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After the deposition of Emperor Michael VII chaos ensued in the Byzantine Empire with rival claimants of the purple spawning almost everywhere.
The Doux of Dyrrachium Nikephoros Basilakes decided to exploit the situation by moving his army to Thessalonike and waiting for the outcome of these bloody struggles in order to vanquish the worn out winner.
However Emperor Nikephoros III sent general Alexios Komnenos who lured Nikephoros Basilakes into a trap 18 miles outside Thessalonike and in a night attack he annihilated Basilakes's army.
The defeated Basilakes retreated to Thessalonike and tried to defend the city but his own troops arrested him and delivered him to Alexios Komnenos who blinded him under orders of Emperor Nikephoros III.
WI Nikephoros Basilakes wasnt lured into the trap and stayed safe in Thessalonike? He had a larger and fresher army than the exhausted Nikephoros III (who was fighting for a year to keep his crown) and in a regular battle he would have beat Komnenos's army thus opening the way to march to Constantinople unharmed.
How is history affected if Basilakes is crowned as Emperor Nikephoros IV and the Komneni out of the picture marked as traitors (since they were supporting Nikephoros III)?