Chapter 416 Marenius

"Luga! I only knew that you were good at fighting barbarians on the battlefield, but I didn't know that you were even more adept at scaring people! You also saw that Milo, the leader of the Minivius family, turned pale!"

While on the boat, Andrew couldn't help but praise Luga. He also described the incident to Beria, who was beside him, without missing any details, which made Beria laugh.

"It seems that this guy named Milo is going to look at you in a different way, Luga." Belialiu said to Luga.

"It all depends on how God arranges it." Luca shrugged and said in a heavy tone, "This is all like gambling. I frightened him openly, but maybe what frightened him was not his slight luck, but the idea of ​​contributing his part to Rome."

"Luka, you've seen it too. They didn't intend to offer anything to us. Fortunately, you didn't take his armor. Otherwise, if he had used the armor to make trouble, who knows what would have happened."

"I thought of that, too." Luca continued, "So we have to be prepared for both situations. After all, there is an invisible warlord behind Great Sicily, which is a huge hidden danger for us. We must support a large army, and more and more of them."

"Then what should we do? Luga." Andrew asked.

Luca took a deep breath, rubbing the pure gold scepter in his hand with his right thumb, and then said: "Issue a decree. Britannia, Greater Sequanorum, Belgian Gaul, Greater Sicily, Numidia and Iberia will collect all tributes and taxes in my name and stop paying tribute to the Purple Chamber."

After that, Luca lowered his head and said secretly: "I'm sorry that this will make you suffer, but I hope you can understand, Valentinian."

"Lujia, this, this order." Andrew thought for a moment and then asked: "This is a blatant disloyalty to the Purple Chamber. What do you want to do, Lujia!"

"Andrew, don't you think that if all these taxes are given to the Purple Chamber, then whose pockets will they go into?" Luca continued, "If Aetius gives us military pay, we will be slaughtered like meat on his plate! So I would rather not pay taxes and use them myself, otherwise Rome will only fall into his hands!"

Andrew was speechless. In his heart, he realized that Luca was right. After the death of Galla Placidia, there was no one in charge of the Purple Chamber. Aetius was most afraid of Galla Placidia. But now the shackles that bound him had been broken. Who else in the Western Roman Empire could bind Aetius? "My army is supported by me. Only in this way can they remain loyal to me. Now the army is too greedy. As long as the money jingles in their pockets, they know who to point their weapons at." Luca clenched his fists and pounded heavily on the railing.

After two days and two nights, everyone dragged their exhausted bodies back to Syracuse, where Luca actually saw a large number of soldiers building a military camp outside the city. From the flags he could tell that they were from the Fourth Auxiliary Legion.

"What's going on?" Luca was a little curious, so he got off the boat and went straight to the military camp, where he found Marenius who was directing the soldiers to build the camp.

"What's wrong, my friend?" Luca came up to greet him curiously, which made Marenius turn around and look at Luca. He smiled and looked embarrassed.

"What's the matter?" Luca asked with a smile, "Didn't you agree to go back after finishing this job in Britannia? Why are you here again? Are you trying to tell me that you took the wrong road on Amber Avenue and ended up here by accident?"

"No, Luca." Marenius shook his head, but the smile on his face froze. He continued, "News has arrived about the troops of the original Ninth Legion that left you at that time."

"Tell me about it." Luca realized that there must be a reason why Malenius mentioned this, so he waited patiently to see what Malenius knew.

"They were preparing to return to Athens, their hometown, along the Via Flavia, but were stopped by the local duke at Dyrrachium, where it intersects with the Via Egnatia. They were then forcibly taken to the Dacian front, where they were defeated in a battle with the Huns and all died under the hooves of the Huns' horses."

At this point, Marenius took a deep breath and exhaled slowly, looking at Luca as if he had made an important decision, and then said: "After our discussion, we unanimously decided to stay and follow you, Your Excellency."

"I've said before that when times are turbulent, soldiers must be prepared to sacrifice their lives." Luca said this, and it was obvious that he felt bad. After all, they were all comrades who had fought together before, and it was natural for him to feel sad to hear that they were slaughtered by the Huns like cannon fodder and were worthless. "Okay, Marenius, don't be sad, after all, this didn't happen to us. This is fortunate, isn't it?"

Marenius seemed to be telling the truth. He shrugged his shoulders and dodged his eyes, not wanting to look at Luca. He continued, "As long as we don't have to face the Huns, it doesn't matter who we are enemies with. After all, they are too terrible."

There was a brief silence after the conversation. No one spoke. Thinking that the topic was very heavy, Lu Jia didn't want to continue talking, so he smiled and changed the subject: "How many people did you bring this time?"

"All the soldiers of the Fourth Auxiliary and the Fifth Skylark followed us. Fortunately, they did not cause any trouble in Aetius' sphere of influence. It may be that external factors made it difficult for Aetius to escape." Marenius said, "I heard that Eastern Rome owed the Huns a large amount of money, and Augustus Theodosius II had no intention of repaying it. Therefore, the Hun King Attila has already led his army to the border. The entire Eastern Rome has been on alert. The troops that followed to fight the Vandals were all deployed on the front line to fight the Huns."

"Of course, you don't need to say it." Luca interrupted Marenius and continued, "I already know roughly what happened to them. I think the soldiers of the former Ninth Legion were among them. They had no ability to resist the Huns. At that time, bravery could no longer solve the practical problems at hand."

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"The Eastern Roman Empire also has the Capital Guards, and they are all rare warriors!"

"It's useless, Marenius." Luca said solemnly, "The enemy is too powerful. We have never encountered such a strong enemy before. We have no experience or ability to fight against them. We need to slowly explore."

"So what do we do now?" asked Marenius.

"Do your job, Marenius." Luca said, pointing to the south and then said: "Our biggest enemies right now are the Vandals and the Alans in Iberia. As long as we take them down, we will be able to maintain the Western Roman Empire while fighting the Huns."

(End of this chapter)