Nero asked doubtfully, "Are you saying that Dionysus has gathered the Germanic barbarians from the divine realm, forming an army of sixty thousand?"
Peter nodded. "Very likely. These barbarians normally live in Dionysus' divine realm, they don't need supplies or transportation. Once the battle begins, they are released, and even if they die, they will quickly return to the divine realm and then rejoin the battle."
Nero slammed his fist on the table in anger, "This is simply reckless! How are we supposed to fight this? They don't need logistics, they can resurrect after they die, how can we possibly defeat such an army?"
Peter appeared calm, "The power of the gods, mortals cannot match."
Nero suddenly thought of another problem, feeling a chill, "What if Linley infiltrates Rome? There are not sixty thousand people around the palace."
The population of Rome exceeded one million, the number of troops exceeded one hundred thousand, and with full mobilization, hundreds of legions could be formed. However, mobilization takes time. There are only the Praetorian Guard near the palace, a legion theoretically has five thousand people, actually strengthened to about ten thousand, but only a part of the legion, about two or three thousand people, are on duty at the same time.
If suddenly attacked by an army of sixty thousand, these two or three thousand people would probably not be able to hold out for long, the reinforcements would not arrive, the palace might be occupied, and Nero might be killed. Moreover, the palace is located on a prosperous street, it is impossible to completely seal it off, if sealed, Rome's entire transportation would be paralyzed.
Rome, as a naturally developed city, lacks planning, the streets are narrow, and the city is crowded. When Rome transitioned from a republic to an empire, the newly built palace could not make enough space, so the layout of the palace appears bizarre, with a corner here and a circle there.
Moreover, the palace is not far from other buildings, the roads are closely connected, it is impossible to clear the area and build a defense line, only civilians can be allowed to move around the palace. If Dionysus infiltrates near the palace and suddenly releases sixty thousand troops, how would Nero respond?
Peter comforted him, "Don't worry, it's impossible in Rome, this place is protected by Holiness, Dionysus cannot use his divine power in Rome."
Nero felt relieved. "That's good, that's good."
However, Peter continued to explain, "But outside of Rome, it's hard to say. The weaker the faith in Holiness, the stronger the faith in Dionysus, the stronger his divine power. Greece has always believed in the Olympian gods, Holiness has just arrived, there are very few believers and churches, the faith is weak, Dionysus' divine power will be very strong in Greece."
Nero felt relieved again, but soon fell into trouble again, "But even just Greece is hard to deal with, Greece is the economic lifeline of the empire, losing Greece, our grain supply will collapse."
The Roman Empire, vast and wealthy, was burdened by ever-increasing expenditures. It had to constantly resist the barbarians in Europe, and compete with Persia for hegemony in Asia. The Senate's lavish spending further strained the empire's finances.
At a crucial moment when the Roman Empire was facing collapse, Nero chose to recognize Holiness as the state religion. He hoped to gain support from the lower classes by forming an alliance with Holiness, so as to counter the Senate's power.
If Greece were to suffer a major defeat, the Roman Empire's finances would fall into a serious crisis. The budget deficit would make it impossible to pay soldiers their salaries on time, which would undoubtedly lead to massive unrest.
Legions stationed in Rome could tolerate this, as they received other benefits besides salaries. However, the legions on the front lines would not tolerate such a situation.
For the large armies fighting on the front lines, living conditions were already harsh. The nobles in the army still had the hope of promotion and wealth, but ordinary soldiers could only hope for their salaries to be paid. If even their salaries could not be guaranteed, who could endure such a situation?
Especially the two large armies fighting the Germans in Europe and the Persians in Asia, any rebellion by either could lead them to attack Rome, engage in looting, and change the dynasty. The result would be the same.
Therefore, the only solution was to cut spending in other areas to ensure the salaries of the large armies. Nero and his predecessors had been adopting this approach for decades, barely maintaining their grip on the situation, but one day it would become unsustainable. If Greece were to suffer a major defeat, Nero's rule would not last.
"Immediately assemble an army and go to Greece to find Dionysus. I will send a high priest with the army to restrict Dionysus' use of divine power," Peter said. "At the same time, issue a wanted notice for all followers and priests of Dionysus throughout the Roman Empire. Followers who do not convert will have all their property confiscated and be demoted to slaves. Priests who do not convert will be sentenced to death. Anyone who reports followers and priests of Dionysus will receive half of the confiscated property as a reward."
"Good!" Cruelty gleamed in Nero's eyes.
The reward of half the property for informants would inevitably lead to a large number of false accusations, but that didn't matter. As long as the commotion was big enough, the real followers and priests of Dionysus would also be exposed, while at the same time generating revenue for the state treasury and allowing the executors to profit.
"Followers and priests of other gods must convert immediately, otherwise they will be next," Peter continued.
"Why not deal with them all at once?" Nero was a little confused.
"Because they have not yet opened their divine realm and released their dead followers. If we use the same methods to deal with them now, it will force them to join forces with Dionysus and take the most violent form of resistance, which is not worth it." Peter explained.
"Yeah, Dionysus can muster an army of 60,000, Jupiter and Mars must have even more, and they will destroy Greece," said Nero.
Jupiter, known as Zeus in Greece, and Mars, known as Ares, are both prominent deities with different names in Roman mythology. Zeus is the King of the Gods, Ares is the God of War, and there are other main gods like Athena, each with ten times more followers than Linley. If they fought hard, could they not summon an army of 600,000? Twelve main gods, each summoning 600,000 troops, that would be 7.2 million. The sheer scale of the potential army left Nero feeling dizzy.
He immediately signed the order, stamped it with his seal, and sent it to the Senate. Once the Senate approved it, it would become an imperial decree. Afterwards, this decree was spread throughout the empire through all the major roads from Rome, reaching the hands of Roman officials at all levels, becoming the code of conduct for hundreds of millions of people under Roman rule.
At this time, Linley was still unaware of this. He had just led his fleet back to the Island of the God of Wine.