Osgilia, which used to be the largest city on the mainland and the most prosperous city in the world, has now almost become a huge military camp.
Inside and outside the city, the most common sights are soldiers in various imperial uniforms coming and going, including patrolling city guards, military logistics transport teams, and local garrison troops mobilized from all over the south.
In order to plan a counter-offensive plan, Adric made every effort to draw local garrison troops from various counties in the south that were still in the hands of the central empire of the empire. There are also private armies of some aristocratic and wealthy families, who also came to the Emperor Qin from all over the country under the call of the royal family.
It can be said that when the autumn of this year came, according to the statistics of the military department, the total number of troops gathered in and outside the imperial city had reached nearly 150,000.
This is already a huge amount of data.
In other words, this is the last force that the entire Byzantine Empire can mobilize—the last battle force of an empire.
However, such a huge military force, gathered in the imperial capital, has brought a great burden to the logistics supply of the military department. These more than 100,000 troops came from all directions, and they were not under each other. Adrick was almost a sleepless rectification army, reorganizing the local garrison army one by one.
The Empire's 2nd and 9th Corps, the Imperial City Guard, has been rebuilt—at least in name.
If it is said that the mobilized local garrison is relatively easy to command - at least they are the official army of the empire. Then... The private armies of the wealthy nobles who came to King Qin in response to the call of the royal family became the most troublesome trouble for Adric.
In fact, Adric himself was firmly opposed to the mobilization of private armies of nobles.
As a proud professional soldier of the Empire, Adrick really doesn't look down on the combat effectiveness of the private armies of the nobles. In his opinion, these private armies lack formal training, and even many of them have never been on the battlefield, and their equipment is miscellaneous. To describe them as "rabble crowds" can be regarded as a compliment to them! For a general like Adric, the amount of military strength is important in wars, but this kind of miscellaneous soldiers, even if they are doubled, are just a bunch of useless numbers. Moreover, the total number of private armies of various wealthy nobles gathered in the imperial capital has reached 50,000. These private armies raised by noble families could not fight, but they brought great trouble in the imperial capital. Many of these aristocratic private armies serving as officers are basically children of noble families. How can these playboy children know any military strategy
In less than a month, there have been at least twenty armed fights and bad security incidents in the imperial capital. Some noble children dared to fight with their private army for personal grievances or jealousy and other bullshit things. Even some private armies with exceptionally disorganized discipline actually condone their soldiers to do evil in the city.
Adrick is the most orthodox soldier, where did you see such a thing? At the beginning, under his strict orders, the Imperial City Security Patrol troop taught these guys a hard lesson, and even caught a group of them, beheading some people.
But soon, the chiefs of the private army who had suffered so much ran back to their masters to cry, and the wealthy nobles immediately put pressure on the emperor.
- Is it still alive? We are all loyal to the country, and we have come all the way to the imperial capital, King Qin, but it is all for the sake of loyalty to His Majesty the Emperor! But it's just a fight, bullying a few pariahs, and this is going to cut our heads off? Is there any reason for that
Emperor Garcia quickly passed this pressure on to Adric, and the private army of the imperial capital had the emperor's support, and soon became more and more arrogant.
Adrick was very troubled, but he couldn't really rush into the palace to find the emperor to slap his sleeves and argue.
On the other hand, Adric was actually very aware of the emperor's intention to support the private army of the nobles.
The emperor could not hold direct military power, and these noble private armies were the strength that the emperor relied on most. From a certain point of view, I am afraid that the emperor's trust in these rabble people is even more than in himself.
However, what surprised Adric was that on the issue of the private armies of the nobles, the prime minister Sarum Bonelli, who had always been against him, unexpectedly sided with him.
The Prime Minister's meaning is also against His Majesty's condoning the private armies of the nobles.
In fact, in Salon Bonelli's heart, he sees far more long-term than Adrick!
After all, although Adric is capable, he is a soldier after all, and his vision is only limited to a military point of view, and the Prime Minister of the Empire, Sarum Bonelli, saw a terrible hidden danger in this matter!
The state of the empire is decadent, the central authority is weak, and its control over localities has declined to the weakest point in the history of the empire.
In the past, the royal family of the Byzantine Empire always united the noble class. After all, the royal family itself was the largest noble in the empire. However, in order to ensure the rule of the royal family, the royal family has always adopted many restrictive measures for the noble class.
In particular, there have always been strict restrictions on the development of their own private armies by the wealthy and noble families.
Few of the emperors of all dynasties were really fools. They are very hard, and the power of the noble group can be borrowed, but it also needs to be guarded.
The private armies established by aristocratic wealthy families are strictly limited in size, so as not to cause the aristocratic class to have too much military power at that time, so that the tail cannot be lost.
But today, in such a chaotic situation, the control and authority of the royal family are at an all-time low.
And the measures taken by Emperor Garcia to vigorously support the noble groups and rely on the noble groups, in the view of the prime minister, is really an extremely unwise move!
Because of the order that the emperor strongly advocated for the private army of the nobles and wealthy families, the various restrictions on the private armies of nobles and wealthy families for hundreds of years in the Byzantine Empire were suddenly broken!
Salem Bonelli knew very well what chaos the situation is now!
Every aristocratic wealthy family, intentional, unintentional, ambitious, or unambitious, just trying to protect themselves in a chaotic world, almost any wealthy family has saved enough energy to expand their own private army below!
Originally, these things were restricted by the imperial decree of the nobles' private army for hundreds of years.
But the emperor suddenly made such a statement, relying heavily on the aristocratic group, and openly foreshadowing the aristocratic private army. As a result, the previous restriction law suddenly became a piece of waste paper!
The following noble families had an excuse and began to openly expand their private army!
If things go on like this, these noble families have so much military power in their hands. If something happens in the future, what will the royal family use to control them
If you are not careful, you may become a new warlord!
The imperial decree is very broad for the nobles' territories. The nobles' own territories are like small independent kingdoms. Except for paying a tax to the central government every year, it is almost a form of complete indulgence. The nobles can use their own territory. Taxes are levied, and decrees are issued. Now, even the private army's opening has been released - once this gate is released, I am afraid that it will not be so easy to close it again!
According to the information in Salon Bonelli's possession, it is said that the situation is almost rotten down below! A small baron dared to pull up an army of a thousand people. A duke can have tens of thousands of private troops in his hands!
This is already ten times the amount limited by the Empire's previous noble decree!
Even His Majesty the Emperor made a promise to those nobles and wealthy families: in the future counter-offensive Northern Expedition, if they can win, then as long as the noble private army participating in the war can rely on military merit, the land conquered in the north can be assigned to them. that one! At that time, the emperor will definitely not be stingy when it comes to awards, titles, fiefs, and fiefs!
You must know that for hundreds of years in the empire, the development of various wealthy aristocrats has been deeply rooted, but at the same time, it has also reached a bottleneck. Among the many wealthy nobles, according to the imperial decree, the family title is inherited by the eldest son, so the children of the other nobles can only settle for second place.
If you are lucky, you can also use the influence of the family to get a good official position, and you will be rich and honorable for a lifetime. If you are unlucky or you dare to be mediocre, you will only be able to live your whole life, and even because you cannot inherit the family title, you will only be assigned There are also a lot of people who have a little family property and eventually go bankrupt because of their own incompetence.
As soon as the emperor opened his mouth like this, he immediately gave many people hope!
Anyway, since I am not the eldest son, I cannot inherit the title. If I want to make a fortune, I simply lead a private army to participate in the war! If you win, you won't have to worry about the reward for meritorious deeds and get your share! When the time comes, nobility, wealth, land...
For those wealthy families, they also supported the emperor's promise, and also supported their own children to bring private troops into the war. After all, if there is a final war, and one's own children will get the title, it will be considered as opening branches and leaves for one's own family, and it will expand the influence and power of the family as a whole.
-Salem Bonelli is very clear that the current situation is a downright gamble! It's a risk!
If the empire's counter-offensive against the rebels is smooth, the rebels can be defeated smoothly, and a huge victory is achieved in the counter-offensive war, then with the power of the big victory, perhaps it can also use the huge influence brought by the victory to make Those aristocratic groups are trembling and dare not move! At that time, it may be the only way to free up your hands to clean up these nobles and slowly weaken them.
But in case... encounter any setbacks in the counter-offensive war, once the situation becomes bad... At that time, those nobles who have money, food, land and troops in their hands will continue to bow their heads to the royal family, I am afraid…
Because of these worries, Sarum Bonelli has actually put on a cooperative attitude with Adrick these days. He was in charge of the government affairs of the empire, and he actually showed his support to Adrick. Even the connection with Adric has grown much closer.
Whether or not this will cause the emperor's dissatisfaction is beyond the control of Sarumbonelli.
But Salem Bonelli also had his own ideas, and he repeatedly urged Adric to march into the war as soon as possible. In such a situation, every time the next day is delayed, it will become more and more corrupt!
However, several months have passed since the restoration of the imperial capital, and the counter-offensive is still unclear. Adrick is still busy with the reorganization of the army every day, mobilizing materials, and formulating battle plans.
But the day of dispatching troops is far away.
Salon Bonelli argued with Adrick several times about this, and Salon Bonelli could not argue with the reasons given by Adrick.
Adrick's point of view is very clear: what has been mobilized now is the last fighting force of the Empire! Such more than 100,000 troops are already the entire family of the empire, and all the supplies 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!
"We must be foolproof! Because we can't afford to lose, Lord Chancellor! Once we send troops, we must be victorious. Any failure will cause us to collapse and completely collapse! If we fail once, we have no power! National strength It has been exhausted, and the southern counties are almost hollowed out! We have no room to retreat half a step! There is no chance to fail again! Therefore, before sending troops, I must accumulate my strength to the extreme! Adjust the general strength to the best , Make the battle plan foolproof! In one sentence: We only have such a chance, we can't afford to lose!"
This truth, Salon Bonelli is very clear and understands that he knows that Adrick's idea is reasonable and correct.
However, watching the days go by, the situation below becomes more and more rotten, and the anxiety in his heart is still better than the day.
In order to support this armament consolidation, in order to support the military expenditure of this counter-offensive war, in order to mobilize materials from all over the world, Sarum Bonili, as the prime minister, knows very well what the South has become!
The northern land of the empire has been completely lost. To raise military funds, the only source is the counties in the southeastern part of the empire that are still in the hands of the center of the empire. , has become the courage to bear a heavy burden on the empire!
Several counties in the south have increased taxes to the highest point in the history of the empire! In a county with the worst situation, in order to raise military expenses, the additional war tax levied has reached more than ten times the tax rate before the war! The burden on civilians has increased nearly twenty times since before the war! ! In some places, local officials had to collect taxes after ten years in order to collect enough military expenses!
It is precisely as an intelligent politician that Sarumbonelli knows how bad the current situation is!
It can be said that the old man looks around every day, up and down, it is an apocalyptic atmosphere!
To break this apocalyptic atmosphere, the only way is to support Adrick to win the war, defeat the rebels smoothly, regain the lost territory in the north, and then use the great power and halo of victory in the war to deter everyone else. The danger of instability gives the empire precious time to breathe, so that it can have time and spare energy to clean up this pile of messes that are leaking from top to bottom.
Another important reason for Salon Bonelli to change his attitude and start to cooperate with Adrick is the Duke of Minas!
Just because the Duke of Minas actually tacitly agreed with the emperor's behavior towards indulging the nobles' private army! Even, I'm afraid that behind the scenes, there are some secretly fueling the flames!
The attitude of Duke Minas caused great vigilance and anxiety of the old prime minister.
He didn't believe that, with the knowledge of Huan Hai, Duke of Minas, he would not see the chaotic consequences of the proliferation of private armies of noble groups in the future - but this old duke just supported the emperor like this!
Moreover, the old prime minister secretly investigated and got the news, which made his unease even more intense.
The Minas family, in their southern territory, has already drawn more than 5,000 private troops. Although this number is not too obvious in the situation of the flood of aristocratic private armies as a whole, after all, there are many dukes' families who have pulled up tens of thousands of teams.
However, the Minas family is a family of imperial generals! Duke Minas has been in the military all his life, even among his generals, there are quite a few military veterans who followed him in the South and the North War! Although the Minas family only raised 5,000 private troops, the combat power of these thousands of people is far more than a hundred times stronger than that of the other families!
The old duke had already come out of the mountains to regain control of the empire's military power, and His Majesty also relied on him and strongly supported him in the division of Adric's authority in the army. Under such circumstances, why did the old duke develop his own private army so quietly
If he just took the opportunity to expand his own strength, in order to protect himself in a chaotic world, that's all.
But if...
Every time he thinks of this, Saran Bonelli couldn't help shivering, not daring to think further.
However, because of his cooperation with Adrick, the emperor has developed some dissatisfaction with himself these days. Even when they met, the attitude of distrust and dissatisfaction became more and more obvious. The emperor didn't seem to be able to hear what he said.
At such a time, Sarumbonelli knew very well that His Majesty had already formed his own prejudice - among them, there might not be any shadow of the old Duke of Minas. It is not so easy for me to defend myself. The only way... is to fully support Adrick to enter the Northern Expedition as soon as possible. As long as he wins a few beautiful battles, maybe the situation can be alleviated.
※※※
This morning, Saron Bonelli went to the port area in person, and the Landis Kingdom sent another ten ships of aid.
Although Sarumbonelli had to pinch his nose and sign a harsh loan agreement with the Landis Kingdom in order to get such a aid from the Landis Kingdom, but at this moment, even if he was drinking poison to quench his thirst, he couldn't care about it. .
At least, the supplies of these ten ships can solve the urgent need for the northern expedition in the imperial capital, because the southern part of the empire cannot be squeezed out at the moment.
When these ten ships of supplies arrive, the biggest gap in military supplies can now be filled. Adrick has solved this worry, and he can start the army as soon as possible.
In order to have this supportive belief in his heart, the old prime minister dragged his old body and rushed to the wharf to sit in the town. He stood in the sea breeze for a full morning, watching the fleet of cargo ships enter the port safely, and the unloaded materials piled up like mountains. , I was a little relieved in my heart.
The anxiety in his heart eased a little, and the old prime minister calmed down, reluctantly lifted his spirits, and ordered his subordinates to a courtesy banquet for the leading officials and generals of the Landis fleet.
Although according to the etiquette, as the chief minister, he should personally meet the officials of the other party.
But now Sarum Bonelli is full of worries, and he doesn't have the mood anymore.
Moreover, these materials were borrowed from the Landis Kingdom on extremely harsh terms. Such an unequal treaty requires people to ask for it, and it will be tolerated if you hold your nose, and the old man will force his smile and spirit. Dealing with the other party's officials politely, the old prime minister is really not in such a good mood at this time.
However, the availability of military resources still made the old prime minister feel a little better. He was about to leave the pier and go back. He was thinking about whether he should go to the imperial capital and persuade His Majesty, or go to the military headquarters to meet with Adric to talk about the Northern Expedition. plan…
While thinking about it, I suddenly heard a commotion on the road leading to the city in the distance. The rapid sound of horse hooves struck people's hearts like thunder.
Because of the transportation of such important materials, in order to ensure that there is no accident, Sarumbonelli has ordered the port area to be under martial law today. The city has dispatched the city guards to shoot the checkpoints around the port area, so as not to let idle people enter and leave.
At this time, several cavalry came from far away, rushed to the checkpoint, and were stopped by the city guards. The two sides were shouting. The knights who came from the flying cavalry had crooked helmets and were stopped by the city guards. shouted.
In the distance, Saron Bonelli only seemed to hear a few words wafting in the wind.
"Urgent military affairs... delay... you... face..."
The old prime minister frowned slightly, but he was still calm at the moment, and waved his hand to the entourage beside him: "Go and bring that person. What is the noise like!"
The subordinates went over, and in a short while, they brought the flying knight.
The knight was full of heat and cold, and trotted all the way. Perhaps he was too tired, and his steps were a little staggered. When he came to the prime minister, his legs were weak, and he fell to the ground. He raised his head, his face full of expression. Panting anxiously, he said, "Sir, my lord... The military situation is urgent, we have sent one from twenty cavalry, one to the military, one to you here, please, please..."
"Bring it up." Sarum Bonelli took a deep breath. Thinking: what happened? Rebels harassing again? Or are the noble troops outside the city making trouble again? The Second Corps had been making a fuss for a while because of the lack of military pay. Could it be that something happened again? Well, fortunately, I have such a batch of supplies now, and I can solve this urgent need when I think about it...
Just thinking about it, his subordinates presented the military intelligence text on the messenger. When he got it, the prime minister's heart jumped!
There was still blood on the reel that sealed the newspaper!
I don't know why, at this moment, Sarum Bonelli suddenly felt a panic in his heart for no reason, his heart palpitated and his breath was short, and suddenly his eyes were a little flowery. He took the reel, the feeling of dizziness could not be suppressed, and he stuffed it into the hand of a civil servant next to him. He said in a low voice, "My eyes are a bit blurry, I can't see it, you can read it to me."
When the civil servant next to him took the roll and unfolded it, Saron Bonelli sat down with the help of the attendant beside him. A cup of hot tea was brought into his hand. The old prime minister just took a sip of tea and was about to take a breath. , suddenly his expression froze there! ! !
I just listened to the civil servant on the side, his voice trembling and his face full of astonishment, but he read the paper intermittently.
"...Zwen reported that a bandit attack broke out in Borde City, Effenwitt County ten days ago. The county army was insufficient and the field battle was defeated. The county governor and the governor of Effenwitt County died. The refugees swept across the country, reaching hundreds of thousands, affecting the three neighboring counties, conquering the county seat, and looting the official warehouse. The situation was eroded, and the situation was uncontrollable! , waiting for help! If the reinforcements don't arrive for ten days, I fear that the three southern counties will fall into the hands of the rebels..."
Teng! ! !
Before the official finished reading, the prime minister, Sarum Bonelli, had suddenly jumped up from his chair. The old man was pale and his eyes were wide open. Pointing at the official, he opened his mouth, as if he was about to drink and ask something, but his mouth opened and opened again, but there was only a "Gege" sound in his throat. How could he say half a word
The entourage next to him saw that something was wrong with the old man, and hurried up to try to support him, but Sarum Bonelli suddenly had a burst of strength, and shook off the hands of the others, went up and snatched the newspaper from the official's hand, his eyes widened. staring at it...
For a moment, there was silence all around, and everyone was horrified by the news and could not say a word.
Finally, the old prime minister made a few more grunts in his throat, suddenly opened his mouth, and with a puff, a cloud of blood was sprayed on the paper in his hand.
The old man didn't say a word, and just fell back so straight. The people next to him immediately shook their hands and feet, swarmed over to surround the old man, and cried anxiously.
The tube top stroked his back, and the tea was poured down again, and the old man woke up faintly. He lay on the ground and looked at the officials at all levels who were either kneeling or standing around him. Everyone was anxious and scared. The expression on his face, looking around, no one can still maintain a calm look.
The old man sighed in his heart.
I don't know why, but when I woke up at this moment, Sarum Bonelli seemed to have lost the horror and panic when he heard the content of this paper, and his heart seemed to be numb, and there was no more waves.
In his heart, however, there was only a calm thought that could no longer be calm.
This peace, even he himself did not understand where it came from.
The thought was:
Is the Byzantine Empire really going to die