Eagle Byzantium

The envoy thought he had done well and chuckled shamelessly, "So we still maintain the border between the two countries and we are willing to resume all original trade exchanges. How about that?"

Anna looked at Gawain for a moment, then sneered at the envoy, "What a pity. Doesn't your Governor-General, who is known as a well-informed intelligence officer, not know that an angry army of ten thousand people is coming from the west sea soon? It is led by a thirst for freshness The bloody and murderous Norman bandit leader Bohemond, my useless brother has signed a peace treaty with him, allowing Bohemond to freely use Crete and Rhodes as anchorage, and soon they will We will disembark in Paphos and head straight to Nicosia."

"Hey, hey?" The messenger was a little flustered and at a loss.

"When the time comes, together with my two elite brigades, no matter what if Tancred helps you, I will annihilate Antioch along the way." Gawain took over and continued to threaten.

"Then what should we do?" The messenger cried sadly and actually asked Gawain and Anna to help him make up his mind.

"Cut out the land and the castle." Gawain and his wife said in unison.

The specific plan is to divide the island of Cyprus into Kyrenia (north), Paphos (southwest), Amathas (south), Salamis (east) and Nicosia (central) according to tradition. area, and then Apsomatus ceded Kyrenia to Gawain, Paphos to Bohemond, and the remaining three parts remained intact.

In addition, when Gawain and Bohemond went to war with any kingdom in the Levant, Cyprus had to provide ports and fleet support to the east.

"This condition is too harsh. Please allow me to go back and apply for the opinion of the Grand Duke."

"There is no time. Bohemond's fleet is heading towards your territory, and I have two brigades that are ready to leave at any time. Go back and ask Apsomatus if he is better than Philomelon. Is the emperor still powerful?" In the end, Gawain only agreed to give him an ultimatum of one week.

Such threats were indeed effective. When Gawain presented Philomelon's victory, Apsomatus, who received the messenger's reward in Nicosia Castle, was violently shaken.

He was afraid of fighting Gawain. Apsomates quietly estimated the comparison of his power with that of Tarsus: Gawain now has a population of two million, which has surpassed a country of the level of Hungary (Hungary did not exist until 100 AD). only later generations could reach such a large population), while Cyprus The island of Leos only has a population of 200,000 to 300,000; as for the army, Gawain now has a team of 50,000, and he, together with the most elite Cretan guards, can only assemble 4,000. Up and down, it would be nice to be able to defend a castle in Nicosia once a fight breaks out.

What's more, there is also the vicious Bohemond.

"Let's join forces with Tancred of Antioch to resist Gawain and Bohemond!" Such fanatical thoughts surged in Apsomates's heart, like a fire.

But the ultimatum given by Gawain was only for one week, and coupled with the time it took for the envoy to return, he could only hope to get Tancred's exact reply within three or four days.

In the end, the passionate flames in Apsomates' heart were extinguished by himself with the "ice water of reason". He said to the envoy, "At the beginning, I, Gawain and Bohemond were all signatories of the secret treaty of Maidens. Friendship is unquestionable, first of all I was coerced by the emperor before to attack Seleucia. Now I am willing to cede Paphos to Bohemond and Kyrenia to Gawain. No, it is not a cession, but a five-year lease to them. , to express my apology.”

Although the Grand Duke of Cyprus made the difficult and proud decision to "lease" rather than "cede". But Gawain couldn't care about that much at all. After getting the exact information, he stood in front of the mercury map table and analyzed it triumphantly to Anna, "I will immediately send out Branas's guardian brigade to occupy the coast. Kyrenia Castle, which took a year to Expand it and add forts and arrow towers. So we are only separated from Nicosia by two mountains and a river, and the Trudos Mountains are rich in copper deposits. Now about copper coins, cannons and church bells. We don’t have to rely on others to cast us.”

"But after reading the natural history, I discovered that the main minerals of Cyprus, the 'Queen of Copper,' are located in Paphos and Amathas." Anna stared at the location of southern Cyprus on the map table, and her tone was full of greed.

"Dear wife, can it be that after we occupy Kyrenia, the rule of Apsomatos in this island country can continue to be maintained? We have received divine revelation, that is, this city is rich in copper, wine and stone. Sooner or later, all the islands will be ours.”

As a result, as soon as Gawain finished speaking, Anna was overjoyed and placed the flag in the direction of Cyprus in advance, "Let's do it next year. The island of Cyprus is like a central latch on the ocean, which will greatly affect the Kingdom of Egypt and Antioch." Principality and Tyre, West Stun the nerves of these city-states, because as long as we occupy this place, we can obtain the most valuable fleet forward base, and we can easily shoot our spears and arrows at all ports in the Levant to let them feel us. The power of oppression!"

"Yes, this is my improvement plan - when our swords are pointed at Cyprus, if these hostile forces dare to come ashore to resist me, we will defeat them on the island; if they dare not, we will launch a general attack after the next year to eliminate the forces that expelled Apsomatus and occupy and annex the entire island. Next year is actually the real 'year of the Cyprus attack'. After the goal is achieved, we will use it as a springboard to build a large number of ships, besiege and capture Tyre, Sidon and the city of Pora (that is, Tripoli). In this way, we can unify the entire Tripoli and form a horn with Cyprus. Then we will start farming there - mulberry, sugarcane, saffron, henna, date trees, palm trees, fir trees, cedars, Indian cotton, what a huge agricultural production situation it will be. In addition to agricultural gardens, we will also build a group of workshops and towns with a full range of glass, sugar, printing and dyeing, and enamel. . That's right, in the future we will not only be satisfied with using Tripoli as a trade transit point, selling myrrh and incense from Arabia and Yemen, but also build it into a 'base' and 'source' that can generate unparalleled wealth! "

"Then our military resources and wealth will be endless. The copper of Cyprus, the ships of Attalia, the war horses of Cappadocia, the soldiers of Tarsus, the wool and brocade of Iconium, and the power generated by the trade and workshops of Tripoli will all be gathered in our hands. In the future, after I get Constantinople from my father's legacy, I will get an invincible fortress that projects power to the entire West. In the end, we will control the trade routes and armies of half of the known world, and no one in the world will be our enemy. "Anna immediately transformed the sadness of losing her father into an inexhaustible enterprising spirit, snuggling in Gawain's arms, and narrating intoxicatedly.