Theodoric's Palace
Three weeks later
A few hours ago...
Giuliano returned to Theodoric's palace without a great triumph. Forum Livii and Faventia were very easy to take from the Lombards it was the same feeling of defeating an enemy that wasn't present in the Total War franchise games, when a very strong army defeats a very weak army, practically an automated battle , but as the great Lombard army was coming to Ravenna, Giuliano chose to leave 50 marines in Forum Livii and Faventia in case of any attempted surprise attack by the Lombards.
Giuliano was in the royal hall when Pavlos and Fabricio arrived, their eyes showing despair.
Pavlos then began to speak, and from the way he spoke, it wasn't anything good that had been discovered in Ravenna's finances. Fabricio looked at Pavlos, then at Giuliano, and said:
"My king, Pavlos has discovered that Arab pirates are blocking our trade route with Ragusa; we're losing about two Solidus a day! We'll have to redeploy more troops to the merchant navy." Fabricio said.
The infamous Arab piracy imposed a blockade on the Mediterranean, meaning that Western Mediterranean nations had to live for centuries with the danger of living in a coastal city and the possibility of being captured and sold as a slave in Tunis, Alexandria, or Cairo. With the continental blockade, Western nations saw their power shift from urban to rural areas; the Frankish Empire's economy came from the countryside, not the city, which made Charlemagne so powerful It was a challenge to possess a strong army in a post-Roman Western Europe; its greatest enemies were the Saxons and Arabs, one representing Germanic resistance to Christianity, the other in its Golden Age. While the Frankish Empire had the most powerful army in Western Europe, the Heptarchy had weak kingdoms and was constantly fighting; the Lombards weakened when faced with a strong army and not a handful of soldiers, as was the case in Byzantine Northern Italy and the small kingdom of Asturias.
Giuliano then asked:
"How many men are there in Ravenna besides ours who know how to fight on the Adriatic Sea?" Giuliano asked.
Fabricio then replied:
"My king, in addition to our marines, we have fishermen, dockworkers, and some Byzantine sailors who decided to stay; counting only them, we have 780 who can serve in maritime defense. Including our own, it would go up to 1030, which is what we have for now." Fabricio replied.
Giuliano then thinks, Ravenna is beginning to recover economically, an iconoclastic revolt has been quelled, and now Arab pirates are attacking merchant ships; the response would have to be quick and precise, a mistake could attract the Venetian Tagmata to recapture Ravenna or draw the attention of more Arab pirates to the Adriatic; either of these possibilities would be terrible.
Giuliano, after thinking a little more about what was at stake, said:
"Call Carlo, he will be in charge of defending our merchant ships in the Adriatic." Giuliano said.
Fabricio then agreed with what Giuliano said and translated it to Pavlos, who also agreed, and they went out together to resolve the problems of the Adriatic.
Theodoric's Palace
Now...
It was already night when Carlo and some other marines arrived; their expressions were resolute.
Carlo steps forward and says:
"We are here to follow your orders, my king; tell me, and I will do as you please." Carlo says.
Carlo Giulio Mancini Ricardi, the most feared member of the former 35th Marine Battalion of the Royal Italian Navy managed to expel more than 7,000 guerrillas in a single day during an operation in the Democratic Republic of Congo. His feat made the 35th Marine Battalion of the Royal Italian Navy one of the most famous in Italy after the San Marco Regiment; his nickname is the Italian Doomguy.
Giuliano, knowing that Carlo would be exactly the guy who would make Arab piracy flee the Adriatic Sea, then asks:
"Arab pirates are attacking our merchant ships in the Adriatic Sea. Do you want to be the admiral of the Roman navy and put the Saracens in their place?" Giuliano asks.
Carlo then replies:
"Yes, I will hunt down every one of those Arab pirate ships; I won't let Saracens interfere with our plans." Carlo replies.
Giuliano then says:
"Great, tomorrow the Roman navy is recreated and you will be in charge of defending merchant ships and building ships; you will only have to submit a report every weekend." Giuliano says.
Carlo and the other marines agree and leave the royal hall.
Giuliano dismisses the two marines who were guarding him, then looks at the gate to see if anyone is coming and says:
"System, show me what the powers of the Italian Peninsula are and how my kingdom is situated." Giuliano says.
[At your service, here it is.]
[Frankish Kingdom: extremely powerful, avoid confrontation at all costs]
[Papal States: religiously influential, can be an ally depending on the Pope in power]
[Lombard Kingdom (Benevento and Spoleto): moderate power, is sending Lombard soldiers to Ravenna, be very careful]
[Eastern Roman Empire (coastal cities): power weakened due to the iconoclasm crisis; if stabilized, it could become a problem]
[Kingdom of the Lombards (Northern Italy): extremely weak due to the siege of Pavia, it may conquer some nearby cities and will not face any retaliation from the Lombard army]
[Kingdom of Ravenna: low power, but more stable than the rest of Northern Italy; if it resists the great Lombard attack, it could become the only Western Roman state of the Middle Ages being made up of Roman/italic]
Giuliano then asks:
"System, how much longer until the Lombard army arrives here?" Giuliano asks.
[At your service, here it is]
Then a screen appeared showing an army coming towards Ravenna.
[Clotto's Lombard army will arrive in three weeks, stay alert]
Giuliano asks, just out of curiosity:
"System, what is the probability of my army losing to the Lombards?" Giuliano asks.
[At your service, here it is]
An extensive calculation about the probability of losing appeared, and the system provided the answer.
[The probability is 0.7%; for such a thing to happen, another modern army would be needed to help the Lombards.]
Giuliano then says:
"Perhaps the Arabs can bring us excitement in naval battles. We'll have to introduce gunpowder long before the Chinese; well, we'll be the Roman Prussia." Giuliano says.