主題
In 1066, Byzantium was being invaded by Turks, and Alexios, a descendant of the royal family, decided to swore allegiance to the Byzantine Empire. He was befriending Selassie, a butcher from Ethiopia, and after becoming best friends with Montezuma, a fugitive Nahua who came across the sea from afar and committed murder. With a small number of soldiers, he achieved military exploits and successfully won the official position in the County of Edessa.
Unfortunately, the incompetent emperor Constantine X died a few years later, and the young emperor Michael succeeded to the throne. The Queen Mother Eudocia came to the throne and took power together with emperor’s uncle, John Doukas. Unexpectedly, in order to monopolize power, the emperor's uncle wanted to eliminate all the eunuchs in the court, but he was killed by them, the queen mother was also murdered. In the end, it was Olaf, the captain of the Varangian Guard, who benefited.
After Olaf became the entrenched regent, he not only sent troops to plunder Constantinople, but also holding a grand Blót in Hagia Sophia. In the end, Michael was even dethroned and murdered, and he replaced by his younger brother Andronikos.
The regent's tyranny were outraged and people resented them, then the 18 strategos formed a faction against Olaf. Although Alexios was only a petty strategos at this time, he still had great ambitions and vowed to eliminate the traitors in the empire.
Montezuma, the knight of Nahua, killed Olaf's general Eric Redaxe, but he was repulsed by Olaf's adopted son, Bohemond the Norman. Alexios, Montezuma and Selassie are no match for the three of them.
Later, Olaf was afraid of the momentum of the coalition army, and decided to follow Nero's example, burning Constantinople and forcibly moving the city's noble to the western capital Thessalonica.
But Olaf was unexpectedly murdered by his adopted son Bohemond, and Bohemond failed to take over Olaf's hegemony. After being defeated by Olaf's gernerals Ivar and Halfdan, he headed east to Anatolia, which will set off a new wave of storms.
It is said that after the violent death of the regent Olaf, the entire empire fell into anarchy, and each Themes seemed to be independent. Alexios became the strategos of Cilicia by fortune. However, he was attacked by his lifelong rival, the military aristocrat adopted by the eunuch, Phokas, strategos of Cappadocia.
Forced by desperation, Alexios took in the landless Bohemond so that he could use his prowess. However, his benevolence led to catastrophe. Cilicia was usurped by Bohemond, and Alexios became landless. The final situation turned out to be that Alexios and Phokas cooperate to defeat Bohemond and execute him.
Just as Alexios succeeded in his revenge and regained Cilicia, and conveniently invited the knight from Cappadocia, "Dragon Slayer" George. Phokas has grown from a strategos to a hegemon that cannot be ignored. He took advantage of Bohemond's chaos in the eastern territory of the empire and retaked Constantinople and Thessalonica.
After exterminate the remnants of the Varangian Guard, Phokas supported the young emperor Andronikos as the new entrenched regent. His tyranny even surpassed that of Olaf, during a hunt, he announced that he would become the co-emperor of the empire. Montezuma, a knight of Nahua, almost wanted to murder Phokas for this, but was stopped by his liege Alexios.
After a failed assassination attempt, Alexios was attacked by furious Phokas. He lost his land again and had no choice but to exile to the Seljuk Empire. At this moment, Phokas, who had stabilized the situation in the empire, was determined to have a clash with the Seljuk Sultan Malik-Shah to reconquest the lost territory of Rome Empire.
As a guest of Malik-Shah, Alexios witnessed with his own eyes how the Seljuk Empire went from prosperity to decline. First, he saw a red knight in the Byzantine army single-handedly killed Sultan’s generals Hassan and Suleiman. Later he found out that Montezuma surrendered Phokas for some unknown reason. Later, he saw the Seljuk army's disastrous defeat in Mosul. Malik-Shah vomited blood and died when the house unity reached its bottom. Alexios then ran away before Malik-Shah's two sons, Mahmud and Sanjar, competed for the throne.
Alexios took advantage of Phokas to take over Palestine and Egypt and found a ship to sail west to Italy. Under the guidance of fate, he successfully reunited with Montezuma and Selassie. Finally, he decided to join the recently independent duchess Matilda of Tuscany and led his troops to garrison the county of Ancona. And invited the Italian courtier Niccolo, who was well-read in ancient Greek and Roman military art books.
Just when Alexios thought he could finally settle down, lifelong rival, Byzantine regent and co-emperor Phokas quietly turned his attention to the west. After reconquest the empire's lost territories in Mesopotamia, Palestine, and Egypt, he actually had a big dream of restore Rome Empire.
Unfortunately, the elderly duchess was unable to choose a heir, the vassals unanimously voted for the incompetent, cowardly and controllable youngest son Piero instead of the eldest son Lorenzo in the feudal elective. Piero, who succeeded to the duchy, faced the Byzantine invasion of Italy and quickly chose to surrender. Alexios had no choice but to escape again.
Since Phokas, who was determined to restore Rome Empire, was a zealot, Catholics who did not convert before the sword and icon of Byzantium were burned at the stake. The panicked Italian people followed Alexios, who believed in tolerance. Crossing the only remaining territory of Duchy of Tuscany, Corsica is ruling by Lorenzo. Soon after, the frail Lorenzo named Alexios to inherit the title and died.
Faced with Phokas, who already controlled the territory of Justinian the Great's heyday, Alexios's dream seemed out of reach. The unfortunate events that occurred during the escape, including the death of his wife Irene. The only son John was kidnapped, although he was rescued by the knight "Dragon Slayer" George, he was in danger of becoming incapacitated due to an accidental impact on his head.
At this time, the chancellor, Niccolo, an Italian who was well-read in classical military art, made a suggestion, to form an alliance with the only independently realm of Italy, King Ruggiero of Sicily of the Hauteville house, to stop the invasion of Phokas. Alexios followed Niccolo's advice and married Ruggiero’s sister Costanza for a second marriage. The Corsican-Sicilian Alliance was formally established and was about to face the Sicilian invasion of Phokas.
There was a huge disparity in combat power. A kingdom faced an empire across Europe, Asia, and Africa. In the end, the Corsican-Sicilian Alliance decisive victory. The hero is of course the Niccolo, not only used Greek fire as his weapon, but also successfully reproduced Archimedes' invention, the sunlight reflector, which turned Phokas's invincible fleet burned.
Alexios and Kingdom of Sicily, which successfully defeated their powerful enemies, grew stronger each other. Ruggiero successfully conquered North Africa and called himself the King of Africa. Alexios conquered Sardinia and called himself King of Sardinia. On the way, he also invited Edward, an old longbowman from England, as a knight.
Later, he followed Niccolo's plan and captured Majorca. He took the Iberian Peninsula as his development goal and participated in the local struggle. It happened that Motamid, Sultan of Andalusia, was invaded by King Alfonso of Castile. Following the vizier's advice, he had to ask Alexios for help and join forces to fight against the enemy.
After Alexios helped out, he first captured Alfonso's land, he also invited Mamikonian, an Armenian prince who was exiled thousands of miles away and had a house feud with Phokas to exterminate his family, as a knight. Later, he had to betray Motamid, invade Andalusia, and finally end the Iberian struggle and become the Emperor of Hispania. At about the same time, under the unexpected troops of Montezuma, the knight of Nahua, he miraculously captured the entire territory of northern Italy, shocking all European.
At this moment, Alexios from a humble Byzantine royal family, has become the Emperor of Hispania, King of Sardinia, King of Italy and Romagna, and controls half of the Mediterranean. Under his command are not only the genius advisor, the Italian strategist Niccolo, but also the five accolades knights, Montezuma the Nahua, Selassie the Ethiopian, George the Dragon Slayer, Edward the old English longbowman, and Mamikonian, the Armenian prince. The reconquest army has been prepared by Montezuma, the Despot of Romagna, and is about to march towards Greece.
