Alexios was moved by emotion after listening to his mother's words, and he half-knelt before Daracena's knees, grabbed his mother's hand and kissed him like a child, "Mother, Mother, the model of the world second only to the Virgin, you must still be thinking about my dead brother Manuel. Pen? Interesting? Pavilion wWw. ｂiquge。 ｉｎfo”

The Empress Dowager Daracena laughed a little sadly, touching the gray hair of her son, who was no longer young, and her thoughts returned to the past, that is, when Alexios was less than fifteen years old, when the child was full of desire to make a contribution, he joined the Eastern Expeditionary Force of the then Emperor Mikhail (Mikhail VII) and became a guard, but at this time Daracena's eldest son Manuel died, so his mother begged the commander of the expeditionary force and the emperor of the capital, Summoned young Alexios back to himself and protected him.

"Mother, the Komnenos are now different from what they used to be, they are at the helm of the ships of this empire, and all the members of the family have had to endure all kinds of trials since they were born. John, who was well cared for in my tent, could not really serve the people, and what this boy really needed was military and political experience to provide the logistics of an army of 50,000 men, which would be of great benefit to his future growth. When her son had finished explaining, Daracena smiled and nodded in agreement.

Then Alexios stood up, he looked at the secluded and towering top of the monastery, listened to the ethereal chant, and his heart swelled with pride, "I will immediately let John enter the deacon of the imperial capital, and his new army of Thessaly will be handed over to Tetisius to take charge of the expedition with me." I believe that this campaign, with the support of the great financial resources of the Empire, and the vassals of the fleets of the Italian city-states, will surely destroy the rebels of Gawain and Bohemond, and I will not hesitate to spend a great deal of money and the promise of ceding the port for this campaign, so that the troops of one of my old enemies will strike hard at the kingdom of Tarsus...... When all is said and done, Mother, the empire will be restored, and I will prove that I am the true emperor of the Romans, and John will be able to take over the country in name only, and continue the prosperous reign from the imperial capital. ”

"Do it, my son." At this time, my mother also expressed her full support.

The emperor, who had visited his mother, was in such a good mood that he went to the palace courtyard and took him with him to see his wife Erin and his youngest son Adjoan, but when he arrived at the annex, he learned that the queen had gone to the small prayer room to pray silently, and Adjoan was playing in the garden in the antechamber under the teasing of several handmaidens and eunuchs.

Alexios did not alarm anyone, he stood on the steps of the small courtyard and watched it all.

At this moment, the Imperial Ink Officer Meles hurriedly walked over, it seems that he was looking for the Emperor everywhere before, "From the information from Kherson and Trabzon, Theodoro has agreed to His Majesty's request to join forces to besiege Gawain in the spring of the following year, so he is taking out the money of the entire territory to recruit troops. ”

"Oh, tell me about it?"

"If it were normal, I would not alarm you, Your Majesty Theodoro and Alania and Georgia have signed mercenary contracts, and it is said that an astonishing number of ten thousand soldiers will be hired to support him in the next six months' campaign."

"What, ridiculous!" The emperor was shocked and angry.

"Not only that, but it is said that Theodoro was also in secret discussions with the Grand Duke of Rus in the northern Scythian steppes, as well as the Kipchaks, saying that they were about to do the cause of King Qin, but in fact they were also using ships to recruit sailors and armor of the Rus' people, as well as the light cavalry of the Kipchaks."

"Where did he get all that money?"

Hearing the emperor's question, the imperial ink official remembered that the emperor had always been not sensitive enough to the economy and finances, so he took out a manuscript with a wry smile, "Your Majesty, the amount of tribute you have set for Trabzon is far less than Theodoro's income. That's why his money is swelling so fast. ”

The manuscript was a sketchy account book, compiled for the Emperor so that he could see at a glance, and here the Emperor was astonished to see that the estimated tax revenues of Trabzon in the last year had been two-thirds more than his previous estimate!

Previously, the emperor called Theodoro to annex, granted him the power of the governor of Chaldia, and paid an annual tribute and apportioned to the imperial capital with irregular military service. In addition, the emperor also had a source of wealth there, that is, the mint: the emperor originally asked Theodorus to regularly send some of the minted currency to the imperial capital, but later felt that the shipping cost was too high, and the back and forth loss was too great, so he simply extracted the "coinage surtax" (5 percent), which was combined with the tribute.

During the Second Pilgrim Crusade, Theodoro, who took the opportunity to capture Amasia and Chaldia, played a trick, and he kept all the taxes and coinage of the newly occupied areas alone, and did not register them in the books of the additional tax, plus the profits he shared on the trade routes opened by Gawain, it is no wonder that he is now rich enough to hire a large number of foreign soldiers.

"It is clear that Theodoro has selfish desires and ambitions, and now it seems that if I want to deal with Gawain, Theodoro will probably take the opportunity to attack Paphragonia and Bithynia, so that I will be passive. It will be a repeat of the previous situation! The Emperor picked up the manuscript angrily and suspiciously, and looked with wise eyes at the Sassanid palm fronds and eagle carvings on the roof, "How should I deal with it?" Do you want to separate Gawain and Theodoro? ”

"That's not right, especially in the current situation. Because if they were to deal with each other separately, they would not only force the two thieves to unite in advance, but also make His Majesty's expeditionary plan lose its goal in a hurry. According to the opinion of the servants, it is better to trap Gawain and Theodoro separately, and then His Majesty concentrates all his forces, contacts the generals Diognis, Stephen, Raymond, and Breenus, and first takes Iconium in the middle of the plateau, as long as he captures this place, he can occupy the center of the battle, and then force Theodoro to attack Gawain, but he can't help but agree. ”

Hearing this proposal, the Emperor groaned, and then he turned and said, "It is better to order the palace workshop to make a noble and magnificent crown, and then send an envoy to their chief Bonyak in the land of Kipchak, to identify him as the 'king' of all Rus', and instigate them to attack Svyatopolk (then the prince of Kiev) and Monomakh (the prince of Rostov-on-Don, whose full name is Vladimir. Monomach, whose name 'Monomach' comes from the maternal line, was his great-grandfather the Byzantine Emperor Constantine. Monomacher, who was Sviatopolk's nephew), so that he could successfully involve Theodoro as well. ”

Of course, the enmity between the emperor and the two Rus' princes was much more than just their close relationship with Theodoro.

The biggest grudge is that about six years ago, this group of people had embraced a man named Leo. The figure of Jeff Grevich, who threatened the emperor's throne. (To be continued.) )