The day after the wedding, the task of guarding was over, and the purpose of garrisoning outside Ravenna had been achieved, so there was no need for the legion to linger any longer.

As the princess's bodyguard, Areobindes was ordered to assist Luga in completing the crusade against the Vandals entrenched in the province of Africa, so he naturally followed Luga south.

After nearly twenty days of trekking, a huge army crossed the strait and came to Syracuse. What Luga didn't expect was that there were a large number of foreigners, that is, barbarians from the north. They used animal skins as their outer robes and armor, and they wore animal teeth on their chests, which was not a unique attire for the southern peoples, and these Lucas did not have to think about it to understand that this was the work of Aetius. In terms of how to make the army expand rapidly and quickly build up combat effectiveness, only a large number of mercenaries can solve such a problem.

A large number of barbarian armies has always been a huge challenge to the security of the city. In order to maintain law and order, the entire auxiliary army under the command of Marenius was used for law and order, and of course these little white faces from Greece were naturally not in the hands of those rough and strong muscular men. They can't talk about the so-called faith, and the only thing they can believe in is the golden gold coins and other things that can make them drink good wine and play with women.

In this city, Luga even met the new naval commander Berialiu, who somehow fooled his old man and deceived ten old ships from his old man's fleet, plus the Vandals that had been captured at the beginning, which could be regarded as beginning to take shape.

Head straight to the barracks, in a castle-like building in the middle of the city, where the military commander was located, and this was where officers who had to command at least a thousand men, such as commanders, could stay. Luga sat in the carriage, Tenaia sat beside him, and the old woman Prasvia, who could not bear such a long journey, was placed by Luga under the door of Arecio, which was the only safest place he could think of.

The carriage came to a halt after a short time into the city, and Luga was a little curious, so he opened the curtain and asked, "What happened?" "Who would have thought that the first thing I saw was Berialius, who had been on land for a long time, and his skin was much fairer, although at first glance he still looked so dark.

"Luga." Berialius stood in the carriage and looked at Luga and said slowly: "Follow me, Aetius and the old generals from the Eastern Empire have already arrived!" They have been waiting here for some time, so that they may discuss with you the plan to recover the three southern provinces. ”

"Oh?" This surprised Luga, but it was also a good time, and they didn't need Luga to wait at all, they were already here. Instructing the coachman to follow Berialiu, Luga's convoy came all the way to the stone castle in the middle of the city.

First of all, he arranged a bedroom for Tenaia to rest, and Luga straightened his somewhat messy clothes, and combed his messy hair with his hands, because he had no haircutting tools, so he could only use a knife to cut off all the hair that had grown. The rest is left to hang on to its head, and it doesn't matter much anyway, because everyone else is like this, and the bells and whistles become an anomaly.

"Where are those guys?" Luga asked Berialius, who was following behind.

"They had already heard that Your Excellency was about to arrive here, so they had just entered the prepared conference room and took their seats, waiting for Your Excellency's arrival." Berialius replied.

"It really gave me enough face, whether it was Aetius or the commanders of the four Eastern Empires." Luga meditated in his heart as he walked.

Following the group, Luga made his way up to the conference room, an open stone room filled with oil lamps for illumination. In the middle of the room was a huge table around which the dignitaries in Toga's robes were around, and the moment the door was opened, all eyes were on Luga, who had arrived first.

"Sorry, I'm late!" After all this, Lu Jia felt more comfortable in front of many dignitaries, and he smiled lightly, and under the guidance of the guards, he unhurriedly came to the side where the generals of the Eastern Empire were seated, and sat down in the empty seat between them.

Areobindes sat at the very edge, the six supreme commanders of the Eastern Empire: Areobindes, Ancillas, Luga, Innobindes, Arintius, and Hermanus.

On the opposite side of them were Aetius and a general whom Luga had not seen, and most of them were Germanic in terms of their appearance and hair color, and even Luga saw that the two at the very edge were somewhat similar in appearance to the Vandals, and there was no need to guess that Luga was able to deduce that these two people were Vandals.

It is ironic to say that half of the people in the internal meeting of the Romans were non-Romans. It looked more like a negotiation between the Romans and the barbarians than an internal discussion, but it was secondary.

"If Your Excellency Aetius is able to sit here, then I can assume that Your Excellency must be well prepared. Am I right? ”

In response to Luga's words, Aetius looked left and right at the barbarian generals around him, couldn't help but shake his head and smile, looked at Luga and replied: "Yes, during the period when Your Excellency was transporting goods, I asked my acquaintances to raise a horse in Rome and other places, and hired nearly 10,000 mercenaries in Iberia and other places. There are also 10,000 recruits recruited, making a total of 20,000 people. ”

"So, all of you of the Eastern Empire!" Lu Jia then looked left and right at the five generals beside him, and asked, "At least let me understand what kind of pomp and circumstance Your Excellency is?" ”

"The combined fleet has 1,100 ships of all sizes, 40,000 sailors, and hundreds of thousands of slaves rowing boats." Hermanus said unhurriedly.

"Augusta's legion, ten field regiments, more than five thousand men, three thousand infantry, one thousand cavalry, one thousand archers, has just arrived in Syracuse." Areobindes said.

"The Eleventh Gemina Legion, plus the Auxiliary Corps, a total of sixteen field regiments, more than 8,000 men, are deployed in Trapani." Ansilas said.

"The 4th Alexander's Regiment, twenty field regiments, a total of 10,000 men, was deployed in Trapani." Innovabinders said.

"I've brought a lot of people!" Arintius said with a smile: "I brought forty field regiments, a total of more than 20,000 people, and more than fifty siege engines, the purpose of which is to attack Carthage. ”

"Hah, interesting!" After listening to their report, Luga couldn't help but clapped his hands again and again: "With my thirty field regiments and more than 15,000 people, in this way, excluding the naval army of His Excellency Hermanus, the land combat army has a total of nearly 60,000 people, plus His Excellency's belongings, that is, 80,000 people, it is indeed a huge combined army, it seems that it is imperative to take the three southern provinces occupied by the Vandals!" ”

Listening to Luga's analysis, the officers of the Eastern Empire nodded again and again, only Aetius had a gloomy face and sat opposite Luga without saying a word.