"Father's horses have advanced to the vicinity of Lamprun Castle." Anna stepped down and laid the letter on the small table in the hall, "And Gawain has also sent a message at the Syrian Gate, which is equivalent to the distance of his troops, even if all the cavalry is used, and the infantry brigade is left behind, it will take about a day's distance to reach the Adana and Sidnus rivers. ”

"Do you want to adopt a strategy of military confrontation, Anna? In that case, we will send fast horses to the city of Tarsus for Brother Auden to organize the defenses, and then ask Baldwin to return with his brother to assist Gawain. ”

"No, Sister Goldhild, the Great Barbarian has not come back this time to oppose the Empire, but to reinforce and protect the pilgrims from Denmark." Anna was very calm, she took another quick horse letter from the Gawain Legion, and estimated the situation, "Now the gains and losses of Tarsus are related to the whole of Anatolia, and even the pattern of the Eastern and Western worlds - if we are not willing to hand over Tarsus, my father will definitely attack Seleucia and Cilicia in a big way." Then she glanced meaningfully at Gothchild, "The 10,000 elites who Tetisius appeared in the middle of the road are nothing more than an advance army. The father's follow-up will be followed. ”

All the people in the hall were breathless, and the streets outside were bustling, but inside there was a gloomy cloud and miserable fog, an atmosphere that could not be suppressed.

"Let's stabilize the three brothers Orson and Callegos first." Anna breathed a sigh of relief and began to walk to her desk and begin to quickly draft the letter.

Towering majestically between the Sidnus River and the Taurus Mountains, the Lamprun Fortress beneath it was full of the camps of the Tetisius army. Above are the soldiers and horses of the Orson family, and the two sides wind along the mountain road and cliffs. Set up antler camps to confront each other and supervise each other. Carefully, the air froze, and the flames of war were almost imminent. The castle held the soft edge of access to the plains of Cilicia, with an impassable bend of the Roman Empire on one side and Orsen on the other.

But the emperor's envoy arrived in time to give it to Orson who was in the fortress. Hertomis brought good news, the Emperor's usual trick, "As long as Your Excellency is willing to let go, the title of Grand Duke of Gawain will be yours in the future." ”

"The rank of Grand Duke. There is only one in the empire, and if Gawain is destroyed and I take his place, who will replace me in the future? Orson, who was sitting in the hall of the castle, mockingly replied to the envoy that he had sent his daughter and young son to Barbalun.

"In the future, when Gawain is strong, he will still annex you, so it is better to take refuge in time before this happens, and the Hertomis family will inevitably be on the pedigree of the glorious family of the empire in the future. There is not only one official title like Grand Duke and Caesar. The envoy seemed to have been warned by the emperor beforehand, and continued to persuade him with great cunning.

These words made Orson groan. The envoy struck while the iron was hot, "Don't you see General Theodoro?" His Majesty has released his children and made a promise before God. Guarantee the power of the region of Tatrabzon. In the future, the whole empire will be a temple of glory. We don't have to calculate each other's harms anymore. Then, the envoy stepped forward. Now, Anatolia, Cilicia, and Armenia, all the principalities of the Turkic and Armenians, and your Majesty wants to use troops against them one by one in the future, and Your Majesty's castle and army are at the throat of the front line, so Your Majesty may destroy the barriers? ”

Orson stood up, pacing back and forth, and then replied with difficulty, "Let me think about it, after all, Gawain's army will return to defense at any time, and the duke of Lower Lorraine is in Issus. ”

"Don't forget Your Excellency, Your Majesty also has an army of 100,000 troops, which are gathering towards Konya, ready to break into Cilicia at any time." The envoy's tone changed to threatening, and then he handed over the nameplate and the pleadings in his hand, "Your Majesty promises that in the future, half of the taxes paid by the military towns of Western Cilicia will be yours, and the masters of Lamprun and Barbalon will not change it. ”

After the envoy had left, Orson had been promised "three days to consider", or an ultimatum, and he took the emperor's letter in his hand, climbed the battlement, and watched the cold gray clouds surging in the mountains, and the emperor's soldiers and horses densely packed below Lamprun, frowning and sighing—I wonder if there was really a 100,000-strong army of Komnenos on the other side of the mountain? But in any case, the Hetomis family was previously unknown, but a border warrior family in Georgia, and it was really time to decide whether to completely sink into the ashes of history in the future, or rise like the Komunens family.

At the same time, the emperor's other envoy rode a horse, crossed the mountain road that Orson tacitly agreed, and ran towards the Sith city of the three Callegos brothers, "What, the emperor's soldiers and horses are coming!" "Old big game. Callegos shouted, "What should we do?" ”

As the saying goes, the eldest is stupid, the second is a traitor, and the third is bad. Callegos said, "As long as the Emperor promises the interests of our family, then he can turn to the Emperor's side." ”

"Then what about the soldiers and horses we send to Gawain?" Severn shouted.

"If Gawain is sent back, we will rebel against him with this group of soldiers and horses; If we keep it, we will buy this group of people to do internal response during the war; If we slaughter this group, we will take the opportunity to incite hatred among all, or rebel against Gawain. The third Tairo, who was worthy of being a bad character to the bone, immediately suggested with a sneer, and he said, "Without further ado, we will immediately send troops to attack the city of Mamistra and make meritorious contributions to the emperor." ”

These three brothers had received a secret order from the previous emperor to kill and divide the last descendants of the Armenian Dynasty, and they were naturally familiar with this kind of incoherent deed, not to mention that they were originally in Cilicia, and they were in the gap between the forces of Ferraredos, Ruben, and Roma, and no one wanted to see them, and now that Emperor Komnenos has arrived, he will not take advantage of this time to devote himself to service, let alone when!

The envoy was overjoyed, and after making a series of promises, the three brothers immediately counted five or six hundred elite foot riders, assembled in front of the city gates of Sith City, and prepared to march towards the city of Mamistra at night—in the future, when the emperor's army came, it would be inconvenient to expand his power privately, so he would first take advantage of the situation to seize Baldwin.

Emperor Komnenos certainly did not have to make these two moves: his envoys soon appeared in the valley of the Mut River, with the aim of buying off the Callogos father and son in Seleucia.

Leo and Tiga, who were exempted from their autumn military service (including taxes) at that time, were idling in the fortress and received the secret envoys, "Naturally, once the emperor's soldiers and horses enter the river valley, we are willing to take the lead. Leo patted his chest and assured.

"Brother, let's ask Alamanburg for my father's opinion first." After the envoy left, Tiga reminded. (To be continued.) )