After receiving Caesar's order, the Minister of War, Mehmus, rushed to the outside of the marble staircase of the Senate almost immediately. Also arriving were his lieutenants, the chief instructor of the legion, Quintus, and the Duke of Salion, Sarard Urtok. The Duke on a lion and horse did not dare to stop him, and galloped all the way from the pavilion to the Senate, and with Mesimus passed through the delicate columns full of carved lines.

The clerk who was standing outside on duty glanced at the three people who suddenly walked in with a little surprise. Almost since Caesar's return from the Battle of Severcro, the military minister has rarely stepped through the doors of the Senate, except for certain ceremonies. The reason was simple: Theodore was very disgusted with the Senate's interference in military affairs, and preferred to build a place for Mesimus outside his castle to deal with military affairs than to let him come here.

As a result, in most people's memory, the real Roman senator had never been seen wearing a toga robe, let alone his deputy, General Quintus. To this day, although the Senate held the mandate and mobilization power of the Roman army, the legions remained in the hands of Theodore.

Barely deterred, the knight of the Imperial Guard, Elendil, gently opened the door for the three of them and stepped into the slightly cramped reception room. The stern-faced Elendil and Mesimus looked at each other for a short time, and the military minister already understood how seriously Caesar took this matter.

At this time, the three of them saw Theodore, the emperor who had summoned him, standing in front of the desk with his back to the door, his right hand resting on his chin, as if he was silently thinking.

Mehemus and Quintus had some scruples, but Salald didn't care. I took the letter from the coffee table next to me with a big smile, and after a few glances, I somewhat understood.

The fact that Severcro was burned has been discovered by the orcs. Of course, it is not a particularly troublesome thing at the moment, and Ashina Khan is still trying his best to unify the orc tribes in the south. Now it wouldn't think about attacking the North's attention—provided that he didn't know that humanity had been unified, but given the degree of seclusion between the two sides, it was infinitely less likely to know the Tao unless Theodore sent an invitation to the other.

But without the gate of Severcro, the task of blocking the orc wanderers from going north fell to the entire empire - especially Salald and Bran of Laria, both of which had castles closer to the south. In fact, when Severcro was burned, Salald had already expected it.

However, it was quite surprising to him that there were not many wanderers heading north, and there were many more refugees heading north. Sariaon's rangers were confronted by a large number of wanderers. After the elite knight troops were brought north by Salald, the patrol rangers who had been stationed in the Vistula River had to be improvised and engaged in a fierce battle with the sudden appearance of the orcs.

Fortunately, there were not many enemies, but the losses suffered by Salion were not small - because the reserve army was mobilized with little combat experience, and the old duke, who had been at Salion Castle, was worried that more orcs would go north, the garrison army of the castle did not participate in the battle, and the Ranger army suffered heavy casualties. This has hurt Sarion, who originally did not have many regular cavalry, to the root.

This also has a lot to do with the local Salion - because of the Salion War Horse. The Ultok family had a strong knightly force that could tear the enemy through head-on, but these horses were infertile and scarce, so they were knights and armies. It is still mostly infantry - the lack of regular cavalry, which is also the weakness of the Ultok family.

Ashina's move to unify the orc tribe caused turmoil in the south, and in the future, with the gradual unification of the orc tribe, more orc wanderers will have to come north. This is beyond the capacity of Sarleone itself.

Do you want reinforcements? But the Holy Roman Empire is not yet stable. If elite troops are dispatched at this time, many of the policies will be adjusted as a result. Salald didn't know that Theodore had already made up his mind to let Bran take the post early, but no matter what. He must not leave Caesarea until Aaron returns.

In the face of the nobles of the entire north, Theodore was in great need of a strong figure who would definitely stand up for him—and Salald was very unimpressed by his actions, in exchange for the fact that he was now holding a butcher's knife high. However, since Theodore chose to solve the problem peacefully, he could only support him behind his back.

"But the way he does it now can reassure me of one thing. Salald's sharp eyes glanced at Theodore's back a little carelessly, and muttered silently in his heart: "Although I don't know what strange thing you used, but the fire of Severcro ...... There is no doubt about it!"

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"We destroyed the orc tribes of Severcro and united the nobles of the north, but ...... But it raises more questions, which I should have thought of a long time ago. Theodore smiled a little tiredly, and slowly turned to look at the three people in front of him: "We have to think of a way!"

"Either way, Salion is in dire need of reinforcements right now. Salald lowered his head, and his voice was so steady that he didn't even have a tone: "Moreover, the problem of refugees also needs to be solved...... From now on, more and more refugees will come to the north, and we have to find a way to resettle them, give them land to cultivate, or find them a job. ”

"The problem of refugees can be resolved at the next meeting, and there is also the matter of sending troops. Theodore sighed slightly, he really didn't want to slap himself if he could, but this is the way it was: "We must immediately build a new line of defense at the foot of the Broken Mountain in the south, in Severcro. ”

It was his own decision to destroy the castle of Severcro, and the implementer was also himself, and now he had to make up for it himself, and Theodore was now extremely depressed. But the situation was critical, and I couldn't help but refrain from doing it: "First of all, the matter of rebuilding the fortress of Severcroa...... At the very least, it will be much quicker to rebuild than to build a new one. ”

"Allow me to make some objections, my Caesar. Mehemus stepped forward and said in a deep voice, "We do need to rebuild the Fortress of Severcro, but this alone is not enough. Once a large number of wanderers have made their way north, an isolated fortress is simply not enough to defend against it. What's more, if the legion goes south in the future, just Severcro will not be able to assume the function of being the rear camp of the army!"

As he spoke, the eyes of the Minister of War and Theodore met each other—this kind of self-slapping thing was very embarrassing for any emperor. As military secretary, all Mehemus has to do is supplement. To put it simply, it is to prove that Theodore's actions were not entirely wrong, and then state that the role of a castle is not as great as imagined, so as to restore face for this Caesar.

The purpose of burning down the fortress of Severcro was to force the northern nobles to stop pretending to be blind and deaf, and the fortress was rebuilt in preparation for the future southward march - since the new Rome had inherited the name of the Holy Empire, it was incumbent upon them to regain the lost territory. What's more, even if Rome does not have such an idea, the orc tribes after unification will have the desire to conquer north!

"What we need is a better defensive chain, more castles and fortresses. With the eyes of the watchtower, the wolf smoke and the rangers, the castle camp can be resisted in front and back, and not just a fortress that is at risk of being surrounded at any time!" Mehmus said eloquently, and his sonorous tone was extremely convincing: "More importantly, Rome needs time now. ”

"But who can take on such a duty?" Quintus asked, "are the students of the Academy, or is there any good general who can become the governor of the province of Severcro at such a time?"

There was silence in the reception room...... The governor of the province of Severcro not only needs to be quite capable, but also has enough prestige and qualifications, and cannot be involved too much - in other words, even if Salad is willing, Theodore cannot agree to him, and there are many reasons for this, one of which is that the province of Salion and Severcrory are too close.

“............ There are two candidates. Theodore saw that several people were reluctant to speak, so he had to say to himself: "Your Excellency Terenus, the chief flag bearer of the Knights of the Dawn, there is another ...... Severcro's original El Knight Captain. ”

Theodore could have been trusted with these two men...... Terenus is loyal to Helena, there is no doubt about his loyalty, and he is said to be one of the strongest knights in the Pander Empire (Zalard is quite unconvinced by this), and he has a lot of experience, so he can be said to be a very good candidate. However, this old man is involved too much, and it is not easy to convince him, and the most important thing is that the Knights of the Dawn are also one of the components of Theodore's future knights of the Imperial Guard.

As for the El Knights...... His ability was fully demonstrated in the Battle of Severcro, a strong man who could fight the orc leader head-on, and he was originally a Severcro, so he was all too familiar with how to arrange defenses, but he became a little unstable after the demise of the Best family, and it is difficult to say whether he can be considered a competent general.

"Your Majesty!" Just as several people were hesitating, His Excellency Idora, the advisor of the Imperial Council, suddenly walked in, bowed slightly to Theodore, and then said calmly: "Senators...... And all of you are already here, waiting for you in the chamber. (To be continued......)