king of ros

Although it was said that Bohemond's Norman army had collapsed, Alexius did not relax because he knew that there was still one person who had not been resolved, and that was Robert Guiscard who was attracted back by the Italian affairs.

Robert Guiscard has now captured Rome. Although there have been such bad things as looting Rome in the middle, this does not affect the authority of the Norman conqueror to reach his peak.

It's just that when the fox turned around, he found that his son ran back from the Balkans in a state of embarrassment, and was almost completely lost in the occupied areas of the Eastern Empire. It can be said that his conquest of the Eastern Empire was stranded.

This aroused the aggressiveness of the Norman conqueror, and he began to gather his army again to prepare for another expedition to the Eastern Empire.

Alexios was also very aware of this, so after driving away Bohemond, he has been actively preparing for battle, preparing to meet Robert Guiscard's conquering army on the coast.

The emperor's preparations continued until 1085, during which time he rebuilt the imperial army, organized a reliable army, and made a lot of resources in his hands by confiscating church assets and flooding currency.

During this period, the Varangian Guard resumed its peak establishment of 6000 people. After Edgar Wessex was sent to the south bank of the Danube, a large number of Anglo-Saxons in the guard also left, and the strength of the guard was once reduced to 4000. .

However, through the propaganda of the retired players who returned to the north with gold and silver, and Ross's compliance with the treaty, there was a steady supply of mercenaries from the northern world, including Ross, so the Varangian Guards were also able to restored to its original state.

And Robert Giscard's army also crossed the sea in 1085 and came to the Balkans again. Like the last time, the Normans successfully opened up a landing field on the coast of the empire. Just like the last time, their The fleet was wiped out by the Venetians, but the Norman army was already ashore.

But unlike the last time, Robert Guiscard was gone. The legendary Norman conqueror died on the way to conquer the Eastern Empire.

Among the many Norman conquerors of this era, Robert Guiscard is undoubtedly the most legendary one. In his early years, he came to South Italy almost in armor and a horse, plus a few entourages. At first, he relied on robbing houses to maintain Life, and then this rogue mercenary became a lord, became a nobleman, and then took his brothers to become the ruler of southern Italy and Sicily.

Even the gold content of William the Conqueror who conquered England is seriously insufficient compared to this one. No matter how illegitimate William is, he is also the son of the Duke, and Robert of the Hauteville family is just one of the dozen sons of Old Hauteville. one.

Robert's death also meant the disintegration of the conquering army. Without this old man, the remaining Normans had no will to continue the war. They had gained enough in southern Italy.

So almost at the same moment he died, his conquest army began to disintegrate, and the Norman lords fled back to southern Italy with the team, and none of Robert's sons except one Bohemond Interested in conquering the Eastern Empire.

Bohemond was an illegitimate child. As an illegitimate child, he had to seize the property for himself. His father didn't have much for him, which was why he was so eager to conquer the Eastern Empire.

Similarly, there is a group of people who yearn for territory and glory gathered around him, but it is a pity that there are not many factions of them, and they are a very small faction in the army.

His brothers also left the Balkans soon, and all the empire territory still in the hands of the Normans was handed over to Bohemond, while in southern Italy, he only got one Taranto. It is a small territory.

In the Balkans, all Bohemond had gained were towns on the coast that seemed so precarious to imperial power that he soon abandoned them, too, and fled back to southern Italy.

In this way, the greatest challenge Alexius has faced since he succeeded to the throne - the Norman War - came to an end, and the emperor couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief.

Deep down in his heart, he didn't want to fight Robert Guiscard. His methods were certainly enough to deal with a stupefied young man like Bohemond, but when he met Robert Guiscard among the old fritters... Old fritters, that's another matter.

Facing that kind of old conqueror, even Alexios didn't have the confidence to win.

And Alexios doesn't have to worry about the Normans making a comeback, because Robert Guiscard's sons are all ready to move, especially Bohemond, he is an ambitious man who will never settle down. Soon the sons of the fox will fight each other.

After solving the threat from the fox, Alexios and his empire finally took a breather, but the breath only lasted for a while, and Alexios set out to recover the empire's lost territory in Asia Minor.

Alexios first regained some land along the coast of Asia Minor, but he changed his direction after directly confronting Suleiman's forces. The current empire should not fight with this powerful warlord who led the Turks into Anatolia Instead of fighting, you should deal with some guys who are easier to deal with.

Suleiman also needed to deal with those Turkic forces who did not submit to him, so he reached an agreement with Alexios, the emperor who had made several deals with him, and the two sides tacitly handled their own affairs and temporarily stopped fighting each other.

And then Alexius put his recovery direction on the southern ocean. The islands in the Aegean Sea and part of the coastal areas of Asia Minor are now being controlled by the Turkic warlords who did not obey Suleiman. Hughes intends to solve the target.

The Varangian Guards made great achievements in this series of battles for islands. In just a few months, they captured many important islands including Rhodes Island, and they also bravely captured the islands along the coast of Asia Minor. The important city of Smyrna completely wiped out these Turkic pirates and warlords entrenched on the eastern coast of Asia Minor.

The victory boosted the emperor's momentum. If the previous victory in the Norman War was regarded as the result of the death of Robert Guiscard, then the success of recovering the lost land in the Aegean Sea is a certainty.

The Varangian guards were rewarded again, but this time the commander of the guards, Volorida, who has always been known for pursuing excitement, felt intensely bored. Although he was winning now, he didn't face it anyway. The excitement of the Normans.

Ever since, the dissolute captain of the guard resigned from his current position and lost this position to his younger brother Vasilico, who in any case became the commander of the guard after he came to the Varangian guard.

Of course, the most important thing is that Vasilko wants to stay in Constantinople and read the unparalleled library in Constantinople. If it weren't for the existence of this thing, he would have already run away.

So Volorida left like this, the reason for leaving was as random as when he came, and Alexios didn't say it. Anyway, he has always come and gone freely here, and compared to Volorida that crazy A wild savage, the learned Vasiliko was clearly more valuable--cultivated.

If Vasilico can become the next generation of the Grand Duke of Ross, then it is obvious what a Grand Duke who has a good impression of Rome can bring.

After the attack on Constantinople, Alexius, who had a keen political sense, immediately realized that the Rostislav in the north planned to establish the commercial presence of the Rus in Constantinople for a long time, and Rus The human fleet can quickly come under the walls of Constantinople almost at any time.

In the ever-changing political situation of the imperial capital, the influence that the army that can reach Constantinople quickly can bring is too huge.

Alexios knows that as long as Ross does not fall into civil strife, then it must be an important player in the imperial capital's political chess game that must be considered and taken care of. Although it is outside the center, its actions at critical moments can change the overall situation.

But what Alexios didn't know was that the Ross people could have political influence on the empire in the future, not just in this direction.

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