Certainty: 2 Tughrul Beg planned expedition to avenge rejection of his envoy's proposals.
Certainty: 2 Fifteen thousand Pechenegs equipped & sent to face Tughrul Beg's attack in the east. Tughrul Beg, when the tribute demanded by his ambassador was refused, threatened to attack. As a short-term response, Konstantinos chose 15,000 Pechenegs and gave them four leaders from among the Pechenegs of Constantinople: Soultzous, Selte, Karamas and Kataleimon. He gave them gifts, chariots and horses, and Konstantinos Hadrobalanos as a guide on the route to Iberia
Certainty: 2 Pecheneg troops soon rebelled, voted not to go east, & settled by the Danube. The 15,000 Pechenegs, with their four leaders mounted horses provided by the Byzantines and set off for Iberia to fight Tughrul-Beg. However they had only reached Damatrys, under the guidance of Konstantinos Hadrobalanos, when they held a discussion over what they were to do. They decided not to travel so far to fight their fellow-Turks for Byzantine masters they did not really trust. On the proposal of Kataleim they decided to return to their comrades in Bulgaria. They failed to kill Hadrobalanos, who took refuge on the upper stories of the palace of Damatrys. They made their way to the coast. Standing before the sea with his men, wondering how to cross it, Kataleim asked those who wished to save themselves and their fellow Pechenegs to follow him, spurred his horse and entered the water, crossed to Hagios Tarasios, and reached Triaditza (Serdica). [This fantastic event throws doubt over the intention of the narration]. Konstantinos Arianites gathered his Macedonian forces and pursued them, reached Lobitzos, pillaged the encampment of Selte who managed to escape, and returned