Anatolia, an ordinary Greek village on the side of the road.
There have been no travelers visiting this village. At most, only businessmen come regularly. This village is famous for its grain production. Businessmen from Nicaea come here every harvest season to buy grain and various handicrafts. The locals come here
So I made a lot of money.
There are hills on both sides of the village, so this village stuck on the road is the most prosperous place nearby. It has water and flat land, which is very suitable for the development of agriculture and commerce. It can be said to be very rare.
In addition, this place is located on the only way to Nicaea, and there are always a lot of business travelers on the road. The village has become more prosperous and wealthy, the people's clothes are visibly rich, and the houses are more decent.
The peace of the Macedonian Dynasty for many years has nourished this village. If it continues to develop like this, it will definitely become a town.
But now, this hope has become impossible, because the village has been destroyed by the Russians in the rebel army.
Since setting off from Ankara, the biggest feeling of the rebels is that the closer they get to the coast, the richer everything they see. Since they have collected a lot of supplies, the Greeks will also be very wise to donate supplies.
In this way, most of the time the rebels will not do anything to them, and they will only rape a few women and pluck some men, but there are always exceptions, and sometimes there will be many such accidents.
This is such an exception right now. The entire village is in flames. The houses are set on fire and pushed down. The farmland is trampled by horseshoes and iron boots. The corpses and heads of the rebels are inserted at the edge of the village. All the men who are still alive are pulled away.
They joined the rebel army as civilian husbands, while the women were sent to the army as camp prostitutes after suffering unspeakable abuse.
"What a tragic sight."
Monomakh kicked the horse's belly. Looking at this miserable scene, he gave Oleg an unhappy look, but Svyatoslavich just shrugged, looking indifferent.
"Everyone was not able to catch up in the previous battle, and I was very angry. It was not my intention to develop like this. Moreover, I heard that the Normans burned all the way they went. Everyone couldn't help but feel very angry.
Normal. I really just left after collecting supplies and men. There is nothing I can do about it, my moral gentleman."
Oleg is telling the truth. There is really no way to do things by yourself. Do they, a combination of mercenaries and exiles, have to talk about morality and etiquette, and are they the masters of kings?
"Forget it, it doesn't matter. At least after doing these things, no blind village will dare to resist. For us foreign mercenaries, fear is indeed more effective."
Monomacher didn't dwell on anything. He just analyzed the pros and cons. There was no need to pursue what had already happened. Continuing to pursue it would only destroy the relationship between everyone.
"I said what are you worried about? The Greek army was defeated by Russell. How could those guys resist us? I think it won't be long before Russell sits on the throne of the imperial capital and becomes a foreign emperor. When the two of us arrive,
You can also pretend to be a military region general."
Oleg really couldn't understand his cousin's caution. The situation was going so well and Russell's Norman army had arrived opposite Constantinople, but he was still worried.
How the situation developed like this is a long story.
In September 1072, the battle between Emperor Romanos and the new emperor Michael of the imperial capital came to an end.
Although Romanus summoned many imperial elites scattered in Anatolia after Manchiket after his release, he was ultimately defeated by the owner of the imperial capital and ruined this group of imperial troops.
The foreign mercenaries led by Russell did not accept the call of Emperor Romanus, because he seemed to have a better future by following Michael, and there was no point in participating in the war rashly. They should continue to hide their capabilities and bide their time and wait for the situation to change.
This gave them the status of victors and allowed the imperial capital to continue to acquiesce in the Norman control of Ankara - Ankara was captured by Russell.
Emperor Romanus once fled to General Antioch, but was eventually sent back. Naturally, the next step was the empire's traditional way of dealing with losers. Romanus withdrew from the political situation, the first elimination of this imperial civil war.
was born.
Russell once felt very sorry. If the new monarch of the imperial capital knew how to balance all parties, it would not be difficult to stabilize the situation. If he could appease the powerful and coordinate interests well, everything would be fine.
And he did all these things, but it is a pity that this emperor who was obsessed with literature and poetry only saw the inside of the empire and could not see the "extra-staff forces" of the empire-or in other words, he deliberately looked down upon it.
After dealing with Romanus, the new ruler of the imperial capital seemed to think that he did not need mercenaries, and immediately began to default on the mercenaries' wages, and began to prepare to lay off the mercenary army.
This naturally aroused a strong reaction from Russell. Originally, he had planned to continue to lurk like this, but now this situation had to happen, and because of the arrears of wages, the six thousand brothers under him were completely with him.
In January 1073, Russell summoned his allies—most of whom were also foreign mercenaries. His efforts to win over the Greek dignitaries were completely frustrated—and launched a rebellion, claiming to be the Duke of Ankara.
Russell wants to recreate the glory of the Otterville family here. This has always been his desire, and now is the time for him to start putting it into practice.
After coercing some troops, the rebels' strength reached a total of seven thousand people. Most of them were veterans who had been fighting for a long time. They were a strong challenge to the throne of the imperial capital.
The imperial capital sent a large army to conquer them. This army was actually assembled to monitor and disband the mercenaries. Emperor Michael still had a brain, and it came in handy now.
However, many things cannot be completed simply by arranging them, nor can they sit back and relax after arranging them.
Russell's generals and ambitions were proved next. Although they were at a disadvantage in terms of military strength, they defeated the army sent by the imperial capital. Under the cavalry of the Normans, the Greeks completely collapsed.
The mercenaries were defeated and suffered an extremely tragic defeat.
They also captured Ducas, who led the army, and it can be said that they won a comprehensive victory.
Russell's prestige was greatly enhanced, and for a while no one knew how many people came to seek refuge with this warlord. The imperial dignitaries who had originally put some caution away became restless again.
After gathering some new allies, Russell advanced towards the imperial capital. This bald Norman had also stayed in the empire for so long, and he was still very clear about the rhythm of the imperial civil war. If he could not quickly take down the capital, he would only be able to gain victory in the end.
fail.
So there were marches and plunders, and right now this was just an ordinary plunder by the foreign mercenaries on their way to the imperial capital.
"General of the military region? Maybe, Oleg, but I'm not optimistic about Russell's career." Back to the present, Monomacher completely sneered at his cousin's optimistic remarks.
"Even after winning such a victory, no Greek dignitaries expressed their submission to Russell, and no one even sent someone to cooperate. Rich families like Dukas and Komnenos were not even willing to express their willingness to cooperate.
, Oleg, this battle still has to be fought."
Then he considered his words for a while, "Not many Greeks have surrendered to us along the way. Those civilians were all brought here by force. If it weren't for our strong military, they would have risen up to resist. If our march failed,
It’s self-evident what comes next.”
"...I feel something about what you said, but Monomach, why are you so pessimistic? Maybe things will really work out. Look at how many emperors became monarchs through adventures."
Oleg was silent for a while, and then continued to express his point of view. Why does Monomach always think of things so badly?
Monomach hesitated for a moment, and then spoke,
"But those emperors were all Greeks, and there was no record of foreigners ascending to the throne... Forget it, it's useless to worry about these. I joined because I saw that Russell still had a chance to ascend the throne. Let's take a look at what's next.
This mercenary can go anywhere."
"Lord Monomakh! Lord Oleg!"
While the two Ruriks were discussing, a rider came up on horseback. Looking at his clothes, he was an Armenian, and he was probably from an Armenian noble family, otherwise he would not be able to understand the Russian language.
Thanks to the connections they made in Manchikert and in the following years, many Armenian lords and warriors joined the rebels.
Of course, they are all participating in their own name. After all, they are still vassals of the empire. These people are not willing to peel off this layer of skin quickly.
It is the existence of these Armenians that has allowed many Greeks in the occupied areas to temporarily maintain a wait-and-see and cooperative attitude. The number of Armenians in the imperial army has always been large. Compared with those from the north, the Armenians know how to communicate with the Greeks better.
"Lord Anton has cleared the Greek army that tried to block the front, and the road ahead is clear and unobstructed. On Lord Russell's side, he defeated the Nicene army, and those Greeks could only retreat into the city, also because of this victory.
, we have captured enough ships on the coast, and now our army can go to the other side and besiege Constantinople!"
The messenger's tone was full of excitement, and although his Russian language emphasized the weirdness, he still expressed what he wanted to express.
"What orders does Lord Russell have?"
Monomach directly replied that this man obviously came from Russell's side. Since he could come from that way, it means that there is no Greek army on the road where the two armies meet.
"He wants you two to meet at the coast immediately and prepare to go to Constantinople!"