In a Crescent village somewhere on the border between Cilicia and Heraclia farming and pastoralism, several shepherds came out of the jungle in panic, drove their few remaining flocks, and walked up the hillside in the setting sun: in Konya, to the west of their village, had just been completely plundered and burned by the garrison of the Greek emperor, and even the ditches and pastures were not spared, so they had to leave their flocks towards the Cappadocia region, where the plateau was temporarily peaceful under the rivalry of several forces, They are also able to feed their sheep on grass and branches.

Several young children, with their long whips, kept throwing crackling noises overhead, and the brass bells around the neck of the leading sheep shook and made a pleasant sound, and the rest of the sheep chirped and followed the head sheep towards the other side of the hill in an orderly formation in chaos.

The father, riding a mule and a spear with a water bladder on the tip of the spear, walked ahead of the children and the sheep, and served as a scout and sentry, and it was a matter of pride for him to be able to preserve his family and children with weapons in this time of desolation.

But when he reached the ridgeline, the gray valleys and plateaus where his own setting sun could not reach, and several settlements of believers adjacent to his home, thick smoke billowed and dust followed the wind and the cries of the people towards the towering Taurus mountains.

The middle-aged shepherd's heart sank, and he immediately understood what was going on, and then he heard the terrible sound of a horn: a lightly armed rider in a colorful overcoat and carrying a string of military trumpets, rhinoceros horns, and fire sickles, sitting in the saddle with long horns in both hands, blowing vigorously in the opposite direction, so that he could not see his face clearly, but behind him were two horsemen with military flags, and the tumbling flags also obscured their faces, but the shepherd could be sure from the color of the flag, It certainly did not belong to any emir or any of the chief priests of the faith—a halo-like warrior with a halo on his head was in the center of the banner, standing out in the sunlight, and on the other banner was a bloody hand, which was in the shape of a cross with a sword and blade.

The shepherd, who was too frightened to escape, did not dare to cry out to his children and sheep, but could only look at the trumpeter and the two standard-bearers, moving their horses' hooves towards him. The children, who were ignorant and unaware, drove the sheep to their father's side with whips, and looked at the two standard-bearers, and they were also frightened, but the sheep were still bleating, and ran happily around them.

Behind the standard-bearer, there were about a dozen famous horses, lined up in double columns, all dressed in heavy armor, the colorful feathers on the top of the curtain of the war horses boasted of their ferocity and courage, and the dazzling weapons under the saddle were like dust under the horse's hooves, and he could only let his innocent face and try to squeeze out a little flattering smile, hoping that this group of "beasts" in iron armor would open up to him.

The group of full-footed cavalry walked slowly past the shepherd's eyes in twos and twos, but the fear in the hearts of the shepherd and his children grew stronger, until the last one suddenly stopped and looked at the shepherd with cold eyes.

The sweat from the tip of the shepherd's nose slid down, and the hand that carried the earthen spear could not move.

The cavalryman raised his wrist heavily, and squeaked the patterned iron strip of his nose with his eyes apart and his glove with a lock ring and rivet to the brim of his hat, revealing the scars and sweat of his face, and then pointed at the shepherd.

The shepherd did not dare to answer, and the cavalryman, impatient, pointed twice.

Only then did the shepherd react, and it turned out that he was asking for the water bladder he was carrying on the tip of his spear.

So he was hot-headed for a while, and directly raised his spear, pointed the tip of the spear at the foot cavalry, and stretched out the water bladder, "Damn, damn, you should think about it for a while before doing something." The shepherd could not help but cry out in his heart that this act would be mistaken for a provocation or hostility!

But the cavalryman did not express any annoyance, but took the water bladder very calmly, and then pulled the stopper, raised his head and grunted, like an animal to drink, he from the dense iron armor, exposed a small piece of skin where the Adam's apple was located, with the action of drinking, constantly rolling up and down, facing the shepherd's outstretched spear tip, the sweat seeping down was reflected in the angular light, as long as the shepherd touched the tip of the spear forward, he could kill the monster warrior who invaded the homeland and the kingdom of the Crescent Believer.

But until the horseman had drunk the water bladder and threw it under his horse, the shepherd did not make a single move, and his spear remained frozen in the air, and then the horseman pointed to the northern field, and motioned for him to tell himself where he was ahead.

"Thirty more miles will bring you to the city of Karon, at the southern end of Lake Cappadocia." The shepherd hurriedly put away his spear, and repeated it in the words he knew, and spoke with all his might, gesturing his hand toward it.

So the cavalry nodded, not knowing whether he understood it or not, and with two flicks of his tail, he headed for the castle at the end of the field.

It is not an exaggeration to describe the speed with which Anna's army marched towards the land of Cappadocia: three hundred armored horsemen, six hundred Genat infantry requisitioned, and the "Cappadocia Armed Colony Regiment" (about 6,000 men and women) consisting of thousands of refugees from Milio Sephalong and Konya and the surrendered army of the city of Tarsus, from the time they crossed the border to the capture of the ownerless city of Caron, only four days passed.

They did not meet any fierce resistance along the way, but the armored cavalry used the "Guardian Emperor" (defending Christianity, defending Alexios. Komnenos, but the emperor said I was innocent), swept and slaughtered dozens of Crescent settlements, large and small, with extremely vicious methods.

Because most of their members were newly bought Blois and Normandy mercenaries, and there were many wandering armed men who defected to Seleucia, and they had not been bound by the military code of the Grand Duke of Gawain at all, and Anna was very indulgent to them--the princess in purple, who learned of the good news, took her own guards, followed her, and strictly urged most of the armed immigrants to be stationed near the city of Caron as soon as possible, repair the city defenses, and distribute cultivated land around the city of Caron to support the supply of her new army.

It seems that after Anna captured half of Cappadocia, she didn't want to leave at all!

"I'm going to see the city of Caron for myself, and I've been fascinated by its richness and beauty before I came to Seleucia." Anna, who was sitting on her shoulder, said this openly to Agnes, who was with her. (To be continued.) )