In mid-September 454, the military preparations for the Western Roman Empire to attack the Xiongnu Empire in the north had been completed, and there were more than 100,000 troops on the west bank of the Danube.

Then Aetius knew that there was a great risk in launching a military operation to attack the Xiongnu Empire in the north, so he did not arrive for a long time, which made the Western Roman Emperor Valentinian III very annoyed, Valentine III believed that the Hun Empire army without Attila was nothing to fear, and the reason why Aetius delayed arriving at the front line to command the army was nothing more than thinking that the Western Roman Empire could not play without him, In addition, Maximus, the chief senator of the Senate, tried his best to stir up trouble in front of the emperor and spoke ill of Aetius everywhere, and Emperor Valentinian III was very annoyed, and immediately issued an edict to cancel the marriage contract between the princess Plasidia the Younger and Aetius's son Gordontius, completely severing the possibility of Gordontius inheriting the throne.

On September 20, 454 AD, Aetius, who received the edict of dissolution of the marriage contract, was very angry, and no one could know what Aetius thought when he received the edict, whether he was angry that Gordontius could not inherit the throne, but there is no doubt that the dissolution of the marriage contract was a huge insult to him Aetius anyway, but he Aetius also worked hard for the empire for decades, and there was no merit and hard work. What's more, the rule of the Western Roman Empire has indeed been able to maintain until now because of Aetius, and now the emperor is so unashamed to save face for him. The edict was issued in public to dissolve the marriage contract between his son Gordontius and the little princess Plasidia, which did not save him a little face at all.

After receiving the edict, Aetius rode to the palace alone, and it happened that Emperor Valentinian III was playing birds with his ministers in the main hall.

"Lord Aetius. You—You can't go in! Outside the main hall, a little eunuch tried his best to stop Aetius, who was rushing towards the main hall.

With a face full of anger, Aetius grabbed the placket of the little eunuch and threw it to the side, and shouted: "Get out, who stopped me from seeing the emperor, don't blame the old man for being unkind!" ”

The guards guarding the outside of the hall all looked at each other, and none of them prevented Aetius from entering the hall, perhaps they were already dissatisfied with the emperor's frequent playthings with his flattering ministers.

Emperor Valentinian III was having fun with a dozen ministers who liked to pat on the back, and the hall was filled with all kinds of birds flying around. The previously neat and clean ground was now covered with bird feathers of various colors, and Emperor Valentinian III's interest in playing with birds was completely inherited from his uncle Honorius.

There was a loud bang, and the door of the main hall was slammed open by Aetius. The emperor and the ministers who were playing in the main hall were panicked for a moment when they saw Aetius breaking in, and Aetius stood still after walking into the main hall, looking at the emperor and the ministers with a blue face and a panicked appearance, plus bird feathers and bird droppings all over the ground. Many different birds are flying all over the hall. There was a burst of sadness in my heart, is this the country that I have been desperately maintaining and protecting? With such an emperor and such a minister, is there still a need for this country to exist?

After the panic, Emperor Valentinian III sat on the throne, while the other ministers stood on the left and right, each with bird feathers on their bodies and heads, which was very comical.

"Ahem," the chief attendant, the chief eunuch, Heraclius, coughed twice and began to shout: "Bold Flavis? Aetius, you broke into the palace without the emperor's summons. Are you convicted? ”

Aetius held the hilt of his sword at his waist and walked towards Emperor Valentinian III. Although Aetius was close to sixty years old, he had been a horse all his life, and his martial arts were still as strong as an ox, and he said word by word as he walked: "You wait day and night to slander the emperor, and day and night to provide the emperor with beautiful women to make him lewd. Disorderly. Palace. Who, in order to pat the sycophants, accompany the emperor to play birds for fun, and make the emperor's playthings demoralized, you and other acts are really a great crime! ”

"You ......" Hercules was told these crimes by Aetius, his face suddenly turned red, and he was speechless, he found that Aetius's hand holding the sword was bruised, and his expression was full of murderous aura, and he was so frightened that he retreated again and again, until he retreated to the emperor's side before stammering: "You, what do you want to do with the sword, do you dare to kill the king?" Come on, come on, Aetius is going to murder His Majesty! ”

Hercules shouted a few times in a row, but he didn't see the palace guards outside the main hall come in to protect the emperor, and the ministers on both sides had already turned pale with fright when they saw this situation, and many people began to chill in their hearts, could it be that something big was going to happen today?

But Aetius obviously did not kill the emperor as they imagined, but when His Majesty Danxià, who was standing ten meters away from the emperor, pointed at the emperor's side and said angrily: "You damned eunuch, you deserve death for slandering the important ministers of the empire indiscriminately!" ”

The emperor originally let Aetius see him playing with birds and was very panicked, you must know that he was watched by Aetius to grow up, but now Aetius kept saying in front of him that the great eunuch Heraclius beside him should die, this eunuch is his person, whether he should die or not should be up to him, he can't stand Aetius anymore, and yells: "Enough!" ”

Seeing that the emperor was angry, Aetius was stunned for a moment, but quickly bent down to stroke his chest and bowed his head and said: "Respected Emperor Xià, the minister is guilty, he should not trespass into the main hall without permission, please punish His Majesty."

When the other ministers saw the emperor's anger, they also followed Aetius and saluted the emperor: "The ministers are guilty! ”

"Phew-" Emperor Valentinian III secretly breathed a sigh of relief, and secretly rejoiced in his heart that he had suppressed Aetius, otherwise he really didn't know how to end it.

"Okay, Lord Protector, I don't care about your trespassing into the main hall without permission, do you have anything to do with me when you enter the palace this time?"

Aetius saluted again: "Honorable Emperor Aetius, your humble servant Aetius only wants to get an answer from you, please ask Emperor Aetius to tell your servant, what mistake have I made, you want to issue an edict to dissolve the marriage contract between the little Gordontius and the little princess Plasidia?" Lao Chen has been maintaining His Majesty's rule for decades, and regards the protection of this country as the highest responsibility, is everything Lao Chen has done in vain? What is it that makes you so reckless to break off your marriage? ”

Before the emperor could speak, Maximus, the chief senator of the Senate, who was standing first on the left, immediately spoke up: "Dare Aetius, do you still have the humility to dare to question His Majesty the Emperor like this?" ”

At this time, the emperor saw that people were helpful, and his courage also increased, he angrily held the sword at his waist and rushed down from under the throne and walked to Aetius and said loudly: "Aetius, that's right, you have contributed to this country, I admit this, I grew up under your protection, without you, my position as an emperor must not be stable, but do you consider my feelings?" Since I was a child, you have treated me as a puppet, this is not allowed, that is not allowed, you must know that I am a person, not a puppet that allows you to fiddle at will!

Although I am young, I am the emperor, no matter how high your merits, you are my servant, many times you have not saved me any face, and you have said in public that I cannot do this, I cannot do that, and ask me to always issue edicts according to your intentions.

I play with a few women, you also have to say, I am an emperor, what is it to play with a few women? What is it to build a palace? Do you know how many people have built their houses more luxuriously than my palaces? Do you know how many aristocratic women have more women than mine? ”

Aetius didn't know how he had returned home from the palace, but when he came to his senses, he felt that the emperor had grown up and was no longer the little kid he had been years ago, and he decided to ask the emperor to resign tomorrow and go to the front to command the army against the Huns, although he was not very sure about this battle.

Early the next morning, before Aetius could go to the palace, the eunuchs sent by Emperor Valentinian III came to announce that Aetius had entered the palace to attend the financial meeting. Seeing Aetius coming lightly, Valentinian III jumped up from the throne, counted the various crimes of Aetius, and then stabbed the sword into the body of Aetius, Aetius did not expect the emperor to pull out the sword and stab him in the chest, and instantly the emperor's close ministers and palace ministers rushed to follow suit, rushed up and stabbed the swords into him, Aetius was hit by more than 100 swords, the last hero of the Roman Empire died on the spot.

After the emperor killed the commander of the army, he blocked the news, and then tricked Aetius's cronies and close friends who held important positions in the Imperial Forest Army and military circles into the palace one by one, causing huge losses to the army. After killing Aetius with his own hands despite the emperor's prestige, the emperor was still angry, not only did not give Aetius a decent funeral, but hung the body of the Yuan Rong general at the door of the senate for public display.

When the triumphant emperor asked one of his ministers what he thought of Aetius' death, the minister said bluntly: "Your Majesty, your humble servant does not know about the festivals of His Majesty and Aetius, I only know that you cut off your right hand with your left hand!" ”

In this way, the imperial army lost a commander, and the morale of the army was weakened. The news spread across the borders, and Aetius's allies and enemies alike lamented the hero's untimely death. He did not die heroically on the battlefield, but died at the hands of a cowardly monarch. The people of the country, who had been very contemptuous of the unsuccessful Valentinian, now began to hate him. Especially in Rome, he was spurned by the people.

Maximus, the chief senator of the Senate, hoped to secure his position after plotting to kill Aetius, but was overtaken by Heraclius, who held a grudge against him, along with Emperor Valentinian III. (To be continued......)