"Congratulations, Your Excellency, the enemy has retreated. Pen Fun Pavilion www.biquge.info "Many soldiers gathered around.

But Diognis slowly knelt down, his head hanging limply, and the soldiers then heard his sobs, where he kept saying "not retreat, not retreat...... It's time to fight a decisive battle with His Majesty the Emperor...... Gawain's murderous minions will harm His Majesty's throne...... And then Anglas is going to be done too. ”

In fact, in the middle of the night two days before the commander said this, the soldiers of the Guardian Brigade and the Great Frontier of Caesarea had withdrawn from the camp and galloped along the Iconium trade route towards the Firomellon area.

The Guardian Brigade had been on a forced march all this time, first from Anglas to the north of Ferromeron, successfully attracting the attention of the Emperor, and mobilizing the Emperor's 8,000 soldiers and the camp of General Matthew, the commander of the orphaned archers, and then returning the same way, galloping back to the city of Anglasburg, and now rushing from the trade route to Firomeron was tantamount to a large inverted "U" shaped route.

In this day and age, such maneuvers can be said to be rare.

"All the border people's army and Nikitas, together with General Branas, go south along the trade route, join the great lord and patron, and fight a decisive battle with the army of the empire, do not lag behind!"

This is also Gao Wen's deployment in advance, "The inner line maneuvered to me and joined the decisive battle sequence." Walter. Sanzabal and Monomachus. Scoleroru, all must unconditionally obey the supreme command of General Branas. ”

Four thousand soldiers of the Guardian Brigade, seven hundred Nikitas, Cappadocia. The 3,000 frontier cavalry of Caesarea and the 500 frontier cavalry of the small frontier of the Cilician Gate: more than 8,000 foot cavalry, marched like the wind along the so-called "inner line", that is, the trade route of Iconium.

Branas, wearing a helmet, drove his horse to the front of the line, his horse was dressed in fine cloth armor, a gold and silver halter, and carried a gold-handled general's sword, waving and constantly shouting to the soldiers who had been walking lightly on the road, "The golden citrus banner protects us, Tarsus Caesar protects us, fight for the beautiful Shahnamey, rush, rush, soldiers, we must go through all the journeys before we can catch up with the decisive battle that will go down in the ages." ”

Before the battle, the general had mentioned Shah Nami in his prayer and expressed his willingness to fight her enemies to the end for her honor, even those who were also Orthodox Christians.

The soldiers of the brigade and the border people's army, first dressed in armor and carrying weapons, walked fifty guli south of Anglasburg, and when they reached the road leading to the trade road to Ikonium, they began to put their armor, helmets, infantry spears, various spears, and crossbows in the baggage wagons, and then they formed a column in full light armor, sandwiched the carts drawn by pack horses, and galloped reluctantly towards the south day and night. After every hour and a half (three hours) of the drive, a quarter of an hour (half an hour) of rest, many soldiers were so tired that they fell asleep on the side of the road, and were woken up by the sergeants or centurions with sticks and leather whips, and then they were forcibly handed drinks, "drink and feel comfortable, and keep running." ”

When I saw the white-colored Great Salt Lake of Cappadocia and the steppe wilderness, it was already the morning of the second day, and many soldiers were swaying in the queue, pulling the hooks and buckles on the cloaks of the people in front of them, or the tails of war horses and pack horses, and the top of their heads were full of steaming sweat and wine, lingering, waking up and walking, and walking when they fell asleep......

But even so, the eight thousand soldiers walked without stopping, and the boots, the vehicles, the pack horses, and the supplies, had been arranged by the Grand Earl Merlot in abundance and perfection, which was also the prerequisite for the completion of this terrible maneuvering march, and in the end even the generals such as Branas, Walter, and Monomachus were "glued" to the saddle like a Hunnarian, and when they were tired, they fell to sleep, and when they woke up, they commanded the troops to move on.

The Iconium Trade Road, which Gawain had previously put a great deal of effort to maintain, was as wide and open as the ancient Roman military road, with the so-called "rutted road" in the middle, which was only found here and in the Sith mining area, and was designed for large cargo vehicles to travel, much faster than on ordinary dirt roads. As for the sides, of course, there are side paths for people to walk. Beside the road, at regular intervals, there were "caravanserais" for caravans, where the post riders and the officers of the Brotherhood had arranged for them, and even the hermit Peter had mobilized many peasants and followers to help with much-needed supplies such as wheat cakes, water, cheese, and hoovers for the marching soldiers and horses. In the evening, all the stations were lit with torches, one after the other, winding southward, to provide direction for the whole procession.

In the end, on average, Branas's troops marched almost fifteen to seventeen giri per hour.

This is the miracle of the Middle Ages created by the powerful deployment of Gawain, the precise and diligent work of the Sixth Division and the Brotherhood, the active fighting spirit of the brigade and the border people's army, and the effective administration and infrastructure construction of the entire Tarsus country.

Just as the Branass Brigade was about to complete the feat of the "Great March of Iconium", more powerful reinforcements continued to arrive on land and sea beneath the city of Seleucia: the army under the command of Count Ansel Gilbert, the "general standard-bearer" of Adanabeth, including eighty warlike knights, arrived and gathered with the army of Ande Odat, the governor of Tarsus, and began to roll directly behind the siege camp of Zahaas; On the sea, the great pirate Winmoha and the ships Andreev and Jalguba, with the main fleets of Adana and Tarsus, also advanced to the water as far as the Seleucian towers could see.

On the Great Hospital Hill, Agnes's Alalman People's Army and the Mutburg Civilian Army on the opposite side also successfully joined forces, and a single "Fire Bear Cannon" was also erected on the top of the mountain, constantly carrying out furious shelling of the pirate fleet and land camps.

More and more pirates fled in terror, and the lucky ones boarded ships and fled to Rhodes, while many others were stuck on the beaches and bewildered, and some were wandering in the reed wastelands or caves by the sea, with no order at all.

The Commander-in-Chief of the Imperial Navy, Assasidus, jumped aboard his ship and fled to the Gulf of Atalya, where he was intercepted by two ships sailing out of Fort Alalman, and almost lost his life.

Zahas also fled to Kyrenia, but was denied entry by Apsomartes, then fled to the Paphos region, and was expelled by Apsomartus - in the end, he could only escape to Rhodes, but of the 3,000 pirates he took with him when he set sail, less than 300 returned (a considerable part of them were captured by Cyprus), and he also lost the life of his son-in-law Musetto, so angry that the former emir of Nicaea scolded until he vomited blood, and scolded the emperor, and the imperial fleet......

"Hooray, hooray!" Throughout the Seleucian gates, the soldiers of the Nationals poured in with joy and singing praises to celebrate with the soldiers, and then the cavalry began to hunt down the scattered pirates who were hiding everywhere, and once they were caught, there was no mercy.

From the tower, Anna looked at the smoke billowing and screaming beneath the city: the captured pirates who were tied to wooden frames and wrapped in reeds and burned alive to the fire men quietly said to the two royal ink officials, Hertomia and Agnes, "Philomelon, victory will be won." (To be continued.) )