Augustus Road

"You should speak out your opinions boldly and bravely, and think more about your responsibilities to the country. When we enter this hall, we are by no means ordinary citizens who go to the market to buy some flowers, fruits and vegetables. We are special citizens of the Roman Republic. Choose father. In this situation, who is still willing to follow Caesar, who still wants to be friends with him, and who is still eager to continue to please him? Then you can take off the robe that symbolizes your identity now, and talk to the Senate, the country and the people. The people are completely broken. Today, we have to choose the right person to accept the province of Gaul. My personal suggestion is Gabinus." In the Julia Hall after the market day, an old man with drooped eyelids said. Bolus, before hundreds of senators gathered, first made a qualitative speech.

Metra Scipio then jumped out. No one expected that his position would change so quickly and smoothly after becoming the father-in-law of the great Pompey. He loudly agreed with Bolus's speech and said Claiming that "Before Gebinus takes office as the new governor, Caesar must be ordered to disband all his legions. I personally think that the deadline is the last day of February of the following year, because March is the day when the governor takes office."

"Yes, without your reminder, I actually forgot about this important day. I used to be so confused that I always thought that the provincial administrator of Rome packed his bags and left in June." Cotta mocked in his circle Seeing Scipio's pretentiousness, the senators and senators of the Caesar faction also laughed jokingly.

After a while, the Caesar faction also identified two representatives to speak, one was Caridius and the other was Rufus. Although they represented Caesar's interests, their speeches were relatively mild. In his eyes, it seemed that Caesar was confused. Caridius suggested this, "The main reason why Caesar led the legions to occupy Arimilon was because he believed that he and Pompey were treated unfairly differently by the senators. So now it is most important Good plan. Let the two governors return to their respective provinces first, and then solve the problem slowly in the new consulship year."

Caridius' suggestion was not only echoed by Rufus, Spinzel, Picasso and others, but also moderate elements in the republican faction, such as Marcellus, also spoke in agreement. Marcus's expression was obviously for Pompey's consideration, "Comrades, what's wrong with you? Has the anger really gone to everyone's head? Now half of the city of Rome has been reduced to ashes, and we are standing alone In the temporary meeting hall, there was no military force at hand, and they were discussing how to surrender the weapons of ten legions capable of fighting in three days. This was simply a crazy suicide. The terms of office of Rome and Caesar were extended for one year, and then the two new consuls recruited three to four new legions during the recruiting season in the coming year to defend the city of Rome, and then passed laws to solve the problem - a proposal without armed backing. It’s really no deterrent.”

However, this reasonable and stable plan of Marcus was angrily criticized by the two new consuls Marcellus and Dumitius. They even threatened that Marcus might have accepted Caesar's bribe before he could do it. If conditions permit, they will consider interrogating the personal slaves in the Malclus family, maybe they can find out something.

In this way, Marcus was so frightened that he immediately sat in the corner, closed his mouth, and did not dare to say more. The two spokespersons of the Caesar faction were also dismissed.

At this time, a premeditated riot also broke out outside the Juilliard Hall. Under Pompeo's instruction, many of his former subordinates, including many centurions and veterans, crowded into the large square. For these battle-hardened guys, the Claudians could only stay away. The new consul's henchmen and hired gladiators also held torches, lit the tents in the square, and blocked the synagogue. , shouting slogans to punish Caesar - at this time, all the senators began to panic. Bolus immediately threatened everyone and held a public vote on the issue of taking over the governorship of Gaul.

Caesar's father-in-law, Picasso, and the censor Pinzel made a last-ditch effort. Picasso shouted that even if the Senate were to pass a resolution that was unfavorable to Caesar, the other party should have the right to know: So please give me six to Within seven days, I went to Arimilon in person to inform Caesar of the incident and to persuade him to calm down so that Rome would not suffer the disaster of war.

But Scipio and others rushed up, pushed and beat Picasso and others in the synagogue, and rejected all their requests.

"I veto!" At this time, Basatus, the tribune of the Caesar faction, stood up and exercised his veto power loudly. As a result, more than a dozen republican senators immediately surrounded him and continued to threaten and insult him. Basatus' clothes were torn. He was dragged around, but he still raised his hands and shouted, "I veto, I veto! Even the tyrant Sulla did not abolish the veto power of the tribunes. Is Pompey a more terrifying dictator than a tyrant?"

"Let him veto it. Immediately after the election of the tribunes, we will publicly vote in the Senate to confirm this matter. Once the voting is over, the veto power of the tribunes will not be effective." Cato dissuaded him. The impending fight spared Basatus, because in his eyes, the Caesar faction was already dying.

There were even rumors that Cato the Younger would join forces with Pompey to take advantage of the triumphal ceremony and kill Caesar's Tenth Legion first.

But the Senate vote must still be jointly presided over by the two new consuls, and the new consuls must wait until the election of the tribunes is over before they can officially exercise such power. This is a relatively fixed procedure, and Cato's speech was based on this.

The election of the tribunes was adjacent to the election of the consuls, but the variables occurred in this election that was ignored by Cato, or in other words, this was the result of Lepidus's manipulation.

Such a result surprised even Curio, who thought he was calm and steady:

The ten newly elected Roman tribunes, except for him who continued to be re-elected and was still a republican on the surface, the rest of the re-elected and newly elected were all Caesarists!

Even Antony and Paulus, who had just returned from Syria, were also on the list.

Antony clearly lied about his age. He was only in his early 28s this year!

But under the financial offensive of a large number of knights mobilized by Lepidus behind the scenes, the people's assembly still approved Antony's appointment.

As a result, three nights before the Senate voted, Cato's secret letter was quickly delivered to Curio. Obviously, Cato also realized Lepidus's trick. "It turns out that everything he did before, I now understand, is a huge mistake, but now you can resolve it, Curio. No, I can only rely on you, Curio, for the sake of the Republic, for your father!"