Constance II's grandfather was named Heraclio, who was the pioneer of the Roman Heraclio dynasty. However, although Heraclio successfully prevented the invasion of Persia, he could not fight the rapid rise of Dashi. During his reign, he lost provinces such as Syria and Egypt...

Later generations evaluated the emperor of Chiraclio in a very regretful tone. Although he was a hero, he met Mohammed, the great prophet of the Arabs, which made Chiraclio's life destined to be a tragedy.

After Chiraclio's death, his eldest son and second son ascended the throne together and became the co-governor of Rome. The eldest son Constantine III was the father of Constantine II. Unfortunately, Constantine III died as soon as he ascended the throne, and some people accused Chiraclio's second son of poisoning his brother. So after a rebellion, another remaining emperor in Rome was exiled, and Constantine II, who was only ten years old, ascended the throne.

Although Constance II and Prince Theodossi were brothers, they were not born to the same mother. Constance II's mother was the first wife of his father Constantine III, while Prince Theodossi's mother was the second wife of Constantine III. The two were half-brothers.

Prince Theodosio's mother was an ambitious woman who wanted to establish her son as the emperor of the Roman Empire. So when Constance II ascended the throne, she was strongly opposed by her and proposed that her son Theodosio ascend the throne, but unfortunately she failed. Later, she proposed to grant her son "Augustus" and make Theodosio the co-governor of Rome. However, because Constance II's father was murdered by another co-governor of the emperor, her proposal was rejected again.

Two efforts failed to make her son the emperor, but the mother did not give up. In the years that followed, Prince Theodosiosian's mother bullied Constance II at a young age and wanted to give in several times. Unfortunately, her methods were not very clever, so she never got the wish and died of an acute illness a few years ago.

It was precisely because of Theodossi's mother that the relationship between the two brothers Constance II was not good. So after Theodossi lost his mother's protection, he was sent to the front line of the Asia Minor Peninsula by Constance II. But what he didn't expect was that Theodossi had great military talents and led the Roman phalanx to fight with the great cannibals in great success, and even united a group of generals by his side.

Seeing this situation, Constance II was worried that Theodosie would be too big for the outside, so he promoted him to the consul of the Roman legion and transferred him back to Constantinople from the front. On the surface, Theodosie was promoted, but in fact he was under the surveillance of Constance II. Moreover, his power as the consul was greatly reduced and he could not accuse many troops at all.

Most of the upper nobles in Eastern Rome knew the grudges between the brothers of Constance II, and knew that although Prince Theodosio seemed to be of high status and powerful, he was actually similar to prisoners, so ordinary nobles were unwilling to deal with him, so as not to be misunderstood by Constance II and cause trouble.

After figuring out the entanglement, Li Ke finally understood Prince Theodosio's current situation. The reason he invited him that day was probably to make friends with him. After all, if he could make friends with him, the prince of the Tang Dynasty, his days would be better. However, Li Ke did not need to get into such trouble because of a stranger.

In addition to Prince Theodosio, Li Ke also learned some secrets from Irina about Roman nobles, which were quite dirty, such as the youngest son of a certain grandson, and the two marquises fought because of a handsome male slave, etc. Although Irina had never deliberately collected them, she still heard a lot of them under the influence of her. In addition, she and Li Ke were in love, so all these things were told, all of them were joked.

Compared with the situation in Eastern Rome, what Li Ke is most interested in is the situation around Eastern Rome, especially in the Mediterranean area, which aroused Li Ke's great interest.

When Rome was the most powerful, the entire Mediterranean was the inland sea of ​​Rome. However, the East and West Rome split and the northern barbarians invaded, causing the Western Rome to perish. The Eastern Rome also caused a large-scale shrinkage of territory due to the rise of the Great Food. But even so, the Eastern Roman Empire was still the overlord of the Mediterranean. At least on the sea, no force could compete with them.

The Mediterranean is the dividing line between Asia and Africa. The southern bank is North Africa, which originally belonged to the territory of the Roman Empire. However, more than ten years ago, Egypt was captured by the Dashi, and some of the remaining North African territories were invaded by the barbarians of Western Europe. They had long been read from the Roman Empire.

As for the northern shore of the Mediterranean, the situation is much more complicated than the southern shore. The north shore is mainly composed of three peninsulas, including the most western Iberian Peninsula, located in the middle of the Apennine Peninsula in the city of Rome, and the Balkan Peninsula closest to Constantinople in the east.

Originally, these three peninsulas belonged to the territory of the Roman Empire, but after the split between the East and West Rome, the Iberian Peninsula and the Apennine Peninsula in the West belonged to the territory of the Western Roman Empire. Unfortunately, they were later invaded by the northern barbarians and the Western Romans were destroyed. Although the Eastern Rome wanted to drive away these barbarians and regain the territory of the Western Romans several times, they were not successful. In the end, the Suo surname gave up these lands.

It is precisely because of this that among the three peninsulas, only the easternmost Balkans belong to the Eastern Roman Empire. As for the remaining two peninsulas, they are controlled by two major forces respectively.

Among them, the Apennine Peninsula, the birthplace of the Roman Empire, had the most twists and turns. At that time, the Visigoths were invaded by the Visigoths of the Yuermans next to Western Rome, but the city of Rome was captured. The Visigoths killed and plundered the city for three days, and the entire Roman city was severely damaged.

More than 30 years later, the Vandals who moved to North Africa invaded from the sea and again captured the city of Rome, which destroyed Rome. After the war, the number of surviving Rome was less than 7,000. At the same time, the emperor was killed, and the queen and two princesses were also stolen by the Vandals, one of them became the queen of the later Vandals.

It was also because of the invasion of foreign tribes that the strength next to Western Rome gradually declined, especially the invasion of the Huns Alati. In the end, the Western Roman Empire and the northern barbarians united, but could not resist it. The two major Roman empires in the east and west were all fatal threats. Fortunately, after Alati's death, the Hun kingdom he established was also divided, and the Eastern Roman Empires were relieved.

However, after this attack, the Western Roman Empire was no longer able to support it. Almost all of the Western Roman emperors were deposed and established by the barbarians in the north, and many even directly appointed their sons as emperors. This situation continued until the late fifth century, when the last Nipos, the Western Roman Empire, was assassinated and the Western Roman Empire was officially destroyed.

Although the Western Roman Empire was destroyed, the Apennine Peninsula was still there, but the entire peninsula fell into the hands of the Yuerman barbarians. Later, the Lombards, a group of the Yuermans in the north, rose up and unified the entire Apennine Peninsula. At the same time, a powerful kingdom was established on the island, namely the Lombard Kingdom, which continued until Li Ke arrived, and this kingdom still occupied most of the Apennine Peninsula.

On the Iberian Peninsula in the west of the Apennine Peninsula, there is also a kingdom established by the Jermans. The founder of this kingdom was the Visigoths who had previously looted Rome.

After looting Rome, these Visigoths settled on the Iberian Peninsula and drove the Vandals and Alans on the peninsula to North Africa. Later, these Visigoths established a kingdom, namely the Visigoth Kingdom, which ruled the entire Iberian Peninsula. So in a sense, this kingdom is half of the Spanish kingdom in later generations.

In general, the entire northern coast of the Mediterranean is divided into three major forces, from west to east, namely the Visigothic Kingdom, the Lombardy Kingdom and the Eastern Roman Empire. It is also worth mentioning that the northeast of the Visigothic Kingdom and the northwest of the Lombardy Kingdom are the famous Frankish Kingdom in later generations. However, these stupid Yuermans are still playing the game of unification, division, unification, and division again. The kingdom is in chaos and has no impact on the Mediterranean for the time being.

After figuring out the distribution of forces along the Mediterranean coast, Li Ke suddenly had an extremely bold idea. His purpose of going to America was actually to find a territory for his reading ability to develop. However, both Africa and the Americas made him feel a little unsatisfied. After understanding the situation around the Mediterranean, Li Ke suddenly discovered a stage that was very suitable for him to perform.

Now the Eastern Roman Empire is not only threatened by the great food, but the northern barbarians are also their eternal enemies. On the battlefield where the northern wars with the barbarians have never stopped bleeding, and even the homeland of Western Rome cannot be recovered.

In this case, if Li Ke joined the competition between various Mediterranean forces in the name of the Tang Dynasty's aid to Rome, although it may arouse dissatisfaction from Rome, under the threat of the Great Food, they will definitely not dare to object directly. At that time, they will try to choose a place far away from Rome to develop, and do not stimulate the nerves of Rome too much. After they gain a foothold in the Mediterranean region, Rome's reaction will be insignificant, and even the other party may try their best to win over his strong force.

This idea was that when Li Ke was chatting with Irina, he suddenly had a flash of inspiration, and was firmly grasped by him, and quickly took root in Li Ke's heart. And he also deduced this idea later, and the more he thought about it, the more he felt it was feasible.
Chapter completed!