The system has to be used even if it is pulled

The struggle between the Pope and the Emperor was not the first or second time. In the early years, Pope Stephen II eliminated the threat from the Lombards by paying great attention to the Frankish leader Pepin the Short.

Pepin led his army into Italy twice and forced the Lombard King Estuff to surrender, and handed over the former Ravenna Governorate seized from Byzantium to the Pope and his successors for rule. Thus, the Papal States came into being.

But the Pope did not have enough power to defend this place. After losing a large area of ​​territory of the former Papal States, only the two cities of Rome and Orbetello were left. The Pope was trembling in the city of Rome.

It is not the right time yet. Zhao Yuanlang continued to increase the training and expansion of the army. The emperor was far away, and Constantine V did not think much about it as he saw that Sardinia paid enough taxes every time.

Finally, on December 771, 12, Carloman died under suspicious circumstances. Zhao Yuanlang received news from his spies on the third day and began to mobilize his army.

After Carloman died at the age of 20, Charles, who led a large army, annexed his brother's territory. This incident aroused the resentment of Queen Carloman, so she took her children and fled to Lombardy under the cover of her loyal guards.

This action of Desiderius of the Lombardy Kingdom caused Karl's dissatisfaction, and he issued a notice to ask them to hand over Queen Carloman and her child. Desiderius, who was profitable, would not easily agree to Karl's request, and he refused. Their relationship, which had been getting better and better, quickly cooled down. Karl even divorced Desiderius' daughter and sent her back to the Lombardy Kingdom.

Caught off guard, Zhao Yuanlang announced the crimes of the Lombard King, declaring him illegal, and that he would attack Desiderius and abolish the Lombard Kingdom.

In two years, Zhao Yuanlang had nearly six legions of border guards, 30 large warships, 100 small warships, and two full-strength navies. He left a legion of border guards and 20 small warships to Torres to garrison in Sardinia, and then attacked Corsica.

He led five legions of border guards and a full navy to attack the Italian mainland.

A blitzkrieg broke out. Desiderius, who had always looked down on Zhao Yuanlang, did not expect that Zhao Yuanlang had so many soldiers. After Zhao Yuanlang's army landed in Orvieto, Desiderius began to panic.

He even thought it was a trick of the Eastern Roman Empire, and he began to organize a large army.

But it was too late. Zhao Yuanlang's army was unstoppable. Finally, the two sides launched a fierce struggle in Florence in Tuscany. The battle lasted for a day and a night. Only one tenth of Desiderius's 10,000-man army survived. Desiderius led his men to flee back to the capital Pavia in a panic.

Zhao Yuanlang's army did not stop. They continued to march northward. Countless Lombard nobles were killed. Finally, the army arrived in Pavia.

Pavia had already made preparations at this moment, and in the south, Grand Duke Arechis of Benevento also led a large army to launch an attack from the area occupied by Zhao Yuanlang behind.

In a remote hilly area, Zhao Yuanlang directly summoned countless White Zetsu and black shadow soldiers from the Black Shadow Kingdom.

They began to march towards Arecis, Grand Duke of Benevento, who had less than 3000 men.

There is no doubt that Grand Duke Arechis of Benevento was captured directly, and his soldiers and nobles were brutally killed. Zhao Yuanlang led his troops directly into the Benevento area.

Although the entire Italian region was ruled by the Lombards for a hundred years, most of the people were still descendants of the Romans. Under the name of Zhao Yuanlang's famous clan, more and more people joined Zhao Yuanlang.

For a whole six months, the entire Italian region was plunged into struggle. With the fall of Pavia, the Lombard King Desiderius was captured, countless Lombard nobles were killed, and the Lombard Kingdom was completely destroyed.

The Grand Duchy of Benevento in the north collapsed after the execution of Grand Duke Arechis of Benevento, and many Roman nobles surrendered directly to Zhao Yuanlang.

From then on, only Rome and Orbetello in the entire Italian region remained in the hands of the Pope.

After Pope Stephen III died of illness, Italian Pope Adrian I was a little panicked. The situation was not good. The Italian region returned to the rule of the Eastern Roman Empire, and his predecessor had angered Constantine V. At that time, he would either be hanged or deposed.

So, he made a decision, a decision that seemed extremely smart to him. He caught Zhao Yuanlang off guard and directly issued a notice to all countries, declaring that Zhao Yuanlang had made great contributions in protecting the Pope and eliminating the Lombards, and that he would be crowned King of Rome, and that the entire Italian region should be ruled by Zhao Yuanlang.

This order caused an uproar in the entire West, especially Caootian, who was so angry that he gritted his teeth. According to his original plan, he should have led a large army to attack the Kingdom of Lombardy, not only to capture the descendants of Carloman, but also to obtain the land in northern Italy. Now that he had nothing, he could only focus on the Saxony region.

Kaotian adopted brutal repression, massacring and forcibly relocating the Saxons. But he attached more importance to using the Christian Church as a means to consolidate his conquest. He built a large number of churches in the Saxon region, forced all Saxons to believe in Christianity, and stipulated that anyone who violated churches and priests, did not believe in Christianity, did not abide by church rules, and retained pagan customs could be put to death. Residents in all places had to provide land, houses, labor and pay tithes to the church.

Saxony was originally the most primitive region, dominated by tribes. Kaotian's actions caused the Saxons to continuously launch waves of resistance, and Kaotian's energy was tied up in the Saxony region.

You all just wait for me. Once I have dealt with the Saxons, I will march south to attack the Italian region. I will never allow Carloman's descendants to be controlled by others.

Zhao Yuanlang, who was forcibly crowned as the King of Rome, was not feeling well at the moment. Not only was he reprimanded and suspected by His Majesty the Emperor, but also the major nobles in the empire were eyeing him covetously.

Zhao Yuanlang did not grant fiefdom to any nobles in such a large Italian region. He ordered Emperor Aragon to execute all the surrendered Lombard nobles, and then his army conquered all of northern Italy.

At one time, countless Lombards fled out of the Italian region as if they were fleeing for their lives, and Zhao Yuanlang's atrocities were also called a tyrant by outsiders, but Zhao Yuanlang didn't care. He now had nearly sixteen legions, nearly a thousand warships, and seven fully staffed naval corps.

To be honest, at this moment, Zhao Yuanlang's military strength could be said to be independent, and there would be no problem. After all, the entire Eastern Roman Empire had only 150,000 troops. Excluding most of the troops that needed to be stationed, there were only 50,000 or 60,000 troops that could be deployed for combat at most, not to mention the problem of the empire's field armies drawing empty salaries.

Zhao Yuanlang, who had an army of nearly 100,000, split his army. Torres became the general of the border defense forces in Sardinia and Corsica, with a Roman legion and a naval legion under his command.

Zhao Yuanlang stationed seven legions in scattered areas in the north. Except for the two legions stationed in Pavia, the other five legions were stationed in key fortress areas at the pass of the Alps.

As for the south, Zhao Yuanlang stationed two Roman legions and two naval legions in Sicily, and three legions and one naval legion in the Benevento area.

After everything was arranged, Zhao Yuanlang led the rest of the army and began to march towards Rome. He decided to teach the Pope a lesson.

Pope Adrian I, who had already received Zhao Yuanlang's request, opened the gates of Rome and held a grand welcoming ceremony at the city gate.