In the morning, Liquinia sat at the dresser, her head bowed, her hair messy, how could a person who had been taught since childhood to be neat and tidy tolerate her sloppy appearance in front of the mirror?

And she did, completely oblivious to her appearance, except for a parchment letter that Luga had left for her, and which belonged to Licchia alone.

"Forgive me for not waking you up, Liekinia, I swear I will keep my promise, I never break my word, trust me!"

Liekinia looked at the letter, and she folded it neatly in half with a blank face, and it was all so natural.

"What a strange guy." Likinia snorted, looking so dismissive of Luga's letter, but even so, she couldn't help but sob. Then, he held the humble parchment in his arms as if he had received a rare treasure.

Sitting in the carriage, opposite Luga sat Jovian, and Luga held a map of the Danube River Valley's defenses.

"Now Innocent is too convinced of his own strength, he is always superstitious that he can deal with these problems, especially with regard to the Huns, and I don't think we have any strength to be offensive with the Huns, especially when the provinces of Thrace and Macedonia have not yet recovered."

"What are you worried about, Caesar?" Jovian looked at Luga with a frown, he couldn't understand what Luga was thinking right now.

"Caesar, you are not optimistic about His Excellency Innobendus, why should you appoint him as the commander of the Thracian field army?"

"Innobinders was so greedy that he longed to get more from the war to fill his money bag, and of course, he wanted to be a guy who got fame and fortune and wanted money." Luga couldn't help but shrug his shoulders when he said this, he looked at Jovian with a smile, and then said: "Greed, everyone has it, Innobinders likes money, likes fame, and nothing else, there is nothing else to gain, these I, Rome, can give him, although it is giving, but this is not enough to make him reckless." ”

"And what about Artirineus, Caesar." Jovian continued: "He's a good veteran and you can tell from the last Augustus that he's loyal and reliable. ”

"Artirinaeus?" Luga couldn't help but laugh at the mention of the name, "Yes, he is a veteran who followed me in the original battle against the remaining Wei II of Africa. Of course, this status also gives him a lot of privileges, but don't you feel that my minister, he is too old? It's not a good thing to be old enough to be moody, and it's better to put power in the hands of the new Romans, after all, only by passing on the glory can we maintain the land and foundations of the current Rome, and not some kind of reform that seems to be more clever. ”

Jovian was silent for a moment, then raised his head to look at Luga, and said slowly, "Could it be that Your Excellency wants to support the young Roman generals and replace the old ones?" ”

"It's not a question at all, I'm right, Lord Jovian." Luga spread his hands, "Even if it's Innobindes or Lord Artilius, sooner or later, they will grow old and won't even be able to pick up their weapons. ”

"So you want me to be able to pick a guy from among the young generals who can succeed Innobinders."

"Just Malenius." Luga replied without hesitation: "He has been with me since the formation of the Ninth Legion, although he is not resourceful, but he is also a great achievement, at least he is not as radical as Innobindeus, and as for the treatment of Artirinaeus, I still have to ask Your Excellency to help me make a choice." I don't know much about the Southern Military Region, but the Eastern Military District has been under Zeno's control after the killing of West Cedes. ”

"Do you really trust this, this barbarian?"

"I don't want to trust him more, my friend." Luga smiled bitterly, "But compared to the barbarian who gave him a surname and was grateful to him and went to the fire, a nobleman with a lot of money and a smile but a dagger hidden behind his back is more worthy of beware." ”

Jovian didn't answer, just looked at Luga quietly.

"No matter what." Luga sighed lightly, "I'm not sure what the other nobles would say about me in their own city councils, I have to make sure that I can maintain absolute stability and loyalty in Constantinople and the surrounding area with absolute superiority in my absence from Constantinople, now that the whole of Rome has survived the Great War, the population, the civilization, the city, everything needs to be restored, this is not something that can be decided in a year or two, it may take ten, twenty, or even fifty years to restore the strength of the Romans." It will take a period of excess, and I, Augustus at this time, must understand what I should do, after all, to give Rome the strength to regain all the land that can be recovered. ”

"It is also a fact, Caesar, that after all, our finances are stretched thin, and the completion of the Cathedral of St. Lucuganus is far from due to the constant suspension, and we do need more money to restore it to its former glory."

"War is decided by the jingle of gold coins." Luga said, looking at Jovian and smiling meaningfully.

"How so?" Jovian stretched out his hands and said to Luga embarrassedly, "An Augustus should have kept his subordinates a sense of mystery that they deserved, but why, you have told me everything, without reservation. ”

Listening to Jovian's words, Luganu snorted and shrugged his shoulders, but did not say a word.

Then he looked out the window and watched as everything outside was breaking through the winter snow and reviving and revealing a verdant and vibrant scene.

There's nothing I can do about it.

Looking at this piece of life, Luga did not have the slightest joy in it, but was sad in vain, and he should not be in a hurry when he was not confused.

Passing through the province of Macedonia, Jovian got out of the carriage, and he should go north to Innobindes and his Thracian field army, and tell them what Caesar wanted them to do.

Luga, on the other hand, was in Maximus and his Ninth Legion, moving unhurriedly along the main road towards the west.

Soon, about to return to the country that had been absent for a long time, Luga leaned his head on the carriage, stared out the window blankly, and walked forward day after day, this may also be his last expedition, and the first time he returned to the Apennines was completely different from the spirited feeling, Luga was no longer the same high-spirited as before, even if he stood up in the sea of blood and picked up the crown and put it on his head, now he thought that he was used to the weight of the golden crown, but he never thought that the weight was getting heavier and heavier, until he could not lift his head.