Berennis, is Hou Jie's last card, don't look at the old mercenary is inconspicuous, but his background is prominent, he has been a general in Byzantium for generations, and the forces in the army are intricate. YaNkuai

Unfortunately, the old man was born at the wrong time, just in time for the rise of Islam to serve in Syria, and also became the brother of Emperor Heraclius, the deputy of the consul Theodora, in 636 AD led a Syrian army of more than 100,000 to Damascus to conquer the Arabs.

Unfortunately, Theodora, from the Emperor to the commander of the army, despised Khaled, the sword of Allah, who was outnumbered, and blindly led a large infantry and a legion of Janissaries to chase him out of the humid area near the coastline and into the vast Alibuda desert.

The hot climate, sandstorms, and lack of water in the Middle East only said that the Byzantine army of the most elite heavy armoured army was exhausted and demoralized, and was dragged all the way to the banks of the Yarmouk River, a tributary of the Jordan River, before Khalid launched an attack.

It was like a battle of the gods, under the cover of the wind and sand, the Arab light cavalry appeared in front of the Byzantine army like ghosts, and wave after wave of powerful arrows mixed with sand poured on, and it was a classic example of the light cavalry defeating the heavy army group with their mobility, although the Byzantines tried their best to resist, they were still completely wiped out in bad weather.

More than 70,000 people were killed, the co-emperor Theodora was killed in battle, forced to retreat to Antioch, and even the famous Emperor Heraclius cried loudly, looking up to the sky and sighing: "Beautiful Syria, farewell!"

In that battle, Berennis almost didn't die here, with many arrows in his body, he broke through to the east with the remnants of the panic, this time he walked far, and in a panic he crossed the Cavill salt desert and fled to Tianzhu, and the Byzantine Janissaries died one after another on the way, leaving only Berennis, an old guy, who survived.

By chance, Hou Jie met this shameless old guy who returned to Byzantium, and his special worn armor caught Hou Jie's attention.

He has not returned to Constantinople for more than 20 years, and Berennis can still speak in the Praetorian Guard, and there are many children of his family, and old acquaintances also serve in the army.

"All for Rome!"

Throwing Leo, who was unconscious, into the cold cell of Fort Galata, looking at the iron prisons that were gradually closing, Bernis lowered his head and said silently in prayer.

More than 7,000 well-armoured, heavily armored Byzantine legions searched and defended their neighborhoods like flies, and never took a step forward, and the rebel army, which had not taken them into account, arrived at its destination without hindrance.

Hagia Sophia!

Under the siege of the believers for several days, the exterior of the magnificent and dazzling building of the cathedral has been covered with countless scars, as if it has been through vicissitudes, but this does not prevent people from being the head of all the churches of Hagia Sophia in their hearts, and they have already been notified, and the priests and priests inside are also busy.

According to the regulations, the process of succession to the Patriarch needs to be appointed by the emperor, and the successor can only succeed to the throne after the previous Patriarch hangs up, and the crown of the Patriarch and the white and gold robes need to be specially customized, and it also requires the Cardinal Conference to spend a lot of time choosing a pastoral candidate, but it is too late at this time.

Thousands of delegates of the faithful poured into the Hagia Sophia to act as spectators, barely finding the thinnest robes of the previous Patriarch Peter I, and dozens of cardinals pretended to deliberate for a while, and then put the ballots with Paul's name written on them into the ballot box.

Even the number of butter lamps lit was not enough, and the front of the solemn church looked sparse, and the faces of the people were also gloomy, and with his own ballot, Archbishop Tom was really reluctant to write Paul's name, and finally put the ballot paper into the ballot box tremblingly.

The two elected bishops carried incense to and fro around the election box, and everything seemed hasty, and the old-eyed and most qualified bishop was helped forward, opened the election box, and in a few moments the old man announced in a loud voice that Bishop Paul was running for the next Patriarch of Constantinople.

This little time, it's not enough to even open all the votes, but it doesn't matter, who let the candidate be the only one, Paul, the Orthodox Pope's Mansion is really helpless, Peter I provoked the basket and patted his ass and ran away, but they were besieged by the congregants in the Sophia Cathedral for several days without water and rice, the priests are also people, and they also have to eat, as long as the normal order of the Orthodox Patriarch can be restored, it is estimated that these crazy believers will choose a pig as the patriarch, and they will admit it.

In a stomach of reluctance, a large group of bishops and priests prayed, holding the golden crown and robes of the patriarch and rubbed forward, for a long time, Archbishop Tom served Paul to put on the robes, and put the golden crown on him, never thought that he would one day be able to sit in the position of patriarch, Paul, who was also stunned and mechanically drew a cross on his chest, but aroused the cheers of thousands of Christians watching the ceremony below.

Although he was elected in a hurry, it is estimated that Paul was the most popular patriarch of Byzantium, and after cheering for a long time in the face of the tide of applause, Paul woke up from his stunned expression, turned around and took out the second crown decorated with golden olive branches from the prepared flowers, and turned to walk to Anna, who had been accompanying him.

Seeing this scene, the corners of Hou Jie's mouth finally put on a heartfelt smile, he traveled thousands of miles to come, born and died along the way, and the organs were exhausted, just for this moment, after believing in Christianity, the emperor who must be crowned by the patriarch will become the real emperor recognized by the Byzantines, as long as Anna wears the crown, the task assigned by Li Jie will be completed!

"Under the guidance of the Lord, I have witnessed that this brave and upright soul, who will be a light in the night, will guide the believers of God through this darkest long night, and allow me to present to you, the great Anna, this crown of Augustus in the name of Christ. Heraclius! ”

After waving his hand to calm the crowd, Patriarch Paul shouted and raised the golden crown of olive branches, about to put it on Anna's head, just when Hou Jie and Li Que, Wu Yuanqing and even Yang Xiong were sincerely relaxed and relaxed, but Anna's white and tender little hand blocked upwards and temporarily stopped the golden crown from being put on.

"Gracious Patriarch, you have mispronounced a word, my father is still alive, and he said that I received Caesar's golden crown!"

As soon as these words came out, Hou Jie's face suddenly became ugly, don't look at the two titles of Augustus and Caesar are the highest titles in the Byzantine Empire, but the difference is much worse.

Hou Jieke, who is familiar with the history of his country, knows that these two titles come from the era of co-governance of the four emperors founded by Diocletian, Augustus is the emperor in the sense, Caesar is the co-emperor in the sense, don't look at the two are emperors, the difference is too much, the huge empire, Augustus has one, Caesar has several, and the power is much smaller than Augustus, compared with Huaxia, Caesar's status is more similar to the crown prince.

Can the emperor be the same as the crown prince?

If Anna is Augustus, her words and deeds represent Byzantium as a whole, if it is Caesar, it means a lot worse, if her decision is reversed by Byzantium in the future, the impact will be reduced a lot, and the sudden scene, even the new Patriarch Paul himself stayed there, holding a golden crown, giving Anna to wear it, not wearing it, and looking at Hou Jie in the audience for help.

After a few seconds of stiffness, Hou Jie nodded with an ugly face, his smile was a bit like crying, and Paul's hands trembled and put the gold crown on Anna's head.

The coronation of the new emperor also required tedious prayers and complicated rituals, but at this time, it was obvious that there was no time, and the purple robe dress specially designed for the female emperor was put on, leaving the new patriarch Paul to lead many bishops to continue the ceremony, and after completing the coronation, Anna hurried directly to the Senate of the Grand Palace surrounded by thousands of nobles, where she needed to obtain the allegiance of many senators.

Walking forward quickly along the way, Anna also lost the demeanor of a royal lady, but found back the image of some wild girls who traveled to Fujian, and there was a victorious smile on the corner of her mouth, but Hou Jie couldn't laugh, followed behind with an embarrassed face, and scolded in a low voice: "Princess Anna, you are playing me like this, are you not afraid of the wrath of King Min, and give up your Byzantium directly?" ”

"I'm afraid that the eagle that Zhonglang will release has already brought the news that it can send troops back to Beijing, right?" Smiled slyly, while continuing to hurry up, Anna analyzed in a hurried tone: "In the past few years, the head of your family, the King of Fujian, has been busy with the east and west, and I stayed in Galatai Fort, and the only one who can study is Li Jie, the king of Fujian, thanks to your envoy Yang Xiongyang, the envoy of the Fujian State, every time he comes to send me clothes and food, he will bring some news of the Fujian Kingdom, so I am afraid that I know more about your Royal Highness than you." ”

"Even if he knows that he has suffered a loss, he will still send troops to attack Arabia, your Royal Highness's ambition is too great, and he also has the same talent as Alexander, as a wise and warlike emperor, he will not leave the danger of Arabia to his descendants, and will definitely solve it in person in his lifetime, but Arabia is not easy to fight, although they have only risen for a few decades, but that fanatical compatibility has surpassed any regime in all dynasties, and Fujian needs allies in the West."

"Leaving Min, Byzantium may lose a large territory in the East, as a small country to survive in the shadow of the barbarians, leaving us Byzantium, the King of Min is not sure if he himself is capable of defeating the Arabian monster, so, we all need each other urgently, right?"

At this time, the group had already walked to the gate of the Senate, looking at the crown wearing, Anna looked back at the playful smile, Hou Jie finally nodded helplessly, and muttered a Tang language that Anna did not understand, even so, it did not affect Anna's happy mood, and briskly put his hands on the door of the Senate.

However, before pushing open the door, Anna still took a deep breath, a few years ago, the last time she was defeated here, but now, she is back here as a co-emperor, even Anna, can't help but have a feeling that things are wrong.

After all, it was Anna, and after making up her mind, she brewed a majestic but compassionate smile like an empress, and pushed open the door of the Senate to welcome the old empire that temporarily belonged to her, but the situation inside seemed to be a little beyond her expectations.

Hundreds of senators were there, but in the center of the Senate, there was one more person on the stage of power, not a big man, not a big man, let alone Emperor Constans who suddenly came back, but a scarred soldier wearing the light leather armor of the Byzantine navy.

It seemed that Anna's arrival was also quite unexpected, and the little soldier was stunned for half a minute, and then he raised his hands in a crying voice and cried: "Your Majesty, the big thing is not good, the Imperial Naval Base in Rhode Island has also been breached!" The navy of the Arab Empire is advancing westward, and it won't be long before we can outflank our Constantinople by land and water! ”

With a bang, the emperor's scepter that Anna was holding in her hand also fell heavily to the ground......