"General, in accordance with your orders, the families of several major generals of the Praetorian Guard and the City Guard have been brought!" The commander of the 5th regiment reported to Balhan.

"Oh? Did you bring it all? Barhan, sitting on a chair in Daphne's Palace, asked.

"My lord, they have all been brought, but the leader of the Praetorian Guard, Antemius, is missing, and we have not caught him, according to the palace maids and eunuchs in the palace, Antemius should have fled with Leo!"

Charlie Cao, who was sitting next to him, asked, "Then who is the deputy commander of the Praetorian Guard?" ”

The commander of the 4th Regiment replied: "It is Basiliscus, the younger brother of the new Empress Venina, that is, the brother-in-law of Leo, who has only recently been promoted to deputy commander of the Praetorian Guard, who once held the post of military attache in the embassy of Cedica".

"It turned out to be him!" Charlie Cao immediately remembered who Basiliscus was, he nodded and said: "This person's title is high enough, and the family is very powerful, and he is Venina's younger brother, if he is allowed to surrender with the Praetorian Guard, there must be no problem, but it may be a little difficult to let the city guard commander Apple, lead the army to surrender, it is said that this person used to be only the caretaker centurion of the arena, and once he was favored by the previous emperor Marcian, and was promoted to the captain of the first wing of the city guard on the spot, and was promoted to the commander of the city guard last year, under his command, The city guard army discipline is strict, the army's combat effectiveness has risen sharply, if it is not for us to suddenly sneak attack into the city from the sea this time, I am afraid that it will not be easy to surround his city guard barracks, it is said that this person is very strong, and it is estimated that it will be difficult for him to lead the army to surrender! ”

Balhan smiled: "Hahaha, national teacher. I guess you can't deal with this kind of person, which is why General Ben ordered to bring over the families of those generals! ”

Charlie Cao's face changed. "General, are you going to threaten them with their families? I'm afraid that's a little too vicious, isn't it? ”

"Vicious? How can I not feel vicious? Do you think that those nobles of the Eastern Empire regarded soldiers as human beings? Soldiers and slaves are just tools for their promotion and wealth, and if they can do this to soldiers and slaves, why can't we treat them like this? Needless to say, come on, send an order to the Fifth Regiment to follow me to the Praetorian Guard barracks and bring these family members with you! As he spoke, Barhan got up and walked out. Charlie Cao could only sigh and follow.

Not long after, Balhan arrived at the Praetorian Guard camp with the 5th Regiment, and the soldiers of the 3rd Regiment besieging the Praetorian Guard camp were ordered to search for the fleeing Janissaries and Janissaries elsewhere in the city. And together with the soldiers of the other regiments, they assembled in Constantine Square two hours later.

The Fifth Regiment immediately took over the task of besieging the Praetorian Guard barracks, and Barhan stood on a high ground and saw that the barracks were brightly lit, and in the open space of the camp, 3,000 Praetorian Guard soldiers were already fully armed and lined up in a neat phalanx to guard against a possible attack by the Huns.

After observing for a while, Barhan shouted: "Bring Basiliscus here!" ”

"Yes. Checkmate! ”

Basiliscus. This brother-in-law of Leo I, the deputy commander of the Praetorian Guard, was still asleep when the Huns invaded the city, and did not wake up until the Hun soldiers rushed into his home, and he and his family were captured, and they were not even clothed when they were captured.

"General, Basiliscus has brought it!"

Barhan turned to look, and saw several soldiers approaching with a young man in tow. This young man was somewhat handsome and strong, but he was very wolf at this time. Balhan asked, "You are Basiliscus, Leo's brother-in-law?" I heard that you are still the deputy commander of the Praetorian Guard? ”

Basiliscus was very worried in his heart, but he was not very afraid, because he had another identity, and if he said his other identity, then Balhan would definitely not and could not kill him, but in the absence of danger to his life, he could not tell this hidden identity, and in the face of Balhan's aggressive gaze, he could only admit: "Yes, Your Excellency the General, I don't know what the General's orders are to bring me?" ”

Barhan pointed to the Janissary barracks: "As far as we know, Antemius has already run away with Leo, and now you are the supreme commander of the Praetorian Guard, I need you to convince the other generals in the barracks to lead their troops to surrender, and then serve my Great Hun Empire!" You can rest assured, as long as you are loyal to our Great Hun Empire, we will not treat you badly, your family will be safe and sound, we will return your property in full, each soldier can be rewarded with five thousand dinars, as long as they are loyal to us, we will give you much more than you used to get in Constantinople, other Eastern Empire generals who are willing to surrender and are loyal to our Great Hun Empire have such treatment, you can relay the words of this general to others! If you don't agree, then General Ben can only be sorry for you, in order to prevent your army from fighting back, General Ben can only order all of you to be killed, including your family! ”

"Don't!" Basiliscus's face turned pale, and he immediately knelt down on one knee and said: "General, I am willing to go in and lead the army to surrender, but please fulfill your promise, otherwise, I will not be able to restrain those proud soldiers in the barracks!" ”

"Hahaha, very good, very good, come on, bring General Basiliscus's armor and sword!"

Soon a Hun soldier brought Basiliscus's armor and weapons to his ship, not to mention, Basiliscus put on armor and was indeed very powerful after wearing a sword, he stepped on his combat boots and walked into the camp of the Praetorian Guard at the signal of Balhan.

The Praetorian Guard had a very bad reputation in the Roman Empire, and it was believed to be the main culprit in the decline and fall of the Roman Empire. The officers of the Praetorian Guard could not endure the toil of military affairs, were unwilling to accept the constraints of national law, and were even more impatient to become subordinates who kept their duty. Officers at all levels had to maintain class superiority with extreme profligacy and infinite luxury.

The corruption of the Praetorian Guard probably began in the time of the Roman Emperor Severus, and the commander of the Praetorian Guard was originally only the captain of the guard, but now not only leads the army, but also wields financial and judicial power. In the various executive branches, he represented the emperor himself and exercised the power of the emperor, thus degenerating the government into a military dictatorship.

Later, the power of the Praetorian Guard was so great that they even murdered the emperor and openly sold the emperor's throne. It can be said that the military discipline of the Praetorian Guard has disappeared to the point of outrageousness. However, the emperor relied on pampering them and granting them privileges to maintain his rule. The Praetorian Guard was founded by Augustus and initially numbered about 9,000 to 10,000 men, but later Vitellius increased the force to 16,000. Judging from the number jù found on the existing inscriptions, the number of later inscriptions is roughly maintained at this standard. However, after the division of the Eastern and Western Empires, the number of Janissaries maintained by Constantinople was small, less than 5,000 men, while only 3,000 were deployed in the city of Constantinople, and the other 2,000 were deployed outside.

The appearance of Basiliscus in the Praetorian Guard barracks surprised and surprised the generals and soldiers who were staying in the barracks, and as Basiliscus approached, the officers and soldiers automatically moved out of the way, and the road led to the conference room in the barracks, and no one spoke, and the soldiers and officers looked at him and wanted to know what he meant, but no one pointed their knives and guns at him.

Walking to the door of the conference room of the barracks, Basiliscus turned around and said loudly: "All the wing commanders and centurions in the barracks come to the conference room, and the others stay put!" ”

When the officers and soldiers in the open space of the barracks heard this, they began to talk to each other, and they were noisy, like a bazaar, completely oblivious to the fact that there were still a large number of Hun cavalry outside.

Not all the captains and centurions were in the barracks, but the co-captains and centurions in the barracks came to the conference room, and Basiliscus saw that everyone was almost there, so he spoke: "Everyone, you must be very aware of the current situation, the whole of Constantinople has fallen into the hands of the Huns, and we, of course, including me, have all become Hun prisoners, don't deny it, although we still have weapons in our hands and wear armor, but in fact we are no different from captives, I was sent by the Huns today to ask if you want to die or live? ”

More than twenty people began to feel uneasy when they heard Basiliscus's words, and one of the wing commanders asked, "Lord Deputy Commander, what do the Huns mean?" ”

Basiliscus sneered, "What do you mean? Isn't that understandable? It means that your life and death depend on yourself, if you are willing to surrender, and willing to serve the Huns, you can live, and the Huns also promised to give each soldier five thousand dinars to meet the gift, as for you officers and generals will only get more, if you would rather defend the barracks than surrender, then your fate can only be death, not only you have to die, but the three thousand soldiers outside will not be spared, by the way, a message to you, the Huns have brought your family! ”

The lethality of the last sentence was too great, more than twenty people immediately panicked, these Praetorian Guard officers set up their homes in the city of Constantinople, and of course their relatives were also here, now that the Huns controlled the entire city, it was naturally easy to arrest their families.

Basiliscus quietly watched the more than 20 people discuss fiercely whether to surrender and serve the Huns, or to defend the barracks and fight to the death, and to die in battle and affect their families, this result makes them unwilling to accept, but surrendering to the Huns and serving the Huns also seems a little unacceptable, surrender is okay, but fighting for the Huns is unacceptable. (To be continued......)