The surrender of Berger and his son made it very easy for Zhao Jia and them to occupy the port of Civitavecchia, but Zhao Jia was not satisfied with this, because their first target was Rome, not the small Civitavecchia, so after landing from the port of Civitavecchia, he and Hu Yanqing immediately organized the soldiers on the ship, and before the news of their landing came out, Hu Yanqing immediately led the army to raid the city of Rome.

The port of Civitavecchia is only about a hundred miles away from the city of Rome, and if the speed is fast, it can be reached in almost a day, but in order to ensure the success of the raid, Hu Yanqing this time removed part of the artillery on the ship and brought it to the army to prepare to bombard Rome, which also affected the speed of their march, but even so, it is expected to reach Rome tomorrow morning.

Just as Huyanqing's army was marching towards Rome, a quarrel broke out in the city of Rome, and in the majestic Lateran Palace, Pascal II, as the Pope, roared angrily at Condra in front of him with an annoyed face: "The Holy See has given you so much support, both in terms of human and financial resources, but look at you now, you have been defeated by your younger brother Henry Jr. several times, and the northern defense line is also in danger, is this worthy of the Holy See's support for you?" ”

"Your Excellency Priest, I know that the Holy See has a lot of support for me, but you must also see that Little Henry has gathered a considerable number of princes and nobles in the country, and even our internal nobles have been rebelled by him and secretly reported to them, so that they know all our military operations, which makes us very passive, and they have sent troops to attack several military operations in a row, which is a miserable defeat, so it is not that our strength is not good, but that there is a problem within us!" Condra, who stood before the Pope, also argued for himself, that the Pope was a secular title. In Roman law, the name of the pope was actually a Roman priest, which is why he called the other person His Excellency the Priest.

Condra was a middle-aged man in his thirties, with a tall and thin figure and a long beard with distinct facial features, and he looked very handsome. It's just that at this time, his face was anxious and helpless, and the unfavorable situation of the war during this time also gave him a headache, and in order to continue to get the support of the Pope, he had to go to Rome to explain to the Pope in person.

"I don't care about internal or external problems, anyway, I only know that we spent a lot of manpower and material resources, but we didn't get what we wanted, if you can't change the current situation, then the nobles in Rome will definitely doubt your ability, and I'm afraid that the future assistance will not be so smooth!" Pascal II said with a straight face.

In fact, Pascal II had a great deal of importance for Kondla. Otherwise, he would not have been chosen as the object of support, but although he, the pope, is the nominal ruler of the Papal States, in fact, in Rome, the pope is only the leader elected by various nobles, and he is still restrained by the nobles below, so he can't go his own way in some things, especially during this time, Condra's performance is really disappointing, so he will warn the other party so harshly.

"Your Excellency, Priest. I know that this time has been a great disappointment for Roman, but I am already secretly trying to find out who is secretly reporting to Henry Jr. Now that some eyebrows have been found, and this man who has a foreign enemy is in the city of Rome, but I have no authority to arrest him. Then Condra suddenly spoke again, and this was one of the main reasons why he had gone to Rome himself.

"Who is it?" Pascal II's eyes lit up when he heard this, and he hurriedly asked, in fact, he also knew that there were spies in Rome. Some news of the Holy See was learned by Henry Jr., but unfortunately he was never able to find this man.

"It was Maurice, it was he who secretly took refuge in little Henry, so that all our actions were controlled by the other party, and I lost a lot of troops for this. It can be said that as long as Maurice is present, all our actions will be exposed to the eyes of little Henry! Condra also whispered with a look of resentment.

"Is that him? Are you sure? When Pascal II heard the name Maurice, he couldn't help but be a little shocked, and asked again at the moment.

"There will be no mistake, some time ago I bribed a henchman next to little Henry and peeked at some of Little Henry's letters, including the letter written by Morris to Little Henry, which reported all our actions very clearly." Condella reaffirmed.

"This ......" Pascal II knew that Condra would definitely not joke about this kind of thing, since he was sure that it was Morris's letter, then there should be nothing wrong with this matter, but thinking of Maurice's identity, Pascal II was a little undecided for a while.

Morris's full name is Morris. Bourdin, is an important figure in the Bourding family in Rome, and also holds the position of cardinal in the Holy See, the power is only under himself, and the Bourding family has developed very rapidly in recent years, and many people in the family are holding important positions in the Holy See, which also makes Maurice's influence greatly increased, and he is a strong candidate for the next pope, and Pascal II does not dare to move him easily.

"You said Morris wrote letters to little Henry, can you get those letters?" Pascal II hesitated for a long time before he asked Kondra that Maurice was not an ordinary person, and if he was a traitor, he would not be able to do so without strong evidence.

"This ...... Little Henry was heavily guarded, and the people I bribed only saw the contents of the letter by chance, and it was almost impossible to steal it. Condra was a little embarrassed at this time.

"Can't get the letter?" Pascal II couldn't help frowning when he heard this, "There is no evidence, there is no evidence, Maurice has a great influence in the Holy See and Rome, I can't just say that he is a traitor based on your side of the story." ”

"I also know this, but the fact that Maurice is a traitor is absolutely true, some time ago I even found out that he sent out from Rome to deliver a letter to little Henry, but unfortunately he failed to catch the other party, otherwise there would be more strong evidence that Maurice is a traitor." Condra also said with some annoyance at this time, he also knew that it was difficult to bring down Morris without evidence, but there was a traitor like Morris behind him to report to Little Henry, how could he be at ease?

"Then there is no way, Maurice's Bourding family is huge, and it is also a popular candidate for the next pope. If there is no direct evidence that he is a traitor, I am afraid that others will not believe him at all, so for the time being, I will never touch him, and you must not tell anyone about this, lest Morris detect it, and only need to collect evidence in secret. Wait until you have enough evidence to plan ahead! Pascal II said cautiously at this time.

"I understand, but what if Morris keeps reporting to little Henry until we get the conclusive evidence, we can't just watch each other know all about us, which will lead to greater losses, right?" Condra said with some distress at this time. Morris is an important figure in the Holy See, and all his actions are supported by the Holy See, so some news must not be hidden from Morris, which is the most troublesome.

"This matter is also easy to solve, some time ago the naval war between the Eastern Roman Empire and the Seljuk Turks underwent some changes. Our navy also needs to build some new warships to deal with it, and this is the first thing Morris proposed, in that case, then I can leave the shipbuilding to him, and temporarily separate him from Rome, and you had better fight a few good battles during this time, so as to relieve the pressure on me, and as for Maurice to join Little Henry, you should hurry up. As long as I can find conclusive evidence, I can arrest him openly and ask him for his guilt! Then Pascal II thought for a moment and spoke. Originally, he could also choose to let Morris stay, and then deliberately use some news to lure Morris to report the news, and it would be easier to capture the other party at that time, but considering the influence behind the Morris family and the pressure he was carrying during this time, he still decided to slow down.

"Good. Thank you for your help, Your Excellency, I will not let you down again! Condra was also very happy to hear this, and said that Pascal II was willing to help him, which showed that he was not completely disappointed in himself and was still supporting himself. This couldn't be better news for Condra.

Then Condra discussed some other things with Pascal II, and then said goodbye and left, but just when Condra left the Lateran Palace, he suddenly stopped, and then turned his head to look at the Lateran Palace behind him, but his eyes flashed a little ruthless, now because he needs the support of the Holy See, so when facing Pascal II, he is like a subordinate, and he needs to ask the other party everywhere, but Condela is not a person who is willing to live under the people, and now he is not strong enough, If he waited until he became stronger in the future, he would definitely be like his grandfather and father to attack Rome again, and then the so-called pope would be just a dog under his feet.

After leaving the Lateran Palace, where the Pope was located, Condra did not leave Rome immediately, but went to visit several great nobles in the city, although these nobles are not as good as Tris's Burdin family, but they also have a lot of power in the Papal States, and they all advocate supporting Condra's fight for the throne, so he also needs to visit in person in order to win greater support, but these families, like the Pope, are a little dissatisfied with his recent performance, which makes Condela have to say good things again, Pretending to be a grandson as a guarantee, this stabilized the confidence of these families.

After coming out of the family that he visited, Condra became even more angry, and at the same time, he was even more determined to wait until one day, and he must return the humiliation of today. Originally, Condela wanted to leave Rome today, but he had spent too much time trying to persuade the families to continue to support him, but by this time it was already dark, and he had no choice but to stay in the city and prepare to return the next day.

Rome is the capital of the Papal States, although the territory of the Papal States is not large, compared to the Holy Roman Empire is not worth mentioning, but because of the prevalence of Catholicism in Europe, many believers are willing to donate their property to the Holy See, coupled with the existence of tithes, the Papal States are very rich, Rome as the capital of the Papal States, is very prosperous, even after countless invasions and destruction in history, but Rome is still rebuilt countless times with amazing perseverance, and now Rome has been peaceful for many years, Finally, a prosperous period is ushered in again.

Condra stood in front of the bedroom window, looking at the prosperous city of Rome in front of him, but there was a desire to conquer the ** here, in fact, with the strength of half of the Holy Roman Empire, it was not impossible to conquer Rome, but it was a pity that his younger brother Henry Jr. wanted to compete with him for the throne, which also made him have to deal with his younger brother with all his strength, so that the support of the Papal States for him is extremely important, to put it mildly, if the Pope cuts off his support for him, I am afraid he will not be able to hold on for even three months, will be wiped out by little Henry.

After a night's rest, Condra walked out of the bedroom full of energy, and then ate an authentic Roman breakfast, and then prepared to leave the city of Rome happily, after all, the purpose of his visit to Rome this time has been fully achieved, although he needs to keep lowering his posture in the process, but as long as he can achieve the goal, these small sacrifices are worth it.

When everything was ready, Condela rushed to the Lateran Palace again to bid farewell to Pascal II, who was also very satisfied with this, because from Condra's actions he felt an attitude of respect, which also greatly satisfied his vanity.

Leaving the Lateran Palace again, Condela left from the northern city of Rome with his servants, but he needed to join his escort army from outside the city first, for some reason, Condra's guards were not allowed to enter the city of Rome, he could only bring a small number of servants into Rome, this is because Condra's grandfather and father had brought troops into Rome at the beginning, but every time it brought heavy disasters to Rome, so now Rome restricts Condela from bringing troops into Rome, which can be regarded as a humiliation to his ancestors, Condra is also very aware of this, but now is not the time to worry about this, so he can only suffer in silence.

However, just as Condra had just joined up with his convoy, he suddenly found that the road to the northwest was dusty, and then a large army was rushing towards Rome in the scorching sun. (To be continued.) )

PS: Finally finished 4,000 words, so tired.