In the bay of Saint-Simon, in the valley between the Syrian gates, Fort Merdens, Fort Debaicre, and Fort Alexandria, which had been abandoned by the Turks under the advance of the pilgrims, which were on both sides of the passage from Antioch to the whole of the Amonos Mountains, and now the small Fort Alexandria on the top of the core hill, surrounded by azure waters, red gravel, and craggy cliffs, and the castle was built by Alexander the Great, and the highest tower was raised with the banner of silver tassels, which were now occupied by the Gimegis brigade, Syrian and Greek soldiers on horseback, vigilantly scouting and patrolling the mountain paths, in these days they defeated the Normans who came to raid, and repelled several Armenians who had infiltrated from the Amonos Mountains, kept the roads clear, and maintained the sphere of influence of the brigade in the cantonments.

Of course, this brigade was supported by Gawain: just last month, the Seleucian side had crossed the Adana River and crossed the Gulf of Issus, secretly sending five thousand Byzantian gold coins by boat, and it turned out to be a recruit. The Temachi general of the brigade, Gregor, also understood that more than 10,000 Syrian Greeks had fled to escape the pilgrims, and he generously accepted them, and the weak settled in the valley of the castle to graze and plant, and the strong ones were trained into the army.

"The Grand Duke is coming!" Gregor, who was in the castle, read a letter and said excitedly to the generals, "We must provide for the garrison and the provision of the mountain road through the Syrian Gate, and we must get in touch with the camp of the hermit Peter and get the work done." ”

When he stepped out of the gate of the fortress, he suddenly heard a loud noise from the sea outside. Looking along the sound of the waves, on the sea in the sun. More than a dozen galleys were fighting fiercely over there, with fiery stone bullets and throwing canisters in an arc between the water and the deck. A wave of fire ensued, and soon several ships flying the St. Mark's flag retreated to the shore of the long beach with their bodies and smoke in tow, and many sailors waved their arms and swam to cry for help, and the cargo and corpses were scattered everywhere.

"Here we go again, Commander! This is the third time this month, and this time it was the Venetian fleet that failed! The people around Gregor exclaimed.

"The Pisans took refuge in the Normans, and the Duck was the Marquis of Provence. The fleets of Venice and Amalfi, loyal to the Roman Empire, were intercepted by these two city-states, and the conflict became increasingly fierce, and everyone wanted to occupy the Gulf of Issus and the port of San Simeon! Gregor put his hand in front of his eyebrows, shielding himself from the reflection of the sun and the sea, and sighed.

The victorious hot duck fleet, waving the flag of the red cross on a white background, beating the drum of victory, should be accompanied by the singing of the crew, proudly lined up. Sail into Port Saint-Simon.

The soldiers of the Geemagis Brigade ran out of the sentries and houses onto the beach, dressed in single clothes and improvised armor, and carrying hooks with long wooden handles and iron claws. There were even fishing nets, and many men ran barefoot and screaming to the shore to catch people - and of course all the money and cargo of all the defeated and wrecked Venetian ships - as prescribed by the barbaric Middle Ages maritime law. Ships that are shipwrecked on the shore are attacked or encounter irresistible natural disasters. Encounter the shoremen or the army who come to salvage, everything on their ship. It is automatically owned by the latter, and it is only right.

"Leave some food and clothing for the crew who fished out." Gregor waved his hand down and shouted orders, saying that he knew that the Grand Duke had a great relationship with the city-states of Venice and Amalfi.

In the palace of the Seleucian Acropolis, Gawain wore a sword, a white cloak, and a beautiful and luxurious armor, and the gilded cross on the shoulder armor glittered and majestic, standing at the end of the long red velvet carpet, the princess in purple, the little sunfish, Prince Sven and his fiancée, the Count of Ryanstein, the chief steward of the camp, Merlot, the chief of the camp, the chief bowl, Gottschalke, the commander of the Guardian Brigade Temachi, Branas, and the "poor knight" Sanzavar. Walter, Giovanni, Biller, Bramson and other generals gathered together, separated on both sides of the carpet, and swore to march towards the city of Antioch.

"The purpose of our war is in the letters of the pilgrims asking for help, and now that the snow is melting, the spring in Seleucia and Cilicia always comes earlier than in the north, so the end of the Pagans of Antioch comes sooner!" In the midst of a burst of laughter, Gawain held up a stack of letters and said to the crowd, "Sven, the most honorable prince of the Kingdom of Denmark, has joined us, adding great force and courage to our march!" ”

And at the same time as Gawain was impassioned, the petite purple-clothed princess Anna beside him. Ducasse blinked his flickering eyes and looked keenly at the back of Merlot, except for the pretty and generous Chise. Outside of Merlot, there were no other women, let alone blondes.

"The woman is still in the villa by the Akum side." Then, the little sunfish, sitting on the small writing table next to Gawain, quickly wrote a note in Latin and showed it to Anna.

Anna's shallow smile was condensed in the pear vortex, and the female fox of Konama did not appear, and it was wonderful that these messy women avoided the limelight of their wisdom and nobility.

And among the noisy chanting and clanging armor, Qi Se squinted his eyes and saw Anna's smug appearance next to Gawain, and also secretly laughed

The "Seleucian Three Wings", that is, the Red Hand Brigade and the Twin Cavalry Companies with the Guardian Brigade, totaled about 11,000 men (5,000 men in the Red Hand Brigade, 1,200 cavalry in the Twin Company, and less than 4,000 in the Guardian Brigade), carrying about 300 baggage wagons, and 4,000 military servants (most of whom were temporarily recruited with money), and marched along the Ramas seaside road in the direction of the city of Tarsus.

Originally, according to the Byzantine Roman military system, an army of 10,000 people should have 1,000 baggage carts (in history, when Manuel the Great set out to conquer Milio Sepharon, the number of troops in Eastern Rome is unknown, but some people deduce that Manuel brought out an army of 30,000 people at that time according to the historical record of 3,000 carts) to accompany him, but Gawain did not allow soldiers to put luggage and weapons into the vehicles, so his 300 baggage carts were actually only to transport grain and large siege equipment, as for the soldiers of the brigade, They all carried bags of dry food and fire sickles hanging from their belts, carried huge spears, two-handed swords, and carried luggage and shields with small pickaxes and shovels.

Since the army was marching from the plains by sea, and Antioch itself was a land of mountains and forests, Gawain felt that the army at this stage did not need to be lightly armed, and that such an armed march would help sharpen his willpower. (To be continued.) )