The same treatment was given to Robert of Flanders and Stephen of Blois, both of whom were given thirty horses each; And Raymond, Marquis of Provence, actually received this gift, and more, a full sixty horses.

This figure made Raymond feel satisfied, and he thought that Gawain had given gifts with full consideration of his position that was very different from that of the other lords.

Then, in the second hour of the night, Gawain actually came to pay homage to him in civilian clothes, under the command of a small guard.

"Sit, please, please." Even though Raymond had a previous estrangement with Gawain, he still showed at least superficial enthusiasm and invited Gawain to discuss with him.

But Gawain went straight to the point, and immediately after sitting down, he asked the lord a crucial question, "After I became the Grand Duke of the Roman Empire, I have to consider everything for the supreme majesty, and you, as your majesty's closest and closest friend in the west, if the city of Antioch falls, do you want to return it to your majesty?" ”

Raymond was silent for a moment, he organized people from Provence and Saint-Gilles to come to the East with heavy loans, if it was just to restore the Holy Sepulchre, where to grab a handful of soil and bring it back to his hometown, it was definitely against his will, of course he wanted to gain a foothold in this rich and beautiful Levant!

But in the face of the aggressive Gawain, the one-eyed Raymond could not say these words in a grand manner: first, he had a very close personal relationship with the Emperor, and the Emperor gave him a lot of favors; Second, he doesn't know what the position of Gawain, the "eight-clawed spider", is, whether he is a member of the Holy See or an undercover servant of the emperor? It is still far from the point of heart-to-heart.

"Now, now, you and I are only, just one of all the lords. Although there are some ideas, although I agree with them, but in the Council of Cardinals, if they are not approved by others, they are recognized. That would put you in an awkward, embarrassing situation. Gawain waited a long time for the Marquis to finish his thoughtful but unspoken words.

Gawain lowered his head, looked at the ground for a few seconds, and then raised himself, "The current situation is that the Emperor is bound to the city of Antioch, and according to the report of the agent I sent - the Emperor's army commander Tetisius is also trying to take possession of Tarsus. Under the pretext of mediating the conflict between Baldwin and Tanfred, my Seleucian city is also within the scope of your majesty's jealousy. Therefore, whoever takes the city of Antioch will become the target of the emperor's fire, and His Majesty is doomed to recover Anatolia and all of Syria. ”

Raymond didn't know how to answer for a while, so the two continued to be silent for a while. Then Raymond publicly stated, "You and me." You and I are both people loyal to Your Majesty, but you occupy Seleucia, Seleucia, and I am also sympathetic, because the military horse, the military horse. Grain and straw must always be considered, and His Majesty does not, does not pay. The implication of this is that I also deserve a piece of the pie in Syria.

"And now, who do you want to occupy Antioch?" Gawain doesn't go around in circles. Continue straight in.

"I don't dare, I don't dare." Raymond says he needs to improve his abilities even further.

"How about the partition to occupy and divide and conquer? In this way, no one can fully occupy the city, and His Majesty cannot blame anyone. In the future, when the merchants of Venice and other city-states came ashore from the port of San Simeon (the seaport connected to Antioch by the Orontes River, which was not by the sea, and Antioch itself was not close to the sea), we could lease their neighborhoods to them and bid for them, so that we could earn at least twenty thousand Byzantian gold coins a year. Gawain instantly boldly threw out his plan.

Raymond's throat rolled sharply a few times, Gawain's plan was not bad, Alexios would not completely blame him alone, and he could still enjoy Antioch's annual tribute, but once he did so, his friendship with the emperor would inevitably be overshadowed no matter what, and the emperor would treat him on an equal footing with the rest of the lords who were hungry for profit.

"Well, I will propose this plan at the Council of Cardinals, and fully support you, after all, the army on the expedition is in great hardship, short of money and food, and if you don't attack Antiochus, there is no way to continue to the Holy Land. I can support you in part of my income in Seleucia and Cilicia. Gawain continued to agitate, "Frankly, do you think that His Majesty's forces can really reach Antioch?" No, now the Konya and Danishmund Turks are still rampant in Anatolia, the emperor's ability is limited, and those of us who are close to the emperor are only to occupy part of the interests for His Majesty first, and we can't let the Normans take them all. ”

Speaking of the Normans, Raymond said passionately that Tancred had already occupied Little Armenia, Marash and Edessa before, and if Bohemond was allowed to occupy the city of Antioch again, a powerful Norman state would inevitably be formed, and if we went to the Levant and the Holy City in the future, we would not be able to take food from Bohemond's mouth.

"So we have to suppress Bohemond"

"Just, just suppress it like this?"

"No, in addition to 'tearing apart' Antioch as much as possible, we should also use a more delicate and meticulous hand to subdue the Normans." It seems that Gawain still has a second hand, and then he and Raymond have secretly consulted for an hour before quietly leaving the camp of the Marquis de Provence.

The next day, hundreds of thousands of pilgrims gathered on the wilderness river beneath the city of Atta, their procession stretched as far as the eye could see, countless people used axes to cut down the trees around the city, the towering altar was erected, and a great flame was burning, on which Ademar stood side by side with a handsome young church deacon named Adalbello, who was also a relative of the former Salian Caesar (Henry III) and was now serving as the chief deacon of the church in Metz. The future is bright.

Gawain, on the other hand, did not wear a robe, but set up an altar full of banners and holy weapons, because he was not familiar with rituals, so although he was a priesthood, most people still regarded him only as a general and a samurai.

"If Jerusalem is the great holy place, then Antioch is the cradle of the Ecumenical Church, the second holies, and the Saracens, the Turkic pagan unbelievers, whom we have expelled from all over the land, have escaped and gathered in the midst of this city, and continue to defile it, resisting the banner of the Lord. What do you say, "What should we do?" ”

"Assemble, blow the battle horn, and march!" Everyone responded with their arms folded. (To be continued.) )