Osgilia, once 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 thing everywhere is the soldiers wearing various imperial uniforms coming and going, there are patrolling city guards, there are also military logistics transport teams, and there are local garrisons mobilized from all over the south.
Adric tried his best to plan a counteroffensive by drawing local garrisons from the counties in the south that were still in the hands of the central empire, and all these local armies were like streams, converging on Yanjing from all directions.
There are also some private armies of aristocratic and wealthy families, who also came to Yanjing King 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 of all colors gathered outside the city of Yanjing City had reached nearly 150,000.
That's a huge amount of data.
In other words, this is already the last force of the entire Byzantine Empire that can be mobilized, the last combat force of an empire.
However, such a huge military force, gathered in Yanjing, has brought a great burden to the logistics supply of the military department.
These more than 100,000 troops, coming from all directions, were originally not under each other's control, and Adric almost forgot to sleep and eat to reorganize the army, and reorganized one local garrison army after another.
The Empire's Second and Ninth Corps, the Yanjing City Guard, had been rebuilt, at least nominally.
If the local garrisons that were mobilized were relatively easy to command, at least they were originally the official armies of the Empire.
Then the private armies of the various wealthy nobles who responded to the call of the royal family and came to King Qin became Adric's biggest headache.
In fact, Adric himself was a staunch opponent of the mobilization of aristocratic private armies.
As a proud professional soldier of the Empire, Adric really did not look down on the combat effectiveness of those aristocratic private armies.
In his opinion, these private armies lack formal training, and even many of them have never been on the battlefield, and their equipment is mixed, and the description of "rabble" can be regarded as a compliment for them For a general like Adric, the number of troops in such a war is important, 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 Yanjing has also reached 50,000.
These nobles' private armies are not good at fighting, but they bring great trouble in Yanjing.
Many of these aristocratic private armies who served as officers were simply the children of aristocratic families, and these gentlemen knew what military strategies were In less than a month, there were at least 20 armed fights and bad law and order incidents in Yanjing.
Some nobles' children dare to pull their private armies out to fight for personal grievances or jealousy and other bullshit things.
There were even some private soldiers with exceptionally loose discipline who actually connived at the soldiers to do evil in the city.
Adrick is the most orthodox soldier, where can I see this kind of thing at the beginning, under his strict orders, the Yanjing security patrol troops taught these guys a hard lesson, and also arrested a batch of people, and cut off some heads.
But soon, the leaders 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.
Do you still let people live, we are all loyal to the country, and we came all the way to Yanjing Qinwang, but we are all for a piece of loyalty to His Majesty the Emperor, but it is just a fight and bullying a few untouchables, which will cut off our heads, and there is still this kind of reason Emperor Garcia quickly transferred this pressure to Adric, and Yanjing's private army, with the support of the emperor, soon became more and more arrogant.
Adrick was annoyed, but he couldn't really rush into the palace to find the emperor to dispute with his sleeves.
On the other hand, in fact, Adric was very aware of the emperor's intention to support the nobles' private army so much.
The emperor could not hold direct military power in his hands, and these aristocratic private armies were the strength that the emperor relied on the most.
In a way, I am afraid that the emperor trusts these rabble in his heart even more than himself.
However, to Adric's surprise, on the issue of the nobles' private army, the prime minister Salon Bonili, who had always been against him, unexpectedly sided with him.
The Prime Minister's intention is also to oppose His Majesty's connivance with the nobles' private army.
In fact, in Salumbonelli's mind, he sees far more long-term than Adric After all, although Adric is capable, he is a soldier after all, and his vision is only limited to a military perspective, and Salumbonelli, the prime minister of the empire, sees a terrible hidden danger in this matter The empire was in decay, the central authority was weakened, and its control over the local area had waned to the weakest point in the empire's history.
Once upon a time, the royal family of the Byzantine Empire had always united the aristocracy, after all, the royal family itself was the largest nobility of the empire.
However, in order to ensure the rule of the royal family, the royal family has always taken a lot of restrictive measures for the aristocratic class.
Especially on the issue of the development of their own private armies by various wealthy nobles, there have always been strict restrictions.
There are few emperors in the past who are really fools.
They are very hard, and the power of the aristocratic community can certainly be borrowed, but it also needs to be guarded against.
The private armies established by the aristocratic and wealthy families have strict restrictions on their size, so as not to cause the aristocratic class to control too much military power at that time, so that the tail is too big.
But now, 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 and rely on the aristocratic groups were really an extremely unwise move in the eyes of the prime minister Because of the emperor's strong order, which was an omen to the noble and wealthy private army, the Byzantine Empire's various restrictions on the private army of the aristocratic and wealthy for hundreds of years were suddenly broken Sarun Bonili is well aware of how chaotic the situation is right now All aristocratic and wealthy families, with intentions, unintentional, ambitious, or without ambition, just want to try their best to protect themselves in the troubled times, almost any wealthy family has gathered enough strength to expand their private army Originally, these things were still limited by the private military decrees of the nobles in the empire for hundreds of years, and even if these people acted quietly, they didn't dare to do too much.
But the emperor suddenly expressed his position, vigorously relied on the aristocratic group, and openly signaled the nobles' private army to serve the king.
In this way, the former restriction decree suddenly became a piece of waste paper The aristocratic families below had an excuse and began to openly expand their private army In the long run, these aristocratic 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 will become a new warlord Imperial decrees were originally extremely broad for the nobles' domains, and the nobles' own territories, like a small kingdom of reading, except for the need to pay a tax to the central government every year, were almost a form of complete indulgence, and the nobles could collect taxes in their own territories and issue decrees.
Now, even the mouth of the private army has been opened, and once this floodgate is released, I am afraid that it will not be so easy to close it again Salumbonelli has the news that it is said that below, the situation has almost eroded a small baron, and he actually dares 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 previous aristocratic decrees of the Empire Even His Majesty the Emperor made a promise to those noble and wealthy families: In the future counteroffensive and Northern Expedition war, if they can win, then as long as the aristocratic private army participating in the war can rely on their military merits to divide the land that belongs to them in the land subjugated in the north You must know that for hundreds of years in the empire, the development of various wealthy nobles has been deeply rooted, but at the same time, it has also reached a bottleneck.
Among many wealthy nobles, according to the imperial decree, the family title is inherited by the eldest son, so the other noble children can only retreat to the second.
If you are lucky, you can also use the influence of the family to seek a good official position, rich and noble for a lifetime, if you are unlucky or dare to be really mediocre, you can only work all your life, and even because you can't inherit the family title, you only get a little bit of family property, and finally because of your own incompetence, resulting in bankruptcy and bankruptcy, there are also many people.
As soon as the emperor opened his mouth, he immediately gave hope to many people Anyway, he is not the eldest son, he can't inherit the title, if he wants to fight for some wealth, he simply leads the private army to participate in the war, if he wins, he will not worry about rewarding his merits, and when he gets his share, he will be knighted, wealth, and land For those wealthy families, they also support the emperor's promise, and they also support their own children to bring the private army to the war.
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After all, if there is a final war and your own children get knighthoods, it will be regarded as a branch for your own family, expanding the influence and power of the family as a whole.
Salumbonelli is well aware that the current situation is a complete gamble and a risk If the empire's counteroffensive against the rebels goes well, can successfully defeat the rebels, and achieve a huge victory in the counteroffensive war, then when the time comes, with the power of a great victory, perhaps it can also use the huge impact of the victory to make those noble groups tremble and dare not move, and then free up their hands to clean up these nobles and slowly weaken them, maybe the only way is to do it.
But in case of any setbacks in the war of the counteroffensive, once the situation is not good, those nobles who have money, food, land and army will continue to bow down to the royal family, I am afraid that because of these worries, Salembonili will actually put on an attitude of working with Adric.
He was in charge of the affairs of the empire, and he actually made a show of support for Adric.
Even the connection with Adrick became much closer.
Whether this point will cause the emperor's dissatisfaction or not is beyond the control of Salembonili.
But Salembonelli also had his own ideas, and he repeatedly urged Adric to march into the war as soon as possible.
Such a situation, every time it is delayed, the more erosive it becomes However, since the recovery of Yanjing, several months have passed, and the matter of the counteroffensive is still not visible, and Adric is still busy with the reorganization of the army, mobilizing materials, and formulating battle plans.
But the time to send troops is far away.
Salembonili argued with Adric several times about this, and the reasons given by Adric were also irrefutable by Salemboni.
Adric's point of view is very clear: what is being mobilized now is the last combat strength of the empire, so many more than 100,000 troops, which are already all the current 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 was the last point of national power of the Byzantine Empire There is only one chance to win or lose "We must be foolproof, because we can't afford to lose, once the prime minister sends troops, we must win all, any defeat will make us collapse directly, completely collapse, if we fail once, we have no strength, the national strength has been exhausted, the southern counties have almost been hollowed out, we have no room to retreat half a step, and there is no chance to fail again, so, before sending troops, I must accumulate strength to the extreme, adjust the military strength to the best, and make the battle plan foolproofWe can't afford to lose."
Salumbonelli knew this very well and understood, and he knew that Adric's idea was reasonable and correct.
However, watching the situation below become more and more erosive day by day, the anxiety in his heart is still better than the other.
In order to support this armament rectification, in order to support the military expenses of this counteroffensive war, in order to mobilize materials from all over the country, Salumbonili, as the prime minister, he knew very well what the South had become The northern land of the empire has been completely lost, and the only source of military expenses is only those counties in the southeast of the empire that are still in the hands of the central empire Several counties in the south had increased taxes to the highest point in the history of the empire, and in one of the worst counties, in order to raise military expenses, the additional war taxes collected had reached more than ten times the pre-war tax rate, and the burden on the civilian population had increased nearly twenty times compared with before the war, and in some places, local officials had to collect taxes until ten years later in order to make up for the military expenses they paid It was as a brilliant politician that Salumbonelli knew exactly how bad the situation had been It can be said that every time the old man looks at it, up and down, it is a post-apocalyptic atmosphere The only way to break this apocalyptic atmosphere is to support Adric to win this war, successfully defeat the rebels, recover the lost territory in the north, and then use the great power and aura of the war victory to deter all other unstable dangers, so that the empire can get precious time to breathe, so that it can have the time and spare energy to clean up this mess of leaks.
Another important reason for Salembonili to change his attitude and start to cooperate with Adric was the Duke of Minas Just because, regarding the emperor's behavior of indulging the nobles' private army, the Duke of Minas actually acquiesced in his approval, and even, I am afraid that behind the scenes, there are some actions that secretly contribute to the trouble Such an attitude of the Duke of Minas aroused great vigilance and uneasiness among the old prime ministers.
He didn't believe it, with the knowledge of Duke Minas and Hai Hai all his life, he would not see the chaotic consequences that would be caused by the proliferation of aristocratic groups and private armies, but this old duke just supported the emperor like this Moreover, the old prime minister secretly investigated, and the news also made his uneasiness more and more intense.
The Minas family, in their southern territories, have raised more than 5,000 private troops.
Although this number is not too obvious in the overall situation of the flood of aristocratic private armies, after all, there are many people in some dukes' houses who have pulled up tens of thousands of teams.
However, the Minas family is a family of imperial generals, and the Duke of Minas has been fighting horses all his life, even among his generals, there are quite a few generals in the army who fought in the south and the north with him, although the Minas family only raised 5,000 private troops, but the combat effectiveness of these thousands of people is far stronger than that of other families The old duke has come out of the mountains to regain imperial power, and His Majesty also relies on him, and strongly supports him in dividing Adric's authority in the army.
Under such circumstances, what is the intention of the old duke to develop his own private army so quietly If you just take the opportunity to expand your own strength in order to protect yourself in the troubled times, then that's it.
But every time he thought of this, Sarunbonelli couldn't help but shudder, and didn't dare to continue thinking about it.
However, because of his cooperation with Adric, the emperor has been dissatisfied with himself recently, and even when they met, the attitude of distrust and dissatisfaction has become more and more obvious.
The emperor didn't seem to be able to listen to what he said.
At this time, Salembonili knew very well that His Majesty's prejudice against himself had been formed, and he was afraid that there might not be the shadow of the old duke of Minas.
It is not so easy to defend himself, and the only way is to fully support Adric's march into the Northern Expedition as soon as possible, as long as he wins a few beautiful battles, then maybe the situation can be alleviated.
On this morning, Salembonili personally went to the dock port area, and the Kingdom of Lantis brought ten more ships of aid.
Although in order to get such assistance from the Landis Kingdom, Salembonili had to pinch his nose and sign a harsh treaty with the Landis Kingdom on debt, but at the moment, even if he drank to quench his thirst, he couldn't care about it.
At least, these more than ten ships of supplies can solve the urgent need of the current Yanjing Northern Expedition, because the south of the empire can't squeeze out any energy at this moment.
The arrival of these 10 truckloads of supplies will be able to fill the largest gap in military supplies at present.
Adrick has solved this worry, and he can start the army as soon as possible.
For the sake of this support in his heart, the old prime minister dragged his old body and rushed to the wharf in person, standing in the sea breeze for a full morning, watching the cargo fleet enter the port safely, and the unloaded materials piled up, and his heart was a little relieved.
The anxiety in his heart eased slightly, and the old prime minister collected his mood, reluctantly lifted his spirits, and ordered his subordinates to go to the banquet with the surname of the courtesy to entertain the leading officers and generals of this Lantis fleet.
Although according to etiquette, as the prime minister, he should personally meet with the other party's officials.
But now Salembonili is full of worries, and he is not in the mood for this.
Besides, these materials were all borrowed from the Landis Kingdom on extremely harsh terms, such an unequal treaty, if you ask for it, you can endure it if you pinch your nose, and you have to force the old man to smile and be polite with the officials of the other party, and the old prime minister is really not in such a good mood at this time.
However, the arrival of military funds still made the old prime minister's mood a little better, and he was about to leave the dock to go back, thinking in his heart, whether to go to Yanjing to persuade His Majesty again, or to go to the military headquarters to meet with Adric to talk about the plan of the Northern Expedition was thinking, and suddenly he heard a noise on the road leading to the city in the distance, and the sound of horses' hooves hit people's hearts like thunder.
Because of the transportation of such important goods, in order to ensure that there are no accidents, Salumbonelli has ordered that the port area be put under martial law today.
The city has deployed city guards to shoot checkpoints around the dock and port area to prevent idle people from entering and leaving.
At this time, there were several horsemen from afar, rushed to the checkpoint, and were stopped by the city guards, the two sides were shouting, and the knights who flew from the horses were slanted in their helmets and armor, and were stopped by the city guards.
In the distance, Salembonili could only hear a few words drifting in the wind.
"Urgent military affairs delay your face-to-face" The old prime minister wrinkled his brows slightly, he was quite calm at the moment, and waved his hand to the entourage beside him: "Go and bring that person here."
What is the noise and yelling?"
His men passed, and in a few moments they brought the knight of the flying horse.
The knight was full of heat and cold, trotting all the way, Xu was too tired, his steps were a little staggering, but in front of the prime minister, but his legs were weak, and he fell directly to the ground, raised his head, his face was full of anxiety and panic, and he gasped and said: "My lord, my lord's military situation is urgent, we passed on twenty horsemen, one to the military department, and one to you here, please, please."
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"Bring it up."
Sarun Bonili took a deep breath.
Thinking in my heart: What happened again, the rebels came to disturb again, or those noble troops outside the city made trouble again The Second Corps made a fuss for a while because of the lack of military salaries, and something happened again Well, fortunately, now that I have such a batch of materials in my hand, I can solve this urgent need if I think about it, and my subordinates presented the military intelligence document on the messenger's body, and when I got it, the prime minister suddenly felt a sharp jump in his heart There were still blood stains on the roll that sealed the newspaper I don't know why, at this moment, Salembonili suddenly had a panic in his heart for no reason, palpitations and shortness of breath, and suddenly there was some hair in front of him, and he took the roll, and the feeling of dizziness could not be suppressed, and he stuffed it into the hand of a civil official next to him, and said in a low voice: "I am a little dazzled, I can't see it, you read it to me." ” When the civil servant next to him took the roll and unfolded it, Salumbonelli had already sat down with the support of the attaché beside him, and a cup of hot tea was brought to him, and the old prime minister had just taken a sip of tea and was about to catch his breath, when suddenly his expression froze there I only heard the civil official on the side, his voice trembled, his face was full of horror, but he read the newspaper intermittently.
"It is reported that bandits broke out in Bode City in Effenwittshire ten years ago, the county soldiers were insufficient, and the field battle was defeated, and the county guards and governors of Effenwitter were martyred.
The situation is rotten, and the southern counties are short of military strength and are powerless to suppress them, so they can only defend the county seats, waiting for the reinforcements to come, and if the reinforcements do not arrive, I am afraid that the three southern counties will fall into the hands of the rebels." rise Before the official could finish reading, the prime minister Sarun Bonili had jumped up from his chair suddenly, and the old man's face was pale, his eyes were wide, and he stared at the official who was reading the newspaper, and he took two steps forward sharply, pointed at the official, and opened his mouth, as if he was about to ask something, but his mouth opened and opened, but his throat only made a "gege" sound, where could he say half a word The attendant next to him saw that something was wrong with the old man, and hurriedly went up to try to support him, but Salenbonelli suddenly had a lot of strength, shook off the hands of others, and went up and snatched the newspaper in the officer's hand, and stared at it for a moment, and there was silence all around, and everyone was shocked by the news and could not say a word.
Finally, the old prime minister gurgled in his throat a few more times, and suddenly opened his mouth, and with a poof, a ball of blood sprayed on the newspaper in his hand.
The old man didn't say a word, and just fell straight back.
The people next to him immediately shook their hands and feet, and swarmed over to surround the old man, and an anxious cry sounded.
The old man woke up quietly, he lay on the ground, looking at the officials at all levels who were kneeling or standing in a circle around him, everyone had an anxious and panicked expression, and no one could still maintain a calm appearance.
The old man sighed in his heart.
I don't know why, but when I woke up at this moment, Salumbonelli's heart seemed to have lost the horror and panic that I had just heard the contents of this newspaper, and my heart seemed to have been numb, and there was no longer half a wave.
In my heart, only a calm thought emerged that I could no longer be calm.
This calm, even he himself did not understand where it came from.
The thought was: Could it be that this Byzantine Empire is really going to die?
`` To be continued 〗Hanyu Pinyin "" is simple and easy to remember: