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

Chapter 566: Aleiya's Attack
Vares looked at the information in his hand and sighed inwardly.

As the chancellor and treasurer of the empire, he knew the situation of the empire best. The emperor, ministers and nobles in Rome were arrogant and extravagant, and were ignorant of the sufferings of the world.

For example, spices such as camphor and musk, the nobles use hundreds of kilograms of them a year. These spices are very expensive. If they are exchanged for food, they will be enough to feed an army of 100,000 for a year.

As a result, when hearing about the need to contribute money to help the empire through the crisis, no one was willing to help, which made Vares feel discouraged.

The people at the bottom of the country lived in poverty, without food or clothing. Local officials were corrupt, and the noble estates exploited and oppressed them, causing many citizens to fall into poverty.

The Roman Empire imposed heavy taxes on its citizens, and many citizens had to borrow money from nobles to pay taxes. These citizens could not afford the high interest, and the end result was bankruptcy or escape.

This led to a massive destruction of the tax base of the Roman Empire. Apart from commercial taxes, most of the taxes in the Roman Empire were paid by citizens. Now the number of citizens in the Roman Empire continued to decline, and the empire's fiscal revenue became increasingly tight.

At the same time, the nobility of the empire did not have to pay much tax, and many did not pay tax at all. This led to the empire's financial problems becoming more and more serious. In fact, by now, the empire's finances had reached a point where they had to be reformed.

But no one from the emperor to the nobles had ever proposed it. In the past, Emperor Diocletian had carried out reforms, but after his death, the reforms were quickly destroyed.

The current emperor did not have the courage of Emperor Diocletian, let alone the idea of ​​reform. As for Aetius, although he had prestige and ability, he was not an emperor, and his relationship with Valentinian III was not good, so he had no chance to carry out reforms.

Originally, Vares planned to spend his later years in Rome after leaving office in a few years, but the current situation of the Roman Empire may not last long until he leaves office.

The serious financial crisis and the conflict between the emperor and the Protector of the Kingdom could erupt at any time. Vares was already old, and he could die, but he could not ignore his family.

Now he had to consider his family. Some Roman nobles had sensed that the situation was not good and were quietly transferring their wealth to Constantinople.

However, he had no friendship with the emperor of the Eastern Roman Empire, and his family would certainly not be able to keep their wealth and status after going there, which made him hesitant.

Of course, he had another choice. Not long ago, Aleiya came to see him. Aleiya's family had a close relationship with Vares' family.

Alea's family has a close relationship with the family of Agrippina the Younger, who is also a family that has worshipped the goddess Venus for generations.

Vares' family used to be polytheists, and they were good at business and had close ties with the Alea family.

Aleiya was able to live in Rome for so long, largely because of the protection of the Varis family. Even the last time Aleiya sold her assets in Rome, it was the Varis family who helped her.

Alea also saw that the empire was crumbling, so she wanted to invite Vares and his family to come to Richard's territory.

Richard's territory lacks a lot of talents, but the Vares family has many people available. And as the empire's finance minister, Vares is able to support the empire's finances under such circumstances, and his ability is beyond doubt.

So Aleiya wanted to bring Vares to Richard's territory. Once Vares came here, his family would definitely come as well. The Vares family had a large number of craftsmen and wealth. By then, Richard's territory would be like taking a ten-fold tonic pill and develop rapidly.

When Vares saw Aleiya's invitation, he turned his attention to Richard's territory.

At the beginning, he also thought that Richard would not be able to hold on for long, but as time went by, the situation changed. Richard actually gained a foothold in the province of Gaul and later gathered tens of thousands of exiles.

It was at this time that he began to truly understand Richard, and it was also at this time that he saw that Richard's policies were completely different from those of the Roman Empire.

In his previous understanding, Richard should have exploited and driven those exiles as serfs, but he did not expect that he actually allocated land to those serfs.

They selected the strongest men to form an army, and their taxation system was more complete than that of the Roman Empire. In just a few months, the territory that had been ravaged by the Germanic barbarians suddenly regained its vitality.

If he could continue for a few years and gather a population of 200,000 or 300,000, Richard would inevitably become an important force in Gaul.

It is even possible to occupy the entire province of Gaul.

After seeing Richard's future, Vares hesitated. On the one hand, he could go to the Eastern Roman Empire and lose his power and a lot of family wealth, and on the other hand, he could go to Richard's territory.

Going to Richard's territory would require him to gamble his entire family, but if successful, the rewards would surely be extremely lucrative.

Of course, the consequences of failure would be extremely serious. Vares had not yet made up his mind.

"Vares, we don't have much time left." Alea said to the hesitant Vares.

"I must carefully consider the decision of gambling with the entire family." Vares said with a serious expression.

"Rhine Territory needs help the most now. If you support Richard now, you will definitely get huge benefits. If you wait until later, the return you get will definitely be greatly reduced." "Vares, this is just like business investment. If you want high profits, there will definitely be high risks."

"I know it very well, but it's not enough to convince me." Vares shook his head and said, "Although the Rhine Territory is developing very well now, the premise of all this is that Richard must stop those Germans who are like locusts."

"If he can't stop the Germans from plundering, then no matter how good his words are now, they will just be castles on the beach, which will crumble under a wave."

Although Vares thought Richard was doing a good job, he was more aware of the destructive power of the Germanic barbarians.

He was not optimistic that Richard could stop the Germans. You know, the Germans' southward raids had been a chronic problem for the Roman Empire for hundreds of years.

Although Rome defeated a large number of Germanic tribes during its heyday, it did not completely defeat these barbarians. With the decline of the empire, these barbarians soon grew stronger again and have become a chronic disease of the empire today.

"Are you worried about that?" Aleiya chuckled and said, "If you are worried that we can't stop the Germanic barbarians from moving south, then I will show you our strength, and I think you will be relieved."

"Your power?" Vares looked at Aleiya in surprise, and then he seemed to have thought of something and asked directly: "Did you use the power of God?"

"That's not right. The polytheistic altar has been closed for decades. You priests probably don't have much power left."

Alea smiled slightly, then said, "Let's go to the martial arts arena."

Vares looked at Aleiya's serious expression, then nodded and said, "Since you insist, let's go."

"I also want to see your strength!"

Soon they arrived at the training ground of the Vares family. Vares asked everyone to leave, leaving only his son, and then signaled Alea to continue.

Aleiya smiled and said, "Sean, go and demonstrate it!"

Sean, who had been following behind her, nodded slightly and said, "Yes, sir!"

Richard still attaches great importance to Alea. There are few people of noble birth under him, and even fewer who can deal with nobles. As a Roman noble, Alea has been familiar with various aristocratic etiquette since childhood and is very good at dealing with nobles.

In addition, she was in charge of the territory's foreign trade, so her safety had to be guaranteed. Therefore, Richard asked two knights to follow and protect her.

Sean walked forward and without any nonsense, he directly lifted up the largest stone in the training ground that was used to test strength.

The three hundred kilogram stone seemed to be moved effortlessly in his hands, which surprised Vares, but that was just surprise.

Although strong men like this are not common, they do exist in Rome.

Sean then put down the stone, and then piled up the remaining smaller stones on the training ground. Seeing Sean's actions, Vares asked in surprise: "Are you going to lift all these stones?"

"Of course!" Sean said confidently.

After hearing Sean's answer, Varley shook his head and said, "Are you crazy? The combined weight of so many stones is several times heavier than the largest one."

While Vares was still persuading, Sean squatted down and grabbed the bottom of the stone with both hands. The next second, he roared, and he actually lifted up those stones weighing more than a thousand pounds.

"This, this." Vares was so surprised that he was speechless. This kind of strange power has exceeded the limits of human beings, and only the heroes of the mythological era can do it.

Sean lifted the boulder without any reluctance, and walked around the training ground twice, then returned to the original place and put the stone back.

Vares was completely stunned. When he saw Sean put the stone down, he asked anxiously, "How did he do that?"

"Have the gods responded to you? Have you bestowed the power of the gods on him?"

"Vares, the gods did not respond to us, but we have our own way." Alia said without explaining to him.

"My two guards are of this strength. There are many more people of this strength in the Rhine Territory. Do you think we can stop the Germans' attack?"

"Yes! Of course!" Vares looked at Sean with shining eyes.

(End of this chapter)