On the tower of Edessa Castle, in front of the closed gates, Fell's cavalry ran and screamed like headless flies, and no one knew what the state of the city was, until the heads of the consul Barak, the Armenian lord Taprenz, and Tsuss, one after another, were thrown from the high pheasant moats, and he knew that Tancred's brigade was almost here, and that he could not stay here for a moment, so he fled with a dozen of his men and men towards the mountains of the upper Euphrates. Pen % fun % Pavilion www.biquge.info

In the blood-filled room, more than a dozen Turkic warriors who participated in the raid looked at Osdu, who was holding the body of his righteous brother, who had died tragically, "Don't cry Borduka, he is not favored by Allah, although he can speak Turkic." ”

"I want to send him back to the hill where Imalai planted him for burial, and I will give him the best five horses to bury my brother-in-law, and I will put a stone tablet to engrave his bravery and loyalty." Ostu wept bitterly and made a wish in small pieces, and then the Turkic soldiers lifted Aku's body through the dismantled door panels and sang, "Aku (manger) is ruined, in which trough will your prettiest mare eat?" "Song Song, walked out.

Leaving Estus behind, still searching the room, he found the seal of Taprenz on the cabinet shelf, and some letters written in Armenian, laughed, and carefully arranged them in the blanket he was carrying.

When Tancred's men poured into the castle carrying the St. George's battle flag, the situation was decided—Ostu, among the many captives, found the confidential officers of Fell and Taprenz, and immediately tortured and tortured them, and finally someone could not bear it anymore and expressed his willingness to "use the ciphertext of the kingdom of Ruben to serve His Excellency Tancred".

"Write a letter to Ruben and tell him that everything in Edessa is good, too good to be good, that Taprenz's plan has been successful, and that rich plains and fortresses are waiting for him......" Tancred sat in the consul's palace, sword in both hands, flaxen eyes coldly looking at the captured confidential officer trembling all over.

Then Tancred rewarded the remaining coins and gave them to the meritorious Ostu, "In this surprise attack, it is said that you have no losses at all?" ”

"I lost my brother-in-law."

Tancred grieved, "Take this money and give it to your sister, and the tribe that calls your brother-in-law has all migrated to Edessa, and I have a vast pasture to reward them." Then the Norman boy looked at the people who were constantly thanking him, and lay down on the consul's seat, looked at the beautiful and luxurious furnishings around the palace, touched the handrails wrapped in precious furs, and took several deep breaths, "All the taxes, all the cattle, and all the people in this Edessa will be my property from now on—my uncle is right, there is no happier time than this, when those who stand in your way have died miserably, and you stand on their corpses, squandering their possessions and singing with great joy." ”

When Edessa quickly returned to calm, Anna, who remained in the Seleucian palace, received a document from the Empire, which contained an invitation and a mixture of imperatives, "I hereby order that the Grand Duke of Anatolia Gawain and all his troops shall move to Cappadocia after the month of property registration (i.e., September, the month in which the Byzantine Empire begins to register property and collect taxes), and prepare to receive His Majesty's proclamation to launch an attack on the kingdom of the Emirate of Danishmund, the route and strategy of specific actions, Gawain himself had to complete the draft as soon as possible and submit it to His Majesty in the city of Nicaea for final approval. As for Baldwin of Adana, he also needs to provide troops and food for this expedition, and His Majesty will also announce the imperial troops of Bithynia and Trabzon to cooperate and assist from all directions. ”

As a result, Anna, who was holding the paperwork, was in the secret room study, smiling back and forth, and she kept saying to the expressionless Hetomia beside her, that it was fortunate that there were no windows here, otherwise my unbridled laughter would have even reached Nicaea for my father to hear, "It's the standard Dedot strategy - when she was young, when she wanted to get the same number of toys or manuscripts as me, she would sneak up to her mother, saying only that John was missing, and then she would follow 'without discrimination'." ”

"What do you do about this strategy?" Although Hetomia, who was sitting next to her, had a flat tone, she had already shown a lot of interest.

Anna smiled and looked at the icon painting on the screen in front of her, "After leaving Brachna Palace, I realized why the kings of the Empire, including my father, are so obsessed with intrigue and diplomacy, precisely because of the lack of martial arts and strength of the Empire. From Gawain's fighting, I learned that this world cannot solve problems without great strength, money, armies, armaments, etc., and my father's set is just a helpless remedy for the lack of such things. The situation was clear that Bohemond, Gawain, Godfrey, Baldwin, and even Raymond, who had befriended his father, would no longer listen to his father's prestige, and they had been curious and in awe of Romania outside the borders of the empire, but when they had seen the situation in the East through the fog of the seas and plateaus, and had defeated one powerful enemy after another, they would laugh at this empire that had nothing of 'scheming and diplomacy', and they would abandon their oath of allegiance and begin to claim kingship - O Hetomia, If I had not met Gawain in the Brachna Palace, perhaps I would be writing in my diary in pain and sorrow: 'O glorious Roman Empire, which has given everything for this reconquest of the Holy City, and has reaped nothing but dismal results.' ”

"That is, you are not prepared to dismantle your sister, or to some extent, the strategy of His Majesty the Emperor? And to solve the enemy that Seleucia is facing now with strength alone, do you need me to reply to refuse? ”

"No, Hetomia, at once we will transcribe the Imperial orders and post them on all the bulletin boards from Alalmanburg to Sith; In addition, you are to prepare detailed documents, including the personnel of our army, the weapons of our horses, etc., and send them to the city of Nicaea, indicating that we will, of course, follow Your Majesty's instructions and march through the Cilician Gate to Cappadocia. Afterwards, in addition to the garrison, the entire Gimagis brigade of several thousand, including the Genat soldiers who led the troops, would go to the vicinity of the city of Tarsus 'under the instructions of His Majesty the Emperor'. Then, a fierce and elaborate surprise attack will begin, and the whole world will be shocked again. A smile tugged at the corner of Anna's mouth.

"A certain hyena will be removed." Hetomia, the new imperial ink official, also showed a faint smile, as a girl from the Orson family, she also hated Ruben to the core. (To be continued.) )