Augustus Road

"Empty words cannot satisfy hunger./" - Cato

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"How can you say such things to me, I am..."

"You are nothing like a child. You have no legion, no experience, and only passion and fantasy. Go back to Rome and have children, and follow the procedures prescribed by your ancestors slowly! I also hope that you are like People like Lepidus and Antony, but obviously Brutus, you are not." Caesar breathlessly reprimanded the young man in front of him, and then motioned to his followers and veterans to take him and Cassius into custody. After getting up, Caesar looked at the devastated flagship and the enemy ships that had escaped. He said to the deputy admiral next to him, "I don't have the leisure to clean up this mess. All the staff followed me and transferred to the Rhode Islanders." On the fast rowing boat, I will take advantage of this momentum and land directly at Kallia!"

The next day, Caesar's transferred ship washed up on the beach of Carlia. Then the dictator, together with his entourage, climbed out of the boat along the rope and rowed to the land.

On the opposite hillside, there were about four groups of Pompeian soldiers, all soldiers from the Seventh Macedonian Legion. They were holding shields and forming a dense formation, watching Caesar's every move. They saw him last night. When the centurion asked the crew of the ship that had returned from defeat, many crew members and oarsmen did not know the reason. They could only keep saying, "Caesar is a man favored by God. Your Excellency, Commander, and Brutus, We met him with an absolute advantage on the sea, but we were captured by him." This made all the soldiers feel extremely panicked.

And now. The man stood on the sandy seawater a furlong away from them and jumped out of the boat without haste. He is a severely bald man with deep wrinkles on his forehead and corners of his mouth. He wears a laurel leaf crown, a consul's cloak and gorgeous armor. He looks as if he has returned home. He opens his arms to everyone and speaks loudly. cried, "Lay down your arms, the war is over. Citizens of Rome, peace should be restored to all corners of the republic, and heavy taxes, slavery, and death should no longer accompany anyone."

"Don't listen to his nonsense, don't listen to that bald man. He has had affairs with hundreds of women because of his mouth." In the queue, several centurions loudly scolded the soldiers who were starting to waver in their hearts and raised their whistles. Put it to your mouth. Urging the men in the front line, "Throw the javelin at the bald man. The sun is shining behind him, and the reflection on the top of his head is very obvious. You don't need me to guide you to aim, idiots, hurry up!"

A few daring soldiers. Getting ready to move, they shouted. He jumped out of the restless queue and threw the javelin in his hand towards Caesar. The results fell one after another on Caesar's side, but the man remained unmoved and continued to confuse, "The situation in the city of Rome has been decided. The Senate and the tribunes collectively elected me as dictator. Soldiers, do you think Have you forgotten the oath you swore when you entered the camp?”

Saying this, Caesar continued to walk forward. His shield slaves and veterans were about to raise their shields in front of him, but they were pushed away by one hand.

At this time, most of the soldiers of the Sixth Macedonian Legion shouted. They grabbed the few who had thrown javelins and sternly condemned their behavior. Then, regardless of the centurion's dissuasion, they threw down their weapons and shields and raised their hands with a bang. Walking down the hillside where he was stationed, he loudly pledged his allegiance to Caesar.

In the midst of such an avalanche of surrender, Caesar marched ten Roman miles, and Scipio's Seven Legions also switched sides in just half a day.

When the news reached Scipio's ears, he was stopping in the most famous and magnificent building in the city of Ephesus, the Temple of Diana (the Temple of Artemis, the goddess of the hunt in the Greek mouth). He looked at the piles of treasures and sacred vessels in the temple of the goddess with strange eyes. Standing beside him were the elders of the city and the senators of the original Roman city who had fled to Asia Minor, about a dozen each.

Scipio swallowed twice, pointed to one of the most distinguished elders and said, "I will send you and your city a list immediately."

"What list?" The elder became angry, but he still suppressed his anger and asked.

"I want to collect all the valuable things in this temple. You have to understand that this is a small reward for my soldiers to spend their energy to defend your city against the invaders." Scipio said boldly.

After these words were spoken publicly, not only the Ephesian elders, but also the Roman senators felt that Scipio's greed had reached the point of being hopeless. The elders who were questioned said angrily, "I didn't expect that in After a gap of three hundred years, a second Herostratus appeared."

"Who is Herostratus? Did he do anything extraordinary three hundred years ago? I'm sorry, because there are all kinds of stones and temples here and in Greece. I can't put all the historical allusions together. "All at once." Scipio pretended to be elegant, until a senator next to him who had studied history books quietly told him that Herostratus was a pyromaniac three hundred years ago. In order to attract the attention of the world, he And a fire burned down the temple of the goddess of the hunt.

Now, the elder calls Scipio "Herostratus the Second", obviously satirizing his blasphemy and offense against God. Scipio, who had just come to his senses at this time, twisted the corners of his mouth with anger. He pressed the hilt of his sword and threatened the elder, saying, "So, that Herostratus is just a little thief who set fire in secret, and I The fury unleashed by his sword will not only burn down this temple that looks like a centipede, but it will also burn down your entire city. I have four regular legions in my hands, four!"

"Do you know why the goddess Diana was willing to be burned? It was because that day was the birth day of Alexander the Great, and the goddess went to protect this great life, so the murderer succeeded!" The temple priest couldn't stand this Roman man either. The general was overbearing and contradicted him by saying, "Therefore, a man who can be favored by the goddess of hunting must be someone who can build a great cause like Alexander the Great."

"Then let the goddess you serve come to my bed tonight and see if this boring conclusion can be realized." Scipio shouted and drew his sword.

At this time, several senators hurriedly hugged Scipio to prevent him from making a mistake.

The two token officers jumped off their horses at the foot of the northeastern mountain where the temple was located, and then hurriedly ran up the steps of the Temple of Diana. The information they brought interrupted the dispute: Julius. Caesar had landed at Carlia, where the Seven Legions and the entire fleet "threw five javelins in a general attack" and then surrendered cleanly.

"What, these damn seven legions are just rubbish. They can't even defend the coast. Apis. Apis, what should we do now?" Scipio put away his sword and wandered around the hall. Looking for Apis. (To be continued...)

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