Chapter 229 Stifling and Indulgence (Part 2)

"The army only needs soldiers who follow orders, not scum who only know how to disobey orders!" Themitius was now opposite Aetius, and his words sounded powerful.

"That's not something a politician would say, Your Excellency Thermitius." Aetius was obviously fed up. He didn't bother to debate with eloquent politicians because their witty remarks could always turn black into white. "Go ahead, what do you want to say? I'm listening." Aetius' tone expressed his inner thoughts.

"What do you think of Luca's encirclement of Gaiseric? I'm quite interested in your opinion, Aetius!" Thermitius was straightforward. He didn't beat around the bush with Aetius and directly stated the most critical issue. He brought a glass of wine,

"Luga, his tactics are correct. Starving Gaiseric to death will also remove a major worry for the empire. Why not do it?" Aetius was lying on the bed, stroking his belly, and burping loudly. He didn't know if this behavior, which seemed to be completely inconsistent with the etiquette of the nobility, would greatly reduce Thermitius' impression of Aetius. Anyway, Aetius didn't care. He was fearless, at least in the territory of the Western Empire.

"I don't think so, Lord Aetius." Thermitius moved a stool and sat next to Aetius. He straightened his robe and continued to say to Aetius: "For Gaiseric, killing him is now a piece of cake, but the most important thing is how to kill him and who is the hero who kills him!"

"It seems very easy to determine now, doesn't it, Luca?" Aetius replied.

"Of course, it's Luca." Thermitius didn't smile at all when he mentioned Luca. "Gaiseric invaded at the beginning of last year. For more than half a year, he expanded in Sicily without any resistance. But no one in the empire could stand up and organize enough troops to defeat and kill Gaiseric. We have always been passive in the war in Greater Sicily."

"Because we don't have enough troops." Aetius sensed the truth in Thermitius' words. He sat up and explained, "The Central Field Army of Italy has never been fully organized since Boniface. My legion is still filled with half of the border guards."

"Yes, I know, Master Aetius." Thermitius said slowly, "Your main army is in Gaul, and the current severe situation makes it impossible for them to be deployed. But you also saw that from Syracuse to Trapani and outside Palermo, which army is ours?"

"Which one..." Aetius' expression began to become serious. Indeed, he was stopped by Thermitius. This question was too serious and he had to face it now.

"Although Gaiseric will be annihilated, the entire Greater Sicily is full of Eastern Empire legions. Do you think this province can still be in our hands now?" Thermitius once again added fuel to the fire. "Don't forget, Luca is no longer the dispensable centurion under your command. He is the adopted son of Augustus Theodosius of the Eastern Empire."

"According to what you said, Theodosius was so anxious to appoint him as his adopted son and gave him a huge army, which was then transported here by the navy just to seize control of Sicily?"

After hearing Aetius's reaction, Themettius couldn't help but smile. As expected of Aetius, he had already considered this and there was no need for Themettius to explain it in detail.

"Yes, Aetius." Themitius's expression became serious again, making him look concerned about the country and the people in front of Aetius. "This is what the Senate wants to convey, so I took this opportunity to tell you this news."

"But." Before Themitius could get excited, Aetius retorted with some distrust: "How can you be sure that Luca is going to seize Greater Sicily this time?"

As expected of the actual controller of the empire who had fought for it through battles, Aetius remained unmoved even after hearing all this. This made Thermitius secretly groan in his heart, because it was really difficult to convince this guy with great benefits.

"Oh, Themitius, I have been away from home for a long time, and I don't know much about Rome and your Senate, but!" Aetius changed the subject, "I heard that half of the seats in your Senate are occupied by Vandals."

These words coming out of Aetius' mouth really made Thermitius break out in cold sweat.

"As far as I know, your loyal subordinate Littorius used his skilled speaking skills to secure a job as Augustus's captain of the guard for your former captain of the guard, but it seems that he also drove away Augustus's preferred candidate." Thermitius's mind worked quickly, and he immediately thought of an excuse to refute Aetius, and he faced Aetius with an aggressive tone.

"Luca." Aetius thought, he didn't know what Thermitius meant by this. "I know about this, but to protect Augustus, an experienced captain of the guard is always the first choice!"

"Captain of the Guard?" Themitius laughed. "Sir Aetius, you can use such an excuse to deceive Caesar who has just come of age, but you deceive me. Can't I see that the Livy you arranged to be by Caesar's side is a shackle stuck tightly around his throat. You want to control Caesar, to control Augustus without usurping power and to control the entire empire."

Faced with Themitius' decisive exposure, Aetius was speechless for a moment and didn't know how to refute.

"You were powerful enough. As for why you didn't return to Ravenna to depose Valentinian, it was simply because you knew that after you defeated Boniface, the Central Field Army in Italy had no more soldiers left. You were afraid of angering Theodosius and causing the Eastern Empire to march west again to destroy you, a guy who was trying to usurp power."

"If you keep talking nonsense like that, I will kill you right here with my own hands!"

The aggressiveness of Thermitius was challenging Aetius' bottom line. He pressed his hand tightly on the hilt of his sword, staring at Thermitius who was sneering in front of him. The captains of the guards on both sides had already pointed their swords at each other, waiting for the order to fight.

"Oh, I said too much. Sorry, Lord Aetius." Thermitius smiled and waved his hand at Aetius, saying, "The old guys in the Senate all said so. I just heard it from hearsay, so it can't be counted as true. But then again, I did hear that your proud captain of the guards did something in Ludinan that was not in line with your status."

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"What?"

"He robbed Luca's lover, a Gallic woman, and beat Luca half to death. I don't know what Luca will do. I only know that if he kills Gaiseric, the life and death of your favorite student will not be up to you. It is up to Lord Aetius to decide!" Themitius' eyes were narrowed into slits. He was determined to win this time because Aetius had hesitated and wavered on the issue that concerned him.

"You know so much!" Aetius looked at Thermitius with a wry smile and slowly moved his hand away from the hilt of the sword.

"Of course!" Thermitius made no secret of himself. "Those who are loyal to the Senate are everywhere in the empire. It's easy for us to get any intelligence we want."

(End of this chapter)