Poor Alexios!

Originally, he was also ambitious, and was ready to mobilize the fleet in the fortress of the imperial capital to come and lift the blockade of the Alalmanburg sea, but after calming down and calculating, the emperor sadly admitted that the number of fleets under his control was really very small, unless he abandoned the entire maritime defense of the capital in order to help the Callegos family, and also had his fleet bypass almost the entire coast of the Holy Sea in western Asia Minor, such a cost, together with 20,000 soldiers, made the emperor feel as if the coins were being thrown into the furnace. Pen & Fun & Pavilion www.biquge.info

After all, the emperor's military system is different from Gawain's.

Gawain set up six divisions in Seleucia and the ownership of the spoils of war, at first glance it seems to be no different from other countries, but its greatest advantage is that through the field and household registration, directly control the most basic level of the cultivated population, whether it is indigenous or immigrant, in this way, all the output of the entire Seleucia and West Cilician land, the final ownership and supervision of the right to control is firmly in the hands of Gawain, and he then divides the interests in various forms, cutting the "cake" into pieces and sending it to the equipped heavy cavalry, the holy and gospel cavalry, With the various infantry teams of the Three-Wing Brigade and the "Garrison Army" and "Jinat" who were almost completely free of financial burdens, Gawain was able to pull out a mobilized army of nearly 20,000 men at a critical moment, although he only ruled hundreds of thousands of men on the surface.

And the emperor, without saying anything, Alexios felt bitter in his heart, and used the above analogy: the emperor is not the one who divides the cake, but wants to grab the cake with the other nobles of the empire...... Therefore, in order to increase the revenue of the state treasury, the emperor had to risk offending the religious circles by sending a large number of "secular patrons" (mostly imperial families and magnates appointed by the emperor) to various Orthodox monasteries in order to collect more taxes. He also had to take out the money from the Imperial Property Department and organize the displaced people to reclaim the Plains of Thessaly and Moria to increase the grain tax. In the external war, the emperor also took the Varangian Janissaries and internal cavalry in the imperial capital as the central core, plus a large number of lightly armed cavalry of various nationalities hired temporarily, except for long-term contract workers are short-term contract workers, once the horse's hooves are turned and the sails are raised, large sums of money will instantly begin to be invested in the bottomless pit, so for Alexios, if the army goes out without profit, that is, "the division is useless", it is almost the same event as a military disaster.

Therefore, based on all of the above, it is not without reason that the emperor retreated when he was in battle, and he was still determined to win when he was in a good fight. After Gawain unleashed the powerful "Great Plani Cannon" and destroyed the emperor's painstaking mobilization of the waterwheel and the earthen embankment, Alexios's fighting spirit immediately evaporated in the late summer heat, and he began to "pretend to be very hard paddling" again. This row, first from Brusa to Alaman, and then back to Nicaea......

However, the emperor's military system also has its advantages, that is, the mercenaries who are eager to get military salaries, as long as they do not encounter fierce battles and do not carry out arduous expeditions, they are still willing to follow His Majesty the emperor to the waves. And if he wins, the emperor only needs to give a small portion of the proceeds to the majority of the people in cash and dismiss them.

And Gawain's military system also has its flaws, that is, the peasants' thirst for land and soldiers' thirst for equipment (bright armor and horse harness) and wealth and glory will become more and more hot with victory, and Gawain must continue to expand externally in order to expand the army or for the stability of the army, just like a shark that keeps hunting in the sea, swimming and swimming again at any time, opening its bloody mouth and devouring it, once it is stuck by the reef, this overlord in the water can only roll his eyes and wag his tail and wait for the end.

Therefore, Gawain seemed to be very relaxed in the siege of Aralmanburg, but in fact he was also walking on thin ice, often sending secret envoys back to Seleucia to consult Anna's thoughts and opinions, while quickly organizing the war, and on the other hand, he was also meticulous in the struggle for diplomacy and intelligence.

Now all the battles came to an end with the arrival of the Ummoha fleet, not only for Gawain, but also for the Emperor, and even more so for the pathetic Callegos family.

"After the victory of this siege, you pirates will get a quarter of the spoils, the same as my soldiers." This was Gawain's promise in advance, shortly after the Battle of Antioch.

"But how can a place like Alalmanburg have as much wealth as those city-states on the coast of the Levant?" In fact, Winmoha initially refused.

Gawain, however, was not annoyed, and said to Winmoha, "After that the pilgrims will sweep the Levant with an unstoppable posture, but for the various lords, the fleet will always be provided by the powerful Italian states, and where can you intervene?" It is better to sign a long-term offensive and defensive pact with me, and in Asia Minor you will act alone, and in the Levant you will act in conjunction with the Amalfi fleet, which is close to me, and sooner or later you will have to get the maximum benefit. ”

So in the end, Wen Moha, whose heart was shaking, still agreed to Gao Wenhai's request to help him. On the sea outside the Alalmanburg Gate and the docks, all the pirates and Seleucian galleys lined up and dropped their anchors, and then all the pirate sailors made all sorts of terrible noises, crowded the deck to the side of the castle, and set up all kinds of small guns and crossbows, and tilted arrows and stone pellets at the water wall like rain, and firmly sealed the passage inside and outside.

But in fact, it doesn't make much difference whether it is sealed or not, and there is no one who can or is willing to send food to Alamanburg.

About four days later, Nika. Callegos ordered the inhabitants of the city to be driven out in an attempt to save food, and the screaming inhabitants were driven out of the city gates in droves, about fifty people, and then at the edge of the blockade trench, they were fired by the bows and arrows of the Seleucian people, and they could not run back to the city, and almost all of them were killed, and most of the corpses were turned into the trenches, and no one collected them.

The next day, Gawain denounced the leader of the Nationalist army who had ordered the archery yesterday, stripped him of his armor and beaten him with twenty whips, and imposed a fine of 100 copper crocus coins. In addition, the emperor has reached a peace agreement with the Grand Duke to retreat, and it is useless to hold on to the lonely fortress any longer, so it is better to surrender as soon as possible. ”

Inside the city, along the upward pedal paths and pheasant moats, all the soldiers and inhabitants sat or lay down, silently looking at a shoulder lifted from the central tower, on which sat the blind general Nika. Callegos, watching as it was carried to the head of the city.

"It's Wright. O Bozia's voice! At the head of the city, Nika immediately heard the voice of the "old man".

"General, you have a good memory, I didn't expect us to meet here again." Wright, who was still harmless to humans and animals, held the scroll in his hand and bowed to the old general. (To be continued.) )