"Now the situation is very delicate, and the 8,000 Imperial troops are in Antioch, where all forces are intertwined, and I personally feel that it is better for Gawain to be willing to unite with us than to wander away from us or even turn against us." Tetisius faced the questioning and explained his reasons.

Then General Snis paused, and continued, "The ownership of Antioch is a matter of great concern to His Majesty, but he does not have enough troops to monitor the actions of the pilgrims. ”

"You mean, even after the fall of Antioch, the Normans and Franks would not be willing to return the city to the Empire, but Gawain can be trusted?"

"In any case, although the spirit and demeanor of the barbarians from the West are not in the emperor's sight, they are not fools after all. Previously, in the Grand Palace, they signed an oath with the emperor, promising to return all the lands they had conquered along the way to His Majesty, but now Gawain, Baldwin, and Normans have begun to divide their territories in Asia Minor and the Levant, which shows that the essence of the original oath has long since collapsed, and although the emperor previously occupied half of Anatolia, it is almost impossible to verbally claim the city of Antioch from the barbarians. Tetisius walked to the weapon rack, touched the raised pattern carving on the shield, and looked back at Diognis behind him, "So in the chess game of today's game, if Gawain does not unite with us, the imperial army will only have eight thousand men, and it will be at an absolute disadvantage compared with more than ten thousand pilgrims; If Gawain unites with us, the dice we have are like a dose of lead, which is much safer, and can squeeze out the ambitions of many pilgrims to covet Antioch, so that the emperor will have room to make a move, at least to maintain the situation of the two factions fighting, and the Lord Raymond of Provence can also be fought for. ”

"That is in the office, and I still have to make this Privy Council established. Report to the Imperial Palace, and to the location of His Majesty Adrianople's conquest. ”

Tetisius bowed his head and made an inviting gesture, an attitude that did not mind.

So the guard gasped, sat down on the desk, and lifted the reed pen in a very graceful manner. Then he thumped the table and said, "Now we can only hope that the game will evolve in favor of the empire." ”

In front of the Syrian Gate, the pale gray cliffs, the white droplets of the waves, constantly crashing and colliding, between the winding mountain roads, the Jimagis Brigade about 2,000 combat-ready armed men. Holding the Silver Spike Battle Banner, led by Gregor, they cheered and lined up along the road to welcome Gawain's army.

As far as Gawain could see, the Syrian refuge camp in the mountains was well organized by Gregor, with herds, crowds, dock forts, and makeshift crops in order. He was right, the Syrian Greeks had been second-class citizens for hundreds of years. But none of their ancestral skills have been discarded - many Syrians are carrying food, cheese and cloth to supply the passing armies.

Many people knelt down in front of the heads and banners of Gawain and Tetisius, and said with tears in their eyes, saying that after many years, they had finally seen the army of the Romanian Empire again, and the guards who followed them were also deeply moved. I also used my fingers to wipe the tears from the corners of my eyes.

Subsequently, Gawain and Tetisius were stationed in Fort Alexandria Lesser to pacify the local military towns and villages, but did not rush to the siege of Antioch, and sent the Gimagius Brigade to the port of St. Simon. There were originally 300 soldiers stationed at Raymond to secure the road to Antioch.

But strangely, when their flag officer saw Gawain's banner coming, he handed over the port without any reaction, and in this way it officially fell into the hands of the Privy Council and his army on behalf of the Byzantine Roman Empire.

The representatives of the fleet of Pisa and Reladuck were summoned to the castle of Little Alexandria, where they passed through the rows of soldiers armed with great and terrifying spears, with their waists bowed and fearful, and then the majestic Grand Duke and the noseless Imperial Marching Governor stood in front of the inner gates and told them, "From this date onwards, each city-state in the port area shall have its own berths and unloading trestles, and it is forbidden to fight each other privately, and those who violate the prohibition are not allowed." This order was signed in a document issued by the Privy Council of the Roman Expedition and placed in the hands of the delegates.

The news spread like an arrow to the city of Antioch, in the tent by the altar, and Ademar was shocked and puzzled, "Stephen. Gawain, which camp does he belong to! Now the supreme command of the siege should be in the hands of the Council of Cardinals of the Catholic Church, and some Privy Council of the Roman Empire has popped up out of nowhere. ”

The young priest next to him had a different opinion, and he attached himself to his ear and told Admar, "His Holiness the Pope keeps sending us letters asking us to 'make friends and attack from afar,' that is, in Anatolia and Antioch, to try not to fall out with the Greek emperor and the Armenians, and to explore the vision of the unity of the East and West of the Church." ”

Ademar waved his hand, indicating that he certainly knew what the other party said, and that the Holy See of Urban was now full of thoughts about the great cause of reunification in his hands after the Church of the East and the West broke with each other fifty years ago, and then after Urban's death, he could proudly say to the Lord, "I have done two insignificant things in my life, one is to encourage the believers to recover the Holy City, and the second is to reunite Catholicism and Orthodoxy, of course, some other things are okay, but they are not big compared to these two, Needless to say. ”

Therefore, the Holy See of the Pope, while trying to maintain superficial cooperation with Constantinople in the East, at least cannot lift the table; On the other hand, they constantly instigated countries such as Hungary and Za'tar to rebel against Constantinople, one in the east and one in the west, and they were very busy.

"Do you want to convene a council of cardinals to discuss this?" The young priest looked at Admar a little distressed and reminded.

The priesthood shook his head, "No, it's not easy to reach the coordinated unity of the besieging army now, and it is to make persistent efforts and Yaji. At the moment of the decisive battle of Xiyang, it will inevitably be a fierce infighting and quarrel. Don't worry too much about the reinforcements from the Greek Emperor, just lower your profile and invite them to join the battle as soon as possible. ”

Admar's decision proved wise, and three days after a polite reply, 20,000 men of the Roman Empire acceded to his request and reached the plains by the "iron bridge" of the Orontes River (12,000 men of Gawain and 8,000 men of Tetisius) to join the general assault on the city of Antioch.

It was upon arrival that the Armenian nobleman Taplunz immediately crossed the river with his men, broke his oath in private, went to the Norman Tancred, and informed him and Bohemond of the establishment of the "Imperial Council". (To be continued.) )