Chapter 4: The Tune That All Great Emperors Love to Play

  The Morris Plan has a huge loophole. Kidnapping several hundred people, how is this possible? Even if a dozen pigs go missing, it will attract attention, let alone hundreds of people. So generally, normal people with normal thinking will immediately reject and veto such kidnappings. But there are a few guys around Morris who are not normal, right?

  Konstanze and Valens are also two perverts. After realizing the loophole, they didn't think about giving up, but rather patching it up. With Morris, who proposed this idea, the three of them immediately came up with a kidnapping plan that could rival a Hollywood blockbuster!

  Kidnapping people turned into extortion for money, reducing the number of kidnappings, locking in valuable kidnapping targets, and then excluding them one by one based on their background, concluding that all local people should be eliminated. Then, continue to select targets, and finally, within a short time of digesting breakfast, including reconnaissance, kidnapping planning, and follow-up measures, a series of arrangements were studied by the three guys.

  Ignoring the group of stunned onlookers with a black line on their foreheads who were unilaterally counted as accomplices to the crime, the proposal was sent to Alexander.

  Alexander was left as one of the reserve plans without thinking.

  The rest of the time was spent in the instructor's class, and since it was some intense outdoor exercise, everyone was drenched in sweat, and after simply changing into a dry set of clothes, it was already time to head home.

  We were a group of over thirty people, plus the guards waiting at the door from each family, forming a mighty cavalry of over a hundred people.

  The Constantinople Military Academy is located on a small hillside in one side of Constantinople, and the road that winds out from the school gate connects to the main thoroughfare into the city. There are not a few people walking along the road in twos and threes, but more are merchants using donkeys or mules to transport goods, some of whom even do business directly on both sides of the main road as they walk.

  The sea waves crashed against the coast, splashing out white waves. Behind the winding highway was the famous Constantinople, but due to its grandeur, only a corner of the entire city was visible, the Theodosian Walls.

  Theodosian Walls, the massive walls that were built with enormous wealth, have a shocking visual impact. If I had to describe it in one feeling, it would be like when I first saw Minas Tirith in the third part of The Lord of the Rings movie trilogy - it's almost the same. Speaking of Minas Tirith, it reminds me of the epic battle that lasted for tens of minutes in the movie, which is considered a classic among all fantasy epics. Even now, thinking about it still gets my blood pumping. According to what I know, Constantinople also experienced a similar tragedy hundreds of years ago, with the only difference being that there were no Rohan cavalry rushing from afar, and no army of undead warriors that could be defeated by simply turning on a cheat code. If Britain ever has another Tolkien in the future, they probably won't need to rack their brains thinking about The Lord of the Rings anymore. Hollywood can just directly use what happened under the walls of Constantinople back then and it'll be done. It's just a shame that we would have missed out on such an epic fantasy work like The Lord of the Rings.

  Just as my mind was in a daze, we passed through the city gate, and the view before us suddenly changed greatly. The majestic atmosphere rushed forward, ancient and solemn. Above our heads, the beautiful yellow sky, the horseshoes trampling on the stone road made a crisp sound, breathing in the air of the thousand-year-old capital, looking again at the distant high-rise buildings and the church standing tall with its cross, this was the dusk of Constantinople.

  We had just walked past the Constantinople city wall near the Constantine Square and dispersed to go home, not long after we left.

  "Alexander asked nonchalantly: 'You haven't expressed your opinion today, is there something you're thinking that's inconvenient to say?'"

  I couldn't help but smile slightly at Alexander's move to reserve the plan as a candidate, and I asked him in a timely manner: "Old brother, honestly, do you really want to conquer the world and become king?"

  "Making the Mediterranean our inland sea again has been my biggest dream since I was a kid, didn't you know that?" Alexander said with an expression of 'you're asking something obvious' and 'too lazy to bother talking to you'.

  "But don't you think this is ridiculous?" I said.

  Alexander didn't answer my question immediately, instead he asked: "What do you want to say?"

  "Alright, let me ask you in a different way. On the day you were born, did anything unusual happen? Like someone who claims to be a prophet but is actually just pretending and acting crazy makes a prediction that you will become a ruler of the world, and then many impressive miracles occur at your birth? I'm not talking about thunder and lightning or volcanic eruptions, but on the year you were born, people should have some impression that it was an extraordinary year, like cows and horses giving birth to twins, chickens laying more eggs than usual, fields yielding a thousand kilograms of crops per mu, women giving birth to multiple babies at once, or unmarried virgins becoming pregnant."

  "It's not uncommon for an unmarried virgin to get pregnant, is it?" Alexander corrected me and started reminiscing, "Actually, there isn't any. If I had to say what was most unusual, it would be that our mother yelled very loudly, does that count? But what do the fertility of animals like horses, cows, chickens, ducks, and geese have to do with me? It's not like I'm the one who did it."

  "I'm not saying it was you, big brother, but you know how emperors and people with great responsibilities are born to like this kind of tune? Take the emperor who drove away the Crusaders and defended Constantinople in the Fourth Crusade a few hundred years ago. To this day, there's still a legend that says he was destined to save our Roman Empire, with God by his side. There were many miracles too - lots of twin births among cattle and horses, women giving birth to multiple babies at once, double-yolked eggs and duck eggs everywhere, and crops ripening four times a year.

  I counted on my fingers as I listed the miracles that accompanied the birth of that great emperor, only to throw out the key point: 'Look, even he, with all those miracles surrounding his birth, could only barely drive away the Mongols when he was about to die, and only managed to recover a small part of Asia Minor. And what about us two? No prophets came to make prophecies, no mothers gave birth to multiple babies, no hens or ducks laid double-yolked eggs, no crops yielded a million pounds per mu... the most special thing is that our mothers just called out louder than usual. Can we really conquer the world with just this?"

  "Alexander's head was full of black lines: 'You also believe in this kind of talk that can only deceive a three-year-old?'"

  "Didn't you feel a sense of heavy and sacred mission coming your way?" Wang Ba Zhi said, Alexander didn't understand, so I didn't bother to explain. And I dare say, that guy who made a fortune in the Fourth Crusade was undoubtedly a time-traveler, if those rumors are true, he must have had a system or divine protection, and the product of his meddling is the Military Academy of Constantinople, and his greatest product is making the Byzantine Empire, which should have declined, still kicking until now.

  Alexander shook his head: "I feel a surge of nausea churning in my stomach."

  I smiled: "I think it's quite interesting. The Muslims in the south must have felt the same way and used it."

  Alexander burst out laughing, his loud guffaws attracting a few strange glances from passersby. I smiled faintly and rubbed the tip of my nose, thinking that even the most absurd jokes still had a bit of possibility to them. After all, if even the most ridiculous cross-dressing could happen, what couldn't? Still, based on my years of observation, Alexander hadn't been possessed by the spirit of Alexander the Great or anything.

  "Sometimes I really wish you were Alexander the Great of history."

  Conquering the world is a very difficult dream, even if it's just Alexander's idea of the world, but it's also many times more difficult than liberating blacks. Two generations, two lifetimes, before Alexander, I've seen the most absurd dreams, like in elementary school when a fool wrote an essay saying he wanted to be the President of the United States. The teacher praised him for having ideals and creativity, but we all knew that guy was just clueless and rambling nonsense. Although I don't have grand or huge ideals, I know that every dream needs certain external conditions and internal factors to come true. Let's not mention external conditions for now. For an individual, the ability to withstand failure is crucial. I wouldn't want Alexander to give up after one or two failures and become a useless pervert, would I? Wouldn't that be boring?

  To be honest, I didn't want Alexander's luck to be so bad, but who knows where that damn wheel of fate will roll over. Besides, this world is not the one I'm familiar with, which means the historical knowledge I possess can't help me avoid disasters here. This is one of the biggest misfortunes of a time-traveler.

  I finished speaking and glanced at that old man, only to see him put away his smile and gaze at me with a hint of sadness: "Don't you have any faith in me?"

  "Thanks to the great deeds of that big emperor in history, I can worry a lot less. You know me, I've always been particular about my appearance, what if excessive worrying makes me go bald? After all, we'll be at odds with the world in the future!" I said with a smile, and immediately got a white eye from Alexander.

  "He snorted: 'Even if Alexander were alive, the wars of this era are no longer the ones he was familiar with in his time. Although the great achievements he established in the past are indeed impressive, don't forget that we started from the same place! Perhaps his experience can add color to him, but it doesn't mean I'm useless. Most importantly, that great emperor, he couldn't afford to lose, while I can.'"

  I feel a bit sentimental, because Alexander's words are just like what he would say if he were alive, and it resonates with me as someone who has lived two lives. Although I don't dare to say that what he said is absolutely correct, in many aspects, I, as someone with a mature soul, don't have much of an advantage over him or others. Take learning how to massacre and set fires on a large scale from Old Man Trash, for example - the foundation of my education is basically at the same level as Alexander's and others'.

  "Big brother's point of view is quite novel, and it seems to make sense too." I was surprised and opened my mouth, well, since others have already realized it, I can save a lot of unnecessary words.

  "Needless to say!"

  I quickly changed the subject and casually asked Alexander about a guy in the entourage who always looked unhappy. Alexander's face turned slightly unnatural at this time. He told me that the guy was informed by the bodyguard that he might have to go on a blind date.

  Go on a blind date?

  What about those virgins?

  What about those guys who are almost seventeen or eighteen and still virgins?!

  No, no, it's not them, it's him!

  A complex emotion surged up in my heart, ever since I thought I was clever and kept the old man's secret, no one has competed with me for the beautiful girl, but because of these idiots and that perverted old man's weird education, it ended up that I am still a virgin... God, I have waited for so long, finally waiting for this day! Now that someone can go on a blind date, does that mean I'm also ready to have such a wonderful day?

  Haha, Constantinople has many beautiful noble ladies. I heard that a certain **Lishe Club is full of young noble girls, but I don't know which lucky guy's blind date is with whom.

  Staurakios' daughter is a beauty, and the Langabai's daughter is probably just as good-looking. The Altaibasdos sisters are a bit older, while the Nisitas sisters are still quite young, but too young. The Zenon and Geminiski daughters are said to be the most noticeable at banquets. Rufinus' daughter has a slightly worse reputation than the first two, but is related to the Valens family.

  I was a bit stunned, a bit surprised, and also a bit relieved, but more than that, I felt a sense of schadenfreude and a desire to watch the show. Before Alexander discovered my true face, I quickly put away my crooked nose and lewd expression, and then I said in a serious tone: "We must extend a helping hand to this comrade who has one foot in hell and pull him out of it!"