"Your Majesty." In the Golden Palace of Constantinople, the Venus envoys dressed in the robes of wealthy merchants talked eloquently.

"Something is wrong with the bank loan for freight: given the uncertainty of the war against the Seljuks, our bank's audit team believes that your country may not be able to repay the next three installments of the loan, so it is necessary to review the income flow of your royal family."

"Let's try it." Theodora threw the fan on the table and said tiredly, "But put those Frankish knights down first, you plan to continue adrift on the sea for a few more days?" ”

"The loan formalities in your country have not been completed, so strictly speaking, the freight has not been paid in full." The Venis envoy said politely, "It is our rule that the ship can only be sailed after the down payment is paid, and the shore can only be docked after the full payment is paid." ”

"Are you not Solomonians?" Theodora became irritable, and felt that it was extremely difficult to communicate with these merchants who had fallen into the eyes of money.

"Of course we are devout believers in Solomonism." Venis smiled and said, "But if it were to be offended, even if His Majesty came to our ship, he would never pay less copper—our auditing rules are accurate to the last six decimal places of copper coins." ”

Zoe sighed beside her. The Venisian ships, laden with Frankish knights, had been adrift on the Marmara Sea for three days, but the Vennice loan had never been issued, and the two sides had been pestering and seesawing over all sorts of trivial details.

For example, the delivery time, place and transporter of gold, the specific time and default measures of reconciliation and settlement, and even the entanglement of what seal must be on each piece of gold, and what measures to take to review if the seal is wrong.

However, after all, the Frankish knights had already arrived in the open sea, so the two Majesties could barely contain their anxiety and negotiated carefully with the Venis envoys.

Another day has passed, and the two sides have finally reached a consensus of more than 60% today on the various points of dispute that they were entangled in yesterday, and all that remains are inconsequential and small details that can be compromised.

After the resignation of the Venus envoy and his two wives, they left the Golden Consul Palace and went to the Venus embassy in Constantinople, where they called the ships on the high seas outside.

Governor Enrique was in the secret room, and after listening to the envoy's report, he walked out of the cabin with his head bowed.

On the outer deck, the Count of Memphirat and the Frankish knights were anxiously awaiting a reply from Constantinople.

"Constantinople refused to pay." When Governor Enrique said this, the Frankish knights erupted in a cry of disappointment.

They had been adrift at sea for three days, and the Venians promised to communicate with Constantinople as soon as possible, but each time the two Majesties refused to pay.

The patience of the knights was gradually worn out in this repeated disappointment.

Governor Enrique and the Earl of Memphellat looked at each other, each reading the message of activation in the other's gaze.

The latter immediately threw his spear heavily on the deck, and shouted angrily:

"Enough! We are here to kill the infidels and defend the glory of God's walk on earth, not to fight with the Cyrethians of Constantinople! ”

"The pagans are in Anatolia, in Syria, in the holy city of Jerusalem! Yet these short-sighted people of Cyrius are still stingy with what few coppers they have, and even do not hesitate to delay the expedition of the crusaders, so that we, the noble knights who are willing to give their lives for God, drift on the ocean like lowly Sicilian people! ”

His words just vented the anxiety and anger that the knights had accumulated for many days, so everyone shouted loudly.

"If they are not willing to give their lives for a noble cause, then let us do it! If they don't want to fight the infidels to the death, then let's do it! ”

"But before we can pay the debt to the Venisians, Constantinople, which promised to pay the remaining 10,000 silver marks, is now shamefully repented."

"Since they don't want to give this money, let's go and get it ourselves, with the swords and spears in our hands!"

Many of the knights chimed in, but many more of the Frankish knights fell into a certain terror, and some began to shout in a panic:

"Are you mad, Marquis? The Eastern Solomons were also believers in God, so how could we do it to them? What's more, Constantinople has a triple wall, and even high-level transcendent beings will never be able to penetrate it, let alone our manpower! ”

"Shut up!" The Marquis de Monphilrat rebuked, "If they really believe in God, how can they take care of this worldly money and forget the promised oaths?" ”

"I have already telegraphed His Majesty the Holy See last night to denounce the hypocrisy of Constantinople, and His Majesty has decreed that I will be allowed to act cheaply, and once we have taken Constantinople, it will be the best time for the Eastern and Western Churches to be reunited!"

He took out the printed paper from his bosom, which turned out to be a document authorized by His Majesty Pope Innocent, allowing the crusaders to "temporarily" use force to "maintain" order and stability in Constantinople, with the Holy See's unique encrypted watermark on it.

Then the knights fell into a restless commotion, although everyone believed in Western Catholicism rather than Eastern Orthodoxy, but after all, they belonged to the same religion, and rashly raised their butcher's knife against their fellow believers, and they would go to hell to be judged.

Pope Innocent's authorization document diluted the knights' doubts a little, but it was not enough to make up their minds.

A few hours later, the Frankish knights on deck were divided into two distinct factions.

Having had enough of the days of wandering and tumulting at sea, the faction was determined to follow the marquis and the governor to Constantinople, pay off the debt owed to the Venisians, and then use it as a base to fight their way east until Jerusalem was recovered.

On the other hand, they resolutely refused to be led by the Marquis and the Venisians, saying that there were nearly 10 million believers of God in Constantinople, and attacking the city would definitely be disobedient to God, and thus a terrible damnation would be suffered for everyone.

The two sides quarreled endlessly, almost drawing knives on the deck.

At this time, Governor Enrique calmly walked out, saying that he respected the opinions of the knights of both factions at the same time, but the sea ship belonged to Venis, and those who were willing to attack Constantinople could stay.

And those who do not want to attack, whether they want to go to Anatolia or go back to the West, the Venians give you boats, and you can row them yourself!

As a result, hundreds of knights of good blood accepted the joking offer of the Venisians, and sailed out in small boats.

What these non-seafaring knights didn't know was that the flat-bottomed boats they were in were designed for landing, with shallow drafts and thin bottoms, which could not last long on the sea.

Within a few days, their bodies were washed up on a nearby shore.

Most of the remaining Frankish knights, willingly or reluctantly, followed the Venice fleet in the direction of the Golden Horn.

Constantinople's defenses in this direction were extremely fragile, and as long as the Venice ships managed to break through to the Golden Horn, they could launch a surprise attack on Constantinople's vulnerable flank.

………………

"Drink!" Eleanor's right arm bent slightly, and the spear spun rapidly and stabbed forward.

Spiral!

Then the gun slammed down, trampled under Asker's feet.

"What are the characteristics of the spiral rush?" Aske asked her.

"Yes......" Eleanor bit her lower lip, "in the process of stabbing the gun, the barrel of the gun is rapidly shaken and rotated, thus bouncing off the weapon that is stuck to the body, usually used to break through the enemy's block.

"Since it's a defense-breaking technique, why is it used in the starting hand?" Asker asked, frowning.

"I want to try to surprise you." Eleanor pursed her lips.

Nora cried with her all night yesterday, which made her extremely dissatisfied with Asker, and even the idea of defeating him became much stronger.

"Naive." Asker shook his head, "Next time, let's try using the dragon lance." ”

In the distance, on the edge of the cliff, Mi'er was aiming at a distant target in a recumbent sniper position, holding her newly acquired Killer III rifle.

"Distance 4.6, Crosswind ......"

"What are you talking about?" Aske walked up to her and asked.

"Try to correct the trajectory." Miel replied.

"This gun has a self-aiming part." Asker grabbed her rifle and demonstratively turned on the switch on the magazine, "Activate the infrared emitter here, and it will shoot infrared invisible light with a wavelength of 14um forward, which can only be seen through the rifle eyepiece." ”

"One more." Mi'er, who maintained her aiming stance, said, "Red dots. ”

"Move the red dot to your target, and then your gun and the target red dot will be connected by this infrared light path." "When the bullet is unloaded, it automatically corrects its flight along the infrared light path. ”

"In other words, you don't have to think about gravity deviation or anything, you just need to aim the red dot at the target, and the bullet will automatically track the red dot and hit the target."

With a "bang", Mi'er had already pressed the trigger, and the nodules on a tree trunk in the distance burst open, leaving a huge hole.

"Yes." Mi'er tried it according to his teachings, and commented, "Self-aiming is useful. ”

"With long-range sniping over 2,000 meters, you can barely make up for the error with manual correction, and self-aiming is your only option." Asker continued, "In addition, the gun can also switch shapes - open the wheel lock and turn the barrel underneath to turn it into an assault rifle with a range of about 50-400 meters. ”

"The assault form and the sniper form use different magazines, and the bullets in the latter are much more expensive, so when practicing, I still focus on the assault form, try to shoot as much as possible, not in bursts. If you snipe, you can aim more. ”

"Okay." Miel replied.

This little girl still doesn't like to talk much. Aske shook his head and continued to inspect the training status of the others, when he saw Nora hurrying over with her notebook in her hand and her head down.

"Nola!" Asker stopped her.

Nora raised her head in a panic, then took two steps back with some cringe, and turned her head in a low voice: "What are you doing?" ”

"What's the deal with that hellish look on your face?" Asker couldn't laugh or cry. However, he was also well aware of this, and quickly changed the subject, "How is the digestion of potions in the team at present?" ”

"Eleanor, me, and Mia, they've all finished digesting the potion." Nora whispered, "Sidlifa and Mi'er haven't taken potions yet. ”

"In other words, there are five people who need to find potion materials." Asker groaned, "Understood. ”

"Did you stop me just to ask about this?" Nora said timidly.

"It's not." Naturally, Asker was not stupid enough to say "of course", but just smiled, "I'll see how you are." ”

"I'm fine." Nora stretched out her fingers, pulled the loose strands of hair from her cheeks uncomfortably, and then took a deep breath, "That's it, is there anything else?" ”

"Nope." Asker shook his head, tears streaming down his face.

Since the last time he said it, the relationship between the two seems to have fallen into some kind of "Schrödinger state" that is neither ambiguous nor pure partners. It's really embarrassing to communicate with her now!

No, you can't bring emotional problems to work. He struggled to get rid of the distractions in his mind and smiled goodbye to Nola.

Holding her notebook, Nora slowly walked down the mountain. Coming to a small lake in the woods, she crouched down at the water's edge and looked at her delicate face in the reflection.

The chestnut hair is fluffy and soft, and the Peugeot facial features are small and soft, which is the type that looks pure and sweet.

Regardless of the graceful figure unique to female college students, she can receive more than 30 love letters and confessions in a semester when she is studying at Solomon Theological Seminary alone.

If you're really looking for a boyfriend, where will you find it?

Why do you stubbornly hang yourself from this tree?

Nora stared at the reflection in the lake, and before she knew it, tears flowed again.

"I'm going to have to wait ten years...... Is...... It's too much...... she muttered, biting her lower lip, "Asker, you bad guy......"

Teardrops fell on the surface of the lake, causing ripples in circles.

She stared at the pretty face with pear blossoms and rain, and was silent for a long time, before wiping away the tears on her face with the back of her hand, and smiled sadly:

"Why are you in tears again, Nola? When did you become such a crybaby......

She said as if reproachful, reaching out to mess with the reflection on the surface of the lake.

Behind the tree not far away, Eleanor looked at her distressedly, and was speechless for a while.