king of ros

Chapter 526 Misfortunes Never Come Alone
"Bastard! That Dalmatian governor dared to do such a thing!"

In the emperor's camp, such a roar came out, and the nearby soldiers couldn't help being stunned for a moment, then quickly lowered their heads, and hurriedly left, away from the emperor's anger.

The camp of the imperial army was now filled with joy, because they finally defeated the Cumans.

It is now May 1092. In the past nearly a year of fighting, Alexios has gradually restricted the range of activities of the Cumans through troop mobilization and small-scale battles, forcing them to the north, and finally they also obtained Successfully, the Cumans were finally driven out of the vast Thrace plain.

But this does not mean the war is over, because shortly after the Cumans were expelled, they got an impostor from nowhere who claimed to be Constantine, the son of Romanus IV, and the real Constantine had long since died in battle, and the Cumans came to the imperial capital in his name.

This false emperor once caused a lot of trouble for Alexios, and there were always some people who believed in those lies either because of obsession or speculation, and went to join this false emperor.

But soon Alexios found a way to solve this guy once and for all. The pseudo-emperor seemed to be pretending to be an emperor and pretending to regard himself as the real emperor. An acquaintance who served in the Imperial Army played a trick to lure the enemy into deep.

Sure enough, the false emperor fell into the trap. While his head was cut off, Alexios' army also defeated the Cuman army who came to support him.

Although this failure was not fatal to the Cumans, they still had great strength, but after Alexios used the solar eclipse to play "The Wrath of the Empire", the superstitious Cumans People are broken.

The operation of Alexios is very simple. His scholars have noticed the sign of the solar eclipse very early. When the solar eclipse is about to start, the emperor sent a group of dead soldiers as envoys to the Cumans camp.

These dead men have only one task, and that is to stab the Kuman chiefs to death when the eclipse occurs, and while they are doing so, the spies in the Kuman camp will spread messages such as "The chief is dead!", "The gods are dead!" Side with the Greeks!" and "We're screwed."

The operation was very successful. When the Kumans watched the sky turn into darkness, the dead soldiers stabbed to death those and unsuspecting chiefs, although they were beheaded by the chiefs' guards next, But their purpose has been achieved.

As rumors spread, the Cumans really thought that the gods were on the side of the Greeks, so they ran away without looking back. The Cuman group with a total of more than 20 people collapsed like this.

They frantically fled north and crossed the Danube back to Wallachia. On the way, they encountered an attack from General Edgar of Pecheneg. The Pechenegs can be said to have revenge and revenge this time.

After the battle, Edgar was able to recruit more than 1 Cumans as his subordinates.

It can be said that in dealing with the Cumans, the upper empire won a hearty victory, and the threat from the north was finally resolved. Next, it only needs to solve the Paul faction rebels, and the situation will stabilize.

But it was also at this time that Alexios received news of the Berdin invasion of the Dalmatian Governor, or Grand Duke of Zeta, Duriak. (It can be understood as the King of Serbia)

Although it has always been said that the Principality of Zeta has always been a vassal of the empire, and its ruler was awarded the title of Governor of Dalmatia by the empire, but this vassal has never been considered peaceful. The Serbs have challenged the empire's ruling power several times. Even if he is defeated every time, he still enjoys it.

Bordin's invasion can be said to have added a lot of firewood to the situation in the empire that was finally stabilizing, making the fire of chaos burn even more vigorously. He directly allied with the Paul faction, and now the Serbs have appeared in the Thessaloniki fell.

General Durrachion once prevented the invasion of Bordin, where there is the last field army of the Western Empire. This army is mainly to defend against the Normans, but it can also defend against the Serbs, but in the end it was completely annihilated. .

The demise of Durrachion's army had a very bad impact. Berdin's army sieges the Macedonian region frantically. occupied by.

Bourdin had achieved what his ancestors had never achieved, and now as long as he took Thessaloniki, his career would be perfect.

As a result, his ambition continued to expand. Originally, his original plan was to capture some border fortresses, but now the hinterland of the Roman Empire was unfolding in front of him. This was a scene that his ancestors never even dared to imagine. .

Now he wants to use Thessaloniki as his new capital, if he can't take Constantinople at once in the future-maybe winning Thessaloniki has exceeded his best expectations-then He took this as a center to strengthen his control over the surrounding area, first digesting the land he already controlled, and absorbing the control over the Greek Peninsula.

Bordin has spent all his resources on this, and he has also borrowed an army from the King of Croatia, bringing his total strength to [-], plus the tens of thousands sent by Paul, it is really possible for him to Practice your own strategy.

That's why Alexios was so disgusted and angry. He knew that Berdin. As a troublesome figure on the border of the empire, Alexios could easily see what he was thinking from his actions.

If Bordin is really allowed to take Thessaloniki, given the political significance and strategic value of that city, he may really be able to control half of the empire at once, then this war will obviously not be resolved in a year or two Understand.

"Let the troops move tomorrow. We must rush to Thessaloniki as soon as possible, and send a letter to Vasiliko, asking him to defend the city."

There is no doubt that Alexios grasped the crux of the problem. As long as Thessaloniki is still in the hands of the empire, the problem can be controlled, and if Thessaloniki falls, the situation will definitely become serious up.

"Yes, but Your Majesty, many armies are still scattered in various places. If the troops in our hands rush over..."

Facing the order, the emperor's generals hesitated. Their current strength is only about 1 people. To challenge Bordin's [-] troops and Paul's army, there are really few people.

"Then let all the armies gather on the road to Thessaloniki, and there are no mercenaries in Constantinople yet? Has the Ross sent a new batch of soldiers?"

Alexios also realized that he hadn't thought carefully before, so he said in a remedial way, and finally he asked about the mercenaries. He thought that after the Cumans were defeated, the empire's demand for soldiers would be less tense. The result is still so terrible.

"No, Grand Duke Ross said that the next batch of soldiers will arrive in three months. As for the scattered mercenaries, we have already bought them." The generals shook their heads, indicating that there were really none.

"It's true that when it's time to use it, there will always be too few... I have to find a new source of mercenaries. Simply relying on the Ross people as a channel is still too restrictive." Alexios was thinking about something while sitting in the tent. Walking around, while his generals kept looking at the emperor, "Prepare paper and pen, I want to send a letter to the Pope in Rome, asking him to call up some mercenaries in the Western Empire, and I want to sign a contract with the Pope." A contract, just like Rostislav and I, money and everything can be negotiated, the key is that people must come."

The emperor immediately started to work, and wrote a letter to the Pope, hoping to obtain another source of mercenaries. Now Alexios did not expect that his action of simply needing mercenaries would cause waves in the future, what would happen? What a huge impact it will have on the situation in the empire and the entire East.

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(End of this chapter)