Augustus Road

"Great achievements are born from hardships. If you like it, just do it." - Ancient Indian proverb

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While others continued to toast, the slightly drunk Caesar held the new acting commander-in-chief's shoulders and suddenly asked in a low voice: "My niece Atia is still a widow because of the turbulent situation. As her guardian, you didn't plan this matter? You are the assistant of our Julius family!"

Hearing these somewhat reproachful words, Lepidus hurriedly explained that since the attack on Rome, he has been busy with battles and military operations. He mainly paid homage to Atia and your ex-wife Pepeia and gave them gifts out of courtesy, and he really had no energy to take care of personal affairs. Caesar said quickly, "Don't worry, don't worry. The reason why I care so much about Atiya is because of my personal reasons." After that, the man touched his increasingly sparse hair, leaned on the couch, and continued sadly, "I am fifty years old, but my bloodline is still weak. My beloved daughter has died in childbirth. The closest one is my niece Atiya, and her son, little Turinus, who may be my only first heir in the future."

Lepidus drank very carefully this time, because he instinctively felt that Caesar would "show his cards" with him on some key issues tonight, and he couldn't be careless at all. "Don't you intend to marry Atiya as your wife? Do you have to ask me, an old man in his twilight years, to speak so clearly?" Who would have thought that Caesar might have taken advantage of the alcohol. Frowning, he spoke quite loudly.

Sure enough, this tentative attack was already anticipated by Lepidus. He knew that with his own strength, although he could pacify the situation, Curio, Antony, Cotta, Decimus and other powerful people all had deep connections with Caesar, or coveted the throne of the successor. Now, because the war against Pompey has not yet ended, everyone is still on the same ship, and some things are embarrassed to be so obvious. If he really married Atia. Let’s not talk about emotional factors. He knew very well that he would become the target of public criticism and die prematurely, so his answer was very simple, "I will not divorce Julia from the Lepidus family and marry again."

"The Lepidus family is just a local military family, how can it compare with the Julius family?" Caesar dispatched the "second-line team".

"It's very simple, sir. I need to end my life in my own estate. And you don't really want your business to fall apart without even little Turinus to inherit it." Lepidus knew that Caesar was a smart man, so he simply made it clear between the lines, "Please rest assured, sir. I am only the assistant and guardian of Turinus and his mother. Any other unreasonable thoughts will only ruin everything." Lepidus still fought back, "Sir, I remember you were not like this before. Most Romans would buy their favorite cemetery around the age of thirty, because in this world like the Colosseum, one day any one of us would fall in the sand, die of blood being sucked dry. But at the age of forty, you didn't have any cemetery, nor did you own any property. You moved forward without hesitation for your dreams and ambitions. That's why we are willing to follow you. Now, when your old enemy has not yet perished, you are so sad and hesitant, and you arrange your will like a vulgar person. This will make All the followers present were very discouraged! "…

After hearing this accusation, Caesar was stunned for a moment, and then laughed happily, "Yes, yes, the Republic has not been rebuilt according to the ancient traditions, and public enemies such as Pompey and Cato are still at large. I am now going to continue to suffer and do it myself, instead of being like an old man with snot on his face and lying on his sickbed - when I was in Lusitania, I said similar bold words in front of you, and now I can't break my promise. "

"Cheers to Caesar's cause of reviving the Republic!" Lepidus took the opportunity to pick up the wine glass and shouted loudly on the spot.

Caesar also cheered himself up amid the cheers, and made a great wish to all the generals and chiefs, "In this expedition, you should all work hard and concentrate on annihilating Pompey's five most elite legions."

This time, Caesar went to Spain, and the enemy he faced was unshakable. The five Spanish provincial legions were all composed of Pompey's veterans. The chief commander of the other side, Afranius, had also served as the consul of the Republic, and just one or two years before Caesar took office, his age was also similar to Caesar. It can be said that in terms of qualifications, prestige, or ability and experience, he can control this arrogant army. As for the second commander, named Peletaus, he was promoted from the grassroots level by Pompey step by step. For Afranius, he was the most suitable auxiliary role - this very reasonable arrangement shows that Pompey had previously made painstaking arrangements for his own province. It is said that the tactics of the provincial legions are similar to those of the First Legion under the city of Corfinium. Many of them hold Iberian leather shields and long shields, and are particularly good at skirmishing. In addition, there are nearly 5,000 elite barbarian cavalry to assist these five legions, led by Pompey's son Sextus and his father-in-law Libo.

No one would doubt that Caesar's attack on Spain was an absolutely fierce battle.

So after Caesar's six legions left, Lepidus began to work, one was to encircle the city of Masseria; the other was to do a good job of supplying food to Rome this year. The former was related to his personal reputation, and the latter was related to whether the entire Caesar camp could stand firm.

In Lepidus's tent, rows of selected high-level slaves who were good at calculating sat in front of Roman abacus, making a strong rhythmic calculation sound, and the sound of records on the account book. Matthias was pacing back and forth, supervising, and these numbers could not be wrong at all.

"Have the amount of food supplied to Rome by Etruria and Sardinia in late summer been calculated?" Lepidus took over the thick account, checked it for a while, nodded to Matthias with satisfaction, and then asked, "Immediately, calculate the amount of money, transportation, and warehouses needed to purchase wheat from Liguria, Aquinoa and all areas of Old Gaul as soon as possible. I need to know the result tomorrow!")