Chapter 155 Declaration of War
"You are using me!" Aresio suddenly raised his head and glared at Boniface.
"Aren't you using me to keep your position and wealth?" Boniface asked with a sneer, leaving Aresio speechless. Yes, this was Aresio's choice. He didn't say anything, but could only acquiesce to what Boniface said, and chose to surrender in the face of such absolute strength.
"Okay, Master Boniface, we can get going!"
Thermitius came to Boniface and saluted solemnly, and reported to Boniface at the loudest voice he could: "In order to celebrate your arrival, the Imperial Treasurer Aresio has specially offered his humble efforts for your legion!"
As they spoke, the guards made way to allow Boniface and all the Roman citizens present to see the carts of gold coins.
"So this is why you want to take the money!" Aresio suddenly realized Thermitius' intention, but it was too late for him to recover! "Your Excellency the Treasurer, I know that the barbarian Aetius has approached you. Moreover, with so many citizens present, there must be Aetius's spies. I am doing this to let Aetius know that the treasury of the empire is on the side of our Excellency Boniface!" Thermitius smiled, leaned close to Aresio's ear, and spoke to him in a voice that only Aresio could hear.
Such an awkward and explicit alliance was reached despite Aresio's reluctance and in the presence of thousands of Roman citizens. Although the citizens of Rome talked about it, no one questioned the final conclusion of the matter.
"I know, I know, my friend!" Boniface laughed and put his hand on Aresio's shoulder, as if he was happy to receive an unexpected surprise. Obviously, Boniface had never said anything about such a large sum of money.
It was getting late, so Boniface took Aresio to a specially prepared, richly decorated carriage. With the Roman citizens watching them, they drove along the main road, passed the Arch of Constantine, and arrived at the Senate's meeting hall.
The elders were dressed in their best attire and had been waiting in front of the hall for a long time. Facing such a powerful and distinguished guest, they had to be cautious and must not let Boniface have any dissatisfaction.
The carriage stopped at the steps in front of the hall, and Boniface got out and came before the senators.
"Welcome, His Excellency Boniface, the highest military commander of the entire Italy and the governor of the province of Africa." The leading senator leaned forward slightly. Holding a bronze cane, he continued to praise Boniface, saying, "You are like Caesar five hundred years ago. You are the backbone of our true strength and the backbone of the empire..."
Boniface was tired of such bland honorifics. "Enough!" He interrupted the senator mercilessly, waved his hand, and took the golden scepter from the hands of the soldiers behind him, which symbolized the field army that controlled the entire Italy. When the senators saw the scepter, they bowed again to express their obedience to Boniface's power.
Isn't this the situation that Boniface wanted to see the most? A scepter that allowed him to instantly control half of the military forces of the entire empire, plus the troops he brought from North Africa, he basically controlled two-thirds of the legions of the Western Roman Empire.
"Now I have the Senate, the army, the emperor, and the people! What can Aetius use to fight me?" Boniface became a little proud, but he was not the only one. Everyone present knew that he had the ability to be so conceited.
Looking at the proud Boniface and the senators who seemed to be in submission, Aresio wondered if he could keep being so high-profile until the end. Anyway, after being tricked by Thermitius, he was now tightly tied to Boniface, and he had no choice but to stand by Boniface.
"Everyone knows why I'm here!" Amid the commotion, Boniface raised his scepter and shouted to the senators and citizens in front of him, "To protect Rome's land from being encroached upon by foreigners, to defend the glory and wealth of the empire from being stolen by barbarians, and to protect all the righteous and kind Romans present from suffering the disaster of twenty years ago (the Visigoths sacked Rome)."
"Boniface! Boniface! Boniface!" The citizens of Rome cheered wildly, as if they had determined that Boniface was their savior, saving the empire and Rome. In fact, even Boniface himself could not explain what his real intention was.
The cheers lasted for half a minute and finally stopped when Boniface raised his hand. The whole world seemed to be quiet again.
"As you all agree, Aetius is a barbarian and a shrewd deceiver. He deceived our regent queen and the young Caesar with lies. He did this just to control all of us and to pay countless gold and women to the Huns who were entrenched in the northeastern province of Pannonia. Don't forget that he is a barbarian. He has never lived among us and has spent a lot of time hanging out with his barbarian friends. He excluded all the loyal people in the empire and supported one barbarian after another. He was jealous of our civilization and elegance, so he was a demon and he spared no effort to try to make us degenerate and become barbarians!"
"Kill Aetius! Drive out all the barbarians!"
Boniface's words angered everyone present. They were as angry as if they had understood the truth. They followed Boniface's idea and insisted that Aetius was a devil, a barbarian devil who wanted them to fall. But what could they do? Apart from shouting, they had no weapons and could not resist. Of course, before everything came to a conclusion, no one could tell which side was righteous and which side was evil.
Boniface suddenly raised the scepter in his hand at this time, "But God blesses us, we still have a wise queen! She saw through Aetius's evil plan, but this poor woman, under the threat of Aetius, she could hardly open her mouth to tell us about her misfortune, so she gave this to me! And I also promised her that I could solve all this!"
The citizens of Rome were almost seeing hope. They were deceived by Boniface's sweet words and truly realized that Rome was in a crisis of life and death.
"Our treasurer, Mr. Aresio, has prepared a large amount of money for me to support the army, but I have to say no, because I know that you, the citizens of Rome, need the money more. So I plan to take out half of the money and distribute it to you. In addition, I have brought enough bread and wine, which I will distribute to you for free, the citizens of Rome!"
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As soon as Boniface finished speaking, the citizens of Rome almost jumped up, and the cheers almost deafened the ears of everyone present.
"Isn't this what you want, citizens of Rome?"
(End of this chapter)