Chapter 681 Northern Offensive (Part 2)

In the Flavian Palace in Constantinople, Luca also received the same message, but this news was three days later than the news to Ravenna, which means that when Luca knew about this, the palace in Ravenna had already been in a state of uproar over the matter.

Because of Valentinian's unreasonableness, Aetius left in anger. Now in Ravenna and Rome, both the Guards and the field army officers stationed in the center have become worried all the time.

No one would believe Maximus's statement that Attila assembled the army just to eradicate the rebellion. The Rhine defense line was filled with a large number of scouts who were always monitoring the movements of the barbarian tribes north of the Rhine.

They were very clear about the behavior of the barbarians, but they didn't know where Attila would lead his troops from.

So a strange thing happened in Ravenna, that is, the officers and nobles moved their families to the south and even to Greater Sicily. To the outside world, they claimed that they were traveling south to escape the summer heat, which made the poor and powerless citizens extremely jealous.

However, anyone with a discerning eye could see the intention of these nobles and their collective departure. No one had ever seen such a spectacular scene.

The senior officers of the Thracian Field Army gathered in Constantinople, and the senior officers of the Guards Corps in the capital of Constantinople gathered in Augustus's Council Chamber. Everyone was discussing fiercely, trying to guess Attila's inner thoughts or how to respond if he really attacked.

However, in Constantinople, the officers were divided into two fighting factions. One was the pro-war faction, led by officers and headed by Inobindes, commander of the Thracian field army. He urged Attylinnaeus to attack the lost province of Dacia and give Attila the most fatal blow while he was on an expedition.

However, the peace faction that opposed their proposal was headed by the court minister Jovian. When this old man was young, he led his army into Italy and assisted Valentinian in ascending the throne.

It was really shocking that this old man who was loyal to the Flavius ​​family chose not to help Valentinian once again. They originally thought that Jovian would support Valentinian again, but the result disappointed everyone.

The court chose to refuse to help Rome, not only because Ravenna chose to remain invisible in the battle, but also because Valentinian, who was supported with great difficulty, had completely become a puppet of power in the hands of Aetius, and then there was no interest or reason to support him. However, Jovian and others did have a certain interest in recovering the province of Dacia.

However, in this ambiguous negotiation topic, Privy Councilor Demisius had a third option.

Although he was loyal to the Purple Chamber, he never regarded his Roman brothers in the west as a community.

Demisius was a Greek who had received a Greek education since childhood. As for the Romans, or rather the Western Romans, his only impression was of war, from the civil war when four emperors co-ruled together to when Theodosius I conquered Eugenius and then took over Rome. In his impression, although the whole of Rome was unified on the map, there were undercurrents within it, and there was no unity at all. In short, this empire was made up of a group of small federal states, and these small federal states looked down on each other, and civil wars broke out constantly.

The Roman legions, which claimed to be invincible externally, had countless enemies internally. Sometimes they suppressed rebellions, sometimes acted as thugs for the nobles to appease the mob, and even worse, they killed each other.

So Demisius chose the idea of ​​neither unity nor hostility, that is, let Attila do whatever he wants in the western Roman territory and trample on it at will, that is the Romans' own business.

"We still have many towns that have not been restored, and many things that have not been done. Sending troops now will only waste more very useful money on meaningless things." Demisius stood up and explained his inner thoughts to the others present, but how could the officers present take his words seriously?

"This is a matter for our soldiers, Lord Demisius." Atilinnaeus stood up and said to the officers behind him, "The court ministers never leave their houses, so they naturally don't know what the world outside Constantinople is like. So it's understandable that they are a little biased in their decision-making."

The officers behind Attylinnaeus nodded one after another and cast disdainful glances at the courtiers sitting opposite them.

"The Huns have plundered us too much." Innobindes stood up angrily and said loudly to the others present: "You all saw that when I received Caesar's appointment and came to the Thracian Military Region, all I saw was the tragic scene left behind by the Huns. They only cared about plundering and didn't care how much suffering this would cause to our Roman people."

"So we have to let these damned Hun bastards know the pain, tell them that we Romans are not easy to mess with, and let them know what it feels like to be plundered and attacked."

"Teach them a lesson!"

"Teach them a lesson!"

The officers raised their arms and shouted loudly. The young officers even stood up, raised their fists high and shouted at Flavius ​​Luca who was sitting on the throne, wanting him to know their attitude.

Luca was sitting upstairs, looking at the people in the audience without saying a word. In the seat next to Augusta, only Liginia on the left was sitting there. The seat on the right was empty because Tenaia said that she did not want to get involved in boring politics.

During this time, Li Jinia frequently turned her head to look at Luga, observing the changes in his expression, so as to know what was bothering Luga at the moment.

But to her disappointment, Luca did not change his expression from beginning to end. During the argument, he seemed to be just a spectator, watching everyone's impromptu performance with a cold expression and remained silent.

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"Caesar, you should understand now that our finances are stretched to the limit!" Demisius saw so many opponents, they raised their arms and shouted, the shouts echoed in the air above the entire meeting hall, "If it is true, then Caesar, think about Ravenna's attitude after the battle. Valentinian didn't say a word of thanks to you, but instead blamed you for stealing the hearts of the people that originally belonged to him, so he spread rumors to slander you."

"That's enough, Demiscio!"

The silent Luga finally spoke. As expected, his tone was as cold as his expression. Although he appeared calm on the surface, everyone could see that he was anxiously making a choice.

Attila is likely to invade again. What should Eastern Rome do? Should it watch from the sidelines or actively assist? After all, this may end up being a thankless task again.

Luca, as the current decision-maker of Eastern Rome, must make a choice. After all, no matter what the outcome is, he will be the first to bear the brunt of the consequences!

(End of this chapter)