The Emperor, frustrated, decided to send a respectable figure to unify the camp of Harold and Marinus and block Theodoro - once the old man was in power, he would also be able to achieve de facto strategic cooperation with Gawain, and if he attacked the rear of the Emperor's camp in the south, Alexios would really fall from the throne. Pen % fun % Pavilion www.biquge.info

At this moment, in the purple curtain of the imperial camp, the wrinkles on the forehead of the emperor, who had a somewhat long beard and a stiffness, were even more obvious, and recalling the painting sent by Gawain earlier, he couldn't help but start to feel a chill down his spine, followed by a surge of pain and disbelief:

"What did I do wrong? Is it disgusted that Erin has caused infighting in the empire, or has he allowed Gawain's cancer to grow in the first place, or should I have married Anna to this Varyag barbarian in the first place......" In front of the burning candle, the emperor's eyes were almost dim, he sighed and got up, paced to the standing mirror of the camp, looking at his figure, he was indeed old, so old that he hardly looked like a man of this age, he had worked so hard for the restoration of the empire's territory for so many years, defeated so many dangerous enemies, and almost regained the former prestige of the Roman Empire, But sometimes he has to admit that there are some opponents that he can't defeat.

For example, Robert. When the young Alexios led a large army to intercept his offensive in Durazo, Guiscut, who was much older than himself, surpassed himself in terms of battlefield experience and decisiveness, and dealt himself a fatal blow.

The emperor's thoughts couldn't help but go back to twenty years ago, in the wilderness meadows of Tyrasium, the Norman knights surrounded Alexios who was fleeing, the black spear was thrown as a javelin, the young emperor wore holy armor, and his arm tightly covered by chain mail was tied with a gorgeous round shield, riding on a richly decorated horse, calmly adjusting the pace of the horse, the sharp and violent impact sounded, and the Norman horse's spears were bent in front of the emperor's armor one after another, and some swept past Alexios's side, fluttering and plopping on the ground.

Eventually, two flying spears, one pierced the Emperor's side armor, but only a few tethers, and the other pierced the Emperor's helmet, bent and fell to the ground—Alexios in front of the mirror raised his fingers and slowly brushed the hair that covered his forehead, and then a scar was visible in the mirror.

The Emperor lowered his arm, grabbed the spear on his side, and tilted his head. The Norman knights, believing that the Emperor had been stabbed in the body, shouted for joy and stopped their attacks, and rode their horses to snatch the most glorious feat.

Suddenly, a violent whistling sounded, and Alexios's divine steed was kicked by a spur, and the emperor leaped up like a dragon, stepping on the cliff in front of the stunned Norman pursuers. In the midst of the scolding, Alexios threw behind the spears and shuttles that continued to fly, and jumped on the top of the small cliff like the wind in three steps and two steps, disappearing from the field of vision of the pursuers.

Soon after, Guiscart died, succumbing to an inexplicable fever, and it was rumored that he had been poisoned by his jealous wife, Geta, who had been instigated by the Emperor. In fact, even Alexios himself can't say these things, who knows? Anyway, Guiscart was dead, the emperor's henchmen were removed, the Normans sailed back to Sicily and Apulia to fight for power, and the crisis in the western part of the empire came to an end.

Then in the east, the Seljuk forces were divided into civil wars by the death of Maliksha Khan, and soon the emperor also organized an army to cross the sea to counterattack, although there were gains and losses, but in general, in the wave of pilgrims organized by the pope, the emperor also took the opportunity to recover a lot of territory. It can be said that in time, as long as he uses skillful military and diplomatic skills, he will be able to restore the territory of the former empire in his lifetime.

"Before Gawain appeared, my career and fortune were invincible......" Thinking of this, the emperor couldn't help but sigh sadly, he was really haggard now, in order to restore the strength of the imperial army as soon as possible, he had to recognize the rights and interests of the "Pronian Domain" in various places, so that the landed nobles had the right to judicial and tax the tenant farmers; He had to cede privileges to the Italian city-states, allowing them to have trading ports and floating docks in cities such as Constantinople and Smyrna, and to dump goods without restriction and monopolize the specialties of the empire; He also had to frantically send "secular patrons" to manage monasteries and monasteries, to extract money from the heads of the Orthodox clergy for himself, and to endure accusations and secret insults from the other side.

All this is so that the Romanian Empire can complete the feat of revival in the hands of my Komnenos!

This was the emperor's own unswerving "Roman dream".

But what about the results now? Although he now cobbled together a larger army than before, with 50,000 or 60,000 men to march on the plateau, the empire's finances were on the verge of collapse, and he had previously ridiculed the fact that the population of Gawain's territory was only a quarter of his own, but in comparison, he could only use the part of the money directly under the imperial property department, and the rest was achieved by indefinitely overdrawing the emperor's credit.

The hateful Theodoro still rebelled, and now he had to throw more into the northern battlefield, but Gawain's resistance on the other side was so stubborn and crazy that the various allies were also hesitant and indecided.

But Alexios could not make any mistakes, "I have no way back, like a man who fights a lion with his back to a cliff." No matter how bad the situation is now, it will not be as dangerous as it was twenty years ago, and I would have been able to survive in a desperate situation, let alone now! Then the emperor closed his eyes, and in the darkness, he seemed to see the eyes of the beast hidden in the grass again, emitting a faint and murderous light, glaring at himself, "Come on, the demonic thought in my heart, even if the empire is completely bloody now, I will put it back together piece by piece......"

After thinking about it, the Emperor secretly summoned some of his henchmen and asked them, "I am going to send someone to the north urgently, to unite the camps of Harold and Marinus, to direct the war there, and to expel Theodoro's invasion with all my might." In your opinion, if I send Brenus, he should be up to the task, right? ”

Several of the guards looked at each other, and then Selilaruus stepped forward and cautiously said to His Majesty, "Allow me to express my humble opinion, because Your Majesty has already revoked the command of General Xhosa, and if you let His Highness Brenus go to the north now, it will give everyone the impression of being too tough, and it will also affect the morale and morale of the entire front. ”

Hearing this, the emperor nodded knowingly, "Then we can only ask the chief of the palace to cross the sea and direct the northern blockade and counterattack on Theodoro." Since it's Nikdemia. Eustace, then there won't be any problems. In addition, the swift herald to Smyrna Harbor, my killer weapon is about to move at this critical moment, and it will put Gawain in a real dilemma! (To be continued.) )