After Milton accepted Constantine's reprimand, after thinking about it for a few days, Constantine still made a decision to directly deprive him of all his positions and lock him up in the city government, and then, with the army in Saloniki, completely purged Saloniki, the purpose of which was to blow up some big fish in the country so that they could be disposed of at one time.

Thessaloniki, as an important port town, itself was garrisoned by troops, and due to Constantine's closed management, the army was less influenced by the old aristocracy, and after getting Constantine's instructions, the army was directly dispatched, and a large number of old nobles were arrested and tried.

The old aristocracy was not only a member of the royal family, but also some merchants and petty nobles who were attached to the royal family, and the craftsmen and farmers under these people also needed to be dealt with by Constantine.

……

Constantinople, a thatched house in the city,

After so many years of war, the number of people in Constantinople plummeted, which meant that there were more and more open spaces in the city, and a large area was uninhabited.

At this time, in a small village that was originally uninhabited, the lights were turned on, and the carriages came here one after another, looking at the signs on the carriages, it can be found that a large part of them are members of the royal family.

Jelena, who was in the carriage, got out of the carriage and went into the house, and all the people had arrived, waiting for him.

Walking to the throne reserved for him, Jerene sat down and cleared his throat,

"Bad news, guys."

He looked around,

"Constantine's big move in Thessaloniki has cut off the financial means of many of us, and poor little John was even arrested by Constantine and put in prison."

"I'm afraid we can't let it go on like that, we have to react."

"Yes!"

A nobleman on the side stood up and echoed loudly,

"Constantine is not worthy to be emperor, he is messing around, depriving us of our private property, destroying Roman traditions, can we still be considered Roman citizens if this continues?"

A nobleman stood up and said in a deep voice,

"He can deprive us of our property at will now, and he may deprive us of our lives and titles later, which is an honor bestowed upon us by Emperor Manuel II and Emperor John VIII, and cannot be deprived at will."

Manuel II, Constantine's father, and John VIII, Constantine's elder brother, moved these two men out in order to justify their actions and prove that they were "kings".

In an instant, the crowd was furious, and they began to denounce Constantine, as if he were some heinous sinner,

In this condemnation, there are also some people who have an indifferent attitude, whose main forces are not in the Macedonian plain, and who have suffered very little in this matter, so they are not willing to be too radical, for fear of angering Constantine.

"That's it!"

As the son of Emperor Manuel II and the elder brother of Constantine XI, Laina stopped the crowd from denouncing, and he had great prestige in the old aristocracy, and everyone listened to him.

"In any case, he is our emperor, and when he came to the throne, we all swore allegiance to him, so as not to insult the honor of the nobles."

It sounded like his tone was so serious that it was a little cold for a moment, but Paul, who knew his temperament well, knew otherwise, so he smiled and played in the circle,

"Everyone is just loyal to the empire, after all, no one wants the empire to weaken, and the stronger the empire, the better off we will live."

"yes... yes..."

There was a weak echo on the field, and Laina's face looked a lot better.

"Still,"

Paul changed his words,

"If you can make the country strong, you can abandon the interests of the individual, what do you say?"

"This..."

The room was quieter, no one knew what it meant, and no one dared to mess around.

Seeing that no one was speaking, Paul said to himself,

"What is the basis of the state? It's us! We are the cornerstone of our country! ”

"Without us, where would Constantine be able to gather food? Without us, where would Constantine be able to gather soldiers? Without us, where would Constantine be able to get his money? ”

"And now, Constantine is delusional about destroying the foundation of the country, isn't he destroying the country?"

Leena turned his head to Paul's ear and whispered,

"Too much, isn't it?"

"Not at all, Your Highness, that's what you have to do."

Paul smiled, and then went on to say in a loud voice to the group,

"For the sake of the country, I think we have to act, we can put Constantine in this position, we can pull him down."

The unenvisioned path was suddenly opened by Paul, and there was a lot of discussion, some in disbelief and others in the feasibility of the proposal.

"It can't !!"

Someone stood up in shock and fear, and retorted loudly,

"You're going to ruin this country!!"

After saying that, he turned around and wanted to leave, when he saw Paul clapping his hands, and a group of soldiers walked in.

"Since you don't want to participate, in order to prevent you from snitching, please stay here for a few days."

Paul's tone is flat, but the content makes people's hearts cold,

"You're going to put me under house arrest?"

"Of course, maybe... Say whatever you want, okay, take it with you. ”

"Does anyone else have questions?"

There was silence for a while, and at the signal of Laina's eyes, a nobleman stood up and echoed,

"Yes, that's right, that's how it should be, Constantine he doesn't deserve to sit in that position, he should abdicate voluntarily."

"Yes, yes..."

Under Laina's arrangement, the atmosphere was once again enthusiastic, and the condemnation of Constantine reached a climax.

"However, after the fall of Constantine, who shall we nominate as emperor?"

Someone asked this sentence weakly, and the scene was quiet,

Seeing this, Paul hurried to the question,

"This person must be prestigious, capable, and able to bring benefits to everyone, but he can't be chosen randomly!"

Paul's words are not unfounded, some countries in Europe like to welcome some monarchs who have no roots in the local area, in fact, this is more conducive to local power, but this is not in line with Paul's purpose, he is to elect Laina as emperor this time, not for foreigners to come.

And the trick of house arrest like before can only be used once, and people will really resist if they use it too much, and it is enough to deter it once in a while.

"I think His Royal Highness Reyna is very suitable, as the son of Emperor Manuel II, he should have been the most deserving of the emperor."

In fact, after the death of John VIII, Laina had a great chance to become the emperor, he was in Constantinople at the time, and the reason why Constantine XI was allowed to ascend the throne was mainly because he thought that Byzantium was powerless and did not dare to do it.