But in any case, the Epirus army still lost nearly 3,000 men, which can be said to be a wounding loss. Pen, fun, pavilion www. biquge。 info

Isaac, who retreated to the city of Pera in Macedonia, mourned: "I thought I could easily defeat Branas, and then drive Adrianople to fight Gawain to the death, but why? I can't even win now just Branas? ”

Before the wailing had dissipated on the roof beams, Isaac received news that Branas's army had taken control of the Vardar River, and that he could attack the city of Pera to the north, and then go north along the valley into the heart of Macedonia, threatening the important cities of Ohrid, Pliska, and Skopje in Burdin; Alternatively, Branas could also attack the important gateway city of Eignon, west of the mouth of the Vardar River, and then continue to collect supplies on the well-supplied plains of Thessaly.

Isaac has analyzed this situation for a long time, and he now has three choices, one is to resist the Branas army to the death in Pera City, the victory or defeat is mixed, but it is easy to run out of retreat, and it becomes a stalemate in Zeno chess that cannot fly; The second is to retreat north into Serbia. In the mountains of Macedonia, he rendezvoused with Berdin, but this would also be tantamount to giving up the whole of Thessali to Branas; The third, of course, was his own retreat into Thessaly, taking up the plains, which were surrounded by rivers and mountain peaks, rich in grain and livestock.

"I am the dignified King of Epirus, the dictator of the Romans, and I will not go north into the realm of the barbarian princes." Isaac shouted haughtily, and then, standing in front of the camp of the city of Pera, with torches raised and horses neighing, ordered the whole army to "retreat in great stride, and march west along the river Ariakmon to the city of Larissa." ”

After much deliberation, Isaac's army abandoned Pella, but the man's route was still strange: instead of going directly to the city of Larissa in the south, he first walked thirty giurgs west in the name of collecting supplies, but in fact he was moving closer to the famous pass of Kastoria.

Because Isaac could not yet make up his mind to enter Thessaly completely.

The Kastorian Pass, the communication channel between Tesuram, Epirus and Thessaly, was the place where the Normans invaded and then invaded the hinterland of the empire.

Therefore, Isaac sent 500 soldiers to stay in the castle of Kastoria, and he hesitated for two main reasons:

On the one hand, he was the king of Epirus, and he could not abandon this region in the end, but he had the sacred duty to protect the people from foreign aggression in other places;

On both sides, if he entered the Thessaly region, the conflict with his nephew John would be further intensified, because it was a place that John regarded as a forbidden place, and he could not enter without saying hello!

After all, Isaac. Komnenos is a man of rules.

Thinking of respecting the alliance, Isaac sent a letter to John's remaining officials in Larissa in advance, saying that "the army will immediately resist the enemy here, and urgently need a large amount of food supplies, and the Macedonian city of Pera cannot support it", and invited the other party to "open the gates of the city for my soldiers to garrison, and raise supplies for me to fight." ”

The first thing he did when he received the letter was that he hastily sealed all the gates of Larissa and shouted, "The tyrant of Epirus has come to attack us!" (as if there was nothing wrong with what Hosiaos said), and mobilized the peasants of the whole Thessaly Plain to transport all the grain and cattle away, some to the cities, and most to Corinth and Thebes.

At that time, the king of Epirus was angry!

On the other hand, Branas, who rushed to the city of Pera, was proud of the recovery of the capital of the ancient Macedonian kingdom, but he was not willing to pursue it further, and he stated the situation in his letter to the emperor:

"The vassals, who had taken possession of the richest valleys of the lower Valdar and the Thessalonian Peninsula, had slain many of the rebels of Epirus, but the front had been stretched too long, and if the vassals continued to advance towards Kastoria or Thessaly, they would be cut off by the Berdin detachment (or the detachment of the puppet Emperor John who had crossed the sea) from the south, and the city of Thessaloniki in the rear would become dangerous. In addition, after several battles, the number of cavalry on the part of the servants was not large, and the casualties were quite heavy, so it was difficult to launch a pursuit. ”

Galvin's messenger sent the Emperor's edict from Adrianople almost like lightning, and the tone was both stern and encouraging: "You must pursue it at all costs, but for the time being you will not be bothered by the Kastorian Pass, nor Epirus, where the soldiers of appropriate age have been conscripted by Isaac and pose no great threat to you." The main objective is Thessaly, and you have done the greatest feat of all, and your military action will make a great difference in the whole battle, and you will be the chief hero, and your wife, Madame Agalum, and your stepson, Prince Massoud, will be proud of you.

Your so-called difficulties are food, provisions, and fear that the road will be cut off by the enemy from the north and the south. It is true that the avenue runs along Thessaloniki and is vulnerable to attack. But I took the Red Hand Dalian Brigade alone and traveled all over Asia Minor without being defeated or defeated, so your biggest problem is to suffer too much from gains and losses...... The destination that can't see the light is actually close at hand!

I immediately informed Archduke Brenus of the War House to open a direct sea route from Misia to Thessaloniki, and to allocate additional supplies to support your military operations, even if you lose ships for this, you must know that ships are now more expensive than men.

And Thessaloniki and Philippi have some of the remaining troops, and Berdin's main force has also been crucified in Fort Sophia by the five brigades of the central front, and it is impossible to launch a large-scale battle in the south......

You should know that the enemies that I and the Empire are facing today are mainly located in the western frontier, and are divided into four heavy groups, namely Constantine. Berdin's Dukria military group, the Bulgarian rebel group, the remnant army of the puppet Emperor John in Moria and Crete, and Isaac. Komnenos's Epirus rebel group. Venice and Sicily in the distance, leaving aside for the time being, among the four groups, Isaac is the weakest, the worst in battle, and the worst in command (Isaac is silent and weeping, saying that he wants to be each other's 'lifelong enemies'), so destroying or inflicting heavy damage on this enemy first is the key to turning the tide of the whole battle......"

Branas, who had read the Emperor's letters, naturally did not dare to slack off any longer, he split the Optimikin brigade and stationed it in the rear of Pera and Thessaloniki, and then took the remaining two brigades and began to move south from the city of Eignon, almost parallel to Isaac, towards the city of Larissa!