In the early morning, when the riots first started, there was still a tense meeting in the former palace of the Italian king's palace of the Fujian Expeditionary Force. [Ran^Text^Library] []

It has been more than half a month since he was in contact with Agrius, the governor of Ravenna, and he has always hesitated about whether to defect to the Fujian Expeditionary Force and take refuge under the so-called former Byzantine co-ruling emperor Anna, a playful old man from Athens, Greece.

It took only two or three days from Rome to Ravenna, and in order to persuade him to surrender, the soles of the boots of the envoys who came and went were a little thinner, and Agrius was still asking for a price, on the one hand, he did not allow the expeditionary force to station officials in Ravenna, and on the other hand, he wanted to return the land captured by the Lombard kingdom, and let the Fujian expeditionary force provide some food and weapons for the governorate of Ravenna.

How can there be such a good thing in the world?

Not to mention the military generals who were originally a little short-tempered, Chen Zhangming, the general manager of the march, even in Honglu Temple, Shi Yangxiong, the marching commander who had honed a pair of patience in the Ministry of Rites, was almost a little impatient, and now it was the expeditionary force that defeated the Lombard Kingdom, and also took the two allies of Franks and Visigoths, and there were many generals.

And there is only one city of Ravenna left in the Viceroyalty of Ravenna, and thousands of old and weak soldiers can't protect themselves, but Agrius still has a lofty posture, and thinks that he is the once prominent Roman Empire, and treats the Fujian expeditionary force as a barbarian like the Germanic people, and makes random conditions.

Who can bear this breath?

Having lost patience, the expeditionary force went up to the two marching chiefs, the chief envoys, and the lieutenants and lieutenants to the soldiers, and unanimously agreed to send troops to attack Ravenna.

However, this decision was opposed by another unexpected person.

Standing in front of the table, his beard trembled and trembled, and his arms outstretched, the old Pope Eugene I shook his head resolutely and said earnestly: "Generals, thousands of people in Rome are about to starve to death, and before sending troops, take care of these God's people!" ”

It's not that as Adeodatus imagined, the Pope has been completely immersed in the material enjoyment brought by the Fujian State and forgot about the Holy See, on the contrary, every moment Eugene I is not for the benefit of the Holy See, since the expeditionary force entered Rome, he has repeatedly persuaded the expeditionary force, as a soldier to defend the Holy See, should convert to Christianity, since yesterday after the Reyxinti and other families enlarged the trick, he directly blocked the capital palace non-stop, asking Chen Zhangming and others to help.

Originally, the war was imminent, not to mention that the Tang government had never had the concept of saving the unemployment rate, not only Chen Zhangming, but also Yang Xiong refused to care, so from last night's stalemate to this morning, no one refused to give in.

"Generals, you are the king of Min who was inspired by Christ, so he came to Rome thousands of miles away to fight for God, if Rome is killed and wounded, the king of Min will also be heartbroken."

Eugene is not an ascetic who only knows how to worship God, Li Jie was lent out by him to pull the tiger skin as a banner, but Yang Xiong and Chen Zhangming, who heard this, secretly wanted to laugh, was the King of Min inspired by God?

I am afraid that in addition to coveting Western trade and having an extremely important strategic purpose, Li Jie may not have been touched by the devotion to Christ at all.

Of course, the benevolent image of King Min still can't be destroyed, stroking his long beard, Yang Xiong couldn't help but smile and said to the Pope who was so anxious that his face was red and smiled: "Your Excellency the Pope, when the time comes for the grain bought from North Africa to be shipped, the Protectorate will send another pension to the Roman people, okay?" ”

Since ancient times, the army has eaten and lived the common people, and the Yuejia army, which does not grab food when it starves to death, and does not demolish houses until it freezes to death, will not appear until hundreds of years later, and the grain purchased from North Africa was originally for the military rations purchased by the expeditionary force, and it can be taken out to help the people, which is already a big concession for the Metropolitan Protectorate.

It's a pity that Eugene I was not satisfied, he was still full of urgency outside, and said anxiously: "The reason why there are so many refugees in Rome is because the merchants of the Min people have crowded the market, which has made the Romans unemployed. ”

The three Punic Wars almost cost more than half of the lives of men in the country, partly because the commerce in the Mediterranean was occupied too much by Carthage, and in the Middle Ages, countries divided the already small Europe into one closed small country after another, and the increasingly narrow commercial trade made cities more petty.

Merchants formed special guilds from all walks of life, protected the commerce of the city, competed with each other with the outer cities, cruelty even left and right two lords, the king launched a war, for the trade routes, the later Venice and Genoa set off an unknown number of storms in Europe.

It was also due to the environment that Eugene I could have this realization, but as soon as he said this, everyone's faces darkened.

Fujian is no longer as ashamed of doing business as the Tang Dynasty, the state controls all the grain trade, and it has become unrealistic for the big families to dominate one side by virtue of grain, so there are countless businessmen in the country, and sometimes in order to protect the common people, Li Jie also has to stipulate that the immediate family members of officials are not allowed to do business.

In this case, the expeditionary force traveled thousands of miles to Rome and defeated the Lombard Kingdom at the cost of thousands of people.

Do you really regard Da Min as an internationalist fighter?

Without waiting for Yang Xiong to refute, Chen Zhangming, who had been listening to Eugene I's nagging all morning, had already stood up with a dark face and patted the table, his black and thick beard was shaking, and he was about to reprimand something in anger.

But at this juncture, the door of the conference room was suddenly slammed open, and the guards who were staring at the armor ran in sweating profusely.

was already on fire, Chen Zhangming took advantage of the situation to send it to the unlucky guard, and reprimanded him with a fierce voice: "This general ordered that no intrusion is allowed in the military meeting, and you despise military law so much, is it possible that the general's sword is not sharp?" ”

"General!"

Hurriedly knelt on one knee on the ground, panting for breath, the guard pleaded impatiently: "If you want to behead your subordinates, wait until later, Rome, on the contrary!" ”

"What?"

"How is that possible?"

"You say it again?"

All of a sudden, none of the more than a dozen generals' staff in the room could sit still, and they all jumped up like springs, and the Pope's old face suddenly turned even pale.

After being stunned for a long time, Chen Zhangming directly pushed away the guards at the door and hurried outside.

The Imperial Palace is a small three-storey building in the Roman style, the meeting room is on the third floor, there are no glass windows, at a glance, the ruined city of Rome is in full view, it is already dilapidated, the ancient exquisite architectural sculptures are destroyed, showing a dilapidation, but today's Rome is even more frightened.

The chaotic shouts and voices were clearly audible even in the Metropolitan Protectorate standing by the Tiber River, and the cries, shouts, and screams converged into a strange symphony, and the huge ruined city was full of black pillars of smoke that rose straight into the sky, and the flames of fire appeared and disappeared from time to time.

In particular, one of the hardest-hit areas in the upper reaches of the Tiber River can be seen screaming and fleeing people.

With a bang, Chen Zhangming's fist slammed into the window frame.

At the gate of the Metropolitan Protector's Mansion, groups of guards had already hurriedly driven out, and the half-human-high tiger-headed square shields were stacked in a row, and the sharp spears were like forest-like trees on the shields, and the strict formation made people dare not insult them.

Behind the shield array, leading the horses, one by one the officers rushed out eagerly.

This chaos just hit the soft underbelly of the Fujian expeditionary force, it was the Roman pope who invited the Fujian army into Italy, Rome can be regarded as a base camp, and the Lombards were the target of suppression, so in terms of military layout, the expeditionary force plus the supplementary Fujian mercenaries, recruited a total of almost 20,000 Italian locals, and stationed in more than 100 castles in a network, dotted with control of large and small cities and villages in the Lombard region, and only 1,200 people were in one palace to protect the palace, and half of them were still on the city wall.

Who would have thought that the base camp was reversed.

Chen Zhangming's gloomy face was gloomy, but he calmly commanded his subordinates to go out to transfer troops, but Yang Xiong was as anxious as an ant on a hot pot, turning back and forth, and Eugene I was holding the Bible and praying non-stop, and kept advising the soldiers of the expeditionary force to be calm.

After holding back for a long time, Yang Xiong, who couldn't help it, suddenly didn't look like a civil official at all, full of fierceness and urgency like a military general, grabbed Chen Zhangming's arm and shouted: "Give me 200 people, this official will kill people in the upper reaches of the Tiber River to save people personally!" ”

"Mr. Yang, be cautious! There are at least tens of thousands of thieves, and if you bring 200 people, it's like a stone ox like a sea, if you can't save people, take it yourself! After waiting for a long time, there are 3,000 soldiers in the nearest Pinghu Fort, and when this support army arrives, what will happen in the city of Rome! ”

Chen Zhangming couldn't cry or laugh a little, on weekdays, Yang Xiong advised him to be cautious, but today's role is reversed, which makes him very weird.

However, his face was flushed, Yang Xiong not only did not respond, but turned around twice, then gritted his teeth, carefully stuck to Chen Zhangming and whispered a few words in his ear.

"What? Is the shopkeeper Zhong the woman of King Min? ”

Startled, Chen Zhangming shouted directly in shock, so panicked that Yang Xiong hurriedly helpless his mouth, looked left and right, except for Pope Eugene I who looked at him in some incomprehensible surprise, no one paid attention, so he breathed a sigh of relief and let go of Chen Zhangming.

After calming down, this reckless man couldn't help but be full of sadness, and scolded Yang Xiong in a low and hurried voice: "Mr. Yang, Mr. Yang, such a big thing, why didn't you say it earlier?" ”

"Mrs. Zhong is an outer room, and King Min doesn't want too many people to know!" Crying with a sad face, Yang Xiong also replied sadly.

Losing his composure just now, like an ant on a hot pot, he turned around a few times in place, Chen Zhangming gritted his teeth, suddenly raised his horizontal knife high, and roared loudly and sadly: "Order, the whole army will give up the capital to protect the mansion, everyone will put on armor, and go with the general to save people!! ”