Eagle Byzantium

The anxious emperor decided to send a highly respected figure to unify the camps of Harold and Marinus and block Theodoro. Once this old guy gained power, he could also achieve de facto peace with Gawain. With strategic coordination, if they rush south to attack the rear of the emperor's camp, Alexios will really fall off his throne.

At this moment, in the royal camp with purple curtains, the wrinkles on the forehead of the emperor, who had a somewhat long and hard beard, were more obvious. Recalling the paintings sent by Gawain earlier, he couldn't help but start to get chills down his spine, and then there were waves of pain. Pain and disbelief:

"What did I do wrong? Did I dislike Irene and cause internal strife in the empire? Or did I allow Gawain to grow stronger? Or should I have married Anna to this Varyag barbarian..." Sisi In front of the burning candle, the emperor's eyes were almost dim. He sighed and stood up, walking to the standing mirror in the tent. , looking at his figure, he is indeed old, so old that he hardly looks like a person of this age. He has worked hard for so many years to restore the empire's territory, defeated so many dangerous enemies, and is almost ready to regain the former prestige of the Roman Empire. , but sometimes he had to admit: there were some opponents that he seemed unable to defeat.

For example, Robert Guiscart, when the young Alexios led his army to intercept his offensive in Durazzo, Guiscart, who was much older than him, was superior both in terms of battlefield experience and decisiveness. Override yourself and give yourself a fatal blow.

The emperor's thoughts could not help but go back to twenty years ago. On the grassland in the wilderness of Dyrasium, the Norman knights surrounded Alexios who was escaping. The black lance was thrown as a javelin. The young emperor wore a holy sword. Armor, chain mail tightly covered arms bound with flowers A beautiful round shield, riding on a richly decorated horse, adjusting the horse's pace calmly and steadily, sharp and violent collisions sounded, and the spears thrown by the Normans bent in front of the emperor's armor one after another, and some grazed the emperor's armor. Passing by Alexios' side, he fluttered and landed on the ground.

In the end, two flying spears, one pierced the emperor's rib armor, but only broke a few tethers, and the other pierced the emperor's helmet, bent and fell to the ground - Mirror Alexios in front of him raised his fingers and slowly brushed the hair covering his forehead, and then a scar was clearly visible in the mirror.

The emperor, who was in a hurry, lowered his arms, clamped the spear on his ribs, and tilted his head. The Norman knights mistakenly thought that the emperor had been stabbed in the body, so they cheered and stopped the attack, and all mounted their horses to grab the most glorious feat.

Suddenly a violent whistle sounded, and the horse under Alexios was kicked off by the spurs. He leaped up like a dragon carrying the emperor, and stepped onto the cliff in front of the stunned Norman pursuers. In the midst of shouting and cursing, Alexios threw the spears and spears that continued to fly behind him, and in three or two steps, he jumped up to the top of the small cliff like the wind and disappeared from the sight of his pursuers.

Guiscat died soon after, succumbed to an inexplicable fever and rumored to have been poisoned by his jealous wife Geta, who was instigated by the emperor. In fact, even Alexios himself can't explain these things clearly. Who knows? Anyway, Guiscart was dead, and the emperor's serious trouble was eliminated. The Normans set sail back to Sicily and competed for power in Apulia. The crisis in the western border of the empire came to an end.

Then in the east, the Seljuk forces split into civil wars due to the death of Malik Shah Khan. Soon the emperor also organized an army and crossed the sea to fight back one after another. Although there were gains and losses, in general, the great wave of pilgrims organized by the Pope later Here, the emperor also took the opportunity to recover many territories. It can be said that given time, as long as he uses clever military and diplomatic skills, he will be able to restore the territory of the former empire in his lifetime.

"Before Gawain appeared, my career and fortune were invincible..." Thinking of this, the emperor couldn't help but sigh sadly. He was really haggard now. In order to restore the strength of the imperial army as soon as possible, He had to recognize the rights and interests of the "Provincial Domain" in various places, and let the landed aristocrats have judicial and taxation rights over the tenant farmers; he had to He ceded privileges to Italian city-states, allowing them to own commercial ports and floating docks in cities such as Constantinople and Smyrna, dump goods without restrictions, and monopolize the empire's specialties; he also had to frantically send out "secular patrons" "Going to manage monasteries and temples, extorting financial gains from the Orthodox monk group, and enduring the accusations and secret insults from the other party.

All of this is for the Romanian Empire to complete the feat of revival in my hands, Komnenos!

This was the "Roman Dream" that the emperor himself was committed to.

But what is the current result? Although he has now assembled a larger army than before, with 50,000 to 60,000 people coming to conquer the plateau, the empire's finances have reached the brink of collapse. Previously, he laughed at Gawain's kingdom for having a population of only four of his own. One-third, but in comparison, all he can use is the part of the money directly under the Imperial Property Department, and the rest is achieved by unlimited overdraft of the emperor's credit.

The abominable Theodoro still rebelled, and now he had to invest more in the northern battlefield, but Gawain's resistance on the opposite side was so tenacious and crazy, and the various allies also had their own agendas and were hesitant.

But Alexios could not hesitate, "I have no way to retreat, just like a man fighting a charging lion with his back on a cliff. No matter how bad the situation is now, it will not be as good as it was twenty years ago." Lazuo is in danger, I was able to survive the desperate situation, let alone now!" Then the emperor closed his eyes and said, In the darkness, he seemed to see the eyes of the beast hidden in the grass again, radiating a faint and ferocious light, glaring at him, "Come on, the devil in my heart, even if the empire is now completely reduced to bloody fragments, I also want to put it back together piece by piece..."

After thinking about it, the emperor secretly summoned a few of his trusted guards and asked them, "I am going to urgently send someone to the north to unify the camps of Harold and Marinus and direct the war there. Use all your strength to drive back Theodoro's invasion. According to your opinion, if I send Brenus there, his status and status should be enough to do the job, right?"

Several guards looked at each other, and then Selilaruus stepped forward and said to His Majesty cautiously, "Please allow me to express my humble opinion, because Your Majesty has revoked General Xosa's command authority before. If Letting His Highness Breanus go to the north now will give everyone a feeling of being too tough and will also affect the morale and morale of the entire front line."

Hearing this, the emperor nodded knowingly, "The only thing we can do is ask the palace steward to come across the sea and direct the northern blockade and counterattack against Theodoro. Since it is Nicodemy Eustace, then there is no way There will be any problems. In addition, I have to send a message to Smyrna Port quickly, and my trump card will be used at this critical moment. It will put Gawain in a real dilemma!" (To be continued~^~)