Augustus Road

"No system left by our ancestors is intact." - Cicero

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Li Bi Da opened his mouth and quarreled with thousands of soldiers, but the voices of the other side were so loud that his spit could drown him out. Some of these soldiers were shouting about principles, some were asking the dictator to pay back the money, and some were showing their injuries. The camp was suddenly very lively.

"Stop arguing, stop arguing! I have a solution." Finally, Lepidus surrendered on horseback and waved his arms, asking the soldiers to quiet down, but the other side was still unmoved by the huge crowd. It was not until Lepidus's voice became hoarse that his anger was slightly weakened. At this moment, Lepidus leaned on the saddle, put his hands on his waist and panted for a long time. Then he told Alp to ask the privy clerk Igurus to run over. The seal of the dictator was kept by him.

When they heard about the seal of the dictator, the entire 10th Legion camp suddenly quieted down. Soon after Igurus came, the cavalry commander got off the horse and set up a temporary small table with the privy clerk. Then Igurus sat on the chair and spread out the papyrus.

"No papyrus, formal tablets." I don't know who shouted this in the group of soldiers, and then thousands of people responded. It seems that they are very vigilant. The cavalry commander stood by the table, speaking to Igurus. On the other hand, he announced in public the new order issued by his acting dictator, "Your salary a hundred years ago was only 250 sestase per year. It has never been adjusted - so now I will issue a document to adjust your annual salary to 500 sestase!" After saying that, Igurus quickly carved on the letter board with a hook pen, stamped it with the dictator's seal, and then stood up the letter board for the soldiers in the front row to see clearly.

A few people who can read a little. Standing in front of the letter board, squinting their eyes and carefully reading for a long time. Only then did they confirm that the document was authentic, and then the soldiers began to shout long live. You must know that in the ancient times when the commodity economy was not very developed, there was not much inflation. In other words, the currency is very valuable. Now the annual salary of the soldiers has doubled, and they are of course happy, although the increase is not enough to buy a slave.

"Since you have all read the decree clearly and have no objections, then let's set off and go to Africa!" Lepidus waved his hand cheerfully and got on his horse again. Many soldiers of the Tenth Legion also raised their arms to show their obedience. Then the flag bearer ran to the location of the eagle flag, ready to pull it up and lead the troops out of the camp to assemble. However, at this time, Skaval, who had just reacted, yelled that it was wrong and ran over to stop the flag bearer. However, because the one-eyed man still missed the target, he ran sideways with the flag bearer and ran a wrong distance. Then he yelled a few more times in anger. He turned back and finally stopped the eagle flag and the soldiers who were lining up. Then he turned around, pointed at Lepidus and shouted, "You are deceiving us! This is only a year's salary increase. What we are asking for is the extra reward promised by Caesar, which is several hundred dinars."

At this time, many soldiers of the Tenth Legion reacted and shouted that they were deceived. They were almost deceived out of the camp just now. You must know that according to tradition, soldiers who leave the camp cannot turn back, otherwise they will be forced to retire and lose all their allowances.

They cursed Lepidus for his cunning. At this time, the cavalry commander avoided the topic and suddenly said to Scava: "I didn't deceive you. Otherwise, you can calculate it. You used to get 250 sesterces, and now you get 500 sesterces. How much more is there?"

Scava and several soldiers calculated and said that there were 250 sesterces more.

"If there are 250 extra per month, how much extra per year?"

After careful calculation, the soldiers finally reported 3,000 sestes. Lepidus pointed at everyone and said, "3,000 is equivalent to 750 dinars. As long as you stay in Africa until the end of the next winter camp, you can get this money, and the extra allowance will be paid." In this way, all the soldiers were relieved. They felt that it would be more cost-effective to take the "proper military pay" of 750 dinars a year instead of waiting for the reward to be paid indefinitely. At this time, the flag bearer of the Tenth Legion raised the eagle flag happily and prepared to set off with the soldiers.

As a result, when they arrived at the main gate of the camp, Skava reacted again and shouted angrily, "What do you mean 3,000 extra sestes a year!? We have been fooled again. It is still only 250 extra sestes a year. Cavalry commander, you are blackmailing us, I curse your tongue!" Then the camp fell into a quarrel again.

Finally, the cavalry commander simply admitted, "To be honest, we have no money now. The reward of several hundred dinars cannot be paid for the time being. But I agree to the increase in annual salary, because it has the seal of the dictator on it. Now there are only these two choices - either you agree to postpone the payment date of this reward, or you choose to retire now."

When this choice was put forward, the Tenth Legion fell silent again. They then began to discuss and had all kinds of ideas. But after thinking for a while, Lepidus shouted again, "I think this is a good idea. I approve the Tenth Legion to take a year off, but the annual salary for this year will still be paid. You can temporarily return to the resettlement areas in Rome, Campania, Etruria and other places with the Eighth, Ninth and Eleventh Legions to reunite with your family, or bring the women you married here back, and you can also take care of the "crops" a little and spread your offspring. As for the bounty issue, wait until the dictator returns to Rome, that is, next year, and then solve it. What do you think?"

It seems that this is also a solution. After discussion, the officers and soldiers of the legion "accepted" the arbitration plan of the cavalry commander. Anyway, it is unknown when Caesar and Cleopatra will appear in front of everyone again.

During the "Fig Festival" in July, Lepidus gathered all the fleets and carried four legions out of Alexandria to the sea. In addition, he also issued edicts to the camps in various regions on behalf of the dictator, mobilizing the three legions he had promised in advance to return to Italy for rest and recuperation. The other legions temporarily stayed put to maintain local order, and he took three legions to Africa.

On the way, the three legions dropped anchor in Cyrene, the "Five Cities Country". Lepidus deliberately asked every soldier to visit this reborn new city, which was renamed "Timgard", the prosperous Zio Island Port Dock, the towering Hunting Goddess Temple, the well-organized theater, stadium, city hall, market and gathering square, the huge madder printing and dyeing factory, and the rows of houses for veterans, each equipped with water pipes and ditches, as well as regional public toilets and bathrooms.

This was a silent encouragement. Fortunately, the Tenth Legion did not accompany them, otherwise they would definitely complain that as a regular legion, their treatment after retirement was not as good as that of the cavalry commander's private auxiliary legion.