Chapter 20: Imperial Clash Part One
Someone asked for more additions... Okay! ...So it's my turn to ask for clicks, recommendations and collections?
The little commotion with the imperial noble ladies has ended, and I had to muster up my spirits early in the morning of the second day, because today, as an auditor, I will be attending a weekly meeting that is held every Monday.
The entire Caesar Palace was bustling at this time, I splashed some cold water on my face to wake myself up, did a few dozen push-ups on the floor, put on the clothes that were hung on the coat rack last night, rubbed my face hard and came to the dining hall.
On the white lace-edged tablecloth, the palace chef had arranged a breakfast of seafood and shellfish delicacies, within easy reach. There were also grapes, apples, olives, and figs to balance out the meal.
Before sunrise, Grandfather took Alexander and me riding on the Augusta Square road.
On a cool Constantinople morning, on the bleak and mottled grey stone of Augusta Square, tall Greek oak trees stood proudly alone.
"Hail! Caesar!!"
Two rows of Plaza Guards wearing Imperial Eagle Cross-patterned half-body iron armor and red robes at the entrance to the plaza put down their flintlock guns in unison and raised one hand high!
One by one, arms shot out into the air.
Forget it, this is the origin of Hitler's sneaky salute. The previous guy who liked to mess around didn't let the salute go either. It's said that in his time, Romans used salutes instead of handshakes when meeting each other. Even now, thinking about it feels quite ridiculous.
A vast square, surrounded by towering buildings that have stood for over a thousand years. The cold bluestone colonnade and the large Roman gateways replaced the pure white marble buildings of the past. The dozens of meters high vaults are faintly visible in the dim light, shining and twinkling. On both sides of the corridors, rows of candle holders were placed, and the continuous white candles reflected a soft atmosphere throughout the courtyard.
The location of the United Front Department meeting was in a small three-story building inside the inner layer of Augusta Square. The conference hall was very simple, with one red-bottomed golden-edged imperial eagle flag and one royal purple-golden-threaded royal flag standing next to the huge imperial map, surrounded by several portrait sculptures that belonged to our Seofano family's ancestors. In the corridor, many people in formal attire stood in twos and threes, they were the heavyweights of this Roman Empire today, but like the guards outside, when they saw us, these guys retreated to both sides again, and saluted!
As bystanders, it's not our first time entering this place. Upon closer inspection, they're all familiar big shots from various departments of the Empire. The Imperial Seal Minister Skrelnus, Finance Minister Eriks, Navy Minister Vataki, Administrative Minister Seodori, and Foreign Minister Leo.
I used to have nothing to do and made a relatively intuitive division based on the patterns of several mainstream single-player games. In the mode of Three Kingdoms, the ability values of these senior ministers did not exceed 85. If it is in the mode of Total War, the initial ability value of the ministers is basically three stars. The honesty attribute of Sklerenus, the royal minister who holds the imperial seal, gave him an extra star, and the 20-year-old veteran of political affairs added two stars, for a total of six stars. Minister of Finance Eriks was about the same, with one star added for being an audit veteran and one star added for honesty, for a total of six stars. The others were roughly the same.
It's relatively excellent, this is the level of the entire imperial administrative institution, and it's also closest to the real level. It's unlikely that there would be a large group of full-starred or ability values exceeding one hundred like in games. Perhaps in the past when old men entered this place, the old guy's value could exceed ninety.
The guard pushed open the dark cross-patterned Greek red wood door, and with a loud rumble, the most dazzling stage of the thousand-year Roman Empire opened!
Red, blood-red splendor everywhere, the Greek-dyed woolen hangings exported from the workshops of Tyre which had been hung in the doorway and covered the entire hall to the ceiling, six red with black borders banners of the House of Theophano hanging high on the vaulted beams.
A male eagle, a royal crown, this is the Sefano family!
On the main seat in the center, two huge black curtains covered up the things inside.
When lifted up, a red curtain will replace the black exterior, and then a huge map will be presented!
Europe, Asia, Africa and the New World.
But no matter what name or description they have on that map of power, they all have only one title: enemy!
France, Britain, Germany, Austria, Russia, Sweden, Castile, Netherlands... The entire European continent, all powers can be enemies! Far and near, strong and weak, some can temporarily cooperate, while others must be eliminated!
Two marble busts are placed on the left and right, which are my great-grandfather and grandfather of Alexander. In the future, when Old Man is in a good mood one day, he can also let someone make one for him and put it here.
The gate was walked in by two or three people. This meeting, a total of 11 top-level figures appeared, all deputy ministers and the like attended, a total of 21 people, more than half of the Roman Empire's top officials were present here.
A very familiar pattern, if I'm not mistaken, this organization that brings together high-ranking officials from various government departments to discuss policies is called the Cabinet. The name may be different, but the meaning is roughly the same. In recent decades, imperial policy has been made here in the Ministry of Unification rather than at the so-called Imperial Conference presided over by the Emperor himself. It can be said that the Ministry of Unification allows our Seoano family to bypass the Imperial Conference and issue orders to the entire empire. As for the catalyst, this has to do with the Muslim Mahdi, as well as the previous 25th Emperor.
Our ancestor of the Saonofa family, to be exact, my great-grandfather, a nobleman from a military aristocratic background, successfully married into an imperial family through his military achievements, namely the Saonofa family which had existed since before the Macedonian dynasty and had produced several empresses. Afterwards, with the support of the old Saonofa family which had produced several empresses and his original military background, my great-grandfather, when he was serving as the deputy minister of war and commander-in-chief of the Syrian defense zone, had faced Mahdi, a Muslim, head-on and was not at a disadvantage.
The empire suffered two major defeats in the 17th century Muslim uprisings, with over 150,000 people killed. Later, that foolish emperor had to reappoint my great-grandfather. To mobilize national strength to reverse strategic failures, the United Front Department emerged, and after attempting to recover Aleppo through military action and a long battle with Muslim Mahdi, the United Front Department slowly rose above various departments, eventually reaching its peak when my grandfather carried out a reform, and his United Front Department officially replaced the Imperial Council in managing the entire empire.
But my grandfather still couldn't become the emperor. After all, it was because my great-grandfather was an ordinary military nobleman who married into the Sefano family. Moreover, with the previous emperor's edict of raising troops, the wealthy and powerful imperial clan held a certain amount of military power at that time. Once a war broke out, Rome's civil war would only allow France to easily annex Castile, and at that time, the Muslims still had the strength for one more battle. Rome's internal strife might very well let them reap the benefits without doing anything.
Bloodline is a pain in the ass, but it's also a game rule that everyone has to follow. Our helpless grandfather had no choice but to pick up a relatively marginal royal family member and marry him off to someone close to the current emperor's bloodline, so my brother and I could move closer to the front of the line for imperial succession.
In this brief moment, the crowd in the hall had already gone through the formalities and entered into the main topic of this meeting, the problem of rising grain prices caused by the empire's poor grain supply.
