Chapter 498 Leaving (Part 1)

When he walked out of the door of the meeting hall, he didn't expect to see not only Andrew, but also a group of court officials. They were all elderly people, and it was obvious that they were powerful and wealthy people from all over the Eastern Roman Empire. Luca walked through them without saying a word. They looked very anxious, and when they saw Luca coming out, they rushed in all at once.

Maybe the soundproofing was good, Andrew standing outside the door didn't hear anything clearly. Seeing Luca coming out, he hurriedly followed him, but because of the palace guards around him, he couldn't speak, so he could only do what a guard should do, which was to follow Luca closely.

"Look! The captain of the Western Roman army!"

"Oh, stay away, my friend, he is the robber who robbed Athens!"

"Oh my god, it's so terrible. I heard that the nobles in the whole city were beaten by him and their faces were covered with blood."

"You don't even let the old man go, you damn bastard!"

The courtiers coming and going in the corridor had already been pointing and talking behind Luga's back. Even if they passed by Luga, they would stay away from him, as if they were afraid of being hurt by this "devil" in front of them.

The faces of the courtiers coming and going were filled with anger and dissatisfaction, from which one could see what the attitude of the nobles in the entire empire was towards Luca.

Luka was used to the rude behavior of the courtiers. He walked past them proudly with his head held high, ignoring all the tinted eyes. The palace was really big. Luka felt like he had walked for a whole year to walk a distance of less than 100 meters.

After finally exiting the palace gate, the courtyard outside the gate was deserted and lifeless. The refugees had dispersed at some point, probably because they were afraid of the terrifying axes in the hands of the palace guards. The guards had not yet retreated, fearing that these difficult-to-handle refugees would cause trouble again.

There were several pools of blood in front of them. This must have been caused by the conflict caused by the failed communication just now. The owner of the blood must have been the miserable civilians who had no protection. Even if they despised the gorgeous armor of the guards in front of them and the long axe in their hands that was wiped to a shine, but the axe would fall and kill a person. No one except themselves could cherish that pitiful and humble life.

"These damn courtiers are so rude!" Seeing that there was no one around, Andrew said indignantly: "Could it be that they only heard that we were trying to raise money to rob those who were unwilling to pay for the maintenance of the army, but did not see that we successfully blocked Attila's crazy attack at Thermopylae? Damn guys, they really should have fought the barbarians at the forefront of the battlefield of Thermopylae!"

Listening to Andrew's complaints, Luga finally lowered his head. He stood there silently. One could only see the white gas he exhaled in the slightly cold air disappearing again and again in front of half a meter away from his face.

Andrew stopped complaining and stared at Luga quietly. He seemed to understand that when he was feeling indignant, Luga, as the protagonist involved, also felt a huge grievance in his heart. However, just because he didn't say it, it didn't mean he didn't feel pain.

"Luga, what are you thinking about now?" Andrew asked him.

Lu Jia only reacted slightly at this time. He raised his head slightly, glanced at Andrew, shook his head again, and then whispered: "I always feel something is wrong."

"Why do you say that?" Andrew was very puzzled.

At this time, a series of footsteps sounded behind them. Andrew turned around and saw a courtier dressed in noble attire trotting up to them. The courtier looked around and when he was sure that no one was around, he said to Luca, "Basileus has now made it clear to the nobles that your power as the commander of the Thracian field army has been stripped."

"What!" Such news was like a bolt from the blue. Andrew was so angry that his eyes widened, and he stepped forward with his fists clenched, as if he was going to hit someone. If Luca had not stopped him in time, this punch would have been too much for this weak courtier to bear, and he would have been thankful by God if he had lost a few teeth.

"We fought Attila with all our lives, and now you want to deprive us of our positions?" Andrew said as he still wanted to punch the courtier who delivered the message. Fortunately, Luca stopped him and he failed.

Hearing this news made Luga's head buzz. He did not expect the current situation to be so serious, or that his military power would be directly deprived.

"It seems that we have offended someone we cannot afford to offend. Even Basilus has to make concessions." Luca thought to himself, holding Andrew tightly with both hands. Andrew saw that he could not break free, so he roared and clenched his fists and hit his thighs hard. It seemed that this calmed him down a lot.

"Basileus believes that you two can no longer stay here, so please take the remaining money and leave."

"Money? What does that mean?" Luca was stunned. He thought that although he was not dressed very fancy, he did not have much money in his pocket. How could he say that he took the money and left? He might be humiliating himself.

"I don't know why!" The courtier shrugged, then took out a rolled-up parchment from his toga and handed it to Luca. "Take a look. This is a letter written by Basileus himself. There must be an explanation for what I just said in the letter."

Without waiting for Luca to say anything, the courtier stuffed the parchment into his hands, left a sentence "loyal to Basileus", and hurried away, just as he had just hurried in.

"What is written in this?" Luca opened the parchment with doubts...

"Caesar, you should see the truth and take back the title of Flavius, which you have given to him through your grace, from Luca!"

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"We should have killed him before he left Constantinople, the damned bandit!"

"Kill him! Kill him!"

The courtiers spoke one after another, completely lacking the respect that nobles usually demanded and maintained. They talked a lot, and the only theme was that Luca must pay a corresponding price for the plunder of Athens in order to quell their anger.

Theodosius II smiled at them, all of whom were his supporters and the people who responded to his orders in the Senate. They were all nobles from the trade circle centered on Athens, and they had benefited from trade for generations to maintain their noble status and luxurious life.

It is said that cutting off someone's financial resources is like killing their parents. Even raising 2,100 pounds of gold per month was difficult for everyone, so Theodosius had to take a risk to test Attila's attitude.

But when Attila led his troops to the south, this group of nobles was the quietest. They put a lot of effort into consolidating the defenses of Constantinople. Even Theodosius did not expect that they would be able to repair the Golden Gate that collapsed due to the earthquake and even build three new walls in less than half a year.

They introduced their achievements one by one. There was no need to say much. Just pointing in the direction of the Golden Gate would give a rough idea. They were Theodosius's money bags. Even though Theodosius was Augustus of the Eastern Roman Empire, he would never go against money.

(End of this chapter)