The battle for the commander of the Thracian field was actually a competition between the Catholic and Orthodox forces in the kingdom of Berdin. The power of the former www.biquge.info mostly concentrated in coastal cities, merchant groups and mercenary teams, while the power of the latter was mostly concentrated in the interior of the Zupan nobles and Slavs.

"You should call your children to lead the ranks, not Vladimir." Giaquinta got up and walked over to Berdin, and when she said earnestly, seeing that her husband did not answer, she added angrily, "Don't forget who helped you expand your power to Ohrid after you lost Zara? It's the glorious warriors of Apulia and Bari, the shrewd merchants of Italy and the coronation of the Holy See, but the immortal Zupan is not your brother - when you were disgraced, they flocked to submit to the Greek emperor of Constantinople, and the situation is the same, not only can you not trust them, but you have to guard against them, and this group of people is better to be driven. ”

After listening to his wife's words, Berdin was silent, and frankly said that he also thought in his heart that what his wife said had some truth, but he did not dare to openly offend his brother Vladimir, nor did he want to delay the flank battle in Northern Thrace, because it was related to the success or failure of the whole battle.

Even if Gawain brings ten brigades, he is in the situation of "main line defense, flank attack", and he can still have dealings with Gawain: Gawain's throne will not be stable, after all, he is just a Varyag mercenary barbarian, and he has the blood of the emperor of the orthodox Macedonian dynasty in his body, and in time, John and Isaac can drag Gawain, and they can take the opportunity to integrate the entire Macedonia, Serbia and Bulgarian lands, and they can also pull out 50,000 daring divisions, At that time, being the second Emperor Simeon was by no means a fool's dream.

So leaving the flank war in the hands of the stinky Lalic, even if he was his own son, Berdeen didn't think it was appropriate. After all, Berdin's head is not hot enough to let family affection overwhelm reason, and he has been able to entrench himself on the eastern shore of the Adriatic Sea for so many years, of course, not by blood alone.

In the end, Berdin made a proposal that made his wife extremely angry but helpless: the supreme commander of the Thracian front would not give either Vladimir or Lalic, but appoint a battle-experienced Bulgar mercenary named Kadam (who had served Alexios and had made great achievements and prestige in the war against the Pechenegs and Cumans in the north) to command Mosya (another name for Bulgaria), the Zupan army in Wallachia, and the Orthodox Bulgarian bishop Aklida to lead the whole army.

In this way, it will not only suppress the rebels in Bulgaria, but also prevent the younger brothers and sons of their own camp from infighting with their respective factions, and concentrate all the direct forces in Fort Margolon and Fort Sofia, and monitor Thessaloniki and Fort Philip respectively.

This deployment made Berding very proud, thinking that "this line of defense is enough for nearly 10,000 elite soldiers to be stationed, plus the dangerous mountain passes, it is not a big problem to hold on for one to three years." ”

Soon the news reached that the five brigades under the command of the enemy general Merlot had left Fort Philip and were approaching the gateway to Fort Sophia, the famous "Trajan's Gate" (a mountain pass).

Trajan's Gate, once the sad place of Emperor Vasily II, he also broke through this pass that year, led 30,000 soldiers to besiege Sophia Fort, but the siege has not been able to capture this place in recent months, and can only turn back and retreat towards Fort Philip, only to be ambushed by the Bulgarian army around the road: Trajan's Gate broke out of an extremely tragic battle, the emperor finally broke out under the protection of the Armenian elite infantry, but most of the soldiers were captured in battle, and many flags symbolizing the glory of the team were captured, The newly succeeded emperor was also seriously challenged by the rebellion of the military nobles of Asia Minor, and then Bulgaria annexed almost all of Macedonia, Serbia and Dalmatia, which was the source of the hatred of Vasily II who fought with Bulgaria for more than 20 years and blinded 15,000 prisoners of war.

As soon as Melot's five brigades were sent here, the well-informed Burdin, after being rewarded by the fierce Serbian mountain scouts, immediately led the army out of Ohrid and hurried towards Fort Sofia, which was the site of the four wars of Macedonia, Serbia and Bulgaria, and the geographical position was extremely important, "As long as we hold on to Fort Sophia, Gawain's army will be as helpless as the little Vasily Emperor a hundred years ago, and when the opponent's strength is exhausted, we will capture the fighters in time to defeat them." Five brigades, five brigades, as long as we can wipe out even half of them, Gawain will inevitably be greatly injured and take care of himself in the future! ”

A few days later, Berdin and Vladimir, who had moved quickly, arrived at Fort Sofia with 12,000 men, 4,000 of whom were the ranks of his royal army, and the remaining 8,000 were Slavzoupan lords and private soldiers who had come to join the army from all over the country. The morale of Fort Sophia was high, and supplies were arriving from all over the country, and the hearts of the local peasants and natives also turned to their side: they fortified the wilderness, carried grain and small livestock on vehicles, and transported them to Fort Sophia, and resolutely did not stay to finance the enemy, which was considered to be ruined, and many people also volunteered to stand guard and reconnoiter the enemy situation for the Berding side.

But soon Berdeen got the latest news from the front:

After Merlot's five brigades had taken possession of the "Trajan's Gate", three of them began to build frenzied civil fortifications along the platform at the pass, and the remaining two brigades were on the right and left, one camped on Mount Stepper, and the other occupied a military town called Constancia, and controlled the Orknesian River to facilitate the supply in the direction of Fort Philip.

The five brigades formed a large field camp in the shape of a five-leaf clover, which no longer ventured at all, but formed an "iron wall walnut" with vehicles, wooden fences, earthen ramparts, forts, and mountain fortifications, and all the light and heavy artillery was aimed at the land in front of them, threatening the nearby military town of Burding "Yirtimaan".

In this way, it was Berdin of Sophiaburg, who did not dare to make a rash move.

And the most nervous were the 500 Burding soldiers in the Iltimman, who did not dare to abandon this "checkpoint" and retreat, nor could they take the initiative to attack Merlot's "Fort Phillip Front" (unless they were looking for death), so they could only stay where they were, losing the initiative and not knowing what to do.

In fact, Merlot was also constantly suppressing and suppressing the generals and sergeants under his command, and many centurions fiercely demanded to continue to advance and attack Fort Sophia, but they were all sternly rejected by Melot. And the letters of Emperor Adrianople also kept coming, and the content was also the same, "All the troops have the right to be used as winter camps, carefully build complete and strict barriers, and reserve grain and grass, and the centurion and sergeant major must train their subordinate troops, and no one shall indiscriminately violate my supervision moderation, and those who violate the prohibition will be killed!" ”