Chapter 239 Distribution

"Well, Your Excellency Aetius." Luca said, "I only have more than 10,000 people under my command. Of course, if I want to follow you, I can only mobilize 5,000 people. As Your Excellency has seen, Gaiseric's army has nearly 5,000 people. Together with the residents stationed locally and the mercenaries, he can organize an army of 40,000 to 50,000 in a very short time. Let's not talk about the quality, just talking about the quantity, we must have an army that is equal to or even larger than theirs."

"I know that."

"The question is, where will the army come from?" Luca's question was very straightforward, and it was also what they had to face at the moment. "It took you half a year to form these 5,000 people. Now you need 50,000 or even more. It can't take ten years to prepare. Let's not talk about the number of people. We need more military equipment and food. This is a lot of money. I don't know if the empire can afford it, especially after losing the three southern provinces. The Iberian provinces are also in a state of ruin. I am really not optimistic about the money reserves within the empire."

"We do need enough Suledes," Aetius said as he pondered, "The treasury of the empire is already running low, and the years of war have emptied the warehouses of Rome and Ravenna. But that doesn't mean we can't come up with money."

Solidus: A small gold coin circulated in the Roman Mediterranean, weighing 4.4 grams.

"Dinaris and Suledes are indispensable for maintaining the army, but we don't need to use the money from the treasury." Aetius looked confident. Without Luca asking, he began to talk about his plan. "First, we can borrow money from the nobles in Rome, Ravenna, and even Palermo."

"Yes, yes." Lu Jia responded weakly. He was interested in what the most powerful man in the Western Empire had to say. "What benefit can we give them? They are a bunch of stingy people. If you use your prestige, you can still get a lot of money, but if it's free once or twice, no one would be willing to keep giving."

"They are all extremely wealthy, but when it comes to making free contributions to the empire, they will naturally turn their backs on us." Aetius nodded and said, "I know what those merchants are thinking. Leave this matter to me."

"Okay, okay!" Luca sat up a little. It seemed that Aetius really wanted to solve the problem. If he continued to be so arrogant, it would be unreasonable. "Then let's talk about the army. We must first solve the problem of the army's equipment. I can't let the soldiers go to the battlefield with nothing on and sticks in their hands."

"The armory in Rome has enough spare equipment to equip sixty field regiments. Of course, only personnel with high enough military rank have the right to dispatch them." Aetius pointed at Luca and said, "I'm afraid I'll have to trouble you to go there for this matter."

"Sixty?" Luga calculated in his mind. A field regiment has 500 people, and 60 of them are 30,000 people. Although 30,000 people is close to the number of troops he expected, there is still a big gap. Where will the equipment for 20,000 people come from? Moreover, to maintain a team of 50,000 or 60,000 people, the equipment must be at least 100,000 or 80,000 to deal with the losses caused by fighting and marching.

"It's just a drop in the bucket. It seems like we have to go to not only Rome, but also big cities like Ravenna and Milan. Only in this way can we gather what we need." Luca secretly said to himself, it's good this way, because he can take Andrew back to Milan, not only can Andrew see Quinta whom he has been thinking about day and night, but he can also see Tenea. After all, they have been apart for nearly a year, and the mother and daughter must have had a difficult time.

Thinking that he was now a well-known figure, he naturally could not let the unfortunate mother and daughter continue to live like this. He had the ability to help them get out of their current situation. Wasn't that why he did this in the first place? Now that his dream had come true, it was time to fulfill his promise! "Of course, if Your Excellency wants those equipments, I have to mention this serious problem." Aetius said, and took out the golden eagle emblem and placed it on the table.

"What do you mean?" Luca was obviously displeased when he saw the eagle emblem. It was strange that Aetius did this. Could it be that in such a short time, he had forgotten how Luca had just rejected the eagle emblem?

"Sir Luca, don't be so angry!" Aetius explained with a smile, "You are a newcomer to the Eastern Empire, and you are also a new force in the Eastern Empire. Naturally, you have no title or prestige in the Western Empire, so you need to prove yourself. How can you prove yourself? It is with this token: the eagle emblem!"

"They may not know you, sir, but they have to recognize this eagle emblem. Then you can introduce yourself and they will have no reason not to believe you. In this way, the equipment in the armory will naturally fall into your hands. Of course, I suggest that the transportation still requires the escort of your army. If you let the slaves transport it, not only will the weapons never come back, but there will also be a lot of flies that we can't kill." Aetius said, and pushed the eagle emblem in front of Luca again. This time Luca had no reason to refuse.

Luca hesitated for a moment, but finally reached out to take the eagle emblem and said, "In that case, I will respectfully obey your command." After that, he handed the eagle emblem to Andrew.

Andrew looked solemn. He stretched out his hands, carefully took the eagle emblem and held it in his hands. He looked down and the golden light reflected by the eagle emblem illuminated his face. He enjoyed this feeling very much, as if he was embraced by the golden eagle and surrounded by glory.

"Click, click."

Drops of tears flowed from Andrew's eyes and fell on the golden eagle emblem. Andrew's vision blurred, but he knew that his tears fell on the eagle emblem. He wiped the eagle emblem with his fingers again and again, fearing that his tears would dirty such a sacred thing.

His obsession with the eagle flag was fanatical, which was a common problem among Roman soldiers and their inner desire for glory. It was not surprising that Luca lost his mind for a while when he got this thing. Soldiers like Andrew were very determined as long as they could stand firm.

Aetius stood up to say goodbye, and Luca did not try to keep him. Instead, after Aetius had left for a long time, Luca sat in his seat in a daze. He seemed to be in a daze, but in fact he was carefully recalling every word of Aetius.

"There must be something else behind his words. There must be something else behind his words."

He didn't think much about anything else, but this required Luca to lead his own soldiers. He began to worry that this was another trick of Thermitius. He blamed himself for only thinking about solving Tenea's difficulties and forgetting to be shameless and push this matter to Aetius. Now that he had agreed to it, he had to do it. If something went wrong, that was someone else's territory.

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"Alas, now I can only deal with his moves!" Luca shook his head and muttered to himself. He indeed forgot to look back, and thus perfectly missed the chance to see Andrew's dementia.

(End of this chapter)