But Godfrey, who was extremely religious and faithful, did not care at all, and asked Bramson and Giovanni to "be the forerunner of my army, and go to Niš to join His Excellency the Priesthood!" ”

Soon, Godfrey's 30,000 men crossed the Drava River, then the Sava River, and then the mountains of Zahrunia to the city of Niš.

At this time, the twelve trumpeters of the Dalian regiment were blowing a majestic rhythm on the towers of the city wall, and the striking red crosses and sword flags were hung everywhere on the battlements, so that all the people of Godfrey's army could see them, and after several days of marching, they saw the emblem of the Lord and the Holy See here again, and not only the noblewomen and priests, but also many battle-hardened soldiers, burst into tears.

In a suburb of Guli outside the city, lush, with its autumn sunshine and ripe fruit trees and fields, where the tents for the market and the meeting had already been set up, and the soldiers of the crusade were provided with delicious food and drink, and everyone sat or stood, laughing and laughing, and the tents were hung with the flags of both sides, and when the brothers Godfrey and Baldwin, and a group of earls, stepped in, they found Gawain wearing the black robes of monks, hanging from the rosary cross, and receiving everyone—the priesthood had shaved his dusty beard, Although it was well known that he could not write, his personable appearance won the great favor of all the noblewomen who accompanied him, and of course the dukes and counts were also full of respect, and one by one, from Godfrey down, they came forward to hug Gawain, kissed his ring (given by His Majesty of Urban), and then took their seats at Gawain's warm and sincere invitation.

Kabeamia, on the other hand, pulled her hair up in a bun and tucked it under her hat. Outside, he wore a man's clothes and trousers, and was dressed as a servant of Gawain's housekeeping. The Grand Duke graciously allowed her to sit at this banquet.

Of course, a figure of Godfrey's status would not have noticed her. Soon the Duke from Bouillon turned his attention to another companion at Gawain's side: the other man had a "graceful" posture, a smiling face, Greek wavy curly hair, a tacky round hat and silk clothes, and a head full of gold and silver.

When Gawain introduced that it was the palace eunuch sent by His Majesty the Emperor to supervise the entire Red Hand Brigade, the whole banquet was boiling, and the ladies whispered. The clergy were puzzled, and Godfrey and Baldwin were both grim, but Starurachos smiled and bowed to the crowd. Then the duke clenched his fists, "The emperor of the Greeks would actually send a eunuch to supervise the brave and warlike Eastern Expedition Dalian?" ”

"Oh, I'm sorry Princess, please call me and our Emperor Romans." Starurachos cocked his finger and reminded kindly.

The duke's fist slammed down on the table, and the drink splattered. And Gawain next to him felt that his purpose of "inducing" Stauracos to act had been achieved, so he also took the opportunity to say, "Please also ask Your Excellency the Duke to approve this, that is, Starurachos is said to be physically disabled." But he has a higher title in the emperor's court than I do, and I ask everyone to be courteous to him. ”

"It's it!" Godfrey deliberately used a term between feminine and masculine to insult Staulachos. The whole banquet was filled with shouting and shouting, and Kabeamia stood at the table. It was a sneer, seeing that this Varyag barbarian was indeed not only brute strength and martial arts.

"Brother. I wonder if the Greek emperor will also send a monster to command our army after we enter Fort Sophia? Baldwin was particularly angry, and Giovanni, the military judge beside Gawain, took advantage of the situation and shouted, "Unfortunately, not only the eunuchs have been sent, but the emperor's younger brother has so far commanded an army of 15,000 and has held on to that fortress, guarding against the Red Hand as if he were an enemy." Tens of thousands of pilgrims of the hermit Peter were also deceived into going to Constantinople, and there are no letters to this day, and their fate is uncertain. ”

"For the pilgrimage brothers!" Taruman, a border earl from Swabia, was the first to draw his sword and slash the table, followed by many counts and German knights who were furious and drew their swords to go to war with Sophiaburg. Frightened, the eunuch hurriedly left his seat, begging Grand Duke Gawain not to abandon him, let alone expel him, "If you send me back, then what awaits me will be the dark dungeon of Agnes in Brachna Palace, or Your Excellency the Grand Eunuch will blind me and fall into the dark and boundless 'prison'." ”

"Behold, this is the weak and sinister kingdom of Greece, and we have decided to break through the fort of Sophia by force and enter Constantinople, and if the Greek emperor is willing to make peace with us, then make peace; If he wants to do the same to the priesthood, in order to plot against the great German Crusade, then we will fight him to the death! Godfrey. Eustace. Bouillon raised his arms and shouted, which was the final conclusion on the goal of the banquet.

Afterwards, the whole city was surrounded by a scene of fierce soldiers and horses, and Gawain also appropriately comforted the eunuch of the prison army, promised him a "performance fee" of fifty gold coins, and let him enter the mansion with the garden to rest. He sat in the old mansion of the former Tapan, and instructed the secretary and the military judge to formulate a plan of advance and battle strategy as soon as possible. "Gawain, don't you keep me here, aren't you afraid that the military aircraft will leak out?" Kabeamia, still dressed in men's clothes, asked tentatively in the room.

Gawain pointed to the west, saying that this was the pilgrim army of the Holy See, and then to the east, saying that it was Constantinople, where your enemies gathered, "Even if you want to leak it, to whom?" I don't think you want to be burned in front of St. Peter's Church in Rome, or hanged at the torture wall of St. Basil's Mausoleum in Constantinople. ”

"What's more, your body is in the possession of His Excellency the Grand Duke, and there is no way out if you still try to resist the demolition of the stage." Giovanni, who was in the process of reorganizing the camp paperwork, looked serious and calm, and added to Cabeamia that the military judge was straightforward and did not like to beat around the bush, and he felt that it was necessary to express it, and no one could stop him.

Kabeamia, who was still wearing a men's soft hat, first turned pale, then red, but fortunately her skin could still cover it, and then turned around, without saying a word, and ran out, and several guards in charge of monitoring hurriedly followed her out of the mansion.

"Giovanni, this kind of thing is over here, don't say anything about it in the camp anymore." Gawain also clipped his hands in anguish, and asked, "By the honor of my priesthood, I did not violate the chastity of the consulesses that night, for she is a heretic, and I do not want to cause trouble with the Holy See—yes, the camp officer is Wright, right!" ”

At this time, Giovanni was also indignant, "It turned out that the playboy did it, and he thought that Your Excellency the Grand Duke was as frivolous and debauched as him." ”

"That's right, I'll fine him twenty silver Venetian Grosso coins."

In the camp on the edge of the city, Wright stood in front of the tent with trembling legs, holding a money bag full of small silver coins, and was immediately taken away by the military lawyer, and gave him a bill of fines, Wright wanted to cry without tears, he walked back to the tent, really took out the documents sent by Androdart before, and polished his eyes, it was really written very clearly that the captured female consuls and the female physicians accompanying the army should be arranged in a camp tent, and there must be no mistakes, which is specially indicated. That's right, it was the mysterious black-clad female doctor, such a beautiful woman, but only that side, never again, there was no such person in the camp at all, Wright asked the other companions present, and no one had an impression of her, like a ridiculous dream he had.

"It must be a female demon's method of promoting narrowness, pity me for three months' money, all gone" Thinking of this, Wright lifted his forehead, sat on the barrel in despair, and then sighed, "This, this is unbearable!" ”

Soon, all the pilgrim armies around the city of Niš were in high agreement, and they marched forward on foot: Godfrey took charge of the ranks of the Chinese army, protecting the ordinary pilgrims; Baldwin commanded the left flank, and most of his subordinates were knights and foot soldiers from Verdun; Gawain took 3,000 military personnel of the Red Hand Brigade and acted as the right wing; and the Hungarian king's court counsellor, Klembauard, also led 2,000 lightly armed cavalry to serve as the vanguard. The whole procession of nearly 40,000 men, with its banners shining and majestic, quickly crossed the Morava River and approached the wilderness in front of Sophia.

Isaac who was originally walking a dog flying eagle in the Sophia hunting grounds. Komnenos, after receiving the scout's report, was immediately stunned, and he could not help but remember what Gawain's herald had said to him some time ago on the other side of the Morava River, "If His Excellency Sebastoprat refuses to let me go and ask His Majesty for the merit of escorting the captives, then I will contact Godfrey to storm Fort Sophia and enter Constantinople on my own." ”

Who would have thought that this man would really do what he said - no, this is by no means how powerful Gawain's bastard was, but this group of barbarian knights on pilgrimage to West Francia coveted the coveted territory and wealth of the Empire, even if it was false to say that the restoration of the Holy Sepulchre was false, and the plundering and attack on Rome was real!

"Pass on my command that the whole army of Fort Sophia, camp in the city, and defend this place, and resolutely refuse to allow Gawain and Godfrey to succeed, and must make them accept His Majesty's judgment before they can enter the Empire; In addition, he sent a feather to the imperial capital, asking his brother who was hiding there to do it immediately, and to detain the hermit Peter, completely crush the enemy's first wave of pilgrim army, and then annihilate Bohemond, and then come to Sophia Fort to defeat the enemy in front of him. "It seems that the Emperor's plan was to take Peter in prison first, and then send the leaderless 100,000 civilian pilgrims across the strait, and cut them off by the hand of the Sultan of Rûm; Subsequently, under the capital, the emperor cooperated with Brenus to remove the Norman expeditionary force; He held the gateway to Fort Sophia until the emperor turned back and wiped out the other pilgrim armies.

As a result, this plan, under the impetus of the reckless and ignorant Sebastoclat's tough hand, quickly turned from a fantasy in his head into a reality. (To be continued.) )