The system has to be used even if it is pulled

Zhao Yuanlang sighed and chose to load the character.

The scene changed, and Zhao Yuanlang was sitting in the hall of a fortress. There was no one in the hall, only two guards at the door who were dressed fairly well.

On January 769, , although Sardinia had a Mediterranean climate, it was still a bit cold.

Currently, Sardinia has only one big city, Calaris, and four large towns are irregularly distributed along the island's coastline, with many small villages radiating around them.

Insufficient troops is a difficult problem. If all else fails, we can pull out the troops from the Kingdom of God and spend some money to recruit some mercenaries.

Damn, it seems I can only spend my own money. Fortunately, there is so much gold in my kingdom of God.

"Someone come! Someone come!"

A guard at the door walked in quickly, lowered his head and looked at Zhao Yuanlang respectfully: "General, what's the matter?"

"Convey my order, all officers come to the meeting!"

The guard seemed to be hesitant to speak, which made Zhao Yuanlang frown. "What's wrong? What's the matter? Tell me now."

"Sir, didn't Sir Thomas lead a large team to patrol the four towns in the north yesterday under your order? He hasn't returned yet."

Zhao Yuanlang patted his forehead, then he remembered that Thomas, the training officer of his border defense force, had gone out to inspect the town under his order some time ago. It was called an inspection, but in fact he went out to collect income. The so-called income was to collect taxes and protection fees.

Zhao Yuanlang waved his hands helplessly: "Send a messenger to find him and ask him to lead the army back."

"Yes! Your lord!"

The guards went down quickly, and Zhao Yuanlang walked out of the hall alone. Several personal guards immediately followed Zhao Yuanlang and walked slowly with him.

This fortress is located on the high ground east of the city of Karalis. Outside is the legion's training ground, and below is the naval garrison. The city can be reached by walking about 500 meters. Except for the fortress wall which is about 3 meters high, the city wall is only a pitiful 2 meters high, and there are even many damaged places. It winds along the fortress's arrow tower and surrounds the entire city.

It was dirty and messy. There were densely packed tents on the east side of the fortress, toilets near the city wall, an armory on the west side, and a stable to the left of the armory. There was no good awareness of hygiene at that time, and the smell of feces was everywhere.

Zhao Yuanlang frowned and walked out of the fortress gate slowly. There were cavalrymen training in riding here. Both the cavalrymen and the horses were a little thin, and the border guards in training were pale and thin, wearing the tattered chain mail issued by the empire and waving their weapons weakly.

Zhao Yuanlang noticed at a glance that except for the centurions who were wearing full-body armor, there were basically no other soldiers wearing full-body armor. Even most of the heavy-armored legionaries were only wearing half-body armor.

This is a difficult situation. If we rely on this army to fight, we are afraid that it will be dispersed directly.

The first thing to change is his own army. They are too obvious during the day, so he needs to wait until night to use his magic power to control them.

Zhao Yuanlang shook his head helplessly, then led the soldiers behind him into the fortress.

The only thing to be thankful for is that Zhao Yuanlang, the general of the military region, not only has the highest regional management authority, but also has administrative, military, judicial, and taxation powers. (In fact, taxation and judicial powers are fake, so don't take things in the game seriously.)

After a few days, Zhao Yuanlang was thinking about how to send troops reasonably. After all, Italy's land area is not small, and it is a daydream to want to swallow Italy with his own troops.

The Lombard King Desiderius Araxes, who occupied northern Italy, could mobilize an army of nearly 10,000 people, not to mention Arecis Gauss, the Grand Duchy of Benevento, a tributary state of the Lombard King in the south.

As Torres led his troops back, Zhao Yuanlang covered the entire fortress with his demonic energy one night. All the soldiers' eyes flashed black, and they became strong one by one. They had only one master in their hearts, and that was Zhao Yuanlang. Even the emperor had to stay away.

The year 769 passed quickly. Zhao Yuanlang spent money to buy and sell slaves and people from the border between the Eastern Empire and the Arab Empire, and even expanded the shipyard in Karalis. In one year, Zhao Yuanlang's border guards reached three legions of people, 10 large warships, 30 small warships, and even a legion of naval forces. (In the Roman military system, a legion had about people.)

It would definitely not be possible to rely on the city of Calaris for so many troops, so Zhao Yuanlang built a simple fortress and shipyard in the north of Sardinia, where about a legion of soldiers and a brigade of navy were stationed.

Of course the remaining soldiers had nowhere to go, so Zhao Yuanlang directly offered high salaries and asked the citizens of Karalis to start expanding the city of Karalis.

The expanded city of Karalis not only has two east and west fortresses, but also two shipyards.

It would be impossible to support these troops by relying on the taxes from Kararis, as the taxes still had to be sent to His Majesty the Emperor. Sardinia's military expenditures were allocated by the central government every year, and were all fixed and quantified, so these troops were all Zhao Yuanlang's own private armies, supplied by the endless supply of gold from the Kingdom of God.

Soon, Zhao Yuanlang received news from Western Europe. Kaotian, the son of the plane in this world, took action. (That is Charlemagne)

Charles and Carloman were brothers, but their relationship was not very harmonious. Charles considered himself the eldest son, while Carloman considered himself the legitimate son (according to legend, Charlemagne was born before Pepin and Bertrada got married). Although their mother Bertrada preferred Charlemagne, they were both her biological sons after all, so she often mediated the relationship between the two brothers.

But after their father's death, Karl gained more territory and wealth than Carloman, and the two brothers became even more discordant.

But Karl was better than his brother Carloman. His excellent diplomatic skills won him the support of the great nobles in the country and further promoted the system of combining politics and religion throughout the country. He built many churches and monasteries, ordered all residents to be baptized, and executed all those who refused. He also promised to donate two-thirds of his inheritance to the bishops in the country, exempt the bishops from donations, taxes, and fines, and allow them to exercise judicial power in their territories.

The country was stable, and Karl, who had the support of the people, the nobility, and the church, began to fight against Carloman, whose position was unstable.

Although the struggle between the two brothers did not involve the war, they were scheming against each other for their own authority and they conspired against their brothers behind their mother's back.

In recent years, the iconoclasm movement in the Eastern Roman Empire, driven by Constantine V, became more and more intense. A large number of sacred artworks were burned, and the icon carvings in the churches were washed with lime water. The promotion of the iconoclasm movement has been hitting the church's income and development. More importantly, the iconoclasm movement has never been finalized in the church. This movement has always aroused conflicts among various doctrinal factions and made the society uneasy. As a result, Constantine V was able to strengthen his centralized rule. In 754, Constantine V expelled St. John of Damascus, a supporter of icon worship, from the church at a religious conference. The iconoclasts occupied most of the Eastern Roman Empire.

Religious conflicts broke out. Pope Stephen III convened the Lateran Council in that year and declared that the Council of Constantinople convened by Constantine V in 754 was a heretical meeting held by heretics. The Lateran Council decided to excommunicate those who destroyed icons and their followers, and called on Eastern Christians and churches to restore icon worship. (The Christian pope during this period was only the pope, not the pope. There was only one emperor in Europe, that is, the emperor of the Roman Empire.)

This made the Eastern Roman Empire's Emperor Constantine V very angry. Originally, the Eastern Roman Empire was the overlord of the Pope, but after the Pope made a fuss, the Eastern Roman Empire directly gave up its protection of the Pope.