A day later, at General Matthew's camp, he first realized that something was wrong: after the fog of the plateau, the camp of the Defender's Brigade opposite him seemed to be dead silent, and as recently as last night it was a scene of smoke curling from the cooking. Pen × fun × Pavilion www. ｂｉｑｕｇｅ。 ｉｎｆｏ

Several scouts with quivers on their backs, in an evacuation formation, paced through the plains to the camp of the Guardian Brigade, which had approached Philomeron, only to find that it was indeed an empty camp, and that the cavalry and the outposts guarding the guard were not even visible.

Mathieu was greatly surprised, and rode his own horse, and came to the foot of the mountain, only to see that the tents and tents on it were all available, and they were all spread all over the hillside, but there were not half a man, not half a beast, "Quick, go and report to His Majesty the Emperor--This brigade that had come from the enemy's flank suddenly retreated in the direction of Anglasburg, the purpose of which was unknown, the purpose of which was unknown. ”

By this time, Branas, who had already commanded all the soldiers of the brigade, rushed to the Sakarya River, and really began to advance towards Anglasburg. At first, the soldiers quietly drove their livestock, carried their luggage, and pulled their wagons along the pass, but now the sun has risen and shone on the fields and rivers, and the soldiers have begun to march and sing hymns and war songs as loudly as they please.

And in the tower of Fort Anglas, the watchman of Diognis, who was guarding the fire, had a dull and desperate look on his face, and he was wrapped in a dirty head, and the iron flail was lonely against the wall, and he crouched there with a dagger to cut a piece of wood, and what he was going to cut and what he was going to do, the warden did not know anything, but just sat there blankly, doing such things to kill time.

The siege of the fortress lasted so long, first besieged by two brigades of the enemy, then into one, and then into Gawain's second-line border army, but even then Diognis could not rush out and could not repel the enemy. The messengers sent out desperately to report the news of the emperor were only "Hold on", "Be sure to hold on", "I am very pleased that Anglas has succeeded in containing a large number of enemies", "Find a way, please hold on", and there is no change.

For the Emperor and Gawain, this time passed quickly, but for Diognis time had stood still, as did the entire fortress defenders. Looking down through the firing holes in the tower, the soldiers on the edge of the pheasant fence lay together sleepily and boredly, with shields, single-edged knives, hooks, and stones lying all around them, and below them were a long siege camp - Walter and Monomachus did not carry out any strong attack, but quietly besieged the castle, waiting for it to ripen......

"The Guardian Brigade withdrew. Where it went, it was to concentrate its forces on the capture of Anglasburg; Or did they go around to another flank in an attempt to threaten my camp? The emperor, who had received the military information in the imperial camp, was also greatly surprised, and summoned the generals to ask such questions.

Everyone immediately knew about Suosuo, and all gathered around the sand table and began to talk and discuss.

But at this moment, several eunuchs suddenly ran in with pale faces, and told the emperor with trembling news that "Bohemond gathered ten thousand soldiers in Taranto, Apulia, and Calabria, and rushed to the city of Bari, expelled the siege of Ancona and Venice, and then marched north to defeat five thousand Ancona mercenaries at Focha (Foggia). Now the great traitor is clamoring to cross the sea and drive directly to the city of Durazo, and destroy all the empire along the way, Durazo, Larissa, Corinth, Thessaloniki, ......"

"Say no more!" The Emperor's eyes suddenly darkened, and he involuntarily staggered two steps, his boots as if he had stepped on soft sand, and then he fell to his seat, weakly clenching his fists and panting.

Bohemond ...... How could he move so quickly...... He shouldn't have the strength to organize and hire so many soldiers anymore. "For a long time, the emperor said bitterly.

The lush, fertile, low-lying fields of Focha, divided by clumps of dark woods, drove the Norman knights slowly drove their horses past the battlefield where a vicious battle had just broken out, and the Ancona mercenaries were crushed, more than a thousand people were slaughtered, and the rest were scattered and fled. Corpses and pools of blood were gathered together, covered with horseshoe marks that raced by. "I love Italy, it will always be as young and beautiful as a girl, and the climate is pleasant, much stronger than Anatolia and the Levant." Bohemond, who looked down on the hillside, reveled in reins as the Calabrian light soldiers beside him lined up with the Phnom Penh Sacred Banner and the Flying Leopard Battle Flag, and the Duke of Apulia survived his death, and quickly regained his majesty when he returned home.

Bohemond's cavalry blitzkrieg not only crushed the Ancona army attacking the city of Bari, but also forced the Venetian fleet to withdraw. Eugene in the city of Rome. Pope Owenseth gave him the honor of the Guardians, praising him as great as his father.

But if the emperor's doubts are solved, the answer is that the bank of Gawain in the city of Bari took out all the money and gave Bohemond 30,000 Byzantian gold coins at one time, 10,000 in cash and 20,000 in the bank with its own credit guarantee (historically, Charles of Anjou organized 30,000 men to invade Naples and Sicily, and when the Pope destroyed the enemy Hohenstaufen Dynasty, the pro-papal cities such as Florence provided the Anjou army with 144,000 gold florins, this beautiful coin engraved with lilies, It was stained with blood from the moment of its birth), and of course there was also the private property of the Pope, and the patronage of the Lady Matilda of Tuscany, who could tolerate and support the existence of the city of Bari, just as he would not tolerate the forces of Commnénia and Henry IV going deep into Italy and invading him.

With this money, his own prestige and fame, and the papal support, Bohemond was of course able to quickly pull up a group of troops—not even to worry about the source of soldiers, because with the rise of the Crusades, all over southern Italy were mercenaries begging for a living, and as long as they scattered the coins, there would be no one to worry about.

The emissaries of Ancona, who begged for an armistice, stood in front of Bohemond's horse in despair, and they said that they would sever their friendship with the Greek emperor of Constantinople, and that they would no longer dare to defy the wrath of the Pope and the Duke, and that they would pay Bohemond 20,000 grossos of silver.

"Very well, where are we going next?" Bohemond was accompanied by two Norman noble knights Gay (gay...... who had not had time to emigrate to the East. and Claret asked the ambitious duke.

Bohemond curled his red beard and pointed to the east, where the Adriatic Sea stretched at the end of the plain of Focha, "I will follow in my father's footsteps and go to Durazzo to meet the Greek emperor, if he can return alive from the Anatolian plateau......" (To be continued. )