European modulation mode

Seeing that there was no way out, the vampire fell into endless despair. She did not resist, but watched Aenarion summon once again a dead chain that symbolized slavery and bondage. The chain was like a cold poisonous snake, quietly crossing the sky and tightly tying her neck. Augustus' surging and terrifying magic power penetrated into every part of her body like mercury, and even drilled into the depths of her soul, making her a puppet like the zombies under his command.

Controlling intelligent undead creatures like vampires is not much different from controlling mindless undead creatures like zombies. It both involve absolute slavery and obedience.

"Name, position, mission, tell the ghouls under your control to stop attacking and get out of the way."

Aenarion gave orders in an orderly manner, and an irresistible magic forced the vampire to speak.

"Valerica, the third lord of the Ninth Legion of Ghouls, obeys the order of Grand Duke Sanguinius. Even if it means death, I will keep you here for forty-eight hours.

As for your order to my army to give way? Sorry, I cannot carry out this order, because they are no longer my army. "

The vampire lady gave a crazy smile.

"The moment you enslaved me, I tore up all the slavery contracts! Those evil ghouls are no longer my slaves! You have to control the seven hundred ghouls one by one, and they will make way for your army!

Otherwise, these undead beasts will rely on their instincts to fight to death on the battlefield! The Third Lord Valerica did not fail, and I did not let down the blood of Sanguinius!!!"

Looking at the vampire who looked like he was begging for death, Inarion frowned. It would only take forty-eight hours to delay himself?

Bucharest is Chagatai's Fifth Legion. Could it be that Sanguinius wants this guy to hold her back for 48 hours to gain a time difference, and then she will lead the tireless and tireless Undead Legion to attack first?

Kill Chagatai, and then turn around and fight a decisive battle with me? !

But the Fifth Legion White Scars may not be weaker than her!

"Indrognir! Take all the dragons of the Palaiologos family and go to Bucharest in person! Pass on my urgent order, let Chagatai and the Fifth Legion withdraw! Sanguinius is killing them, don't stay under the city of Bucharest! Immediately go south to bypass the main force of Sanguinius returning for reinforcements, and go around the Danube to get closer to me!

Okay, delay, right? We'll wait here! When the Second Army Varyag arrives, the three armies will join together and continue to march north to fight her!"

Aenarion thought about it and decided not to bet on which of the Fifth and Ninth Legions was stronger. He was also unwilling to bear the huge amount of Janissary casualties that would occur after the two legions fought each other. Therefore, he adopted the most conservative and safest approach.

Indrognir nodded and accepted this difficult task, soaring hundreds of kilometers above Wallachia, which was filled with undead and vampires, to deliver orders to another legion.

After delivering the task, Aenarion suddenly thought of something and gave orders to his vampire slaves again.

"Your magic is very unique. Constantinople doesn't even have a collection of the magic of these necromancy factions. Where is the original text of the magic? Give it to me."

"This is Wallachia's vampire magic. Even your most powerful emperor cannot maintain a stable rule in Wallachia, let alone obtain our secret teachings."

Valerica debated with Aenarion on the subject of magic with an angry look on her face, but her hands uncontrollably pulled out an evil secret book made of human skin from her dimensional bag and handed it to her current master, Aenarion. He handed it to Estarielle and asked her to use the Volume of All Means to read it quickly.

These spells are indeed powerful and strange, but there is one exception to all vampire magic: they can only strengthen undead creatures and are ineffective against the living.

The group healing of [Nico's Curse] is very strong, but [Mass Rejuvenation] can achieve a similar level.

[Vanhe's House of the Dead] can only optimize the Undead Legion, while [Acceleration] increases the movement speed and attack speed of the group, regardless of whether they are living or dead.

The eighth ring's [Wind of Death] has a large range and great damage, but the ninth ring's [Meteor Burst] can achieve a similar level, or even have higher burst damage.

Bai Ta felt that this thing was unimportant. It was normal not to want to spend a huge price and snatch knowledge from powerful vampires. After all, Rome was composed of the army of the living most of the time, and zombies were always auxiliary forces. These spells could only optimize the undead and were ineffective against the living. However, for himself, a death knight and three-eighths wizard, this thing was just right.

Chapter 412: Winter is Coming

The following battle was a long and boring war of attrition. These zombies were indeed very resistant, but their attack was very weak. Only the first wave of resurrection disrupted the Roman formation and caused some casualties. After they stabilized, the difficulty of suppressing them was not much different from suppressing unarmed citizens and peasants' riots. It just took longer.

And those powerful Ghoul Knights were also suppressed by the Emperor's Children. No matter how strong they were, they were no more than 700 of them, facing 10,000 elite Romans. With such a number, they had no chance of winning. Aenarion also sent a large number of White Tower wizards to join the battle, commanding the Undead to capture and enslave these Ghoul Knights and gain control of the operation.

On the front battlefield, Aenarion divided his army into four teams, fighting in rotation, slowly suppressing the dead, while he continued to torture Valerica, who was known as the third lord, seeking knowledge. Valerica completed her task perfectly. This zombie army forced Aenarion to spend three days here before he was able to resolve them all.

At the same time, the Second Legion Varyag crossed the Danube and joined forces with Aenarion. With the assistance of Indrognir and the dragons, the White Scars narrowly avoided the attack of Sanguinius and moved south along the Danube. At the end of November 1458, the three legions joined forces and prepared to launch the final general offensive against Sanguinius.

Then, it started snowing.

Wallachia is not like Greece. The Greek areas along the Aegean Sea are as warm as spring even in winter. Even in Bulgaria, the temperature in winter is only between zero and ten degrees, which is just a little cold.

But heading north over the mountains of Bulgaria, arriving at the north and south banks of the Danube, the weather here is completely different from that in Greece. The cold wind from Siberia blew mercilessly across the grasslands of Eastern Europe, spreading cold and destruction on the land of Wallachia. The entire sky was covered with low clouds and goose-feather-sized snowflakes. It took two days for the world that Aenarion could see to become a monotonous pale.

The rapidly dropping temperature also caused the morale of the army to drop rapidly. The Viking warriors of Varangia and the ogres with white scars did not care about the small snowflakes. The Emperor's sons who set out from Constantinople and the twenty battalions of auxiliary soldiers really could not bear it. The logistical and baggage troops of the Roman Empire had not practiced marching in snow deep enough to cover their ankles.

So that's why Sanguinius was buying time to wait for the snow to fall, so that his zombie army, which was unaware of the cold, could gain the greatest advantage in terms of time and location.

In the cold wind from Eastern Europe, Aenarion had no choice but to order a withdrawal. He ordered the Fifth Legion, the White Scars, to closely guard the southern bank of the Danube, and the Second Legion, the Varyag, to be stationed at the Black Sea port to keep a close eye on Sanguinius from two locations. Then he led the Third Legion and auxiliary soldiers south to Wen

Greece is as warm as spring.

Right now, the situation is very clear. Among the Balkan countries, only Sanguinius has not been crippled. However, winter will also cause trouble to her undead army. The two legions' vigilance will make her caught in a dilemma and unable to focus on one thing while gaining another.

If I can solve the internal problems in the Balkans this winter and avoid being so passive as to fight on all sides, then next year I will be able to completely resolve the problem of Sanguinius.

Aenarion dismissed all the auxiliary soldiers to solve the pressure of food supply, and led the elite of the Third Legion back to Macedonia with great momentum. After being trapped for several months, Leman Russ did not wait for any rescue from his allies, but instead heard one bad news after another.

Yesterday, Chagatai and Philus surrendered to Rome and were appointed legion commanders. Today, the Serbian rebels were strangled by Varangian, and tomorrow Skander will be defeated by Ryan again. The atmosphere of fear and despair in the whole city is gradually increasing.

After Leman Russ held out for a few days, he saw the purple and white eagle flag of the Emperor's Children of the Third Legion, the purple, red and gold eagle flag symbolizing Augustus, and Aenarion personally leading his army to attack the city. The morale of the Janissaries completely collapsed. Aenarion, who was supposed to fight Sanguinius, actually appeared here? Did Sanguinius also lose?

The shadow of despair instantly engulfed the entire city. Looking at the Roman army surging like a metallic wave, the wolf packs of the Sixth Legion chose to surrender one after another. Having lost their last will to resist, Aenarion led the Royal Guards all the way to the Macedonian palace and removed the last flag of the Macedonian Kingdom. Aenarion personally planted the empire's red eagle flag on the top of the tallest tower of the Macedonian Palace.

Facing the two legion lords, Leman Russ knew he had no chance of winning, so he gave up resistance, laid down his arms, and surrendered to Aenarion in person.

"Isn't this Leman Russ? When Macedonia was first established, you couldn't even pay the salaries of your legions. The Roman Empire provided you with a large amount of silver coins to help your country survive. But now, why do you want to fight the Roman Empire to the end? Are you really a wolf that can never be tamed?"

Aenarion looked at Leman Russ who was kneeling in surrender and asked curiously.

“At that time, the peninsula was divided and many kings rose up. I just wanted to fight and see if I could become the last king of the Balkan Peninsula with my appearance.

And now, the ending is already determined, Philus, Clarks, Skander accompany... Your Majesty, you have defeated all the Balkan countries, you are the real master of this land! And I am willing to be loyal to you forever! Never betray! It is my greatest honor to be a dog of the Roman Empire!"

Leman Russ replied very tactfully, his apricot eyes flashing with the cunning of a wild beast. Aenarion did not make things difficult for her and accepted her surrender. Racing against time, after Leman Russ was forced to land in early December, the army and navy coordinated and headed for the last part of Albania.

Chapter 413: Imperial Army Reform

When Aenarion arrived in Albania, he faced the same dilemma as the Ottoman Sultan - most of Albania was in the mountains, and the dwarves had been operating here for thousands of years, hollowing out the peaks to make mountain fortresses. Under the mountain fortresses there were intricate tunnels connecting them, making it impossible to trap them to death. Sending two-meter-tall elves and two-and-a-half-meter-tall Vikings to advance in the dwarf tunnels, which were generally one and a half meters high, was more difficult than attacking a city.

After the return of the Seventh Legion, the Sultan's Fist, Skander obtained the construction technology of the Ottoman Empire, and his military strength gradually increased. He began to build fortresses and fortresses in the mountain passes, and dug tunnels under each ground fortress, connecting the entire dwarf underground network with the mountain fortresses.

This damn place would give even the Ottoman Empire in its heyday, or even the Roman Empire in its heyday, a headache. And even if they paid a huge price to conquer it, all they got was a mountainous land lacking in resources and extremely barren, and the population was all stubborn golden dwarves. It was not without reason that the Ottoman sultans conquered the entire Balkans, but only Albania still existed.

However, Aenarion was stronger than Osman in one aspect, and that was the navy. He did not fight with the gold dwarves, but commanded the civilians and corvée laborers to build fortresses, dig trenches, and destroy caves at the exits of several mountain passes, blocking the Albanians in the mountains. He dispatched eighteen battalions of auxiliary soldiers to build a siege against Albania in Thessaly, Macedonia, and Serbia. Llane took full command of the First Legion and trapped the dwarves to death in the mountains.

Then the Aegean Fleet made a circle and blocked all of Albania's seaports on the east coast of the Adriatic Sea. It negotiated with Italian merchants traveling to Albania. We said, "We will increase the price of all the goods you sell to the Albanians by 10% and unload them in the province of Epirus further south. This is beneficial to both of our companies. Look at my Aegean Fleet and decide whether you want to drink this toast."

When the Albanians were in the most difficult times, even the gunpowder for the war was provided by Aenarion, and the food was bought from the Two Sicilies in Italy. After completing the double blockade of the mountains and the sea, Aenarion wanted to see how long Skander could hold his ground after the impoverished Albania was completely blocked and cut off from the outside world before sending envoys to ask for peace.

After all this was done, Aenarion, despite his fatigue,

With the help of Grenier, he returned to the bedroom, lay on the legs of his wife and the Marshal of the Guards, and fell into a deep sleep. For a whole winter, he had conquered Bulgaria, subdued ogres, crossed the Danube, led his troops back to Macedonia, and fought all the way to Albania. His journey almost went through the entire Balkan Peninsula. Now, it was finally over temporarily. Indrognir gently stroked Aenarion's hair, watching the man who changed the history of Rome fall asleep in his arms.

After a good night's sleep, Aenarion continued to work. At present, except for Albania, the Balkans have achieved preliminary unification. Except for Saint Guillemin of Wallachia, all other countries are allies, but there are too many internal unstable factors.

First of all, there is the issue of race and belief. The entire empire has a population of over 11 million, but only 5 million of them are elves, 3.4 million Yugoslavs, 600,000 East Slavs, 1 million Vikings or Rus, 600,000 ogres, 400,000 Tatars, and tens of thousands of Minotaur living on the island of Crete... There are too many of these less intelligent races to count.

The elves can also be further divided into orthodox high elves who believe in Eastern Orthodox Christianity, and dark elves who have been Turkified in old Ottoman territories such as Macedonia and believe in Islam.

Yugoslavs can be divided into four types based on their region: Serbia, Macedonia, Bulgaria, and Greece. Based on their religion, they can be divided into three types: Orthodox, Catholic, Ottoman-occupied, and Muslim. The level of chaos makes people feel a little desperate.

Secondly, there is the issue of grassroots governance. The redundant officials in Constantinople barely fill the villages in Bulgaria. They are really powerless facing the Danube Province, Macedonia Province, and Serbia Province. The empire lacks manpower and cannot effectively rule the grassroots of these lands. These three provinces can basically only be said to have occupied the capital, and the local areas cannot be effectively governed. They have expanded too fast, and it needs time and officials to digest the annexed lands.

Finally, there is the issue of the legions. Krakus' Raven Guard and Leman Russ' Iskandar Dire Wolves were all crippled. The size of the two Janissary legions was reduced to only one or two battalions, or even only eight or nine companies. Based on the experience of the last Janissary legion's reorganization after its annihilation, it would take at least thirty years for them to be reorganized.

As for the surrendered Iron Hand, the cold-blooded Gorgon Filus attached great importance to feelings. Those Bulgarian officers were extremely loyal to her, even to the extent that they only knew the legion commander but not the Sultan. After they jumped to her side, they only knew Filus but not Augustus.

Aenarion? I don't know him well.

The White Scars Legion is even more heavyweight. These Turkic ogres have followed the very tolerant and loose tradition of the grassland nomadic regime. After breaking away from the Ottoman Empire, a good legion was broken into countless tribes. The grasslands on both sides of the Danube are simply a small grassland Great Zhou or grassland Shinra. Chagatai can still rely on the prestige of the former legion commander to force orders and mobilize these old subordinates. Once she dies and a new king is appointed, this place will probably fall apart.

Faced with these four newly surrendered Janissary legions, Aenarion became more and more troubled. The old military system seemed unable to adapt to the new era.

In response to the above three issues, Aenarion returned to Constantinople and discussed with many nobles and senators. The blonde Joan of Arc, who had all the knowledge and culture, was promoted to one of the three hundred senators as the chief of staff of the army. Gilman, who was much more powerful in politics than in military force, also gained a seat in the Senate with her excellent political ability.

The elders believed that we should treat these Yugoslavs equally, respect their customs, beliefs, and habits. We should also learn from the Ottoman Empire's inclusive policy and issue Roman citizenship to everyone. At the same time, we should vigorously build public facilities in the new provinces so that everyone can enjoy a series of benefits as Roman citizens and enhance collective identity. Since we can't solve the ethnic problem, we should use the larger [Citizens of the Roman Empire] to cover the concept of multiple ethnic groups.

At the same time, all local currencies should be abolished immediately and replaced with the more stable Roman denarius silver coin. At the same time, new language schools should be built. It doesn't matter to the private sector, but as long as you enter the imperial official system or join the army, you must learn the most basic and simple Greek Elvish. A country cannot have two official languages ​​at the same time, as this will only make the differences grow.

As for the lack of grassroots governance, imperial examinations could be carried out in the four provinces of Serbia, Bulgaria, Macedonia and the Danube. With more than three million new populations there, it is impossible that they cannot even produce some officials.

As Aenarion listened to the elders' advice, he suddenly thought of something. Setting up an imperial examination in a new province could indeed increase the number of officials, but those people had never been exposed to the various examination subjects he set, such as Greek Elvish, Roman history, politics and law. Some Slavs even had only a vague understanding of the Elvish language. They could not compete with the elves who had been studying Roman knowledge for several years, or even dozens or hundreds of years.

This kind of thing has happened in history. After Zhu Yuanzhang restored the imperial examination system, all those who passed the exam were from the south. The northerners' culture had been ravaged by the Mongols and was massively destroyed, so they could not compete with the students from the south at all.

Thinking of this, Aenarion added a suggestion. He temporarily set up a new imperial examination institute in the northern provinces to let these Slavs compete with themselves. Those with high scores would become local officials, so as to prevent the elves in the south from destroying their fragile new examination ecology. After a few decades or even hundreds of years, the cultural atmosphere there would be similar to that of Greece, and the examinations in the two places would be unified again.

As for the final issue of the army, Ji Liman stood up and put forward an idea.

Otherwise, let's learn from the Ottoman Empire. The legion system is too bloated and clumsy, and the legion commanders have too much power. Whether it is the Roman Empire a thousand years ago or the Ottoman Empire today, rebellions by legion commanders are common. The Roman Empire split the legions into smaller and more convenient field armies and garrisons a thousand years ago. It would be better to dismantle all the legions. Normally, the most basic structure of all armies is a battalion of one thousand people, and each centurion is the highest officer.

During wars, the emperor would temporarily delegate power to legion commanders and allow trusted people to gather dozens of battalions to go out and fight. After the war, the power would be taken back and the army would continue to be divided into several battalions. This would solve the loyalty problem caused by too many surrendered soldiers without affecting combat effectiveness.

After careful consideration, Aenarion began to dismantle the somewhat bloated organization of the legion while retaining the rights of veteran legion commanders such as Llane and Valkia. The Six-Winged Army of the First Legion, the Dark Angels, was split into five cavalry battalions and one artillery battalion; the Second Legion, the Varyag, was split into five Varyag amphibious combat battalions and one artillery battalion; the Third Legion was split into two infantry battalions, two cavalry battalions, one guards battalion, and one artillery battalion; the Thirteenth Legion was split into three cavalry battalions, six infantry battalions, and one artillery battalion.

Leman Russ was left with only two thousand Iskandar Dire Wolves, two thousand elite nomadic tribal soldiers of the White Scars, seven thousand Janissaries of the Iron Hands, and the remaining eight or nine hundred Raven Guard, which were divided into thirteen battalions, for a total of forty Janissary battalions.

The more than 20,000 ogres brought by Chagatai were divided into 20 ogre battalions, which were treated equally with the 50 auxiliary soldier battalions. These 40 extremely elite and brave Janissary battalions and 70 auxiliary soldier battalions, with nearly 110,000 soldiers, became the first professional armed forces of the Roman Empire.

However, considering the morale of the soldiers, Aenarion also followed Osman's idea and renamed the 110 battalions into 110 legions. The name of each legion could be discussed within the legion. The 40 elite Janissary legions were called [Field Legions], the 70 legions that were large in number but slightly weaker in quality were called [Auxiliary Legions], and the centurions were transformed into legion commanders. The 110 legion commanders were directly responsible to Augustus himself, and the previous legion commanders were given the more respected title of [General]. Only with Augustus' permission could they command the legion commanders.

At this point, the Roman Empire and the Ottoman Empire completed military reforms one after another. The armies across the country were disbanded and directly under Augustus and the Sultan, fundamentally eliminating the possibility of large-scale military rebellion. The Empress of the Holy Roman Empire looked at the Purple Rome and Green Rome in the East with envy, her saliva almost flowing down. She also wanted to play it this way, but let alone the army being directly under the emperor, the Holy Roman Empire had not even completed centralization.

Volume 6: The Three Luos

Chapter 414: New Continent

Aenarion was busy with military reforms. At the end of December, news from Western Europe reached Constantinople after several months of delay.

While the Holy Roman Empire unified the entire Balkan Peninsula except Albania, it was not idle either. It did three major things.

First, the Holy Roman Emperor used money to build a musketeer regiment, which learned the tactics of Aenarion's cannon bombardment, noble knights' charge, and musketeer infantry sweeps. They went to war with Poland and won three battles in a row, seizing large tracts of land and good ports along the Baltic coast. The Teutonic Knights voluntarily joined the Principality of Brandenburg and became a vassal of the Holy Roman Emperor.

Second, they funded Charles, Grand Duke of Burgundy, with a large number of matchlock rifles, passed on Aenarion's large square and three-line shooting tactics, and helped him form a musket regiment. In 1458, the French soldiers used even the most primitive matchlock rifles, which was completely different from the extremely bloody and fierce war in Greece and Asia Minor, which was developing rapidly. They were stunned by the cross-era weapons and tactics.

This new weapon and new tactics made Charles the Bold even bolder. He quickly quelled the rebellion in the duchy, defeated the Swiss Confederation in the Battle of Nancy, and finally connected the territories of the Duchy of Lorraine, the southern Burgundy mainland, and the northern Netherlands Lowlands, allowing him to even dare to challenge the King of France.

With the support of the Empress of the Holy Roman Empire, Charles the Bold was crowned the King of Burgundy in November this year. Then a referendum was held, and a group of nobles and knights loyal to the King of Burgundy expressed their willingness to secede from France and become a fiefdom of the Holy Roman Empire. This made the King of France very angry, but he was afraid of the new army that suddenly emerged in Burgundy, so he temporarily chose to develop and endure.

The Holy Roman Empress was very satisfied, and even promoted the newly joined King of Burgundy and the Grand Duke of Venice to the rank of Electors, raising the number of seven permanent Electors to nine. Although the empire had a backward and loose system, its size was becoming more and more terrifying.

Third, the Habsburgs began a new round of crazy marriages. They selected two princesses, one married to the blind lich Duke Dandolo of Venice, and the other married to the son of King Charles the Bold of Burgundy, using marriages to maintain the stability of this loose empire.

Many princesses married to Spain, and the Habsburg princes also married many princesses from Castile, Portugal and other countries. The number was so large that they could almost create a branch bloodline of the Spanish Habsburgs there.

The Habsburg

There was a reason for the crazy marriage with Spain: in October this year, Columbus returned to Castile with good news. According to intelligence from scouts of the Roman Empire, this man crossed the Atlantic Ocean, arrived at the legendary Zhendan, and returned successfully, opening up the second Silk Road!

It is said that the place is full of huge, terrifying, hideous, but wingless dragon-shaped monsters that have never been seen before, as well as cold-blooded, dragon-shaped, humanoid creatures that stand upright on two legs. According to the information from the Silk Road, Zhendan is a country ruled by real dragons, but the real dragons there have no wings... Well, the giant dragons here also have no wings, which fits the description.

Moreover, there are many gold and silver veins, and ancient and magnificent architectural wonders, but the local dragon-lizard humanoid creatures are not interested in gold and silver. Instead, they like some of the gadgets they brought. The little things that are worthless in Europe can be exchanged for a large number of gold and silver antiques there. As long as you don't mess with them, you can dig as many gold and silver mines as you like. These dragons don't care at all. Their currency is a strange and unknown object.

The only drawback is that we didn’t find the legendary Zhendan silk and tea, and their language doesn’t quite resemble the Zhendan language that was transmitted via the Silk Road, which is a bit strange.

Columbus' success set off a craze for exploration across the entire Spanish Peninsula. No one wanted to do business that would lose money, but some people did business that would get them killed. A large number of captains spent a lot of money to buy shipping information from Columbus, or after obtaining the qualifications, they rushed into the Atlantic Ocean one after another and headed for Zhendan.

Just think about it, how powerful were the Ottoman Empire and Venice, which monopolized the Silk Road. One expanded to become the overlord of Central Asia, and a small city-state built the largest navy in the Mediterranean. The newly born Roman Empire also quickly became rich and rose with some trade share of the Silk Road, and supported 100,000 professional soldiers. If we in Castile could also monopolize a Silk Road, wouldn't we take off?

Aenarion was somewhat helpless. What they discovered was certainly not Cathay. From the description, they knew it was America, and those monsters were clearly dinosaurs and lizardmen.

However, this discovery is still enough to change the times. Unfortunately, our geographical location is too bad. If we force ourselves to participate, our ships will not only face the dangers of the Atlantic Ocean, but will also be blockaded by Spanish countries in the Strait of Gibraltar and robbed by Venetian city-states in Italy after returning. It is unknown how many ships can return. The loss outweighs the gain, unless we expand our territory to the Atlantic coast. Otherwise, given this geographical location, we can forget about it for the time being.

Aenarion continued his reforms, and the original Prime Minister of the Empire, Thomas Palaiologos, resigned. He was the governor of the Spartan Peninsula and a general who led troops in battle.

When the empire was small and his brother Constantine lacked direct descendants, Thomas had no choice but to take over and become prime minister. Now the empire occupies the entire Balkan Peninsula, and the mountains of documents drown him like snowflakes. Thomas is so tired that he doesn't even have time to rest. Aenarion's regime is also stable, and the status of the Palaiologos family is unbreakable because of his sister, the marshal of the imperial guards. He simply resigned and returned to the army he was familiar with as a legion commander.

Gilman was just the opposite of him. What she wanted from the beginning to the end was political power, to manage a country, not a legion. She didn't care about breaking up the legion at all. Ever since she joined the Senate, she had been obsessed with the political struggles in the Senate. After the 13th Legion was broken up, she was too lazy to even go back to the legion, and it was basically managed by Mahmoud.

Faced with the vacant position of Prime Minister of the Empire, Aenarion thought for a moment and simply abolished it. He set up an Inner Court within the Senate, headed by Gillian Mann. He chose six people from among his trusted people and noble ministers, and let these seven people form the Inner Court. At the same time, they would exercise the power of Prime Minister and be directly responsible to themselves. Their work content was similar to that of the Ming Dynasty Cabinet. They reviewed memorials and reports from all over the country, commanded all officials when he led troops on expeditions, and managed the normal operation of the state machinery.

Thomas, who likes fighting, and Gilman, who likes politics, are very satisfied with this arrangement. After Aenarion spent a whole winter completing the military and political reforms of the Roman Empire, he continued to send troops for reconnaissance. The snow in Wallachia gradually melted, and the muddy ground returned to normal, making it possible to march.

In May 1459, Aenarion once again raised an army, bringing with him Chagatai, Klaxos, Philus, Leman Russ, four surrendered generals, as well as twenty battalions of field legions and thirty battalions of auxiliary legions. He crossed the Danube again in a mighty force, completely eliminated the greatest threat to his empire, and turned Wallachia into a province of the empire!

Chapter 415: The Empire's Abandoned Child

Faced with the powerful offensive of the Roman Empire, Sanguinius was very helpless and even tried to surrender. As long as Aenarion recognized the independence of Wallachia, we are willing to become a vassal of Rome and become the northern barrier of the empire.

Aenarion was not willing to agree. Leman Russ was once a vassal, but rebelled soon after. He had spent so much time and resources trying to turn Wallachia into a province of the empire. This was not negotiable.

The negotiations failed. In view of the Varyag's strong advantage in inland river combat, Sanguinius did not make any defensive deployment on the Danube River. He directly gave up the natural barrier, concentrated all his forces, and retreated to the capital Bucharest.

When Aenarion set foot on the land of Wallachia with his banner, he passed through several villages and the surrounding soldiers were surprised to find that there were living people in this land of the dead, and the number was very large. The scale of the farmland and pastures was comparable to that of the Empire.

It is no different from other places, except that everyone lives a very poor life and there are no cemeteries at all. After the people living here die, their bodies must be paid as taxes and tribute to the Lord of the Undead.

Vampires keep humans in captivity, just like humans keep war horses, hawks and dogs in captivity. They kill them, eat their flesh and drink their blood, and then resurrect their skeletons as undead and drag them into the battlefield. If they are already dead before being eaten, which will affect the taste, they will be resurrected as zombies and dragged into the battlefield to fight to protect Wallachia.

What's even more weird is that this damn place is sandwiched between two Slavic powers, Serbia and Poland, and the number of Slavs is very small. The largest population is the high elves and some half-elves who are mixed with Germans and Slavs. They don't speak Greek, which is closer to them, but Latin from Italy. Some of the oldest elves reacted extremely violently after seeing the eagle flag of the Roman Empire. They were stunned at first, or cursed in Latin, or knelt on the ground and cried.

Astariel was very interested in this land of the dead. Historically, Wallachia was once the Dacian province of the Roman Empire, but it was abandoned by the empire as early as the third century AD. Since then, the empire's army has never set foot beyond the Danube, not even a single step.

As soon as she said it, Astariel brought together a group of knowledge-hungry Angelos wizards to trace back, explore, and search for lost historical documents in this land that the Roman Empire had abandoned for twelve centuries.