Two weeks later, in the old palace of Seleucia, Anna sat on a high chair with the crown of the Seven Mountains on her forehead, holding a golden scepter, one hand resting on her visibly bulging belly, and the whole palace was flanked by Anatolian guards and female officials, the former majestic and mighty, the latter flamboyant—in the middle of the hall stood the envoy sent by the emperor, Maupulos, an elderly man and a rhetorician of the empire, At the same time, he served as a diplomatic envoy to and from Constantinople and Cilicia many times, and was an old acquaintance and old friend. Pen? Interesting? Pavilion wWw. ｂiquge。 ｉｎfo

"I'm glad to be, Your Royal Highness the Eldest Princess, and allow me to address you like that." Maupoulos, shaking his long white beard, stood directly across from Anna's chair on crutches.

"Sir, Mentor, please allow me to address you as such. When I was young, both you and Idorus were tasked with educating me in literature and rhetoric. But now the Idorus are gone. The tip of Anna's scepter swirled on the marble floor, and her words were full of emotion.

"I'm glad you're still so calm." The old man went on to say something like this.

"I'm calm." Anna closed her eyes slightly, and the whole hall was silent for a while, and then everyone saw it, Caesar suddenly stood up, her petite body seemed to stand on the high steps of the throne, her crown and scepter shone with dazzling brilliance, and her tone was loud, condescending to the imperial envoy Maupulos, "It is precisely because I am so calm that I Anna. Ducasse hereby declares that I accept the declaration of war by my father, who was also the Emperor of the Roman Empire, and let the sword soldiers replace the messengers and clerks who come and go, and give everyone a clear answer on this plateau! ”

Mao Prolos didn't expect that Anna, who was still warm and affectionate just now, issued a war announcement in a blink of an eye.

At this time, Anna's imperial ink officer, Hetomia, walked down the steps coldly and stretched out his hand to the old man, and Maupoulos looked at the girl full of intellectual beauty a little old and tired, and did not react for a while.

"Please deliver the Empire's declaration of war documents into my hands." Hetomia said loudly.

So Maupoulos could only tremble and take it out and do it.

Hetomia turned and walked up the steps and showed the paper to Caesar, and after Anna glanced at it a few times, she raised her scepter and struck it on the floor with a crisp click, and all the warriors and court officials immediately stood up, and Hertomia rolled up another document written on Seleucian paper and appeared in front of everyone's eyes.

Then, fluently, clearly, and sonorously, Anna read aloud the contents of her declaration of war:

"I am Caesar-Anna of Seleucia, Alaman, Caesarea, Tarsus, Cappadocia, Iconium, Meritane, Elbistan, Sebastian, all the soldiers, all the peasants, all the chambers, all the shepherds, all the craftsmen. Ducasse, I would like to join forces with all the Catholic temples, all the mosques, all the Orthodox monasteries and the Patron of St. John and St. Paul Evangelical Hospital, the President of the Patriotic Army, the Servant of God, the Holy Apostle and Anna. Ducasse's dependent, Stephen. Gawain stood side by side with the Venerable Archon of the Holy City of Jerusalem and Keeper of the Holy Sepulchre. Eustace, also the honorable Earl of Adana, Baldwin. Eustace, also the noble Duke of Apulia, Bohemond. Morality. Tver, the same honorable regent of Antioch, Prince of Galilee Tanred. Morality. Tver, the same honorable Konya Sultan Masood. Arslan, the equally noble Armenian prince Taurus side by side.

To Alexios, the master of Constantinople. Komnenos declared war on Apsomatus, Grand Duke of Cyprus, Fer, Regent of Maras, and Theodoro, Grand Duke of Chaldia. Gabuyas declared war on the king of Aleppo. Thuthorn declares war - after which I make a legitimate claim to the Blachna Palace in Constantinople, and the Roman Empire will be unified, and my father and I will never be in the same bed, and each will have the banners of St. Michael, St. Dimitri, St. Theodore, and St. Gabriel, and fight against each other in the wilderness, on the sea, and under the city.

If you don't want the emperor's throne, don't let me do it myself! ”

"Hooray!" In the entire hall, everyone shouted thunderous cheers in unison as Anna finished reading.

Then Anna turned her back and tried not to let the tears of the complete decision between father and daughter fall.

But Maupoulos could not notice this detail, and in this majestic atmosphere, he suddenly felt a storm coming from all directions, and he couldn't help but feel a little dizzy, and he staggered again and again with his hands on his crutches.

Several female officials stepped forward and supported him, "Let the chief rhetorician of the empire hurry back to the pavilion to rest, because his mission has come to an end." Anna ordered with a wave of her sleeves and a hint of sarcasm.

Then she folded her sleeves sideways and walked to the small window next to the temple, where Anna's two pet cats were wagging their flag-like tails and watching them with great interest.

In the furrows and ridges of the Sacred Farms outside the moat under the Guards, a few soldiers waved their little flags to the loud cheers of the peasants: the chubby rabbits of all colors were released from the wooden cages at the end, and they ran for their lives, and then many hounds chased them like lightning, and raced fiercely along the furrows of the fallow fields.

"Bite it, bite this short-tailed ghost!" Farmers, merchants, prostitutes, and artisans laughed rudely, holding absinthe and cider in their hands, and clamored around the ditch, and copper coins were pushed around the table with the hounds and rabbits competing for each other, changing owners.

"It's me winning again!" In the midst of the mourning, the patron in a casual robe laughed, pointed to the Cappadocian Hound with the rabbit carcass on the other side of the ditch, and slapped the table.

"The luck of the nobles is always much better." The surrounding farmers shook their heads, and they could only be willing to gamble and lose.

Anna, who had seen her husband and the peasants rejoicing with the peasants on the high Acropolis tower, laughed, and then her hand reached for the scaffolding beside her, and the "captain" wore a black blindfold with a white heron feather tied to it, and hung her head down alertly on the shelf.

"Go ahead! The wind that passed through the battlefield spread the news of the catastrophe throughout the plateau. With that, Anna removed the "captain's" blindfold and whistled softly.

The captain shook up from the wooden frame and flew between the two cats like a stone bullet, screaming in fright, and the hair on their backs exploded.

Then there was a long and sharp howl, and the captain rushed out of the window of the acropolis, and stood still in the sky of dozens of feet, between the sun and the earth, and then suddenly spread his wings, flipped over and flew straight down, over the spires of the towers, the long pheasant moats and the fence, then the endless farmland, the ditches, and finally on the top of the crowd, a Turkic cavalryman wearing a felt hat raised his hand, "Ah~" The captain's eyes flashed with a fine light, and fell sharply on Muzafiadin's arm, and then stared at Gawain over there.

"The real gamble is about to begin." Gawain brushed aside the drunken people, turned over on his silver steed, looked back at the towering towers of the Acropolis, and when Dim wiped his mouth by the stake, he stood up and raised the big crimson flag, "Goodbye, wife." Gawain shook the reins and let go of the horse's hooves. (To be continued~^~)