addition, several seaports on the island of Crete were opened to Venetian duty-free. Axepocus knew His Majesty's current difficulties, but "for the sake of the survival of the empire, this can only be done, just as your father did in the beginning, and in the end your father did not get the help of the Venetian city-state to repel the invasion of the Norman bandits?" ”

John was very distressed, for the dignified Roman Emperor, before realizing the glorious ideal of Romana, he actually had to start the drama of cutting the land and borrowing the teacher in front of countless subjects, which was not the same as admitting to them, "I and my empire are no longer good, and I can no longer relieve the chronic disease by my own strength"?

"Do you really want to do this......" the Emperor finally closed his eyes and asked in a trembling voice in the glare of light from the narrow window.

"As long as you do it secretly, you should be able to deceive the past. In addition, this empire is all yours of your majesty, and it is worth ceding a little thing to the greater good, as long as it can be exchanged for greater benefits - after all, there are half a million of your people on Crete, and the long-term loss of this place will be irreparable. Does the father, who is the head of the household, need the approval of his people to sell some of his belongings in order to understand his urgent needs? In addition, while we are holding on to the defense of Prusa, we are also going to engage in diplomacy to create as many enemies as possible for Gawain, such as Bohemond, who is now besieging the strong Antioch army. ”

Upon hearing this, John lowered his head and raised his hand, and with a few last powerful gestures, he added, "I agree with your plan on the Cretan side, just do it." In addition, that Aptsomatus in Cyprus is a piece of rotten meat that can't be put into his mouth anyway, so it's better to let him play his last remaining value, and attract more jackals to bite", which means that this matter will be handled by you.

At the same time that Axepocaus was ordered to start close contact with all parties, the "Great Turtle Fortress" of Gawain under the city of Prusa began to function as a siege base.

Under the scorching sun, Tetisius and the defenders at the head of the city clearly saw that on the improvised road built behind the large earthen rampart on the opposite side, from all directions of the Sakarya River, the Dolila Rim Gorge, and the Ores Gorge, the carts pulled by mules, horses, and oxen were rolling, and then the soldiers and craftsmen of the Tarsus Guardian Army took out the stones from them, used various tools and instruments, and used various tools and instruments to face them on their side, and covered them with stones along the steps of the earthen ramparts, and quickly formed a barrier combining earth and stone.

Then, the cannonballs fired from the long barrel of copper cannons on the bulk, hit the stone, and could not even lift up the earth, only small clumps of blue ash appeared, which could not cause any harm or frighten the Gawain soldiers on it.

While Tetisius was pondering what to do, Gawain's cannon arrived.

In fact, it is a section of bronze cannon barrel transported by ox cart and mule cart, and then spliced together with iron hoop strips on the gun barrier, forming a huge cannon with a terrifying length, and the bulging charge chamber at the back is cast very large, like a charming woman's big fat buttocks, in order to increase the amount of Khitan snow and promote the stone pills shot out more powerfully.

In the end, a total of three standard "cannons" were assembled, two of which were laid on the large turtle rampart, facing the southeast corner tower and the nodulous ramrest of Prussa, and Gawain specifically asked that one be left in the valley of the Marcicatus, facing the open field, and every once in a day, the earth-shattering test fire was carried out.

Yes, test firing.

"Don't waste the huge cannon on the big turtle base at will, and the huge amount of Khitan snow. The cost of this test shot was worth it, and then Gedier and Leotius made all the data of the test shot into a shooting table according to the practice of the little sunfish when he was still in the barracks. This is another request from Gawain.

The light guns now cast in Tarsus are test-fired after completion to check the quality of the barrel and to figure out the conversion records between several data such as different angles, charges, and ranges when firing a projectile of roughly the same mass, which is the firing table.

And this kind of siege cannon cannons can't be made out of the firing table before they are officially assembled, so they can only be counted here.