Seeing that he had passed through the Golden Gate of the imperial capital countless times, the feeling of things being different and people being different crazily filled Leo's heart.
In the past, as an imperial official, he had passed under this city gate countless times. He still remembered that the gatekeeper here liked to accept bribes, which led to a very bad reputation in Constantinople.
.
However, they were smart enough to hand over half of them, so the higher-ups turned a blind eye to their behavior.
But the most important thing is that this gatekeeper will do things for the officials of the imperial capital that are inconvenient for them to do. This makes the status of this gatekeeper can be said to be rock-solid, so no matter how hard the people scold him, he can't move it.
He doesn't have a cent.
But now the smart gatekeeper is obviously gone. The one currently guarding the city gate is a face that is unfamiliar to him. He doesn't even recognize any of the gate guards.
Leo looked away from these people for a while, and then sighed inwardly at the huge changes. You must know that he knew many of these people before. After all, as a capable person under the orphanage director, what he has to do
There's never a lot of dirty work.
As the facade of Constantinople, the Golden Gate is much more magnificent than the monkey version in Kiev. The height alone is not comparable to the Golden Gate in Kiev, not to mention the various gorgeous reliefs on the Golden Gate, and the
Gold painted door frame.
Every time he saw the Golden Gate in Kiev, Leo felt funny from the bottom of his heart, but he had always hidden it very well. Some Russians would not like him showing such an attitude, which would affect the future rule of the country.
But it’s very disadvantageous.
After passing through the majestic Golden Gate, Leo saw the nobles and officials of the capital who greeted him, and standing behind them were the praetorian guards of Emperor Nicephorus.
There are not many familiar faces among these nobles and officials. Over the years, these people have changed several times. Emperors have come and gone. Over the years, no one has been able to stay in Constantinople for a long time, like an orphanage.
It is impossible for a powerful minister with that kind of appearance to appear in recent years.
Many of them were obviously very friendly towards Leo, which made Leo a little strange, but after thinking about it, he understood what was going on. Their friendliness was definitely not because of themselves, but because of Alexios.
This made the former Greek bureaucrat pay more attention to Alexios. Originally, he thought that he was just another warlord who thoughtlessly challenged Constantinople. It was only because of the cooperation from the Grand Duke that he became so important.
There is some possibility of success, but now it seems that he has many friends in the city and his foundation is not shallow.
He also remembered the mission given to him by the Archduke. It seemed that Alexios's friend was much more powerful than he expected.
It's just that most of these relationships are not very useful. If the walls of Constantinople cannot be taken down, then these relationships are actually as if they don't exist.
Alexios had fallen into such a predicament before. As he was trapped under the city wall, his friends also buried their heads.
But the arrival of the Russians also solved his dilemma. It can be seen from the fact that these guys will spread goodwill to the rebel envoys outside the city in public.
The guards seemed to have not seen all this. Leo admired their ability to pretend to be deaf and dumb. These soldiers just invited Leo to board the gorgeous carriage that had been prepared for a long time, and then escorted him by the guards.
Next, Leo went to the Grand Palace, the center of the empire.
The carriage escorted by the Praetorian Guards moved quickly on Messe Avenue. Leo was familiar with this bustling street. This was the Goldsmiths Avenue in Constantinople, which can be said to be the most prosperous main road in the entire city.
, visitors from out of town will spend their gold and silver here.
But under the prosperity, Leona's keen vision as an old bureaucrat allowed him to notice some details. For example, although the vendors were hidden in every possible way, he could still see the scarcity of goods; there were also waiting tables everywhere on the streets.
Looking for strong laborers, many people stood desperately near the dilapidated shops. Once someone came to hire them, they would swarm them; as well as the lingering refugees in the corners, many even fell to the ground unconscious...
There is actually dissatisfaction brewing in everyone's heart. When they look up at the rich and nobles, their eyes are full of anger and dissatisfaction. This is not an emotion that is born overnight.
"It seems that Constantinople has had a very difficult time over the past few years..."
As someone who had worked here for so long, he could see at a glance that the scenes before him would never be achieved overnight. He had heard a lot of news about the war in the south in Kiev before, but he never imagined that the situation was so serious.
And Leo didn't need to think so much next, because with the shouting and the change of the scene outside the window, he knew that he was at the right place.
"Ah, Grand Palace, I'm back again."
Looking at the historic Grand Palace in front of him, the political center of the Eastern Empire for almost a thousand years, Leo sighed, and near the Grand Palace, there stood the majestic Hagia Sophia, as well as the always lively competitions.
field.
However, the Grand Palace is obviously more dilapidated than in the past. Such a huge and magnificent palace requires a lot of money and manpower to maintain, but the chaos and coups in the empire over the years are undoubtedly unable to provide such stability.
But this kind of dilapidation is for someone like Leo who has been in Constantinople for so long. No matter how dilapidated the Grand Palace is, it still has a gorgeous and majestic exterior, plus the nearby Hagia Sophia.
and hippodrome, foreign visitors would believe that the glory of Rome still existed here.
This is also the period when emperors of all dynasties are doing this. Through these wonders, it shows that the emperor of Constantinople is still the world monarch, not the Greek king who is in ruins. The Macedonian emperors have done a pretty good job in this regard.
But these few people in the past ten years...
Here, Leo's escort was taken over by the local Varangian Guards. These northern warriors looked majestic with their battle axes inlaid with gold and silver.
By observing the status of these guards, he noticed that these northern guards obviously had a kind of fanatical loyalty to the Emperor Nikephoros. Their voices rose when they mentioned the emperor's name. He heard that the emperor gave
This guard has a huge sum of money, it seems to be true.
And unlike the imperial guards who turned a blind eye to the following things, once someone disrespected the emperor, these warriors from the north would scold them, and Leo even saw someone being beaten.
Originally, he wanted to watch for a while, but those northerners took him away arrogantly. In this way, Leo entered the Grand Palace and entered the center of the empire.
"After all these years, I finally came back."
As he crossed the gate of the Grand Palace, Leo said this. His words were full of emotions about the impermanence of the world. He had finally returned, and behind him was a huge army that was enough to overwhelm the city.
However, as Leo entered the Grand Palace, the dilapidation of the empire became more obvious to him. Many of the interiors of the Grand Palace were obviously lacking in maintenance and used cheap goods, but he was still very happy with the expensive art and decorations.
The goods have not been sold - but now that the empire is here, he knows that it will have to be sold sooner or later, but it has nothing to do with him.
Leo was introduced to a living room. The decoration here was quite good. It seemed that they considered that there were many wealthy and knowledgeable people among the visitors, because a lot of effort was spent on maintaining it.
However, apart from Leo, there were only a few Varangian guards in the room. Fortunately, these people were all Russians. Leo had been the mayor of Kiev for so long, so he could naturally talk to them. Leo suspected
This was actively arranged by the Grand Palace to prevent him from getting bored, but no matter what, time passed quickly when someone was chatting with him.
Leo didn't get much information from talking to these people. It was obvious that they all knew what to say and what not to say, but their loyalty to the emperor was obvious, which further confirmed Leo's guess.
And just when he was about to continue chatting with these people, a man suddenly walked in. This man was wearing the uniform of a royal attendant.
"Lord Leo, please come with me, the emperor wants to see you."