Augustus Road

The cavalry commander arrived at the port of Brindisi a month before Saturnalia. At this time, Rome had fallen into a state of complete anarchy since Antony left in disgrace. Whether it was the troubled civilians or the veterans demanding pay, After hearing that Lepidus had arrived, they were all inexplicably excited because they knew that their rights and interests had been taken seriously. The other party was Caesar's chief deputy. Now that Antony had fled, as long as he persisted, he would The dictatorial government had to be forced to make concessions.

Rarely, the veterans also reached an agreement on friendly coexistence with the mob. After earnest and in-depth consultations, the two sides decided to use the Temple of Bellona as the deadline. The veterans were stationed in Mars Campus, while the mob occupied Capitol Hill. The Temple of Jupiter, the Maximus Drainage Channel was a neutral buffer zone, and Eurabella became the temporary king of the entire city, and then the young man began to regret driving Anthony away, because now everyone questions came to him.

So Eurabella wrote to the port of Brindisi, asking his father-in-law Cicero to come back to handle political affairs, and openly asked Caesar to handle this matter so that Cicero could become consul in the coming year. "In any case, Your Excellency The term of your dictatorship has exceeded the limit, and it is time to consider changing the political model," he appealed to the people when he spoke in the main square. But now that Li Bida arrived at the port of Brindisi, he happened to meet Cicero who was about to pack his luggage and return to the city of *万≡书*Bar≠小*说.nsb.m. When Cicero heard that this man had arrived, he was frightened. He had to hide in his country house.

The commander of the cavalry did not meet with the orator, but he arranged for men and made many rich gifts to Cicero. Then the city of Rome was declared under a state of martial law. Internal and external traffic is strictly prohibited. This means that Cicero cannot return.

In this way, Cicero was caught in a dilemma and could only stay in Brindisi, enjoying the gifts of the cavalry commander and waiting for the arrival of Caesar himself. After securing Eulabella's foreign aid, Lepidus did not head towards Rome as expected, but continued to stay in this port city. This reaction was beyond the expectations of the veterans and the mob, and even Ulabella panicked.

Every day, all kinds of materials and soldiers gathered in the city. Within half a month, Lepidus allocated three hundred talents of funds and twelve, thirteen, sixteen, and thirty in total. A legion came to Italy from its garrison in Asia Minor.

Could it be that this man wants to use legions to march into the city of seven hills, like Sulla or Antony did before him? Use violent force to suppress us? Before anyone could think about it, the four legions quickly split into two groups. We drove all the way to Corfinium, and all the way to Passini, which is 20 kilometers outside the city of Rome, one east and one west, sandwiching the city of Rome in the middle. As for the cavalry commander himself, he entered the city of Capua. The noble senators in the city were the first to lose their composure. They immediately sent representatives and emissaries to Capua to express their loyalty to the cavalry commander.

"Then every senator and knight must pay a certain amount of money to support the dictator's war. Otherwise, the Ostia River Port will be closed and food will still not be able to enter the city. You don't want your property to be starved. Will the mob burn and plunder it?" Lepidus calculated the amount and set the payment at one thousand dinars for each senator and three hundred dinars for each knight. However, this group of people still pestered Lepidus and asked to pay them for one year. amount of national debt.

"The issue of repayment of the national debt will definitely be given to everyone in the spring. But now the dictator is not in Rome, but still in Egypt. I have to wait until Lord Julius arrives to rule on some proposals. " Lepidus' words not only gave this group of people hope, but also made them restless like ants on a hot pot. The old knight named Boyannis couldn't help it and asked the cavalry commander where Caesar was now. do what!

The cavalry commander’s answer surprised everyone, “The dictator is currently playing on the Nile River with the female pharaoh of Egypt. This is also a kind of diplomatic activity. They are planning to stop at the last waterfall and board the land again. , travel together in the wilderness of Abyssinia (ie Ethiopia).”

The entire living room was boiling, and the faces of noble senators or knights had expressions of worry, fear, and even anger. Even Spinzel, Banks, Cotta, and even Caesar's father-in-law Bisso were like this. Performance, especially Bisso, he clearly derived the only and definite answer from the words of the cavalry commander: his bald son-in-law had betrayed the sacred marriage to his daughter.

But next, Lepidus explained for the dictator. He said that Egypt was a barn that supplied the city of Rome. In doing so, the dictator was "sacrifice for the country." When the grain matures next year, all problems will be solved.

Just after sending off the senators and knights, twelve representatives sent by Ulabella also arrived. They stood uneasy outside the cavalry commander's living room, fearing that the other party would say that they would use force to solve the riot, but they also He was afraid that Li Bida would not comment and it would be difficult to explain to the civilians when he returned.

But unexpectedly, Lepidus received these people cordially, and placed many pottery urns, treasures, and spices on the long table and small tables opposite. These representatives looked at the extremely bright scene in front of them in surprise. thing, I don’t know what the cavalry commander is going to do.

"These are all gifts for you. The dictator hopes that you can go back and convince the people to disband voluntarily and let them rest assured for the time being. We will have appropriate measures and compensation for the debt and rent issues." Lepidus said with a smile.

"This, this is really ridiculous. We are here to negotiate on behalf of the tribunes, because Ulabella cannot leave the city within a mile of Rome, but now your behavior is simply a naked insult to the people!" Several tough representatives temporarily stabilized their emotions and argued with Lepidus.

"Matthias, bring the servants in and remove these insults to the people." Unexpectedly, Lepidus had no room for maneuver and suddenly turned his face. Many servants came in and immediately carried away the table full of wealth. Then the cavalry commander turned around and turned his back to everyone, as if nothing had happened, without saying a word.

In the reception room, only the pleasant tinkling sound of gold and silver treasures being moved remained. The strange representative then remembered the complaint that Ulabella had given him before he left, so he took it out. However, he was interrupted by Li Bi Da just after reading the first few words, "Don't read any more!"

With these words, the cavalry commander's followers suddenly rushed into the reception room, surrounded the representative in the middle, raised the red ribboned baton, and the shining fascist axe.