Without further ado, half an hour later, Hugh found William, who was watching the dancers' performance there in a tavern by the baths in the post area of the Great Hospital. Count of Granmenille.

Hugh said many things, and although he wanted to serve Emperor Komnenos, he feared that the misunderstanding between His Majesty and the pilgrims would harm him, and that His Majesty would distrust him.

"It doesn't matter at all." William, who was stimulated by alcohol to the point that his tongue began to spin, held his wine glass, drunk and arrogantly collapsed on the stone chair, "Everything is left to me, I have already delivered letters to Constantinople before, and the emperor's guards and soldiers on the border will not embarrass me, so we will go directly to the city of Philadophiam and ensure that you will not lose a single hair" William below looked embarrassed, close to Hugh's cheek, and his voice was subtle, "We will wait to receive His Majesty's gift in the palace immediately, As long as I say that Bohemond has privately occupied the city of Antioch and is unwilling to return it, His Majesty will certainly support us with a large amount of money to cross the sea to raid the red-haired thief's lair. Then William cautiously stopped talking, and he was already too drunk, and began to burp, and beckoned, and two brown-skinned dancers hurried up to him, rubbing his belly for him, and making William laugh with thoughtful compliments.

"Then we must have a conspicuous sign that will show your identity and friendship with the Emperor." When Hugh saw that the purpose was achieved, he proposed so.

William. Granmenille readily agreed, and told Hugh that he would go ahead with his retinue when he was about to leave the valley of the Mutt, and that he would fly the Scarlet banner of the Normans, and that "you will be with you, your noble brother."

"It's a drunken idiot, so it's up to you to get ahead." Hugh said this in his heart, and involuntarily took the cup brought by the dancer, and began to drink it in a slightly more relaxed mood.

When the day of departure arrived, Count William did what he said, and in front of him were two horsemen with red flags, and he himself and four knights were behind him, while Hugh and his men kept a distance of about a hundred feet from William, and Hugh himself was at the back of the line, and did not wear any beautiful armor and helmets, and was very cautious. The valley is bounded by the Sallev River, flanked by mountains of grey mud and verdant vegetation, and a few soldiers of the garrison, wearing only helmets, erect halberds and ask them for documents to pass the customs, and after checking that they are correct, they are allowed to pass.

Then, after walking further for about three or five centuries, Hugh suddenly hurried to William's side, "Throw away the scarlet flag, I just drove my horse, at random at the edge of the woods, I spent money to ask the local woodcutter, there is a mountain path in front of me, you can take a detour out, let's go there!" ”

Hearing this, William's face was still full of unresponsive gestures, and then Hugh looked around nervously, and said to him, "Gawain is by no means a good type, I think there is a big problem with the previous documents, and the area where he stayed yesterday is also full of Gawain's ears and eyes spies, he thinks that he has completely controlled our way of travel, and may ambush us in the identified mountain road, so we must take a random different path, out of the territory of Seleucia, it will be safe." ”

"Why?" William still looked stupid, but he still obeyed Hugh's arrangement, and the group looked around at the people who were not tracking, because the checkpoint was already Seleucia's last cordon on this side (after all, the focus of defense was on the northern end of Seleucia's city and the valley of the Mutt River), and hurried into the path designated by Hugh.

The road, which at first had scattered sloping fields and small patches of woodland, became narrower and narrower after turning a few rugged valleys, and all the men swayed on horseback, looking nervously at the almost straight slope of the cliffs below, all paved with rocks at the bottom, a stream that had just risen from the summer rains, and a dense forest that stretched out to the ground, sandwiched between the road that could only pass two people.

"Don't panic, just follow this stream to the end, and we will be able to officially set foot on the road to the city of Fiam in Philadelphia tomorrow, so that we can bypass Gawain's group." Hugh constantly cheered up the people around him.

As they walked, the sun began to set in the west, and all the people, including William, who was walking in front, did not dare to dismount and make a fire, but could only drink the water from the horn cups, and satisfy their hunger with dry food, and after passing through the undulating terrain, the Normans in front let out a low cheer: the road ahead widened, and there were no cliffs beneath it, and they were surrounded by gentle slopes and jungles on several sides, as if they had walked in a wine jug to the bottom of the pot.

"Just push it all in, just get through here." Hugh shook his fists and said.

At his words, the knights and their servants stirred up their spirits, quickened their steps, and tread on the thick fallen leaves and the puddles of rain mixed with them, and made the sound of ropes, urging their horses to cross the place.

But the next path was not right—Hugh looked up in all directions, and the expected Yangguan Avenue did not appear, and the path between the forests became more and more crooked and narrow, and the trees on both sides were towering, and the birds chirped in horror, one chasing the other, and constantly flying out and circling in the dim twilight

The knight beside Hugh stared at him with some bewilderment and distrust, which made the French royal brother feel uneasy, it stands to reason that this path should not be like this, he was so shrewd, he did not believe that Gawain would inform the people of all Seleucia of the misguided plot!

However, it felt more and more wrong, for a knight pointed to the grass behind the woods and said, "There is no wind today, but everywhere the grass is stirring, and the birds are startling for no reason." His Royal Highness, could it be that there are really ambush soldiers? ”

"Don't hesitate, there's that William anyway. Grangemenille was in front, everyone holding their sabers and keeping their guard on their toes. If something happens to William in front, we'll run in the opposite direction immediately! ”

It was half dark, and the dark clouds just after the rain were low. Suddenly Granmenelle sped up on his horse's back, and the horse's hooves flew up, and many of the fallen leaves soaked in the rain were swept away to both sides, and just as he was about to send someone to slow down the earl, tragedy struck suddenly. Under the flat road in front of the Granmenile horse, a tripwire popped up, with a flurry of fallen leaves, and in the midst of the scream, the count's mount was immediately tripped over, and the count himself threw himself forward in embarrassment, and fell to the ground, and rushed to the standard-bearer in front of him, and the four knights beside the count were immediately in a mess, shouting everywhere, and fumbling for their weapons in a panic - and in the woods on both sides, many figures rushed out, and they obviously took the fallen count as their prey.

This group of people were Gawain's subordinates, the subordinates of Prince John, the Turks or the local bandits, Hugh didn't have time to think about it, the only thing he could do was to turn the direction of the horse's head and run lifeless towards the way he came! (To be continued.) )