Eagle Byzantium

Two lightly-armed Norman soldiers who surrounded and fought Gawain were attacked by Diogenes from behind and knocked to the ground with flails. Then, from the tower of the acropolis over there, the Venetians pushed out the large crossbow that Gawain had commissioned to make in advance, and the fired iron spears with ropes roared past everyone's heads and pierced the siege tower. of guard plate.

Everyone, monks, pilgrims, and military servants pulled the rope with their hands and suddenly pulled down the shields of the siege tower one by one. Then Amalfi and the Venetian sailors raised the fire oil jars in their hands and smashed them. In the siege tower that was not protected by animal skins and door panels, the red lotus flames suddenly ignited, and all the soldiers inside turned into burning people screaming and squeezing each other, stumbling out of the tower, and then falling to the ground.

In the collapsed gap, the tough Varangian warriors kept swinging their battle axes and giant swords, slashing down any enemies who dared to climb up. The leaders of this group of warriors were all wearing double-layer armor, and many of them were wounded by arrows. Collected, but still fought hard. In the end, the Normans could no longer hold on and began to retreat. At this time, Tancred was pulled up and put on the board. The Tecopo mercenaries who had repelled the charge of the pilgrim group also came over in small groups. Firing fire arrows at the siege tower, the military servants began to push the siege tower where Tancred was located in an attempt to avoid the pursuit and arson of the Byzantine defenders.

As fireworks were flying, Tancred sat back on the door panel. The Calabrian light soldiers behind him were holding crossbows and crouching in the tower, struggling to shoot at the Byzantine soldiers at the top of the city. He saw what was happening in the fierce battle. The figure of his sister Gu Siyun, holding a small ax He was chopping the head of his own soldier who was alone, "A stubborn Norman woman will only stand in the same camp as her man unconditionally. When she meets her brother, she will probably fight with weapons." Then, my sister's The figure was getting farther and farther in his eyes.

Three siege towers. One was burned, another was captured by the defenders of Bari, and the one where Tancred was located successfully retreated. Under the city of Bali, the corpses of pilgrim fanatics piled up in mountains, and Gao Wenfang claimed to have killed thousands of enemies.

But Bohemond also gained something. His siege position took another step forward and destroyed a corner of the tower in Bari. "Tell the military servants not to slack off and create more collisions and siege towers. I will launch a general attack in three days."

But then the intelligence from Moria made the Duke of Apulia furious: Zahas's fleet would not come. The Byzantine emperor assembled an army of 15,000 soldiers and handed it over to his brother Sebasto. Lord Kratt. They are storming Zahas' nest base, and the entire Peloponnese has become a war-torn place where Turkic soldiers from both sides attack and defend each other.

In short, Alexios is serious this time. The ships of Crete and Venice and Amalfi on the islands of the Holy Sea, as well as Byzantium's own small fleet that originally defended the imperial capital, will join forces to fight on land and water. Zaha Si has the feeling that he cannot protect himself. Naturally, I will not come to Bari City to wade in the muddy waters again.

Then, there was no doubt that his uncle Roger's Sicilian fleet also did not arrive, and Bohemond became angry. He didn't know what kind of excuse Roger was looking for this time, and how he was going to delay it. "It was the biggest mistake to believe him in the first place, this old bastard!" On the ocean at the beginning of spring, coastal city-states such as Ragusa and Venice were gathering. Gawain continued to use ships to bring grain into the city of Bari - Gawain took out all the previous commissions from Amalfi and levied one-sixth of the total property from all citizens as "city wall repair money" and "granary maintenance money." He had no problem making the cash payments.

"We can only attack." This was Bohemond's judgment. He once again won the support of all the earls and barons and pushed the decisive battle to three days later.

In front of the Saint Nicholas Cathedral. Gawain was kneeling on the ground, leaning on his sword. Praying in front of the standing Idorus, he thanked the emperor, his allies, and his patron, Princess Anna, "I hope that neither the sea nor the land will forget our fight against the violent enemy on this day."

Then Gawain turned around and spread out a long brochure on the long communion table to the soldiers and citizens after a bloody battle. This was made at his own request, "Today's hard battle is the merit of everyone. The vicious Norman knights united us before the sword, so I will ask my secretary to write down the names of those who have made meritorious deeds on this brochure. If the city of Bari is saved in this battle, I will then take all the brothers and comrades on it to the plains of Lombardy. In front of the Cave of Galganus, I prayed to the Archangel Michael.”

Galganus Cave is adjacent to the battlefield where Christians and Crescent Christians fought two hundred years ago. It is said that at that time, St. Michael appeared in the clouds with a spear and protected the Christian army's victory: these anecdotes are part of Anthropology's history. Deodat told Gawain privately.

In the flickering candlelight, soldiers, Tecobo people, sailors, pilgrims, and craftsmen, as long as they were rewarded for their contribution in fighting in this battle, they all stepped forward silently and firmly and wrote their names on the brocade book. Those who couldn't write asked Andodat to help with writing. And Gawain stood beside him, handing out coins and silks one by one. "Brother" was the name they used when responding to each other.

Later, Gawain specially brought in the prisoners from today's battle. They were all pilgrims, including women, and some were injured. All of them had lost their enthusiasm that had been bewitched, and now their faces were full of scars and despair. , and the horror, in the hall of this church On the mouth, there are people in various costumes, various weapons, terrifying faces, and expressions that don't care about killing people. The enemy's archduke is wearing a great cloak, gorgeous armor, and holding a terrifying sword, sitting upright. Watching them from the seat behind the communion table.

Will he be taken to the city and executed in public like before, or will he be assigned to the Grand Duke's subordinates as slaves?

But then the Archduke’s words were beyond everyone’s expectations, “I think that when you go on pilgrimage under the mobilization of the Holy See in Rome, you should have the most basic precept, that is, believers are not allowed to kill believers. We defended this city because this city was originally owned by the Roman emperor and belonged to the Norman bandits. It was captured by the traitors and then presented to the Holy See. I, Gawain, only wanted to regain it. I could predict immediately that the Holy See would issue an armistice order against Bari, so I only killed those who came to attack the city. Norman armed men, if you don’t massacre the captured pilgrims, I will let you go back now as a sign of mercy.”

Although it was unbelievable, in the early morning of the next day, the city of Bali indeed opened the city gate and released dozens of captive pilgrims who were still in shock.

Subsequently, the Norman siege camp began to commotion, and not only pilgrims and soldiers, but also several earls came over, asking Bohemond to stop, bypass the city of Bari, or make peace with Gawain, and jointly expedition to the east . (To be continued ~^~)