Now, the entire armed group of pilgrims has been divided into two armies. All the way from Cilicia to Cyricia, Godfrey, Hugh, Gawain, Baldwin, and Peter the hermit were the main forces.

The first formation of this group, led by the royal brother of France "Noble Hugh", under the command of 600 pilgrimage chainmail cavalry (including knights and retainer sergeants), and more than 1,000 foot spearmen and archers called "royal retinue", this group of warriors from the Île-de-France (the island refers to the small territory under the jurisdiction of the royal family) boasted of their invincibility, so they took on the forefront of the team, serving as a search and search for the enemy;

In the second formation, the main force of Gawain and Baldwin, not to mention the Banda detachment of thousands of Red Hand Brigade armed with large infantry spears, and two elite cavalry companies with full war horses - in Gawain's September tax content, an option was temporarily added: the Jinat landlords and the lords could jointly pay the war horses to pay the taxes - nearly a thousand war horses were quickly assembled and handed over to the barracks. Moreover, the Byzantine Roman Empire is located in the territory of Asia Minor, there is no shortage of good horses, Cappadocia and Cilicia have always been good places for horse herding, and there are strong and tall Persian horses and Arabian horses mixed among them, the impact and durability are very balanced and excellent, although this measure has lost most of the tax money, but the effect is extremely significant, and now the cavalry warriors of the "Company of the New Baptist" and the "Company of St. Cyril" have reached the point of having two war horses in their hands, and they can show their skills in the battle of Antioch!

In addition, the Callegos brothers (including two from the Mut Valley), General Orson, and Kabeamiya all personally drew some of the elite, as well as many of the Cilician Ginats. All of them came to join the army, about 4,000 people. Half of them were cavalry. Then, Polibi, the son of General Ferraredos. He and his beautiful wife, Sibyla, were also enslaved into the army. Bletchamios, along with the rest of the people, were placed in the Seleucian city, and now serve as Gawain's "banner", "After the restoration of the Holy Land, I will return to my castle with the honour of Your Excellency, and take back from the kingdom of Ruben in Armenia the territory that once belonged to Lingzun." Gawain promised him firmly.

Baldwin was the same over there, hundreds of knights, plus the cover of the converted Turkic light cavalry. There were also thousands of assembled infantry, waving various flags, to escort him, and Baldwin left behind Goldchild to accompany Anna to stay in the territory.

Godfrey's legion was in charge of the rear of the temple, including nearly ten infantry regiments and more than 500 armored cavalry, surrounded by the banner of the Holy Cross, which was visible to all and gave people a fighting spirit. They temporarily resided in the vicinity of the Armenian Pass and the city of Issus, supervising and intimidating the Armenian lords throughout the mountainous regions of northern Cilicia, warning them to avoid trouble, and the "Armenian mountain wolves" in the mountains. Sure enough, everyone was silent.

In this area, the hermit Peter and the general secretary of Gawain continued to play a specialty: organizing pilgrims for the common people. Lay bridges for the army, open passages. Feed horses and pack animals, and deliver provisions.

At last. The pirates Winmore and Gawain's Andreev and Jalguba also hired a large number of Maldets and Greeks as sailors, anchored small warships densely on the Gulf of Issus, blocked the sea roads of Antioch City, and waited for the large fleets of Venice, ******, Amalfi and Pisa to join him.

The other group of pilgrims, Ademar and Bohemond, made a detour through the narrow roads of the mountains of Röma and Danishmund, and at this moment also reached Marash and Edessa (the two Turkic commanders, Giliki and Merrick, both of whom adopted a policy of opening up avenues and paths), joined Tantared's team, and were approaching the city of Antioch from the other direction.

But just as Count Robert of Flanders feared, pack animals and horses were either intercepted and plundered by Turkic guerrilla soldiers on the march, or they were infected with the disease and died in large numbers, because the roads were narrow and rugged, and the mixture of livestock and human manure was the greatest cause of the outbreak.

When they arrived at Edessa, the pilgrims were left with only a few hundred horses.

Under these circumstances, Tancred, who occupied the vast wealth and castle of Edessa and won the allegiance of the Armenian nobility, suddenly became prominent, and the authority of Bohemond was even greater, so that during the march, Raymond complained to his subordinates and companions more than once: "Normans, Normans, are too ambitious, and if they take Antioch, He, and the Holy City, they will occupy all places, and we, we will all have to go back." Raymond stuttered, but he was right, the simplest of things: he and the other pilgrims lacked horses, but the Normans had scavenged the local horses, and half of them were not evenly distributed among them.

Then, with the support of Tancred, the Norman army swept away several fortresses on the border between Antioch and Edessa, and of course all the territories they occupied were included in the pockets of the Normans. The Duchy of Marasy "came and prepared to send a secret letter to the Pontifical See, hoping for recognition."

"It's better to take Antioch City into your hands first, and it is more advantageous to get access to the sea." In the end, Bohemond calmly pressed down, determined to take a long-term view.

Eventually, two groups of pilgrims, from the west and north, approached Artah, the gateway between Antioch and Aleppo.

Since then, the ships returning from the Gulf of Issus have continued to bring the news to Anna in Zephilim Castle that all the pilgrim armies have fought fiercely with the Turkic unbelievers in the valley passes of Atta.

Standing by the window, looking out at the plains and mountains in the distance, Anna muttered to Goethehild behind her, "In the past, when the great barbarians came out of battle, I waved my arms, cheered, and kept shouting the slogan of the Three Saints to protect the strong forward; But this time it was different, I was even afraid to see his back, and when I saw the black Sabina and the silver Quicksilver being led out of the stable, my heart was very heavy, my breathing was hard, and tears were about to fall. I used to cheer for the glory of Gawain's every victory, but now I rejoice in Gawain's safety every time. ”

"Because Gawain has conquered your heart physically." As soon as Goethehild's words reached his mouth, he realized that something was wrong, looked at Anna's back stiffly, and swallowed it.

In the barren field beneath the city of Atta, where pilgrims and Turkic troops fought on all fronts, a Turkic emir in splendid armor, shouting "Prophet protect my spear", leaped out of the line and pounced sideways at the infantry column of the Red Hand Brigade that was rapidly approaching the walls and streams with spears raised.

"Goliath, Muzafi Adin, kill him." Gawain, who was riding on Quicksilver, saw the emir who was bravely attacking him under the clouds and the sun, and said succinctly. (To be continued.) )