People in the Middle Ages, draw cards to get promoted

Chapter 290 The Grand Parade

"The book you're reading is the structure of a medium spell model, right? Don't read it, it's all old stuff."

She stuffed the book casually into the bookshelf.

"Come with me, come to my alchemy laboratory, there is a small enchantment here, let me test the results of your study during this time."

"Won't it damage your enchantment?"

"Don't worry, it's very strong, you can do whatever you want."

"Princess Ziyi, don't say such things that will cause people to misunderstand, okay?"

Anna gave him a blank look, and changed her words: "Don't worry, that little thing of yours can't be pierced at all."

Lothar raised his eyebrows: "Say you're still excited."

Early the next morning.

It was just dawn.

Lothar was woken up by Anna, and he, Banruo, and Jeanna helped each other put on the armor.

With the remaining veterans under his command, after breakfast, he headed towards St. George's Church in Cypress.

There will be the starting point for their military parade today.

The veterans wore brand new white-bottomed black eagle burqas today, which were dried by Anna herself with spells after the servants washed them last night.

They carried their heavy javelins on their shoulders with their shields on their shoulders, and put their other hand on their waists to wear their scabbards. They wore red-dyed helmets decorated with cascading crowns and horsehair decorations—this is what Anna wrote last night. Came out of work.

This thing is purely a decoration, it has no use on the battlefield, but it may block the sight of comrades in arms.

Looking at it this way, the remaining veterans seem to be an ancient imperial army that traveled through the long river of history, attracting the attention of many noble officers who arrived early.

"Whose army is this?"

"Is the Empire reestablishing the Imperial Guard?"

People looked at each other.

The Greek aristocrats who were familiar with the history of the empire were full of curiosity, but because of Lothar's obvious status as a Frankish barbarian, he was reluctant to come forward for a chat.

The barbarian generals couldn't see the peculiarity of this army at all, they just felt that the equipment of these people was a bit strange.

At dawn, the military parade officially began.

They went out from Messe Avenue, passed through Theodosius and Constantine Square, and headed all the way to the Coliseum in the east of the city.

Along the way, the people on the side of the road spontaneously held up the icons of the Father, the Holy Mother, and the Holy Apostles, and they dragged their families along, waiting with great anticipation.

"coming!"

"The warriors of the empire are coming!"

Accompanied by the cheers of the people, the first column of troops appeared on the street first.

They were the first company of Varangians, all dressed in gorgeous silk burqas, carrying a banner with lightning bolts and long faces, carrying kite-shaped shields, and holding spears in their hands, marching forward in neat steps.

After that, came the Varangian guards carrying two-handed axes. They were the most in line with people's stereotype of the Varangian guards, carrying Greek-style round shields on their backs, and they were all murderous.

The number of Varangian guards changed from time to time, and Queen Lagaia did not reduce the 4000 people recruited by Emperor Alexios, and still maintained this number.

And with such a large number of legions, it is naturally impossible for every company to be elite.

Only the two most elite companies, a total of 600 people attended this military parade.

The elite of these Varangian guards have a lot of expenses compared to the heavy cavalry.

In this world, apart from the Eastern Dynasty, which also lost its important horse breeding land, no other country would invest such a huge amount of money in heavy infantry.

Behind the Varangian guards were hundreds of aristocratic cavalry wearing bright red cloaks and all kinds of exquisite armor. Most of the helmets had swan feathers and peacock feathers, and even their mounts were covered with silk horse clothes.

These are the so-called Argontoplai Imperial Guard cavalry, all of which are composed of nobles and generals' children.

Regardless of whether he can fight or not, this equipment alone is really handsome.

These handsome and tall noble cavalry immediately aroused the cheers of the crowd. Compared with the Frankish barbarians, these Greek children are more worshiped by the people of Constantinople.

They don't remember the fiasco of these flamboyants on the battlefield last time, that was more than 100 years ago.

Then, there was a group of mounted cavalry with spears and bows hanging from their saddles. They were the so-called Vadarutai Imperial Guard Cavalry, who were good at the so-called Parthian tactics. Included in the sequence of equipped archers.

The ones who appeared on the parade ground were naturally more heroic cavalry archers. Their mounts were covered with a full set of horse armor, and the helmets of the horse armor even covered the eyes of the horses.

This means that they have extremely high horse control skills, and their mounts will not stop in the charge process because of fear of flames or spears of enemies.

Later, it will be the turn of Lothar's remaining veterans. In terms of numbers, they are much worse than the previous ones, but every remaining veteran is walking in a uniform pace. Cheers.

Behind them is the company of Latin knights. These knights from Central and Western Europe use the method of charging with guns. Everyone wears various burqas representing their own family coat of arms, and wears round or square barrel helmets.

Finally, there are all kinds of auxiliary companies, including the more famous companies such as the Guards and Archers.

It's just that as light infantry, their loose formation can hardly bring people any sense of impact.

Count Leopold glanced at the young crown prince beside him, smiled and said, "The Greeks are showing us their strength, Your Highness, what do you think of their army?"

Crown Prince Henry is a young man with short golden curly hair and a straight aquiline nose. Hearing this, he sneered and said: "It's just a show. The Greeks always like to bluff. The only thing they can beat our fleet is that it was defeated in Cyprus. I really don't understand why my father joined forces with these Greeks."

Leopold glanced at the red-haired witch beside him, and they smiled at each other.

Compared with the wily and calculating Emperor Henry, Little Henry was still a young man full of muscles and full of conceit.

"I seem to see an acquaintance."

Leopold's face suddenly changed slightly.

"That man is Lothar? How could he be here and become a general of the Greek army."

Crown Prince Henry wondered: "Which Lothar?"

"Lothar of the Habsburg family, who only spent half a year in the Holy Land, replaced Earl Leonard of Transjordan, and was promoted by King Baldwin to Marquis of Transjordan."

Earl Leopold was a little emotional. The little guy who wanted to recruit as a baron under his command in the past seemed to be on an equal footing with him now.

"It's him."

There was a hint of jealousy in Crown Prince Henry's eyes. Lothar's limelight has been too loud recently. The Gwent card he invented has become popular in the empire.

Guardian of the Holy Land, Dragon Slayer, Werewolf Killer, Generous Man, Brave Man, and a series of titles, along with the return of pilgrims and caravans, resounded throughout the Christian world.

He snorted softly and said, "I have indeed heard about this man. Some time ago, my father also revealed to me his intention to make his father Werner the Duke of Burgundy in the Outer Jura."

"Oh, Earl Werner has made great achievements in battle and is an outstanding general. His Majesty should value him. He will definitely be your loyal servant in the future."

Leopold laughed silently.

The mind of the young Crown Prince is really easy to guess, no wonder His Majesty the Emperor let him preside over all the affairs of the diplomatic mission.

Crown Prince Henry was eager to try: "Let's go, Lord Leopold, it's time for us to go to the Colosseum. Let's teach those Greeks a lesson."

Leopold was slightly startled: "Your Highness, are you sure you want to play in person?"

Crown Prince Henry looked forward to it: "Of course! I have won the title of champion knight ten times. It would be great if I could meet this Lothar in the arena."

Obviously, if he can beat the now-renowned Lothar, his reputation will be greatly improved, which will be of great help to his future rule after winning the Kingdom of Sicily.

The military parade gradually came to an end.

In the big arena, people have also begun to enter at this time.

The well-dressed nobles and ladies sat on the viewing stands in the middle of the two ends of the arena, and the common people could only stand on the stone steps to watch.

The large oval-shaped arena, from high to low, is full of dense figures everywhere. This kind of scene is many times grander than the competition held by Count Leopold.

Fringila and Cellinina were sitting on the viewing platform of the arena, which was a fairly good position, and she hugged one of Cellinina's arms with excitement on her face: "Sir, will you start from there later?" out the door?"

Celinina shook her head and said, "I don't know."

She doesn't understand the traditions of the imperial people, she can't even read all the Greek, and most of the people around her sound like they are listening to the scriptures.

The Greek ladies next to them stared at the two jealously, muttering and mocking them for not being ignorant of the rules, and not knowing which barbarian general's family they were.

Patriarch Nisetus II of Constantine and several black-robed bishops stared blankly at the vacant viewing stand that belonged to Her Majesty the Empress and members of the royal family.

Although they don't get along with the Pope of the Catholic Church, they also believe that this kind of barbaric activity of spilling blood on the arena is by no means what a pious person should do.

At this time.

The gate of the grand arena was opened, and the heavy chariots with two horses side by side came to the track under the control of the driver. This is the opening chariot competition. Everyone can place bets in advance, betting on their favorite driver. on the person.

The heavy wheels rolled over the tamped road, and the chariots were all running fast, even when turning, they didn't mean to slow down at all.

This seems to have kicked off the prelude to today's competition.

People shouted excitedly, and the faces of those who had placed bets were flushed, desperately cheering for the supporting team.

With a loud bang.

A carriage overturned on its side, causing a series of collisions. A young noble driver was crushed under the overturned carriage and screamed again and again.

Such tragic scenes made people even more excited.

(End of this chapter)