As soon as the ceremony of the Imperial Princess was over, the Emperor's sails were hoisted, and on the cold morning after the snow had melted, they laid pontoons on the gray-blue waters of the Golden Horn, and then placed huge chains between the two towers, sealing off the entire bay full of ice floes. Then the soldiers rowing the Panphylian light boats, armed with swords and bows and arrows, filled the seashore and the waterways of the city with great vigour, looking for a Varyag barbarian with brown hair and blue eyes, and a girl with small black hair and brown eyes, and forced the ships in the entire imperial capital not to sail freely, even the local fishing boats were under their control.

Mikhail, the chief of the guard, with five hundred Tekopo and Cuman cavalry, clinging to the banner given by the Emperor, rushed to the pilgrims' camp in a whirlwind. Gawain is a servant of His Majesty, and no outsider can stop him! ”

But when Mikhail arrived at the camp of the Dalian team, he couldn't help but gasp: this camp had formed a temporary fortress.

It turned out that when the other pilgrim camps would only foolishly use the coins given by the emperor to buy the supplies provided by the emperor, Gawain secretly only bought grain and straw through the channels of Venice and Amalfi, and stored the money sent by the emperor and handed it over to the Gallipoli Monastery, and the Imam Desiderius used this money to secretly recruit craftsmen, plus the strength of the Dalian team's own company of craftsmen, and built a half-moon-shaped camp near the coast with wood and stones, the tents of 30,000 pilgrims in Gotschalk, Outside of it, Gawain also transported goods from the city of Bari and Venice on his own. Set up a camp to compete with the emperor's channels.

This led to Alexios' recent treasury intakes. Reduced by a quarter, a large amount of Byzantian gold coins flowed into Gawain's pocket. However, the emperor had been preoccupied with Anna's wedding ceremony and would not have time to settle the matter.

On the tower of the barracks, Mikhail saw Peter, dressed in black robes with a somewhat lame leg (his feet had been damaged by the poisonous gas in the dungeon of Emperor Agnes after only a few days in it), and said in a hoarse voice, "Honorable chief of the Emperor's guard, I don't know what I have come to teach you on this trip." ”

"Your Majesty decrees that all the pilgrims and marquis are invited to the Grand Palace. Receive imperial hospitality. ”

"Is it because of the marriage of the princess of the empire?"

"That's right, and the emperor has also issued an order, the Normans have completely crossed the strait, and the fleet of imperial sailors is exhausted and overwhelmed, so in the next week, the large and small ports in the imperial capital will be temporarily sealed, and after the feast is over, your majesty will continue to use all your strength to send you to Asia Minor."

Peter sneered twice. He now completely distrusted the promise made to the Greek emperor, so he openly said to the chief of the guard, "If we have our own ships, can we cross the sea?" Or will the Great Majesty use his 'overwhelmed' ships to intercept or even sink us? ”

These words immediately stunned Mikhail, and now the hermit monk's questioning. He and the Emperor were caught in a paradox: if His Majesty sent a fleet of sailors and did not allow the pilgrims to cross the sea. Then let your Majesty's previous words go bankrupt; But if the pilgrims were still in action, the sea would inevitably become a mess. This also undermined the goals of His Majesty the Emperor's plan.

Seeing the chief of the guard unhappy, the hermit Peter laughed, "Please inform Your Majesty that Grand Duke Gawain has complied with the edict of canonization issued by the Brachna Palace earlier, and took some soldiers of the Jinshu Brotherhood and the Dalian Brigade to cross the sea to rescue the believers besieged by the Turks. ”

Mikhail raised his face, full of mixed feelings, and Peter probably understood, after all, he had been imprisoned by the emperor for several days in the basement of his mansion, "Brave and loyal chief of the guard, it is true that the priesthood is not in the camp now, he has made up his mind to do something important, I don't know if you know." But in any case, Gawain and I will carry out the great pilgrimage to the end, and live up to this empire. As for myself, I will go to the Grand Palace to attend the banquet in place of Gawain, and try my best to clean up the situation for Your Majesty, and now Godfrey and Baldwin are willing to be loyal to Your Majesty. ”

In this way, I hope that Gawain can get what he hopes in Asia Minor and the Holy City, and I hope that he can take good care of Apate. Philotes, this girl's sacrifice for him is too great! Mikhail gave the Greek name unknown to the monks, turned and rode away with the soldiers.

"Is it related to women again, and what are you determined to make the greatest gamble in life" Peter also felt numb to the habits of this righteous brother, so he shook his head, and then he turned his body and looked in the direction of the sun-drenched barracks: in the noise of men and horses, military servants and soldiers were carrying all kinds of equipment, rushing towards the seashore, and Birel's "Lombard Legion" carried the thorn guns, boar guns, and Italian spears on their shoulders, and boarded one after another; The soldiers of the Brocade Brotherhood, dressed in smocks, boarded the same improvised ships in the harbor on the other side.

It was a good day for the snow to clear, and although the icy waters were stacked on top of each other, in the tent, Vesart. Melo and Giovanni still met with Dorus, a young man who had come desperately from the other side of the channel to ask for help. Lambert, "Rest assured, the Grand Duke has already planned the ships, food, and weapons, and you are now acting as a guide, and the Dalian team will go to the rescue of the pilgrims in the area of Chivit and Nicaea." ”

"It's the famous protector of the believers, Grand Duke Gawain! I hadn't been able to see his dignity before, but I didn't expect to be lucky enough to fight the murderous heretics under his command this time. Although Dorus's body had not fully recovered from his weakness, he could not hide his excitement in his tone.

Melo smiled a little embarrassedly, "But the Grand Duke did not personally lead this rescue operation, but entrusted me with the command. ”

Now, it was Dorus's turn to be disappointed: maybe the archduke, like the other dukes, went to the palace of the Greek emperor to be canonized, right?

In another tent, the Roman fire engineer Samuelfa lay there with a long sigh, Bramson and two female physicians who accompanied the army on pilgrimage, while the captor Theognes and his wife, Gustus, were chained to a pillar and crouched in the corner.

"I'll release you back today, and you'd better go back to your swampy empire, which is right for you." Bramson was both a proclamation of the order to release and a mockery of Theognes.

"Sooner or later, your reckless barbarian Grand Duke will be defeated and executed by His Majesty." The guard did not give in, and with her husband's words, Gu Siyun, who was squatting on the ground, immediately cooperated with precision, and spat at Bramson's feet, expressing contempt and echoing her husband. (To be continued.) )