Chapter 349 - 251: Little Nikephoros

"I said, back off, or I’ll consider your current actions a provocation against the Empire! Norman Dogs!" Tatikios did not intend to yield.

(Tatikios, a man of Turkic origin, was a close friend and capable assistant to Alexios. He had repeatedly led armies against the Seljuk Turks and the Normans. During the First Crusade, he served as the Crusader Liaison Officer, accompanying the Crusader leaders to Antioch and helping them coordinate with the Byzantine army.

During the Siege of Antioch, Tatikios was ultimately forced to leave due to conflicts with the Crusader leaders and doubts about Byzantine aid.)

"Provocation? A Turk... no, I should say, a Turk in a Greek’s skin. Don’t think wearing a robe stitched with gold thread can hide your cowardice. You people of this Empire are only good at hiding behind city walls and living by your wits. What would you know of true Courage and battle?"

"And you talk of provocation? If your Empire could actually fight back, you wouldn’t have needed to invite us here to fight your battles for you!"

"..." Several Norman Knights immediately began to jeer.

"Eric, he brought this on himself," Belem said, looking at Eric.

"Yes, he brought this on himself." Eric nodded.

"Let the Griffins taste some blood," Belem said. He tugged his reins, about to turn his horse back to camp and rally the Knights.

But Eric grabbed Belem’s arm. "Before we go, we need to leave him with a little something."

Eric looked up at the Greek soldiers on the gate wall and spoke in Greek:

"Are there no Greeks left? I stand here now, and what do I see? A Turk? And it seems he is your commander. Are there any real Greeks left here? Who does this Empire truly belong to? The Greeks, or the Turkic People?

A crowd of Greeks, hiding in a fortress of the Turkic People, seeking shelter? Appointing a despicable Turk—one who ravaged the Empire’s lands—as a Commander? Letting a Heretic lead a throng of Greeks?

If you ask me, since things have come to this, what are you even resisting for? Nearly half the Empire’s territory has already fallen into the hands of this race. And in the remaining half, the Turkic People are free to do as they please. I truly don’t see the point in resisting.

A Turkic Heretic can brazenly lord it over Christians within this very Christian Empire. Can you imagine anything more horrifying?"

A Norman Knight fluent in Greek translated Eric’s words for the other Knights who weren’t, drawing roars of laughter from them.

"The Empire of the Greeks has no place for Greeks. HAHAHAHA."

"Letting themselves be enslaved by others. Utterly shameless."

"Look at this Tatikios, dressed so magnificently! And look at these Greek soldiers, dressed in rags!"

"..."

The soldiers on the gate wall couldn’t understand the Norman Knights’ words, but they knew they were being mocked. Besides, Eric’s speech had been irrefutable. There were also some Greek civilians on the wall, who had just fled into the inner city. They had been trying to lend their own soldiers support against the Norman Knights below.

However, Eric’s words began to sap the passion they had felt just moments before. Some of the Greek soldiers grew restless and started whispering amongst themselves.

Some of them began to instinctively turn their gazes toward Tatikios.

This caught Tatikios completely by surprise. Eric’s words had clearly struck a nerve, and he instinctively defended himself, "I have converted!"

The moment the words left his mouth, Tatikios regretted them.

Eric laughed, raising his voice.

"That’s right! A Turk has only to say a few words, and there will always be some Greek fool willing to believe him and defend him with all their might.

But does anyone remember how much of your Greek blood stains the hands of this race? This is a people that brutally oppresses even their own kin, the Saracens. Should Christians still harbor any illusions about them? It is utterly laughable.

These steppe bandits, who came from the East just over thirty years ago, are even more loathsome than the Saracens. They treat faith as a tool. In Persia, they changed their faith merely to rule, yet they have no respect for it. They freely ravaged the Saracens’ Holy Land of Baghdad. They enslaved the Saracens’ leader, both secular and spiritual, while arrogantly proclaiming themselves ’protectors,’ soiling his reputation and usurping his power.

An ignorant people, who a mere hundred years ago were still devout polytheists, have stolen such a high position. Just by moving their lips in Baghdad, pretending to recite a few lines of specious scripture, they gained a following among the self-deceiving Saracens!

They use this to wrap their pitiful pride in a ragged strip of gauze, and then tell themselves with a clear conscience that they have preserved their dignity.

Muttering to themselves, ’It was not the Turkic People who conquered the Saracens, but Allah who conquered the Turkic People!’

How utterly laughable.

In reality, they have sold away everything they are!

Their pride has been forgotten, replaced by groveling and subservience. They don’t even dare to raise their heads to look their enemies in the eye.

Why would the Turkic People respect them? They only see these people as useless slaves, fit only to be trampled underfoot and controlled at whim.

The Turkic People will not show them a shred of respect. They see them as lowly as dirt, as ignorant as livestock, fit only to be trampled and flogged at will!

The fate of the Saracens is proof of the arrogance and cruelty of the Turkic People.

Although the long history of Saracen atrocities is no less terrible, and they have gotten what they deserve and are not worthy of sympathy, when compared to the Turkic People, they at least still possess some reason. For they are devout believers in half of God’s holy book.