Hyper-Dimensional Player

The Kingdom of Britain is now under enormous pressure while expanding.

Firstly, the tide of Barbarian invasions hasn't stopped, even though Duncan has reclaimed the Rhine River defense line; he still has to deploy a large number of troops to guard it, which consumes part of the available forces. Secondly, relying solely on the Britannia Border Guard Legion is not enough for defense; it also requires deploying two or three formal imperial legions as Field Armies to hold the ground.

As a result, merely the empire's borders have tied up several of Duncan's legions.

Duncan is already operating at an extreme; the Ming Dynasty's Nine Borders had over six hundred thousand troops stationed, and the Roman Empire's Border Defense Army also numbered two or three hundred thousand.

He is dividing military farmlands while relocating populations, yet the border defense troops combined amount to less than ten thousand.

The territory of the Frank tribes is also a battlefield on three fronts, to the west is the powerful Kingdom of the Western Goths, to the north are the southward Germanic tribes, to the east are the Burgundians and the Alamanni, and further south is the Italian peninsula.

Now, Maximus has usurped the throne with the support of the Imperial Senate and immediately declared Duncan, the Governor of Britain, as a rebel.

What?

The battle-hardened Governor of Britain, Duncan, is a rebel?

Upon hearing this, the Roman populace was numbed.

Moreover, Maximus promptly dispatched envoys to the Eastern Empire and the Kingdom of the Western Goths to seek their support. Maybe failing to seize Empress Lysiniya and the two princesses made him resort to desperate measures; he only desires the territory of the Italian peninsula, promising the land of Illyria to the Eastern Roman Empire and the Gaul Province's territory to the Kingdom of the Western Goths.

This is tantamount to directly ceding territory for aid, the Kingdom of the Western Goths almost immediately responded, directly acquiring ownership of the Trans-Alpine Gaul Province.

At this time, the map of future France was in a state of disintegration.

The Gaul Province is vast, the early empire directly divided it into Cisalpine Gaul, Trans-Alpine Gaul, Celtic Gaul, and Belgic Gaul four provinces, although they later merged into the Gaul Administrative Region, the old names remained.

How to describe Maximus's actions?

It's no less than directly ceding the Three Eastern Provinces!

The Gaul Region may not be as developed as the Italian peninsula, but anyone who understands geography knows what a fertile territory the entire map of France is.

The empire had long lost actual control over the Gaul Province.

But at least nominally, the Gaul Province was still imperial territory, and Maximus's move effectively abandoned even nominal control. This was equivalent to giving the Kingdom of the Western Goths a colossal gift, gaining both de facto and nominal control over the entire Gaul Region.

This territory is so extensive, encompassing a significant portion of future France, along with Spain's mainland territory.

Torismund almost immediately announced recognition of Maximus's emperor status, and formed an alliance with the usurping Pseudo Emperor, jointly attacking the nominal rebels 'Governor of Britain - Duncan'.

The Eastern Roman Empire's attitude was very ambiguous; they took the benefits but didn't express any stance, enraging Maximus to the point of cursing.

The rise of the Hun Empire had a greater impact on the Eastern Empire; they wanted to restore their strength but did not want to engage in the Western Empire's mess. The meat sent to their mouths was eaten, but other matters were off the table; deploying troops was out of the question, involving crossing half of Europe's territory.

Thus, in just half a month's time, the entire Western Empire's territory changed hands.

The Pseudo Emperor ascended.

Although the previous Emperor Valentinian III was absurd and incompetent, at least the Western Empire still nominally retained its expansive territorial map. Now, with the Governor of Britain Duncan branded a rebel, the entire Britannia was effectively lost, the majority of Frank territory fell to 'rebels', the Burgundians were rebels too, the Alamanni occupied north of the Alps, and the Kingdom of the Western Goths carved up other areas of Gaul.

Suddenly, all that was left of the Western Empire's territory was the lonely Italian peninsula.

Heavens!

The Roman populace was practically on the verge of madness.

Where is our empire?

Where has our vast Western Roman Empire gone?

How has it been reduced to just the tiny Italian peninsula? The Governor of Britain Duncan is a rebel?!

To hell with it.

In no time, the lower classes' hatred for Maximus was no less than for Valentinian III.

You usurped the throne, fine. But how has the empire's territory been reduced to mere fragments?

People were utterly demoralized.

Yet, it must be said, Maximus's reckless actions did cause Duncan considerable trouble; the British Province hung isolated overseas, unable to timely support the Frank territory, and this was a battlefield on three fronts, affecting everything else, leaving Duncan caught in the middle.

The situation was akin to Napoleon facing the Anti-French Alliance back in the day, though fortunately, Britannia remained firmly under his control.

The excessively long defense line posed a significant problem.

There's a need to garrison the coastlines of the British mainland, defend the Frank territory, and also guard against the Western Goth kingdom's army. Duncan was only one man, unable to be in multiple places at once; he could decide the outcome in a specific battlefield, but if multiple wars broke out simultaneously, it would invariably lead to a situation of being attacked from all sides.

After a long silence, Duncan finally launched a major offensive.

Empress Lysiniya, who hadn't been seen for nearly half a month, suddenly appeared, along with Princess Eudoxia and Princess Praxidica. The mother-daughter trio wept tearfully as they publicly accused Maximus and the Imperial Senate of inciting the emperor to murder Aetius.

Then, Maximus and the Imperial Senate also secretly bribed Hun assassins to assassinate Valentinian III.

Once the news broke, all of Europe was in uproar.

No matter how hard Maximus tried to block the news, he couldn't stop the spread of rumors and public opinion, especially when a queen and two princesses came forward to testify. He simply couldn't stop it. Moreover, Duncan, the Governor of Britain, had never intervened in the affairs of the Italian Peninsula. He was far removed from the empire's center, focusing on reclaiming the empire's lost territories.

In this way, the Roman citizens became inherently more inclined toward the Governor of Britain.

For a time, even the reputation of Valentinian III improved, after all, he was merely an emperor who had been beguiled, and he was already dead, people always tend to be more forgiving of the deceased.

The already turbulent Western Empire is now even more directly torn apart.

The voices within the empire presented two scenarios: social underlings were more inclined to believe in Duncan, the Governor of Britain, and refused to recognize that the much-admired empire hero could be a rebel. On the other hand, the high-ranking society nobles felt anxious, especially the veteran members of the Imperial Senate. They controlled the central powers but couldn't suppress the voices of the Roman citizens.

Duncan raised his flags high at this moment!

He angrily denounced Maximus as the 'pseudo emperor', a parasite of the empire. The Senate not only murdered the empire's meritorious Aetius but also assassinated Emperor Valentinian III, directly usurping the throne.

Maximus was also conspiring with other noble senators, seemingly trying to firmly pin the label of 'rebel' on Duncan.

Who exactly is the pseudo emperor? Or the rebel?

The Roman citizens had their own opinions, judging by the rapidly deteriorating security on the Italian Peninsula recently, it was clear the underlings identified more with the 'pseudo emperor' viewpoint.

To this day, Duncan has not claimed kingship or emperorship. Though he is essentially the King of Britain, his title is merely the Governor of the Province of Britannia.

As for Maximus, he couldn't wait to claim emperorship soon after murdering the emperor.

He had no chance if he didn't claim emperorship.

With this comparison, the truth is clear.

If Maximus hadn't given up the benefits of the Gaul Province and leveraged the Western Goth Kingdom to restrain Duncan's expansion, his army might have already invaded the Italian Peninsula.

Paris, Governor's residence.

Quintus hurriedly came, dressed in a gorgeous noble robe, having been granted the title of Count, equivalent to the legion commander of the empire. Today he appeared quite spirited, approaching the entrance surrounded by attendants. The servant beside intended to hand money to the guards, but the solemn guards didn't even glance at it.

Quintus's expression instantly changed, raising his hand to slap the servant.

"Fool!"

In the imperial palace, you can bribe guards, but here, doing so privately is asking for death?

The servant was unaware, merely following past masters.

Quintus had changed significantly upon switching masters, no longer needing to act recklessly to please the emperor, thus appearing more decent, dressing more seriously, and even studying law lately. He finally gained the long-desired noble status, naturally adopting some noble demeanor.

Being originally a slave owner, upon learning of Duncan liberating slaves, Quintus immediately freed most of the manor's slaves, turning them into tenant farmers, with only a fifty percent land rent. (At this time, taking half is already quite generous; some can take sixty to seventy percent, only the Province of Britannia takes forty percent, and it might lower to thirty percent in the future.)

Submitted to thoughts.

He could also be very patriotic and resist the rampant slavery, these matters are negotiable trivialities.

No need to talk specifically, Quintus handled it himself the day after being titled Count.

Reduce slaves, increase tenant farmers.

This is Duncan's basic national policy, marking the beginning of transforming towards feudal times. A direct leap is impossible, starting by reducing sacrificial practices and slowly transforming the overall social structure. At this time, there's no population boom, many lands remain undeveloped, freeing labor would liberate productivity.

"Governor."

"The Italian Peninsula has started to stir."

Quintus's expression was quite excited at this moment, seemingly taking credit as he said, "Riots have broken out in Capua and Rome, and there are officers willing to raise mutinies in secret."

Maximus's greatest issue is still being unable to fully control the army.

In comparison, the empire's army leaned more towards supporting Duncan, who has achieved remarkable battlefield victories, after losing Aetius.

Many elites fought in the battle of Sharon; they trusted Duncan more.

Upon entering, Quintus caught sight of the hurriedly departing Empress Lysiniya, leaving only a captivating silhouette, Quintus pretended not to see, obediently waiting outside.

Shortly, Duncan emerged, casually saying, "Very good."

"Coordinate the uprising times to draw Western Goth Kingdom's attention."

Duncan prepared to play a trick of leading the snake out of the hole.

Once the imperial legion on the Italian Peninsula revolts, the Frankish army will immediately advance toward Rome. However, he wouldn't personally go but instead lead the elite forces in ambush.

The Western Goth Kingdom would certainly take action.

For Duncan, Maximus is just a skeleton in the cemetery, pacifying Italy isn't much of a difficulty, but defeating the now overwhelmingly powerful Western Gothic cavalry in Europe is quite challenging. If he could severely damage the Western Goth Kingdom once, he would immediately be able to clean up the chaos in Italy.

First weaken the Western Goth Kingdom, then tidy up the empire's messes, without severely damaging Torismund's army, Duncan always felt uneasiness.

At this point, rashly occupying Italy, the Western Goth Kingdom might cut off the retreat.

If they fully occupy the Frankish land, their national power will explosively increase.

.........