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

Chapter 619 Ascending the Throne
North Africa, Carthage.

After two months of conquest, Richard once again took control of North Africa. However, despite taking back North Africa, the population of North Africa had dropped significantly after decades of war.

Desertification in North Africa was not serious during this era, and many areas were rich in grass and water, suitable for farming and animal husbandry.

Richard announced the abolition of slavery, freed all slaves, and allocated land and houses to these slaves. The abolition of slavery immediately made the oppressed slaves cheer.

After these people became civilians, they were the most supportive of Richard. Together with the 5,000 soldiers he left here, the entire North African province was impregnable.

As for the former nobles and tribal leaders, they were basically either dealt with by the Vandals or cleaned up by Richard.

There are almost no nobles in North Africa.

The abolition of slavery brought hundreds of thousands of free people to North Africa, which were the foundation of the empire. Richard was ready to promote the abolition of slavery everywhere.

In fact, the slavery system of the Roman Empire was no longer suitable. The nobles and slave owners controlled a large population and land, and were able to compete with the empire in various places, which was not in the interests of the empire.

So Richard fundamentally abolished slavery and the tax-exempt rights of the nobles. Everyone, including the nobles, had to pay taxes.

After Richard's reforms in North Africa, the Arian sect, which originally had many believers, almost became a minority sect.

After all, the Arians could not allocate land to them, could not grant them freedom, and could not free them from the oppression of the Vandals.

Compared to believing in God or the Creator, these freed slaves prefer to believe in Richard.

Therefore, Richard didn't need to promote it deliberately, and polytheism developed rapidly among these slaves and civilians. The current polytheistic doctrine has been improved by Richard. The previous polytheism was more of an upper-class route, but now the polytheism has begun to take the grassroots route.

With Richard's support, polytheism also advocated the abolition of slavery, and they also required believers to pay taxes, prohibited tax evasion and tax avoidance, and prohibited all religious personnel from collecting taxes in any form, and wrote this directly into the doctrine.

Polytheism claims that human affairs belong to the king, and gods belong to the gods.

This kind of sect that does not compete for power with human kings and emperors can easily gain the support of those in power. After all, no king or emperor wants to see a pope controlling him.

In the past, due to the strong influence of monotheism, as well as the unrest and barbarian invasions in various places, the lords and kings of various places did not pay much attention to these things.

Now that there was a polytheistic religion coming to preach, these people immediately realized the difference between the two. Polytheism was obviously more conducive to their rule, and these people were not stupid, so they naturally knew how to choose.

Richard temporarily left Alea in Carthage in North Africa. Alea had many estates in North Africa and was very familiar with the place. Richard asked her to be responsible for the affairs of North Africa temporarily. He planned to send some officials here to assist Alea after returning to Rome.

When returning to Rome, Richard led an army of 5,000 into Rome.

After three months of renovation, Rome has regained its original look. The original collapsed ruins have been cleaned up and rebuilt.

All Roman citizens were given houses and land. The Romans now regarded him as the emperor, Augustus.

Upon learning of his triumphant return, the people of Rome came spontaneously to welcome him.

Under the watchful eyes of the crowd, Richard led his army to the Arc de Triomphe. This time, all the Roman people cheered his name, shouting "Richard Augustus".

Dranos, who had been ready in the city, immediately drove a chariot to Richard's horse, then got out of the chariot, knelt on one knee and said to Richard: "Great Richard Augustus, please get on this chariot and inspect your empire!"

Richard looked at everything in front of him, nodded slightly, and then got on the chariot. Dranos served as the driver, driving the chariot, and behind him was the mighty army.

As Richard boarded the chariot, a golden eagle flag rose and fluttered high in the air.

The people around began to cheer again.

Richard waved his arms gently at the Roman people around him, and the already loud cheers suddenly increased by several degrees.

The tall Arc de Triomphe is carved with exquisite patterns, which were engraved after Rome's great victories.

There is not just one triumphal arch in Rome, but several. After every important battle, the Roman emperors would build a triumphal arch.

The course of the war and the list of heroes are also carved on the Arc de Triomphe.

In the army behind Richard, in the front were twenty extraordinary knights, followed by the Rhine Legion, the Foreign Legion, and finally the Gallic Legion.

Teams of veterans who had seen many battles marched through the Arc de Triomphe with a solemn and murderous look on their faces. Among them were not only Romans, Gauls, Franks, Germans, but even Huns.

These soldiers held their chests high and marched through the Arc de Triomphe with their heads held high amid the cheers of countless people of the empire.

On both sides of the Roman Avenue, countless people cheered for them, and some enthusiastic and bold girls even rushed in and put the woven wreaths on the heads of those handsome soldiers, which attracted waves of cheers. Finally, Richard led the army to the gate of the palace. The palace had been cleaned up and was surrounded by flowers. Roman girls stood respectfully on both sides of the road.

Then, a group of Roman nobles came to the side of the chariot and knelt on one knee to Richard. These people were governors from all over Rome, as well as powerful nobles and generals.

When Richard went to North Africa, the knights who stayed behind were not idle. Several knights led the army to defeat all those who refused to obey in Italy and the Balkan Peninsula.

Basically everyone either declared their allegiance or was killed. These people came here today to show their submission to Richard.

At the same time, these people respectfully held up a box, on top of which was placed an exquisite crown.

Richard glanced at these people casually, without getting off the car, he raised his arm, picked up the crown directly with the flag next to him, then reached out to take the crown and put it on his head.

He did not ask the Pope to crown him. In his opinion, the legitimacy of his throne did not need to be questioned by anyone.

Letting the Pope crown him would elevate the Pope's status. As the Emperor of Rome, only he can crown himself with the crown.

"I saw the crown of the Roman Empire fall to the ground, and I picked it up with my spear!"

Richard glanced around, and everyone lowered their heads in his gaze.

Behind these people, Pope Leo led the bishops of the Holy See. At this time, Pope Leo had completely lost his former charm and looked much older, giving people the feeling that he was about to die.

Although the fall of Rome was inevitable, his negotiations accelerated the process and brought serious consequences, which greatly damaged the reputation of Roman Catholicism.

Even in Rome, a large number of people no longer believed in Roman Catholicism, which made the influence of the Roman See almost reach rock bottom.

Even if Richard did not issue any administrative orders, the power of the Holy See was shrinking rapidly.

In contrast, the influence of polytheism was expanding rapidly, and in Rome, the number of polytheists exceeded that of monotheists.

Under such circumstances, the monotheists had no choice but to bow to Richard and hope to regain his support.

Richard glanced at these people and didn't say anything.

After completing the coronation ceremony, Richard officially issued an edict announcing the abolition of any form of religious coercion.

All Roman citizens had freedom of religion and personal freedom.

All men are born free and equal before the law. All Roman nobles enjoy freedom of work, belief, and labor.

Under the premise of legal provisions, all Roman citizens can believe in the religion they want, and no one can prevent, force or persecute them in any way.

All Roman citizens, regardless of race, color, sex, language, religion or other origin, had the right to live and work freely on Roman soil.

At the same time, starting from today, all forms of slavery will be abolished throughout the empire, including colonies, serfs, and pastoral slaves, and everyone will be a free man.

After Richard's edict was issued, the whole of Rome cheered, while the people of the Monotheistic Church looked miserable.

Richard's edict can be said to have directly abolished the status of monotheism as the state religion of the Roman Empire.

At the same time, he ordered as emperor that all Roman slaves be granted the status of free citizens. Although there were certainly still slaves in some remote areas, the rights of slave owners were no longer officially protected.

Once the slaves reported the slave owners, the slave owners would be punished. Along with Richard's army, this order to abolish slavery would quickly spread throughout the Roman Empire.

After announcing the edict, Richard led everyone to the Pantheon in the city. As another magnificent building in the city, the Pantheon was once one of the most important buildings in the Roman Empire.

The Pantheon has been abandoned for a long time since the Roman emperor announced its closure.

Richard came to the gate of the Pantheon. At this time, the Pantheon had been cleaned. Richard walked forward and pushed open the door of the Pantheon.

This temple, which had been closed for decades, slowly opened again.

The golden sunlight shone in, dispelling the darkness in the Pantheon. Teams of priests followed Richard into the temple.

Richard came to the center of the Pantheon, where the sacrificial fire had originally burned, and rekindled the sacrificial fire that had been extinguished for decades.

In an instant, the golden light once again enveloped the Pantheon.

(End of this chapter)