The two princes were so bold and outspoken, and if it weren't for the superior position of the Palermo royal family in the Holy See, how could they say such-for-tat?

The entire College of Cardinals stood on either side of the steps, bowing their heads slightly, each with their own thoughts. Pen, fun, pavilion www. biquge。 info

Pope Eugene held his chin with his fingers in his seat, noncommittal, but begged the princes to continue.

Roger Jr. was more eloquent, so he took the role of spokesman for his brother Simon: "Gawain now has Anatolia and Cilicia as his source of wealth and troops, and with great hospitals and estates everywhere, and with a well-pocketed bank in the vital seaport of the city of Bari, his coveting of Constantinople is no longer a question of personal ambition or not, but like an arrow that cannot be shot out of a string." I wonder if Gawain is allowed to capture Constantinople, how will His Holy See be in peace with him? ”

Eugene was apparently not fully prepared for this question, and he only told little Roger that he had just warned Gawain's envoy to make peace with John, and conveyed the same message to Bohemond.

Little Roger was visibly more thoughtful, "Verbal warnings alone are not enough, my crown." Today, Constantinople is in turmoil, and even if Gawain does not attack it directly, John's rule may not be sustainable, and it is more likely that some scheming nobleman, a radical bishop, or even a heretical peasant and alien mercenary will open the gates to welcome Gawain into that magnificent imperial capital, so what is the difference between giving it to Gawain? ”

"But there is nothing wrong with Gawain in Constantinople, he is a devout Catholic, and he is also a brave and authoritative holy warrior." Although Eugene was moved by Roger's words, he still did not make up his mind to restrain Tarsus.

"But he is by no means your vassal, and it is impossible for any individual to be willing to bow down to you when he occupies such a great city as Constantinople, forgive me for my abrupt words, which are all caused by the hearts of the people. It's like Bohemond, he didn't even care about blood ties in order to seize Antioch City, not to mention an uneducated Varyag barbarian like Gawain from the Northlands, he didn't kill Raymond and Conrad before......"

Eugene was silent for a long time before he asked what you and your father thought of what to do.

So Simon and little Roger bowed down and handed it to the Pope respectfully with Wenzong.

The contents of it are:

The jihadist army mobilized in response to the call was divided into three routes, one under the command of Gawain, the members were the army of the state of Tarsus, and the siege target was the port of Bora in Tripoli, and Gawain raised his own ships, food and weapons; The other way is the co-ruler of Norway, King Sigül. Magnusson, with 5,000 able-bodied soldiers from the Northlands, sailed ashore from Denmark and traveled overland to Messina to cross the sea to the Holy Land, which Sicily promised to be Sigurd. Magnusson provided ships and sailors, while the Norwegians targeted Sidon along the way.

As for the last way, its commander was actually Raymond's illegitimate son who died in Laudisia, a young man named Portland, plus Raymond's nephew Jordan, with a bitter hatred for Gawain, gathered a group of outlaws from Toulouse and Provence, and also came to the Holy Land to fight, and they sent notes to Sicily and Venice that whoever wanted to provide ships would be at his disposal, as long as the city of Tyre in Tripoli was paid.

Venice has always coveted Tyre, so it preemptively reached a memorandum agreement with Sicily, willing to provide ships to carry Portland and Jordan to Tyre in the East. By capturing the city of Tyre, Venice would gain a large area of trade and plantations, and gain a foothold in the Levant.

What is particularly important is that the Sicilian side also asked the Pope to send Roger Jr. to Crete or Rhodes by boat with the glory and power of the "Pope's Emissary", and to arrange and plan Magnusson and Portland troops behind the scenes.

In addition, the new consuls of Sicily and Venice secretly joined forces and secretly promised to support Emperor John of Constantinople against the further penetration of Gawain and protect the remnants of the empire, thus providing a pre-shield for them and even the Pope of Rome. Of course, John also had to make a condition to raise the number of Venetian settlers in Pera and the Golden Horn to 10,000, and these 10,000 Venetian adult males who could act as merchants, captains, or warriors, who were willing to collectively swear allegiance to Emperor John and protect his throne if the emperor was threatened. Sicily hoped that the Kingdom of Hungary, which was the home of John's wife, would also be committed.

In short, Sicily, Venice, Hungary, and John of Constantinople also began to form an alliance to prevent Gawain from crossing the Marimara Sea and attacking the imperial capital.

Of course, Sicily also wanted to win over the new Holy Roman Emperor (Salian Caesar) Henry V, so that he would also side with Gawain as well.

When the Pope read the last volume of Wenzong, he found that in it, Sicily actually presupposed, "countering Gawain in the future", which was a dense strategy, and the tricks were so fierce that he couldn't help but sweat seep down from the heavy crown of the law, "You are doing this, I am afraid that you are really forcing Gawain into the hostile camp." Is it really good to be like this? ”

Walking down the steps of the Lateran Palace, the two brothers, Simon and Little Roger, turned into the corridor of the corridor under the shadow of flowers, and looked with disdain at the dilapidated, dirty, and poor alleys and shops of the Roman city outside, and in this most holy city there were actually the most vulgar people, who did everything to the pilgrims from all directions, and a plate of stinky salted fish sent by Ostia had to be put on a plate and priced according to the strip, "Father finally noticed the rise of Gawain, he should have done it three years earlier." Simon said.

"It's not too late. We instigated Portland, Magnusson, and even Venice to turn against Gawain and consume his energy. As for Bohemond, most of them will not return, so that we can take advantage of the opportunity to annex the whole of southern Italy, and then ...... In short, I will be in charge of the whole situation in Crete in a moment. Little Roger smiled confidently.

His subtext was that if the royal family of Palermo united the lands of Sicily, Apulia and Naples in the future, he would be able to reproduce Robert. Guiscat's great deeds were enough to advance deep into Moria and Macedonia, and realize his ambition to cross the Adriatic Sea and conquer Constantinople.

In fact, since ancient times, as long as the power that occupies southern Italy, it has always harbored such dreams, such as the earlier Guiscat, and the real plane and then Hohenstaufen, Anjou, etc.

However, the idea of the royal family of Palermo was soon secretly transmitted to Matilda, the Duchess of Tuscany, who was neutral and silent about it, but her young husband Welf, who had returned safely from the Crusade, privately asked his servant to transcribe a secret letter and send it to the city of Bari by Starry Night, because he was grateful for Gawain's former help!