The city of Nicosia, in the middle of the island of Cyprus, a flat gray city, surrounded by hot and dry plains, even though many evergreen trees were planted around the walls, it was still difficult to resist the wind that quickly depleted the body moisture, and Diognis looked up at the endless and endless sun of May, and saw the bare ash wind rolling up in the south of the city, and the lips full of boils were pursed, and the mouth was thick with spittle, and only a small black spot was smashed on the gray-white sand, Even the boots didn't get half wet, and they turned into a puff of green smoke and disappeared.

Theognes was writing letters to his wife, Gu Siyun, full of sorrow, but at the same time, he was also searching for words, he was only familiar with some military regulations, but fortunately, Gu Siyun was also a person who didn't care about anything literary at all.

The 2,000 men and horses he led were stationed on the outskirts of the capital city of Nicosia, and the governor of Laptsomatus was in the city with his guards.

So the water and food, Lapu Somatus only coped, and the life of the guards and soldiers was very uncomfortable.

Previously, after Tetisius left, after Gawain chased him, although he did not dare to disobey his superiors and the emperor at the official level, he privately gave Gawain a map of the Acropolis passage camp of Antioch drawn by himself.

"I don't know what the battle is going on in Antioch City?" The captor wondered in his heart.

As Gawain privately expected, they did not take the land route of Syria, but suddenly captured the port of Latakia, which was occupied by the Allied pirates (which was also unexpected by the captor), and Tetisius left a thousand men, and after guarding and imprisoning Ummoha and holding the port, he coerced all the pirate sailors and ships, and led the fleet of Cypriots, and transported them all to the island, and then left the captor and two thousand soldiers in the city of Nicosia in the center of the island, and he himself took the remaining five thousand men on a starry night, Crossing the Troodos Mountains across Cyprus to the picturesque port of Kyrenia in the north, backed by mountains and beyond the reach of the terrifying hot winds of Ptolemaic and Africa to the south, the climate is as lovely as Anatolia.

The warden of the Asiatic march, who had no nose, was never interested in the scenery, and after having his men cross the sea in batches to the city of Atalya, he himself boarded the first ship and set out to sea.

The next day, Tetisius appeared in the city of Atalya, in front of Prince John's residence.

At the time, John. Komnenos was sitting in a courtyard full of pothos and flowers, watching the Turks shoot at their targets.

The fellow was so skillful that he sat cross-legged on a blanket mat with a small bow in his hand, and the servant next to him gave him only the shaft of the arrow, which was not clustered (for the safety of the prince), and then he struck all the targets that were placed on the other side of the courtyard with a slight and graceful sound.

John was fascinated by it, as the orthodox heir of the empire, his interest in archery was much greater than that of classical literature, which was completely different from his sister (which is why Anna looked down on her brother), and his next plan was to learn riding and swordsmanship, "surpassing the Varyag barbarian Gawain" was actually the ideal in his heart, or in John's heart, he faintly felt that he had to be like Gawain in order to revitalize this ancient empire.

"Very well, my father's letter is right, you are a captive of courage and skill, and although my father has reduced your status to a slave, I now appoint you as my personal guard." When John saw that the Turk had shot all the arrows in a pot, he applauded and stood up.

The Turk hurriedly turned around and bowed down to the prince, with his hands on the ground, who had been a slave soldier under the Sultan of Rum, who had surrendered at the Battle of Nicaea and had been sent to Constantinople by ship.

In the arena, when one captive, handcuffed by ropes, and led by donkeys past the laughing inhabitants of the imperial capital, Alexios, who was sitting in the chief stand, found it bored, and began to count the number, and when he reached the twenty-fourth, he saw that the prisoner of war was a one-handed cripple, and he was not very happy, so he began to count the "alpha" again, and when he saw a tall and strong captive, Alexios was very satisfied with this, and dragged him - in a burst of cheers, The Emperor's boots were on his neck, "I, the all-powerful Roman Emperor, forgive you!" ”

He was subsequently named "Alpha. Axeppokaus" (?) Axouchos, the archetype of John II's most relied on minister in history, was indeed a Turkic captured after the Battle of Nicaea, who was given to his son as a gift by Alexios), "Go and serve my son!" With this directive, he came to Panphylia.

For Alpha. As for Axepocaus, this did not seem to be difficult to accept, as a prisoner of war and a slave, his fate was already in the hands of the victors, this was the consensus of the Turks, and now that His Majesty the Emperor had asked him to accompany the prince, it would be done.

"Do you know how to do swordsmanship? The swordsmanship of your Turks is very much to my heart. Prince John asked, but all the servants around him bowed down and tugged at his clothes, telling him to be careful not to deliver a real sword into the hands of the Turk, whose loyalty and reliability were vague though he had been baptized.

So the prince was a little disappointed, "You still need to study, in order to assist me in the future." Then Si Yan's servant stood at the door of the courtyard, and the prince, knowing that an important guest was coming, sat back in his chair, while Axepocus retreated to one side.

When Tetisius bowed at his feet, the prince immediately asked, "I heard that you abandoned the war of Antioch and came to my territory with eight thousand men all the way?" ”

"Your Majesty's army has crossed the strait and is heading towards this place, and your servant Tetisius has arrived before and is responsible for explaining it to Your Majesty."

"Explain what?"

"It's Your Royal Highness, Your Royal Highness."

"Say it, and I will allow your breath to be directed toward me."

Thus Tetisius removed the embroidered cloak that had concealed his face, and said to the prince - Kobuha's army is more than 100,000 men, and has already captured the port of Saint-Simon, and if I linger any longer, if your majesty's 8,000 men are destroyed, I cannot bear this responsibility.

After hearing these words, John was silently wrong, and then he asked, "Where are your armies now?" ”

"1,000 in Latakia, 2,000 in Cyprus, and the remaining 5,000 will soon come by boat."

"Tetisius, you courageless slave, even though you are skilled in martial arts and proficient in battle formations, you have no fighting spirit of a noble person in your blood. You should be ashamed of you compared to Gawain who insisted on staying there. Hearing this, Prince John counted down.

Tetisius didn't have any expression, just bowed his head and prostrate. (To be continued.) )