Then, the Greek dilapidated little nobleman saw Gawain slowly approaching him, and then the self-proclaimed Grand Duke came out of his mouth, "Either I will give you the title of the first nobleman with a sword and the title of Grand Duke of Calabria, and you will give me this title of Aconis." The army and the scepter are in command of you, okay? ”

Frightened, Madjos hurriedly waved his hand and hurriedly took the letter of appointment, saying that it must be the royal family who was extremely nervous about the title of knighthood that had such an expedient measure.

Seeing that Metzchos no longer had any doubts, Gawain pointed to the thick pile of letters of appointment that Andodat had just made next to him, "The squad commander, the nobles with swords, the white-robed nobles, the palace guards, all the official titles are here, all of them are stamped with my green ink seal, and there is a joint signature of the court clerk Diognes, and the commander of the Cuman cavalry, Tetisius, to prove that according to your own financial resources and armament, the whole of Calabria below is your battlefield, and you have been swallowing your anger for ten or even decades. There is no need to be patient, attack the villages and monasteries of the Normans, uproot their small fortresses, do not follow behind my Red Hand Brigade in order, fight freely, and use the commissions of His Majesty the Emperor and the Grand Duke to recruit troops. ”

Soon, from the highlands and valleys of dozens of miles outside the city of Reggio, small Greek nobles who called themselves "nobles with swords" and "nobles in white robes", as well as merchants, rich peasants, and armed monks, and at the same time there were many heroes of the green forest, hanging holy icons, waving the banner of Gawain's "Red Cross Sword", gathering small armies of thirty, fifty, and more than a hundred people, attacking isolated Norman villages everywhere and cutting the crops in the late autumn season. There was even a dark-skinned Saracen named Jal Cuba, who automatically took up the title of "First Saracen Mercenary Commander of the Roman Empire", and led dozens of pirates and merchants directly to the northern part of Calabria, at the junction with the mountains of Lucania, chanting the slogan "Return of Rome" all the way.

The Norman Earl of Reggio was so frightened that he wrote a distress letter to the besieging Bohemond and sent it to Roger in Palermo.

The words of the letter were succinct: "The whole of Calabria has been swarmed with Greek bandits and untouchables, and the whole situation is more spectacular than the eruption of a volcano in Italy, and of course it is a horror for us - is it time for the Lord and the Grand Count, to reconsider the strategic direction?" ”

At this moment, the real "Red Hand Dalian" with a scale of nearly 5,000 people has gone around to a mountain pass in the north of Reggio, which can go directly to the western coast of Calabria, and now Gawain asked the clerk to count the data that shows that he has 500 Cuman light cavalry, 500 Caesar's private army servants, and 500 Tekopo mercenaries (100 of them fought on horseback, after the victory of Lepanto, Gawain expanded the number of cavalry of this team to 200 people, mainly armed with captured Norman horses and weapons), Five hundred Saracen and Amalfi sailors, seven hundred veterans from the Italian regions of Benevento and Bari, and nearly two thousand people improvised from Aetolia, Thessaly, Moria, and Calabria (Gawain was wise, the lessons of Nicaea were still in sight, so he let the Greek nobles go everywhere to make trouble, and he chose only simple and loyal Greek farmers to join the army), and Greek soldiers with mixed weapons and sources.

Although these men had different weapons and equipment, they all carried red-handed cross-swords and battle flags on a white background, and they lined up in the valley under the mountain pass, which was also magnificent, and the sound of slogans almost completely destroyed a small fortress on it.

The guard of this fortress was an old Norman knight who was almost fifty years old, because he was too old to go on an expedition, so he was arranged to guard an important place that was actually very quiet and safe, but he never dreamed that Calabria, which was calm a few days ago, would become like this in a short period of time. But the old knight looked at the cloud-like military formation below, and still mustered up the courage in the Norman gene, "Back then, I was also a warrior who followed His Excellency the Grand Count of Sicily to sweep the Saracens across the entire island and complete the mission of jihad, would I be afraid of you Greeks?" ”

Then, with the help of several military servants, the old knight first bowed and prayed in the direction of the rising sun and the holy place on the mountain, and then he put on his horse and rode down from the fortress on the mountain, and shouted, "Is there anyone in the enemy camp who can fight with me, and is there no true warrior in the enemy rank?" ”

As a result, in the long infantry phalanx in front of the enemy, after a few slogans, a bowstring sounded, and a black rain rose from it, like countless crows flying, and the bushes around the old knight were like thunder and lightning, and all of them were shot bald in an instant, and his own arrows were like a porcupine, and the blood mixed with the shafts of the arrows outside, constantly dripping, and then the men and horses fell down and died.

"This guy has seen a lot of knightly opera, and now the flower crown of war should also be awarded to my loyal infantry and archers." Gawain, who was under the red feather helmet, looked with disdain at the corpse of the old knight who had lost the opportunity to verify the last glory of his life, and concluded by saying, "Everyone, take the forage and food that has been raised, break through this mountain pass, and we will raise fire and burn it in the west of Calabria." ”

Then, the Tekopo mercenaries, carrying the battle flag, walked past the miserable corpse of the old knight, stepped on the fortress on the top of the hill, captured the rest of the soldiers, and opened the passage behind the pass, but the Norman flag remained because it wanted to cover their marching route.

At night, in the white mist under the stars, Gawain sat in the brazier of the camp tent to bake the fire, and beside him, the military servant Muzafiadin and the newly "hired" clerk Androdat were arguing with each other in broken Greek about the accounts of their respective scriptures.

"Okay, I'm not allowed to argue about this in the room I'm in the future, but Anderodat is in front of him, and try not to drink alcohol and eat meat." Gawain said as he stretched his hand over the fire. Then he beckoned to Muzafi Addin, and the military servant came over, untied the coat and armor on Gawain's body, and looked for lice in the leather jacket inside, these things can make the self-proclaimed Grand Duke miserable during this time, Muzafei Adin has a strong ability to find lice, and when he finds one, he bites it to death under the "gaba" in his mouth, and then spits it into the brazier, making a crackling sound endlessly.

In the firelight, Gawain saw the black eagle embroidered on his robe, muttered for a moment, and then said to Androdart, "Help me draft a letter to the imperial capital, and send it to Madame Eudocia to convey." ”

"Yes, Your Excellency the First Sword Noble." Androdart had only recently familiarized himself with the Greek title.