The head was hung outside the city gates, so that passers-by could see the fate of the traitors. In a mansion in the city of Venice, a few people who did not go to the audience sat around the table, their faces full of grief and indignation.

The decapitation did not surprise these people, who treated their enemies in the same way when they were in power. The leader had a hoarse voice, "There must be a traitor in our Restoration Alliance!" ”

Several other people nodded when they heard this. The executions of the Western Roman Empire were the most powerful figures in the Venetian Restoration League, and for the members of the Restoration League, their deaths were a severe blow to the cause of the Restoration. The Romans not only killed their heads, but also raided their homes. The Alliance needs funds from these families to run the alliance itself. Those fools and fools only know how to survive, and never care about the country. If you want to gather manpower, buy weapons, and contact other forces, you need money. Without money, these people can only vent their frustrations against the walls or their peers.

There is really no other reason why the Romans were able to accurately identify these core financiers, and not to do anything to the subservient people and families, except that there were traitors.

"How can I find out who the traitor is?" Someone asked hatefully. Everyone here wants to find out who the traitor is, but how can you determine who the traitor is? A traitor would not have written 'I am a traitor' on his face.

The leader said viciously: "Don't determine who the internal traitors are, first deal with those traitors who defected to the Mongols!" Kill them all and see who dares to serve the Mongols! ”

"Will this provoke retaliation from the Mongols?" Someone hesitated.

"I want the Mongols to take revenge, and when I see the Mongols killing people, these damn guys know that they have to resist the Mongols!" Radicals express their views.

"No!" The leader said in a deep voice: "We have gone to contact the Serbs and ask them to attack Venice. ”

Hearing the Serbs, everyone else changed their faces. Venice had fought many wars with Serbia, and the Venetians, who regarded themselves as civilized, looked down on the barbarians. In the image of the Serbs as a barbarian in the hearts of the Venetians, once they entered Venice, the result was similar to the Mongol massacre.

After some internal struggle, the members of the Alliance agreed to the plan. They could have arranged for their families to avoid the war in advance, and these spineless guys in the city had already defected to the Mongols, and they deserved to have a Mongol city destroyed by the Serbs, who were also barbarians.

This side is sure, and they will send messengers immediately. The Romans did not strictly control Venice, and access was still free. The envoy left the city of Venice and headed straight for the Serbian region to the northeast. After half a month of arduous travel, the envoy finally arrived at the territory of the Dušan family, the largest force in Serbia.

In the eyes of the Venetians, Serbia was a barbarian. Therefore, after taking out the confirmation of passage determined during the previous exchanges between the two countries, he was actually given a guide, which surprised the envoy very much. They are prepared to go through all kinds of dangers.

Over a mountain and over a mountain, through a ditch and a ditch. After walking for another three days, the messenger was taken to a place where he did not know what mountain it was. Halfway up the mountain, a stone fortress is lined with various local barbarian armies, whose temperament is painted with different patterns, which looks a bit like the Europa nobles sent troops. But the Europa nobles used silk imported from China to make their flags, and the flags of the Serbian barbarians were not known to be made of what kind of cloth, which seemed to have the meaning of drinking blood.

Enter the fort and arrive in the hall. I saw that several guys inside were wearing silk robes, which surprised the envoy. Could it be that other Europa nobles had already come to contact the Serbs? As soon as I was surprised, I listened to these people talk in a vulgar Serbian vernacular, and although I didn't know what they were talking about, I could feel that the earthy accent was uncomfortable.

They were received by the head of the Duchamp family, a man in beautiful armor. Strong body with sharp eyes. After hearing the envoy's intentions, the leader asked the envoy in broken Italian: "If you want us to send troops, you must show your sincerity." ”

"What kind of sincerity do you need?" The messenger was mentally prepared.

"Give us three thousand tomahawks." The head of the Duchamp family made a cheerful request.

The messenger scolded this guy for being too greedy. If there were three thousand tomahawks, where would it be necessary to ask the Serbian barbarians to do so, the Venetian Restoration Union itself would have launched an uprising. Just begged the other party's door, and the messenger could only try his best to lobby. "Your Excellency, if you can defeat the Mongols, your Excellency will only gain more than three thousand battle axes......"

The leader of the Duchamp clan obviously did not want to hear such words, and he interrupted the messenger without politeness, "If you can't get three thousand battle axes, don't think of us sending troops. ”

The messenger wanted to say something, but the leader ordered: "Take them down first!" With the order, a few strong men came up and dragged the messengers away.

Looking at the back of the envoy, the general next to him asked, "King, do you want to hand them over to the Roman side?" ”

The leader's eyes flickered, and he could see that this suggestion was not without his feelings.

It was at this time, after a careful search, that the emissaries of the Eastern Roman Empire were able to meet Princess Maria, the Empress of the Western Roman Empire. The envoy did not dare to mention the search, he had heard of many assassinations in the Western Roman Empire. After kneeling and bowing, the messenger handed the letter of the Eastern Roman Emperor to Princess Maria's maid and asked her to present it on her behalf.

"Brother Huang's health is good?" Princess Maria asked.

"Your Majesty is in good health, but the domestic chaos is rampant, and there are assassinations against Your Majesty every month."

Knowing that the situation in the Eastern Roman Empire was the same, Princess Maria's heart tightened. Her children were growing up, and the princess had been bothered by three little things, but now they had become troublesome. She is very worried about whether her children will grow up.

Seeing Princess Maria's expression, the envoy continued: "Your Majesty has sent me this time to ask His Majesty Augustus Boyan to support His Majesty's conquest of Serbia at the meeting of the Quadripartite Alliance. ”

"Serbia?" Princess Maria pondered for a moment, and her gaze unconsciously turned to the map of the Mediterranean hanging on the wall. 800 years have passed since the head of the barbarian mercenaries deposed the Western Roman Emperor. The map reappears with the Eastern and Western Roman Empires bordering each other.

The dividing line between the Eastern and Western Roman Empires was in the Balkans. Croatia and other territories that originally belonged to the Republic of Venice were returned to the Western Roman Empire. Serbia, nominally part of the Eastern Roman Empire, was located east of Croatia and was the westernmost territory of the Eastern Roman Empire. There are many mountains and few lands, barbarians are rampant, and the people are fierce. It also borders the Western Roman region. Because the Eastern Roman Empire owned northern Greece, the Great Song Europa Province, which occupied central and southern Greece, bordered the Eastern Roman Empire and the Italian peninsula of the Western Roman Empire across the sea.

From the point of view of the princess of the Eastern Roman Empire, if the Eastern Roman Empire could annihilate the Serbian local barbarians and take full control of the place, it would be possible to ensure the tranquility of the border between Eastern and Western Rome. Although the Republic of Venice had fallen, there were a large number of rebels there, and as far as she knew, many Roman assassinations had been carried out from the old part of the Republic of Venice.

"You have to tell His Majesty Boyan about this matter." Princess Mary said to the Eastern Roman envoy.

"Your Majesty, of course I do. It's just that the Serbian region is too far from Constantinople, and we will indeed send an expeditionary force, but we are afraid that we will not be able to catch it. The messenger made a plea.

Princess Maria lamented in her heart that the reason why she was married to the Ilkhanate of Mongolia was not because Princess Maria herself had any romantic fantasies or expectations for foreign marriages. Although she fell in love with Boyan, who was an envoy of the Ilkhanate, she had little feeling for the Mongol Empire. If that relationship had been consummated at that time, she would have only asked Boyan to stay in the Eastern Roman Empire and fly with her.

The purpose of that transnational marriage was to form an alliance. The standing army of the Eastern Roman Empire under the emperor was basically zero, and it relied on more than 10,000 mercenaries to fill the scene. After marrying the Mongol Ilkhanate, the Ilkhanate sent troops to fight against the barbarians along with the mercenaries of the Eastern Roman Emperor. At the time of her father's death, the Ilkhanate was preparing to send thousands of Mongol cavalry to Constantinople for the defense of Princess Maria's half-brother in order to ensure that Princess Maria's half-brother could ascend the throne smoothly.

Because Kublai Khan led the Mongol court to move westward, the Ilkhanate did not implement this plan. It was also for this reason that the Great Song Dynasty was able to begin full cooperation with the Eastern Roman Empire, which burned its eyebrows, by providing the Janissaries with steel armor and weapons.

In recent years, I have heard that the national strength of the Eastern Roman Empire has become stronger, and tens of thousands of troops can be sent to expeditions thousands of miles away, which is beyond the national strength of the Eastern Roman Empire. Because she understood this, Princess Mary could only say, "I can't say anything to Your Majesty about this. ”

Seeing off the disappointed messenger, Princess Maria's gaze fell on the map again, but she turned a blind eye. She only felt even more irritable in her heart, she was just a concubine in the palace before, living a life of little feeling. Only when I was the spiritual leader of the local Nestorianan religion did I have some joy in life because of preaching to the believers.

Now she has finally married her beloved, and she has acted as a bridge between the Eastern and Western Roman Empires. With her, she and Boyan's son can justifiably say, 'Our family is the true heir to the Western Roman Empire'. With such a deep connection to politics, Princess Maria did not want to get involved in trouble.

The Western Roman Empire had strong enemies on the outside and traitors on the inside. The wise and martial Boyan must be in charge of the situation, and she can't add chaos no matter what. For the sake of her children, Princess Mary had to do it.