With the intervention of the three empires of the Tang Dynasty, the Great Qi and the Tianzhu Empire, the Great Food has not only stopped expanding, but has even now turned into a defensive posture, after all, they are not the opponents of the three empires in any way.

It was precisely seeing this situation that Constans II suddenly had an ambition, that is, to regain the lost southern provinces from the hands of the Great Eclipse, after all, these provinces were lost in his hands, if he could regain them, then not only to make up for his reputation, but also to become one of the most famous emperors in the history of the Roman Empire.

It was also with the support of this idea that Constans II began to prepare for the reconquest of the lost territories in all aspects, including military and economic aspects, needless to say, in recent years, Rome has also driven the development of domestic industry and commerce through trade with the Tang Dynasty and other countries, and the treasury income is very sufficient, so it naturally has enough strength to wage war.

In addition, in order to win the support of the people of the southern provinces that had fallen, Constans II thought of a way that he thought was good. Although the southern provinces have been occupied by the Great Eclipse, the people in these areas have not yet converted to the Christian Monosex. So Constans issued a decree forbidding Catholicism and Orthodoxy to discuss the question of the divinity and humanity of Christ, which was equivalent to a disguised overture to the Christians.

Originally, this decree of Constans II did have an effect, for example, like Irina's father, he and some nobles who fled from the southern provinces were full of gratitude to Constans II after learning about this decree. In addition, some churches in the southern provinces were also secretly sent to contact Constans II.

Speaking of the churches in the southern provinces that have fallen, their lives are not easy, and Dashi is an Islamic country. It was only for the sake of stability that there was no compulsory proselytizing in the occupied territories. But the imposition of additional taxes on non-Muslims makes the Christian churches feel a mortal threat. So it was only natural that these churches would move closer to Constans II after he had made overtures to them by decree.

The Eastern Roman Emperor was both a political and a religious leader, so Constantus II's decree also represented the attitude of the Orthodox Church, but Constantus II ignored the reaction of the Roman Church.

The current Pope, or simply Pope, is Martin I, and for unknown reasons, Constans II did not like this Martin I very much. When Martin I succeeded to the throne as pope, it was according to the rites of the Church. It was necessary to get the approval of the Roman Emperor, but the Western Roman Empire had long since perished, so the subsequent Roman popes all asked the Eastern Roman Emperor for instructions to ascend the throne.

Of course, because the Eastern Roman Empire had long since lost its rule over Rome, this approval was only a part of the papacy's accession to the throne, and it was not necessary. For example, Constans II did not approve the accession of Martin I, but Martin I eventually became pope.

At the Lateran Council, which Martin I convened and presided over, he openly denounced the Unitarianism of Christ and the decree of Constans II prohibiting the controversy over the question of Christ's will. This annoyed the Eastern Roman Emperor. An arrest warrant was even issued directly against Martin I.

Although the Seminin Peninsula, where the city of Rome was located, was ruled by the Lombards, the Eastern Roman Empire was the overlord of the Mediterranean, and Constantine II still had the power to order the arrest of a person, so Martin I was quickly arrested. And a few months later, escorted to Constantinople.

But Constans II did not expect that his move would cause great trouble. Although the Church of Rome and the Church of Constantinople have not dealt much with each other, they have not been separated for a long time. Many of the doctrines are not as far apart as they have been in later generations, in fact, if we put aside political positions. There is not much difference in the doctrine of the two churches, for example, when it comes to the equality of Christ.

Before Constans II announced that the decree prohibiting the discussion of the divinity and humanity of Christ had caused dissatisfaction among some people within the Orthodox Church, and now he directly arrested Pope Martin I, which made many nobles dissatisfied, and asked to see Constans II, hoping that the other party could pardon Martin I, and even the Senate opposed the arrest of Martin I, but unfortunately during the imperial period, the Senate did not have any real power, let alone have any decisive influence on Constans' resolution.

Of these nobles, the most fierce reaction was Prince Theodosius, the younger brother of Constans II, who was far away in Asia Minor. At the beginning, with the secret help of Li Ke, he fled from Constantinople to the front line in Asia Minor, and in recent years, with his previous military exploits and the foundation of connections, Theodosius controlled most of the army in Asia Minor, and now has the strength to compete with Constans II.

After learning the news that Constans II had ordered the arrest of Martin I, Theodosius immediately united with the nobles of Asia Minor at all levels to jointly protest against Constans II's move, and even many nobles of Constantinople responded. Of course, Constans II himself had many supporters, plus the nobles of the southern provinces who had fled back, and they also united to quarrel with the opposition led by Theodosius, and for a time the political situation of the entire Eastern Roman Empire became a mess.

However, anyone with a discerning eye can see that the reason why Theodosius opposed the arrest of Martin I so vigorously was not because of how fanatical he was about religion, but because he wanted to deal a blow to the prestige of Constans II through this incident, so as to achieve his ulterior purpose.

When Theodosius was in Constantinople, although he was nominally an archon, he didn't have much power in his hands at all, and it was difficult to even get out of the city in normal times.

Perhaps it was because of the influence of that period of life that Theodosius, after returning to the Asia Minor Peninsula, began to be extremely enthusiastic about power, and now not only seized most of the military power, but also attracted a large number of local nobles, especially the court and Irina as an ally, so that Theodosius is like a fish in water, everything seems to be very smooth.

It's just that with the change of status, Theodosius's ambitions are also expanding, and even in some private occasions, he has no scruples to say that only by becoming Augustus of the Eastern Roman Empire can he better protect the security of the empire. The so-called Augustus is actually the Tongzhi Emperor of the Eastern Roman Empire, with an equal status with Constans II. Theodosius's mother tried all her life, but she couldn't make him Augustus.

For Theodosius's ambitions, Constans II naturally knew better than anyone else, but the situation in Asia Minor was special, Theodosius was very prestigious in the army, and now he held the real power of the army, so that Constans II did not dare to touch him easily.

It's just that what Constans II didn't expect was that Theodosius took advantage of the opportunity to arrest Martin I and gathered a large number of nobles to attack him, which caught Constans II off guard for a while.

However, Constans II was not a vegetarian, he quickly organized his supporters and began to fight with the opposition led by Theodosius, and the other two also thought of one person at the same time, and that was Irina. As the empress, Irina's position in the empire is only below that of Constans II, coupled with her special relationship with Li Ke, makes Irina's influence in the empire greatly increased, and if one party wins her support, then it is likely to overwhelm the other.

In fact, Irina's position at that time was very awkward, Theodosius was Li Ke's ally for her, and the two had helped each other several times before, such as Irina's father, who re-became the fleet commander of the Roman Navy with the help of Theodosius. So in terms of alliances, Irina should be on Theodosius' side.

But this time it was different, in the past, Theodosius and Irina only secretly communicated with each other, at most a little help to each other, and the others did not have much contact. But this time Theodosius turned out to be directly confronted by Irina's husband Constans II, and the reason was that Constans II supported the Monosexualism of Christ, and it happened that Irina's family was all monosexual, so whether it was in terms of identity or religion, Irina should support her husband.

Originally, Irina's position was still more biased towards her husband, after all, if Theodosius really became the Augustus of the empire, then he would divide half of the power of Constans II, and as the wife of Constans II, his status would naturally decline, coupled with the influence of religion, so if nothing else, Irina would eventually stand on her husband's side.

However, in the end, after thinking about it for a long time, Irina had no choice, but proposed to Constans II that she was bored in Constantinople, so she wanted to take this opportunity to go out for a walk. The reason why Irina made this decision was actually to take this opportunity to go to the Iberian Peninsula to meet her lover privately.

Although Constans II was caught off guard by Theodosius at first, he was after all the Roman emperor and had the supreme power of the empire, so he quickly stabilized the situation and slowly regained his disadvantage. So now he was most worried that Irina would support Theodosius, and now he was relieved to hear Irina make it clear that he would not help each other, and at the same time agreed to Irina to leave Constantinople temporarily. (To be continued......)