king of ros

Chapter 523 The Tragedy of the Imperial Capital
As Rostislav's son-in-law, Gregory's life in the court has not been easy in the past two years.

From the public's point of view, he is just a relational accountant who relies on his lower body to get ahead. As for what ability does he have?No one expected that at all.

So Gregory has always wanted to do something. The young nobleman wants to prove his ability, but in the past two years, Ross has been really stable, and there have been no major wars on the border.

The only big thing was the famine in the land behind the forest, but that was not a problem that a boy like Gregorie could solve. In the end, his father Yang was able to solve the problem. chaos in father-in-law's fortune

Therefore, when the task of going to the imperial capital fell in front of him, Gregory immediately took over this task, which was just suitable for his situation.

On the day of leaving, Cosenia came to see off her husband with a big belly and teary eyes. The relationship between the couple has been very good since marriage. Seeing his wife's lovely appearance, Gregory almost made a decision Staying here, isn't it the reputation of eating soft rice, eat it as you like, how many people want to eat this soft rice has no way.

But his masculine self-esteem finally prevailed, he must do something, he must use his ability to prove that he is not an unworthy lucky person.

So he set off with the Ross delegation, and by the way, he also brought the eight hundred mercenaries urgently called by Kyiv to fill in the number of Varangian guards.

This was Gregory's first mission to Constantinople, and he was very impressed by the city. He was shocked by the sheer size of the city and the majesty of the triple walls of Constantinople. Not to mention the Hagia Sophia, the Hippodrome and the Grand Palace.

In many places, Rome has become a forgotten concept, but here, as the monarchs of the Eastern Empire wanted to tell people, Rome still exists and he is still brilliant.

But after being shocked, Gregory couldn't help thinking of the comment he once met from a Vladimir Academy scholar, "The Greeks are just pretending on the ruins of an ancient empire that they are still members of the world empire." Just a monarch."

Thinking of this sentence, for some reason, he looked at the majestic city suddenly a lot more calmly, and then calmly led the team under his command to the magnificent golden gate.

Although after Rostislav's 9-year conquest, the Ross people have obtained a series of privileges including free entry to Constantinople, they still cannot dock directly at the port of Constantinople, and still need to Dock at a port outside the city.

After all, the Greeks were still on guard. It was absolutely impossible for the Ross fleet to dock at the city port. After all, if the Ross wanted to raid the imperial capital, they would have succeeded directly.

Gregorian's team soon came under the Golden Gate. Along the way, they saw many refugees dragging their families to Constantinople, and the refugee team could not see the end. Countless people were fleeing. to the capital.

Gregory also knew some Greek. From the chats of these people, he learned that these people came from the Thracian Plain, which was the main food producer for Constantinople. area, and this mass exodus can only mean one thing, that is, the hinterland of the empire has become a hunting ground, a hunting ground for nomads.

Before the Golden Gate, Gregory, who was a foreign envoy and an ally of the empire, naturally had privileges. The Greek soldiers rudely dispersed the crowd in front of the envoy, and made a fuss amidst the complaints, but the road was ultimately Freed up.

Amidst the complaints and fears from all sides, Gregorian's team walked through the streets of the imperial capital. Refugees can be seen everywhere on the streets and alleys. Most of them have nothing to do, but they look pretty good. Before he saw Some people are distributing food, and it seems that the public system in Constantinople is sufficient to deal with these refugees.

And there are armed guards at the entrance of every store, especially those near the food stores, where there are many guards.

This is the scene of the siege, and Gregory is no stranger to this scene. As the son of Yang, he was taught by his father since he was a child, and he has also experienced several small-scale battles himself.

But it is one thing to be familiar with it, and another thing to face such a huge scene. Looking at these desperate crowds with nothing to do, Gregory suddenly thought of the teachings of his father-in-law.

"Don't underestimate the people, especially when they gather together, as long as they are willing, no matter what stands in front of them will be ruthlessly overturned."

These words made Gregory feel uneasy, and he also remembered the Kyiv riots mentioned by his father, in which even the Grand Duke was directly driven away.

Looking at the eyes of the refugees on the street, he suddenly felt that the city was like an unstable fire oil barrel. If it was guided properly, the explosion would overturn everyone.

Although everything in the imperial capital seems to be controllable, the existence of so many refugees is extremely unstable. If the imperial government does not operate properly, then all these things may really explode.

Such thoughts made Gregory lower his head, and hurried to the Brecher Palace to meet the emperor, so that he could leave after all this was over.

And as they got closer to the Brecher Palace, the surrounding environment also settled down. There were not so many refugees here, and the nearby residents were mainly middle- and upper-class, so the atmosphere was very stable, which made Gregorie very comfortable.

Next, he met the emperor of the empire, Alexios Comnenos. The emperor of the empire gave him a good feeling. He was as majestic as the Roman emperors mentioned in the literature, but governing the country is not just about majesty. of.

At the meeting with the emperor, Gregory said that the Grand Duke of Ross will provide manpower according to the agreement, but the problem is that it takes time to gather manpower. Rostislav urgently recruited 800 mercenaries from Ross, and more manpower must be gathered. needs time.

Gregory noticed that the emperor's face twitched unnaturally when he heard the news, but it disappeared in a flash. Gregory almost thought he was wrong.

Next, the emperor expressed his gratitude to the Grand Duke of Ross, and asked Gregory to hand over the gold and silver handed over according to the agreement. Then he expressed his enthusiasm to the Ross envoy, saying that the entire Constantinople was allowed to be visited by the envoy.

On the surface, Gregory naturally agreed, but in his heart he planned to leave here after finishing his work. Who would want to stay longer in this restless city?

It's just that after he left the palace, he was immediately entangled by a person who wanted to drag him to the racecourse, but he still had to go.

As for who this man was, it was his wife's brother, Vasiliko Rostislavitch.

Vasilico was the only one of his wife's three elder brothers whom Gregory had never met. He had planned to visit him after he came to Constantinople this time, but after seeing the restlessness in Constantinople, he He just wanted to leave the city, but unexpectedly his wife's brother ran over first.

There is no way, Gregory can only go to the Grand Racecourse, and then he was able to see a live barbecue. This is the resident program of the Grand Racecourse recently. The captured Paul heretic will be arrested at the Grand Racecourse. Burned to ashes, and the chariot drivers will start the race amidst the ashes in the sky, and start racing amidst the cheers of the chariot party.

"This is Rome, my brother-in-law."

Looking at the fanatical crowd, Vasilko said in a tone of exclamation.

"……Yeah."

Gregory was a little puzzled by his brother-in-law's performance. He finally said hesitantly that he knew Vasilico's reputation.

Seeing it now, it really is.

"I originally only planned to study hard in the imperial capital, but now I have become a general who is constantly fighting on the battlefield. It is estimated that I will not be able to leave the battlefield in the future. Destiny is really impermanent."

Vasiliko's words made Gregorie even more confused. Where did this come from? Did you pull me here just to express emotion?
"In short, no matter when, you must be prepared for everything to change, my brother-in-law."

Vasiliko finally said this, and then said nothing, and continued to look at the madness below, and Gregory nodded thoughtfully as if thinking of something.

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(End of this chapter)