The following year, the winter in the eastern Anatolian highlands was unusually cold, and after killing all the Assasin believers, Gawain camped in the upper reaches of the Asonas River in the Sassoon region and made peace with the envoys of the kingdom of Kiratpasha. Pen & Fun & Pavilion www.biquge.info

Kirat Pasha Zagridin who was terrified of Gawain's elite army. Ibrahim agreed, ceding Sassoon to Gawain. After that, this Pasha simply moved the capital to the city of Van on the east side of Lake Van to avoid Gawain's edge.

In the vast snowfield, Gawain, who had ended the border division, rode a black mare, with a thick sable fur cloak over his armor and a gold chain in the middle, and returned to the relatively warm and warm fortress of Samosata with his army.

Here he signed a number of documents, sorted out the distribution of land and interests in the districts of Meritene and Samosata, ordered the Yefandouni brigade to be stationed in the Sassoon and Amida districts, and requisitioned local craftsmen and stonemasons to begin to build forts around several key passes along the southern line of the Erzurum Mountains to blockade the two Turkic chieftains of Merrick and Saltuk, who were trapped there.

At the same time, there was a brave Armenian nobleman in the Samosata, Gabriel, who led hundreds of private soldiers to surrender, and Gawain received him warmly, placing him in the fortress as a garrison commander.

By now, the fate of the Armenian aristocracy, who had been scattered in all directions after the fall of the state, was already clear:

"Van Karu line", except for the two brothers and sisters Torus and Lolita who were left as banners, the rest were basically slaughtered by Gawain;

The "Marashi line", whose original regent Fell, had been wounded and died, and half of his men were defeated, and the other half surrendered to Gawain under the leadership of Hercules, and became the backbone of the new Yefandouni brigade;

The southern "Van Lake system", such as Gabriel, also came to the kingdom of Tarsus, eager to revive the homeland;

There is also the "Ani line" in the north, represented by the great nobles of Zacharias and Mahadzeri, who defected to King David of Georgia and secretly became the vanguard of the anti-Gawain movement.

The high man in the city of Samosata is about to fight Theodoro. David. John began a new decisive battle with this alliance, and he wrote to his wife Anna: "If you want to pacify Greater Armenia and clear the way to the imperial capital, you must first defeat Theodoro, and if you want to conquer Theodoro, you must first defeat King David of Georgia." In the coming year, I raised my army to march north to fight with it, and at that time it was a matter of life and death...... In order to win this war, in addition to strengthening the armament with strong troops, flexible diplomatic means are even more indispensable. ”

Gawain's diplomatic tactics were to try to win over the two small Kurdish states sandwiched between Greater Armenia and Georgia, namely Haddadi and Sylván.

Sure enough, thanks to the efforts of the confidential officer, the diplomatic correspondence between the two sides became frequent after the arrival of winter, in fact, both Haddadi and Sylvan also felt the oppressive offensive of David of Georgia in the north, and both rulers promised to be willing to join forces with Gawain, and open up military access if necessary, let the Tarsus Guardian Army use their own roads and fortresses, and were willing to form a "coalition" with Gawain to deal with David the builder and Hassan, the old man of the mountain.

In this way, Gawain also groped for the construction of a "Tarsus. Haddadi. Sylvan "Alliance.

If the pope of Rome learned that Gawain had formed an alliance with a small pagan country in order to expand his territory, he would not know what kind of expression he would have to face.

Nearly a month has passed like this, and Hassan, the old man in the mountain in the vulture fort, actually sent a secret envoy to sue for peace with Gawain!

Hassan meant, "My subordinate only wounded one of your sleeping officers' wrists, but you slaughtered hundreds of Assasins, and the power of Benshan in the whole southern part of Greater Armenia was wiped out, and those who should be vented were vented." After that, it is better for the two sides not to invade each other, I will not come to assassinate you, and you will not continue to advance eastward. How about I keep you sleeping for 30 years? ”

"Exhaustive!" Gawain mocked the old man's letter with contempt, and then asked the forbidden soldiers to cut off the messenger's right hand and left ear on the spot, and told him to go back and tell the old man of the mountain, "I don't need your great master to keep me to sleep for thirty years, because soon I will slaughter the Vulture Fort and kill all the Assasin believers." Remember that this is not some boring intimidating words, and I hope that your Grand Master will sleep well until the moment when our military flag arrives. ”

The messenger screamed and was cut off, and Gawain poured him a large amount of hashish resin, so that he was thrown alive on the mule cart, and was sent to the road back to the distant vulture in fear and trembling.

After seeing off the messenger, Gawain left Samosata and headed for the city of Melitane.

In the dormitory of the palace in the city, Wen Ruomina lay quietly on the couch, her right wrist had been surgically amputated, and a layer of snow had accumulated on the windowsill outside, and a few flower-backed birds stopped there, looking for food in the snow with their red beaks.

The door creaked open, and the sleeping officer saw the chief guarantor walk in through the curtain, followed by the female officials and the holy sister.

When she struggled to get up, she was stopped by Gawain, "Lie down with peace of mind, Wen Ruominna." I'm passing by and I apologize to you. ”

"No, it's my business...... Now he still sleeps on the couch used by His Royal Highness the Great Lord Patron. ”

"You can use this bed with peace of mind, and I won't even be stingy with such a loyal subordinate." Gao Wen comforted her and said, "In addition, you don't have to worry, in the future, the position of the palace magistrate will always be yours." ”

After visiting the sleeping officer, Gawain got together with Cabeamia and Philaktos in the outer hall to discuss, "I will leave for Tarsus tomorrow, and I will wait until the snow melts in winter and spring to prepare for the conquest of Trabzon and Georgia." But first, I had to send a letter to Kutaisi, the capital of the Kingdom of Georgia. ”

Gawain's letter was delivered very quickly, first from the military route of Meritene to Amasia, where it was naturally delivered by the Kingdom of Georgia's spy network.

This spy network is the proud work of King David, called "mstovaris".

In the city of Kutaisi, which happens to be located in a valley between the mountains of the Greater and Lesser Caucasus, and the winters are bright and mild, under the magnificent dome of the Grand Gerali Monastery in the city, David, the richly dressed builder with a heroic and confident beard, stood among the clergy and officials, and after listening to his mentor read Gawain's accusatory letter, he smiled humbly, "The grass-headed king of Tarsus actually accuses me of being despicable? And he said that he had mastered my crimes, and that he was going to come against me? ”

The surrounding clergy and officials laughed.

It had only recently been before David had recovered an important fortress occupied by the Turks and opened the door to eastern Georgia. Another 14,000 Cuman barbarian cavalry from Shanbei came to the young king, who had just been placed in the country to serve as a powerful cavalry force. Therefore, King David will not take Gawain in his sights, "The goal for the coming year is to seize the whole of eastern Georgia, and I will write back—but not for the Varyag Grasshead, but for his wife Anna." ”