The soldiers of the guard hurriedly knelt down on one knee, and Gawain quietly raised his eyes to see that he knew the previous one--sure enough, Anna. The little imp Komnenos sat side by side with another bejeweled lady wearing a crown and a scarf, and it seemed that she should be the queen, and Anna's big eyes were still looking around the guards intentionally, until she and Gawain's eyes touched, and then she raised her slender neck with a golden ring, deliberately avoiding Gawain's gaze.

On the next shoulder, there were actually three people, among whom was also a noblewoman, whose face was of the most mature and magnetic beauty, but compared with the queen, there was only one less crown that marked her identity, and on her left and right was a young boy, one of whom was fair and handsome, and it could be seen at a glance that it was from this noblewoman; The other boy was dark and swarthy, with thick eyebrows, and his face was extremely ordinary, even a little ugly, but he was dressed in all kinds of gorgeous ornaments, and looked extraordinary.

The three of them were talking and laughing in the back, but in the shoulder in front, Gao Wen could clearly feel that Anna's expression was unhappy.

But that's not what he's supposed to worry about.

After the procession was gone, the whole palace and the outside fell into silence again, the lonely daylight overflowed on the main entrance street, the armor and tomahawks of the guards shone brightly, and they continued to stand straight like that, Gawain felt that the sweat began to seep out of the chain mail turban, and the hair on the back of his head began to entangle with the iron ring, and his whole body was as uncomfortable as if he had been borrowed into a small worm.

I don't know how long it has been in a daze, and nothing worth mentioning has happened until the next shift comes to take over the shift.

"Before leaving, Diognis said that if I had three more months to live, I would have a chance to see him again, but I believe that in three months, Stephen . . . Uncle Gawain, I'm definitely bored to death. ”

But in the evening, at the table in the barracks, a lot of talk broke out. Generally speaking, the most interesting part of the day is the monotonous and boring life in the barracks, where the ordinary soldiers of the Guards sit at the arranged rough wooden tables, while the Guards commanders sit with their own soldiers, as is the centuries-old tradition of the Varyags, whose tribal language means "those who eat together".

"Cod meat." Gawain ate what was in front of him, although he was not nourished by the "taste" of industrial society, he could still easily judge the source of this meal, and it seemed that there was an extra gift in the palace today.

Farov then didn't say a word, from the lead-sealed book box, put out a token covered with a horseshoe seal, several personal soldiers immediately stopped their hands and spoons, and looked at the golden royal token in front of them silently, only Gawain was still eating with his head down, "This is sent by the gateway officer in the palace today, Your Majesty asked us to participate in tomorrow's reading - in addition, the Red Hand detachment was drawn separately, and George's six thousand military horses went to Asia Minor to fight against the Turks." ”

At this moment, even Gawain dropped the spoon, slowly chewed the fish in his mouth, and looked at the token intently.

"But shouldn't we, together with the rest of the detachments, follow His Majesty the Emperor to Adrianople to the north to defend against the Pechenegs?"

In the face of everyone's questions, Faroff waved his hand, "This is General George's request, he was not willing to take over the mess of the war situation in Asia Minor, until His Majesty promised him to be the 'Imperial Warden General', he was willing to bring 6,000 long-standing Italian and Epirus veteran companies to Asia, of course, His Majesty also promised him that he could give him an inner palace detachment, which could not only increase the glory of General George and reflect the royal grace; Touching his beard, he stopped talking.

"Don't you see? His Majesty's adoptive mother, who was also the chief lady of the court, was going to meet General George, together with the empress, the eldest princess, and the prince, and the situation was complicated, and it seemed that everyone wanted to have the support of General George, who was now in Constantinople, and was the man who could influence the great things. Another pro-soldier, who was quite aware of the twists and turns in the court, said in a low voice, frowning.

Faroff coughed loudly a few times and motioned for the other to shut up.

Over there, Yagfei also cast a look in this direction, meaning that this matter ended here!

In the early morning, in the palace of Zhu Kuntina, a row of soldiers, holding rhino horns, raised their heads and whined at the sky.

"Raise your arms!" The Varangian Guards, lined up in a brigade-sized phalanx, glittering with axes, stood on the side of the street under the Imperial Mausoleum of St. Basil, waiting for the Emperor and General George's review - farther away, George's marching horses were also lined up in a horizontal formation, ready to rush to battle in Minor.

Gao Wen, who was holding the moth's axe, complained about boredom when he was guarding the palace just now, but in a blink of an eye, cause and effect came, and he actually wanted to cross the sea with the Red Hand detachment, return to Asia Minor again, and fight against Zahaas's army!

Soon, Alexios wore a purple cloak and a military uniform decorated with gilded armor and tassels. Pararogus, a general of majestic appearance who seemed pleasing to the soldiers and the populace, and marched through the streets, surrounded by countless scepters and with the retinue of elite archers.

When the soldiers saw the emperor, they immediately shouted jubilantly, because the shields were all carried behind them, so the shield guards generally used coaxing instead of beating the shields, Alexios raised his hand to the guards on horseback, and General George knew how to bend down and retreat from an inconspicuous angle, he understood that it was the emperor who was now reading the army, not him.

"Sons!" Emperor Alexios called all the soldiers like this.

"The Imperial Father is on top!" All the soldiers replied in unison, and Gawain was the only one in the queue.

"Are my daughters-in-law all right? Have my grandchildren been taken care of? The Emperor asked one after another.

"Yes, so we're here with peace of mind." All the soldiers continued to reply.

"Then go and kill the Turkic infidels, and kill them to the ground, no one can resist your pace!" The Emperor waved his hand.

"The Three Saints guide our banner!" Yagfi and Farov were the first to raise the Tomahawk and the Red Hand Banner, the Imperial Flag of Varangia, in response to the Emperor's ardent expectations.

On this expedition, Alexioste intended to give the Red Hand detachment the imperial flag of his Chinese army, which is said to have been used by Constantine the Great - this time, although Farov's army only had 280 soldiers, it was carried by the outside world, claiming that it had as many as 1,000 men, which was a tactic often used by the Byzantine Roman army to deceive the enemy, so that the other party did not know the true formation of his own organization.