However, in the early morning of the next day, before Empress Irene could prepare, her husband Alexios sent an official to summon her, asking for a meeting at the small church of the Saints of the Gods in Brachna Palace, where there was something important to discuss.

Surrounded by handmaidens, Erin dressed up in the circle of maids, put on the queen's tiara, and went to the richly decorated chapel between the royal garden and the palace, where Alexios stood proudly behind the mosaics, and he was usually accompanied by three henchmen, the imperial ink officer Meles, the chief of the guard Mikhail, and the great eunuch Little Bird.

"Oh, you're here, so hard work, what about my daughter Anna?" When the queen saluted him, Alexios spoke in a peaceful tone and had an indifferent smile on his face.

"What about the chief lady and her adopted son, your brother-in-law?" Who would have thought that Erin would actually turn her lips back, and now John has been adopted by Marlena as an adopted son, and he is Alexios's brother in terms of generational ethics.

However, the emperor did not express the slightest irritation at this irony, he only said that Marlena and the prince had gone to the town of Heraclitus, on the north coast of the imperial capital, to escape the summer, and it would be some time before they returned to the imperial capital.

In fact, Erin didn't know why, no matter whether her husband's tone was peaceful or unkind, she wanted to humiliate him, attack him, and hope to quarrel with him, and then make the relationship between the two develop even worse. But Alexios's attitude today was really beyond her expectations, and it made the queen feel a little helpless in the same place, and in the end she could only say, "Anna left a note and went to St. John's Church." She said that she wanted to live alone in the study. ”

"In this way," Alexios still had the same flat expression, "I will be with the imperial brother soon." Drive to Adrianople to suppress the local unrest. There is still a lack of candidates in the imperial capital, come to pacify the court" Before Irene could react, the emperor summoned Meles and told the imperial ink official to kneel on the ground to take notes, "I hereby authorize Erin. Empress Komnenos, when I went on an expedition, remained at the court in her honorable capacity, and ruled over all the court officials, officials, eunuchs, and maids, as well as the servants and finances of the entire Brachna Palace. And then. The Emperor personally stamped the proposed edict with the imperial seal, and handed it into the hands of the stunned Erin, with a personal entrustment, "This expedition may be as little as half a year, or as much as a year, take good care of Anna, and when I triumph, I will hold a wedding celebration between her and Brenus." ”

This time. The queen had mixed feelings in her heart, and she didn't know whether she was happy or guilty, but then the emperor comforted her with gentle words. I left in a hurry.

Erin, who returned to the dormitory, was still holding the emperor's edict in her hand, and her mood was difficult to calm down. Either way, she's close to victory. Now after Alexios' expedition, she is the regent in the imperial capital. is the highest power, so as long as she summons Caesar of the empire, and then meets the Patriarch Maastas and Zaifu Beriel, even if Maastas has a disagreement, it doesn't matter, Dukas's power will have the absolute upper hand, abolish John, and grant Anna the status of heir to the throne, everything is really perfect! Then the queen summoned a maid and delivered her a letter, "Go to St. John's Cathedral and let the eldest princess know about it." ”

And the messenger sent by Eudosia, almost at the same time as the queen's maid, entered the courtyard of St. John's Cathedral, and Anna, like a happy bird, jumped out of the door of the study, and in the sunlight after the rain, she held up the parchment letter sent back by Gawain, and because of the projection of sunlight, every word written in black ink, including the texture on the paper, was colored with gold and delicate colors, and on her own small handprint, pressed Gawain's large handprint, close together, and there were some short and warm words of encouragement, Anna sang the ballad, craned her neck and watched them over and over again, her skirt and the ends of her hair whirling and flying, "Gawain is back from Italy, Gawain is back from Italy!" ”

But after a while, Anna was silent again, slowed down her spinning, lowered her little head, and looked at her shadow at her feet with some sadness, "Gawain is back, but he is like a ship, he will only pass by quickly beside the imperial capital, and soon he will go to the far east, he is not returning, but just passing by." ”

At the head of the city of Ragusa, the magistrate Andére. Betos stood there with some horror, looking at the neatly arranged rafts and rowboats on the sandbar below the city, and in the wilderness and headland north of the city, soldiers carrying strange flags and wearing strange overalls, like ant colonies, began to set up camp there.

"This is the pilgrimage expeditionary force from Bari City, our ally Gawain?" Betos said, but he still did not dare to let go of the city gates, allowing the caravans that had come to participate in the bazaar by land and sea, and these merchants could only lead their mules and horses and row their boats, and approached Gawain's camp.

Across the wooden fence, the military servants who accompanied the army kindly began to trade directly with these caravans with coins and goods, and the whole order was very orderly.

Gawain did not take with him the mixed procession of pilgrims, but before he left for the city of Bari, he himself went to the pilgrimage camp outside the city and said to the tens of thousands of men and women, "In accordance with the requirements of the Holy See, my Red Hand Company will be the first to cross the sea, and go to the area of Ragusa and Durazzo to open up the ground for the followers, and soon Lord Bohemond, Duke of Apulia, will go out to sea from Taranto with an even more powerful man, as my successor, so I entrust you to this generous prince who is kind, rich, and skilled in military affairs." The city of Bari shall pay each of you one-eighth of a su for the passage to Taranto, where Lord Bohemond awaits you, and goes with his ships. ”

So about 40,000 pilgrims, who in two days received five thousand silver coins from Gawain, swept through all of Lucania, carrying baggage, pack beasts, and tents, carrying crosses, and singing songs of praise of Gawain's friendship with Bohemond, and marched towards Taranto and defected to the Normans.

Therefore, Gawain set out with 6,000 Dalian troops who fought purely military operations, of which he organized more than 700 Italian veterans into three companies, "Farov Company", "Lepanto", and "Shengrong", each with 250 men, and mixed into light crossbowmen; About 3,000 Greek exiles and peasants were organized into six companies, "Nemesis", "Fury", "Hell's Blood", "Wallachia", and "The Grand Duke's Dead", all armed with swords, spears, and small shields; More than 1,000 Schiavoni, Amalfi, and Saracen sailors were mixed into four companies, the "Holy Sea", the "Eldest Princess's Family", the "Chiqirians", and the Corinthian Carpets. There were also about 500 craftsmen, organized into a separate "unicorn company", responsible for the construction of the camp and equipment, and Gawain also carried two catapults, four porcupines, and six large self-made crossbows from the city of Barry.

In the sequence, there are also 500 "New Baptist Cavalry Company" directly under Gawain, the main force is 300 Cuman cavalry running from Tetisius, and 200 newly recruited Lombard cavalry, the former is equipped with quivers and horn bows, and some light spears, while the latter is equipped with chain mail and flax armor, and the horses are all gifts from the Duchess Matilda in advance (half bought and half given, Matilda is very generous), of which the Lombard cavalry is also equipped with a kind of riding spear that is lighter than the Normans, carrying a Byzantine and Persian-style "Kantos" spear, which can be fastened to the saddle or wrist with a belt, can be held with one hand, although the power is weakened, but it is especially suitable for this group of beginner cavalry with little combat experience.

Guarding the Grand Duke and the Red Cross of the Sword were two hundred and twenty soldiers of the "Brotherhood of the Brocade of Garganus", plus thirty Varangian guards, selected from the rapidly expanding Brotherhood, some of them strong enough to fight for the Holy Sepulchre with chain mail and swords, and some of them professionals, such as chaplains (both Catholic and Orthodox), herbalists and a number of attendants.

In terms of office, Gawain handed over the position of commander of the cavalry company to the former military servant Muzafi Adin, who was the only Crescentist in the entire army, so it was more comfortable to hand over the position to him than others; The young Anderodat was promoted to "Vice-Adviser to the Governor of Barry" and "Confidential Secretary of the Dalian Army", temporarily in charge of military aircraft and finances; Wesat. Merlot was entrusted with the post of head of the Greek infantry company.

But looking at the surging waves behind him, Gawain still felt the shortage of junior officers and manpower, and he had to treat the Brotherhood as a reserve officer corps, and he must never leave his side.

Surrounded by the limestone and sandbar beneath the city of Ragusa, the Red Hand Company stood up in a majestic manner, the camp of Gawain relied on the Venetian fleet, the infantry company spread out like a fan, forming a defensive circle, and the cavalry company's camp was the outermost outer, stationed in the middle of the street of the city of Ragusa along the Comian seaside, "severing" the connection between the city of Ragusa and the city of Za'ta.

Soon, Andyare. Bethos's envoys came to Gawain's tent, and the Archduke of Barry, the Governor of Barry, received them warmly, and praised the maritime city-state for helping him and the Dalian army during the Normans in the past, and then Gawain laid out the Pope's letter on the table, "We only need your state to provide the purchase and sale of grain, wine, and clothing, and after replenishing the provisions, we will quickly depart and advance in the direction of the Sava River, and there will be no violent incident." Fair trade, harmonious trade. ”

The envoys returned Gawain's hopes to the magistrate, and Betos, thinking that the Grand Duke's reputation in the trade had been unblemished before, acceded to his request—and soon Ligusa opened the gates of the city and set up a market on the road between the camps of the Dalian army, so that local merchants and foreign caravans could freely exchange goods with Gawain's department. (To be continued.) )