On the outskirts of Gloucester, at the foot of Barton Hill

The devastated manors, the raging fires, and the thick black smoke rising into the sky. Blood and corpses on the ground, burned and smashed houses, and ruined churches looted all show that this is going through a terrible war plague.

Beneath the lead-gray gloomy sky, these dancing fires stained the smoky sky with a brilliant and cruel red. Everything in the world seems to be immersed in this cruel dark red color, like blood and fire, which makes people sad and sigh.

As the flames of war spread, the entire village and town burned, and the flames jumped and rose from wooden houses to blackened ruins. The peace and happiness of countless ordinary families also turned into billowing smoke in the flames. The result is a picture of purgatory as terrifying as a nightmare.

The choking smoke rose and writhed like a man-eating demon, covering most of the sky and blocking out the sun. But even the gray smoke couldn't hide the piles of corpses on the ground, and the sticky blood gushing out from under the corpses. The pungent murmur of blood flowed silently, forming pools of blood. It was like tears silently shed from the earth.

A charred corpse, burning, twisting, and curling up in the flames, gradually burned into a more crooked and strange shape from the most painful posture in the moment before death, which was especially striking against the bright background of black and red. The horror and pain of being deprived of a single life still seem to be pervasive in the slaughterhouse. Countless unjust spirits lingered in mid-air, weeping, wandering among the burning ruins......

Death and darkness have enveloped the land. But the living are still struggling.

For the sake of the already slim hope of survival, both the Roman and Celtic soldiers who had retreated from the battlefield and were besieged in this place, or the ordinary farmers who lived here and did not escape in time, all raised their shields and spears and formed a phalanx to resist desperately.

And the enemies besieging the manor. It was a group of savage-looking strong men, all of whom were tall and long, wielding giant axes or maces. The skin is like copper cast in iron, and the whole body exudes a terrifying aura of rage and arrogance. There were hardly any decent clothes on them, and a few of them were dressed in a variety of ways, as if they had been snatched from somewhere. Most people just wrap their waistband around with some fur or something. Barely hiding the vital points. on their faces and arms. They also commonly have tattoos with the pattern of fierce beasts, which shows their fierceness and violence even more at a rough look.

In a brutal and repeated tug-of-war, the cottage and corral were quickly reduced to rubble under fierce fighting and wanton arson from both sides. The women and children rolled up their belongings and fled in a hurry amid the intertwined swords and swords of the warriors on both sides...... The scorching stench that permeated the air, the roars of the warriors and the wails of the wounded stimulated the senses of everyone present and drove their minds to two extremes—the fear and panic of the weak, and the bloodthirsty madness of the strong. Even veterans who have participated in thousands of battles can hardly help their blood boil over it.

But. No matter how heroic and bloody they fought, defeat was already doomed - a moment later, one of Zuihou's shields was shattered by the attackers, and the few remaining survivors began to turn around and run, leaving everything behind, trying to find a way to survive in the flames and smoke, however, in front of this only hope, the killers were surrounding from all sides, completely cutting off the vitality of this Zuihou.

“…… Weak Romans, your gods are as cowardly and incompetent as your warriors! ”

On the ruins of a chapel burned to blackened ruins, an Anglo leader wrapped in a bear's skin looked at the carved cross of Jesus with a smirk and spat on it with disdain...... Warriors favored by the gods, what are you waiting for? Go and find your happiness! ”

And so, with the cheers of the barbarian warriors, a feast of sin and destruction began.

Some barbarian cavalry rode into the burning manor, slaying with swords, spears and maces the peasants who still dared to resist. Some of the cavalry dismounted, rushed into the houses that were still in the house, rummaged through the cabinets, and soon came out with all kinds of packages, and if anyone cried and chased them out, they would be slashed to death by these soldiers with a knife, or smashed open the Tianling cover with a stick, so that the red blood and the white brains splashed together.

Other Anglo warriors, laughing and rushing into the house, heard the women's cries one after another, apparently insulted. In the face of fierce resistance, some women were just beaten up, while some women were directly killed with a knife. When these barbarians do these cruel things, they are always so playful and relaxed, without the slightest hesitation and unbearability.

After burning, looting, and indulging in indulgence, these barbarian soldiers continued to make noise without restraint, and began to tie all the chickens and ducks caught in the farmhouse with ropes and hang them on horseback. And the soldiers drove out the cattle and sheep, and they were smiling. And any softness in the farmhouse, these soldiers also refused to let go of a penny. Even if it's a piece of women's clothing, or just a few needles or rags, pack it up and take it away. And what they really couldn't take away, they smashed it with knives and guns, as if they had some deep hatred with these peasants.

After such a fuss, these Anglo barbarian soldiers forced many peasants with knives and guns into an open field and began to torture them. Some burned their hair and lower bodies with torches, whipped their backs and chests, and hung their whole bodies upside down with ropes and then immersed their heads in tanks or barrels...... For a while, all kinds of strange tricks emerged one after another, and the cries of the villagers were earth-shattering, but they only attracted bursts of laughter from a group of barbarians. Soon, some of the farmers could not hold back from the torture and began to confess where their money and belongings were hidden. Immediately, some soldiers laughed and went to the firewood shed behind the house, in the haystack, behind the chicken coop, and even under the well, and searched for coins, grain, cured meat, jewelry, and other valuable things. It seems that these soldiers have long been adept at torturing villagers to extract money and food. Minoru is very familiar.

After being tortured about the food and belongings they were hiding, the villagers curled up in the small square in the center of the village. Prostrate, cowering, looking blankly at these fierce and brutal barbarians, at a barbarian king pointing at himself and shouting:

“…… Got everything? Then kill all these cowards! There are still enemies to fight ahead, and now there is no time to take care of the prisoners! ”

Although the villagers could not understand the so-called meaning of the words due to the language barrier, the sharp spear tip approached. But they felt the imminence of danger, some of the women and children screamed in fear, and the men pushed the children behind them in vain. But the next moment they could no longer give their children any protection—sharp spears poked forward, piercing them in the shoulders or thighs, in the midst of the screams. It's like a farmer cutting wheat. Chop down the villagers in an instant!

Suddenly, the corpse fell down, blood splattered, and mourning erupted.

“…… Ahh

After witnessing the Anglo massacre, the remaining villagers let out a scream of despair, but there was no resistance, for they had been robbed of their remaining sense of resistance by fear. In front of the bloody butcher's knives of the Anglos, they are as ignorant and sluggish as pigs and sheep on a board. Neither resist nor run away. Just waiting, waiting for the final predetermined fate of death to befall you......

As if mourning the tragedy of this world, a cold drizzle quietly fell, gradually extinguishing the flames of smoke everywhere, washing away the blood flowing on the ground, but it could not wash away the corpses everywhere and the despair that shrouded the hearts of the living......

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In the bitter cold of late autumn, the wind swept like a blade, blowing on the body, cutting people's faces with pain.

On Mount Barton, not far from the village, in a fort with a precarious terrain and strong defense, a middle-aged man in a bright red robe and a golden crown was looking down with resentment on his face the tragedy not far from the mountain, and even the joints of his hands were white on his hands that clung to the guardrail.

It was his territory that was being ravaged, and it was his subjects who were slaughtered, while he was besieged in the mountains, unable to do anything.

A light rain gradually fell from the lead-gray sky, not very big at first, but it was full of cold, hitting the thin middle-aged man, making him shiver with cold. Immediately after that, the wind was a little stronger, and the rain seemed to be more urgent. The cold wind pierced in from all directions, carrying the icy rain, which made the middle-aged man can't help but sneeze, and the cold from his face to his heart.

The Eagle Banner planted behind him was also wet from the rain and curled up in a ball, and even the hunting autumn wind could not make the flag stretch out again.

This is the flag that represents the Roman Empire, and he is the zuihou emperor of the Western Roman Empire, Romulus? Augustus bixia.

Twenty-five years earlier, in 475 A.D., he had been elected to the throne by the Senate in Rome at the age of twelve. The following year, in 476 AD, he was deposed by the barbarian mercenary commander Odoac, who had no one to ascend the throne in Rome.

Perhaps because of his young and ignorant nature as the last emperor, after his abdication, Romulus was not killed, like most of his predecessors, but exiled to the countryside of Campania under house arrest. At the same time, the imperial seal and insignia of the Western Roman Empire were sent to Constantinople by Odoac, who felt that his strength was limited and did not dare to claim the title of emperor rashly, thus announcing the end of the legal inheritance of the Western Roman Empire.

- The first "wolf child" king to build a city in Rome was Romulus, and Zuihou, a Western Roman emperor, was also Romulus, and the history of the Romans drew a wonderful circle of reincarnation here, like an indescribable fate in the dark...... Just as the first emperor of the Eastern Roman Empire was Constantine, the son of Helena, the Zuihou emperor of the Eastern Roman Empire, was also Constantine, the son of Helena.

According to the original historical trajectory, Romulus? Emperor Augustus will disappear from the annals of history, and no one will know his whereabouts for the rest of his life. However, a traveler who travels through time and space completely changes the fate of the last emperor.

- In Romulus? In the summer of August's fifth year under house arrest, an earth-shattering explosion caused the castle where the deposed emperor lived to collapse and turn into a pile of ruins. And then. When the emperor, who was fishing on the beach, hurried back with his servants, he found that the soldiers who had been watching him had been eliminated and defeated by several guys in strange costumes with "fire-breathing pipes". He became a prisoner sent to the door......

What happened to Romulus made him feel as if he had a dream that wasn't real—he and a few servants were taken aboard a magical ship made of metal, and lived with them on a deserted island in the Mediterranean.

Through this period of contact, Romulus finally figured out the origin of these terrifying strange people - they came from a European country 1,500 years later, possessed countless weapons of war that the Romans thought were incredible, and then because of an inexplicable disaster. Together with the ships they were on, they came to the time of Romulus...... Previously, they attacked their house arrest in Campania. The purpose is to kidnap a few locals, preferably literate and knowledgeable guys, so that they can be interrogated and find out where they have been......

In fact. When they found out that they had kidnapped the last emperor of the Western Roman Empire. It was also shocking to the extreme.

Zuihou, these warriors from the future, are finally back in their time. And before leaving, he also sent Romulus to the territory of the Eastern Roman Empire, and left him the "iron ship" that could not be taken away as a gift.

Next, although the wonderful iron ships left behind by those future warriors shocked the people, officials and nobles of the Eastern Roman Empire, but Romulus? For Augustus himself. His fate did not change immediately - the Eastern Roman Emperor of Constantinople did not recognize him at all, but only gave him a bounty like a beggar. Let him fend for himself. However, through the stimulation of this previous adventure, Romulus was no longer willing to do nothing for the rest of his life, and began to try to restore his empire.

At this time, although the Western Roman Empire had collapsed, the remnants of the Western Roman Empire still far outnumbered their rulers, the Germanic barbarians, in the original imperial territory, especially in the Iberian Peninsula, Gaul, Italy and other places. In the cracks of many barbarian kingdoms, there are still many isolated Roman remnant settlements, which continue to flaunt the banner of Rome and struggle to preserve a trace of the remnants of Greco-Roman classical civilization.

Therefore, after leaving Constantinople, Romulus bypassed Italy, which was pursuing him, entered Gaul from the port of Marseille, and repeatedly negotiated in Roman settlements such as Paris and Geneva, trying to use his status as emperor to gather a force of restoration liliang.

Soon after, Sibrius, the governor of Gaul in Zuihou, the Roman Empire, was defeated and killed in a war with the Franks. The remnants of his defeated army defected to Emperor Romulus, so that the last emperor finally had an army of his own.

However, at that time, the Frankish king Clovis was a generation of pride, the strength of the Frankish kingdom was thriving, the general trend of dominating Western Europe was decided, and there were too many barbarians in Gaul, and the Roman remnants had no possibility of turning the tables in this land.

It just so happened that the Celts in Britain were suffering from repeated Anglo-Saxon invasions at this time, and repeatedly sent emissaries to the European continent to ask for help. Emperor Romulus was invited to cross the sea with his followers to join the Celtic monarchs and the Christian churches on the island, trying to gain their recognition and support. Then, in a series of bitter battles with the Anglo-Saxons, they regained ground from under their iron hooves...... Zuihou, he finally established himself in Gloucester City in southwestern British Province and established a small base of his own - and that was more than a decade ago

The freezing cold rain gradually subsided, but the sky was still as gloomy as it was, and the occasional lightning bolt illuminated the ridge in the distance.

Romulus rubbed his hands together, and a cloud of white air came out of his mouth, although he had lived in Britain for a long time, this island with undulating mountains, cold and rainy, still made him feel uncomfortable. And the Celtics who live here are even more disappointing for him.

-- The common people are cowardly and incompetent, and the leaders are short-sighted.

The centuries-old rule of the Roman Empire over the island did not give the inhabitants of the British province the iron discipline and martial style of the Romans, but it taught them the debauchery and depravity of the Romans.

When Romulus raised the banner of the Roman Empire at Gloucester, he thought that the great cause of the revival of the empire was already in vain—the Celts of Britain had just been given a chance to breathe, and they had reverted to their extravagant lifestyle, completely forgetting the calamity that was imminent, and concentrating on pleasure and accumulation. Obviously, after these people lost the help of the Roman legions, they even forgot about the jishu who built the stone castle. But he still enjoyed a moment of peace regardless of it, and had no foresight to deal with the invasion.

Thus, the Anglo-Saxons, having fully understood the weakness of the Celts, soon made a comeback. As the leader of the alliance of the "civilized shili" of the entire British province, Emperor Romulus had to become the "fire captain" against the barbarian invasion, and he was exhausted everywhere. And the city of Gloucester, where he was rooted, was the transportation hub connecting the remaining half of the Celts, and the main target of all barbarian attacks.

To make matters worse, the Anglo-Saxons were able to receive a steady stream of reinforcements from the European continent, while Romulus was almost alone.

In the midst of endless barbarian invasions, his dream of imperial revival proved to be short-lived—after the initial brief upswing, frequent wars severely disrupted social production, dwindling people, barren fields, abandoned towns, famine and disease......

Now, the Anglo forces of the Five Kingdoms have once again struck at him, first defeating the main force of his legion in the field, and then plundering the countryside while besieging him on Mount Barton, losing contact with the city of Gloucester...... Next, is he going to die here?

Looking at the barbarian army surging all over the mountains, the sick and weak emperor sighed and drew his short sword: "...... Romans, get ready to fight! (To be continued......)