After receiving the reminder from others, Simon quickly walked into the palace and stayed in an inconspicuous corner.
The moment the emperor entered the palace, all the attendants and Eunuch in the palace saluted.
After the salute was completed, Simon stared at the entrance of the hall. Not long after, two ministers in red robes walked in.
The first person had an obvious appearance of Tatars, with sharp eyes and a bronze complexion. Simon guessed his identity:
Agricultural Minister, respectable person (virtual title, derived from Senate), dignitary (virtual title), Gray Antelope Tribe hereditary leader, Tucha.
The person behind is of Greece origin, with a broad face and a high nose... Simon heard relevant information mentioned by his father and speculated that this person is Army Minister.
The two ministers saluted the emperor and then began to talk about government affairs. After a few words, they fell into a heated argument.
As the war approached, Army Department wanted to reserve a large amount of supplies in advance. Army Minister complained that the prices of some agricultural products were too high and blamed Agricultural Minister for the "unfavorable situation in raising military supplies."
Tucha has been working at Central Administration for nearly ten months. He is used to this kind of dispute situation. He loudly retorted to the other party, "The price of agricultural products is too high. You should ask Finance Department for more funds. What's the use of getting angry with me?"
You talk about "war" all day long, saying that you have achieved great military exploits, but in fact you have never killed anyone on the battlefield. I followed the emperor to attack Golden Horde, from Tauris to Sarai, and then from Kazan to the Caspian Sea. Later, I served as Governor in Don Frontier and Galatia, and I still rode on horseback to kill people. Where were you at that time? Do you know the feeling of stabbing with a spear and chopping with a knife? Do you know what is the first thing to do when stitching a wound..."
The two quarreled for a long time, and Simon was listening with fear and sweating.
Eunuch nearby rolled his eyes, feeling that this young man had never seen the world.
What a quarrel, the ministers had a fight last year, that scene was spectacular enough, much more exciting than Hippodrome's Blunted Sword Combat.
For the next three hours, Simon stood in the corner, watching many unfamiliar faces coming in and out. Some were quarreling and some were complaining. The situation was very different from what he imagined.
At noon, the emperor continued to summon ministers, intending to resolve the backlog of affairs for many days at once.
The emperor did not leave, and the attendants, Eunuch, and bodyguards could only stick to their posts and starve with him.
At two o'clock in the afternoon, Simon was already hungry and dizzy. At this moment, the emperor no longer summoned the ministers, but he did not get up and leave. Instead, he stayed in his seat and meditated, spending half an hour quietly.
"Well, it's time to eat." The emperor left his seat and strode out of the main hall.
Simon stood there and waited for a while, then Kanaus came over and reminded in a low voice, "I don't know if you are lucky or not, to have caught up with such an occasion. Hurry up and eat, it will be someone else's turn in the afternoon."
It is already afternoon.
Simon secretly complained, walked straight out of the palace South Gate, and went to the canteen in the southeast of the office area to eat.
After lunch time, the canteen was empty, and more than a dozen staff were cleaning. He came to the window on the far right, where there was only a pot of dark brown stewed haggis, and a half basket of bread on the right.
"More!"
Simon carried the plate to the nearest seat, chewed the food, and discovered for the first time that bread tastes so delicious.
In the following week, Simon returned to doing nothing. Kanaus remembered that this person was good at history, and arranged for him to go to Historical Records Compilation Group to help.
"This place is just right for me." Simon happily accepted.
The editing team is a temporary organization located in the southeastern corner of the office area, separated only by a wall from the Golden Horn coast. Four groups of staff each occupy a courtyard.
Simon came to the library on the north side of the site, where books collected from all over the place are gathered, and most of the project funds are spent here.
He touched a parchment scroll on the bookshelf, but was stopped by a nearby scholar, "Don't touch this fragment."
Noticing the strange looks from the people around him, Simon felt a little embarrassed. He found the middle-aged Eunuch who was napping behind the library and informed him of his purpose.
"Kanaus asked you to come? Well, I am short of manpower."
The four editorial teams must submit briefings to the emperor every month. Before submission, Eunuch needs to review them one by one. Since Kanaus sent an attendant, Eunuch simply left this part of the work to him.
"I understand, I will review it carefully!"
Simon used the desk near the window as a desk. He was bathed in the sunshine and quietly turned the pages of the book, just like the time he spent at Nicomedia University.
The briefing of the first editing team covers the Justinian period, and the most cited work is "Wars" by Procopius.
Procopius is a staff member of Belisarius. He has followed him through many wars and has high credibility. Simon has read his related works, and this is the one he most agrees with.
He spent an afternoon reviewing the entire briefing and made only two notes.
The next day, Simon read the second group's briefing, and there was no problem either.
The content of the third group involves Alexios I.Simon has never fought in a war, but he heard his father mention some war experiences, and he suddenly had doubts in his heart.
"Father said that Cataphracts has comprehensive protection at the cost of being slower than the Western Europe knight, so the emperor canceled this unit.
In this case, why did the editing team write: Hundreds of Cataphracts chased and killed the enemy cavalry, and finally won a great victory. The nomads were all light cavalry, could they catch up?
There is also this paragraph. In 1117, Alexios personally led the cavalry charge. He was already sixty-one years old at the time. He died of illness the next year. Is this possible?
As for these victories, I think the credibility is low. Assuming they were won, how could the enemy have the energy to counterattack after suffering such heavy losses?
Looking at Alexios's life, he does not look like an emperor like Aurelian or Heraclius. If he really had this ability, he would have been under Dyrrachium (Battle of Dyrrhachium) would not have lost so miserably. Twenty-five thousand soldiers lost to Robert Guiscard's ten thousand men. The most elite Varangian Guard in the empire was almost wiped out. If it were His Majesty who commanded it, the ten thousand men on the other side would not even think about going back..."
Simon The more he thought about it, the more he felt something was wrong. He dipped his quill pen in some red ink, marked the right side of the suspicious paragraph, and wrote out the reasons in detail.
Suddenly, Simon was tapped on the shoulder. When he turned around, it was Antimos, a professor from college.
He put down his quill and followed the professor outside to chat, "Why are you here?"
"The third group is short of staff, so they called a few of us over temporarily to help. The wages are generous, so it's just like going out to relax."
Suddenly, Simon looked a little embarrassed. He made a lot of mistakes in the third group's report. Could it be that there was content about the other party in it?
He hesitated and asked, "When did you come here?"
Antimos admires Mosaic not far away and replies casually:
"We arrived at the pier a week ago and had a great time for six days before checking in. Constantinople It's getting more and more lively, but the cost is a bit high.
Do you still remember Italy's "Sleepy Anthony"? He went to a high-end restaurant in Bull Square and ordered a large table of dishes at random, and half a year's salary was lost..."
Since this group reported yesterday, last month's briefing had nothing to do with them.
Simon Let go of your worries.
He told Antimos about the suspicious content of the briefing, and the other party nodded slightly, "It is probably that the third group lacked manpower, so they copied historical materials from the same period without any screening."
The two of them were walking and chatting in the corridor. When they heard that there were only four days left before submitting the briefing, Antimos raised his forehead and sighed:
"Now that this report is handed in, it can fool ordinary people, but it cannot fool the emperor. He spent most of his time fighting abroad, and the number of countries he destroyed reached double digits, so you can definitely see that something is wrong. We can only work overtime all night, hoping to submit a new report before the deadline."
In the early morning four days later, Simon received a new report from the third group.
In the library, he took the manuscript and read it word for word. Eunuch sat beside it boredly and yawned, raising his head from time to time to observe the clock placed in the corner.
"Stop dawdling and get it done before noon."
Simon ignored Eunuch's nonsense and delayed it until eleven o'clock at noon, making Eunuch laugh angrily.
"Are you deliberately trying to make me miss lunch? If you delay like this in the future, just go and deliver the report yourself!"
Eunuch cursed a few words in a low voice, carried this pile of reports into the palace, and went through the corresponding procedures. The time came to eleven forty.
At this moment, the canteen inside the palace (which is not the same place as Central Administration canteen) was crowded with people. Eunuch stood helplessly at the end of the line, complaining to his acquaintances about the newly hired young man.
However, Eunuch can only complain. After all, Simon is the eldest son of Renaf and a future hereditary noble. There is no reason to be unhappy over such a trivial matter.
At two o'clock in the afternoon, Eunuch returned to the library and took out a newspaper to kill time.
Simon is still sitting in the corner seat, reading the historical materials of the Komnenian Dynasty's early period. Now he has adapted to this kind of life. He is no longer waiting outside Alexios's palace some time ago, and going to work every day is a torment.
Unknowingly, more than a month passed quietly.
On September 4th, Kanaus found Simon and asked him to prepare for Autumn Hunt to be held tomorrow.
This is obviously to take care of Simon, try to let him show his face near the emperor and leave an impression on the emperor. This is the greatest significance of the position of attendant.
Early the next morning.
It was still dark when Simon heard a knock on the door outside and immediately got up from the bed. He did not waste time lighting the oil lamp. Instead, he used the faint light of the courtyard lamppost to get dressed, took a towel and a toothbrush to the courtyard to wash up.
Gradually, the stars disappeared, and the sky on the east side turned faintly white. Everyone gathered in the open space, waiting for the instructions from the four Attendant Officer.
Simon has the least qualifications and has no chance to assist the chief hunter, falconer, or dog breeder. Kanaus gave him vague instructions and just asked him to do odd jobs.
At 7:30, a huge team left the palace and headed for the hunting grounds in the direction of Northwest.
Eastern Roman Empire There is no institutionalized Autumn Hunt ritual. When to go hunting depends on the emperor's own ideas.
In Simon's impression, father and son John II and Manuel I of the Komnenian Dynasty both like hunting.
By the Palaiologos Dynasty, the only emperor who was keen on hunting was Andronikos III. The reason was simple. The situation after Andronikos III was long-term turmoil, the empire's territory shrank, and hunting grounds in the suburbs were no longer safe. The emperor was forced to huddle in the city to pray and read to pass the time.
After a long time, the temperature gradually increased. Simon wiped away his sweat and saw a flag erected on the top of the hillside in the distance.
Scattered cavalry were scattered near the hillside, responsible for peripheral security. A large number of flying birds were startled deep in the forest. It was Mountain Infantry who was driving away the prey, concentrating the scattered prey into an area.
"It's about to begin." Simon muttered in his heart.
The entourage started to get busy. The falconer and three assistants opened the cage, and each of them let a falcon stand on his arm. During the hunting, their role is to hunt hares and Pheasant.
There are dozens of hounds, and the dog owners and assistants are each responsible for a few hounds, leading them into the forest to search for traces of prey.
When everything was ready, the emperor, who was wearing light hunting clothes, dismounted from his horse and walked into the field with a hunting bow, followed by a large number of people.
Kanaus winked at Simon, asking this guy to follow the team.
I didn't bring any weapons or other items, should I go in empty-handed?
Simon was stunned for half a minute and glanced at the soldiers outside the forest. In the end, no one paid him any attention, let alone lent him a musket or other weapons.
Soon, the team was about to disappear, and Simon could only run into the forest empty-handed.
The air in the forest is cool, the edges of some leaves are yellowing, different kinds of mushrooms are growing in the shade, and the ground is scattered with pine cones, acorns and chestnuts.
Simon secretly sighed, "This forest is well protected. If you search carefully, you can find many black truffles, which are excellent condiments."
After a while, the hounds began to stir, and the accompanying guards spread out nearby, forming a loose arc.
Simon was still staying at the back of the team. He stood on tiptoes and saw the emperor raising his bow and nocking an arrow, aiming forward and firing an arrow, and then shot another arrow immediately afterward.
Accompanied by the cheers of the crowd, the team sped up and chased the injured prey along the blood trail.
When Simon arrived at the scene, he found a Stag surrounded by dogs under the shade of a tree. It had been hit by an arrow in the chest, injuring its lungs, and pink blood with bubbles flowed out of the wound.
Stag was also hit by an arrow in its hind legs. This was the second arrow shot by the emperor when it turned to run away.
The prey seemed to be dying. The emperor took a four-meter standard spear and prepared to execute it. Seeing this, eight guards also approached the prey with spears. The tip of the spear touched the skin of the prey. Once the prey showed signs of dying and fought back, the guards immediately killed it.
With a muffled sound, the spear pierced Stag's heart. The emperor handed the blood-stained spear to others, and took the hunting bow to search for the next prey.
Simon followed closely, but was stopped by Eunuch wearing a red robe:
"You, you, and the rest of you, carry the prey back."
Did you call me over to help carry the prey?
Soon, the hunting team disappeared behind the forest. Simon sighed and cooperated with the remaining three people to put the prey on a large stretcher.
Under normal circumstances, the prey should be cut up on the spot, and the venison, deer skin and other parts should be separated. The deer head is retained to make specimens, but the entire skeleton is not taken away, but left in the forest.
Now Eunuch asked them to transport the entire prey outside in order to show off the emperor's prowess. This move was very reasonable, but it was painful for Simon and the remaining three unlucky guys.
"Get ready, get up!"
The forest floor was undulating, and Simon walked slowly, making a rustling sound on the soft fallen leaves. He walked for a long time before leaving the forest.