Chapter 653: In Memory (Part 1)

Luca stared at the huge pressure, and faced thousands of eyes while proudly raising his head to show his noble status as Augustus.

The Romans remained silent and watched their allies, the Goths, return in vain after their attack. For this, Luca became the target of public criticism.

He did not defend himself or even give an explanation. He endured it all silently and became a traitor in the eyes of the soldiers and politicians present.

After all, a king does not need any consideration; this is the loneliness of being a king.

The Visigoths climbed out of the river of blood and headed back. None of them was willing to stop. They wanted to go home, so eagerly and impatiently, to go home, away from here, the plain where their king fell and where they lost so many brave soldiers.

As they left, Luga didn't even try to stop them, nor did he say goodbye. He just stood there, quietly watching the Visigoths' backs as they walked away.

The next day, the blood floating on the Marne River had already been washed away and purified, and even the floating corpses floated downstream and disappeared without a trace, along with Attila's servant army standing on the other side of the river.

Only the newly built fortress stood there alone, facing Luca's army, which was Attila's last bastion against them.

Attila left. The grand momentum he displayed when he came and the silence he left formed a sharp contrast. I'm afraid Attila still hasn't recovered from the failure.

He needed time to adjust, and this precious time also gave Rome a chance to catch its breath, although compared to Luca, Attila's loss was nothing.

"Andrew." Luca turned around and called out until Andrew quickly walked forward to wait for his orders.

"Let the wounded retreat, and disband those civilian soldiers who were temporarily recruited on the spot. Tell them that they have faithfully fulfilled their obligation to defend Rome, Rome will not forget what they have done, and they can go home." Luca said slowly, or you could say he was sighing.

"Caesar," Andrew asked, "What about our army? What should we do?"

"Oh, yes." Luca nodded continuously and continued, "We need to collect all the food that can be used to supply the soldiers, then go north and push our defense line back to the Rhine."

"Caesar." At this time, Aetius appeared from nowhere. He came behind Luca, bowed respectfully, and said slowly: "I think this is the end of the matter, but my soldiers told me that there are still some damn Burgundians in Luduga Gaul ready to make a move. Caesar, I have to go back and deal with these troublesome bugs."

"I understand what you mean, Master Aetius." Luca nodded and continued, "Fighting for Rome is a soldier's unshirkable responsibility. Go, Master Aetius, and let the Burgundians know how wrong it is to have two hearts on Roman soil."

Aetius bowed again and left. At this time, Luca's mouth corners slightly raised, a half-smile accompanied by a cold snort.

Aetius simply found a very ridiculous reason to leave, because it was no longer worth staying here. As the speculator who suffered the least loss in this battle, he had to open his mouth wide and bite the results of the victory of the Battle of Chalons and tear off his own share.

Luga was too disdainful to compete with him as he had more important things to do right now.

For the next month, Luga led his 40,000-strong army northward to patrol the land that had been ravaged by Attila.

There were tortured and highly decayed corpses everywhere, even piles of bones hollowed out by wild wolves. The ruined village could almost be described as razed to the ground.

Everywhere was dead silent, with no living things. Even the birds in the woods had lost their voices and no longer sang happily. They trembled in fear under the threat of the "Whip of God" and lived in silence.

"It's gone, everything is gone." Andrew looked at the ruins around him, a sad expression inadvertently creeping onto his face. He had never been so confused before, as if he had been cultivating the crops with great effort, and when the harvest was about to come, he encountered a violent storm, and all the fruits of his sweat and hard work vanished in an instant.

"Caesar, Caesar, look, this is the land you spent more than ten years to save, and now it's gone, everything is gone!" Andrew cried outside, looking again and again at the carriage with the curtains tightly drawn.

Along the way, Luca sat in the carriage as if he had locked himself up. He didn't want to look at the tragic scene outside, which seemed like hell.

Yes, just like Andrew said, everything is gone, just like the farmer in front of his already destroyed fields. What else can he say except kneeling on the ground and howling to the sky, asking why God is so cruel?

Luca was not a farmer, but Augustus, the most prominent first-class citizen of the Roman Empire. He could not show the world his human side, especially his weak side.

I might as well just out of sight and out of mind, and treat these ten years of hard work as a dream.

Luca closed his eyes and sat on the soft cushion. Aresio sat beside him, turning his head to look at Augustus, who was not at all moved by the wailing outside the car.

In his left hand he held the fragment of the Spear of Longinus that had been broken into three pieces, and in his right hand he tightly grasped the golden scepter that had once been given to him by the captain of the soldiers. He held it tightly, not letting go for a moment.

"Where is this?"

After a long time, Luca opened his mouth and asked Aresio who was sitting next to him in a hoarse voice.

Alessio lifted a corner of the curtain and looked out. He was familiar with the northern Gaul region, just like his own home.

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"After Trier we will soon reach the Rhine, Caesar."

After hearing Alessio's answer, Luca took a deep breath and then slowly exhaled. He seemed to be thinking about something and seemed unable to make up his mind.

"You are a little worried, Caesar." Alessio said carefully: "This can all be done again, there is no need to blame yourself too much."

"No, that's not it." Luca shook his head slightly, "Let's not go to the Rhine."

"Where are you going?"

"Agrippina."

"You still refuse to believe the truth and insist on going to see it?" Alessio asked, "You still can't forget that woman who is, um, gone."

"People living in this world always need something to think about." Luca looked at Alessio and smiled bitterly: "Just let me go and take a look, so that I can give up and never think about the past again."

Another week later, when the army arrived at the city of Agrippina, the broken city walls and the bones nailed to the crosses on both sides of the road silently told of Attila's atrocities. The army passed through it, and the horrific scene made every soldier present terrified.

There were still people in the city, but compared to the past, only one in ten remained. They stared at the Roman army coming from afar with wide eyes. This meant that Attila had left and the Romans had regained control of this land in blood.

Luca's carriage did not stop, but followed Aresio's instructions and headed towards the shelter outside the city, which was a stone house.

(End of this chapter)