"I heard that you came to Constantinople at the earliest moment when you met the hermit monks in Nicaea." Behind Gawain, Anna pulled up her butterfly sleeves and slowly walked over and asked.

"That's right, and then not only with my brother-in-law, but also with many people." After Gawain finished speaking, he looked up at the sky, then turned back to Anna and said, "The path of pilgrimage is not as most people think, even if we have thousands of troops and horses now, but we can only be resisted more fiercely by the Crescent Cultists, and countless people will turn into corpses and fall on the road. And even if the Holy City is obtained, it will still face onslaught from all directions, some of them infidels, and some of them are even followers of the same sect. ”

"Let's face it together." Anna also looked at the lake, very calmly.

At this time, there was a rapid sound of horses' hooves from behind, it was Muzafiadin who was running, half dead of exhaustion, and rolled down from the saddle in front of Gawain, "Master, I have changed horses, and finally the count is complete, and there are three hundred and sixty-seven large and small towers of Nicaea, from the main gate to the new gate here. ”

"Good work!" Gawain replied, and then he pointed to the zigzag toothed wall between the new gate and the water gate, "It is very difficult to block the water gate from here, and it will be densely killed by the bows and arrows of the soldiers defending the city here, and it will be difficult for the army to move in the narrow muddy mudflats below the city. Remember, it is necessary to double the trench inside and outside and block the wooden fence, and then in the big battle, the Red Hand Dalian is sandwiched between the city army and the reinforcements, and it is necessary to protect itself and build fortifications well. ”

"Yes, Your Excellency! Mistress well, may Allah bless you! "After Muzafi Adin was ordered. He knelt down in front of Anna again, and then held the scimitar at his waist. He limped to the camp with his horse.

The title of this military servant made both of them a little embarrassed. However, Gawain soon ignited his ambitions, after all, now that the war clouds were thick, personal matters could not be considered too much, "In the past, I was defeated like a lost dog on the shores of Lake Nicaea; Now, I'm going to take my spear and ride my horse, and I'm going to smit all the enemies I need to smit. ”

"Take me to the Land of the Seven Ridges again." Anna said this, and Gao Wen sighed, expressing doubts. But Anna said no more, but smiled, and turned and walked along the lakeside, in the direction of the camp.

At this time, outside the city of Constantinople, pilgrims returning from the sea were lining up in long queues, guided by the Byzantine officials, to sign the monograms of the vacant fields that the emperor had given them. They were responsible for settling down in Thrace and Macedonia, and in the fields of cultivation and service, in return to the Great Majesty.

At the same time, in the open space of Salabria, there was once again a large army camping there. Colourful flags and tents were scattered among them, and the main leaders of the 60,000-strong procession of pilgrims were the main figures. It was Raymond, Duke of Provence, brother of the King of France, "Honorable One" Hugh. Cape. and Robert, Duke of Normandy.

Alexios hosted a grand banquet in the palace to entertain this group of distinguished guests. Raymond in Toulouse, in particular, has always been the object of his great co-optation. Between the tall arched floor-to-ceiling windows, Raymond carried a sharp sword, a cloak with exaggerated Moorish Crescent patterns, and walked in with his head held high, as if no one was around, and the eunuchs and handmaidens of the Roman Empire around him, with the help of the light, found that the left eye of the Duke was strange and mutilated, and the eye was dull and colorless, so that the right eye involuntarily tilted when looking at people and things, giving people an extremely exaggerated sense of majesty, or rather a sense of comical. This eye was made by Raymond when he went to the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem alone in his early years, and had a physical altercation with the gatekeeper, and was blinded by a punch from the gatekeeper. In the end, he warmly embraced the emperor.

"Great, great Your Majesty, I, I, I can't wait to offer an oath to you and to you a moment earlier."

"Welcome, the same great Count of Toulouse, the Marquis of Provence, the master of Saint-Gilles, and the same great brave comrades-in-arms." Alexios was also very enthusiastic, he let Raymond be the first to walk in, of course, for a purpose, as long as Raymond was the first to give the oath, of course, the rest of the princes could not force opposition, and Raymond himself preferred this feeling of being given by the emperor's brother as the "boss" and "leader".

Raymond was followed by Count Robert of Flanders, a very calm man, who was trusted and relieved by his gestures, and because of this loyal elder, he embraced the emperor for the second time.

The third, Robert of Normandy, although the weather was already warmer, he was shivering with cold, wrapped in an old robe that did not fit - from the spies and informants, Alexios had known this man, although he fought bravely, but never paid attention to the political affairs of the territory, but spent all his days drinking, and did not want to marry his rich fiancée in his forties, and when he passed through Lombardy on the way to the east, he also wasted his hand, and proposed to the Duchess Matilda, and Matilda threw him hundreds of coins and told him to get out, Later, he continued to spend money in Taranto and Dalmatia, and spent all the 10,000 silver coins pledged to Normandy, and when he arrived at the city of Constantinople, because he pawned all his clothes and armor, he could only shrink into bed all day, and this time he came to make a pilgrimage to himself, and the robe was borrowed from others.

"A gift for your honorable lord." Alexios quietly shoved a box full of gold coins and silk into Robert's bosom in Normandy, and then motioned to the eunuch to guide him to sit down, so that others would not see it and provoke ridicule.

Normandy Robert, son of William the Conqueror, gratefully accepted the emperor's gift and sat down.

The fourth, Stephen, Count of Blois, and son-in-law of William the Conqueror, came with Robert, and the brothers took care of each other, and he lent the robe, and after hugging the Emperor, kissing the Emperor's ring, and taking the oath, he also sat down next to him.

The last one to come was Hugh. Capet and his group of palace servants, who saw that Raymond was in the first place, consulted with the palace counsellors, and deliberately walked last, because "the first and last of the whole procession are the most striking", and deliberately distanced himself from the other lords, Hugh wore his "Capetian shawl" (from which the royal family is named), held the scepter, and bowed politely to the emperor in the crowd, quite kingly, before sitting down.

"Damn, gotta be, smug, what," said Raymond, who was in the seat, looking at Hugh hatefully because of his natural stuttering.

Then he saw a beautiful blonde woman with a flask standing in front of his table. (To be continued.) )