It's not just Miró who looks a little embarrassed, even Matteorius, who is standing behind him, has a somewhat cloudy face.

Saying that it was a polite word, Miro secretly complained in his heart, after all, it was a lion who opened his mouth widely, and he was going to go to 3,000 people at once, which was not a small number.

Miro didn't have to deal with Luga here, but saw that the set of armor on Luga's body was mediocre and not outstanding, so he smiled and said to Luga: "I don't know how much Your Excellency is interested in armor, after all, generals, it is not possible to lead an army without a good set of armor." ”

After saying that, Miró pointed to the suit of armor behind Luga, which was still the segmented armor cast in Rome at its peak, and even more ornate than the Kobrich B that Luga secretly cast in Gaul, Belgium. This is not so much a piece of armor for self-defense as it is a handicraft, and Miró said triumphantly to Luga: "This is the armor that my ancestors wore after following Aurelius in their crusade against the Gallic rebels, and were rewarded by Aurelius." What do you think, Lord Luga? ”

This is obviously an attempt to change the topic, and Miro has brought all his family heirlooms with him, and it seems that he is going to be thick-skinned to the end.

"Of course!" Lu Jia looked at the armor and nodded, and then said: "But no matter how beautiful the armor is, it can't scare the enemy away, let's talk about the soldiers." ”

"Although Your Excellency verbally agreed, your body did not move like a piece of wood." Seeing that Miro was a little unspeakable, Lu Jia was really curious, so he smiled and said to him: "Is it that I want too much, so that Your Excellency feels embarrassed for a while, it doesn't hurt, we can bargain, and we can't embarrass Your Excellency." ”

"It seems that Your Excellency is still too optimistic about some of the situation in our family." Miro smiled bitterly, and then said slowly to Luga: "The family business is also beautiful on the surface, but in the secret I think that apart from God, the eyes of the world cannot see it, which may also be why the family has been able to maintain its life for so long." ”

With that, he shifted his gaze to the world beyond the railing in front of him. The view is unique from an elevated location, with houses on the left, as far as the rolling highlands and dense forests outside the city walls, and the dock on the right, where the sound of hustle and bustle can be faintly heard. Looking north, the green ocean stretches as far as the eye can see, where the surface of the water merges with the sky like a curved surface, and the sight is such a scene that it slaps the face of the Flat Doctrine.

"It's a peaceful scene, and a comfortable life is not easy." Miro deliberately sighed that he was enjoying the situation. Looking at the beautiful and picturesque scenery in front of me, I can't help but feel strong in my heart when I think about being on a high place and overlooking the earth.

The breeze was blowing, mixed with the faint smell of the sea, Luga couldn't describe what the taste was, just a little salty and a little fishy, fortunately, Luga had long been used to it.

"Look at this busy dock." Miro pointed there, the boats on the sea came and went, and the dock was crowded with people.

Milo's mask seemed to have a smile, but his eyes were full of joy, and his tone could see that he was proud of the comparison, and he only heard him say slowly: "This place has been run by the family for many years, from the time of Augustus to the present day, it has only been on such a scale, but there are so many people coming and going, I am sure which one is a thief, a hateful thief." So we need guards to keep order from being disrupted. ”

Luga interrupted Miro's sensationalism and asked bluntly, "So you need a lot of personal guards to be stationed in the city for you to maintain order for Your Excellency?" With so many people, no matter how you divide it, it's more than enough. ”

Miró opened his eyes, his eyebrows were full of surprise, he expected Luga to have a vague understanding of their details, then again, the fact that the nobles and the rich armoured were not profitable, and it was also an unwritten practice in western Rome.

The Luga in front of him is in a high position at a young age, young and vigorous, does not know how to be flexible, can't analyze the stakes, and acts recklessly.

"Your Excellency also understands that we maintain a lot of private soldiers to maintain order and guard against foreign enemies, and to see the pirates on the sea, the robbers in the jungle, are all problems that I need and are troubled by."

"As far as I know, this should be the duty of the military." Luga shook the glass of wine, then gently brought it to his lips and drank it down. Instead, he questioned Miro: "Such a selfish behavior, it can also be considered that because of the civil war and foreign war during this period of time, the treasury is empty, the loss of troops is serious, and there are empty officials and no soldiers in many areas, so it is understandable to maintain private soldiers, but now after the gradual stabilization of the situation, the original chaotic situation is slowly improving, of course, the main problem, the order of Rome, the loyalty of the nobles, are the main factors in maintaining the stability of the moment, of course, the most important thing is to return the military to the legion, The return of the scepter to the Purple Room is the most important. ”

"Yes, yes!" Miro nodded like pounding garlic, he didn't expect this young guy to be right, but this was not a joke, there was a sharp knife hidden in the words, and the intention was obvious, that is, he had taken a fancy to the soldiers under his command, and now he came to visit and begged for it proudly.

"You may not be aware of the situation." Miro said with a haha: "But as Lord Luga can see, the army we hold is barely able to defend itself, and the number is not very large, and even a field regiment cannot be assembled. Of course, most of the soldiers were on guard in the place where I lived, after all, there were always some daring thieves who were on the mind. ”

Speaking of this, looking at the uncertain look on Luga's face, Miro couldn't help but smile in his heart, after all, the army at hand was not in the city, and the place where Luga walked was only the tip of the iceberg in Palermo, how could it be possible to see the leopard in the tube.

"But, but!" Luga deliberately pretended to be stupid and looked at Minevius stupidly. Miró said, "But I have learned from your eldest son that you have more than 5,000 men in your hands. ”

"What?"

Miro's heart "chuckled", and he hurriedly turned his head to stare at Matteorius who was standing behind him, and his eyes were clearly scolding: Look at the good things you have done! At this time, Matteorius's face had already lost its color, mainly thinking that Luga must have come to see it, but he didn't think that his intention was obvious.

"I didn't expect to let this kid play tricks, I knew that the person who came was not good, and I shouldn't have told it all." Matteorius must have thought that Luga was still the same Luga who was full of justice and had no shortage of soldiers and horses five years ago, so he didn't think much about it, but now he has a hard time arguing, who knows that his own father can't step down together if he casually says it.

"Oh, Lord Luga, for God's sake." Miró turned around, smiled at Luga, picked up the tablecloth in his hand, and wiped his forehead very elegantly, presumably knowing that he could not cover the fine beads of sweat oozing from his forehead under the disguise. He then defended: "Your Excellency, don't believe my son's momentary nonsense, it must be just a boast for the sake of showing off to your Excellency. Everything is to be believing, not to be taken seriously, not to be taken seriously! ”

"Oh!" Lu Jia snorted coldly, thinking that the iron rooster had been in disarray, so he pressed step by step: "At that time, near Palermo, the warships cruising on the sea did not belong to the army, presumably under the command of your Excellency's family, there are several warships, just what I saw no less than seven or eight hundred, not to mention the number of people brought to greet me by His Excellency Matteorius who entered the dock, and the number of people in the two phalanxes who came into the dock to greet me was no less than two hundred, and the guards who maintained order along the way were all under the banner of Your Excellency, which was no less than hundreds, and then your Excellency's residence, as Your Excellency said, most of them are here, This means that there are more than 300 people guarding here, which is nearly 2,000 people, not to mention that I have only swam Palermo and not even half of them, and your Excellency has to guard against thieves in the woods, so the other half is the same number, as far as I know, there are more than 5,000 troops stationed in Palermo, all of whom are militiamen, so you have 10,000 horses in your hands. ”

One set after the other left Miró speechless, and he sat in his seat, looking at Luga.

"You must know that my expedition to Britannia against the Anglo-Saxons is only more than 20,000 people, and your Excellency alone has 10,000 people in your hands to dispatch, so what is the difficulty of sending 3,000 people to support the Purple Room? Five years have passed since the crisis of the Vandals, and there is Roman land as far as the eye can see, and I dare to ask your Excellency, who are you guarding against, is it Flavis? ”

These words made Miro couldn't help but be shocked, he was scared, this is no longer a matter of bargaining, the fact that he secretly hides so many troops is not profitable, and now that it has been revealed, it is a betrayal to quibble. Of course, he knew the fact that Luga was the chief soldier, and he also clearly understood that as soon as the soldier was out, the army within the four sides of the scepter would be under Luga's command, and the wealthy family of a city would fight against the supreme authority of Rome and hit the stone with an egg.

"Of course, we also have corresponding conditions, otherwise it would be bad for Your Excellency to think that we are all robbers who have plundered!" Luga saw that Miro was frightened and knew that there was a play in it. He continued: "Your Excellency's son can lead this army and become a prefect under my command, and Your Excellency must know that if Matteorius accumulates great military exploits, he can enter the Senate or the court, and then become the prefect of Sicily or Naples and other regions, which is a great advantage, and I can show you a clear way, if you want to make your family power go further, and gain a good reputation as a protector, or wait for the matter to be revealed, and end up as a traitor, your Excellency weigh it yourself in your heart!" ”

After saying this, Luga got up and led his guards away without looking back, leaving only Miró and his son Matteorius in a daze on the balcony.