Crusade against the Pope

Chapter 371 Two Teams of Knights
Amid the thunder of early summer, time came to June.

If May is the prelude to unrest, then June is the main part of it.

Since the rain in early summer, the city of Trebizond has truly entered a situation where government orders cannot be enforced outside the city. Many nobles in the city have lost contact with their estates and fell into panic.

If this was not a port city where food could be purchased from merchants, the city would have probably already started to suffer from famine.

The countryside changed color overnight as Komnenos' army approached from the east.

There is no more good news to be found.

Just when many people were preparing to seek refuge with the Komnenos brothers first, a fleet coming from the west anchored at the port.

From these ships emerged a large number of soldiers, richly dressed and well-equipped.

Is it reinforcements?
Although Ioannis himself was already waiting here, many nobles were still worried.

After all, many of these people have blonde hair and blue eyes, and they clearly look Latin.

Many people immediately understood what Ioannis had done.

Some of them wanted to stand up and make accusations, but they didn't have the courage.

After all, they all knew in their hearts that it was these ferocious Latins who had conquered Constantinople half a year ago.

Even though there were only about a thousand people getting off the ship, the nobles and citizens in the city did not dare to show naked malice to these "barbarians". Apart from cursing at each other inwardly, they tried their best to put on a smiling face.

Thus, escorted by a group of knights in full glory, a knight in armor stepped onto the dock. He swept his eyes over the crowd of people in Byzantine robes standing in front of him, and finally fixed his eyes on a man in a purple-edged outer robe with a dagger at his waist.

He stopped, took off his gloves, and said loudly:
"I come here on the orders of Theobald, the Emperor of Romania, to accept the allegiance of Ioannis, the Governor of the Cardia Military Region."

Things are getting tricky.

Indeed, whether it was in the minds of Ioannis, the nobles in the city, or the citizens.

The fall of Constantinople did not mean the end of the Eastern Roman Empire. Those people who spoke and wrote Greek still called themselves Romans.

Since the empire has not perished, it should have an emperor.

But who would that emperor be?
Was it Alexios III? Or Alexios V? Or the so-called Nicenes? Or at least the Komnenos brothers?

It can't really be Theobald!

A Latin barbarian captured Constantinople, trampled on Hagia Sophia, and was then crowned emperor?

Humiliation, shame, powerlessness.

Indeed, in a sense, Rome did not perish. During this period, after Constantinople was conquered by the Fourth Crusade, it was not just the Nicenes, Alexios III, and Alexios V who claimed to have inherited the authority of the empire.

Even the Latins, the Genoese, claimed to be the heirs of the empire.

After the Crusaders conquered Constantinople, they signed a treaty with the Genoese that established the Latin Empire and arranged for the nominal division of Roman territory among the participants in the Crusades.

This period is known as the "Frankish/Latin domination", during which Catholic Western European nobles established states in former Byzantine territories and ruled over the mostly Orthodox Byzantine Greek natives.

Even the Governor of Genoa was given an extremely honorable title, "Lord of One Quarter and One Half of Romania".

At this time, does Trebizond really have to bow to the Latin barbarians?
The answer is: yes.

Ioannis took a step forward and saluted the visitor.

Thus, the relationship between the two parties was acknowledged by him. …

An army was walking along the coast of the Cardia Military Region, far away from the mountains of Asia Minor, and it was particularly relaxing after the rain.

As the sea breeze blew through the group of hundreds of people, Lorian felt as if he were back in Jerusalem.

It's really amazing. It seems like we have traveled hundreds of kilometers across the land, but finally arrived at the coast.

However, the Black Sea is a much smaller ocean than the Mediterranean Sea.

Looking at the sea view nearby, Lorian couldn't help feeling refreshed.

He entrusted his son to Bishop Amadeus, hoping that he could receive a good education in Antioch.

As for himself, after arriving in Antioch, he received the follow-up order as expected: go to Trebizond and provide assistance to the prophet.

Thus, he led this brigade of imperial knights on the road of expedition.

The journey was actually quite thrilling and complicated, and battles broke out during the process, but fortunately they did not suffer much damage.

To be precise, facing those short-sighted roving bandits, only some of them were injured and no one was killed.

After arriving in Erzurum safely, they rested for a while before setting off again, meeting up with Gelis at the end of May.

When he reunited with Garys, Lorian's emotions were very happy, but also somewhat complicated.

After all, when he married his lover, it was Garys who served as the witness.

But now, his lover has passed away for some years.

However, no matter what your emotions are at the time, completing orders comes first.

Not long after they had a brief chat, Gailis issued an order. He requested that the First Battalion of the Knights Templar continue northward with him after a day of rest to meet someone in the easternmost area of ​​Asia Minor.

who can that be?

Of course, Gellis did not hide the fact that the enemy was gathering in the city of Trebizond, and their military forces also needed to be gathered.

Therefore, it is time to meet the Komnenos brothers.

As far as Lorian knew, strictly speaking, Gailis and the Komnenos brothers were distant relatives with no blood relationship.

After all, Gellis' wife, Her Majesty Isabella's mother, was from the Komnenos family.

Of course, the relationship between the two is really too far apart. Lorian couldn't figure out how much kinship there is between them for the time being.

When he asked Garys for advice.

Garris counted on his fingers for a long time, and finally just scratched the back of his head.

"I think this is too far away. There is no need to try to make friends with them."

事实也确实如此，盖里斯作为耶路撒冷王国的“国王”，他在有着40名骑士、40名武装扈从、160名骑马步兵、80名骑马侍从、加上4门“火炮”追随的情况下。

No one would look down on him.

This is power, this is the secular power, protecting Gellis and putting the king's crown on his head.

(End of this chapter)