Outside Ankara, in a hidden valley, Skanderbeg had just arrived with his men and found the letter Michal had left for them.

Skanderbeg read the code left by Michal at a glance, and Rosemary Harris on the side also came up,

"How? No problem, right? ”

Harris was the commander of the famous Varangian guard of the empire, brave and good at fighting, often fearless of life and death, which made Constantine very important, this expedition, Harris as Skandebeg's deputy and Skanderbeg took on the heavy responsibility of raiding Ankara.

The Varangian Guard, also known as the "Norse Guard", in the ninth century, the Vikings established the principality of Kievan Rus' after defeating the local Slavs in the Rus' region, and then in the process of contact with Constantinople, the empire hired it to fight with money, most of its members are brave and good at fighting, accustomed to two-handed axes, rather than the Byzantine traditional guard of the Roman Faya sword, in the early fifteenth century, the empire due to the poor economic situation, had no choice but to disband the Varangian Guard, and after Constantine XI prepared to expand abroad, he re-recruited more than 300 Nordic soldiers, rebuilt the Varangian Guard.

"No, Michal said that most of the city defense soldiers have been replaced by his men, and he also marked the resistance in the city for us, saying that as long as we kill these people, we can do it."

Skanderbeg exhaled and took out the map buried with the letter, which was the map of Ankara's urban construction, with this map, the buildings, terrain and so on in the city were clear.

"So what are you waiting for? Let's just kill it! ”

After listening to Skanderbeg's words, Harris was already a little impatient, the tradition of the Varangian guard, whoever grabbed it was whoever, naturally the sooner he entered the city, the better, although this tradition had been explicitly banned by Constantine XI.

"Don't worry, Harris,"

Skanderbeg first calmed Harris's emotions, pulled a grass from the side, put it in his mouth, and motioned for Harris to follow, and the two came to a high ground.

On the high ground, two men threw themselves on the bare rocks, unnoticeable from a distance, and Skanderbeg observed the distribution of buildings in the city while comparing the locations on the map.

"How? What do you see? ”

Harris has a full beard, and in order to keep out the cold, Nordic people usually do not shave, and their body hair is more vigorous than the average person.

"Shut up, Harris, you don't understand..."

After comparing for a moment, Skanderbeg smiled,

"That's it, haha~"

Moved to the back, then half-crouched up, and the two were about to return to the army, on the way, Harris's voice chattered,

"Hey! High hat, what do you see? ”

"What do you guess Michal marked us?"

"Strategically located?"

Harris didn't know what was going on, and Skanderbeg shook his head with a smile,

"It's full of big houses, and even several castles, most of which are far away from churches and mosques, and you can see them from afar."

Most of the churches and mosques have public canteens and public baths, people come and go, there are countless ascetics, poor people, pilgrims who come and go here, but there is no lack of aristocrats who are willing to get close to them, after all, the current nobles are also believers, the identity of nobles and believers has never been separated, the second son of the nobles has no inheritance, and will choose to enter the church as a clergyman in the absence of special circumstances, in the period after Constantine the Great, especially after Justinian, Many of the imperial administrators were also theologians, and they debated theological issues in a variety of ways.

Hearing this, Harris was overjoyed,

"That means there's a lot of gold waiting for us to get it, hahaha, Michal is still a good man!"

Harris danced happily, and the Viking tomahawk in his hand was about to be played by him, Skanderbeg was speechless for a while, and felt helpless about Harris's nervous situation, so he could only be reminded,

"Don't forget Your Majesty's injunction, Harris, that all loot should be gathered together before it is distributed."

"Hey, I know, I know."

Harris waved his hand, Skanderbeg couldn't do anything about him, and Constantine's words could only reduce this situation, it was very difficult to put an end to it, this is human nature.

Of course, if this is changed to the Varangian Guard a hundred years ago, there is no ban on birds at all, because one of the conditions of cooperation of the original Varangian Guard is the free distribution of spoils, and the leaders of the Varangian Guard are also the heads of large tribes, for a long time, the chiefs of the Varangian Guards have to often return to their tribes to deal with affairs, and only fight for the Byzantine Emperor in times of war, and there has been a Norwegian king in history who is a senior official of the Varangian Guard, It is conceivable that the autonomy of the Varangian Guard is actually relatively large.

Of course, the current Varangian Guard is not so backbone, Harris is not the head of a large tribe, he is just the chief of a small tribe, and many of the current Varangian Guards are his clansmen, which is why he can be a high-ranking official, and because of his lack of strength, his autonomy will inevitably weaken a lot, which is normal.

Skanderbeg didn't care what his attitude was, and continued,

"These places must be the local nobles of Ankara, Michal pointed out these people to us, specifying that he was not at ease, I am afraid that he wants us to pave the way for him, and he can walk."

Ankara's local nobility is not necessarily all Ottomans, some of the former Anatolian emir state nobles and even Byzantine nobles also stayed in Ankara, in history, Mehmed II enriched the population of Constantinople by forcibly relocating Jews, Christians and MSLs from all over the country, swept away local forces everywhere, and provided space for the development of the local economy.

This method is not uncommon in ancient history, both in the East and the West, the ancient Han Gaozu in China enriched the population of Chang'an through forced relocation, the Han Wen Emperor ordered the wealthy families from all over the country to move into Changling, and the immigration of Shibian that can often be seen in all dynasties, all of which are good ways to combat local forces and enrich the urban population.

"So what do we do?"

Harris is a rough man, if you let him fight, he can say that the head is the way, where is the fatal point, where the fight will be unconscious, but if you ask about the stratagem, it is to play the harp to the cow.

"What to do? Hmph..."

Skanderbeg sneered, but then sighed,

"I can't help it, our intelligence about Ankara comes entirely from Michal, and we can only follow the tips he gave us."

If you don't follow Michal's intelligence, it will be a black eye, and no one knows if these lists given by Michal will really be enemies, even if Michal wants to exclude dissidents, under the condition that there is no other substitute, Skanderbeg can only pinch his nose and admit it.

Harris scratched his hair, and in this regard he decided that it was better to listen to Skanderbeg, after all, he knew that Skanderbeg had more experience in this area, and the two returned to their original place in silence,

Seeing the two of them coming back, a man who looked like an officer stepped forward and gave a military salute,

"General, during the time you left, someone came over, specifically looking for you, we can't confirm whether what he said is true or false, and we have brought it under control."

Skanderbeg raised his eyebrows, looking surprised,

"Bring that guy here."

"Yes!"

With a push, a man dressed as a businessman was pushed in front of Skanderbeg.

"But Lord Skanderbeg in person?"

"Who are you? Who sent you? ”

Skanderbeg raised his eyebrows, very dissatisfied with the disrespect of the people who came, especially in a tense moment like the march of the army, any accident would make him unhappy, after all, it was a life-and-death struggle.

"I'm sorry, I can't say if it weren't for Lord Skanderbeg."

The person who came was unexpectedly hard-mouthed, Skanderbeg was even more surprised, and glanced at Harris, Skanderbeg chuckled, and Harris also stepped forward, with a fierce look,

"Boy, are you afraid of death? Acquaintances hurry up and say, don't force us to torture you! ”

With Harris's face full of meat, his words are very convincing, but the person who came is still unmoved, still neither humble nor arrogant,

"'Remember, your heart is unconquerable,' says Marcus Aurelius, one of the five wise emperors of ancient Rome, and if you want to dominate my soul, then I am afraid you will be disappointed, for I have given everything I have to the Almighty Lord!"

Hearing this, even Skanderbeg couldn't help but be moved, if the rules of knighthood are fairness, justice, etc., then faith and freedom are things that the entire Western world has been striving for since ancient times, especially the freedom of the soul is more noble.

"Well, this... Knower, I am Skanderbeg, where do you come from? What do you want me to do? ”

"I need credentials, my lord."

Skanderbeg shrugged, took off the ring on his hand and handed it to him, the ring of the European nobles is not only an ornament, but also a seal, engraved with a family coat of arms or personal badge, is a very strong personal item, so that after the death of the person, his descendants will destroy the ring, just because it cannot be adapted to others, and every European nobleman will basically wear a ring of his own to show his identity when he inherits the title.

The visitor looked at it carefully, and easily determined Skanderbe's identity, and then handed the ring back to Skanderbe,

"I beg your pardon for the offense, Lord Skanderbebe."

"By God's will, you have gained my forgiveness."

In fact, Skanderbeg is not very religious, but in front of such a believer, he still decided to restrain a little, and this is another "John of Ephesus".

The person who came took out a parchment roll from his bosom, and it can be seen that it is well protected.

"This is the map of Ankara, hand-drawn by Patriarch Antiochus to His Majesty Edmund, which shows the Ottoman military nobles and the landed nobles of the former Emir State, as well as the location of some Christian nobles, and Edmund's Throne means that the Lord can try to win over the Christian nobles and let them help them complete His Majesty's task."

Skanderbeg was overjoyed, didn't he doze off and send a pillow.

"Thank you for me, Your Majesty, Edmund, he has helped me so much."