"The key to the capture of Calsburg lies with you, and I know that it is not appropriate for you, as a brigade general, to go on such a mission, but I really can't think of a better person. The pen "Fun" Pavilion www.biquge.info "Gawain asked the guard to do this beforehand.

But Diognis didn't say anything, just the promise I had made in the letter that I had to do it, and I set off.

Thus Gawain was not wrong in his thoughts at this moment—the black and shallow river meandered through it, and the castle of Karles was situated on a hill at the bend of the river: on the north and west sides of the hill were almost vertical cliffs, as if split by a knife, and on the east side were ridges in a straight line with the main fort, and at intervals of about five hundred feet there were raised and independent knolls, each with a sentry fort, overlooking the slopes and plains below.

The Catcher, riding a horse and dressed entirely as an Ani warrior, wandered alone to the edge of the block below the city of Karles.

He looked up, and instantly grasped the general shape and situation of the castle - the east and north sides of the castle were moats, not only cliffs, but also the Kars River bends along these sides, so that only the southern slope is gentle and wide, and many workshops and camps follow it up and down the steps, and the castle is clustered. The inner walls of the castle surround the main fort, but along the southern slope there is a large, sturdy façade that encloses the entire southern slope of the building.

In the east-west direction along the outer wall of the southern slope, there is a long cross-cut moat about a long ancient mile, separating the hill fort from the farmstead and bazaar surrounded by the outer, and the central building of the bazaar is an Armenian tetraconch style church, located in the northwest of the castle, with a conical roof paved with red tiles, and the main building below is surrounded by twelve prismatic contoured contour walls, symbolizing the fundamental number "12" of the Apostolic Church, and then outward are four protruding transepts, namely aps, for the monks and the faithfulThe walls are covered with cyan vines. Built 180 years ago, this religious facility, fortunately undestroyed by the invading Seljuks, is now the liveliest part of the castle on the edge of its outer jungle, serving as a bazaar, a celebration and a square.

About two years earlier, David had captured the fort as a springboard for his quest for the city of Ani: in fact, David had passed through Kars during the previous Battle of Roy.

Now that the great victory of Roy was over, the builder David was marching on the city of Ani with his main army, and many nobles and mercenaries from the north of Greater Armenia were flocking to the new king, especially those who were unwilling to submit to Gawain's command - not everyone liked the Tarsus system, because it deprived the nobles of their land and glory, and the nobles became like lowly infantrymen, but enjoyed more holy horses.

Therefore, on the one hand, David asked the mentor to go north to recruit troops in the Cuman steppes, and on the other hand, he asked the general of the Karlsburg, Mahadzeri, a pure-blooded nobleman of the northern realm of Ani, who was now serving the Kingdom of Georgia, and he was also a fanatical Tonist, but he bet his chips on the builder David, because although Gawain did not know it, Mahadzeri's ideas had long been incompatible with this water and fire - Mahadzeri did not allow Gawain to destroy the traditional political system of Greater Armenia, Especially when he heard that Gawain actually gave way to a Roman officer named Orson to inherit the Ani bloodline, he was even more furious and hated Gawain as a "destroyer of the country".

General Mahadzeri also has a brother named Ashot, who is now serving in the Fatimid army on the other side of the ocean, serving as the chief attendant of the Caliphate's guard, and is quite appreciated by the Grand Vizier Everdler, after all, they are all Armenian fellows, so Everdler allowed Asaut to continue to remain Christian, and did not need to convert to Crescent like him.

Asaut had previously sent several letters to Mahadzeri, telling him that it was important to stay the course, because as soon as Egypt had healed the wounds it had suffered at the Battle of Arsu, it would immediately retrain the new army and make a comeback, because Everdler had realized that Gawain was now the most dangerous enemy, and was willing to abandon his religious prejudices and join forces with the Kingdom of Georgia to contain it.

As the catcher walked to the recruiting camp of the Apostolic Church with his head bowed, several guards approached him and led his horse and asked for his name.

"Vasak. Hughnyk. The commander quietly gave a false name, "The squire of the Iberian mountains, who came to serve the general, and my whole family was poisoned by bastards in the previous battle of Marash. ”

"Your name and skin color are strange."

Faced with such a question, the catcher replied, "My ancestors were of Persian blood. Then he repeated the phrase fluently in Persian, Greek, and Saracen, and then switched back to Armenian.

Soon after, he stood with the other samurai in front of the bathhouse square along the river, and was read by General Mahadzeri, who was draped diagonally in black.

When he was studying his marksmanship, the catcher fired three arrows in succession, all of which hit the bull's-eye, which made Mahad Zeli very impressed, so he asked the attendant to hand him the mulberry horn bow in his hand, "Replace the weak Persian bow in your hand and try this." ”

As a result, the catcher opened it with ease, and continued to shoot lightning-heavy arrows, shattering all the targets erected by the river.

"Very well, Vasak, right? I will give you the position of Captain of the Fifty, and I will be in charge of the garrison of Fort Jim Hill outside the city. ”

The so-called Mount Jim Fort is an independent outer fort located in the southwest corner of Karles.

Although General Mahadzeri was generously appointed, it is clear that he admired but did not trust the "Vasak" enough, which meant that the Catcher, despite his successful blending, could not see the structure, gates, and road location of the main castle of Kars on the heights.

In any case, Diognis temporarily lurked as "Vasak", and he soon stood on the top of Jimburg, looking at the outer wall of the castle, which was covered with a steep earthen embankment at the base of which could be protected from the bombardment of catapults and siege guns, and had twenty-two semicircular horse-faced walls, which allowed the shooters on it to shoot at the approaching enemy. What is even more difficult is that the position of the main fort of Karls is extremely high - Gawain's large siege cannon and fire bear cannon can only be placed in the market river to the south of it, and the outer wall can only be destroyed, but once it breaks through the outer wall, it has to pass through the long and sloping southern slope to reach the inner wall of the main fort, this terrain cannot even stand up for the heavy mortar guns, let alone face the condescending blazing fire of the main fort......

"Damn, do you have to do something else?" The captor muttered to himself.

And at the end of March, Gawain commanded all the elite main forces, and sure enough, they marched from the inner city of Melitene and pressed in the direction of the city of Cals.

When Anna gave the King of Georgia women's clothes before, Gawain clearly told the builder David that his target was Kars, because there was no need to hide it, and strong strength combined with the strategy of adapting before the battle was always the key to victory.