Three Kingdoms Eschatology

"Yes, there is indeed such a thing."

"Yes, I seem to have heard that when they stayed in the hotel, they specially entrusted someone to fetch water from the cistern instead of using the water from the lead pipe."

Quintus continued: "Your Majesty, now this subordinate has found out that Feng Hu's words are not alarmist!"

Chapter 1079

As soon as Quintus finished speaking, the chief elder Gaius immediately took over the words: "If this is the case, are we going to feast in heaven or hell now?" The people at the banquet burst into laughter.

Quintus rolled his eyes and said, "Gaiyos, your words are not funny at all. The poisonous lead pipe does not mean that it is a fast-acting poison that can kill people quickly. Its damage to the human body is slowly and slowly Accumulated. This is not my guess after listening to Feng Hu's words, but I have a basis."

Seeing the crowd, he still didn't seem to take it seriously, and said: "People over the age of 40 often suffer from headaches, nausea, vomiting, irritability, convulsions, lethargy, and forgetfulness."

There was a sudden silence in the lobby. Augustus touched his bald head in the middle to break the silence and said, "I have all the symptoms you mentioned, but I am already an old man in his sixties. How do you prove that these are not caused naturally by age?"

Quintus smiled lightly and said: "Looking at it now, it seems that the age of 65 is weak and sick, and memory loss, and the age of [-] is considered to be dying, and it is natural that we are not far from the grave. But our Roman Empire has a history of thousands of years. I I have read various historical documents, and it was not like this before. More than two hundred years ago, that is, before the large-scale use of lead-cast water pipes in the water supply system of Rome. Not to mention the health status of ordinary citizens, free people. Just those senators of the Senate , the military chiefs in the legion, from Caesar to Antony, Octavian, to Marius, which one is not resourceful, majestic and healthy? In recent decades, we have also produced Severus in Rome Such a hero is the grandfather of His Majesty Alexander. He is still energetic and resourceful after he is over [-] years old. But please note that Severus has been in the army since he was young and uses the natural water source outside the barracks. So he Mental and physical strength and health were not harmed by lead poisoning."

After Quintus said these words, the palace hall became even more silent, which can almost be described as silence.

When Quintus was speaking, Gaius Ben used a spoon to scoop up a spoonful of soup and delivered it to his mouth, but he hurriedly threw the spoon back into the soup bowl as if he was being scalded.He coughed slightly to break the embarrassing silence of the scene, and then said: "But... I said Quintus, I said so much, but this is still your assumption. This historical data may not be recorded accurately, nor may it be kept. Quan. How can it be determined that lead water pipes are poisonous based on these simple comparisons?"

Quintus sneered indifferently, and continued: "What I said has a basis, of course, it is not just a simple comparison based on these materials. I also arranged for people to do various comparative experiments. They used experiments on rabbits, sheep, and monkeys. , There are also human experiments directly done by slaves. There are short-term, high-dose lead poisoning experiments, and there are also long-term chronic poisoning experiments imitating drinking water from lead pipes.”

After finishing speaking, he whispered a few words to the attendant behind him, and the attendant immediately ran out at a trot.Then Quintus said to everyone: "Please continue to eat, wait a moment, the evidence or the results of my experiments over the past year will appear in front of everyone soon."

After everyone listened, they began to bow their heads to eat and drink again.It's just that the soup is no longer used.Amias gave some instructions to the surrounding maids and servants, and they immediately organized manpower to remove the soup and water, and the back kitchen also organized manpower to fetch water from the reservoir and re-cook the soup for a while. kind of stuff.

When Quintus was about to remove the soup in front of him, he took another spoonful and swallowed it indifferently.Looking at Gaius with surprised eyes beside him, he said with a smile: "Although this lead is poisonous, it requires a large dose. It will take years and months just to be poisoned by water passing through a lead pipe. So such a meal or a day The ladle of water is relatively negligible. So everyone does not need too much psychological burden."

Even though he said so, there was no one in the hall drinking water or soup anymore except him.Some people don't even eat dishes and cakes, but just drink wine.

Not long after, a group of guards and slaves under Quintus came to the hall carrying seven or eight "big boxes".When the oilcloth covering the "big box" was lifted off, people discovered that there were several large cages.There are various animals in it.There are rabbits, goats, monkeys, two of each.There were two people in the last cage.

Quintus stood up and said, "Please carefully observe how these animals and humans differ from their normal counterparts."

After Quintus said so, everyone found out.No matter what kind of animal or human it is, they all look mentally handicapped with slanted eyes, drooling mouth, and a lot of hair loss.But strangely enough, they or their mental retardation look different.

Quintus went on to explain: "It is impossible for me to fully simulate the effect of taking lead water pipes, because it would take decades. So I did experiments with large doses of lead salts. One is to directly feed large amounts of water to the test subjects. Lead salt, one is to add a small amount of lead salt to the daily drinking water. Of course, even the latter should be ten times more effective than lead water pipes. As a result, the former became this state in just over half a month, while the latter began to I haven't seen any changes, but it has become the same state after nearly a year, but it is slightly lighter than the former."

At this time, the lobby of Alexander's palace was completely silent, and no one doubted it anymore.Only then did Quintus wave his hand and let his subordinates evacuate these test subjects.Then he continued to say to Alexander: "Your Majesty, the matter of the lead water pipe is related to the foundation and survival of our Roman Empire. The subordinates believe that the decline of the empire for nearly a hundred years is directly related to this. This lead water pipe is the disease of the empire. The root cause of the disease. It is at least one of them. Your Majesty implores His Majesty to allocate special funds as soon as possible to renovate the city of Rome and the large towns with water supply systems throughout the country. Eliminate all lead-cast water pipes."

It was Quintus' words that awakened the people in the hall who were still in a daze, and they all echoed his petition to Alexander to reform the nationwide water supply system.

Alexander opened his mouth to agree happily, but when he saw Amiyas winking at him, he quickly stopped talking.Then Amiyas responded to the crowd on his behalf: "The matter of lead poisoning is related to the foundation of the empire, and naturally it must be resolved. But it is impossible for our treasury to use this money to massively transform the water supply system across the country. Even just the water supply system in the city of Rome can't afford it. So this thing can only be temporarily..."

Quintus interrupted her and said, "Your Highness, this matter cannot be delayed. One more year of delay will make the Roman Empire weaker. As for the funding, I have a solution."

Chapter 1080 Unfamiliar with the world

Amias smiled at Quintus: "If you don't spend money from the treasury and can get money from other sources to do this, then of course you can do it right away. I just don't know what a good way to do it, Your Excellency the Tribune." Got the money?"

Quintus laid out the arguments he had already thought up: "We can add an additional fee to the water price in the town. In order to avoid the loss caused by the increase in water fee, public baths can also be changed from free to charged."

Amias' face changed, but Alexander said from the side: "This method is very good."

Amias said, "What's good? This is likely to trigger a civil uprising. We have just experienced the slave riot in Sicily. How can the empire withstand another turmoil?"

Alexander continued to defend: "We can explain this truth to the public, whether to continue to keep the original water supply system to eat poisonous water, or spend more money to eat hygienic water, or do not want to continue to eat poisonous water or If you spend more money, then spend your energy to fetch water from the pond in the river outside the city. We make it clear and let them choose by themselves, what kind of trouble can this cause?"

Amias was about to speak, but Proseus, the Inspector who had been silent at the banquet, laughed first and said, "Your Majesty Alexander, and Your Excellency the Tribune. After all, you are all young people with gold in your mouth." The key was born, young people who have never been in contact with the lower class. So your words seem to make sense. But you don’t understand people’s hearts and world affairs, and the reality will not develop according to your expectations. Things are not as you imagined Simple?!"

He paused and continued to speak in a soothing tone: "Just according to your Majesty's words. If you present them the facts and the truth, they will only have one idea. It is that the money should be paid by the empire, and must be paid. ...Whether it is asking them to pay money, or continue to drink poisonous water, or artificially pick up water for use as in the era when there was no water supply system hundreds of years ago, it is impossible. If the empire forces them to do so, it is very likely Inspire civil uprisings. Your Majesty should know that most of the citizens and free people of the Roman Empire make a living in the cities and towns. Once there is a riot, it will be a huge disaster for the empire."

Amias also said with a stern face: "So today's matter, until we find a solution, everyone present must keep it a secret. The leak of this news may cause a huge crisis to our Roman Empire."

Quintus answered with a wry smile: "It seems that I am talking too much today. But I am here to remind everyone that even if we take confidentiality measures, papers will not cover fire after all. Except for all the dignitaries present In addition, there are so many servants and servants who know about this. After you return to your respective mansions, you will definitely not use lead water pipes to draw water again, which will inevitably arouse the suspicion of servants and outsiders. Sooner or later It needs to be widely known by the outside world. Therefore, whether it is to solve the lead water pipe crisis or to resolve a possible civil uprising, we must raise this fund as soon as possible, or find other solutions.”

After he finished speaking, it seemed that everyone frowned, especially Amias and Alexander.There were also whispers of rustling discussions in the lobby.It's just that no one can come up with a good idea.

Gaius frowned suddenly, moved his fat body and said loudly: "Perhaps, General Feng Hu can do something good. He came from Liang State and has a lot of experience. The matter of the lead-poisoned water pipe itself is the first thing he brought up. More importantly, he seems to have a way to raise rich funds. Look at the sophisticated equipment in his army, but he found a way to raise funds to buy them from Liang Guo."

Amias nodded slightly and said: "You can try what Elder Gaius said. Then His Majesty can bring this news in the letter of appointment to Feng Hu as the acting governor of Sicily. But even if he can raise money , such a large sum of money, I don’t know if he is willing to borrow the empire.”

A smile appeared on the corner of Quintus's mouth and said: "It just so happens that this can once again prove his loyalty to the empire."

……

Sicily, the Doge's Palace in Palermo.In a bright lobby, twenty or thirty books were neatly arranged in three books.Dozens of clerks were holding quill pens, sometimes leaning over their desks and writing quickly, and sometimes dialing abacus, the whole room was filled with the sound of crackling and colliding abacus beads.They have just learned this abacus, and the abacus teacher is naturally Liang Guoren, whom Feng Yu found.

And Feng Yu sat behind their first and largest desk, and signed various official documents.Naturally, he wouldn't be so busy every day.The reason why he is so busy now is because he has just taken over Sicily, and it is time for everything to be done.Land distribution, population resettlement, accounting of gold and silver treasures in the treasury, deployment of troops, and redesign of town officials all required a lot of energy from him.

At this time Dian Qing broke in from outside the house and said in Chinese: "My lord, the messenger from Alexandria in Rome is here. He is waiting in the meeting hall of the Governor's Mansion. I am afraid that he has come to issue an edict to reward the lord and brothers."

Feng Yu laughed and said: "Dianqing, you have been in Rome for so long, why do you seem to have just come from the Kingdom of Liang? The emperor Alexander is not the same as the emperor of the Kingdom of Liang, so there is no such thing as a reward. At most it is According to the usual practice, I was appointed as the acting governor of Sicily." He continued and added: "Hurry up and learn Latin, otherwise you will not be able to understand Rome deeply in ten years."

Dian Qing followed Feng Yu, rubbed his head and muttered in a low voice: "This bird language is really difficult to learn, but my son is very proficient in it... Acting Governor? At best, Sicily is only a county in the Central Plains. The area. The governor is just a prefect. My lord has made such great achievements. It is too stingy to be named a prefect..."

Feng Yu ignored his mumbling words, but strode towards the meeting hall of the Governor's Mansion.When I got there, I found that all the generals of a certain level in the army had arrived.A man in the red uniform of a Roman official was waiting for him. Needless to say, this man was Alexander's messenger.

This person must have known Feng Yu, and when he saw Feng Yu coming in, he quickly stood up and saluted Feng Yu respectfully.

"Your Excellency General Feng Hu, I am a special envoy sent by His Majesty Alexander, and I am here to convey to you His Majesty's edict and some news..."

After the courier briefly explained the purpose of his visit this time, he handed over the appointment letter of the acting governor of Sicily, the notice sent in the name of the consul's office, and a letter in Alexander's personal name to Feng. Yu.

Chapter 1081

Feng Yu put the letter of appointment aside, opened the notice and glanced at it. It turned out that Thomas, the younger brother of Mallor, the commander of the Apennine Fleet, was going to station his army on the coast of the Strait of Messina in Sicily.And it does not belong to the province of Sicily for direct dispatch.This is obviously meant to check and balance oneself.

However, Feng Yu had expected this for a long time, so it was useless to take it to heart.He was not even prepared for the customary appointment as Acting Governor of Sicily.Feng Yu knew that for his appointment and the placement of such a foreign army in Sicily, there must be many disputes in the deliberation hall of the Roman Palace.With a disdainful smile on his face, he put the announcement aside.

Finally, Feng Yu opened the private letter from Alexander, and frowned upon seeing it.Seeing this scene, Simmons couldn't help asking curiously: "General, what did Alexander say in his letter?"

Feng Yu said truthfully: "They finally paid attention to the issue of lead-cast water pipes. It's a pity that they can't raise so much money to renovate the water supply system in Rome and other large and medium-sized towns. So the letter asked me what a good way .Although it was an inquiry, it was clear that they wanted me to figure out how to raise this huge amount of money."

When Feng Yu said this, he paused, looked around, and found that there were no local generals from Rome such as Douglas present, so he said directly in Chinese: "Although the treasury of the Liang State is abundant, it is impossible for me to draw from the treasury of the Liang State. A large sum of money to subsidize Rome. Don’t say that I am just the acting governor of a province in Rome and the administrator of the Grand Army. Even if I am sitting in Alexander’s position, it is not reasonable to do so. What’s more, now we Although most of the Sicilian wealth looted by Hannibal's army was seized, and the part that should be handed over was also used as the reconstruction fee allocated to the Sicilian province by the consul's office, it did not need to be handed over. However, the money is important to the entire Sicilian province. The reconstruction of the water supply system is still insignificant, and there is a big gap. That is to say, I am short of money now, so how can I solve their funding problem for rebuilding the water supply system?"

Although Gan Ning on the side didn't know what happened to the lead water pipe, he understood that it seemed that the Roman court was asking Feng Yu for money.He said fieryly: "Then write back to Alexander directly and say that there is no money."

Feng Yu shook his head and said: "It's not appropriate to refuse like this." He paced back and forth in the room while meditating.Suddenly his eyes lit up, and he had something to say, and he ordered someone to fetch paper and ink, swiped his pen at the desk, and wrote a letter of thousands of words to Alexander.

Simmons tilted his head aside and asked, "General, you still rejected the other party, but the language is more tactful, right?"

Feng Yu chuckled and shook his head, "No. I've thought of helping Alexander solve this funding problem, but we didn't pay the money. It's not that he wants to plunder from the common people."

Dian Qing questioned: "Then what can be done, can this money fall from the sky?"

Feng Yu replied: "Of course there is no money in the sky. The money is actually paid by Rome itself, but it is money from the future. My solution is to ask them to borrow money and issue national bonds to raise funds."

"Borrowing? National debt?" In the lobby, apart from Dian Qing, Simmons, Gan Ning and others, the other two or three generals also exclaimed.In this era, whether in the East or the West, most people dare not imagine borrowing from the people in the name of the court or the country.

In fact, in ancient Greece, Rome hundreds of years ago, and even the Eastern Zhou Dynasty in Middle Earth, there were examples of the state borrowing from private lenders.King Nan of Zhou borrowed money to attack Qin, and the idiom "heavy debt" is the most famous example.

But the method Feng Yu told Alexander in the letter was different from these cases.He is going to raise funds from the public by publicly borrowing in the form of bonds in bearer form.Instead of issuing IOUs to specific private individuals to borrow money.And in order to allow people to buy bonds with confidence, to solve their living money into dead money, and concerns about the long-term credit of the Roman Empire, Feng Yu also suggested setting up a bond exchange in the city of Rome.

After Feng Yu explained to everyone in the hall, a small number of people seemed to understand, but Dian Qing and Gan Ning shook their heads and said: "General, there is a sentence that I don't know if I should say it or not. Your method It probably won’t work. Who would buy you a few pieces of paper with their own real money? It will take more than ten or 20 years for these pieces of paper to be cashed out with interest. I don’t know what will happen to the gold content in the Roman gold coins Yes. If you count the depreciation of gold coins, you might even lose money with interest. Anyway, if it were me, I wouldn’t buy it!”

Feng Yu smiled confidently and said, "You won't buy it, but the Romans will."

……

In the Roman palace, Alexander was discussing official business with his mother Amias.At this time, an attendant hurried into the hall and said to him: "Your Majesty, Feng Hu, the Governor of Sicily Province, has sent you a letter back." As he spoke, he presented the letter with both hands.

Alexander said pleasantly: "It's only been a few days, and he replied so quickly. It seems that there must be a way to help me raise the troublesome funds."

As he said that, he took the letter paper, opened it and read it hastily.Amiyas looked at his expression, which slowly changed from joy to worry, and then from worry to doubt.She knew that things were not as smooth as Alexander imagined, and asked, "Why, Feng Hu said in his letter that there is nothing he can do?"

Alexander threw the letterhead on the table, and sighed heavily: "He gave a way, but I think this way is too whimsical and not reliable at all."

While he was speaking, Amias had already picked up the letter from the desk case and began to read it.Alexander continued: "He suggested that we use white paper to make something called bonds, and then use these things to borrow money from the public. In fact, it is to sell these papers to the public, and let the consul office promise to the public for a certain period of time in the name of the empire, For example, after 20 or [-] years, buy them back at a higher price than their original price, that is, the face value recorded on the paper. The higher price will be regarded as interest.”

Amiyas didn't say a word, and continued to read Feng Yu's letter intently.But Alexander continued to say with a bitter face: "Now, if I ask me to write a note according to my emperor's seal, I will not be able to borrow short-term loans from those wealthy Roman nobles! Use some to remember the face value, and promise to pay back after 20 years. Is it possible to get money from the blank paper? Hey, this Feng Hu has an imagination and is good at fighting, but his IQ may not be as high as I thought before."

Chapter 1082

After Alexander finished nagging, Amiyas also read Feng Yu's letter.She put the letter back on the table and said: "The method proposed by Feng Hu seems very unreliable, but when you think about it carefully, there are rules to follow. Moreover, he can always make some surprises, which make people feel unreliable. What a surprise. We might as well do as he said. Even if it is not feasible in the end, those bonds cannot be sold. We are just wasting some labor costs, and there will be no actual loss.”

Alexander put away his smile and said: "Mother, do you really want to do what he said? In the end, if this thing can't be done, we and the Roman Empire will not lose money. But this will make others laugh! For me, Rome The emperor's prestige is greatly damaged."

Amias also said with a serious expression: "As Quintus said, sooner or later the story of the lead-poisoned water pipe will spread to all towns, streets and alleys of Rome. By then, we have not taken any action to improve the water supply system, and it is bound to happen." Trigger a nationwide civil uprising. The consequences of the civilian uprising are much more serious than the slave uprising. The prestige and dignity of your Roman emperor are important, but compared with this, it is not worth mentioning. Besides, if this is really not possible, Soon everyone will forget that the damage to your prestige is not as great as you think."

Alexander was silent for a long time, and finally he raised his head and said with determination: "Well, I will follow my mother's advice and try his method." After that, he ordered his left and right attendants to find Julius.

When Feng Yu sent troops to Sicily earlier, Julius was recalled by Alexander, and he was officially appointed as the new imperial treasurer.The previous Treasurer had been dismissed during the Mint's Felic rebellion, and the position had been vacant since then, and was filled by other officials until Julius officially filled the vacancy.The Finance Office has also evolved from a certain degree of independence from the Consul's Office to the current status of being completely attached to the Consul's Office.That's why, now, spending money from the national treasury has the same effect as spending the hearts and minds of Alexander and Amias.

Half an hour later, Julius, who was sweating profusely, rushed to the palace like the wind on his feet.Alexander briefly explained the matter to him, and then read Feng Yu's letter to him.

After all, Julius was a person who specialized in financial affairs. After figuring out the matter, he shook his head and said, "Feng Hu's method is really well designed, but it's a pity that it's difficult to subscribe..."

Alexander interrupted him and said, "You don't have to worry about whether it can be done. I just ask you whether you can do it as he said, print bonds, open an exchange, and advertise the sale of bonds."

Julius immediately patted his chest and said, "These are trivial things, and they can be done naturally. But..."

Before he finished speaking, Alexander said with a final word: "Okay, there is no need to worry. Now you start the bond issuance operation in the name of the Finance Office. Pay attention, you must act quickly. We must rush for time."

……

A few days later, thirty miles outside the city of Rome, a new simple workshop stood next to the new mint.Although the workshop is simple, it is as heavily guarded as the mint.A high wall with watchtowers was built around the workshop, and seven or eight armed soldiers guarded the gate at all times, and workers who entered and exited had to be inspected naked.

At this time, nearly a hundred craftsmen in this workshop are working in full swing.They stained the finely crafted engraved plates with paint, and printed the same pattern on each cut white paper.The pattern has the early Roman totem wolf, and the flying eagle pattern on the current military flag.The most important thing is that there are face value data of different sizes, which represent the value of this piece of paper.This is naturally the bond printed by the financial officer's office.In order to prevent counterfeiting, there are also a few people who use the seals of several Latin numbers to neatly stamp different serial numbers on each bond, and record these serial numbers in the record.

Just as the foreman was walking back and forth to urge the craftsmen to rush to work, someone suddenly broke in.The foreman saw that it was Julius, and immediately wanted to salute.The latter hurriedly said: "How is it? How is the progress of the work? Can the first batch be completed on time?"

The foreman patted his chest and said solemnly: "Your Excellency, Financial Officer, you can rest assured that there will be no problem."

Julius only said "OK", and then ordered the attendants who followed him: "According to the current plan, the promotion and sale of the first batch of bonds will begin tomorrow."

Early the next morning, when the common people in the city of Rome got up, washed and went to the streets as usual, they started their own livelihoods.But I found that there are many more stalls in crowded places such as the intersection of streets and alleys.Although these stalls were hung with banners and banners, there were no commodities for sale, but some paper-like things. What was even more strange was that the people who set up the stalls were all officials in red robe uniforms of the official office.

Naturally, these booths are used by the Treasurer Office for bond promotion.There is no one who does not like to watch strange things, and soon all the stalls are crowded with people.There was a lot of chatter in front of the booth.

"Yo. It seems that you are all people who eat in the government office. What are you doing here to set up a stall? It can't be that the salary can't be paid, so you can resell something here as a side job?"

"Hey, what are you talking nonsense about. Do the communal eaters need to set up a stall? Besides, they don't have anything at the stall except some paper."

The official who guarded the stall cleared his throat and said loudly: "Dear citizens, free people. Today we set up a stall to promote the Roman Empire's first issuance of national debt bonds."

"What? What debt? What is a bond again?"

"It's really strange. Debts are always borrowed. What kind of debt can be issued?"

"It's interesting, let's go to the store later today, listen and look more here, and see what strange things the government has made."

At this time, literate people have stretched their necks to look at the sign full of words introducing the national debt.People who are illiterate or who are far away from the sign are asking all kinds of questions.

Several stall officials began to explain with questions and answers or explained according to the scriptures.In the end, this was not an option, so one of the officials simply picked up a bond sample from the booth and stood on a chair.

He started to introduce to people condescendingly: "Have you seen it? This thing is a bond. Simply put, everyone buys this bond with money. After a certain number of years, the official office of the empire will pay the original price plus interest with interest." Redeem it back. The interest rate may be higher than the profit of your small traders. Although it is not as good as those usurers, it is safe."

Upon hearing this, the people below had more questions, and they all raised their hands to ask their own questions...

Chapter 1083

In front of the bond promotion booth, some relatively smart people have figured it out.

Among them, some people who seem to be relatively wealthy and have some spare money said: "It turns out that the government borrowed from the public! It's just an anonymous one, and this paper is used as a certificate. How many years can it be cashed? How much is the interest?" "

And those who looked very poor immediately lost interest and turned their heads away.For them, it has nothing to do with them.

The official who was still standing on the chair said loudly: "The bonds are divided into three types according to the conversion period, short-term, medium-term and long-term. The short-term is ten years, the medium-term is 20 years, and the long-term is 30 years. As for the interest, of course, the longer the period The higher, seven points in ten years, ten points in 20 years, and fifteen points in 30 years!"

Hearing this, people who were still a little interested shook their heads.They said in one voice:

"Ten years? Who knows what it will be like in ten years? Also, these seven points of interest are not enough to fit between teeth!"

"That's right. I'm going to lend usury, and I can get [-] points of interest a year. You want to say that your national debt is stable, haha, to put it bluntly, if you change the emperor ten years later, I don't know if you will admit it or not. ?”

"The national debt seems to be guaranteed by the government, but in fact there is no guarantee. I lend money to a beggar. I have more guarantee than this. If he fails to pay back, I can still detain him as my slave according to the terms of the loan contract. Excuse me Years later, the government will not recognize my account, can we still riot and rebel?"

The official who said these words was still standing on the chair, his face turned red and then pale, and he became speechless.At this time, the crowd was separated by seven or eight people, the leader of which was wearing a new and luxurious Roman official robe.

Even ordinary people can know that this person is a high-ranking official by looking at the style of the official robe.This person is Julius the Treasurer.

He first revealed his identity, and then said with a loud voice: "How can the national debt of the Roman Empire be compared with usury? Unless the Roman Empire ceases to exist, whoever becomes the consul or emperor will admit it. This is the same as now It doesn’t matter who is the consul! The issuance of the national debt was also approved by the Senate. Take a step back and say, if the Roman Empire really did not exist, it would perish. Any debts you have will be wiped out. Don’t talk about debts, yours Family wealth may not be guaranteed! It’s true that private mortgages have higher interest rates than national debt, but how much can that be? How much money can a person who specializes in money lending give out in a year?”

The call made by Julius made those who had questioned it stunned for a moment.However, some of them quickly reacted and said: "But ten years, decades, such a long time is somewhat uneasy. In addition, even if we have no doubts in the credit of the empire, we dare not buy it. Because In this way, the living money in the pocket has become dead money. In the past ten years or decades, no one can guarantee that there will be no time when money is needed urgently. Borrow usury?"

Julius laughed and said: "You didn't read and listen to the introduction of the national debt carefully, so you have this doubt. In fact, although the national debt can only be cashed in ten or decades, it is an anonymous Yes, they can circulate freely like ordinary commodities. When you need money urgently, just sell them.”