After entering the land now called Konya by the Turks, Vasiliko could finally breathe a sigh of relief, because this land was obviously significantly different from the previous wilderness.
The barren land where the Crusaders had been struggling for several months had nothing but bare mountains. It was difficult to find water sources, and the population was extremely sparse. Except for the time they encountered the Turkic army's attack, they saw only Meet some hunters hunting in the mountains.
The valleys here are obviously much greener than those in the wastelands, and there are obviously more rivers. The Crusaders finally don't have to be troubled by water.
They can often find traces of tribal settlements near water sources, but they have already moved away. These tribes left in a hurry, leaving behind a lot of things that the Crusaders could use. Some even obtained possessions that were used by the Turks. Forgotten small herds of livestock.
A better environment naturally means that there are people living together. Not long after the Crusaders advanced, they encountered local villages with Greek or Hellenistic residents. These villages welcomed the arrival of the Crusaders. In their view, this was the arrival of the Crusaders. Their savior from the torment of the Turks.
With the cooperation of the locals, the Crusaders' subsequent supply problems caused by temporary difficulties in contacting the empire were solved, and the locals continued to provide supplies to the Crusaders.
Vasiliko was puzzled by their enthusiasm at first, but after asking, he learned that before the Eastern Empire was destroyed by the upheavals brought about by Manchiket, the residents here made a lot of money by hosting pilgrims. Little money - there are always impatient people who cross Anatolia directly, and these people will definitely have to go through this.
But since this land fell into the hands of the Turks, everything has changed. Although the Turks did not massacre here, there were fewer and fewer pilgrims until they were completely cut off. The local residents lost a way to make a living, and they Have to face exploitation by the Turks.
That's why they are so eager for the arrival of the Crusaders. In the eyes of the locals, with the help of this pious army, the pagans will soon be driven away, and Iconium will return to its former prosperity.
The local Turks had not taken any action and were still migrating consciously, which confused Vasiliko. However, the locals solved his doubts. It turned out that the current Roman Sultan Arslan was in the east with his Rurik kinsman Mono. Maher fought for the Danish Mander, and the Sultan's absence caused the Turkic tribes to become like a piece of scattered sand. The previous attacks that they had gathered together had reached their limit.
Now that the attack failed, the various troops naturally continued to retreat and retreated to Konya, the capital of Roma today. Some even fled directly, leaving the land that was about to become a battlefield.
After learning this, the morale of the Crusaders increased greatly. The bloody price they paid at the lake was now forgotten by them. The Crusaders just wanted to reach the city of Konya quickly, capture the city, and then continue to the Holy Land. .
The Crusaders unanimously wanted to do this, so Navasiliko naturally had no choice but to take them to the capital of the Roma Sultanate.
Since there was no Turkic army that could effectively resist the Crusaders, Konya soon appeared in front of the Crusaders. This city deep in the interior of Anatolia has a very long history, which also gives it a There are powerful city defenses. There are now tens of thousands of Turkic defenders in the city, including many direct descendants of Sultan Romu. They are determined and intend to defend this tall city wall.
The Crusaders quickly set up a camp under the city of Konya, and then they swept away all the resources left by the Turks near Konya. If Vasiliko hadn't stopped them, they even planned to take away the local indigenous people.
Robbed.
It is precisely because of his correct operation that the Crusaders have saved their current almost only source of food. It is also because of this that Vasiliko's reputation in the Crusaders will be reversed later, but he himself does not care.
Although the camp was set up, the performance of the civilian crusaders in attacking the Konya city wall was simply appalling. These civilians even defeated under the arrows on the city wall and abandoned the siege equipment they had worked so hard to build. The performance can be said to be terrible.
It's rotten to the extreme.
After several failed attacks, most of the people in this camp no longer had the spirit to attack. And after Walter, who led one of the few professional soldiers in this army, lost his head during the attack, no one could continue.
Shouting an attack, they planned to besiege the city with hunger while waiting for the arrival of the noble crusaders and the emperor's army.
The person who controls the Crusaders now is the hermit Peter. Due to this hermit's lack of understanding of war and his character, the power of the Crusaders fell into the hands of Vasiliko. This was also a blessing in their misfortune. Vasiliko
Know how to besiege a city and how to hold on.
He forced all armies to build fortifications every day, building them around the camp and around the city walls, making the entire camp look like a big iron tunnel, because he knew very well that only in this way could this army defeat Sultan Romu's main force.
To survive after returning, they had to hold on until the arrival of the main crusaders and the emperor.
And when Vasiliko led the civilian crusaders to suffer under the city of Konya, in Constantinople, the crusaders lords from all walks of life also arrived one after another.
Redmond, Count of Toulouse, Robert, Count of Flanders, Godfrey of Bouillon, Robert the Stocking, Hugues, Prince of France and Count of Vermandoi, Bohemond, Prince of Taranto...all are powerful.
The lords came to the capital of the Eastern Empire for the holy war, and red crosses were spread all over the fields.
There was another special figure in this Crusade, the Pecheneg General Edgar Wessex of the Eastern Empire.
Edgar believed that if he stayed in the Eastern Empire, being a military general would be his end, so if he wanted to fight for a bigger cause, he could only embark on the road of crusade, so he resigned to the emperor and then summoned his supporters
They, part of the Pecheneg tribe were willing to follow him, which allowed him to bring out a total of 7,000 people, more than half of whom were combatants.
Alexios was naturally a little annoyed by this behavior, because it was indeed poaching from him, but in the end the emperor could only send blessings. Even the emperor of Constantinople did not dare to talk to "Hindering the Cross"
I got in touch with him with this hat.
After Edgar's team joined, a total of 70,000 to 80,000 Crusaders gathered under the walls of Constantinople. It is a pity that only more than 30,000 of these 70,000 people were fighting for the lords.
personnel, and the rest are civilians accompanying the army. Just like the civilian crusaders, there are a large number of old, weak, women and children.
Naturally, there were a lot of troubles when such an army gathered in the imperial capital. Many Crusaders clashed with the Greeks. Fortunately, these conflicts were quickly controlled by both sides and did not continue to develop.