Byzantium and Orleans may have been almost the same in strength a long time ago, otherwise they would not have formed two neighboring states of similar size, during which there were constant minor frictions, but they were able to maintain relative stability. Pen & Fun & Pavilion www.biquge.info

But the strength of a country is never static, on the contrary, it changes from moment to moment.

Some countries will naturally be able to increase their strength if they make great efforts to make the country prosperous, while some countries will get by and become corrupt from within, and their situation will naturally deteriorate.

Byzantium and Orleans, representing the former and the latter, respectively.

Since the royal family advocated different philosophies, the two countries had different cultural and development directions, and Byzantium was more of a military advocate and would spend a lot of money on it.

Orleans, on the other hand, celebrates material comforts and has a sense of being happy in time.

But when the whole country is addicted to this culture, the strength of the army will naturally decline, and who will want to train if they can live comfortably?

Byzantium, on the other hand, was able to gain the respect of others and the reward of the king, so countless servants flocked to it because it was an opportunity to change their fate.

For a long time, the overall strength of Byzantium was much stronger than that of Orleans.

This is also the reason why after one or two major battles, Orleans was slightly declining, the temple immediately secretly helped, because the temple could also see that Orleans' roots were broken.

It's just that after all, the temple can only do things in secret, and the power it can use is extremely limited.

In the face of the enormous strength of Byzantium, Orleans' resistance lasted only a little longer, followed by a rout on all fronts.

But Byzantium was not in a hurry, but steady, taking one step at a time, until it completely occupied one place, and then moved on to the next.

The royal family of Orleans was immediately panicked, and the long-term comfort made the royal family of Orleans have no choice but to be angry and scared in the face of this situation.

Until a nobleman mentioned Konstantin.

There are three countries on the west side of the Red Sea, Byzantium, Orleans, and Constantine, which occupy different positions, and there are constant contradictions in the middle, but they finally maintain a relative balance.

But that balance is now about to be upset.

The strength of Byzantium caught Orleans off guard, and perhaps if Byzantium was given another half a year, it would be able to completely occupy the whole of Orleans.

This is something that the royal family of Orleans does not want to see.

At the same time, this will also be something that Constantine does not want to see.

Because of the annexation of Orleans, the power of Byzantium will form an absolute suppression of Constantine, and at that time, it will not be so simple for two countries of unequal strength to maintain balance.

The strong will inevitably have the intention of swallowing up the weak.

And even if Byzantium didn't mean this, Konstantin didn't think so, because the rulers of the royal family were always changing, and not everyone could keep the agreement.

The royal family of Orleans guessed so, so they contacted the royal family of Constantine.

The people of the temple are also working in secret.

The Byzantine army was pressing on.

The royal family of Orleans is particularly interested in seeking Constantine's help this time, because Upper Orleans will play a decisive role in almost trying to get out of the current situation.

So the royal family of Orleans decided that no matter what the cost, Constantine must be allowed to do it.

But it's a pity that Constantine did it, but the direction of the move was not at all the direction that the Orleans royal family and the temple expected.

Byzantium had already secretly united with Constantine long before that, with the idea of annexing Orleans together between the two countries.

Constantine was faced with two choices, one was to unite Orleans, repel the Byzantine offensive, and continue to maintain the situation of the three kingdoms, perhaps to gain a lot of benefits from Orleans.

The other option was to unite with Byzantium and capture Orleans, and then divide the territory and people of Orleans and other resources in half.

In comparison, the latter may be more costly, after all, the defeat of a country and the annihilation of a country are not the same second-order thing.

However, the benefits that can be obtained by the latter are not comparable with those of the former.

Moreover, the decline of Orleans Constantine has already seen in his eyes, and it is not as difficult as imagined to defeat a country that has already begun to corrupt from within, and which has just experienced two huge defeats.

After weighing it up, Konstantin happily accepted the Byzantine kindness.

So things changed dramatically.

Originally, it was just one Byzantine country attacking Orleans, but after Orleans asked Constantine for help, the countries that attacked Orleans suddenly became two.

Moreover, these two countries, for the time being, are much stronger in terms of comprehensive strength than Orleans.

Faced by the enemy on the back of the abdomen, Orleans was even more difficult to resist and retreated.

Eventually, after the land area had shrunk by almost half, the contradictions within Orleans also erupted, and the various lords began to declare their independence, independent of Orleans' control, and became a separate state.

Soon, in the midst of internal and external troubles, the royal family of Orleans announced its collapse and could only occupy the position of the royal city, and the position outside the royal city would never belong to the royal family of Orleans.

For a moment, Orleans existed in name only.

And what has reappeared on Orleans soil are dozens of small countries of various sizes.

For these small countries, Byzantium and Constantine were not polite, and directly crushed the past with large armies, and those who did not know the current affairs would make some resistance, but it was very useless resistance.

Those who are aware of the current affairs will immediately take refuge in Byzantium or Constantine, become the nobility of these two countries again, and continue to live the leisurely and comfortable life before.

And there will be battles between small countries, the larger countries always want to annex the surrounding small countries, while the small countries next to them desperately resist, of course, there are also spineless.

However, in the face of the torrent of Byzantium and Constantine, these were only clouds.

Soon, Byzantium and Constantine were on the verge of annexing all of Orleans, but by the time the last two or three small states remained, Byzantium and Constantine halted their armies.

This kind of buffer between several small countries is actually more suitable for the harmony of the two countries than direct borders.

And there are only the last two small countries left, the land area is not large, and there are no resources, what should be plundered, all plundered are almost, in this case, there will not be much loss if you keep it, and the benefits outweigh the disadvantages.

In the blink of an eye, the pattern on the western side of the Red Sea has completely changed. (To be continued.) )