So before Gawain's three-way army could make a move, a huge rift arose between Isaac and John. Pen & Fun & Pavilion www.biquge.info

The nobles and private soldiers who supported both sides clashed and scuffled under the city of Larissa ten days before Gawain took the oath of war. Isaac then submitted a sternly worded letter, claiming that he was now an elder pillar of the Komnenos and asking John to show respect for him and his army.

John, on the other hand, replied that even his enemy, Gawain, did not regard "dear uncle" as an elder of the Komnens, and that he had appointed Adjoan, and that "I am the Emperor of the Empire approved by the Patriarch", and that "before you rebel, learn first of all to obey the true authorities." ”

In the monastery of Lavra, many of John's aides took the opportunity to say, "Your Majesty should cross the sea as soon as possible, with the help of the Venetians, and take possession of the rich fortresses of Mistra, Corinth, Lepanto, and Thebes in Moria, and then enter the plains of Thessaly, where your Majesty's rule is well established, and where your Majesty is well established to guard against the ambitions of your uncle." ”

John was hesitant to do this, because the island of Crete, where he was now lodged, was safer than Moria, and the rebels against him were scattered in the mountains to the west, south, and east of the island, and he wanted to use his arms and troops to break them all and completely occupy the overseas country, which had a population of nearly 800,000 and would be able to raise 20,000 elite troops in the future, and that it would be easier to win the aid of all countries by sea.

Moria has a population of 1.2 million, and is more abundant in grain, wine, pottery, silk, and medicinal herbs, but it is also more vulnerable to joint attacks from the mainland.

That's where John was distressed. In addition, if he moved to Moria and Thessaly, it would be equivalent to making the struggle with his uncle public, which would also be extremely detrimental to the cause of fighting against Gawain.

Time and opportunity are quickly passing away in the struggle for power.

Gawain did not like to give the enemy time to breathe, and once he captured Tripoli, he had his hands free to pull out a full ten brigades to clear out all the hostile forces.

When Isaac and John were unwilling to join forces and launch an offensive against the city of Thessaloniki, Berdin was outraged, "While the greedy bears have come to the pastures, the dogs and sheep are still fighting for petty profits. He had to save himself for the time being, and in Ohrid's court he summoned two of his most trusted men, his son Lalich and his brother Vladimir, and decided to choose one of them and go to the battlefield in Bulgaria to take command of all the Zupan lords' ranks, and advance towards the territory of Northern Thrace.

At that time, many nobles of Old Rome, Macedonia, Dukria, and Great Bulgaria also gathered together, waiting for the verdict of the Great Soil King.

The whole scene was noisy because of Constantine. Although Berding nominally ruled a wide area, his power was maintained by his personal prestige - and now he was able to become the king of the great land not because of how much the nobles obeyed him, but because of the situation under the arrival of the Gao Wen army, he had to join forces, and he had to elect a co-ruler who could balance the interests of all parties.

"I and everyone present need to be a military commander with the qualifications and experience to be able to command so many heroes to rush to the stormy battlefields of Thrace and compete with the flanks of the barbarian tyrants of the Varyag. So I decided to hand over the command to ......"

When Berdin said this, most of the Zupan in the palace thought that he was referring to his brother Vladimir, and shouted the slogan of harmony in unison.

And Vladimir, dressed in a gorgeous cloak and hanging gold jewelry, was also quite proud of himself, smiled knowingly at his brother, and stepped forward to bow and accept the appointment.

Vladimir and Berdin, both born from the niece of the Eastern Roman Emperor Constantine IX, have noble royal blood in their veins, which is also the prestige of their family to rule Dukria, Bosnia, and Southern Dalmatia.

Berdin did indeed hand over command to Vladimir.

But in an instant, he saw the figure of his wife outside the porch, and the cold eyes flashed.

She was a Norman noblewoman from the Bari region named Gia Quinta.

Seeing this look, Berdin couldn't help but shake his whole body like electricity a few times, and his raised arm was embarrassed to slowly put back on the armrest of the seat under the suspicious eyes of Vladimir and others.

"Everyone has worked hard, but the selection of the commander of the Thracian front is very important, let me go back and think about it." In the end, Berdeen explained in embarrassment.

Vladimir's anger ignited, he blew his beard and looked at the porch where Giaquinta had just paced, and then at Lalic, who was standing on the edge of the throne of the Great Earth King with his head bowed and his eyes flashing, and he turned around and left angrily with a group of supporters.

The meeting broke up unhappily, and each Zupan almost felt the selfishness of the Great Earth King, who had already disobeyed Gawain's suzerainty, and gathered around Berdin, who had previously been trapped by Gawain's army in the city of Zara, and then defeated at the hands of Emperor Alexios, who frankly said that his prestige came more from his family than from his own abilities.

Berdin, who was also aware of the dissatisfaction of the Zupan nobles, also walked back to the dormitory in a huff.

There, Giaquinta sat in a chair with a cold face, several handmaidens and a group of close ministers stood next to the mistress, Giaquinta looked at the local food on the tray, disdainful of eating it, with a frosty breath in her nostrils, and constantly complained in Latin, "A remote place, a shabby diet." ”

"It's fish from Lake Skadar." A merchant from Italy flattered the queen with a smile on his face.

The merchant was also from Bari, and was a member of Contarini who had been expelled by Gawain, whose family had been expelled by Gawain before marrying Berdin, so the two had the same illness - making Contarini and his family powerful in Berdin's court.

Ignoring his wife's remarks, Berdin ignored them, and went straight to the shrine in the wall of the dormitory, and held up the cross pendant hanging from his finger to the iconostasis, and muttered a prayer.

Gia Quinta was even more angry, she openly humiliated her husband's Orthodox faith, "You should go to the Catholic monastery to make a confession, so that you can receive the mercy and blessings of the Lord, and not mingle with this group of barbarians who believe in the Greek Church!" ”

It turned out that Berdin, who had returned from defeat in the Battle of Zara, was able to make a comeback with the help of a group of Normans and Italians, and the political marriage he concluded with Gia Quinta played a great role, in order to swing between the Holy See and Constantinople for maximum benefits, Berdin implemented the Ecumenical faith in the cities of the sea on the west side of the territory, and the representative figure was the Norman led by his wife Gia Quinta. Italian Group; In the inland mountains to the east, the Orthodox faith is still maintained, and the representative figure is his younger brother Vladimir.