The Great Arcanist Who Traveled Through the World of American Variety Shows.

Chapter 537 The Surviving Rebels

Richard followed the caravan to a nearby town. This time, the barbarians invaded and almost all provinces on the border of the empire were about to fall.

As the most glorious empire in European history, its territory was once very vast, covering almost all the most fertile land on the continent, occupying most of Europe and the most fertile areas of Africa.

Such a vast land was rare even in the classical era, which posed a problem: how to rule such a vast empire.

Although the empire was surrounded by the Mediterranean and relied on sea transportation to solve many transportation problems, its control over border areas was not good. Especially after the decline of the empire, the corrupt bureaucracy made it almost impossible for government orders to be implemented.

More and more places were selectively abandoned by the empire, such as the British province.

Decades earlier, the Empire had given up the British Isles due to financial problems, and the British Isles were now under siege by Anglo-Saxon pirates, the ancestors of the later Anglo-Saxons.

So it is reasonable to say that the Anglo-Saxons were pirates and robbers. King Arthur was fighting against the ancestors of the Anglo-Saxons.

In the British province, it is the Celts, Irish and others who are now resisting the invasion of the Anglo-Saxon barbarians.

In fact, except for a few nobles and naturalized barbarians, almost everyone in the entire empire was unwilling to fight for the empire anymore.

This vast empire is falling apart.

The Roman Legion, the cornerstone of the former imperial rule, has become corrupt, and now the empire's military is entirely supported by barbarian mercenaries.

Even monotheism did not want to see the empire continue. After all, if the empire continued, the emperor of the empire would have too much power.

Monotheism can rely on the emperor's edict to successfully whitewash itself and eliminate polytheism, and other sects can also rely on the emperor to do the same.

Therefore, after monotheism solved the problem of polytheism, a large and powerful empire was no longer in the interests of monotheism.

Under such circumstances, monotheism naturally does not want the empire to continue. Of course, the empire may not continue, but monotheism must continue.

At this time, monotheism had already begun to spread among some barbarians.

In the interests of monotheism, it is best for the Roman Empire to split into small countries, and monotheism can use faith to override the king, making theocracy higher than royal power.

Under such circumstances, it would be difficult for the empire to survive.

After traveling for half a day, the caravan arrived at a city before dark. It was called a city, but it was actually a town.

The town's population was only a few thousand people, but it was considered a decent city for that period.

Richard took Mia to a hotel to rest. He needed to understand everything here as soon as possible.

Although on the surface this time seems very similar to the history of Blue Planet, in fact there are huge differences, and there is no guarantee as to how true the historical records are.

Richard estimated that if 20% of Western historical records about Rome were true, he would be considered pretty good. He could only collect more information on his own.

If he wants to obtain divinity, the best way is to participate in the war of faith. Only by defeating the gods can he seize their divinity.

What Richard is considering now is which camp to join. He is joining the monotheistic camp. At this time, the polytheistic gods have reached the final moment. Richard does not think that the main god of the monotheistic religion will share the divinity with him.

As for joining polytheism, polytheism was basically destroyed at this time, and he had no ability to fight against the army.

According to the original history, monotheism had the last laugh, and even in the subsequent struggle between theocracy and royal power, theocracy gained an overwhelming advantage. Until the Renaissance, theocracy still had a significant influence on royal power.

In the end, Li Cha realized that he had to build a force first, because in the following period, after the fall of the Western Roman Empire, Europe would enter the darkest Middle Ages.

A feudal lord system would be established, and this system would last for thousands of years.

Richard learned from the leader of the caravan that the current Roman Empire can only be maintained because of the Protector Aetius.

This last famous general of the Western Roman Empire maintained the empire by conquering the east and the west and suppressing rebellions. Not long ago, he successfully defeated the main force of the rebels and brought the entire Gaul region back into the rule of the empire.

But the declining empire could not be saved by him alone. And because of his high prestige in the army, the current Roman emperor was very afraid of him.

Emperor Valentinian III had no idea what was going on. The reason he was able to become the Roman emperor now was entirely due to the support of the last famous general of the Roman Empire.

Without him, the entire empire would have been destroyed by the barbarians. But Valentinian III didn't think so. He thought he could do it. So in the future, the emperor killed Aetius directly. After losing Aetius, the Roman Empire finally fell apart.

At this time, the Roman Empire was a sinking ship, and everyone was waiting to get a piece of the pie from it. Richard naturally had no intention of joining the Roman camp.

As for the barbarians, they were based on tribal alliances. He was not from the tribe, and those Germanic barbarians would not trust him. After thinking about it, Li Jue felt that he had no choice but to unite with the rebels. Most of these rebels were slaves or deserters, with low strength and poverty. The empire suppressed them, and the barbarians plundered them. It can be said that these rebels could only survive in the cracks.

But Li Jue felt that these people had great potential. Although they were weak, they had no tribal or racial problems, and their beliefs were also chaotic.

The fact that they could gather together can only mean that both the Roman Empire and the barbarians were not human.

In fact, if there was a way to survive, these rebels would not gather together to resist. After thinking about it, Richard decided to gather these rebels.

The lack of faith means that they have no religious problems, no tribes, and complex origins, which means that there are no big mountains between them, making it easy to integrate them.

These difficulties may be difficult for others, but they are not too easy for Richard.

Richard was too experienced in raising the flag of rebellion. There were too many examples to learn from, whether it was the dragon-slaying techniques of the past or in Chinese history books.

Richard immediately decided to find these rebels and then lead them to build his own power.

That night, the leader of the caravan came to invite Richard to return to Rome with him. He could introduce Richard to his master, an imperial earl and nobleman.

But Richard refused. The empire was a broken ship that could not be saved. Instead of playing political games with the nobles and the church and confronting the barbarians, he might as well start anew.

After saying goodbye to the caravan, Richard began to head towards Gaul. Although the slave uprising in Burgundy had been suppressed, it did not mean that there was peace here.

In fact, many rebels hid in the mountains and forests. The mountains and forests in Gaul were not friendly to the army. After seeing those scattered rebels entering the mountains and forests, the Roman army stopped chasing them, after all, they still had the barbarians to deal with.

Richard took Mia on horseback to Gaul. They encountered bandits along the way, but they were all shot to death by Richard with a bow and arrow.

Although Mia is not very powerful, as a supernatural creature, she can still deal with ordinary people, and as a nature spirit she can communicate with many animals.

Along the way, Richard and his companions encountered some fleeing slaves and serfs. Once when they encountered scattered barbarian warriors, Richard shot and killed them cleanly, making these escaped slaves begin to stick to him.

Richard did not drive away the slaves and serfs who followed him. After all, he had already planned to find the rebels as his base, and these people happened to be his source of soldiers and farmers.

After only following for a few days, these people already regarded Richard as their leader, not only because Richard was good at fighting, but also because Richard could provide them with food.

By the time Richard brought these people to the Burgundy Mountains, there were already hundreds of people following him, of which 70% were young and middle-aged men and only 30% were women.

After all, only adult men have the strength to escape.

At this time, the escape team had been simply divided by Richard, with five people in a group, one person was selected as the group leader, two groups formed a team, a captain was selected, and then the ten captains were managed by Mia.

The slaves and serfs of this era had basically no culture, and it was often difficult for them to manage five people.

As a natural spirit, Mia had learned a lot of Greek and Roman knowledge, which was just right for managing these people. After half a month of management and adjustment, some rules were finally in place.

"There's a situation ahead!"

A falcon descended from the sky and landed on Mia's shoulder.

"Master, there are hundreds of people fighting ahead." Mia stepped forward and said.

Richard released his divine consciousness, and with his powerful mental strength he quickly discovered those people. About twenty kilometers away from them, a group of people were using the mountains and terrain to besiege an army.

These people were basically farmers, and their equipment was extremely simple. Wooden sticks and wooden forks were their weapons. Many people also used stones. They basically had no armor, and only a few had some leather armor.

The people they were besieging were an army of thirty people, equipped not only with armor, bows, arrows and shields, but also with more than a dozen war horses.

Although besieged by a force ten times their number, this army was not in chaos. In fact, if it were not for a dozen vehicles, this army could have easily broken through the encirclement and escaped.

Dozens of the besiegers had been killed or injured, but they were still unwilling to leave. Judging from their physical condition, they had no food left, and they besieged the convoy precisely for food.

If they succeed, they can survive, but if they retreat, they will starve to death.

In this case, they really have no choice.

Their idea is very simple. Instead of starving to death, it is better to give it a try. If they fail, they will die. If they succeed, they can continue to live.

(End of this chapter)