The Tekopo mercenaries were all good at horsemanship, after all, they were of Turkic blood, they carried weapons and shooting tools, and formed two columns, followed by the count and the captor, and in the middle were the team of pack beasts, and a few shepherd husbands. On both sides of the road were linden and mulberry trees at first, and the workshops and dyeing houses in various places, all the property of the widow Ingrid, which made Theognes dumbfounded, and soon they were presented with barren sand and mountains, with only the occasional remnants of the walls and ruins of the ancient era, in which goats came and went, gnawing on all kinds of herbaceous plants.

Fifteen hundred years earlier, when the Greek city-states were often engaged in protracted city-state wars over water and gardens the size of a projectile, but now, most of the towns and cities were lost, and what remained was surrounded by desolate seas, and the cavalry, which excelled at speed, became the most cost-effective class of troops in the region.

First they walked slowly, then they trot, and at about dusk, they arrived at a distance of ten gumia from Kadmia, and "dismounted and rested." With this command, the Turks ran to the shade of the trees, and carried their own bladders of water along the precious springs that flowed down from the rocks of the cliffs, moistening their cracked lips.

A sentinel climbed up the rock to watch, and Gawain and Theognes, holding their whips, looked at the distant terrain in the middle of the river, which was the site of the ancient city of Thebes, and was later destroyed by Alexander the Great's father, Philip the One-Eyed, and now stands on the plains only the monastery of the Orthodox Church, and the fortress of Kadmia, which was originally used as an acropolis, built on a cobblestone plateau, and whose outline can now be seen with the naked eye.

"It's hard to hold here, the city of Kadmia is still some distance from the only source of water around it, the spring at the foot of the mountain, and the equipment used to pump water in the pagan era has disappeared." Diognis drank the drink in his bag and said to Gawain.

"Why don't you build one again?"

"Some say that the skills are lost, but I think the main thing is that it is difficult for the empire to invest in this aspect." There was helplessness in Diognis's words.

Gawain also felt helpless, and suddenly he patted the back of the guard, and the other party looked in the direction of Gawain's finger, "Normans, when did they appear!" Diognis was shocked and angry.

In the pass north of Kadmia, as if out of the ground, about thirty Norman knights in glittering chain mail, ten with spears with small banners, others with shields and swords, rushed down the hill in an instant from the billowing sand under the cover of seven or eight lightly armed Calabrian riders, the obvious target was the spring.

At this time, the people and herdsmen who were originally guarding the pack beasts under the shade of the trees also came over one after another to watch the excitement.

In the fortress of Kadmia, at the sound of alarming gongs and drums, about a hundred plainly clothed civilians rushed down, some on horseback and some on foot, to prevent the Normans from seizing the spring in the plain area.

"There's a Norman over there, too!" Diognis's eagle-like eyes soon saw that in the valley on the west side of the hill fort, dozens of Calabrian light cavalry, armed only with shields and swords, mixed with a dozen Norman knights, rushed out.

In the sound of hula thunder, the first thirty Norman knights to rush in the north, and the ten with mounted spears at the beginning, always lined up in a horizontal line on the galloping horseback, and then put down the cavalry spears in unison, and suddenly crushed the Kadmian militia who came to the rescue of the spring, and the whole team was instantly defeated, and then the Norman knights followed up with swords and slashed, and the team in the valley on the west side also broke through - the more than 100 civilian troops who rushed out, I am afraid that none of them could return alive.

The fierceness and fearlessness of the Norman knights, and the tacit understanding of the tactics, made Gawain's back feel cold, "Diognes, the mission to transport Kadmia is canceled immediately, and we will immediately turn back to Corinth." ”

Then, Gawain looked back and saw that Minfu and Tekopo mercenaries were watching the battle in twos and threes, and there was no regular queue at all, so he couldn't help but be furious, "Diognes, hurry up and return with the whole team, quickly!" ”

The catcher had just stepped on horseback when the sentry let out a terrifying shout, and then he stared at the steep hillside opposite—a knight with a red flis shield embroidered with the Flying Leopard logo, with a sharp spear, was watching them with eagle-like eyes.

As their eyes met, Diognis couldn't help but recall the horrors of the battlefield of Durazo's hell, the terror brought to him by the pair of flaxen eyes that the Normans had covered under their masks, and that had been the cunning battlefield killer Robert Tho. Guiscut, now his grandson, Tancred.

Damn bastards, how did they find us, and how did they come here without knowing the hell? The sentry had not noticed beforehand that Diognes' face had turned pale, his feet were welded in place, and he could not move.

"Raul, follow me and cover me, kill this group, and don't let one go back to Corinth." Tancred said.

"Yes, it won't be long, rabble." The white-bearded Raul behind him smiled and buckled the visor from his large barrel-shaped helmet, and then Tancred jumped down with a spear, Raul and five or six chainmail riders followed closely behind, and the men and horses screamed, and rushed straight towards the small slope where Gawain's men and horses were.

At this moment, the people suddenly exploded, gave up their positions one after another, regardless of the dissuasion of the soldiers, ran around like a flock of sheep, a team of Tekopo mercenaries had no choice but to draw their bows and arrows to shoot arrows at the oncoming Norman knights without the cover of the wooden fence, but to no avail, the arrows wanted to shoot at these high-speed galloping warriors, it was really difficult.

In an instant, Tancred left the rest of the people behind, and took the lead, and came to a place two arrows away from Gawain, "Diognes, you protect this place and organize a counterattack, I'll deal with the arrogant guy who left the team first." Before the commander could come to his senses, Gawain raised his Byzantine spear and aimed it at the young Norman warrior in front of him, realizing that Gawain was going to gain time and Tancred was going to be caught off guard.

Gawain was followed by two Tekopo soldiers on horseback, and Muzafiadin Addin, who carried a shield on his back.

When Gawain rode Sabina and ran out of the land half an arrow at once, he happened to be in front of Tancred!

Boom, the spears of both sides were leveled almost at the same time, and they had to face each other head-on after three seconds. At this time, even Tank Red was greatly surprised, how could this person also know the Norman charging tactics? Could it be a fellow from the rest of the region hired by the Greek emperor?

At the same time, two Tekopo cavalrymen, one on the left and one on the right, took the lead in raising their bows and arrows, and began to face Tancred, ready to shoot arrows to disrupt his charge.

"Be careful, master!" Mu Zafei Adin suddenly shouted such a sentence behind his back.

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Tomorrow's business trip, may focus on the evening update.