Eagle Byzantium

Through the meticulous spy network, David, the builder, also learned about Gawain's movements without any difficulty, "He really came after me."

At that time, the entire Kingdom of Georgia's main force and company camp were stationed on the banks of the Black Lake. On both sides of the mighty lake were towering mountain peaks like towering barriers, and clouds permeating it. It was said that Manuhiher had fled to the border trust. Representatives sent from the Fort of Altomi, the city of Ani and the city of Duin further south, already hoped to surrender to King David and were willing to accept the rule of the Barathione royal family.

However, when these two big cities heard that the troops of Gawain, the "Great Tyrant of Tarsus", were approaching from the north, they became violently shaken and began to bargain with the builder David.

"Have Ani City send the city key to me as soon as possible!" David demanded angrily.

But the citizens of Ani shrank back like a hedgehog. They also organized militia groups to guard the towers of the city wall, closed the city gates to the Georgian army, and claimed to remain neutral in the upcoming war.

The angry David wanted to set up siege engines to capture the city, but then he thought about it - Gawain's army was approaching quickly, and he could not fight him on the flat grassland of the Black Lake, which would be particularly beneficial to the opponent. With the expansion of military strength and firepower, "My Eagle Flag will march westward, transfer to Kars, wait for Gawain at leisure, and use city defense to thwart his offensive!"

In addition, David hurriedly sent a letter to Trabizon, "There is no doubt that Gawain's main force appears in Kars. Once this place falls, not only will my previous achievements be wasted, but the hub between you and my territory will also be cut off." , Gawain will calmly defeat you and me."

Soon the citizens of Ani saw groups of Georgian cavalry on the meadows by the Black Lake. Under the guidance of the Barationi eagle flag, they quickly broke out of camp and ran away to the valley on the west side. Go, and their king is among them.

Since Anna really sent women's clothes, David did not dare to be negligent in his heart. After all, this was about the dignity of life and death between two heroic men.

On the third day of April, on the drawbridge in front of Tortomi Castle, Manuhiher and his concubines and servants bowed humbly in front of Gawain's horse.

At this moment, Gawain's holy armor has been changed, taking into account Anna's opinion: the entire chest and back are large Persian mirror armor pieces, with a fine gold cross relief engraved on the front, and a skilled craftsman has plated it with an excellent layer of animal fat. , wait until wiped off, leaving a layer of fresh The bright oil film is used to prevent rust and give the front armor a silver luster. The shoulders and wrists are covered with ring-shaped armor to prevent arrows. In addition, there are connected pieces of throat chakra hanging on the neck and shoulders, which can serve as enemy swords. It is difficult to injure the patron with this slash. In front of the towering silver helmet, the red scroll-shaped feathers symbolizing Gawain's status continue to stand up. His tall stature is very suitable for the temperament of this new set of holy armor - this also makes the women of Manushihir excited and admired. Incessantly.

"My dear and respected Prince Haddadi, please mount your horse and ride alongside me. This will better reflect the covenant and equality between the two countries."

That's what the patron said, but Manuhiher lowered his head and glanced twice, and there were no other horses next to the opponent's black horse.

Manushihir, who understood the situation, immediately said that he did not dare to take it seriously, so he lowered his waist and stepped forward, took the patron's horse and walked in front, like a lowly groom. The two people walked along the trench of the castle.

"Although you have always ruled the vast area from Duin City, Ani City to Tbilisi City, and intermarried with the royal descendants of Ani, but now you have been attacked and defeated by the builders. I am afraid that people will be a little dissatisfied after this. Ah." Gawain on horseback, holding a silver horse-headed scepter in his hand, sighed and said to the hunched-up Manuhiher.

Manushihir hurriedly expressed his willingness to accept the just and merciful judgment of the Patron after the cities and territories were recovered in the future.

“Wouldn’t it be nice to go somewhere where there aren’t many Armenians?”

If Gawain's words were left in the past, Prince Haddadi would definitely jump up and criticize him, but now that the situation is pressing, he can only lower his eyebrows and show his willingness to obey Gawain's arrangements.

"Then in the future, with the Mukowali River as the boundary, the entire Kutaisi, which is David's ancestral land, will be granted to you to the north. How about it?" Unexpectedly, Gawain followed up with this condition. It’s not very harsh, and it’s even better than the current territorial conditions of Manushihir—after all, Kutaisi has an outlet to the sea and can benefit a lot from the trade connecting the Ukxing Sea and the Khazar Sea!

"Yes, yes, yes!" Manuhiher hurriedly agreed, "Please allow me to gather all the soldiers here as servants to follow your battle flag to fight against David."

"Well, very good." Gawain raised his scepter, "There should be about three thousand soldiers belonging to you in Tortomi Fort, and there are also five hundred fire gunmen, right?"

Prince Haddadi replied yes.

"Tell them to practice and show me."

Soon at the fort, hundreds of Haddadi gunmen wearing Kurdish turbans lined up and stood there, accepting the "inspection" of the chief sponsor.

"Bang, bang, bang." When they released the lead pellets from the muskets one after another, the whole scene became lively. However, Gawain's face was very unhappy. He held the mercury mechanical clock with a hanging hammer in his hand to time the time himself, and then he The commander of Haddadi's fire gunmen was summoned and scolded him face to face, "Is your command to fire cannons just to fire the smoke and listen to the sound? Actually, the soldiers lined up to fire cannons. The first one fired, and the last one was still there. Patrolling, there is no power in this. I have never seen anyone as rigid and stupid as you - remember, the shooting army of Tarsus needs to practice formation, volley shooting, single shooting, and carry a light load. It only takes a day for a person to learn how to fire a gun, but it takes half a year or more for him to become a qualified shooting soldier, and he also needs to undergo actual combat training."

The commander of the fire gun hurriedly expressed his willingness to train with all his heart.

Check out the 16-9 book bar and see the correct version!

"It will take you three months to train. How can you fight? Then I will directly arrange some instructors and senior sergeants from the brigade to provide guidance." Gao Wen was impatient at all. After all, he was about to lead the entire army to continue the march to Kabul. Else set out.

Therefore, Haddadi's Fire Guns team was immediately incorporated into Gawain's brigade sequence and accepted the direct command of Tarsus. In addition, Gawain also asked Manuhiher to spend his own money to recruit a thousand cattle and mules from the surrounding area to serve as pack animals for pulling cannons, and hired some Kurdish and Turkic mercenaries to follow him.

Soon, the whole army left Tortomi and slowly advanced towards Kars.

On April 10, David, the builder who was marching in a hurry, reached his destination first.

The soldiers in Jim Hill Fort blew the horn, and Diognis, who had just assumed the post of captain of fifty—no, now he was a man named Vasak, and the soldiers called him "Persian Jackal"—hurriedly boarded the Climbing up the wooden tower, he received the news, "The great Georgian king has set up a military camp in the north of the castle, adjacent to the Armenian Cathedral of the Holy Apostles."