Augustus Road

Lepidus was a little sad after hearing Varro's words. He sighed and said to Sabo and Arp beside him: "Life is really unpredictable. People like Marcus Varro, when he took office as chief executive, , the people of the whole province were hostile to him and regarded him as an enemy. In the political arena, because he was a foreigner, he could not control the inner circle like Cicero, and could only survive between Caesar and Pompey. But now, he has resumed his study and pastoral life, and he is a humorous and sensible old man. How many roles do we need to perform on this world stage? "

"This means that Varro also has the value of giving him a gift. Like Curio, he was forgiven by Caesar, but was also deprived of his official position." Unlike Arp, Sabo knew the chief lieutenant very well. Subtext.

Lepidus was stunned for a moment, and then said, of course, of course, I do what I say, Varro is a great agriculturist, I will buy him a large house and manor in Etrunia right away. That kind of thing, and collect and organize his books, and fully support his career - even if I can laugh at his ridiculous theory that "the carcass of a bull can give birth to bees", but in terms of agriculture, Varo is still Varo, and you just You, the wheat in Etrunia and Sardinia, the madder dye and grape cultivation in Cyrene, are all inseparable from his guidance.

"What about the veterans of Pompey's legion? You are not really willing to let them disband automatically as soon as they reach the Varus River!"

Lepidus was as if he had found gold, his eyes sparkling, "Of course not! Now according to Caesar's act, TransGaul, Old Gaul and Aquinoa have all begun to establish cities with citizenship rights. However, many residents of the Roman city-state were turbulent due to war. There is no ability to immigrate, so where will the nearly 20,000 veterans who were ordered to retire go? Caesar's approach is because he has no money to relocate, but I can do this. Liguria and Alvini will massacre Albi before. Part of the land of the Westerners was set aside for them to establish villages and market towns, and Caesar also approved this motion. "

"If I guess correctly, your excuse must not be as explicit as 'I want to control these veterans', right?"

"Well, of course not. My reason is that according to Roman tradition, each provincial colonial market town needs three hundred veterans to serve as guards and surveillance forces. Now there is no peace in Gaul, so can we increase the number in each city? To six hundred? In addition, these people have never fought with Caesar, and Caesar has no obligation to pay them retirement pensions and land. As far as these veterans are concerned, they are defeated troops and have no right to ask for these. It is already very difficult to get a place to live. Not bad.”

So come and go, it is the chief deputy general who reaps the greatest benefits.

Soon, Caesar returned from the city of Corduba. He fully agreed with Lepidus' decision to deal with the Venet rebellion. Not long after, the entire army crossed the Varus River, walked out of the Pyrenees, and passed through Marseilles. Leah, preparing to return to Rome by land.

Sure enough, on the way, Caesar received news of the defeat of the Eleventh Legion in Illyria. Pompey's party members began to regroup in Greece and other places. Byblos's fleet began to blockade and siege Brindisi with great arrogance. The situation faced by Caesar It's serious again.

In addition, Caesar's financing of Lepidus' military funds began to become urgent. Indeed, the entire army was in commotion during the march, especially the Eighth Army and the newly formed Ninth Army (Caesar at this time abolished all the new legions, demobilized some, and merged the rest into the Ninth Army). Legion) was particularly noisy. Even during the curfew time after the camp was set up, there were many soldiers walking around in the camp, making loud noises or whispering. The centurion's report on the instability of the military camp quickly became a pile. .

… "In general, they are asking for the reward of three hundred dinars each that I owe them after crossing the Rubicon. Now it is said that the Italian garrison is also making a fuss, and Antony is dealing with this matter." Listen. There was a lot of noise coming and going outside, Caesar said to Lepidus uneasily.

The meaning is obvious, asking Lepidus to pay for the emergency, but Lepidus is really helpless, saying that such a large sum must be paid in cash (because the army is never willing to accept verbal things), and he also needs turnaround time, and in addition Several legions were also infected, and unrest arose. "Is it possible to borrow money from the tribunes and centurions again, and then as long as we arrive in Italy, the situation will be alleviated." Lepidus asked cautiously, remembering the method that Caesar usually used.

Caesar shook his head and said that this method also depends on the timing of use. It is suitable before a decisive battle or when you go deep into enemy territory alone. But now that the war has come to an end, neither the soldiers nor the centurions will be willing to not get the reward anymore, and they have to pay for it themselves. All they want is cash out as soon as possible.

"It seems that the fast-paced approach won't work now." Lepidah thought to himself, and then proposed a compromise, which was to cash in 30% of the promised reward when the army marched to the port of Yar. , our current funds, plus a loan from the Ligurian Chamber of Commerce, can still be collected. In addition, there are abundant supplies in the Port of Aar, we can also use it to reward the rest soldiers, and then march to the south of the Rubicon River. Then cash out the rest.

"That's the only way it can be." Caesar agreed and said.

But ten days later, in mid-August of the Roman calendar, when Caesar was stationed in Arles to collect supplies from all sides, news came that the Ninth Legion, which was at the forefront, mutinied in the town of Pinocenza on the Po River. The soldiers refused to move forward and threatened that if Caesar did not pay them the remaining 70% of the bounty as soon as possible, they would pull up the eagle flag, leave the camp and surrender to Pompey, or disband on their own, "Let Julius fight Pompey himself."

After the Ninth Legion, it was the Eighth Legion that followed, followed by the Fifteenth, Sixteenth, and even the Tenth Legion, which Caesar trusted the most. The soldiers no longer moved forward in silence, but whispered to each other uneasily. Some advocated continuing to obey the orders of the superiors, and the bounty would always be resolved; others shouted that if we gave in here, all the generals and consuls would no longer take us seriously and would become more and more aggressive.

After learning the news, Lepidus acted vigorously and immediately asked the soldiers' committee to investigate and correct the ranks and told the rioters to shut up as soon as possible. However, he could not control the situation of the Eighth Legion, and the commander Gobale could not control it either. Soon, a mutiny occurred. The soldiers sat in place and were unwilling to march to the destination. When the centurion came with a cane, they stood up and disobeyed orders, and a fight broke out.

"Prepare the horses, prepare the horses!" When Caesar learned about this in Arles, his face was tense. He had to put an end to the mutiny as soon as possible, otherwise Pompey would take the opportunity to launch a fierce counterattack. r1152