Conquest

    Chapter 524 [The Skybreak] (seven thousand words)

    Chapter 524 [The Skybreak] (seven thousand words)

    Osgiliath, the former city's first city, the most prosperous city in the world, has now almost become a huge military camp.

    Outside the city, the most common thing is to wear military uniforms from various emperors, patrolling city guards, logistic teams of military logistics, and local garrisons mobilized from all over the south. .

    Adek was deliberately trying to plan a counterattack plan. From the south, he still had a local garrison in the hands of the imperial central authorities. All these local troops were like a stream, gathered from all directions to Imperial Capital. . There are also some private troops of the aristocrat giants. They also came to Imperial Capital from all over the world under the call of the Royal Family.

    It can be said that at the time of the fall of this year, according to the statistics of the military, the total number of troops gathered outside the city of Imperial Capital has reached a total of nearly 150,000.

    This is already a huge amount of data.

    Or, this is the last force that can be mobilized throughout the entire Byzantine Empire – the last force of an empire.

    However, such a huge military force gathered at Imperial Capital, but it brought a great burden to the military's logistics supply. These more than 100,000 troops came from all sides, and they were not in the same place. Adek was almost a retired army that had been ruined and ruined, and reorganized a local garrison.

    The Empire’s second 9th Army, the Imperial Capital City Guard, has been rebuilt – at least in nominal terms.

    If those mobilized local garrisons are relatively easy to command – at least they were originally the army officially compiled by the empire. So,The private army of aristocrat, who responded to the call of the Royal Family, came to be the most troublesome problem for Adrick.

    In fact, Adek himself is firmly opposed to the aristocrat private army.

    As a proud empire professional solider, Adrick really can't afford the fighting power of the aristocrat private army. In his view, these private forces lack formal training, and even many people have never been on the battlefield, equipped with miscellaneous materials, and using the "people of the rabble" to describe them are praises! For a general like Adek, it is important to fight this kind of thing, but the amount of military power is even more than double, but it is just a bunch of useless numbers. Moreover, the private army of aristocrat, which is concentrated in the various giants of Imperial Capital, has reached a total of 50,000. These aristocrat-owned private troops can't fight, but the great trouble that comes with Imperial Capital. Many of these aristocrat private army officers are the children of aristocrat's family. Where do you know the military?

    In less than a month, at least 20 wars and bad security incidents occurred in Imperial Capital. Some aristocrat children are afraid to take the private army out of their hands for the sake of personal grievances or jealousy. Even some private troops with extraordinarily disciplined disciplines have indulged the soldiers in the city.

    Adrick is the most orthodox solider. Where can I see this kind of thing? At the beginning, under his strict rules, the Imperial Capital patrols sang the lessons of these guys, and they grabbed a batch, and they cut some people.

    But soon, the heads of the private army who had suffered the pain ran back to their masters and cried, and the giants aristocrat immediately applied pressure to the emperor.

    – Still let people live? We are all loyal to the country, only to come to Imperial Capital, but for the loyalty of the Emperor! However, it is just fighting and bullying a few untouchables. Is this going to cut our heads? Is there such a reason?

    The Emperor Garcia quickly passed this pressure on Adrick, and the private army of Imperial Capital, with the support of the emperor, soon became more and more arrogant.

    Adrics was troubled, but he couldn’t really rush into the Imperial Palace to find the emperor’s sleeves.

    On the other hand, in fact, Adric is very clear about the intention of the emperor to support the aristocrat private army.

    The emperor could not grasp the direct military power, and these aristocrat private army was the most powerful force of the emperor. In some respects, I am afraid that the emperor’s trust in these hearts and minds will even exceed that of himself.

    However, what made Aderrick unexpected was that on the issue of the aristocrat private army, the Prime Minister, Salon Bonelli, who had always sang against him, unexpectedly stood on his side.

    Prime Minister's meaning is also against the aristocratic private army.

    In fact, in the heart of Salon Bonelli, I see far more than Adriek!

    After all, although Adrick is capable, he is a solider after all, his vision is limited to military angles, and the Prime Minister of Salon Bonelli, who sees a terrifying danger in this matter!

    The imperial state was decadent, the central authority was weak, and the control of the place had declined to the weakest time in the history of the empire.

    Once upon a time, the Royal Family of the Byzantine Empire had always united the aristocrat class. After all, the Royal Family itself was the largest aristocrat of the Empire. However, in order to guarantee the rule of the Royal Family, the Royal Family has always adopted a number of restrictions on the aristocrat class.

    In particular, there has always been strict restrictions on the development of aristocratic aristocrats.

    There are few emperors of all ages who are really fools. They are very hard, and the power of the aristocrat group can be borrowed, but it also needs to be guarded.

    The private army established by the aristocrat giants has severe restrictions on the scale, so as not to cause too much military power in the aristocrat class, so that the tail can not be lost.

    But today, the chaos of the Royal Family, the control and authority of the Royal Family, is at a record low.

    The measures taken by the Emperor Garcia to support the aristocrat group and rely on the aristocrat group are, in the opinion of the Prime Minister, a very unwise move!

    Because of the command of the emperor's master, the aristocrat's command of the private army, the restrictions of the Byzantine Empire on the aristocrat's private army for hundreds of years, suddenly broke!

    Salon Bonelli is very aware of the confusion in the situation below!

    Each aristocrat giant, intentional, unintentional, ambitious, or unambitious, just wants to protect himself in the chaos of the world, almost any giant, under the force of the following expansion of their own private army!

    These things, as well as the limitations of the aristocrat private army statutes that have been in the Empire for centuries, do not dare to be too embarrassed even though they are quietly moving.

    The emperor suddenly made such a statement, relying heavily on the aristocrat group, and publicly showed the aristocrat private military. As a result, the previous restrictions and regulations became a piece of waste paper!

    The following aristocrat giants have an excuse to openly expand their own private army!

    In the long run, these aristocrat giants have mastered so many military forces. If something happens in the future, what does the Royal Family take to control them?

    One is not careful, I am afraid that it will become a new warlord!

    The imperial decree was extremely broadband for aristocrat's territory. Aristocrat's own territory is like a small kingdom. In addition to paying a tax to the central government every year, it is almost completely indulgent. Aristocrat can be at home. Taxation is imposed in the territory and a decree is issued. Now, even the mouth of the private army has been released – once the gate is released, I am afraid that it will not be so easy to close it again!

    The news that Salon Bonelli has mastered is said to be in the following situation, the situation is almost gorgeous! A little Baron, actually dared to pull up the army of thousands. A duke, the number of private troops in his hand can be tens of thousands!

    This is already ten times the limit of the empire's previous aristocrat decree!

    Even the Emperor’s Majesty made a promise to those aristocrat giants:

    In the future counter-attack in the Northern Expedition, if it can win, then as long as the aristocrat private army participating in the war can rely on military merit, the one that belongs to them in the land conquered in the north! At that time, the reward, the title, the fief, the Imperial Capital will never be embarrassed!

    You must know that the development of the giants aristocrat has been ingrained for centuries, but it has also reached a bottleneck. Among the many giants aristocrat, according to the imperial decree, the family title is inherited by the eldest son, then the other aristocrat children can only retreat to the next.

    If you are lucky, you can use the influence of the family to seek a good official position. If you are lucky or if you dare to be mediocre, you will only be able to live forever, even if you cannot inherit the family title. A little family property, and finally because of their incompetence, and led to bankruptcy, there are many people.

    When the emperor opened the door, he gave hope to many people!

    Anyway, I am not the eldest son, I can't inherit the title. If I want to spell out a wealth, I will lead the private army to participate in the war! If you win, you won't be rewarded and you will get your own one! At that time, the seal, wealth, land…

    For those giants, they also support the emperor's promise, and support their own children to take the private army to participate in the war. After all, if it is the last war, the children of the family will get the title, and for their own family, it will be regarded as a branch, which will expand the influence and power of the family as a whole.

    – Salon Bonelli is very clear, and now this situation is a complete gamble! It is safe!

    If the empire’s counterattack against the rebels is smooth, the rebels can be defeated smoothly, and a great victory can be achieved in the counter-attack war, then the might of the victory will probably be able to take advantage of the tremendous impact of victory. Those aristocrat groups are not daring to tremble! At that time, free up your hands to clean up these aristocrats and slowly weaken them, perhaps the only way.

    But in case…What setbacks were encountered during the counter-attack war, and once the situation occurred, the situation was not good…At that time, those aristocrats who had money, food, land and army, would not continue to bow to the Royal Family, I am afraid…

    Because of these worries, Salon Bonelli came up with a pair of attitudes with Adrik in these days. The government affairs of his empire empire actually supported Adek. Even the connection with Adrick has become increasingly intimate.

    This will not cause the emperor's dissatisfaction, it is not controlled by Salon Bonelli.

    However, Salon Bonelli also had his own ideas. He repeatedly urged Adrick to enter the war as soon as possible. In such a situation, every time you delay the next day, it will become more and more gorgeous!

    However, since the recovery of Imperial Capital, it has been several months since the counterattack, but Adrick is still busy with the reorganization of the army, mobilizing materials and formulating operational plans.

    However, the days of sending troops are far away.

    Salon Bonelli argued with Adrick several times, and Adrenck’s reasons, Salon Bonelli could not be argued.

    Adric’s point of view is clear: what is being mobilized now is the final strength of the empire! With more than 100,000 troops, it is already the home of the empire, and all the materials that can be mobilized in the southern counties are already here. It can be said that this is the last national strength of the Byzantine Empire!

    There is only one chance to win or lose!

    "We must be foolproof! Because we can't afford to lose, Prime Minister Lord! Once you send troops, you must win all the time. Any failure will make us collapse and collapse completely! If it fails once, we will have no power! The national strength has dried up, and the southern counties have been almost hollowed out! We have no room for a half step back! There is no chance of failing again! Therefore, before sending troops, I must take the power to the extreme! General's ability to adjust to the best, the battle plan is foolproof! In a word: We are such an opportunity, we can't afford to lose! ”

    This reason, Salon Bonelli is very clear, and understands that he knows that Adrick’s idea is reasonable and correct.

    However, looking at the day and day, the situation below is getting more and more smashed, and the anxiety in his heart is still one day better than one day.

    In order to support this military reorganization, in order to support the military expenses of this counter-attack war, in order to mobilize the materials of various places, Salon Bonelli as the Prime Minister, he is very clear how the South has become like!

    The northern land of the empire has been lost. If you want to raise military expenses, the only source is the few counties, military, food, ordnance, materials in the southeast of the empire.All of this has become a heavy burden on the empire!

    Several counties in the south have added taxes to the highest point in the history of the empire! In the worst case of a county, in order to raise military expenses, the additional war tax pursued has reached more than ten times the pre-war tax rate! The burden on civilians has increased nearly twenty times before the war! ! In some places, local officials have to collect taxes for ten years in order to make up for the military expenses.

    It is just as a brilliant politician, Salon Bonelli is very clear about the extent to which the current situation is so bad!

    It can be said that the old man looks at it every day, up and down, is a meteorological weather!

    The only way to break this apocalyptic weather is to support Adric to win the war, to defeat the rebels smoothly, to recover the lost ground in the north, and then to deter all other destabilizing dangers under the great wise and aura of war victory, so that the empire gets a breath of valuable time, To have the time and the spare to clean up this pile of leaking mess.

    Another important reason for Sauranelli to change his attitude and start to work with Adrick is Duke Minas!

    Just because the emperor's actions to indulge the aristocrat private army, the Duke Minas actually agreed to it! Even, I am afraid that behind the scenes, there are still some secret moves to help!

    Duke Minas's attitude has caused great vigilance and uneasiness in the old Prime Minister.

    He does not believe that with the knowledge of Duke Minas's life in the sea, he will not see the chaos of the aristocrat group's private army in the future – but the old duke just supported the emperor!

    Moreover, the old Prime Minister secretly investigated and got news that made his uneasiness stronger.

    The Minas family, in their southern territories, has pulled up more than 5,000 private troops. Although this figure is not too obvious in the overall situation of the aristocrat private army, after all, some Duke's homes, there are many people who pull up the tens of thousands of teams.

    However, the Minas family is the emperor's family! Duke Minas is an army life, even if it is his home, there are quite a few of them who will be in the army from the south of the army! Although the Minas family has only pulled up 5,000 private troops, the combat power of these thousands of people can be far more than 100 times better than the other families.

    The old duke had already regained the power of the emperor, and his majesty also relied on him, and he strongly supported his authority to divide Adelek in the army. Under such circumstances, the old duke is so quietly developing his own private army, what is his intention?

    If it is just a chance to expand its own strength, in order to protect itself in the chaos, then it will be.

    But if…

    Every time I think of it, Salon Bonelli can't help but fight a chill, and dare not go deep into the depths.

    However, the emperor, because of his cooperation with Adek, has had some dissatisfaction with himself in recent days. Even when he meets, the attitude of distrust and dissatisfaction has become more and more obvious. The emperor did not seem to be able to listen to it when he said it.

    At this time, Salon Bonelli was very clear that his predecessors had formed for himself – and I was afraid that there would be no shadow of the old Duke of Minas. It’s not so easy to defend yourself, the only way…Only by fully supporting Adek to enter the Northern Expedition as soon as possible, as long as you win a few beautiful encounters, then the situation may be alleviated.

※※※

    On the morning of this morning, Salon Bonelli personally went to the port area of ​​the terminal, and the Kingdom of Atlantis brought in more than ten ships of aid.

    Although in order to get such assistance from the Kingdom of Atlantis, Salon Bonelli had to hold his nose and signed a harsh treaty with the Kingdom of Atlantis, but at this moment, even if he was drinking and quenching thirst, he would not care about it.

    At least, the supplies of the more than ten ships can solve the urgent need of the current Imperial Capital Northern Expedition, because the southern part of the empire is now a part of the energy and can not be extracted.

    When the ten ships are shipped, the gap between the current military supplies and materials can be filled. Adek has solved this worries and can start the army as soon as possible.

    For the support of this belief, the old Prime Minister dragged his old body and rushed to the dock to sit in the town. He stood in the sea breeze for a morning, watching the cargo ship fleet enter the port safely, and the materials that were unloaded were piled up. Such as the mountain, this is a little gratified in my heart.

    The anxiety in the heart eased a little, and the old Prime Minister only gathered up his mind and reluctantly brought up the spirit, and told his men to go to the courtesy officials and generals of the Atlantis fleet.

    Although in accordance with the etiquette, he should personally meet with the other officials as Prime Minister.

    But now that Salon Bonelli is full of heart, there is no such feeling.

    Moreover, these materials can be borrowed from the Kingdom of Atlantis on extremely harsh terms. Such unequal treaties are for people, and if they hold their noses, they will endure it, and the old man will make smiles and spirits. The other party's officials are circling, and the old Prime Minister is not so good at this time.

    However, the presence of military funds still makes the old Prime Minister feel a little better. He is preparing to leave the dock and go back. He is thinking about going to Imperial Capital and then persuading him to go down and go to the military and meet with Adrick. The plan of the Northern Expedition…

    Thinking about it, suddenly I heard the road leading to the city in the distance, and there was a noisy, rushing horseshoe, just like Ray hitting people's hearts.

    Because of such an important logistics, in order to ensure that no accidents, Salon Bonelli has ordered the martial law in the port area today. The city has transferred the city guards to shoot the checkpoints around the dock port area, so that no one can enter or leave.

    At this time, there were a number of riders who came to the level and rushed to the checkpoint. They were blocked by the city guards. The two sides were screaming, and the knight’s helmets that flew from the horse’s armor were slanted and stopped by the city guards. The two sides refused to talk well and directly Shout it.

    Far away, Salon Bonelli was only as if he heard the words that came with the wind.

    "Emergency military affairs…hold up……you……Faced…"

    The old Prime Minister slightly twisted the brow, and it was calm at the moment. He waved his hand to the entourage: "Go and bring the man." Noisy like what! ”

    The men in the past passed, and the knights of the flying horses were brought in a few moments.

    The knight was full of cold, all the way to the trot, Xu was too tired, the pace was a bit awkward, in front of the Prime Minister, but the legs are soft, directly fell to the ground, looked up, full The face is anxious, panting, "Lord, Lord…The military situation is urgent, we are passing by the twenty rides, one is sent to the military, one is sent to you, please, please…"

    "Get it up."Salon Bonelli took a deep breath. In my mind: What happened? The rebels have come to harass again? Or are the aristocrat troops outside the city noisy? 2nd Army Some days ago, because of the lack of military shackles, what happened? Well, fortunately, I have reached such a batch of materials in my hand. If I want to come, I can solve this urgent need…

    I was thinking that the men of the messenger presented the military intelligence of the messenger. When I got the hand, the Prime Minister suddenly jumped!

    That is sealed on the reel of the newspaper, there are bloodstains!

    I don't know why, at this moment, Salon Bonelli suddenly had a panic in his heart, and his heart was short of breath. Suddenly, there were some flowers in front of him. After taking the reel, the feeling of dizziness could not be pressed down and stuffed into the hands of a civilian officer. Inside, whispered: "I have some flowers in my eyes, I can't see them, you can read them to me."

    When the gentleman took the reel out, Salon Bonelli sat down with the support of his entourage, and a cup of hot tea came to his hand. The old Prime Minister just took a sip of tea and was about to breathe. Tooth, suddenly the expression was stuck there! ! !

    Just listening to the gentleman on the side, the voice trembled, his face was blank, but he kept reading the newspaper intermittently.

“……Zwen reported that the war broke out in Bodø City, Effinwitt, and the county army was underpowered, the field defeated, the county overseer in Effinwit and the governor of the country, and the three-day disaster had spread throughout the county. The whole territory, with dozens of people, spread to neighboring three counties, conquered the county town, and looted the official warehouse. The situation is gorgeous, in order to become uncontrollable! The southern counties have empty military power and are powerless. They can only defend the county town and wait for help! If the reinforcements are not in the day, fear that the three southern counties will be ruined…"

    Teng! ! !

    Without waiting for the civil servant to finish, the prime Minister Salemponilly had suddenly jumped out of the chair, the old man's face was pale, his eyes were wide open, staring at the official of the newspaper, the foot of the forward two steps, pointing to the official, open his mouth, as if to drink asked something, but the mouth opened and Zhang, but the throat only issued " The voice of the Geiger, where can you say half a word?

    Next to the followers, I saw that the old man was not right. He quickly went up and tried to help him. Salon Bonelli suddenly gave birth to a force, and violently took off the other’s hand and went up to grab the newspaper in the hands of the official. Staring at it…

    For a moment, all around were silent, and everyone was shocked by the news.

    Finally, the old Prime Minister’s throat snorted a few more times, and suddenly he opened his mouth, and with a bang, a group of blood was sprayed on the newspaper in his hand.

    The old man said nothing, so he went straight backwards. The crowd immediately shook hands and feet, swarming around and burying the old man, an anxious crying sounded.

    The tube top is back, and the tea is poured down. The old man wakes up in a secluded manner. He lay on the ground and looked at the officials at all levels around him or around him. Everyone was anxious. The expression, looking at it, no one can still maintain a calm look.

    The old man’s heart is a sigh.

    I don't know why, at this moment, I woke up, but in the heart of Salon Bonelli, it seemed that there was no horror and fear in the contents of this newspaper. The heart seemed to be numb, and there was no longer a half-wave.

    In my heart, but only a calm, no longer calm thought came up.

    This calm, even he himself does not understand exactly where it came from.

    The thought is:

    Is this Byzantine empire really going to die?

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