The Eternal City: Rome!

This is an ancient city in Europe full of mottled history and whispering past.

Perhaps its position in human history is second only to Jerusalem, which is the earliest city in the legend and bears countless glorious titles, but no one will have any objection to its name as the largest city in Europe, even if it is Constantinople, the pearl of the Aegean that is populated and prosperous in commerce and trade, the Eastern Roman emperor can only recognize Constantinople as his companion capital, and Rome is the holy place in the hearts of every true Roman, the holy seat that Christians yearn for, and the place where the pope is stationed.

His Majesty the Pope joined the army in a small town fifteen miles outside the city of Rome, and then sent the vanguard to take over the city with orders from His Majesty the Emperor and His Majesty the Pope, the two supreme seals, while the rest rested in the town for a day, bathed and changed clothes, polished their armor and fed the horses, and prepared for the grand entrance to the city the next day.

His Majesty the Emperor took it as a parade to show off his imperial prowess, and in this way to inspire the pride and self-confidence of the Germanic people, and at the same time satisfy his childlike vanity, to warn the ill-intentioned conspirators that Rome was ours, is and will be ours!

His Majesty the Pope hugged the German thighs tightly, and took this opportunity to uproot the pro-Cresenti family around him, and appointed the obedient family of the Count Tusculum to fill the gap in the power shuffle, and the newly appointed imperial officials swore allegiance to His Majesty the Emperor and bowed to the orders of the Pope, and the bishoprics and monasteries in various places took on more and more administrative functions, colluding with the local gentry to strengthen the Empire's rule over the conquered areas, but also caused the gradual growth of the clergy. The young Pope was still inspired by his conversations with me, although I only gave him a glimpse of the basics of the Papal States in the future.

Every nobleman took advantage of this rare opportunity to try his best to dress up, and they did not hesitate to sell the spoils they had desperately obtained on the battlefield at a low price, just to be able to pull an extra bright red cloth to wrap around their bodies, so that they could look a little more radiant, to put it bluntly, for the sake of the indelible aristocratic decency, they would never admit that others were richer and more personable than themselves.

The stupidity of the aristocracy in their eagerness for quick success pleased the merchants who followed the large army to sell their products, even some of the small traders who drove their broken carriages, and sold needles and threads to satisfy the vanity of the little nobles who had little money and were unwilling to sell in front of others.

Although there is some damage to the armor and weapons obtained on the battlefield that have been sold, as long as you find a small blacksmith in the countryside and knock it casually, it can be resold to the small nobles in the closed fiefdom as a new weapon, and the profits are several times higher inside and out, so that these businessmen who are full of fat brains, the corners of their mouths are grinning all the way to the back of their heads, and they have sent servants to send messages to their partners or suppliers, and collect the materials on the spot and send them urgently.

With my eyes closed, I could imagine what was written on the thin piece of parchment:

People here are stupid and come quickly!

I reclined outside my tent, using my modified beach chair, sipping a glass of low-quality mead, enjoying the warming afternoon sun in Italy, not to mention how laid-back.

To be honest, this cheap mead bought from the Milanese merchants has too many impurities, and it seems to be cloudy, a bit of a shake before drinking, but its slightly sour sweetness, and not very high alcohol content, often make me in a dizzy and half-asleep state all afternoon, just to forget all the questions I don't want to think about.

"To the Italian weather!"

I gulped down the mead, then raised my glass to the sun and shouted.

The pale yellow liquid flowed down the corners of the mouth to the chest, cool but very comfortable.

The warm glow of the sun in front of me was blocked by a large blurred black shadow, and I squinted drunkenly, trying to see who was so bold as to dare to hinder Lord Ben's enjoyment of life, but the upper and lower eyelids seemed to be stuck together and refused to pull away, and I vaguely looked like a big man who was not very burly.

"Why don't you go and buy a nice smock to wear into town? Count Randy? ”

The black shadow sat down on the chair set up by the people around me, and the unhurried aristocratic tone suddenly woke me up with all my wine, and I blinked and slowly focused my eyes, and Henry, the Grand Duke of Bavaria, was looking at my funny appearance with a smile, which was embarrassing.

"Lord Duke, I'm sorry, but I was so rude that I didn't know you were coming here."

I was like a child who was caught stealing candy to eat, and I rubbed my palms on the front of my shirt as if it would never be clean, and I thought to myself, God forbid, don't come to me to find stubble, and this is exactly what I am worried about.

Duke Henry kicked the small wooden barrel lying on the side of his feet with his delicate calfskin boots, and said to me teasingly: "I can't imagine that our hero has a sense of loneliness after the war, and can only use wine to kill his sorrows." ”

I scratched my head embarrassedly: "I don't think it's necessary to invest my limited time, energy and money in extravagant and meaningless entry into the city, dressing up like everyone else, I would think I was a clown walking the streets, swaggering in front of everyone." ”

"You've always been so different, Count Randy."

Now I have successfully dissolved the feudal relationship with Count Arden, but before I received the official canonization of His Majesty the Emperor, everyone can only call me Viscount Randy, but in private, many people have already called me Count Randy, although I do not have an official title.

"It's God's arrangement, it's not my difference."

I humbly bowed my head, and through God's understatement of Duke Henry's compliment, I was thinking in my heart about the true purpose of this smiling tiger who had nothing to do in front of me.

Duke Henry didn't wear armor today, but lined his blouse with a soft leather armor, and the long sword was carried on the shoulders of the personal attendant behind him, and the whole person looked very casual and casual.

He stared at the tips of his long shoes for a long time, but his cunning little eyes rolled restlessly back and forth in his sockets, as if looking for something that would be of interest to both of them, so that the unintended conversation could continue:

"I heard that you have asked Your Majesty to marry Miss Crescenty, this news has caused an uproar among the nobles, not everyone is optimistic about this marriage, and it seems to those old-fashioned defenders that you are taking advantage of the fire."

"I fulfilled the promise I made to the old duke, which is why I had to marry his daughter." I vaguely guessed his intentions, and deliberately led the conversation to the old duke.

"It is said that you and the old duke have met once, and the two of you have been talking to each other for a long time, please forgive my presumptuousness, I would like to know what you have to talk to with a man who probably hates you the most in this world." Duke Henry pretended to be unintentional and said softly.

The fox's tail is exposed! It turned out that I was inquiring about this.

I don't know how he found out about my meeting with the old duke, but at least I can say that he was eyeliner around him and kept track of his every move, and I was shocked as to why he was interested in what we were talking about! Could it be that he also has a fragment of Aeneas' blueprints in his hands?

"We talked a lot, but he mainly wanted me to use my status to protect his daughter, and in return he was willing to give me his hereditary castle of Ravenna as a dowry, so that I could inherit the title of Duke of Ravenna."

I deliberately threw a smoke bomb to confuse him: "But I refused, I told him that under the authority of His Majesty, everything is subject to the imperial decree, and I have no right and will not inherit the title of property of the rebel." ”

The smoke bomb really worked, Duke Henry nodded a little incredulously, and then quickly pulled the topic aside: "In any case, Your Majesty also attaches great importance to tomorrow's entry into the city, as the greatest hero of the counterinsurgency, how can you not dress appropriately?" Do you want those pedantic Italians to laugh at us? ”

As he spoke, the duke's attendant presented a finely knitted blue blouse, embroidered with two white swan feathers on the shoulders, making the whole dress look graceful and luxurious, and immediately broke the grade with the cheesy sold by the merchants.

"A gift for you, I hope you like it."

The Duke of Henry asked the attendant to put down the smock and got up to take his leave, for fear that I would run away as if I would reject him, I picked up my clothes and compared them on my body, muttering to myself: "You still don't know me too well, you must know that there are only gifts that others dare not give, and there is nothing that I dare not accept." ”

Early the next morning, all the knights, dressed in the polished armor of their attendants, rode on tall horses, spears decorated with various small horn flags, and wore colorful blouses, and on the balconies of the buildings on both sides of the road, under the gaze of the noble ladies with baskets of petals, they passed through the triumphal arch built by Emperor Titus of the Roman Empire to commemorate his successful suppression of the Jewish uprising.

The lifelike reliefs on the surface of the gate are overshadowed by the glare of the spears, and the glory of ancient Rome finally gives way to the grandeur of the Germanic knight Kingo.

The army marched along the main roads of the city, showing the mighty German military to the conquered peoples.

The Emperor's Guards guarded His Majesty, the first to receive the cheers of the people of the city, and the colorful petals fluttering in the sky decorated the city of Rome under the gloomy clouds.

Then there are the brightly clad knights from all the principalities, who vent their exuberant male hormones at each female animal, looking forward to an unforgettable Roman night with a smoky handkerchief.

Then there was the phalanx of Ravenna pikemen and mercenaries recruited along the way, and finally the conscripted peasants and miscellaneous soldiers, who, by the time they entered the city, had long since left a beautiful noble lady standing at the window waving handkerchiefs at their favorite warriors.

The army stopped in the Roman Senate Square, where the Roman Emperor Caligula, the obelisk transported from Egypt, once gazed at the long yellow sand of Egypt, and the monuments of Rome's sparkling chariots and horses ushered in a new conqueror, and the 100,000-strong army lined up in hundreds of neat phalanxes, covering the originally very spacious square in black pressure.

The white swan feathers on my blue blouse were blown to my chin by the wind, making me tickle, but I was reluctant to move, only when you are really in the era of cold weapons with the sonorous weapons of the war horse Xiao Xiao's weapons, you will understand why there are black clouds that want to destroy the city, and the armor light opens to the sun. Such an imposing verse.

"It's spectacular!" I swallowed and foamed, convinced.