Eagle Flag of Epirus

On the third day after the war, having settled all the casualties, Justinian made a startling announcement to the nobles of the city of Thessaloniki.

"The crusade against Mikhail Dukas?" The Macedonian nobles headed by Ioannis almost dropped their jaws when they learned of this. Macedonia, which had been ravaged by war, was in ruins at this time, and Constantinople was outside. The Latin people are still eyeing this place, but Justinian didn't mean to rest and recuperate, but wanted to go to war. What made it even more difficult for them to accept was that at the same time as Justinian informed them, an army of 800 people had already arrived at the port from the Peloponnese by sea, and the army assembly had already begun. It was obvious that Justinian had no plans to consult with them at all.

"I'm afraid this is a little unrealistic, Your Excellency." Ioannis said, looking at Justinian who was standing on the steps, who was obviously annoyed. "Although we were lucky enough to repel the coalition forces of Mikhail and Bulgaria, it is still too reluctant to conquer the western border with our current strength, especially we must beware of the Latin people in the east."

"Don't worry about Sir Ioannis, in addition to the great defeat in Thessalonica, and the defeat of Agrinion has shaken Mikhail's vitality and his prestige in the West, now it is precisely to eliminate Du The best time for Cass." Justinian's tone was calm, "As for the Latin people you are worried about, don't worry, at least for now, they will not pose a real threat to us."

Seeing Justinian's confident look, the Macedonian nobles looked at each other, not knowing what to do for a while. After all, the young man in front of him had already accumulated amazing prestige by virtue of his victory under Thessalonica, not to mention that he was the favorite minister of Princess Eudoshia himself, and no one dared to stand at this time. Come out and speak out against it.

Except for a few people grunting in their mouths, there was no other sound in the crowd. In the end, Ioannis had no choice but to speak, which was exactly what Justinian wanted.

"But what about the supply of food, grass and luggage? Your Excellency, you should know better than us that the size of the army stationed here is already too much for Thessalonica, not to mention the many refugees outside the city that Her Royal Highness Eudosia had previously accommodated. , these few tax supervisors sent by us more and more have traveled all over the surrounding Tianlong, and there are very few villages that can be called taxpayers."

"It is indeed very difficult. According to the investigation of the people I sent out, it is exactly as you said, Sir Ioannis." Justinian nodded and said yes, but did not refute, his face was still calm.

"Then Your Excellency Justinian, what can you do to solve the problem of more people eating? And I am not only worried about this, there is no land around the city of Thessaloniki, even the chambers of commerce and workshops in the city. Because most of the war has escaped, this city has no energy to support you to fight Mikhail Dukas! I hope you and Her Royal Highness can have a long-term plan for the time being."

"Well, Sir Ioannis, what you said does make sense." Justinian nodded solemnly, acknowledging the fact that the other party said, but then he turned around and asked: "So it is true that our rations cannot be said that way. I hope to make a fuss about the land tax, don't you think?"

As soon as these words came out, the nobles of Macedonia froze for a while, and then they realized what Justinian meant by looking at them with meaningful eyes, and the original plan of the other party was to come and eat them. of these big households.

"What do you mean by that? You shouldn't count on us. As I said just now, the property of our fief has also suffered heavy losses." According to the originally prepared lines, Count Ioannis had a problem. Good foreboding.

The words have reached this point, and Justinian crossed his fingers and stopped going in circles with the other party and said straight to the point: "Really? Yesterday I just agreed to the request of the Genoese for trade, and after that, the other party's merchant ship docked only one afternoon. , I got a tip that someone secretly trafficked food from the city. At that time, I did not break it, but sent someone to investigate secretly, and finally found out that someone had been hoarding it as early as a year ago, and the price of food in the black market had already risen There are more than ten times the market price. This year, the flour accumulated by those people in the dark warehouse in the east of the city would rather be moldy and thrown into the stinking ditch than spare a copper plate and sell it to the people of Rome. Now they would rather sell it at a low price. It’s a relief for foreigners who are unwilling to feed the hungry people in Xiacheng District. It’s absurd that those who are involved, and all of you here, seem to be inextricably linked.”

Justinian glanced coldly at the nobles under the steps. He was rarely so angry. He would not have much hope for the old nobles, but the situation forced him to choose to cooperate with them. During the year, he left the big city of Thessaloniki to self-government, but he did not expect that the nobles would still be able to do such a thing when the country was destroyed and the family was destroyed. Over the past year, the one who really planned for the city was Sir Baptiste, a Latin man who was loyal to him. This information came from him.

"There must be some misunderstanding here, Your Excellency Justinian."

The cold eyes made Ioannis feel a chill in his heart, and he had nothing to say under such hard evidence, he could only explain palely. Of course, he is very clear about the matter of hoarding. Although he did not directly participate, he also has a share of the capital in it. Originally, it was going to be sold to the Genoese to destroy the evidence, but Ioannis never imagined that he was caught by Justinian with the braid.

"I don't think there is any misunderstanding. Those people should have been imprisoned by now, and the food in the dark warehouse can be used for military purposes. I believe that everyone here has no objection. I can let go of the past, but what happened today Hope is the last time." Justinian walked down the steps slowly, and the silent nobles subconsciously avoided to both sides in fear, making way for him.

The little fox who watched Moria leave, and the Macedonian nobles in the hall didn't dare to take a deep breath until they couldn't see his back. Everyone looked at each other. In the scene just now, everyone could see the killing intent in Justinian's eyes. No one dared to complain about such a huge loss. And the lost Ioannis stood there and still felt horrified until now. He finally understood at this moment that the young man named Justinian was far from being able to fool the princess Eudoxia. They are not a cooperative relationship at all, Cha All Stinney is standing here asking for is surrender...

At this moment, the old aristocrats could not help but realize in despair that the era when they might be dominated here has come to an end.

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