Type-Moon, a human love simulator

Chapter 79 He is vomiting out his soul

Tiberius was a man of great observation and meticulousness. He was able to analyze so much information from this tiny point alone. He knew that the Huns could no longer be allowed to run rampant like this, otherwise the Romans would be frightened by the Huns before the Hun king arrived.

The myth of the Huns' invincibility must be broken in front of all Romans.

Even though these were just ordinary Hun soldiers without a Hun king leading them, and even though this might seem like picking on the weak, Tiberius had to do it. He needed a resounding victory to inspire the morale of the Romans.

"Rome is just ahead. As long as we reach Rome, everyone can get everything they want!"

In order to motivate the army, Tiberius pointed at the Huns and said, "Pass my order on the army. For every Hun killed, a dinar (silver coin) will be rewarded, or the equivalent of gold coins in food and supplies!"

"Kill ten Huns and you will be rewarded with one gold coin!"

In Rome, one gold coin was equivalent to twenty-five silver coins, and one silver coin could be exchanged for eight ordinary copper coins (as). The copper coins were divided into five grades: sestarees, duponte, as, semi, cadras...

The Romans used copper coins in their daily lives and never used such large gold coins on a daily basis. Silver and gold coins were used by the nobles to buy luxury goods, silk and porcelain from the East.

Tiberius's move was generous, but he had a clear mind. He knew very well that he didn't need to spend much money to make the barbarian soldiers under his command as fierce as wolves and tigers!
Anyway, there were only more than a thousand Huns, and at most a thousand silver coins were enough. In fact, so much money could not be distributed. There was chaos on the battlefield, and soldiers who killed the Huns would most likely be killed.

As for gold coins, don't even think about it. There are too many wolves and too little meat. Where would you get the space to kill ten Huns?
What's more, if you want to kill ten people, you will inevitably have to take the risk of rushing forward, and the probability of being killed is very high. You might be killed after killing seven or eight people, and then you won't have to pay out a single silver coin.

Tiberius had a good plan, but only he knew all of it. The soldiers under his command were immediately excited as if they had been injected with chicken blood, and even thought that Tiberius was a very generous and magnanimous commander, a commander worthy of the soldiers' loyalty and hard work.

The Hun cavalry, who were showing off their might outside the city of Rome, completely failed to notice the surprise attack from the Roman legions in the rear. The long period of invincibility had made the Huns arrogant and complacent. These people did not take Rome seriously at all and did not even send out the most basic scouts. They were caught off guard and were killed without a single trace left by the Roman barbarian legions led by Tiberius.

This is the principle that an arrogant army will inevitably be defeated. If even the soldiers at the lower levels become arrogant and treat the enemy and the war as a joke, then the army will not be far from defeat.

Incentivized by money, tens of thousands of barbarian soldiers rushed forward, and even nearly killed each other for the spoils. Fortunately, the Roman Legion had a mature military system and reward mechanism, and the system was superior and advanced...

Under the control of the captain and the 'veteran', the soldiers did not actually fight each other. After a period of confusion, they began to report their military achievements in an orderly manner.

If this had happened to a barbarian tribe with an immature military system... yes, the British Celts before, there might really have been a chaos of infighting.

The newly born Kingdom of Britain was truly poor and blank. Its national policies and political systems had just been established, and military reforms were still in progress and had not yet been established. The so-called Knights of the Round Table and the Knights of the Evangelicals actually had quite chaotic internal command.

Fortunately, Kelar's Lord Guard can temporarily serve as grassroots officers. Once Kelar and Artoria have thoroughly confirmed the military system, they will not lag so far behind.

It was similar to what Tiberius had expected. In the end, only more than 500 silver coins were issued, and not a single gold coin. Tiberius didn't even need to ask Nepos for money. The money seized from the Huns was enough to reward the army.

The Hun army plundered several major Roman cities, conquered the Visigothic Kingdom, and obtained countless money and food from burning, killing and looting. Before that, more than 3,000 cavalrymen had to collect 70,000 to 80,000 gold coins before Tiberius could reward the army.

Now, with more than a thousand people, there are tens of thousands of gold and silver coins, and issuing more than 500 is just a drop in the bucket.

Tiberius ordered the confiscation of the spoils, but there was still a gap after the consolidation, so he wrote another letter and sent Ancus into the city to report to Augustus.

He was loyal and obedient. When Nepos told Tiberius not to lead his troops into the city, even though he was extremely dissatisfied, he still did not order them to enter the city. Instead, he stationed outside the city of Rome and sent scouts to monitor the news of the Huns day and night.

It was much easier for Ancus to deliver the letter this time than the previous two times. At least he didn't need to take a basket to go up. The official guarding the city specially opened the city gate for him, allowing Ancus to enter Rome with dignity.

In fact, from this point we can see that Tiberius could have used the power of a great victory to demand that Rome open the city gates, but he did not do so.

Ancus met Nepos again, handed over Tiberius's demands, and said in turn, "Your Majesty Augustus, Lord Tiberius has only a few gold coins, which are totally insufficient to pay the promised barbarian soldiers."

"What's more, Rome still needs to rely on these barbarians to fight. It is not enough to just fulfill the previous promise. The future military pay and rewards to motivate the soldiers will require money."

"Sir Ancus, I also understand Sir Tiberius's difficulties."

Nepos wanted to cry but had no tears. He grabbed his hair and said in pain, "But I really have no money, and Rome really has no money... In order to get through Rome's difficulties, if I have even one gold coin, I will send it to the soldiers at the front line and will never spend it on myself!"

"After all, I am the Emperor of Rome!"

"Your Majesty Augustus, I believe you have no money, but Rome cannot be without money!"

Ancus said with a fierce look in his eyes: "There are still more than one million citizens in Rome, and the Huns have been blockading Rome for less than a month. The wealthy merchants in the city have not yet evacuated, and they have countless wealth and supplies in their hands."

Nepos naturally knew what Ancus meant. He immediately became very conflicted and said with difficulty: "No, I am the emperor of Rome, I can't do this!"

Ultimately, it's all about face. This is a common problem among emperors. They always treat the country as their own and attach too much importance to face and reputation.

Chongzhen begged all civil and military officials to donate money to the court. The empress even gave her father two thousand taels of silver to let him take the lead in donating money. As a result, the emperor's father-in-law turned around and greedily embezzled the two thousand taels of silver given by the empress, and finally donated only five hundred taels.

There was also a third-rank official who cried poor and said that he sold his ancestral home in his hometown and donated three hundred taels to the court with great effort and frugality.

But when Li Zicheng, the King of Rebellion, entered the capital, he used his sword to extort 70 million taels of silver from these "honest" civil and military officials.

This moment is just like that moment...

The same capital was under siege, the same generals in frontier forces needed money to pay their salaries, the same soldiers would rebel if they were not paid, the same emperor was broke but wanted to show his dignity, and the same nobles and wealthy merchants had money but did not want to spend a penny.

How could they be so similar?
However, Tiberius' character was much stronger than Wu Sangui's. Even though the country had no money, he did not say that he would not come to save the country if he was not paid. He also did not let the Huns attack the city with his own troops...

However, wars are fought for money and food, as well as morale. The Huns had accumulated a huge fortune through looting, and had almost plundered all the savings of the Western Roman Empire and the Visigothic Empire. Now they had plenty of arrows and could use them as they pleased.

And led by the invincible Hun King Attila, all the Huns were full of confidence, believing that they were the most powerful army on earth, led by the Sword of the God of War, and could sweep across the voters of all countries.

As for Tiberius, not only can he not provide the same supplies, but he can't even pay the soldiers...

Tiberius had no choice but to serve as both general and prime minister. Forced to be both a general and a prime minister, he could only hold his nose and give advice to Nepos, the mediocre but respectable Augustus.

So, Nepos followed Tiberius' strategy and had the guards hold knives to force the merchants to pay, and gave a public speech in front of the Romans in the Roman Forum, earnestly persuading the nobles and merchants that once Rome was broken, the whole city would suffer.

He also slandered Tiberius to a higher level, saying that he was another Odoacer who would attack and destroy Rome and allow his troops to plunder if he didn't pay.

Only then was he able to reluctantly extort from those 'Roman citizens' enough supplies and gold coins to barely satisfy the appetite of Tiberius' barbarian legions.

In fact, according to Tiberius' plan, Nepos could have made the situation even more miserable, poorer, and more serious. Even if the merchants and nobles refused to give, patriotic citizens would definitely be willing to pay a lot. But unfortunately, Nepos was a very proud Augustus. He couldn't let go of the burden of being an emperor. He couldn't read the manuscript prepared by Tiberius for him. He could only use a condescending tone, more orders than pleading, and threats than advice to get the Romans to donate money and grain.

The navy hired by Tiberius took advantage of the situation to spread the word that Augustus was willing to put aside his dignity as an emperor and plead with all citizens for the sake of Rome. Rome was not only Augustus's Rome, but also the Rome of the Romans, etc.

Although Nepos failed to completely humble himself, resulting in a minor flaw in the plan, the great Augustus still won a lot of support from the people when he pleaded with Roman citizens in the Roman Forum to help Rome overcome its difficulties.

At that time, the country was in crisis, and they managed to raise a lot of money and supplies for Tiberius.

After Tiberius received the supplies, he first distributed all the least important ores and denarii, and finally fulfilled the conditions he promised to his soldiers. In addition, Tiberius always kept his word and never broke his promise, so he immediately won the love of all the soldiers and completely stabilized the morale of the army.

After resolving the crisis of trust, Tiberius' mentality also stabilized. He held hard currencies such as food, weapons, and medicine in his hands and used these supplies to trade with the soldiers.

This is also a Roman tradition. Soldiers bring their own weapons when joining the army. The state is not responsible for all the soldiers' equipment, but soldiers can purchase armor and weapons from the state.

This is true for almost all civilizations. In the classical era of cold weapons, the state was fully responsible for the military equipment of hundreds of thousands of troops. The burden was too heavy for any country to afford.

Only after the development of smelting technology did the weapons and equipment of soldiers become the full responsibility of the state.

Tiberius sold the hard currency in his hands to the soldiers who were about to go to the battlefield, then collected the money from the soldiers and used it to buy the necessary supplies from merchants in Rome.

After all, the method of relying on donations from citizens and extorting wealthy merchants cannot be used a second time. Otherwise, those merchants whose interests have been damaged will definitely have the courage to contact the Huns for internal and external support. Merchants have always been like this, short-sighted and forgetful of principles when they see profit.

If you tell them that the Huns will kill you all when they come, they will not listen to reason and the merchants will never believe you.

Unless the Huns put the handle of their knife to their necks, they would believe it was true and regret trying to get the skin of a tiger.

But before that, as long as they think that the asset risks are unstable, they will definitely cause trouble.

The city of Rome could no longer withstand the turmoil it was experiencing, and the method of extorting merchants could no longer be used.

But at the same time, capital has a natural weakness. As long as there is profit to be made and as long as there is money to be made and no complete loss, they will desire stability more than anyone else.

What Tiberius needs to do now is to recover the money from the soldiers, and then use these gold coins to trade with merchants and nobles, so as to stabilize the hearts of the merchants.

If he really reaches the end of his rope, he will kill these fattened pigs and eat their meat to prolong the life of Rome!
For Rome, Tiberius can give up everything!
"Master Tiberius, please take a rest!"

Ancus came in and advised: "You have been sleepless for days. If the Huns come, who can lead us to victory?"

Commanding a large army in battle is too exhausting, and many energetic generals and marshals would fall ill after commanding a large army.

These days, Tiberius worked hard and devoted all his energy to prolong the life of Rome. He tried every means to maintain the morale and stability of the army. After all, this was Rome's last hope.

If this last legion were also destroyed, Rome would be destroyed in an instant.

Because the citizens of Rome would not defend Rome at all.

"I can't rest yet. I can't rest assured unless I personally monitor the allocation of supplies."

Tiberius' eyes were bloodshot, and he said angrily: "Those insects, even when Rome was in such a critical moment, did not forget to take advantage of it. Only when I personally take action, they dare not act so blatantly."

Tiberius gritted his teeth and said, "Also, those merchants actually dared to unite to drive up prices. How dare they do that?"

"If the Hun king's army wasn't about to invade Rome, I would have gone into the city and chopped off their heads!"

According to the feedback from the scouts sent by Tiberius, after Attila destroyed Toledo, he seemed to have lost interest in destroying weak city-states.

Her troops were heading straight for the city of Rome. She no longer massacred all human settlements as before. Instead, she had no interest in the ruined towns along the way. Unless they were replenishing supplies or setting up military camps, she would not attack any cities along the way.

The goal of Attila the Hun King is very clear, she wants to destroy Rome!

Apart from destroying Rome, other city-states could no longer satisfy Attila's desire for destruction.

Tiberius rubbed his forehead and said to himself, "Fortunately, the first batch of supplies has been obtained. This batch of supplies is enough to support the army for three months. As long as we defeat the first wave of the Huns, the danger to Rome will be resolved."

Tiberius was right. If the first battle was a victory, even if the casualties were a one to one or two to one ratio, as long as they could win, or even as long as they could stabilize the situation and not be defeated instantly, the Romans would instantly change their mentality, and the morale of the Hun army would be crushed.

But will things really go as smoothly as he thinks?
Is Attila, the King of the Huns, someone who can be defeated so easily?

Ankus didn't know, he only saw one fact...

Tiberius, vomiting up his soul.
-
Attila did not seem like she was leading an army that could destroy an empire, but more like a little girl going on an outing with her kindergarten friends.

She is very curious about everything, and everything can make her feel new and interesting.

Although it might be a bit impolite to describe the notorious Whip of God in this way, it was the only way to describe Attila's current incongruous marching method.

Apart from killing, war and destruction, Attila's side is surprisingly quite girly. For example, her original name was 'Attila', but she didn't like the fact that it didn't sound like a girl's name at all, so she arbitrarily changed her name to 'Attila'.

Although Attila's marching route was generally towards the city of Rome, she often had sudden ideas and made very willful requests, such as going on outings, picnics, and frequently collecting some small things to embellish her appearance.

Of course, such an Attila would often receive unanimous praise and flattery from his soldiers and generals, which made Attila even happier.

If we ignore the human settlements that Attila ordered to be massacred along the way, this Hun king is really a very cute girl.

Attila led his army on a leisurely march. The soldiers under his command seemed to have long been accustomed to Attila's style and no one raised any objections. After more than ten days of leisurely marching during the day and picnicking and camping at night, the army of the Hun king finally arrived in Rome.

Tiberius was already on high alert, waiting for the attack from the Hun king.

Attila's appearance at this time was somewhat inconsistent with the style of the battlefield. She wore a translucent white veil on her head like a wedding headscarf, which fell to her hips. A large area of ​​wheat-colored skin was exposed. Her clothing style was quite stylish, and she was different from the surrounding soldiers at first glance.

(End of this chapter)