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On the sea outside the small city of Lepanto, the Amalfi in several Piromon oarboats were reaching out to the sea, throwing stones from the towers made of reefs, and burning fires, and smoke billowing everywhere.

The grief-stricken Tanfred, who had just been lifted onto the Norman paddle boat, rushed out of the water gate and fled in the direction of his homeland, two of which were captured by the Byzantine army that rushed in.

The Norman knights who came to penetrate deep into Kademia were a hundred in number, with nearly three hundred lightly armed Calabrian soldiers, and now thirty-one knights were killed, twenty-five were captured by Gawain's army, and the rest fled with Tancred, most of them were wounded and embarrassed, and as for the auxiliary Calabrians, they were even more lost, and most of them became ghosts of a foreign land in the Greek wilderness.

Now it was Gawain's turn to stand majestically under the high platform under the city of Lepanto, and watched the Norman captives seated under him, their chain mail and helmets all stripped off, and guarded by the half-breed Tekopo mercenaries whom they despised the most, "I will not kill you, and tell Bohemond to hand over the ransom, ten gold solides each, but I do not want the Norman money of your monarch, but I want authentic Francosus (sous, silver coins), one equal to fifteen su, which I will calculate for you, that is, one hundred and fifty sules each, You have to pay it after a month, or you will all be put to death." ”

Then he turned and asked the commander if the Normans' plundered wealth had been taken away by the remnants of their army.

"Most of them are not, and in the warehouses of Lepanto and the fortress of Pereira on the other side, there are about four or five thousand coins of various values, and dozens of fine war horses, which have not had time to be taken with them in the stables of this city—they are in disarray, Norman bandits, go back to your mountain nests!" At the last sentence, even Theognes could not contain the excitement in his heart, and raised his arms and shouted, and then all the Byzantine soldiers present sang with joy, and the Norman captives present bowed their heads in hatred.

Yes, although it was only a small victory for Norman, but for many people, especially Diognis, the meaning was much more extraordinary, for thirteen years, he had never been able to get out of Durazo's nightmare, and now he felt lucky, he felt raised eyebrows, compared to Bifarov, Diognes suddenly felt a fighting spirit in his body: follow Gawain, first go to Italy to defeat the Normans, recover the Viceroyalty of Bari and Sicily, and then return to Asia Minor, annihilate the treacherous Sultan of Konya, and restore the entire empire - The former Warden George was selfish, so he didn't succeed, but I, Diognis, will persevere.

However, it is really necessary to accomplish such a great feat under the hands of a scheming barbarian like Gawain!

Soon, the captor was caught in a painful contradiction again.

But Gawain didn't seem to notice his demeanor at all, but commanded left and right, arranged and coordinated everything, "Write a letter to His Majesty the Emperor and Imperial Caesar at the same time, telling them that Gawain has recovered Lepanto and Pereira, and has preserved the barrier of the imperial capital, and his tone should be very humble." ”

These two small seaport towns, small in size, were definitely choke points, and Gawain's good news soon followed the land and sea post roads of the empire towards Constantinople, and then on the way, intersected with letters sent by Anna to Corinth.

Gawain deliberately separated the two letters by one day, so it was McAulinus who was the first to get the good news, and after a little rectification, he quietly sent a personal messenger to inform Empress Irene of Brachnari, and soon the undercurrent in the palace surged.

Empress Irene and Caesar then instructed their close court officials to advise Alexios that he should be promoted to rank and position, given the title of Judge of the First Army, and acting as Governor of the Viceroyalty of Barry (although this Viceroyalty is long gone).

But soon, the Vice-Empress Marlena, found the brother of Isaac, and almost at the same time told Alexios: At this moment, the small group of Norman bandits has been repulsed, and the land and water passages have been opened, and the confidant Emperor should be appointed as the commander, or His Majesty should personally go to the Peloponnese to sweep away the forces of Zahaas, and by the way, Gawain's army will be included in the theater of this expedition.

The purpose of Isaac's proposal could not be more obvious, he wanted to be the commander of the conquest of the Turkic Zahas, that is, to take advantage of this victory to destroy Zahas, and to annex Gawain's men and exploits.

The only one who was really immersed in the dream of victory seemed to be Anna in the small dormitory, she was concerned, and she didn't know if Gawain had received her letter, heard her congratulations and heartfelt voices, she could only lie on the table and continue to write the letter, hoping that it could really wear the winged boots of the pagan god Mercury, through the fog of the ocean and the dark land of the valley, and send it to Gawain's hands. Gawain sat on his knees on a rough stool, beside the napping servants, the pot boiling broth, the soldiers outside escorting the barbarian prisoners of war, and the Earl Commander brutally tore open her secret letter with his short sword, and listened to the clerk read it with his cheeks, and then smiled under his brown beard, the kind of grit that was rough and triumphant when he learned the thoughts of the eldest princess.

"What the hell am I doing, and what am I," Anna was sometimes ashamed after thinking about it, so she leaned on the table and stared at the candle flame that was getting bigger and more blurry in her eyes.

"The First Army Judge is just a fictitious title, I can give him as much as I want, and if not, I can always make one for Gawain in flexible and fickle Greek." Alexios, who was in charge of official business in the palace, disagreed, "As for Isaac's request, it is not allowed - Gawain's men are going to Amalfi, it would be better if they could break the siege, if not, it would be good"

Then the Emperor said to the Imperial Ink Officer, "In this way, he will give Gawain the official title of 'Lombard Company Aconis,' and a hundred fourth-line Corinthian silks, and urge him to hand over seventy percent of the royal booty, and thirty percent for his own use, and continue his march into Italy." As for Isaac, I also gave him the position of commander of the expedition against Iokaat, telling him to do a good job this time and not lose to Gawain. ”

Then, with a mischievous smile, the Emperor gently removed the extra candles with his scissors, "Go on, Gawain." I want to see how far you can go. ”

When the imperial ink official Meles drafted the edict, he couldn't laugh or cry: "Aconis" is the title of the commander of the barbarian mercenaries of the empire, and the emperor gave him so, and the implication is very clear: Stephen. Gawain, you will always be just a member of the outer circle of the Empire, and you will not have a dominant position in bloodline and origin at all. Then, with great force, Myles stamped the edict in purple ink with the imperial seal.