"Stop!" she shouted at the top of her voice to the soldiers in front.
"The Seven Hills Empire abolished slavery hundreds of years ago. How are you different from pirates like this!"
"You can tell by the accent, right? Many people on this island come from the western homeland where the empire has fallen for many years! Do you want to say that these areas have been occupied for too long? Do you want to say that the people in these areas have been with the empire for a long time? There is no connection and they are already enemies of the empire? Do you want to say that the empire has lost the right to claim these homelands!"
The soldiers glanced at her one after another. What caught their eyes was a young woman wearing Seven Hills Empire-style clothes. She was holding a crowbar with a disgraced face. She looked like a miner. However, the clothes on this girl are an extremely rare purple.
This purple robe was brought by Ella from Constantiniya, and it was made of Phoenician purple. It takes at least 12,000 murex to produce one gram of Phoenician purple dye, which is worth three times as much as gold. It is no exaggeration to say that this purple robe is a symbol of her identity. She hoped to shock the soldiers.
However, Ella was trembling with fear in her heart - because this was equivalent to exposing her wealth in front of a group of robbers. She still can't forget the first night she became a prisoner, when a pirate wanted to take off her clothes as a trophy. If she hadn't shaken the soldiers, the situation might have been worse than that night.
All Ella could do was suppress the fear in her heart and try to show a sense of majesty in front of the soldiers.
"Where is Aulus Junius Brutus? Let him come to see me immediately!"
She called the commander of the army by his name in an extremely soft tone. This also risks angering the soldiers.
Fortunately, the soldiers were really fooled by her. They stopped what they were doing and whispered around Ella and Amy. Not long after, Aulus Junius Brutus came over in person, surrounded by a group of soldiers.
Ella knew that she had successfully completed the first step, calming the soldiers and meeting Aulus.
Aulus was a high-ranking naval admiral and could often see Ella in the palace. Even if Ella's hair changed from blond to black, he would not fail to recognize her.
Sure enough, when Aulus saw the black-haired Ella, he was startled and immediately laughed: "I was still wondering why Constantinier ordered me to attack this island, but I understood after seeing you. What? Do you need me to salute you?"
Hearing Aulus's rude words and his angry face, Ella took a nervous breath.
She knew that the danger had just begun.
Aulus was a member of the Brutus family. Brutus was the most famous family in the Empire of the Seven Hills after the Scipio family. He had seized power many times in the history of the Empire of the Seven Hills - the one with the strongest troops and horses was the king. , this is an unspoken tradition among the major families in the Qiqiu Empire. The purple robe could frighten the soldiers, but not Aulus.
And the latter came precisely to take Ella's life.
If you say the wrong thing here, I'm afraid Ella will be dead soon. Aulus, on the other hand, could put the blame for killing her on Su who gave the order, take the opportunity to launch a coup, replace the Scipio family, and sit on the throne of the Seven Hills Empire.
But she was no longer the powerless Baselisa she had been in Constantiniya. She now has the capital for negotiation—or, in other words, she can create capital for negotiation.
"Do you know where this is?" Ella asked, staring into Aulus's eyes.
"Antilia? It seems to be called that. I don't know the specific location." Aulus spread his hands indifferently, "But it's not a big problem. After the 'cleaning' is over, I can find a living local and ask. Just ask.”
"You don't know your position but you have already launched an attack? Aulus, do you really believe in my uncle?"
Ella's last half-sentence touched a certain nerve in Aulus, causing Aulus' eyes to narrow.
"What do you mean? Where are we now?"
"Why don't you find a place to sit down and talk? Isn't it a little inconvenient here?"
Ella glanced pointedly at the soldiers surrounding her. Aulus had a sullen face and made a "please" gesture towards a nearby private house.
"Amy, get out of here." Ella hugged Amy's neck and whispered, "I will protect the islanders on this island. From now on, you can settle in Antilia."
In Amy's shocked expression, Ella pushed Amy away, turned around and followed Aulus into the house.
She successfully brought Aulus to the negotiating table.
However, the bargaining chip Aulus holds is ten thousand soldiers and the lives of everyone on the island. Ella's only bargaining chip was her and her mouth.
The place Aulus chose was an islander's house, which was now a mess.
He turned over an overturned table, sat down on the stool next to it, then put his feet on the table as if no one else was around, looked at Ella who was standing, and smiled: "Dear Basile Sha, should we change places?"
"No need. I'm just a woman who has lost her power and knows her place."
Hearing Ella's answer, Aulus held his belly and smiled proudly. After laughing enough, he asked slowly: "Okay, it's time to tell me, where are we now? Near Cyprus? Near Malta? Or near Corsica?"
"It's in the North Sea."
Aulus suddenly took his feet off the table.
"What did you say? Say it again?"
"It's in the North Sea. Near the Northern Islands. Further north, there's the Atlantic Ocean."
Ella deliberately spoke to Aulus in a calm tone. Because she knew that at this time, the more calm she showed, the more anxious Aulus would be.
"Impossible! It takes at least two months of sailing from Constantiniya to the Northern Islands!"
"If you go from the Volga River to the North Sea, it only takes a month. And it has indeed only been about a month since you last saw me, right?"
"But it only took us a moment to get to Antilia!"
"Of course, because this is magic. And obviously, the magic of Qiqiu Empire cannot do this kind of thing."
Aulus' face suddenly turned green.
Ella put her hands on the table, stared at Aulus and said:
"It's the magic of the Tianfang Empire. My uncle colluded with the Tianfang Empire and wanted to get rid of me."
Aulus didn't speak for a long time. He was thinking about the meaning of Ella's words. But Ella knew that this alone was not enough to suppress the admiral.
Sure enough, not long after, Aulus blinked and suddenly laughed: "It's very interesting. Su. Cornelius Scipio colluded with the Tianfang Empire. This is a very useful secret - if he is Basileus, this secret is enough to dethrone the Scipios from the throne, and even expel Scipio from the Empire of the Seven Hills entirely. So without further ado - let me play my part in making him Basileus."
"Do you really think that after killing me, you will still have a chance to use this secret?"
Ella played this trump card for negotiating with Aulus.
The smile on Aulus's face disappeared: "What do you mean? What does Suta want to do?"
"Literally. You are in the North Sea now, and your fleets are all offshore warships. Even if my uncle does nothing next, you will not be able to return to the Qiqiu Empire. You will only perish on the sea."
If the target was Hestein and his subordinates, this sentence would not be convincing at all. Their ships were much smaller than those of Aulus, but they could sail across the oceans and plunder the coasts of various countries.
But Aila understands that the navy of the Qiqiu Empire cannot do such a thing. They have been immersed in the calm inner sea for too long, too long. If it weren't for the rise of the Tianfang Empire, the Qiqiu Empire would not even want to form its own navy, but would still hire ships from the Island Republic to replace the occasional need to transport troops.
She knows the Qiqiu Empire too well.
Sure enough, Aulus panicked.
He slammed the table hard and shouted: "He sent us here, how could he not take us back! Even if he wanted to attack the Brutus family, he would not dare to destroy more than a hundred battleships!"
"Yes, there are more than a hundred battleships, which is almost the entire strength of the Qiqiu Empire's navy. If the Qiqiu Empire loses you, then the Tianfang Empire's army can land and attack any of our coastal military districts. The land fortresses will be lost. Its effect. The Tianfang Empire can even attack our capital Constantiniya directly from the sea. Once things develop like that, the Seven Hills Empire will be destroyed in just a few years."
"Of course, so how could Su do such a thing!"
"My uncle wouldn't do this, but - what about the Tianfang Empire? Don't forget that you didn't rely on my uncle, but relied on the magic of the Tianfang Empire to get here."
