Augustus Road

"They are extremely filial in supporting their aging parents." - Pliny's evaluation of the description of dormice in "Natural History"

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In the alley, Karabis put a wooden stick wrapped in a strip of cloth to a hanging lamp in front of a house and lit it. Then he lit up the pothole road and took the little pigeon to take a shortcut with Fan Lunjingna. , walking towards the apartment on Jukola Street, the eyes of the two children were constantly flashed by firelight, and graffiti on the wall lit up and then disappeared into the darkness. The three of them were all familiar with these paintings, and some of them expressed love. , some have political metaphors, some criticize enemies, the lines of the characters are painted with chalk mud, and red paint is splashed on to express anger, passion and blood, which is particularly eye-catching under the firelight, just like the tragedy just now of.

"Do you hate me, kids, because of what happened with Potty?"

The little pigeon nodded, while Valentina shook her head. Karabis laughed and squatted down to support the two children, "I also know that Potty will not hate me, but I will hate myself. I have been You are in the murky waters of Rome. You and Potty are in danger at any time. In fact, I have been with Potty for a long time. I know her. She is not a fool. She knows how to help me and the children seek refuge. . I wish I was still in the expeditionary legion of Ponticabion, so that the people I love are not in danger, but I am back in Rome, I can't help myself, and there is another round of secret bloodshed, and we have to unite. , fight a bloody path - Claudius was bribed by me, he can help me more or less now, and after he takes office as tribune, his power can only cover an area of ​​ten Roman miles around the city of Rome, while Bo Apilon, who is here, is just outside the range, so there is no need to worry about this madman; Claudius, under my instigation, will definitely fight fiercely with Pompey and Cicero, and these two can't take care of my family for the time being; Caesar is about to go to Lusitania, and Crassus - in order to avoid his jealousy and revenge, I have to go to Sardinia to accomplish what he desires."

"Adoptive father, you said so much, do you still want to marry that Sardinian widow?" Paluma asked directly.

Calabis was silent. He stood up, held a torch, and continued walking down with the two children. He also asked directly, "Do you think you like Corinna or Valentina?"

"If it's to be close to my adoptive father and mother, of course it's Corinna. But if it's for myself, of course it's Fan Lundina." Paluma looked up at the blazing torch and replied, and Fan Lun Dina over there His face was not illuminated by the torch, so his expression could not be seen clearly.

"Paluma, you have to ask others if they are willing first, because this involves the most basic etiquette."

"I am willing." Valentinna in the shadow said firmly, "I am willing to help the little pigeon, I am willing to help Calabis and my own family, just like the sacrifice Boti made for you."

"Then when I come back from Lusitania, you can get engaged. I will accompany you to Valentina's house with the bride price." At this time, Calabis heard panicked voices from the Hedao Warehouse. Then he raised the torch and said, "Go home quickly - you have to go to a new school tomorrow. The former teacher may not be able to recover in a short time. His handle is completely broken."

The next day, Calabis was at the river port of Ostia Street and "swept away" all the medium-sized merchant ships that had always had a cooperation relationship with him - Rome did not have a state-owned fleet, and all merchant ships were privately owned. , and then ordered the river port warehouse to be closed for a month, and all employees were paid a fee, which was regarded as a "paid vacation", but the foremen were strictly ordered to manage them well and not to leave the city of Rome. Next, Calabis sent the sea boats out of the mouth of the Tiber and north along the coast; the small river boats followed the same direction along the Rhone: their destination, Etrunia.

He rode his own horse, asked several personal bookkeepers, secretaries and gladiator bodyguards to ride in a light carriage, and set off at full speed with a large amount of funds: a vehicle with a cushion made of brown rope to reduce the weight, and it took some courage to sit on it.

On the way, Calabis saw many beautiful "Setfinisterres" (large estates) on the outskirts of Rome standing under the hills, extending to Naples and Campania in the south. The interior facilities of such estates It is a complex compound manor that can produce everything needed for the life of the noble manor owner. However, because of this, in order to satisfy the owner's luxurious life, in Calabis's eyes, most of the manor is a nursery. , flowers, fish ponds, olive groves, stables and other high-end buildings, many slaves and free people under the manor owner are using mule carts to transport the remaining products up at the entrance of the manor and send them to Rome or nearby markets for sale to earn money. A large amount of money supports the owner's operations in the political world.

Many noble manor owners even directly handed over Setfinisterre to the knights for contracting, as long as they paid a large amount of contracting fees every year.

Stimulated by the high profits of luxury goods and the extravagant atmosphere of Rome, the manor produced essential oils, fresh fish, flowers, fine wines, etc. However, the basic rations of the city of Rome: barley and wheat, were mainly transported from further areas, especially Egypt, Asia Minor, Sardinia and Africa.

Before leaving, Carabis asked Camus to plant wheat in all the "vilas" (medium-sized specialized farms) he bought from Etruria. This was the reason. He had inquired about it. Egypt was in civil strife and wheat production would definitely be greatly affected. Asia Minor was half dead after the Mithridatic Wars and it would take three to five years to restore production. The wheat in Africa tasted rough and cheap, and was affected by the risks of sea transportation. It was not cheap at all, which gave the municipal department responsible for distributing rations a headache, because even the poorest citizens were dissatisfied with the wheat from Africa. They would use the bread made from this wheat as bricks and stones to hit the officials in charge of rations to show their mockery and protest.

There was also Sicily, but it was also severely damaged by the slave riots many years ago, and now even self-sufficiency in food has become a problem.

Therefore, the grain of Sardinia became his only competition for Vera. Now he not only had to help the young widow Julia who lived on this island, but also had to make a lot of money from it.

At the intersection of the road, Carabis and the accountants re-verified some details, and then he boarded a specially hired fast rowing boat (the white sailing ship Carabia was too slow) and headed for Sardinia again. All sailors were issued twelve sesquis and good drinks a day. You must know that on ordinary days their daily salary was only three sesquis, and the employer had only one requirement: full speed, full speed again!

Time is money.

After getting off the boat, Carapis immediately rode on the fair and docile Parthian mare "Owl", and hired two donkeys to carry the gifts. He tied the three animals up with ropes. The two donkeys continued to chase "Owl" wildly, which increased their speed a lot. As a result, before dusk, Carapis reached the Oristano Plain and saw the Orphelenu Manor, Julia's manor, lying in the fields in the distance. (To be continued.)