"You're soft-hearted."

Andrew watched everything that was happening from a short distance away, which is why Luga would ask him that when he returned.

"Nope!" Luga shook his head resolutely, and then explained: "It must be God who took my mind away at this time and made me make such a decision that did not conform to my own inner thoughts under irresistible circumstances. ”

"Ha, it seems that God is really merciful, always helping after the fact, and what point does this mean to our poor supplicant?" Andrew shook his head and followed behind Luga.

At noon, the army of the Fourth Auxiliary Regiment was late, they could only clean and rebuild the fortress here, they could not leave, Luga was worried that the Vandals on the sea were not willing to leave, especially Gaisarik, he had plenty of cards to fight against Luga, and now Luga was more worried about the Alans on land, and they would inevitably respond.

The two-sided attack was the last thing Luga wanted to see, and it was also the scene he had to face, and he began to get nervous. After hastily finishing the arrangements, he quickly returned to New Carthage with a detachment of cavalry.

News always spreads quickly, at least faster than Luga returns.

"The Vandals are coming! The Vandals are coming! As soon as the news spread, the whole city of Carthage was like a plague, and the usually loose and deserted churches were crowded with citizens, both nobles and commoners. It is only at such a critical time that they think of God, and they think of praying for mercy to him, longing for him to be merciful to the believers in heaven and heaven, thinking that they have been atoning for their sins all their lives, and that they should not die, at least not themselves, but they firmly believe that only God can save them.

It was as if in that moment, the whole world had changed, and everyone was roaming the streets like a walking corpse.

Luga's party appeared at the city gate, and when the soldiers opened the gate, the first to come out were groups of refugees, ragged and swarmed around Luga, shouting about their hardships and unequal treatment.

The guards guarding the city gate raised their clubs and shouted loudly, trying to disperse the "disgusting" group of refugees in front of them. Not only the guards guarding the city gates, but also the soldiers patrolling the streets, who did their best to keep the refugees at the side of the road, leaving a path large enough for Luga and them to pass through.

"Help us! My lord, help us! "Walking through the city gates, the citizens in the streets will stop and shout at Luga from time to time when they see them." We have done nothing wrong, and we should not be punished like this, so save us, my lord! Looking at them, Luga didn't know what to do, but raised his head and simply ignored it and went through quickly.

"Everyone is immersed in drunken dreams of confession to God, and only we understand that the Vandals cannot just give up." Luga walked along, looking at the group of citizens around him who thought they were pitiful. "There is no salvation in repentance to God, it was not possible before, we must actively prepare for war, if possible, mobilize these citizens, refugees, we must have enough strength to fight against the Vandals and Alans in front of us."

When he returned to the Doge's Palace, he saw Fetanius pacing anxiously back and forth in the halls, looking so flustered that he did not expect such a fork in the road before he left.

It was no small feat for the Vandals to attack Roman territories and fortresses and even massacre Roman civilians regardless of their former alliance with the Romans. Fetanius was very worried about the serious consequences of such a conflict and friction for the alliance between Rome and the Vandal Alan alliance.

Luga's intention to land in Iberia was very obvious, and the goal of Neocarthage was to go west, in order to open the passage from Iberia to Numidia, and in this case, it was necessary to solve the biggest obstacle in front of him, the Alans.

It was clear to Gaisarric, the king of the Vandal Alans, who was to open the way to Numidia and to deal with the Alans. As an envoy of the Purple Chamber, he was the captain of the army who maintained the Roman territory on the one hand, and the "allies" who provided taxes to Ravenna on the other, and if the negotiations collapsed, it would be an irreparable loss, and he would only be mired in endless wars. This was the biggest difficulty he was encountering now, and it had to give him a headache, because he had been ordered to come to ask for taxes from Luga's lower provinces, but now that he had just turned around, he had killed the Vandals on the way, and the captain of the soldiers, Luga, was likely to use war as an excuse to refuse to pay taxes, so no matter how hard he tried, he would not be able to complete his mission.

It stands to reason that this place is not far from the landing site of the Vandals, but half a day has passed, and Luga has not yet seen it back, could there really be a conflict? Everything is unknown, and at this time Fertanius is like an ant on a hot pan in a hurry.

"Squeak!" There was a knock on the door, and Fetanius and the rest of the mission turned around, seeing Luga's tired face and a foul smell of blood. Fetanius roughly guessed what was going on, but he still pretended to be confused, hoping that there would be a chance for the better. I can't say for sure, because it's not clear what level of conflict this is.

"Lord Luga! Lord Luga! Fetanius hurriedly greeted him, came to Luga, and asked, "How is it, Lord Luga, how are things going?" ”

Looking at the puzzled look on Fertanius' face, Luga shook his head with a smile, looking very helpless, and then Luga said: "I'm afraid that Your Excellency's trip back will be interrupted. ”

"Why do you say that, Lord Luga?" Fetanius was in hot pursuit, but his heart was already chuckling, and he could vaguely deduce that things were not as simple as he had naively imagined.

"There are raiding forces of the Alans on land, and the sea is full of Vandal warships, and I have to inform you of the good news, Lord Fetanius, that we are surrounded!"

Fetanius looked at Lugana with a serious expression, this was not a joke.

"Really, really, incredible?" Fetanius whispered, then raised his head and asked Luga, "Then what are your plans, Your Excellency?" ”

"Gaisarik brought it on himself!" Luga said, his face turned extremely ugly, he clenched his fists, reached out and patted Fetanius on the shoulder, and said to him: "War, war! ”

Looking at Luga's back, Fetanius did not know the meaning of the war that Luga was talking about, and he pondered it until the courtier beside him asked him, "My lord, what should we do if the Vandals really fight with our soldiers?" ”

"Medicate." Fétanius pouted and said helplessly: "The landing of the Vandals is no longer described as a conflict, to be precise, it should now be at the stage of war, so whether the next battle is in the hands of Gaisaric and Luga, as long as one of them chooses war strongly, then the war will be carried out until one of the two sides is unsustainable, and kneels down and begs for peace." ”

"And what does Lord Luga mean?"

Fétanius was dumbfounded for a long time, and after a long silence, he finally spoke in a whisper: "War! ”