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

Chapter 614 Blood and Fire
Petronius used the opportunity of vindicating Aetius to capture all the nobles in the Senate. It can be said that he successfully concentrated all the power in Rome in his own hands.

Through this incident, he successfully found legitimacy for his ascension to the throne, struck down his political enemies, and used the wealth and money of these enemies to successfully bribe the army. At the same time, he rehabilitated Aetius and won the favor of the rest of Aetius's followers.

It can be said that Petronius's operation was a direct five-win situation, and he won five times.

If he could have remained sober all the time, he might have been able to secure his position as Roman emperor. However, it is easy for people to become complacent after achieving great success.

Especially in this situation, Petronius physically destroyed all opponents, and the Roman Empire became his one-man show, with the military, politics and finances all in his hands.

At this moment, his power could be said to far exceed that of all Roman emperors in the past hundred years.

In this situation, no one dared to refute anything he said. After becoming the Roman emperor, Petronius quickly became arrogant.

The Roman emperor began to humiliate his political enemies frantically. After killing those nobles, Petronius began to demote the wives and daughters of these nobles into slaves and took them into the palace for sexual pleasure.

At the same time, he also rewarded these female slaves as generals under his command.

After humiliating these people, Petronius began to set his sights on the wife of Valentinian III. The former empress of the empire had basically no power at this time.

This queen is the daughter of the Eastern Roman Emperor Theodosius II, and the current Eastern Roman Emperor is her uncle, so even though Valentinian III is dead, she can still live well.

Although Licinia Eudoxia lost her power, her freedom was not restricted. At the same time, due to the civil strife among the Huns, the Eastern Roman Empire began to prepare to recover the territories occupied by the Huns.

The Eastern Roman emperor was generally a wise ruler, so Petronius did not take any extreme actions.

But as his power grew and he took control of all the rights in the Roman Empire, Petronius began to want to conquer this woman.

He would not allow anyone in the Roman Empire to dare to refuse him.

So Petronius ordered the queen to marry him.

Licinia Eudoxia had no good feelings towards the Roman emperor who killed her husband and forced her to marry him, and was not willing to marry him at all.

But facing Petronius's pressure, she had no better solution.

Not only did Petronius marry Valentinian III's wife, he also married Valentinian III's daughter to his son.

But Valentinian III's daughter had actually married the king of the Vandals, the son of Gaiseric. The Vandals occupied Carthage in North Africa, an important grain production base for Rome, and the Vandals also occupied the islands of Sardinia and Corsica.

The two islands are very close to Italy. In order to appease the Vandals, Valentinian III recognized the kingdom established by the Vandals and married his daughter to the son of Gaiseric.

Now Petronius's actions directly angered the Vandals.

Faced with Petronius's coercion, Licinia Eudoxia agreed to Petronius's request on the one hand, but on the other hand secretly sent envoys to contact the Vandals.

Licinian Eudoxia appealed to Gaiseric for help and promised to help him attack Rome.

The Vandals have always been eyeing Rome. After all, there is a huge amount of wealth and countless treasures here, which have always been coveted by the Vandals.

Before, when Aetius was around, the Vandals did not dare to invade. Later, when the news of Aetius' death spread, the Vandals were very excited and began to actively prepare for war.

But what happened next made the Vandals cautious. Petronius's various operations restored the strength of the Roman army, and the Vandals were not completely sure.

Wait until the messenger from Licinia Eudoxia arrives.

After seeing this situation, Gaiseric excitedly shouted: "Our chance has come!"

So under the leadership of the envoy, he led the army directly to the expedition. The mighty Vandal fleet began to set out and soon landed on the coast of Rome.

On the other hand, after learning that the Vandals had landed in Italy, Petronius was suddenly awakened from his dream.

Petronius had never led an army in battle before, and the only time he led an army was when he killed Valentinian III and ascended the throne. He had no idea how to command an army.

Petronius was well aware of the power of the Vandals. After all, all of the empire's colonies in North Africa had been seized by the Vandals, forcing the Roman emperor to promise to marry his daughter to them as a means of peace.

Now hearing that the Vandals had landed, everyone was terrified.

Fortunately, his generals were reliable and suggested that he immediately recruit troops to deal with the enemy.

At this time, after several wars, coups and disbandings, the Roman army was less than half of its previous size and far less than that of the Vandals.

Petronius directly ordered the army to defend, but at the same time, he began to prepare to escape from Rome secretly.

However, his behavior directly led to the collapse of the morale of the Roman legions. The last time the Roman emperor fled, the Huns were at the gates of the city just a few years ago.

Now the problem arises again that the enemy is at the gates and the Roman emperor has to flee again.

The Roman legion almost collapsed, a large number of soldiers fled, and even Petronius's guards began to desert in large numbers.

At this moment, Petronius' supreme power was like a castle on the beach. A wave hit it and it collapsed in an instant.

The Vandals learned of this situation at the first time. When Gaiseric learned about it, he was ecstatic and immediately led his army to attack Rome.

Want to take the opportunity to occupy Rome.

On the other hand, the large-scale escape of the Guards made Petronius a frightened bird. He no longer cared about anything else and wanted to escape by abandoning his army and taking his wealth.

However, his actions completely angered the citizens and some soldiers of Rome. Without the protection of the soldiers, Petronius was soon caught up and killed, and his property was looted.

This Roman emperor who came to power through a coup d'état only maintained his rule for more than two months and disappeared in the blink of an eye.

On the other side, the province of Gaul.

After learning that Petronius had ascended the throne, Richard announced that he would not recognize Petronius as emperor, and on the other hand, he prepared his army for war.

However, if he wanted to attack Rome, he had to ensure the safety of the rear. He didn't want the Gaul province to be attacked when he attacked Rome. Therefore, he needed to strengthen the vigilance and increase the army at the border of the Visigothic Kingdom, and at the same time, the Germans would also strengthen their vigilance.

Richard ordered all the soldiers in the two areas to assemble, and at the same time recruited strong men from the people and trained them to cooperate with the soldiers in guarding against possible attacks by the Visigoths and Germans.

Richard then immediately issued a military mobilization order and immediately mobilized all the troops in Gaul except those stationed on the border.

At the same time, another 10,000 farmers were recruited to transport food and supplies.

Richard recruited 20,000 troops, formed four Roman legions, and a large number of war horses and draft horses, and announced to the outside world that he had an army of 50,000 and was ready to march to Rome.

It was also because Richard had recuperated over the past two years, continuously reclaimed the land, encouraged farming, and accumulated a lot of wealth, which made it possible for the Gaul province to mobilize so many people at once.

After Richard's land distribution order, slave release order and other political decrees, a large number of people hiding in the mountains and forests and slaves controlled by the nobles became free people, making the population of Gaul province exceed two million.

If it were the same as the previous Gaul province, let alone 20,000 soldiers, it would not be enough just to resist the Germans and Visigoths.

Now Richard can not only stop the Visigoths and Germans, but also transfer 20,000 troops to Rome.

When Richard announced that he would lead his army to Rome, the Vandals also began to act.

Richard was preparing to take over Rome this time, so he would not do a half-hearted job like he did during a rescue operation. He deliberately slowed down.

This time the army marched at a very fast speed, and Richard did not concentrate the baggage together, but arranged it along the army's route, so the amount of baggage carried was not much.

The army set out from Paris and marched quickly all the way, reaching Italy in just a week, while the Vandals also landed in Italy.

Richard directly ordered the infantry to follow with the baggage, while he led 3,000 cavalrymen, carrying a week's worth of dry food, to rush to Rome.

However, the Vandals were closer to Rome. When Richard led the cavalry here, the Vandal army had already surrounded Rome.

This time, Rome's defenses were even more vulnerable than the last time the Huns invaded.

Because of Petronius's purge, a large number of nobles were killed. After Petronius fled, the city of Rome became leaderless.

When the Roman soldiers discovered that the general and the emperor had fled, they also fled in all directions, leaving Rome with almost no soldiers available.

If Aetius had not rebuilt the walls of Rome and its defense facilities when he was in power, the Vandals would have probably already captured Rome.

In this situation, the citizens of Rome once again thought of Pope Leo. The last time Pope Leo led several Roman nobles to the Hun camp when the Huns were approaching, he asked to see Attila and successfully persuaded Attila to give up attacking Rome.

Now, Rome was once again at a critical juncture of life and death, and these people could only once again ask Pope Leo to go and persuade Gaiseric.

Faced with the citizens' request, Pope Leo had to step forward again and go to the Vandal camp in person.

Gaiseric frowned when he saw the tall city of Rome. The defense of Rome was beyond his imagination, with several-meter-high walls and perfect fortifications. If the army attacked, even if they succeeded in capturing Rome, his soldiers would inevitably suffer heavy losses.

Gaiseric did not want to lose too many troops. After all, his enemies were not just Rome, the Eastern Roman Empire, the Visigothic Kingdom, and the tribes in North Africa that were unwilling to surrender.

So when he heard that Pope Leo was coming to negotiate, Gaiseric's eyes turned and he immediately thought of a good idea.

So Gaiseric returned to his tent, made his preparations, and called in Pope Leo.

After seeing Pope Leo, Gaiseric behaved very arrogantly.

"Your Majesty, I am here to negotiate on behalf of Rome. We are willing to pay you to withdraw your troops."

"As long as I capture Rome, all the money inside will be mine. Why should I retreat?" Gaiseric said arrogantly.

"The walls of Rome are high, and there are tens of thousands of Roman citizens and soldiers in the city. If you want to capture Rome, you will definitely pay a heavy price." Leo said in a deep voice.

"God's Scourge, Attila didn't conquer Rome. Do you think you can compare with Attila?"

"Haha, tens of thousands of soldiers and civilians. I heard that Petronius has already run away. How many soldiers are left?" Gaiseric laughed.

Hearing this, the Pope was shocked. He never thought that the strength of Rome had been known to others.

Seeing Pope Leo's face change slightly, Gaiseric's eyes flashed with a sharp light. Obviously, his previous test was correct. There were really not many soldiers guarding the city of Rome.

Next, Gaiseric began to advance continuously. Even though Pope Leo kept opposing him, he still couldn't make Gaiseric give up the idea of ​​attacking Rome.

Finally, Gaiseric said: "As long as Rome declares surrender, I can guarantee the safety of everyone in Rome, but I will take away Rome's wealth!"

"Can you promise not to kill the residents of Rome?" Pope Leo asked.

"Of course, I can swear to God that I will not kill the residents of the city." Gaiseric said directly.

Hearing this, Pope Leo took a deep breath and said solemnly: "In this case, then we can surrender!"

After saying this, Pope Leo seemed to have lost all his energy and collapsed.

Although it failed to force Gaiseric to withdraw his troops, at least the safety of the people in the city was guaranteed. This result was acceptable.

After Pope Leo and Gaiseric discussed the surrender, Leo left the barracks and returned to the city. Seeing the Pope leave, a general next to him asked: "Your Majesty, why should we agree to them? As long as we capture the city, won't everything inside belong to us?"

"Who said I agreed?" Gaiseric sneered, "Order the army to prepare. Once they open the city gate, attack immediately!"

"Yes!" Several generals were overjoyed upon hearing this and immediately responded loudly.

"But your majesty, you broke your promise."

"Haha, I don't believe in their God, so what restrictions do they have on me?" Gaiseric said disdainfully. The Vandals have their own beliefs and gods.

(End of this chapter)