As a result, Mikhail had just rushed down the earthen embankment when he saw a fierce cavalry rushing in among the deserters of the other side like lightning, the horse's hooves rolled up large patches of snow, the horse's nose and the white mist exhaled by the population, the general in front of him with a turban wrapped around his head, a strong horned bow behind his back, and an iron flail hanging from his saddle, passing directly in front of his eyes, chasing the fleeing cavalry just now. Pen? Interesting? Pavilion wWw. ｂiquge。 ｉｎfo

The general on horseback was none other than Theognes.

The thoughts in this heart at this moment are completely different from Mikhail's, and he is full of desire to avenge the death of the emperor.

Even though Alexios never reused him until he died, and only gave him a small position as the military governor of the border area, he still had to shoulder this duty, and vowed to kill the traitor Tetisius.

I went from Tbilisi to Sinop and then to Medea for one purpose.

Presumably, Gawain also realized this, so he asked me to take on the role of commander of the task force.

And he knew that Tetisius was cunning as a fox, and if there was anyone in this camp who broke out, it must be him. The Catcher's brain power is not as good as that of Tetisius, but this is also his advantage, "No matter what, biting you to the death is the greatest truth." ”

Wasn't he called "the evil dog of Komunen" by Bohemond back then?

Now the horror of being bitten all the way was truly felt by Tetisius and John: when they rode outside Adrianople, they found that Tarsus' brigade had arrived there, and that the fort was clearly ready to surrender, when the captor and his cavalry came after him from behind, and could only rush along the Evros River in the direction of Fort Philip.

At Fort Philip, it was also seized by a group of lurking Paulinees, who pretended to be envoys of the new emperor and ordered the defenders to surrender, and the group of soldiers who had never seen the world at the city wall really thought that such an intimidation would open the gates and hand over the keys—the rest of the torsos and organs were disfunctioning so quickly after the backbone of an empire was broken.

The captor followed the cavalry all the way.

At this time, only twenty or thirty horsemen were left beside Tetisius, John, and Axepocos.

And from the captured captives, Diognis had learned that among the objects he was chasing was really the target he had always wanted revenge, so he was even more erect like the three vicious dogs of hell with a fiery tongue, showing sharp and terrifying fangs, changing three mounts in a row, and continued to pursue and bite to death, like a sharp arrow that always followed John's back!

Somewhat desperate, John seemed to understand the secret of his father's escape from the battlefield of Philomeron to Nicaea, and now he had no choice but to continue to flee, aiming for the city of Thessaloniki (Thessalonica), where he hoped that the garrison general Cezes would remain loyal to his country and accept him.

But he also understood that the whole of Thrace had been lost.

Then what will be left to him in the future may not even exist in half of the country, and it may be just the "remnants of mountains and water" in a small land.

In that case, it would be more humiliating to live than to die.

But Tetisius and Axepocus continued to encourage him, saying that we should run south as hard as we can, down the Odomanti Mountains, as far as we could get to Philippi and see the "Via Egnandia" running through it, and then quickly west along the avenue, and when we reached the city of Thessaloniki, we would be safe for the time being.

But the vicious dog Theognes was still chasing after them.

No matter how they tried to get out of it, they sent men to lure them by the side, they sent men to ambush them in the middle, or they chose the path to escape: Diognis always proved to be completely futile after they had done these things, and he was not disturbed at all, and soon appeared again with men and horses with bows and arrows on the hills half a mile away from them, or even more, and overlooked and controlled their next course, and continued to approach.

Finally, at nightfall on the edge of Philippi, the junction of Egnandia Boulevard, John heard the undulating roar of the waves of the Southern Holy Sea.

He couldn't take it anymore, jumped off his horse, was exhausted, fell to the ground and cried in the direction of the ocean.

Philippi, an ominous castle, was the last Roman legion to defend the republic in antiquity, where the last legion to defend the republic fought a bloody battle against the legion determined to establish a dictatorship, but in the end the former turned into a tragedy - and thus Philippi is more associated with the word "defeat" than "triumph".

But John was still inferior to Brutus at that time, at least the other party still had the capital for a decisive battle, and in addition to these poor cronies around him, his power could be described as gone, and John was at a loss in the face of the same empty avenue, castle and sea.

The nomadic howl sounded from the hills beside the street—and Theognes reappeared, his cloak hollowed by thorns, but still in pursuit, followed by about fifty Oghussars, all with scimitars and quivers, silently and cruelly watching the prey in the streets.

John's horse, from the moment he came down, fell to the ground and twitched, and was close to being half dead.

As a result, Tetisius gave up one of his horses to John and told him to flee quickly, for "we are no match for this group of men at all, outnumbered." ”

And "Axepocaus can continue to help you in the future, and you will have to go to Thessaloniki with him anyway, but not against Zes, or even Isaac. Komnenos had much hope, it was better to quietly get a ship and sail directly to Crete to seek the protection of the Venetians, and there were also a large number of Pronian territories of the Imperial Princess, enough for His Majesty to protect himself. ”

With this, Tetisius took his bow from his horse, turned and galloped down the hill to kill Diognis who was running towards him, his turban whirring in the night wind.

"Tetisius!" John, who was pushed on his horse, shouted at General Slash.

And Tetisius turned his ugly and flawed face, looked at John in the distance, and said two Turkic proverbs that the other party could not understand and could not hear:

"Preach this to the wise,

The foal grows up and the horse is idle.

At this time, the old horse no longer needs to be driven or ridden by people. ”

Then he looked at the bleak sunset in the evening over the peaks north of Philippi, with its snow and scattered like a remnant fire in an ice cellar, and the angry horses rushed at the unstoppable Theognes.

"The morning glow is as brilliant as a woman's birth, and the sunset is as tragic as the enemy's felt."

Then his horse's head charm swayed, and his horse's hooves flew like a bird, and he rushed towards Theognes like a bird, and his tongue fluttered rapidly, making a sound simulating the swaying of an arrow in his sac.

And the moment he saw Tetisius remove his mask, Diognes' eyes immediately filled with the blood of the narrow encounter, and he galloped and roared, "Traitor who killed the king, now I will punish you with my bow and sword!" ”