Chapter 282 The Duke

"So!"

Galla Placidia took out a handkerchief and wiped her mouth elegantly, then opened her eyes, which were painted black to make them look very charming. Luca could not help but marvel at the level of makeup technology in the Roman era. Perhaps this elegant woman was middle-aged and had a good natural foundation, worthy of her noble status, or as the Romans said, this was the favor of the gods. She picked up the wine glass, and the maid hurriedly bent down and carefully filled it with wine.

"How about inviting you to join the Italian Central Field Army as a junior officer and concurrently serve as the Chief of Defense of Greater Sicily?" Placidia brought the wine glass and indicated that this glass was for Luca.

"Oh, still so high and mighty!" Luca said secretly in his heart. Facing Placidia's wine glass, he naturally did not dare to neglect it. He hurriedly picked up the wine glass and gently clinked it with Placidia. At that moment, he secretly said in his heart: "The first one is the Central Field Army. This is a huge piece of cake!" Luca, who has been in the army for such a long time, naturally knows more or less about the Central Field Army. The Central Field Army is much stronger than the local ones. It controls the center of the empire. As long as he can be appointed as an officer in the Central Field Army, it is the greatest recognition of this general, and the room for promotion in the future will be much higher than that of the local ones. It's like the defense officer in Sicily, there is no comparison at all. "But I can't agree to her!" There was no gratitude in Placidia's mouth. On the contrary, it sounded more like alms and exploitation. Luca was not stupid, because Aetius was the highest commander in the Central Field Army.

"Another tried and tested routine? Your Majesty!" Luca thought to himself, staring into Placidia's eyes. The woman smiled, but she didn't feel guilty at all. Obviously, she was surprised and delighted by this new force that suddenly emerged. Just like when Phoenix and Boniface were in power, Aetius, a rising star, gave her hope of breaking the situation, so she wanted to use Aetius to fight Boniface to complete the strategy of rebalancing the power within the empire. The scene she dreamed of was two equally matched generals confronting each other. They were wary of each other, and no one was willing to find reasons to provoke a civil war. In this way, she set up a game, using her son Valentinian as bait, trying to take advantage of the ambition of the generals to control Augustus, and appease them one by one and keep their strength balanced, so that their desires were mixed with fear of their opponents. As long as there is a good life, there will be a fear of failure and death, which is what the regent queen wants most. As long as Valentinian is alive, such a balance can be maintained. But she underestimated the ambitions of the generals, which often make them more crazy and uncontrollable. Of course, every time such a method is used, it will always drag into an endless civil war until one side wins completely.

It was really a pipe dream for Placidia to try to change the overall situation that had existed for hundreds of years with a woman's cleverness. First, Phoenix accused Boniface of treason and launched an army to attack Phoenix, which eventually led to Phoenix's defeat. Then there was the conflict between Aetius and Boniface, which led to Boniface's march north and the Huns' march south. Boniface was seriously injured and died, but Placidia was still obsessed with her delusion, or rather, she believed that the young Luca from the Eastern Empire in front of her would become an important chess piece in her plan.

When Aetius defeated Boniface and broke Placidia's strategy of domestic military balance, he realized a one-man dictatorship. Aetius was fully capable of usurping power and becoming the emperor of the Western Roman Empire like her husband Constantius, but Aetius did not do so. This was not because of loyalty, but because Aetius was afraid of the background behind Valentinian III. After all, he was a member of the Flavius ​​group. Theodosius II, who was far away in the east, would not sit idly by when he was usurped. His existence and the invisible military forces in the Western Empire had been keeping a close eye on Aetius, binding him like a rope, so that he could not do whatever he wanted. He gave up usurping power, but he hollowed out the imperial power and made Augustus a puppet. This was not what Placidia wanted to see, but she had no choice, because there was no power in the empire that could compete with Aetius. Until the appearance of Luca, the adopted son of Theodosius who was so loyal to Valentinian, he was the ideal candidate for Placidia. From the moment he saw Valentinian kneeling in front of the Romans, she knew that Luca could join the game and play an extremely important role. It was like a sweet dew after a long drought. Placidia was eager to break the dictatorship of Aetius and needed a force to counter it. Now she found it, Luca.

As long as La Luca joins the game, the first thing he will do is to arrange him into the Central Field Army. This is like a spike against Aetius' chest, making it difficult for him to breathe and realizing that his authority is being challenged. In this way, a new confrontation will unfold, and Aetius will have to release the power he originally held tightly in his hands and return it to Valentinian under pressure, and he will be afraid enough to face Luca, because he also understands who is behind Luca. If he wants to use his own strength to fight against an empire, Aetius will start a new civil war unless he is crazy, and a new situation of military rebalancing will be opened! Valentinian will be a useful emperor, at least not a puppet until his death.

Such a tight link is still not perfect, because she forgot to consider Luca. In her opinion, after Luca kneels, he will absolutely obey her and Valentinian, or at least obey her in everything. To think this way is to consider Luca as a guy who can't think. However, Luca can see the current situation and he will think about it. This is not a momentary impulse, but an idea that he has considered for a long time before finally deciding. From the fact that she appointed him as a junior officer of the Central Field Army, it can be seen that she wants to pull him into the game and become the biggest obstacle for Aetius to control the Central Field Army. This time is different from the past. Aetius can't borrow soldiers from the Huns in Pannonia, because the Huns are confronting the Eastern Empire in the East, and Aetius's Gallic Field Army is the "stabilizing force" to stabilize the Gaul region. In order to fight for the situation for many years, Aetius will definitely not withdraw the field army to Italy to confront Luca. Similarly, as long as Luca accepted such an assignment, he would be firmly bound, because his 15,000-man army would be useless. He had just signed a contract with the Vandals in the south, and the Alans, Vandals and Suebi in Iberia in the west were unprecedentedly powerful. At least Luca could not deal with them with the mere 15,000 men in his hands, and he had to keep enough troops in Greater Sicily or Italy. In this way, Luca could not do anything and could only be used by Placidia to contain Aetius.

"Dang!" The two silver wine glasses collided with each other. Placidia's eyes lit up, and she thought, could this be the rhythm of success?

"I'm afraid I have to disappoint you, my dear Lord Augusta!" Luca said, drinking the wine in the glass and then looking at Placidia.

Placidia's expression gradually changed from smiling to cold. She looked at Luca coldly and asked, "Are you dissatisfied with the conditions I offer? Then I will promote you to a higher position!"

"Yes, my nephew, just tell me what you want, and I will ask my mother for her consent!" Valentinian said with a smile.

"No, no, no! Very satisfied, very satisfied!" Luca smiled and waved his hands repeatedly, then he couldn't help but sighed, and then said to Placidia: "It's just that the empire is in trouble now. If I take this idle position, how can I recover the territory and repay Caesar and Augusta for their kindness?"

"Oh?" Placidia finished the wine in the glass and looked at Luca, wanting to hear what this disobedient boy wanted to say.

"Thanks to Augusta for the promotion, this position is indeed very tempting!" First, Luca expressed his approval of Placidia's arrangement. "But!" Luca changed the subject and continued, "I want to go to the front line and fight for the glory of the empire and the lost territory!"

"You?" Placidia certainly couldn't believe what Luca said. Although he was now a hero of Rome, how could Placidia not know the real situation? "Where are you going?" Placidia asked with a faint smile.

"Great Sequanorum!" Luca said without hesitation, "I heard that there is no duke there yet, so I recommend myself to go to the northern province of Great Sequanorum and serve as the duke!"

"That's all?" Placidia couldn't believe her ears. She wondered if this guy Luca was crazy. He would give up being an officer in the central government and insist on going to that precarious province to be a duke.

Luca nodded. Placidia saw that he didn't look like he was lying. Then she looked at her child. Since Valentinian had boasted that he would grant any request, Placidia would naturally satisfy Luca.

"Augusta, no, my dear grandmother." Luca endured the torment in his heart and said with a smile: "I have one small request."

"Okay, go ahead!" Placidia waved her hand, motioning Luca to continue.

"I can recover the lands occupied by barbarians for the empire and Caesar, but in return, I want to obtain the right to recruit soldiers and other corresponding powers for these lands. Otherwise, with my limited strength, I am afraid it will be difficult to achieve anything."

"Okay, okay!" Placidia had lost interest in Luca. Of course, judging from her performance, she did not believe in Luca's ability at all: "I will make you the Duke of the Greater Sequanorum Province, and of course concurrently the commander of the field army. As long as you can recover the lost territory for the empire, you will be the governor of the province you recover!"

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"It's a deal!" Faced with such temptation, Luca was naturally very happy, but Placidia was not so happy.

"What an idiot!" Placidia couldn't help but curse inwardly.

(End of this chapter)