() But before we take revenge on society, we have to go somewhere first.

In the early morning when the sun gradually engulfed the walls of Constantinople, Cheap Daddy took me and Alexander on horseback to walk on the main road of Augusta Square.

The streets are extremely cool, and tall Greek oak trees stand proudly on the pale bluestone Augusta Square.

"Hail! Caesar!!"

At the entrance to the square, two rows of red-robed square guards wearing Imperial Eagle Cross half-length iron armor put down their muskets in unison and raised one hand high when they saw us!

Arms shot out immediately.

No need to think about it, this is the raise of hands that Hitler stole in later generations. His predecessor who liked to prank made a fool of himself, and there was no reason for the raise of hands to be let go. It is said that as early as the time when he lived, Romans used to raise their hands directly when meeting each other.

The hand gesture replaced the handshake gesture. Thinking about it now, I still feel very uncomfortable.

The huge square is surrounded by buildings that have stood for more than a thousand years. The cold bluestone colonnades and large Roman gates have replaced the white marble buildings of the past. The dozens of meters high vaults are faint and twinkling in the dim light.

, there are rows of candlesticks stacked on both sides of the corridor extending in all directions, and the continuous white candles fill the courtyard with a soft atmosphere.

The meeting place of the United Front Department was in a small three-story building on the inner floor of Augusta Square. The conference hall was very simple. An imperial cross eagle flag with a red background and a gold edge and an imperial flag with purple and gold patterns were erected in the huge empire.

Next to the board, there are several portraits placed around it

The statue belongs to the ancestor of our Theophano family. There are many well-dressed people standing in twos and threes in the corridor. They are now important officials of the Roman Empire. But like the guards outside, when they see us

, these guys retreated to both sides and raised their hands again!

As observers, this is not the first time for us to enter this place. If we take a closer look, we can see that they are all familiar bosses from various departments of the empire. Sklenus, the royal seal minister, Erics, the finance minister, Vatakis, the navy minister, and the government affairs minister.

Minister Theodore, Foreign Minister Leo.

When I had nothing to do in the past, I made a relatively intuitive division based on the modes of several mainstream stand-alone games. According to the Three Kingdoms mode, none of the ability values ​​of these important ministers exceeds 85. If it is a total war mode, the abilities of several ministers

The initial values ​​are basically three stars and royal family.

The Honesty attribute of the Chancellor of the Seal, Sklenus, was given one star, and a veteran of twenty years in handling government affairs was given two stars, for an overall six stars. The Minister of Finance, Erics, was similar, and a veteran of auditing was given one star.

One star for honesty, and an overall rating of six stars. Others are almost the same.

Relatively excellent, this is the level of the entire empire's administrative structure, and it is also the closest to the real level. It is basically impossible to have a large group of full stars or an ability value of more than 100 like the game. Maybe when the old scum came in and out of this place, the old

The guy's numerical value can exceed the threshold of ninety.

The guard pushed open the dark cross-carved Greek mahogany door, and with a roar, the most dazzling stage of the thousand-year empire called Rome opened!

Red, bloody red is everywhere. The wool blankets exported from the Greek dyeing and processing workshop pass from the door to the entire conference hall. Six Theofano family flags with red background and black edges hang from the high beams of the dome.

.

An eagle and a crown, this is the Theophano family!

On the main seat in the center, two huge black curtains covered the things inside.

When opened, the red curtain will replace the black curtain on the outside, and a huge map will be revealed!

Europe, Asia, Africa, and the New World.

However, no matter how they are named or described, the forces on that map only have one name: enemy!

France, Britain, Germany, Austria, Russia, Sweden, Castile, the Netherlands... All the forces in the entire European continent can be enemies! Far, near, strong, weak, some can temporarily cooperate, and some

It must be eradicated!

Two marble busts are placed on the left and right, which are Alexander's and my great-grandfather and grandfather. In the future, if cheap daddy is in a good mood, he can have one made for him and put it here.

People in twos and threes walked through the door one after another. In this meeting, a total of 11 top-level figures appeared, and all deputies such as deputy ministers were present. There were 21 people in total. More than half of the top officials of the Roman Empire were present here.

A very familiar model. If I remember correctly, this kind of organization that brings together senior officials from various government departments to meet to discuss policies is called a cabinet.

The names are different, but the meaning is still the same. In recent decades, the empire's policies have been made here by the United Front Department instead of the so-called imperial meeting chaired by the emperor. It can be said that the United Front Department allows us Theofano family to bypass

The Imperial Council issues orders to the entire empire. The person who came up with this idea was my grandfather. As for the opportunity, it has to start with the Muslim Mahdi, and of course it has something to do with the previous Emperor 250.

The ancestor of our Theophano family, to be precise, is my great-grandfather, a nobleman from an ordinary military aristocracy who successfully joined a prominent family in the empire through military merit, that is, the Theophano family has existed since before the Macedonian dynasty. After that

, owning the Theofano family

The ancient family support of several queens and his original military background. When his great-grandfather was serving as the undersecretary of military affairs and concurrently as the governor of the Syrian defense zone, Mahdi was not at a disadvantage when he faced off against the Muslims. However, these are not the things that our family can stand up against the emperor.

reason.

During the Muslim madness in the seventeenth century, the empire suffered two major defeats. More than 150,000 people were shed on the battlefield. Later, the idiot emperor had to re-appoint my great-grandfather. In order to mobilize the power of the whole country to reverse the strategic failure, the United Front Department

appeared, after which, tried to collect

The military operation to restore Aleppo and the fighting against the Muslim Mahdi gradually allowed the United Front Department, which could mobilize various departments of the empire to cooperate, to gradually dominate the various departments. Finally, my grandfather reached the pinnacle of his life through a reform, and his United Front Department

Officially replaced the Imperial Council to manage the entire empire.

But my grandfather still failed to become emperor at that time. Ultimately, it was because my great-grandfather was an ordinary military noble who married into the Seofano family. In addition, the previous emperor's decree of "King Qin" meant that the wealthy royal family held more or less military power at that time.

Once a fight breaks out, the civil war in Rome will only allow France to annex Castile smoothly. However, the Muslims at that time still have the strength to fight, and the civil strife in Rome is likely to allow them to reap the benefits.

Bloodline is a pain in the ass, but it is a rule of the game that everyone must abide by. In the end, my grandfather had no choice but to raise a royal family with a relatively marginal bloodline, and then through marriage, the blood family closest to the current emperor, let us two brothers

Move closer to the front line of succession to the throne.

For such a dazed moment, everyone in the hall had gone through the motions and entered the theme of this meeting, the problem of rising food prices caused by the empire's poor food supply.

The food shortage in Byzantium, no, the food shortage in Eastern Luo has been an old problem that cannot be solved for many years. In the past, when the empire still owned Egypt, the empire never worried about food. But unfortunately, Egypt was occupied in the eighth century.

Since then, Dongluo has been looking for a substitute for the Egyptian Delta, but within the empire's territory there is really no fertile land that can rival the Nile River Basin in Egypt. As we all know, the Greek region has not been a food-producing land since ancient times.

Otherwise, the Phoenicians would not have gone to sea. The Anatolia region in the east is mountainous and rich in minerals, but the only fertile land suitable for farming is the Mediterranean coast, the Seres Plain and more.

The plains passing through the Danube River Basin farther away are a good choice, but the rise of the Bulgarians makes that vast plain unsuitable as a production base. Therefore, the population of Donluo has not increased much since the loss of Egypt.

In modern times, the rise of the United Kingdom of Poland and Lithuania finally replaced Egypt as the granary of the empire. Cheap food passed through the South Bug River and the Dnieper River and sailed out of the Black Sea to Constantinople.

It's just that the Poles are similar to the Greeks. The race is born with a certain talent for comedy. They will mutilate themselves if they plant seeds accidentally. Well, although we Romans are also responsible for this, but who knows?

I could have imagined that the famous Polish Hussars of the 16th century would wither so quickly! As soon as we finished defeating the Muslims, Poland's defeat in the north was a foregone conclusion. As a result, we had to buy food from the French.

But the French are even more dishonest. As the only country in the entire European continent capable of exporting large quantities of food, they seized on the weaknesses of the Roman Empire. Our old friend of France, Jean-Baptiste Colbert, Minister of Finance, used French

Due to poor harvest, the increase was once again

Various grain export tariffs have been added. The increase ranges from 20% to 50%. Among them, buckwheat has the largest increase of 50%. After this tax increase, barley export tariffs have reached 70%. As for wheat and processed flour, both

The export tariff reaches 90%.

According to the constantinople grain market surveyed not long ago by Eriks, the foreign minister of the empire, 3 as can buy 1 pound of good-quality wheat flour, and about 2 pounds of medium-quality wheat flour with some bugs. If France increases

As news of the tariffs spreads to the streets, the market price is likely to rise to three times the original price, or even more!
Chapter completed!