Eagle Byzantium

The female consul reluctantly calmed down and placed the letter on the small table in front of her seat with shaking hands. Then she stretched out her hand and picked up the agate drinking glass with the same shaking hands. The Paulist elders and co-workers standing around , it was obvious that the female consul's lips were not even close to the rim of the cup, and the water inside kept shaking out.

"Your Excellency, Archon, Your Excellency, Archon." Lucios Cornel, a "gospel elder", hurriedly reminded Cabeamiya and pulled her back from the edge of the abyss of panic.

"The enemy has 25,000 people. Even if Gawain deliberately exaggerated the number, it is probably tens of thousands, because he had 6,000 troops before. I am afraid there will be reinforcements from the heretic emperor behind... Our side How to deal with it... Can we abandon these fortresses and cross the sea to the city of Phicaia on the Danube River? There is still a vacuum zone for heretical forces, which is conducive to our preaching of doctrines and the development of believers. "As a result, the Golden-Handed Woman came to power. As soon as the official spoke, he would abandon many valuable territories on the south coast of Youkexinghai.

The rest of the co-workers did not dare to say anything, because the believers' army had suffered successive defeats in Thrace and Bulgaria (the battle of Philipsburg and Prevensus, one defeat by Alexios, and another defeat by Alexius) Yu Gaowen), the losses were very serious, Now even if all the believers who can fight are put together, the strength of only seven or eight thousand people, the armament, training and combat skills cannot be compared with the regular army. How to resist the wolves and tigers coming from the Brasilon Valley? Where is the emperor's military commander?

"Borrowing the city, simply ask for help from the Turkic prince of Danishmund or General Theodoro Gabuas, rely on Sinop and the mountains and rivers in the south, and fight to the death with the emperor's troops." In addition, A radical "elder of the afterlife" (Pauline teachings were deeply influenced by Zoroastrianism and Manichaeism, and also divided believers in the congregation into those in this world and those in the afterlife. The two categories refer to the "two poles and three realms" of Manichaeism, of which the three realms are the past, the present world, and the afterlife. The Pauline sect has abandoned the ecclesiastical hierarchy of the Orthodox Church and the Catholic Church, but it is unknown how it is organized. ) Philus Pandreou was impassioned. Anyway, as long as the Paulists were fighting against the Orthodox emperor, they had already taken refuge with various pagans more than once.

"Philus Pandreou, this is no longer the era of the Republic of Teflis, which was under the leadership of our ancestors. Our army was so heroic and invincible that it even burned the heretical church in Ephesus, but now it is really The believers (the Paulists call themselves) are no longer good. We will win less and lose more against the emperor's group of professional military personnel hired from various ethnic groups. Therefore, our strengths are propaganda and colonization, not marching and fighting. "We are intimidated by bows and arrows and war horses. Kabeamia. He no longer has the heroic spirit of the past, now he is very cautious.

So all the believers and elders asked, what should we do?

"In my opinion, we can make peace with Gawain, and then on the condition of surrendering land and fortresses, ask the heretic emperor to recognize our rights and interests in colonizing the Danube River, and then develop." Cabeamiya said this. It was recognized by most of the believer elders present, but the "Elder of the Afterlife" Philus Pandreou was still unwilling to recognize it. His attitude was very fierce, "Dear Archon. I was born in Thrace. My father once served as a customs collector for the heretic emperor. I stayed with my father on official business since I was a child. Ships or mules and horses, we have seen the greed, selfishness and cruelty of the hypocrites of the Orthodox and Catholic churches everywhere. Moreover, Asia Minor is now torn apart, and there is still room for us true believers to return. Once we go to our humble dwelling at the northern end of Bulgaria That cunning emperor will definitely banish us completely."

This seemed to make sense, but it made the female consul hesitate again. Finally, Cabeamiya thought again and again. Finally, an ambiguous decision was made: Lucios was in the city of Sinop preparing ships, and seemed to be planning to escape at any time; while Philus and himself took four thousand believers with them. Go to the rescue of Galactio Castle, which is besieged by Gawain's large company, observe the opponent's situation, and then make a judgment.

As a result, when the female consul led the army and just walked out of the city gate of Sinop, the news came:

Castle Galadio has been captured by Gawain.

It’s only been one day since Gawain’s letter was delivered! The female consul immediately felt dizzy with black eyes.

Gawain sent a company of Italian veterans to this military town, which went around to the cliff behind the fortress and took it down lightly. The five hundred believers guarding the city did not know how to defend at all. When the main force of the Dalian team formed a formation in front of the main gate, At that time, they all gathered at the tower and city wall at the main entrance, unaware of the surprise attack by Gawain's Rangers.

So if nothing else goes wrong, Gawain's army should have sacked the military town by now and begun to advance in her direction.

"We'd better take a boat to Fikea..." The female consul no longer knew what kind of expression and attitude to use to face this information. She was really afraid of being raped by Gawain for the second time. Captive, but now I feel as if I have become a mouse and fallen into "Or, we hire the Lord of the Mountain to assassinate Gawain, yes, how about assassinating Gawain? Poison him, kill him with a dagger, and hide him in the shade of a tree with an arrow." Shoot him to death, cover him with a pillow, destroy him, destroy him..."

"Calm down, Archon. Even if we kill Gawain, the heretic emperor will continue to send troops. If we abandon our territory rashly, we will not be qualified to negotiate with the heretic emperor in the future. So let's march forward resolutely! I will fully assist you in military affairs." Philus looked at Cabeamia firmly and kept cheering her up. Then, the young and strong leader of the Paulicians looked at the roaring and surging Euxin Sea, "Even if it is the terrible Gawain Russell you mentioned, it will not be so easy to defeat the weapon in my hand!"

"Yes, yes, it's not time to give up yet. Philus, you can say that, my mood has stabilized a lot. With your military experience and firm will, we will build a fortress at the border of Bithynia and fight against Gawain." The female archon was also encouraged and ignited her confidence.

Four days later, at dusk, the sea breeze was raging. A Pauline fortress in the mountains by the Amasra Bay was suddenly attacked by Gawain's vanguard. All fifty believers stationed there were killed and captured. Then, a huge fire broke out along the fortresses. Cabeamia, with disheveled hair, had just ridden out of her camp on horseback when she saw that the "Greedy Wolf Lusel" wearing a red hand feather ornament had already stood on the hillside of the captured camp amid the deafening shouts and screams. He looked down at her and stretched out his hand to shout something to her.

In fact, Gawain was persuading Cabeamia to make peace with him as soon as possible and surrender to his banner.

But Capaemia's mind was full of what Gawain had said to her in the past, "If you oppose me again in Asia Minor, I will definitely kill you." (To be continued ~^~)

PS: Note: Capaemia's prototype is the two archons Cabeas and Helicochir, the leaders of the Paulicians in the early Macedonian Dynasty.