When Tetisius entered the River Hall, John was debating with his staff about the current military disposition. Pen ~ fun ~ pavilion www.biquge.info

The small flags of different colors on the map table are intertwined, and it is easy to see the general situation of the battle. For John's side, his new army had been completely destroyed in the siege of Prussa, and now there were more than 3,000 Hungarian soldiers stationed at the fortresses of Gallipoli and Elainus in the southern peninsula, commanded by Klembauard, the general counsellor of the Hungarian royal palace, who was guarding and blocking the Helliston Strait; In the northern Thrace, most of them were the separate settlements of various nobles or Plonian landlords, and now half of them rebelled, and generally scattered all over the country to insist on resisting the volunteers; In the imperial capital, there were mainly Mikhail's 2,500 outer palace guards, a small number (seven or eight hundred) of the inner palace guards and Vadateri cavalry around John, as well as 2,000 Hungarian soldiers (Piloska's dowry, of which there were sixty knights) and thousands of Venetian colonists who could be armed.

If you think about it again, there is also the chief nobleman Sebastoclat. Isaac. The Komnenos were about six thousand men, stationed at Epirus; The 3,000 men and horses of the great nobleman Cezes were stationed in the city of Thessaloniki - it can be said that there was only so much mobile force left in John's hands.

Of course, in addition to the Holy See, which had the advantage of religious and legal power, John could rely on foreign aid, as well as the Norman kingdoms of Sicily, Hungary, and Venice, whose kings or consuls promised John that after the spring of the following year, they would each send a powerful army and fleet to the imperial capital to reinforce him.

One of the most active was the Sicilian prince Roger the Younger in Crete, who could not wait to ask for the Gandhian city of Gonletto. Salgimons's "Razor Company": "Follow me, be sure to break into the Strait of Helliston by boat, and support Emperor John of Constantinople as soon as possible!" This is a golden opportunity to turn the tide and not to be lost. ”

But Goonletto said that he was a mercenary of Venice, and that he could not have made a move without the instructions of his employer--little Roger decisively typed out a bill of 40,000 Byzantian gold coins and gave it to the other party, saying that the finance minister of the Palermo court would immediately send the real money, "This winter, even if the winter in Thrace is cold, we must strike decisively and fight with the enemy for several river systems north of Constantinople, if the other side is allowed to occupy it easily, then the whole of Constantinople will be in panic and famine in the coming year, and Emperor John will not be able to defend it at all!" ”

Little Roger saw it very clearly: this detachment of Tarsuste, under the guise of a volunteer army, now occupied the estuarine fortresses of Thrace and the Yukchen Sea, in order to take advantage of the cold and cover of the winter to constantly bring in supplies (or requisitions from the locals), and then launch an offensive aimed at Adrianople, which would cut off Constantinople's communication with the western part of the empire.

At that time, it was really useless, so Roger's strategic plan was to fight against the unstable "Thracian Volunteer Army" regardless of the season, and if Gawain was reinforced, his crimes would be revealed to the Holy See and the world; If Gawain did not dare to reinforce him, he would wipe out the volunteer army or drive him to the sea, and then the Sicilian forces would take the opportunity to infiltrate.

Therefore, the focus of the whole world soon converged on Thrace.

When little Roger and Gounletto hurriedly anchored to the north, John, who learned the news, was of course excited at the map table, and regarded this chess piece as his lifeline.

"Tell Cezes to come with his soldiers and horses." John waved his hand at Thessaloniki, a city on the west side of the map, and raised the record.

At this moment, Tetisius walked in with a gloomy face, and John asked for his opinion.

Tetisius's reaction was still as unbearable and irritating as before, "Now that Gawain has swept the East, and there is no hope for Constantinople to hold alone, it is better to shrink the defensive line, board the ship from Gallipoli, abandon the imperial capital and go to the city of Mistra, so as to block the Strait of Corinth, and then with the help of Sicily and Venice naval reinforcements, you can still have a long-term confrontation with Gawain." ”

John was furious at this, "My luck may not be over! ”

But Tetisius was stubborn and stubborn.

"Immediately an elite mercenary force of about 4,000 men will be brought from Crete to help me pacify the chaos in Thrace, and you can take the opportunity to lead Mikhail's outer palace guards and 2,000 Hungarian soldiers stationed in the imperial capital to join forces with him and go to the Vileka River valley to raid that shameful and despicable volunteer army!" John pointed to the slashing general and said, "No matter what, I will not be scared out of the capital by an army cloaked in hypocrisy and weakness in such a situation without any resistance." If Mikhail has any dissenting intentions, you can kill him directly - and I will no longer be soft-hearted, and I will take Mikhail's wife and the traitor Diognes' wife hostage in the court! You go to the command, I will prepare supplies in the imperial capital, even if it comes to the step you said in the future, it will be necessary to reserve for the future counterattack. ”

"It would have been best if Your Majesty had done this earlier, but it would be unpopular to do such a thing now." Tetisius lowered his eyebrows, referring to the so-called internment of Eudosia and Gustus.

"Then put these two women under house arrest, just as I did with my grandmother." John grew impatient in a low voice.

Five days later, Roger's fleet landed at Gallipoli, and Gawain's small light fleet did not dare to come out to intercept it. Roger the Younger and his "soldiers" (most of them were actually Venetian mercenary companies) were inspected by Emperor John at the Palazzo Giutantina, who directly gave Roger the honorable title of "Penipasiabastos", which had been stripped from the other party by Brenus's defection, and promised a large annual salary to the new Honoror of the Empire.

Then. The "Razor Brigade" brought by Roger Jr. was to join up with Tetisius's team and march north to fight the "Thracian Volunteers".

The mansion of the chief of the imperial stables on the side of the bull market in the imperial capital was filled with scarlet-clad Vadarithai or Pecheneg internal guard cavalrymen, Mikhail. Eustace stood at the door outside the courtyard, the snow still on the trees beside him, "Many years ago, you, Gawain, and Theognes set out from here to go to the arena to represent His Majesty the Holy Apostle Emperor Alexios and compete with the knights of Salian Caesar, and this scene seems to be right in front of you. ”

Behind him, his wife, Eudasia, dressed in a beautiful burgundy tunic robe, sighed at the memories of the past.

Over the years, Yudohia has lost a lot of weight, and her spirit is not as good as before, even if her face is still beautiful.

"Yes, the eldest princess was still young at that time!" Mikhail also remembered and replied with a smile.

"Now that Anna has finally got the life she wants, I should congratulate her." Eudasia crossed her fingers and looked up at the clear sky of Constantinople with some envy, "So you go, don't pay attention to me, I'll be fine here." ”