[Ancient Rome] How to Divorce the Tyrant Nero

Octavia felt that Rome during this period was favored by the Goddess of Disaster. Although Rome began to decline in fields other than the military after Tiberius' death, the emaciated camel was bigger than the horse, at least in several places in Rome. In the main city, the scene of decline cannot be clearly seen or touched.Therefore, the common people are still immersed in the singing and dancing of Rome, and have not noticed the many crises hidden in the crunching corners.

But now, a plague has brought out all the old social diseases in Rome, making those officials who have never thought of changing the status quo feel powerless and anxious like never before.

"Have you still not found His Majesty the Emperor?" Octavia had already received a distress letter from the Pompeii consul, but there was still no news of Nero.

It stands to reason that Nero would not go to places other than Pompeii when he left Rome. After all, he had never traveled far when he was growing up, let alone a small remote city to avoid disasters.

Octavia couldn't imagine Nero not being pampered, but she knew very well that if Nero didn't come back, the anger of the Roman people alone would be enough to drive him off the throne.

After all, an emperor who abandons his subjects is more unbearable than a general who flees.

"Has the fire officer in Rome been transferred to Pompeii?" Octavia rubbed her dry eyes, which had become extremely dry from not sleeping for several nights, and tried to focus on the official duties in front of her: "In addition, The outbreak in Pompeii also needs constant attention."

Octavia pulled out Pompey's distress letter, pointed to the numbers on it and said, "If you don't pay attention to this, the number of sick people in Pompeii will soon be equal to that of Rome. Even if they come together, they will not be able to stop this doomsday-like natural disaster."

In the face of the menacing epidemic, it is rare for all parties in Rome to sit together peacefully and carry out the largest cooperation in history.

And Octavia, as the former queen of Rome and the most capable person in the family, naturally assumed the role of giving orders, and she was almost given the emperor's laurel crown on her head.

Titus doesn't know if this cooperation will ease the relationship between his father and Octavia, but one thing is certain is that Octavia will not do anything to Vepasian until the epidemic in Rome is over. .

At least for now, Octavia is not in the mood to increase her workload, and Vepasian, as the consul of Rome, is also an indispensable force.

"I dispatched another group of firefighters from Ravenna to deal with the sudden fire in Pompeii. In addition, I also discovered a very strange thing." Titus spread a piece of paper on Octavia's desk. Zhang Zhang map, and then clicked on a few cities near the port: "The most severely affected cities are the big cities near the port and well-developed sea transportation. On the contrary, those inland cities that are not very prosperous have few cases."

"You mean...the plague in Rome was brought by foreigners?" Octavia instantly understood what Titus meant, but soon realized that there was something wrong with the outbreak point of the disease: "If it is really a foreigner The first batch of cases should be concentrated in March or September, but most of the patients we know have developed symptoms in mid-June."

It is precisely because of this that when Octavia heard about the plague, the first thing she thought of was cholera and the Black Death.The former died of diarrhea within a few hours due to ingestion of contaminated water and food, and the onset time was also in the middle of summer.

And the latter...

Octavia thought of the records of the Black Death in history and its power to wipe out one-third of Europe's population, so she couldn't help but leave a deep fingernail mark on the map, and her tone became more serious than before : "Please investigate the health status of foreigners who have entered and left Rome in recent months."

Titus nodded, and then asked: "I need experienced financial envoys and inspectors to help me check the entry situation at the port. In addition, considering that the epidemic is inseparable from outsiders, it is better not to open the port in the near future. No outsider is allowed to enter Rome."

"The envoy and inspector can ask Narcissus to arrange it for you. As for the closure of the port..." Octavia frowned, quickly calculating Rome's food consumption and the supply of other supplies in her mind.

"Do you think Rome's local food production alone can afford so many mouths?" Octavia said bluntly: "If the port is really closed, then the whole city will starve to death before dying of illness. .”

When Octavia mentioned this, she still reminded: "Accidents can happen in other places, but the army can't. If someone really wants to fish in troubled waters, then we need strong suppression methods."

"But the army is not all people who obey orders obediently." Titus felt that Octavia was still thinking too simply, so he added: "You also sent slaves from the Claudius family to join the army, you should know that now Many of the Chinese army are freedmen and slaves who went for citizenship."

"Besides, not all of those citizen soldiers are honest people who can make a living." The Flavius ​​family where Titus belonged to was a quasi-noble of the knight class, but because his grandfather fled from the battlefield, As a result, the whole family was almost demoted to civilians, which also made Wei Paxiang's road to joining the army extremely difficult.

After all, Wei Paxiang had a father who was a deserter, and Wei Paxiang was often "greeted" by others.

"I'll let the Aventine Hill gangsters supervise the restless elements in the army for me." After all, Octavia is not an all-round genius, so in this regard, I can only expect Galba's control and the army's control. consciousness.

Seeing this, Titus suddenly comforted him in a strange way: "Those freemen and slaves who are running for citizenship are not all idiots, they have waited for more than ten years for this, can't it be more Have some patience?"

"Besides, where else can they go without Rome?" Titus looked at the gray sky outside the window, and couldn't help sighing: "This world has become hell, just waiting for Charon to take us in a boat." Walk."

Octavia was very unaccustomed to Titus' sad appearance, so she urged: "Go and get things done at the port, and then send a message to the patrolling guards and Lord Galba, telling them Hurry up and do something."

"what's up?"

"Rat extermination."

Although Octavia didn’t know how many sources of infection the Black Death had, it was always right to exterminate the rats first when encountering the plague: “The only people on the cargo ships are rats.”

"If it wasn't a stranger who brought the plague to Rome, it could only be the rats on board that brought Pluto's curse."