The Patriarch was encircled by the cavalry in the center of the gravel beachhead, and the cavalry with a cloak and a round helmet asked him loudly what his identity was. Pen, fun, pavilion www. biquge。 info

Maastas, who was still proud, angrily rebuked, "You are not qualified to ask me, let your highest-ranking general come to see me!"

As a result, the cavalry whipped the patriarch in the face with a horsewhip, and he was bleeding from his mouth and nose, and his clothes were rotten.

General Licapanus, who learned the news, decided not to deal with the burned "chestnut" himself, so he reported it to Adrianople, and then ordered a troop of cavalry to escort it down the Philippi River valley to Adrianople's palace and let Gawain dispose of it.

When the Patriarch arrived at his destination, he roared like an enraged lion to "fight" Gawain, but Gawain coldly issued an order in the palace: send Maastas to be claustrophobic and imprisoned in the monastery of the city, and I would not be too late to meet him when the time was ripe because of the busy military affairs.

At this time, in the whole confrontation situation, the central front of the "Trajan Gate" was still as solid and calm as a rock on the mountain peak: Merlot's five brigades had turned the mountain passes, rivers and small castles into a large camp, and Berdin, who was constantly gathering soldiers from all over the country in Fort Sophia, did not dare to move—if he went elsewhere, Merlot would definitely come and attack Fort Sophia; Correspondingly, if he kept his troops still, Gawain's other two flanks would make big moves.

It seems that the enemy also did his homework in advance, absorbing the lessons of Vasily II's disastrous defeat at Trajan's Gate.

On the southern front of Thessalonica, the Nika Brigade and the Optikin Brigade continued to fight, and after they swept the sacred mountain of Athos and captured the former Patriarch, they advanced to the city of Thessaloniki to rendezvous with Branas, and then the command was all under Branas.

After receiving this news, many Turkic, Serbian, and Greek nobles and mercenaries from the Vardar Valley traveled south like rain to gather at Isaac, the king of the Macedonian city of Pella. On Komnenos's side, a decisive battle with Blanas's "Philippian Front" is about to be demonstrated!

In the city of Pera, Isaac who raised the flag and marched out of the army was full of ambition, he originally brought 4,000 soldiers from Durazo here, and now the heroes of all sides are under his command, and the strength has as many as 15,000 people, even compared to the three brigades of Branas on the opposite side!

"What's more, I still have nearly three thousand Vadaritai cavalry who are good at shooting, and the cavalry strength is still superior to that Branas."

"What's more, who is Branas? The son of a peasant and soldier nobleman who was no more than Thracian is my subordinate. I'm Isaac. Komnenos, once the empire of Sebastoprat, now the great despotic king of Epirus, my old enemy can only be Gawain, what is little Branas? ”

With such a great point, Isaac. Komnenos did not defend the counterattack, but they approached the Villeades River northwest of Thessaloniki and set up camp at the Villeades, only three cures from the city walls!

At that time, Branas was training his troops in the city, unifying the organization and command of the three brigades, and preparing to cross the Vardar River immediately.

So the great army of Epirus stretched from the meanders of the river to the mouth of the Vardar River, and the plains were lined with tents and banners, and then Isaac sent Vadaritate cavalry to plunder and supply the army with food, and for a time the whole Thessalonica was terrified.

His men approached Branath and asked for a skirmish of cavalry to test the enemy.

It was then that Branas came to his senses, "Order the concentration of all the brigade cavalry, detachments and fight the enemy near the outskirts!" ”

As smoke billowed from Thessaloniki, Branas and his generals stood on the walls, watching the clash of enemy and cavalry in the countryside, and at the same time sending scouts to reconnoiter the Epirus army.

Soon the results came out: Isaac. The total number of Komnenos was about 15,000 horses, of which the core of 4,000 to 6,000 were in the center of the camp, mostly infantry recruited from Epirus and Tirasium, and the cavalry was a foreign race living in the valley of the Vardar River, distributed on two flanks.

Branas was a little dumbfounded, "Just like that, he ended up under this well-fortified city?" ”

But what happened next surprised him even more, Isaac's army made many ladders, siege towers and other equipment, and flocked to the walls of Thessaloniki, and actually wanted to attack the city, siege the city, and siege the city......

So the archers and archers of the three brigades stood in several rows along the entire western wall, and took turns firing at the siege of Epirus, and also threw light fire canisters and shrimp whisker cannons, and inflicted heavy casualties on Isaac's soldiers, and the wounded and dead were spread all over the walls and under the trenches, and many were washed into the sea and floated. Soon after, Branas gathered three brigades and fifteen squadrons of attached cavalry, and crept out of the small gate of the acropolis in the northeast corner, and attacked the undisciplined raiding procession, killing many of them, forcing them back to their camp and never daring to act rashly again.

Branath then gave the order: the Defender Brigade and the Nika Brigade were to hold each other, leave the city walls and set up, and follow the avenue to Isaac's camp at the Villeardes River.

Isaac also fought bravely, he first gathered all the elite and began to storm the left flank of Branas, and sent the strongest cavalry to take the lead, but the cavalry could not exert its momentum on the gravel of the coast, and it was difficult to break through the infantry defense line of the Nika brigade, and the armor and helmets of countless soldiers were like the scales of a school of sea fish shining in the setting sun, and the blood splashed from swords and spears was like foam brought by the tide.

Soon, a fierce bloody battle broke out on the front of the right wing of the Guardian Brigade, and Branas tried to personally urge the brigade to advance with spears to defeat Isaac's left flank front, but Isaac hid many mountain archers of Epirus and Dirashum in the rear team, and thousands of arrows were fired in unison, roaring like rain, causing great damage to the spear formation of the Guardian Brigade, and the battle situation was stalemate for a while.

At the critical moment, originally ambushed in the hinterland of Basil Mountain in the north of the city, the four detachments of the Epshkin brigade suddenly made a noise and killed, and they followed all the brigade cavalry, and then detoured back to the Isaac camp from the right side to set fire to the melee everywhere. The whole army of Epirus, whose morale had been greatly discouraged, retreated like a swarm of bees burned by fire, the dead were piled up on the river Villeades, and the camp and baggage were completely abandoned.

Branas joined forces with his cavalry and pursued Isaac.

But when they reached the stone bridge of the Vardar River further west, Isaac's five hundred cavalry swarmed up, surrounded Branas and the cavalry, and slashed them with arrows - the three brigades' hand-picked cavalrymen who had landed on the stone bridge were killed more than a hundred at once, and almost no one survived.......

The battle of the Valéardes River was fought very quickly and fiercely, and ended in a single day, with Isaac still in defeat and Branas victorious but in danger.