The next day, in the courtyard of Eudoxia's house, adjacent to the Bull Square, the noblewoman received the letter from the messenger, and hurried to the hidden pavilion in the back garden, where she could tell who the owner of the letter was from the strange stamps on the envelope, but recently Gawain's secret letter had been delivered to her, and warned her not to continue to help Anna deliver the letter, and the tone was urgent.

Gawain regards Eudasia as the most trustworthy person in the imperial capital, "All for the sake of the eldest princess, if you exchange letters again, it may be dangerous for her, Emperor Alexios has confirmed that he is not in Adrianople, and he is missing, but I speculate that he may have sneaked back to the imperial capital, there will be a big fight in the palace recently, you and Anna have to stay out of it, or it is extremely difficult for Anna to get out of it, I hope you can protect and help her behind the scenes."

Gao Wenzhi is the most respected lady.

May Christ bless your youth, beauty, and soul. ”

According to Gawain, could it be that the emperor would return to the capital like this, and what kind of drama is this? Despite her incredulity, Eudohia quietly placed the letter by the stone wall of the pavilion, in a hidden and movable storage compartment, straightened her clothes, and ordered her servants to go and prepare their shoulders.

"I'm going to the Brachna Palace to visit the queen and the eldest princess, and discuss the arrangements for the celebration of the eldest princess's upcoming wedding."

But soon there was a little noise in the front yard, and Yudohya, who had just said that she had put on her jewelry, came to the hall on the steps with dissatisfaction, and saw several yellow-and-red-haired men in cloaks, and at first glance it was the Varangian court guards who had broken in, "If you need a liquor store, you should go to the camp where the inferior people gather, and this is the private property of the noble court officials." Eudohiah thought that a drunken soldier had come to make trouble, so she rebuked him severely.

The soldiers fell on deaf ears. Then Yudohya heard someone calling her name from the crowd that followed, "Mikhail? With this voice, the emperor's chief of guard lifted the cloak that covered his head, and then the old man beside him did the same, it turned out to be His Excellency the Great Eunuch. Then there were her brothers, the Shield Guard Commander Yagfi, and the Ink Commander Meles.

Now it was Yudoshia's turn to be stunned, her husband should still be guarding the area from Fort Philip to Fort Sophia, following His Majesty the Emperor on the expedition, why is he here with his uncle now? But the woman's mind was swift: everything was exactly as Gawain had assumed in his letter, so—and soon Eudosia hurried to the atrium and bowed down. "Your Supreme Majesty, I didn't expect your holy face to appear in the courtyard of the Humble House, and I was immediately flattered."

The man dressed as a general in the center also smiled secretly, and then took off the coarse cloth robe dressed as a pilgrim, revealing black curvy hair mixed with white hair, and took Yudohia's hand. En's permission allowed her to get up and talk, "My dearest daughter-in-law. Did my presumptuous visit cause trouble to the mistress of your house? ”

That's right, it's really Emperor Komnenos who came, Gawain guessed it was not wrong at all, this time Yudoshia's body was hot and cold, I don't know if it was a fluke to hide Anna's letter in advance just now. It is still strange that His Majesty the Emperor suddenly visited the inner relationship with the "great palace battle", or should I admire the foresight of Gawain, a barbarian.

But Alexios only looked at her meaningfully, and then, following his servant, he stepped into the hall and sat down, and then he said something very shocking on the spot. "Now in this imperial capital, there are people who want to covet my throne, and there are thieves who want to harm me, and they want to usurp the sacred power given to me by the Senate and the people! Therefore, I did not dare to stay in Adrianople for a few more moments, but entrusted the bulk of the army to Sebastoclat, and I took my henchmen and more than a dozen guards, mixed with the pilgrims, and rode back to the capital at a gallop. Then Alexios waved his hand, and the warriors of the guard immediately sealed the doors and windows of the courtyard completely.

"From now on, no one is allowed to enter or leave this place, including the hostess, and you must not be surprised by Eudohya." Alexios, with a deep smile, frightened Yudosia to his knees, expressing that he had no intention of displease. But the emperor did not go into this polite remark, and then he stood up and said to Mikhail, "How many pilgrims are there on the capital now?" ”

Mikhail immediately straightened up, and then replied, "There are three groups, one has crossed the Sophia Fort and is coming to the capital, and it is the team of Peter the hermit; One group of Normans, who had arrived in Thessalonica, was Bohemond; The last group was the most large, consisting of the brothers Godfrey, the commander-in-chief of Salian Caesar, Robert, Duke of Normandy, Hugh, brother of the King of Île-de-France, and His Majesty's close friend, the great Duke of Toulouse, His Excellency Raymond. ”

"Where's Gawain?"

"It's not clear yet, but the latest intelligence suggests that he has taken orders from His Majesty to enter Fort Sophia, but has turned to the land of Wallachia and gone to suppress the remnants of the Tevris." Mikhail continued to answer fluently.

"The steppe wolves and barbarians will clean him up." Alexios looked very satisfied, and then he analyzed with his hands behind his back and said:

"First of all, the hermit monks don't have to bother this way, the two main Frankish knights among them have already received the gift of the Empire, and have long been led by my nose; Raymond is my friend, and even if Godfrey and the others are rebellious, I can handle it; Only Bohemond is the one who needs to be on the lookout for the most. ”

"But Your Majesty" the eunuch on the other side raised his flabby eyelids, as if he had something to remind, and then Alexios raised his hand to stop him, "It's okay, I already have a complete strategy, and I have a complete strategy. ”

So the rest of the people lowered their hands and praised the emperor's heroism in unison, and Yudohya's forehead was full of sweat, and she felt that the emperor's eyes were always staring at her from time to time, and she didn't know if it was caused by her own weakness, or if His Majesty really saw through herself.

"That's amazing, Gawain, what the hell are you doing!"

In front of the Iron Gate Fort, the autumn wind was fierce, and Gao Wen, who climbed the Tutai Tower, announced in front of all the soldiers: The autumn prevention time has come, and the city will be banned from now on!

Now the atmosphere has been very tense, some merchants from the location of the Cuman royal court, told the Red Hand Dalian team: Khan King Yasen with his luxurious court tent, and tens of thousands of Cuman cavalry, is pressing towards the ferry, many people in the Slavic and Bolgar villages on all sides have fled, and the rest of the people are also suspicious, according to the "insider" of the faithful religion: many people are interested in the wealth stored in the Iron Gate Fort, and want to follow the Khan King Yasen to join the ranks of attacking the fortress.

So Gawain withdrew all the military pastors who were preaching everywhere.

"The cavalry of the Fort should also be careful, it is not enough to hand over to Muzafiadin, Giovanni and Bramson are also sent to assist in the defense—because not only the Cumans will come, but the Tevris will also invade along the southern bank—and this is especially important to be careful about, because Yasin will not be foolish enough to brave the arrows and projectiles of the Iron Gate Fort to force his way here."

After arranging, Gawain slowly squatted down, rubbed his hands, pinched the hilt of the Sword of Phosphorus and Fire, and then looked at the location of Constantinople in the vast clouds, and then looked at the murderous northern wasteland, and his heart sank, "Don't think that the Red Hand Dalian is still a weak chicken that can be served to the table at any time, this time it will crush you like an ant, Yasen still has that sinister and vicious black beauty called something." ”

On the occasion of the martyrdom of St. Epreus (the third Friday of the eighth month of the ancient calendar, in honor of Saint Eplios), many monks in the Iron Gate Fort were kneeling in the wooden chapel, lighting candlesticks, and performing their usual morning prayers, when they heard a strange whistling, and then the doors, windows and candles seemed to shake collectively, and the military priest of the Orthodox Church of the city of Mingbali who took the lead kissed the cross, and then walked out of the door of the chapel, and saw His Excellency the Grand Duke who was hurrying this way, still wearing a helmet on his head. The army of the Cumans is coming! ”

The sound just now was from the lever stone thrower in the fortress, and the river rose up with a column of water smashed by stones.

To Gawain's laughter, as soon as King Yasin Khan's party crossed the Danube and reached the northern shore of the Morava River, he drove his subordinate Slavs and Bulgars to paddle from the north bank in rudimentary boats made of wicker and birch. All made the outpost of the Dalian scout light soldiers stunned, it seems that this king who has come from Wallachia is an upright!

At the sound of the slogan, after the wooden poles erected along the river bank and the shields of the earth were inserted, the companies of sailors of Amalfi, Schiavoyny, and Saracen, as well as the crossbowmen of Benevento, began to use lit fire arrows and tailless crossbow arrows, and poured wave after wave towards the water, and the blood mist expanded and exploded, and the invading barbarians on the boat, one after another, were shot one after another, and fell into the water, "shooting at the enemy's captains." "Here, the various column commanders in the company are still correcting and adjusting the firing frequency and targets of their subordinates.

Burning birch boats were everywhere on the wide river, and the corpses were washed up on the beachhead and the meanders, and there were more heads rising in the raging waves, stretching out their hands and shouting for help.

"What, even our catapults and catapults didn't come in handy!" On the cannon position behind the wooden fence of the fort, the craftsmen cheered as they watched the fireworks roll on the water.

At this time, Gawain climbed the tower to observe for a while, and saw that the Cuman cavalry on the opposite bank was densely packed, holding the flags of bull skulls and sheep skulls, and there was no intention of attacking, nor did he mean to retreat. In addition, I took three companies of Italian veterans, and three companies of Greek infantry, to the front of the sub-fort where the cavalry was located, and the decisive battle might be fought there." (To be continued.) )