The vast land is a purgatory on earth.
Currently, the empire has simultaneously lost the Rhine and the Danube, similar to losing the Yangtze and Yellow Rivers, leaving both great river defenses unguarded.
"The remnants of the empire’s main force are being pinned down by the Huns’ army."
"The Barbarian Race tribes from Great Germania have crossed the Rhine to seize Upper and Lower Germania, advancing into the heart of Gaul, and they have completely lost control over what later became France."
A row of wooden stakes was nailed at the fork in the road ahead.
From afar, crows pecked, flies swarmed, and everything was a decapitated head, roughly estimated at a few hundred, already beyond recognition. Judging by the facial features, they somewhat resemble slaves and tenant farmers. In recent years, the empire has experienced continuous internal rebellions, and after the imperial treasury completely collapsed, the empire had no choice but to further exploit the common folks, pushing slaves and tenant farmers across various regions to revolt.
The Roman Protectorate, Aetius, was a renowned general known for his bravery and combat skills, but he lacked much talent in domestic governance, spending most years on the battlefields at the border.
If history doesn’t deviate significantly, he will be murdered by the emperor within a few years.
Rows of heads were pierced through.
These heads were nailed on either side of the road like street lamps, one meter apart, stretching for more than two hundred meters. This was a cruel punishment left over from the Spartacus uprising. The Romans have always been very cruel to slaves; rebellious slaves were executed. After the Spartacus uprising failed, along the road from Rome to Capua, it was fully nailed with executed slaves, with about six thousand being crucified on the crosses.
A total of over four hundred heads, enough to build a mound, looking at these heads that died with eyes open, Duncan truly felt the brutality of this era.
The Barbarian invasions are for plundering money, land, and people, the social underclass are truly living worse than pigs and dogs.
They would die if they rebel, and still die if they don’t rebel.
"It’s the slave uprising in Burgundy."
Beside him, Anya seemed to know more and whispered, "The Burgundians have rebelled again, sweeping with them a large number of slaves and tenant farmers."
"Although they were suppressed by Aetius at first, many rebellious slaves managed to escape to other places."
"They often secretly incite slaves in large manor estates to revolt, and once discovered they would be wiped out and executed, nailed to the roadsides as a warning to others."
The massacre suppression of the Burgundians is the prototype of the Germanic epic "Nibelungenlied."
Aetius had a deep relationship with the Huns’ king Attila in his early years, having once been held hostage there, somewhat like Guo Jing and Tore in novels. He ultimately regained his power in the Western Empire with the help of the Huns, becoming the commander of the Western Empire.
This historical period is a bit like the Great Song and Mongolia because Aetius relied on Hun mercenaries in many battles early on. (The Huns were loose tribes and those defeated would flee into the empire; to this day there are still many Hun mercenaries serving the empire’s nobility.)
Interestingly, after Aetius was assassinated, two of his Hun friends avenged him, stabbing Valentinian III to death during troop inspection.
Not a single soldier in the camp stepped forward, watching the emperor get stabbed to death on the spot.
He who is strong and fit becomes Augustus!
Although Anya is a two-star Whiteboard, through her words, Duncan gained a further understanding of the empire’s current state and the true source of the rebellions erupting one after another in Gaul Region at this time.
The Badagao Movement.
The sustained rebellion within the empire for hundreds of years, beginning in the 3rd century 60s, plunged Rome’s rule in Gaul into disintegration. It was suppressed in the 80s, re-emerged in the 5th century, delivering a heavy blow to the Roman Empire.
The scale of their uprising far exceeded that of Spartacus, and if it weren’t for being suppressed by the empire’s last renowned general, Aetius, they might have overturned the entire Gaul Region.
These insurgents were the marginalized underclass of the empire, hiding in the forests of Gaul, and have yet to be completely eradicated.
The group continued northward.
As if in response to Duncan’s interest in these matters, the witch Anya elaborated further: "Three years ago, Aetius suppressed the Bagada people in Almorica."
"It’s said he massacred tens of thousands."
"He decisively defeated the main force of the rebels, bringing the entire Gaul back under imperial rule."
"However, soon due to the corrupt rule of the Roman bureaucracy, many chose to flee again, ultimately the rebels once more became exiled Bagada people."
Upon hearing everything Anya said in detail, the word immediately popped into Duncan’s mind.
Indeed, it’s the source of troops.
The empire’s rebel army!
Those oppressed with no social status, forced to hide in dense forests, are one of the best sources of troops in Duncan’s eyes.
"In the imperial camp, there are only two choices."
"One is the Protector of the Realm, Aetius, the other is the incompetent Emperor Valentinian III."
"I don’t want to choose either of them."
"Although Aetius is historically a famous general, in the end, he is just a valiant officer, and the conflict with the imperial emperor is becoming increasingly irreconcilable."
"The future proposed by the Law of Cause and Effect initially—"
"In the battlefield, as Aetius’s family’s adopted son, the Human Form was seriously wounded, then died in the Barbarian’s attack."
"This might also have the element of internal political struggle within the empire."
"The empire has become fatally entrenched."
"Joining it feels like entering a cesspool, leaving no room to stretch one’s wings."