Zeno's remarks are very lethal, he analyzed the current situation of the Eastern Empire very clearly, the east is the Persians, the southwest has the Vandals are eyeing the Egyptian provinces, and the west and north are the Huns, now the Eastern Empire is equivalent to being attacked on all sides, if a full-scale war with the Huns is forced, will the Persians in the east and the Vandals in the southwest also pounce and gnaw a few pieces of meat? Any decision-maker with a normal brain knows how to choose, and now it is absolutely impossible to start a full-scale war with the Huns, not to mention the threat of the surrounding countries, even the internal can not withstand such a big toss, if the troops are all withdrawn to deal with the field, what should the internal rebellion do? If you continue like this, you will lose your country!

Leo I now thinks back and feels that his decision to break with the Huns was indeed too hasty, too impulsive, too anxious, not enough as an Augustus, he must not admit his mistakes lightly, and he is not the kind of emperor who has the courage to admit his mistakes, but just now Zeno just analyzed the shape, but did not show his attitude, just said that he could not go to war with the Huns, what should he do? Endure it like this, in the practical sense of acknowledging that the Huns occupied Constantinople and the Thracian provinces? Or negotiate with the Huns?

Leo asked, "Then should we send someone to negotiate with the Huns?" ”

"Yes, Your Majesty!" Zeno saluted, and said: "Of course, we must send people to negotiate with the Huns, first let them stop continuing to carry out war operations against us, and then say, if we don't send people to negotiate, maybe they will send troops across the strait and enter the Asia Minor Peninsula, the Huns are greedy." We will give them some benefits, as long as we can stabilize the Huns, so that we have time to sort out the country. Quell the rebellions in various places, restore the national strength, and reorganize the armaments, we will have time to settle accounts with the Huns in the future! ”

"Yes, yes, yes!" Many ministers nodded in support of Zeno's claim.

The generals stopped talking, even though they all hated the Huns to the core. Eager to fight the Huns, but after Zeno's analysis, he already knew that it was not yet the time for a full-scale war with the Huns. Therefore, the previous claims are no longer adhered to.

Seeing this, Leo also knew that this was the only way, and said, "Okay, then send someone to negotiate with the Huns, Priests." You have dealt with the Huns many times. If you have some experience, you will lead the mission! ”

Priests bowed; "Yes, my majesty!"

Constantinople.

The treatment that Qin Dong received when he came here could not be compared with that in Edirne, when he entered the inner city of Edir, there were a large number of people lining up to welcome him, no matter whether those people were sincere or false, in short, someone welcomed it, right? But when I entered Constantinople, there was not a single person who welcomed him. Except for Bray, the commander of the 1st Regiment of the Marine Cavalry Division, who was responsible for garrisoning Constantinople.

Qin Dong rode a war horse and stood under the Golden City Gate with a lot of emotion, this is a revisit to the old place after a few years. The last time I came there was sneak, Constantinople was very prosperous, populous, and trade-oriented, but today I found that the streets were sparsely populated and full of beggars.

After passing the Golden City Gate, Qin Dong found that almost none of the shops on both sides of the street were open to do business, which made Qin Dong very surprised, you must know that Constantinople is a place where Eastern and Western cultures and economies converge, and a commodity trade distribution center. Something is wrong!

Qin Dong felt quite uncomfortable in his heart, that day when he heard the news that Liu San ran over to tell him that the Marine Cavalry Division had captured Constantinople, he was so excited that he didn't sleep all night, he thought that he could manage Constantinople, a city with particularly developed culture, economy and trade, from now on, but he didn't expect that the gap between reality and ideals was too big.

While walking and observing, the closer he got to the center of the city, the darker Qin Dong's face became, and when he was about to reach the Senate, he asked Bray: "Why aren't there a few people on the street when this king walked all the way just now?" Didn't see any shops open for business? ”

Seeing Qin Dong asking, Bray hurriedly said: "Great King, the last general is guilty, he didn't govern Constantinople well, it was fine five days ago, there are many pedestrians on the street, shops are open for business, people from all walks of life are running around for a living, but it has become like this almost overnight!" ”

"Oh? And this kind of thing? Qin Dong was very surprised, the whole of Constantinople became so depressed overnight? Who has so much energy? Who else has more energy than the Bray guarding Constantinople?

Qin Dong suddenly remembered something, and immediately asked, "Bray, are you killing here?" How else could Constantinople become like this? ”

Bray was so frightened that he hurriedly jumped off his horse and knelt down and said: "King Mingjian, the last general did exactly what the National Teacher ordered before leaving, and he didn't kill people indiscriminately, but just caught some bullies and ruffians who took advantage of the fire to rob, and he never did anything else that was inconsistent with the arrangement of the National Teacher!" ”

Qin Dong looked at Bray and made sure that he was not lying, it seems that the problem is not Bray, but something like this happened, and it has been five days, Bray still has not taken any effective measures, which can be seen that Bray may be a fierce general who fights a war, but he can't govern the city, and his political ability is too poor.

After arriving at the Senate, Qin Dong first visited the Senate, he had not been here a few years ago, this time he could take a good look, the circular venue in the middle was similar to the pattern of the later parliament, high and low in the middle, and a circle of tables was placed, which was a bit imposing.

After eating lunch, take a short rest, in the afternoon, Qin Dong visited the palace, churches, and seaside city walls accompanied by Charlie Cao, Barhan and others, and finally arrived at the edge of the strait, standing on the west bank of the strait can see the situation on the other side, the Eastern Empire army deployed a large army on the other side of the strait, and is still building fortifications.

Since the Hun fleet blocked the entrance to the strait, the Eastern Empire fleet located in the Sea of Marmara could only roam the Sea of Marmara, but could not enter the strait.

Qin Dong found that there was hardly any ship in the waterway of the strait except for his own ships. There were not even fishing boats, which surprised him and asked; "Bray. Did you order the blockade of the strait and prohibit people from coming and going between the two sides of the strait? ”

Bray saluted: "Yes, my lord, in order to prevent the Eastern Empire's fine works from mixing into Constantinople and causing rebellion, the last general has ordered the passage of navigation on the water surface of the strait more than ten days ago, and has also ordered a curfew to be imposed in the city from seven o'clock in the evening to six o'clock in the morning!" ”

"It's nonsense!" Qin Dong couldn't help but scold, and then said: "You don't allow people on both sides of the strait to interact with each other. How did grain, vegetables, fruits, meat, and other commodities enter Constantinople? The merchants in the city have no goods to sell, of course, but they are closed, and the shops are closed, where can the citizens buy food? No wonder there are so many beggars on the streets. These are all hungry, and the blockade of the strait is immediately ordered to be lifted, and except for the officials and nobles of the Eastern Empire in Constantinople and their families, all other classes of people can freely enter and leave Constantinople. Caravans and merchants should be allowed to bring goods in and out. Although the blockade was lifted. However, it is still necessary to set up checkpoints to check the people coming and going, and prohibit the people from carrying dangerous goods in and out, such as weapons such as swords and flammable materials such as fire oil! ”

Bray immediately bowed down and said, "Yes, King! ”

Back in the city, when Qin Dong and the others passed by a grain and oil store, Qin Dong stopped after seeing the signboard and said to a guard beside him: "Go knock on the door and have a look!" ”

"Yes!" After the guard agreed, he immediately dismounted and walked to the door of the store and knocked on the door. At first, no one paid any attention, but then the guard got annoyed. clenched his fists and began to slam the door, and the shopkeeper inside couldn't stand the fright before he opened the door tremblingly.

When the guard saw the boss coming out, he immediately grabbed the boss's clothes and was about to beat someone, Qin Dong immediately shouted: "Stop!" ”

Riding a horse and stopped, Qin Dong dismounted and walked into the grain and oil store to take a look, although there was not much grain and oil in the store, but there were still some of them, he pointed to the guard just now and said: "You go to the back warehouse to see, how much grain is still in it"

The guard immediately went into the backyard to check it, and after a while he came back and said, "My lord, there are only about three thousand pounds of grain in the storehouse!" ”

After hearing this, Qin Dong asked the shopkeeper: "How much grain do you have to store in this warehouse at least?" ”

Seeing that Qin Dong was extraordinary, the shopkeeper knew that he must be a big man, so he didn't dare to hide it at the moment, and replied: "My lord, this store usually has to reserve at least 20,000 pounds of grain!" ”

Qin Dong nodded: "There are still about three thousand pounds in the warehouse, plus about five hundred pounds in the store, how long are these three thousand five hundred pounds enough for your family of five?" Can your family eat so much food? Why not open your doors for business? ”

"This .......," the shopkeeper spat out.

"Say! I'll cut you if I don't say anything! Bray shouted.

The shopkeeper was so frightened that he collapsed on the ground, Qin Dong didn't make a sound, which was tantamount to acquiescing to Bray's intimidation, and the shopkeeper couldn't hold it anymore, and immediately cried and cried: "Adult, villain, this is no way, the adults ordered the strait to be blocked, and the villain can't receive grain from outside the city, if all these grains are sold out, the villain's shop will be empty, so how can you do business?" And I don't know when the ban will be lifted, if the lockdown is going to be for a year and a half, the remaining food can still allow the villain's family to survive for a while without starving to death."

Qin Dong kept looking into the eyes of the shopkeeper to make sure that he was not lying, and asked the guards to leave the shop after dropping two gold yuan, and then he came to a ready-to-wear store, if the grain and oil store was closed, it was reasonable, but the clothes store was closed, so let the guards open the door to take a look, the shop was full of clothes, and there were large bundles of cloth in the back, all kinds of colors, Qin Dong then asked the boss why he didn't open the door to do business, the shopkeeper was reluctant to say, and finally told the truth under some threats.

Five days ago, the owners of these shops were warned by someone not to allow them to open their doors for business, and if they continued to open their doors for business, someone would burn down their shops, and several shops did not believe it, but they were really burned down, and even everyone burned to death, and this incident frightened all the owners of the shops, and no one dared to open their doors to do business again.

"It seems that things are not as simple as we imagined, in addition to our own reasons, there are other people who are in the middle of this, let's go, let's go back" Qin Dong finished speaking, and rode his horse to the Senate. (To be continued......)