Antioch to Edessa was actually only a few hundred miles, and the cavalry galloped with all their might, and it would take three days to arrive, even if the Byzantine heavy infantry group could return in six or seven days.

However, Constantine IV, who was on the run, was on the run for twelve days.

In the steppe of Azhara, the exhausted Byzantine army sat staggered on the steppe, exhausted by the continuous rapid march, gathered around the stove to cook dried meat, and still nervously looked left and right, the sturdy Macedonian soldiers and the fierce Thracian warriors all had black eyes, tired and fierce like hungry wolves in winter.

Even Constantine IV himself was depressed, and he didn't have the heart to put up the tent of the Roman emperor to enjoy, cutting the charred pork with a knife while looking to the southeast.

It really arrived as scheduled, and the distant outpost rushed back like crazy with a few feathered arrows on his back, and before he could hear what he was shouting weakly, the Eastern Roman soldiers had already dropped the guy who was eating, and stood up with a roar.

Because this scene is too familiar, the devil's twelve days, when eating, when sleeping, when marching, when going to the toilet, the cavalry of the Fujian army is like a perverted devil pestering them, often have to fall asleep in the middle of the night in the sound of the golden drums and roars of the Turkic cavalry, go out to meet the battle when the meal is half-baked, and when they come back, they are completely scorched, panic and exhaustion alternately, and the mental torture has made the Eastern Roman warriors fed up.

"these bitche-like Min people!" Facing the smoke and dust of the Fujian army's light cavalry, the noble heavy cavalry knights of the Byzantine ironclad holy cavalry were the first to lose their breath, and they didn't know which of the patriarch's sons drew their swords and roared out first, and thousands of ironclad heavy horsemen who had a nervous breakdown drove their horses out of the battle like crazy.

Behind them, the Athenian citizen warriors, the Epirus army, and the Thracian berserkers, who also had bloodshot eyes, broke away from the formation.

Such a great resentment that even the Turkic cavalry and Sogdian warriors were chilled, and they hurriedly shot a rain of arrows, and then hurriedly turned around and ran back.

Originally, it was a good thing for Eastern Rome to drive away the cavalry attack of the Fujian army so quickly, and they could seize the time to rest for a while after lunch, but this nasty rain of arrows was like the last straw that crushed the camel, and the Eastern Roman army, which had killed and injured hundreds of people, lost control, and pursued it regardless of it, and ran wildly behind the Fujian army and could not recover it.

The ironclad paladier is the treasure of Eastern Rome, each of which is selected from the most devout Christian nobles, not to mention the money spent on training, a single set of paladier armor is enough to equip more than ten infantry, and if used well, thousands of heavy cavalry can kill the army formation of 100,000 nomadic cavalry.

The last time under the pursuit of the Shiites, the ironclad paladier has lost a lot, and now thousands of them are still formed by the gold-roofed glazed tiles of Constantine IV's demolition of the palace, and more than a thousand people rushed out in a daze like ***, and Constantine IV's heart was about to jump out, and he roared anxiously by holding the collar of the Bulgarian king Simon on the side.

"Send the Bolgar light cavalry to follow up immediately, and the Holy Cavalry of the Empire must not be allowed to suffer!"

Simon, who was grabbed by his collar and shouted with red eyes, the barbarian Simon behaved more educated than the most noble senator at this time, and slowly flicked away the clenched hand of Constantine IV, and tidied up the Greek fancy collar in his anxiety, so that he spread his hand unhurriedly.

"My Majesty, the Bolgar cavalry has been attacking dozens of times without sleep these days, my boys are tired, and Bolgar has fulfilled his agreement with His Majesty."

"If Your Majesty wants to force my boys to attack, please raise the commission by half again, the glittering gold may make the lads of the tribe lift their spirits a little more!"

Constantine IV was able to say that the Bulgarians risked offending the Turkic Khan to help the war, but not only by a mouth, but also by real money, so that these steppe barbarians who invaded the northern Balkans followed them to the battlefield.

As soon as the money was mentioned, Constantine IV suddenly wilted.

Eastern Rome's finances, in the early stage was an inexhaustible tax on the vast land, and in the later period, it was the busiest international trade between the Dardanelles and the Bosphorus in the early Middle Ages, and in normal history, the rise of Rome's series of industrial and commercial cities such as Venice shook the economic hegemony of Byzantium, and the empire immediately fell into an economic crisis, and began a centuries-long decline, and even was once broken through Constantinople by the Crusaders, and perished for more than 40 years.

This era was the period of the rise of Arabia and the first decline of Eastern Rome, but before it could be completely Hellenistic and transformed into the Byzantine Empire, Eastern Rome had already encountered its first crisis.

Venice did not rise, but the Suez Canal completely forced the trade volume of the Byzantine trade routes, and Jingshi, Suez, Huanggang, and Rome became a close trade route, completely squeezing out Constantinople.

Fortunately, at this time, Eastern Rome had not effectively imitated the European feudal system in the middle and late Middle Ages to carry out reforms, and the country still held the land, so Constantine IV could support it, otherwise not to mention the 200,000 troops, 20,000 people estimated that he could not organize, when the Byzantine Empire fell, in the face of the Ottoman Empire's hundreds of thousands of troops, the country only had more than 9,000 defenders.

Looking at Simon's hand asking for money, Constantine IV, who was already strapped for money, had to hide to the side, while directing the generals to restore order, and praying to God that the paladions piled up with gold would come back alive.

Unfortunately, according to Murphy's Law, if things go bad, no matter how small the odds, they will still happen eventually! This was the case with the Eastern Roman army, which took advantage of the afternoon to rest and wait for their comrades, but returned in the evening with an exhausted remnant.

More than 1,300 ironclad paladers have returned, but more than 400 have returned, and they are proud of them, and it is rumored that the first generation of Constantinople shepherds blessed the palsaders with almost discarded palsard armor, and the exhausted paladhalers are not like proud noble children, but are as frightened as slaves sold by slave traders.

As for the Athenian guards who chased out, the elite Macedonian guards, thousands of people were more than half, even more sluggish than those ironclad paladers.

The ideal battlefield for heavy cavalry is to go on a rampage, and it is also necessary to cooperate with elite light cavalry or infantry, and when the heavy cavalry tears through the battle line, they will expand this terrible wound.

The Byzantine ironclad holy cavalry was indeed strong, and was dragged by the five thousand steppe cavalry sent by Su Dingfang to lure the enemy for more than ten miles, and when they hedged against the Weiwei cavalry of the left and right of the Great Min, they still tore through the battle line of the Fujian army, so that the elite cavalry of the Sixteenth Guard had a lot of damage.

It's a pity that their role stops there, the light cavalry Qiantang tide from all directions rushed over like that, if it weren't for the fast turn of the brains of more than 400 people, the first time to turn the war horse and use the last horsepower to assault out, and then lose the heavy armor, I'm afraid that more than a thousand people would not be able to come back.

As for those infantry, the formation of running was scattered and out of breath, and when they encountered the elite cavalry of the Fujian army who had just annihilated the ironclad holy cavalry, the remnants of these people could come back not because of how high their combat effectiveness was, it was completely because Su Lie took into account the next military operation to save combat power before letting them back.

The loss of 1,000 men was a drop in the bucket for an army of 200,000, but the blow to morale was very bad, and many Roman soldiers were also depressed to the extreme, seeing their exhausted and scarred compatriots.

And many Slavic barbarians, the Bulgarian cavalry looked at the lowly Eastern Romans, and the disdain and disdain were almost revealed.

Looking at the dark night, the strong fear once again tore at the heart of Constantine IV like a worm, and soon after welcoming the defeated army, Constantine simply rushed to the military tent of the general Olesikin, grabbed his arm and shouted.

"I won't rest tonight, retire immediately, quickly!"

For the first time, the exhausted Roman general did not raise the slightest objection and went to carry it out.

God seems to have favored the Eastern Romans at last, and the night was exceptionally bright, and the Min army was perhaps satisfied with the results of the night's battle, and did not harass the pursuit any longer, but in the darkness of the night, the Eastern Romans were stretched into a long column, and the scattered battalion soldiers began to escape from the army by taking advantage of the night.

At dawn, leaning on the Mediterranean Sea, the figure of the vicissitudes of the ancient walls of Antioch that had endured hundreds of years finally appeared in front of the extremely tired and demoralizing Roman army.

Many of the sergeants simply broke away from the array, and fell to their knees in the direction of the city wall, shouting praises of God bless, and the swaggering barbarians such as Simon and the Slavic leader Ivanovevich could not help but let out a long sigh.

Even heroes such as Constantine IV will have an impulse to get on the ship of Antioch, go directly back to Constantinople, and then throw themselves on the emperor's bed in the Grand Palace.

However, in the end, it was the hero who killed his father and brother, and the weakness only lasted for a moment before it subsided, and Constantine was ambitious and drew his sword and pointed at the wall of Antioch, which had been repaired a lot, and there were many more arrow towers, and roared loudly.

"Enter the city, get a good night's sleep, and then for the glory of Rome, crush all the evil attacks of the Fujian pagans under this city of God!"

Constantine's loud cheering voice immediately made the demoralized Eastern Roman army burst into earth-shattering cheers.

Even Constantine IV himself could not be sure whether the soldiers were cheering for the honor of Rome or simply getting excited for a good night's sleep.

Without the command of the general, a swarm of Roman soldiers rushed to the city gate, it was rare for the emperor to make concessions for the soldiers, riding on horses, Constantine IV just happily followed, but at this cheerful moment, the originally open east gate of Antioch suddenly closed, and then countless crossbowmen appeared on the city, and bows and arrows shot down like raindrops.

The unsuspecting Eastern Roman army was cut off like a leek in autumn.

Looking at the double-headed golden dragon banner representing the new symbol of the Great Min on the arrow tower carefully built by the city head, the expression on Constantine's face froze for a moment............