These two did not dare to slack off at all, and immediately took all the cavalry, crossed the river valley, and came to the Seleucian barracks to get them.

"Father, why is the burden of military service and taxes so heavy, and you still have to obey the orders of that tyrant general Gawain?" In the endless procession, Leo rode his horse and cautiously asked his father, who was sitting on his shoulder, that Nika was completely blind and could not ride a horse, so he could only command the team on his shoulder.

"The hearts of the Jinats are not aligned, Gawain's wrists are very skillful, don't you see that there are many Jinats on the side of Sicilicia, eager to participate in the battle?" The father swayed behind the curtain on his shoulder, and replied unhurriedly.

"But they all want to embrace you"

"Idiot, when the monkeys in the plateau are hunted and killed, they all like to push one out and be stabbed first."

"What about the Emperor!" Tiga couldn't help but throw out a bigger banner of resistance.

Nika sneered twice, "Gawain hates us, do you think the emperor will like us?" Over the years, we have been involved with the Turks, Gawain is in Seleucia, at least he can coexist with us, and the emperor's hand is coming, I am afraid that we will be left behind. ”

Hearing their father say this, the two brothers were silent, and although they were not convinced, they did not dare to question anything publicly.

The whole army arrived at the city of Ramas in less than a day.

The city had already set up a military city, and the Guardian Brigade watched enviously as the soldiers of the Red Hand Brigade were showing off and auctioning off at the market with silk, clothes, and the rest of the valuable loot, and this time Gawain fulfilled the promise of the "Holy Contract": the soldiers were allowed to go out of battle. Free possession of part of the booty.

"This red-handed guy has made a fortune!" It's not just the men and men in the Guardian Brigade who are dissatisfied. It is said that the soldiers of the "Wallachian detachment", which is now being added to their brigades, are not in the city of Lamas. But the voices of complaints were also heard: no one wanted to follow behind the new brigade, they just had to follow General Straticos to "eat meat and be merry".

And the Branas, Dorus. Lambert also felt that his face was gloomy.

"In this battle, your Guardian Brigade will take the lead." But at a military meeting in the church in the city, Gawain suddenly made this generous request, which caused some disbelief among the two new brigade commanders.

But Gawain didn't mean to joke at all, "Immediately attacking Asbar, the old general Nika commanded all the Jinat nobles and marched from the Curicus Road; Branas's brigade marched from the Ramas interway - the two armies then joined forces to encircle Fort Collegiau; I and the Red Hand Brigade are here to help. "Finally. Gawain breathed a sigh of relief, "Aspar and a few rebellious Jinats together are no more than a thousand troops, and Fort Koloadio can be said to be at your fingertips, especially General Branas - don't let me down." Gawain put the last sentence quite seriously.

"Yes, I'm with Dorus. Lambert will live up to your high expectations, General Stratigos. Branass was frightened and suddenly expressed his determination.

And Nika also presented Aspar's secret letter to him beforehand, "But Aspar has obviously misestimated our loyalty to the General, and this is not far from his downfall." ”

"Good, after ending this fight right away. The Callegos family will be exempt from three-quarters of the taxes for September, and the Guardian Brigade, after all, will be rewarded with the spoils of war. Gawain's tone was momentarily satisfied.

Next. The two armies separated themselves and marched along their own routes towards the pass where Fort Koleadio was located. The whole mountain group was full of alarms and fires, and wisps of wolf smoke rising. In particular, the Guardian Brigade, after receiving the "spoils of war" program promised by the general himself. Everyone worked hard, felt that they were still not abandoned by Gawain, and they pushed forward and fought extremely resolutely and bravely.

At the same time, a merchant ship from the island of Cyprus also docked in the small dock port of the city of Lamas.

It brought with it the Roman Empire's treaty of Laptsomartus, Grand Duke on the island of Cyprus.

In fact, since Gawain fought in Cilicia and Seleucia, Laptsomatus has secretly paid close attention to him.

Cyprus, because of its control of the sea routes of the Eastern Mediterranean and the Levant, was always at the forefront of the competition between various forces in the Middle Ages, and in the last century, it was reclaimed by the "reconquest" conquest of the Byzantine Roman Empire (previously occupied by the Saracens), but because it was far away from Constantinople, the successive Grand Dukes here were also a little restless, and most of them were on the "blacklist" that the Roman emperor focused on.

Fifty years ago, the then Grand Duke of Cyprus, Theophros. Aeotix, because he had established himself as king, was suppressed by the imperial fleet, taken to Constantinople, forced to wear women's clothes, rode a donkey, circled the arena three times, and then imprisoned until death.

Therefore, after Laptsomatus ruled this large island, his mentality was very cautious and cautious - after the empire lost Anatolia, although Theodoro and Ferraredos, who were divided into places, began to be arrogant to Constantinople and claimed hegemony in the local area, the most remote Laptsomatus insisted on sending envoys every year to the imperial capital by boat to deal with Alexios. Komnenos offered tribute and taxes to praise the emperor's authority and make the emperor happy in an instant.

But privately, the emperor also knew that this old fox had always danced on a few eggs in the Sultan of Konya, Fatima in Egypt, and Cilicia, and everywhere concluded commercial treaties in his favor, kept a close eye on the development of the surrounding situation, and protected his power from being damaged by overheating—after painstaking management, the present Grand Duke of Laptsomatus not only had an elite guard of 700 men, most of whom were recruited from Crete and other places, but also a medium-sized fleet to defend the islands and escort merchant ships. The people of the island were also well governed by him, and a strong alliance was formed with the Jinats above him.

Laptsomatus was also extremely sensitive in intelligence gathering, and he learned that the army of Western pilgrims was marching on the holy city almost at the same time as the emperor, so when Gawain occupied Seleucia, he immediately sent an envoy.

"Why don't you sign an offensive and defensive pact with me like Orson did?" In the secret room of the church, Gao Wen, who was sitting on a chair to receive the secret envoy, asked about this.

The envoy laughed twice, "Because Your Excellency, the loyalty to Constantinople will never change, and what you want to sign with the general now is nothing more than a commercial agreement of a regional nature. ”

"Do you see that Emperor Komnenos's power has rebounded? Since it is only a negotiation agreement, and it is not impossible to see the sun, why ask me to consult with you in the secret room? Gao Wen naturally saw through the other party's trick, that is, he wanted to deceive the emperor and hope to get benefits from himself.

But the secret envoy was still very cunning, and only smiled at Gawain's questioning and did not answer. (To be continued.) )