When Berniface came to Rome, he did not say that he was in a hurry to go north to attack Aetius, who was still suppressing the barbarians in the province of Gaul. Because Aetius will return sooner or later to fight him, and there is no room for two tigers. What he had to do now was to use the scepter given to him by Placitia as much as he could, and to integrate more than thirty field regiments, large and small, in the Roman province of Italy.

Although Emperor Valentinian III and Queen Regent Prasidia were in Ravenna, which was not far away, Berniface had no intention of visiting him.

From the time Berniface came to Rome, he used a lot of money and food to finance the revelry of the Roman citizens, and a whole week passed, and the revelry did not stop, and the original annual gladiatorial tournament became a daily event, and the money that Arecio could provide to Böniface was squandered in the hands of Berniface. It was as if all the Romans had forgotten about the war, including Berniface himself. At this time, Beniface, like previous emperors, did not care about money at all, and did not hesitate to spend money in order to please the Roman people.

At night, Arecio was tired of the noise, and he stood on the platform at the top of the building, looking at the boiling crowd in the street below. I wonder if they forgot in the revelry, the great threat from far away in Gaul.

"Oh, bring about your own destruction!" A sneer tugged at the corners of Arecio's lips as he faced the reveling civilians and soldiers below. He had tried to dissuade Berniface from stopping and reorganizing his army to meet Aetius, who would return at any moment, but he knew the citizens of Rome too well, and to let them stop revelrying for free at this time would be tantamount to openly opposing the Romans, and becoming the object of their hatred and curse.

Arecio considered himself to be nothing more than a mere treasurer, with no right to say no to anything other than to be in charge of the Empire's treasury. He was also blindly satisfied with Berniface's endless demands, after all, there was not much left in the treasury.

"Good day, Your Excellency."

The old hoarse voice sounded behind Arecius, who turned around and saw Remitius. This old man, the long hours of entertainment also made him a little powerless, and the heavy dark circles under his eyes made the old man look desperately in need of rest, but he still persevered and came to Arecio.

"What's the matter, tell me quickly, I don't have the extra patience to consume with you." Arecio had no respect for Remitius, and he hated the scheming old man.

"Don't, don't, Lord Arecio, I was forced to do that." Remitius smiled and waved his hand, "It's just that Lord Berniface used all the military pay you raised to provide for the revelry of the citizens, which is why I have the cheekiness to beg the treasurer to pay more Oron." ”

Remitius said this, and deliberately stopped, he knew that if he were an ordinary person, he would have been furious a long time ago. To his surprise, however, Arecio stood still, not making any gesture to express his anger. This surprised Remitius, who hesitated for a moment, and then asked slowly, "Why, Your Excellency, are you really not angry about this?" ”

"Why should I be angry?" Arecio asked rhetorically: "This money, even if I get angry again, I can get it, and if I don't get angry, I have to give it, so why should I be angry about it?" Arecio said, sighed, and asked, "Tell me, how much do you want?" I'm still busy getting back to get some sleep. ”

The revelry lasted two weeks and finally ended abruptly at the call of Berniface. The city of Rome, which had been noisy all day long, finally calmed down, and the people who participated in the revelry finally went home to sleep, and in an instant, the number of pedestrians in the whole city of Rome plummeted, as if they had just experienced a great escape.

A horse-drawn carriage slowly moves along an empty but garbage-filled street. Not far away, on the side of the road, stood a young man in a brown robe, with a thin figure and an unattractive appearance.

The carriage slowly came to the young man, and the coachman nodded to the young man. Without any hesitation, the young man strained his lower limbs and boarded the carriage at once. After the young man had entered, the coachman looked around to make sure that he saw no other pedestrians.

"It's coming!"

The first thing the young man heard when he got into the car was the somewhat old and hoarse voice. The young man looked back and saw an old man in a white robe, Toga, and yes, this old man was Remitius.

"Hmm!"

The young man nodded in response, and sat down on the opposite side of Remitius, a meter away, and looked at each other in the dim light. After a long silence, Remitius finally spoke.

"Where's the news?"

"Aetius is back!"

"Where?"

"Milan!"

"How many are there?"

"There were 60,000 Huns from Pannonia, and with his own field legions in the province of Gaul, there were no less than 100,000 men."

"It seems that the two sides are almost evenly matched, and this is the maximum army that he, Aetius, can command. It has to be said that the Huns were his staunch allies! Remitius's face was solemn, "You really can't underestimate Aetius, after all, behind him, there are barbaric Huns as support." "Boniface had the guts to sleep, he didn't have the guts, and it was a big gamble on who would win on both sides, not only on the fortunes of the entire Western Roman Empire, but also on his own life.

"Whoever wins, it will be an irreversible blow for Roma!" Remitius put his hand to his face and said thoughtfully.

"Like Varus? (Battle of the Teutoburg Forest)" the young man asked.

"No, it's more serious, both of them are famous generals in the world, but because of selfishness, only one of them can survive."

"So who do you think will survive?"

"Everyone is the same, as long as they can defend Rome and prevent it from collapsing, everyone is the same!"

When Remitius had finished speaking, he dozed off, and then lay down lazily. He was so tired that he needed enough rest.

"When you get to a safe enough place, my coachman will signal to you, and when the time comes, you will leave quickly, and don't go back to Rome until it's all over!" When Remitius had finished speaking, he fell into a deep sleep.

Through the dim light, the young man saw four golden letters on the wooden wall behind Remitius.

“S.P.Q.R！”

The young man repeated in a whisper.