Eagle Byzantium

"This is not good, this is not good, Your Excellency Gawain..." Staurachos rubbed his hands, his eyes were squeezed into two slits by the flesh again, and he didn't know what he meant by "not good". Is it aimed at Gawain's money, or Gawain's disrespectful words towards the Komnenos royal family.

"I'm not joking." The expression on Gawain's face was very serious. "The person who is boarding the ship now is you, Eunuch Staurachos - now to tell you the truth, I will soon go a hundred miles north, and I won't Let’s move on, waiting for the opportunity to re-enter the world behind Castle Sophia, which is your Majesty’s royal garden and forbidden land.”

At this time, Stavlachos's face was about to burst into tears. He seemed to be suffering from malaria, and his body kept twitching. He never expected that this mere barbarian commander Akonis would be so contemptuous of His Majesty and the authority of the palace. , but he couldn't say anything. The other party was willing to give him the truth. Gold and silver, bribes that cannot be exchanged for seven lifetimes in the palace. In addition, if he has any complaints, this unreasonable barbarian will really cut off his fat head immediately to sacrifice the flag, and who will take care of him at that time? Family, do you count on His Majesty the Emperor, or the Wardrobe Manager? It's all wishful thinking.

He was originally sent to monitor the army, but was he going to be held hostage instead?

The two stared at each other for a while, and in the end it was obvious that the eunuch, who was extremely selfish and followed the crowd, was defeated. Gawain pushed the money bag forward on the table with satisfaction, "Muzhafi Adin, find some delicious estuary salmon roe, plus Cuman's roasted tender lamb, to entertain our respectable eunuch Your Excellency, if we go to the southern edge of Wallachia in the future, we may not have good conditions to entertain you." After saying that, the Archduke saluted the eunuch and scribe who were still leaning against the bookcase, and then left. .

Ten days later, Sebastocrat of Fort Sophia angrily threw the letter to the ground, "Gawain set up camp a hundred miles away from here. Won't you leave?"

Afterwards, His Excellency the Emperor's brother lay on the couch in the mansion, exhaling a long breath and gritting his teeth, "But His Majesty the Emperor has told us that we should return to the imperial capital as soon as possible with the main force of the army to prepare for Bohemond's Norman attack." Man. But Gawain is here. So Sophia Castle must leave a lot of troops to guard against it. At this distance, the cavalry of the Red Hand Company can rush to the fortress in about two or three days. Damn barbarians, scoundrels. douchebag."

Then another herald walked in. After saluting, he handed the latest information about the spy to the emperor's younger brother Isaac. So the emperor's brother stood up from the couch again, cursed in the Minor Asian dialect again, and slapped the second document on the ground to show his anger. "That guy Gawain. He was not satisfied with the camp and started building a new military fort along the crossing of the Morava River?"

The generals gathered around and asked Sebastocrat to give orders. Should we use our newly victorious army to sweep away Gawain's military fortress?

"That bastard, the eunuch Stavlachos, are his eyes and mouth placed among the facial features, just for decoration? Not only did Gawain fail to be punished for his illegal behavior, but Gawain calmly erected a military fort. Don't hide it at all. When the matter calms down, I will ask your Majesty to blind him with the brightest Kairouan glass to vent his anger. He was so angry that he made great ambitions. "Prepare my horses. I will go there with the cavalry. Ask Gawain to destroy this place immediately. There is no need to send out the entire army for the time being."

Not far from the rolling Morava River, facing the northern ferry, Gawain's military fortress is nearly taking shape. He is looking at the scene below with contentment on the high tower of the earth (the supervisory eunuch is standing next to him with a sad face. ):

The entire military fort has a rectangular shape, about four gustadias long and two and a half gustadias wide. There are layers of outer gates erected on the ground. The pile heads are all sharpened and blackened, and the outside is surrounded by excavations. The trench has spiked barbs inserted into it. There are only a few wooden bridges on it, which are controlled by noose pulleys and can be raised or lowered at any time. Another layer of inner fence is enclosed inside, and the foundation is below. The entire height of the rampart, except for the erected wooden stakes, was made into a slope shape. It was also covered with pointed stakes and entwined with thorns and vines. Six Greek companies were stationed on the outer circle, and a company of Italian veterans were stationed inside. , the craftsman company, and the cavalry company are stationed in adjacent forts. Outside are natural pastures where green grass can be grazed, and they are arranged according to their flags and affiliations.

At the core of the entire military fort is the command tower, forging workshop, leather workshop and stables, all of which are fully functional. With the full cooperation of the entire Dalian team and the wholehearted cooperation of the supervising eunuch, it was completed quickly.

Among them were several powerful catapults and large crossbows, which were aimed at the ferry. Under their firepower, a lush market stood up. This was also specially arranged by Gawain. His merchant genes came into play again. It is best to buy and sell now: Bulgars, Slavs, and Cuman villages and towns from all over the area also come to do business with vehicles and small boats.

Gawain was very smart. He stored some high-quality Byzantine gold coins and small-denomination silver coins from Venice and Bohemia, because he knew that these barbarians, who were full of shepherds and farmers, lacked these things the most. Then he bought honey and wood from the Slavs, exchanged animal skins and handicrafts from the Bulgars, and sold them to the Cumans in exchange for high-quality war horses and weapons. The Brotherhood and many professional notaries in Bari carried these coins and thrived in the market, killing all the way through these transit processes. In addition, small caravans from Venice, Amalfi, and Bari also traveled far from the trade route, bringing small and scarce salt, glass, linen and silk for dumping, and demanding cash transactions - these, the surrounding villages, finally sold precious raw materials to call for some gold and silver coins, which flowed back into Gawain's hands, and his hard work was in vain.

Not only that, Gawain also sent out the Great Company and the priests and pastors of the Brotherhood to preach everywhere, so that the barbarians could enter the river to be baptized, in order to infiltrate the surrounding areas and win over the eyes and ears.

Finally, Gawain also gave this military fort a resounding name, "Iron Gate Fort".

Until Isaac Komnenos led dozens of cavalrymen and galloped to the bottom of the military fort, but the scouts had already informed Gawain in advance.

So the general of the Iron Gate Fort stretched his waist, calmly led the eunuchs to the tower beside the wooden fence, looked at the furious royal brother riding a horse below, and greeted and praised Lord Sebastokrate loudly.

"Gawain, as the commander of Aconis, you accepted the order to go to conquer the remnants of Tevris, but you set up a military fort here at the mouth of the river without authorization, which is simply against the will of His Majesty the Emperor." Isaac raised his whip and angrily rebuked. (To be continued ~^~)