Eagle Flag of Epirus

"Will it be a bit hasty to attack Thessaloniki with the Bolgars early in the morning?" As soon as he returned to the camp, the man questioned. In the tent just now, Theodore was a little surprised. In response to Justinian’s statement, but because Justinian winked at him at the time, he swallowed his words back.

However, he still couldn't understand why the young man in front of him did this. It would be a great disadvantage to perfect Thessaloniki with their current strength. Especially now that Boniface can mobilize an army of thirty or forty thousand people in the city. If it consumes too much, even if they finally take the city of Thessaloniki, they will probably make wedding dresses for others. This is absolutely unacceptable to the Prince of Agrinion. The only thing he can rely on is the army in his hands. In the empire, the nobles must have a strong enough private army to gain a foothold. Therefore, Even though most of his hands were vulnerable frontier guards, Theodore would definitely not lose his money in order to regain lost ground.

On the other hand, Justinian, who had expected Prince Theodor to ask him this question, showed a very calm expression and replied: "It is indeed a bit hasty, but it is for this reason that I chose to agree to the Bolgarians. Request to do this."

"Does this have any connection?" The confused man still didn't understand the meaning of Justinian's words.

However, in front of him, Moria’s little fox didn’t seem to be ready to explain anything. Instead, he looked at him calmly and firmly: “When the time comes, Your Royal Highness will know what I mean by doing this now. Before that, I hope you can trust me to entrust all of this to me..."

Having never seen such an expression on Justinian's face, Prince Theodore couldn't help being slightly stunned. It seemed that the young man really had a reason to do this anyway. Looking at the deep blue eyes, Theodor Ducas finally made a compromise with Justinian.

"Well, just this one time is not an example, but I also have my conditions. You can only dispatch those auxiliary soldiers, and you have no right to move the pro-army directly under my jurisdiction without my permission."

And this was the biggest concession Prince Theodor could make. The loss of those insignificant auxiliary soldiers was nothing, but his elite army alone could never make a difference. The entire Macedonia is certainly attractive. , But he couldn't be willing to pay an excessive price, and Justinian knew this well-but it was enough for him.

After receiving Theodor’s promise, Justinian nodded: "Then everything is up to you." He bowed slightly and retired, and the calm boy walked out of the camp and prepared for the next day. Matters.

And behind him, quietly watching Justinian's leaving figure, Theodor Dukas's face showed a subtle look at this moment... Although I don't know what the young man is selling in the gourd at this moment. Medicine, but in the end he chose to believe him, but instead of believing what Justinian said to him, he believed in the strength of this little fox.

There was no word for a night, and how peaceful everything was under the night. However, no one dared to take it lightly, because this battlefield-Thessaloniki is bound to welcome a thorough baptism of blood and flame, and it is inevitable, but in the end no one knows who will die.

...

...

...

The sun fell on the ground in the early morning of the next day, and the guards on the walls of Thessaloniki, who had been in charge of guarding and defending, stayed up all night. Their nerves were completely tightened into a bowstring and they dare not slack at any time. Beware of the Bolgars who might launch a surprise attack. After all, in the Battle of Adrianople a few months ago, the Latin Emperor Baldwin I led the main force in a night attack by the Bulgarian army and was defeated.

So Boniface naturally didn't dare to take it lightly, but despite strict precautions, the situation was still very bad, making the whole city now shrouded in uneasiness.

However, these uneases belonged to the Latin outsiders, not the majority of the Roman residents in the city. Their homes fell and their wealth was plundered. Boniface, the savage Franks in their eyes, are no different from flood beasts.

In comparison, the Bolgars, who are called robbers, look much more pleasing to the eye. After all, they are all Orthodox, and the hatred between them is only at the national level, but the Latins are different. There are more and more Roman civilians. Because of the suffering of the country’s destruction, the French, Germans, and Italians are collectively referred to as Latin hatred. Outsiders like Boniface are well aware of this, especially when they learned yesterday that the Greek army had also arrived under the city of Thessaloniki and completed the union with the Bulgarian army. Everyone is already here. Panic, for fear of being liquidated after the war.

As a result, the brutal cleansing and the haze of martial law swept across the city. Countless people were thrown into prisons, and even more people were sent to guillotines and gallows in the dark. But such atrocities have increasingly made Thessaloniki more and more like a melting pot.

"Quick, quick, look at it!"

At this time, a panic scream suddenly sounded and attracted the attention of all the sleepy guards. They were still waiting for someone to change shifts, but the call made each of them a little panicked.

The soldier's voice was so loud, there were others around were stupefied, and when they reacted, they saw that a mighty army on the horizon outside the city was ready to march towards them and pull away. The prologue to the offense.

"Hurry up to ring the warning bell, quickly send people to request support, and inform the whole city-the Greeks and Bolgars are starting to attack!"

"Assholes, what are you guys still doing here, grab your weapons and want to die here? Lucius, you led the patrol to search for all who might be insurgents, and kill them if you see them!" What the officer said surprised the soldiers. Is such a cruel order really necessary?

However, no one dared to raise objections. Invisibly, the original war between the Kingdom of Thessaloniki and the Roman Empire turned out to be an endless struggle between nations. Either you die or I die.

"What are you guys doing there! Prepare to defend the city!" The man roared, and when he looked down at the city, he saw that an army had already arrived here for the first time. From a distance, the soldiers of the Guards saw the eye-catching banner, and they couldn't help being overjoyed.

"It's Lord Dennister, look at the Marquis Dennister bringing his soldiers over."

As the nephew of King Boniface, during the Crusades, Dennister established a high prestige in the war with the Greeks by his own ability. At this time, the Latin soldiers in Thessaloniki were used to Sexually obeyed his orders. I believe that this man can lead them to relieve the crisis here.

In a short while, hundreds of crossbowmen were densely lined up on the city wall. As reinforcements from behind had already arrived here, they were more confident and ready to fight, and their timid mood was relieved a lot.

...

At this moment, under the city, the vanguard formed by the auxiliary troops of the Roman army and the armed forces of the middle tribes of the Bulgarian army is pushing the siege equipment slowly towards the offensive target. At first glance, the crowd of thousands of people is indeed shocking.

But the Latins in the city seem to have discovered something wrong at this moment--

"These armies--" Dennister looked down at the city for a moment, and then laughed slightly, "It seems that the so-called Greek army is not as tricky as we thought before. It's a mob!"

The equipment of the Roman army composed of auxiliary soldiers is not even comparable to that of the Bulgarian cannon fodder. There is only a thin layer of linen armor and shields on the body, and the rusty simple helmet is completely vulnerable.

The other Latin nobles followed the direction pointed by the Marquis Dennister and showed disdain and laughed at this scene.

"My lord, after all, those Greeks were expelled by us not long ago as if we were dealing with bereaved dogs. Their soldiers had already been knocked out and had no strength at all. It would be good to have so many people. The so-called victory in Moriah. It’s just to bully those Frenchmen who have an unstable foundation. Such an army, if there is no threat from the Bulgarian army, we only need an elite cavalry to defeat it directly."

A nobleman said confidently, and no one was right about it. Even Dennister, who had always been cautious, was noncommittal. Indeed, in his eyes, the so-called Roman army's comeback was just a joke. Back in Constantinople, even the Roman emperor personally led the Central Army were defeated by them. What are the remaining Greek remnants?

...

At this time, the horn of the attack finally rang under the city of Thessaloniki.

Although they despised the fighting power of the Greeks, the Latins could not dare to care about Bulgaria and immediately ordered the soldiers to prepare for defense.

At this moment, from a distance, a battle flag appeared in the center among the armies of the Greeks and Bolgars, with a black fox painted on it. As the vanguard, it was Justinian who attacked the city. As the commander was the Roman auxiliary and the Bulgarian tribal army, Prince Theodor and Czaroyan directly handed over the command to him. I believe this young man is enough to be alone, and in fact Justinian does have this ability.

I had already sent people to figure out the structure of the walls of Thessaloniki before, and calculated their own forces and the firepower that might encounter the opponent's counterattack. The young man who already had ideas in his heart finally started his own command.

"Order the rear trebuchet! Launch!"

With an order, as a cover, the huge trebuchet behind the battlefield was pushed up, and among them was the blueprint of Justinian getting rid of the new-style trebuchet that the Pisans got, which integrates the advantages of Eastern and Western siege equipment. The big killer was so powerful that it threw the huge boulders and burning asphalt barrels over a huge range and slammed it over the heads of Thessaloniki's defenders.

Astonished Dennister felt bad when he saw the huge catapult, and only heard a roar above his head, and a huge fireball flew towards him.

"Hide!" He only had time to let out a loud roar, and the soldiers on the side rushed forward to protect him.

"Protect Lord Marquis!"

He threw Dennister under the female wall and barely escaped the blow, but several Latin soldiers in the surrounding area were killed and turned into charcoal.

An atmosphere of horror filled the walls for a while.

"Marquis, are you okay?" He hurriedly helped Dennister aside, and never dared to expose himself to the wall and encounter a possible fall attack.

However, the Marquis of Dennister pushed away the guard next to him and shouted: "Leave me alone, your duty now is to withstand the enemy's attack! It was just an accident just now." Although the escape was embarrassing, Dennis was embarrassed. It is true that the Marquis de Te is not willing to leave the front line, the war has just begun! If he leaves at this time, morale will be frustrated, and it will be unthinkable at that time. What's more, none of the other catapults hit the wall except the one just now, and they just passed over, indicating that the hit rate is still limited.

The Marquis of Dennister insisted on ~www.readwn.com~ The defenders of the city wall could not say anything and had to agree.

However, the continuous sound of "bang-bang-bang" exploded on the battlefield. The huge falling rocks of burning asphalt barrels destroyed the defense of the Latins. The morale in Thessaloniki was still affected. Under cover, the siege forces of the Greek and Bulgarian coalition forces have also entered the range of the Latin defenders.

Good opportunity, when the Marquis of Dennister saw this, he held a sharp sword and continued to urge the soldiers to stick to it and give orders on the other side.

"Stay steady, don't panic the crossbowman, wait until the opponent enters the range before firing an arrow! Don't panic, wait for my order!"

After all, the experience is veteran. There are also long-range projectile weapons on the walls of Thessaloniki, which will not be passively beaten, but the range is much inferior. Therefore, the enemy must be close to use it to avoid wasting ammunition.

Finally, the coalition forces finally entered the range of the Latins, and then Dennister personally issued the order to counterattack.

"put!"

In an instant, hundreds of arrow feathers flew out, and many coalition soldiers fell to the ground under the city, but this little force was not enough to stop their attack. Under cover, thousands of people lined up against the siege equipment to march into Latin The defenders also began to tremble.

"Load arrows, hurry!" Dennister saw the crossbowmen rushing to fill the crossbow arrows, but the enemy was already less than 100 meters away from the city wall, sweat fell on his forehead, and the long sword in his hand was pinched tightly. They took this opportunity to weaken the enemy as much as possible, but after all, there were too many Greeks and Bolgarians, and the casualties of the bow and crossbow were not enough to contain them. Finally, the huge siege tower and the rushing vehicle hit the city of Thessaloniki.

"Fight against them, don't retreat", Dennister encouraged the soldiers loudly, and this cruel battle finally played the prelude.