Augustus Road

"The king and the kingdom were both lost in this battle." - Clarendon's comment on Charles I's defeat and Cromwell's victory in the Battle of Naseby (1645)

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In front of the bay of the Nicomedia Palace, a ship was raising its sails, preparing to cross the narrow sea of ​​Lepidus Castle and head for the warm Euxine Sea.

Lepidus rested his elbows on the terrace, the sea breeze blowing his hair, holding a letter from Rome in his hand - the Senate, the Executive Council and the People's Assembly unanimously decided not only to hold a thirty-day thanksgiving ceremony for his victory, but also to deify Caesar, and he would be deified in advance. In addition, the Senate, led by Cicero and Basatus, also proposed (the Senate now only has the power to propose, but not the power to decide and grant), to build a permanent marble triumphal arch for Lepidus, and erect a monument of merit next to the door, and grant Lepidus the title of "lifelong tribune".

Cicero even wrote the inscription himself, but Lepidus declined two or three times. However, he also wrote back to the city of Rome, saying that since he was the "lifelong tribune", the positions of the other nine tribunes should also be abolished. In the future, at the Tribunes, the bills formed by letters from all parties or public collective votes will be directly submitted to the Grand Court (a new institution expanded by Lepidus based on the legal officer group and the Grand Court) for approval, and the national policy formed will be submitted to the Executive Yuan for approval and decision. As for the original Centuriate Assembly, it is completely the same as the Curia, becoming a simple religious ritual institution and a corpse.

After all this was done, Lepidus no longer rejected the proposal of the monument of achievement and the triumphal arch, but he immediately made a more shocking request to the city of Rome, "I have pardoned Horace and Virgil, and have also carefully treated the seriously injured Aetolian general Synesis, and will soon send him back to his state, but I will revoke the autonomy of the states in the entire Greek region. As a punishment for their collective rebellion against the Republic this time, I will add four provinces and several quadrants in Greece. Now that the city of Athens has been pacified, I am not going back for the time being. Join everyone in the thanksgiving and triumphal ceremony. I will not hold a triumphal ceremony, but as a symbol, I will allocate two legions that performed well in this decisive battle, and give them to General Sabo and General Peteneus to lead, and return to Rome to participate in the triumphal ceremony and enjoy the people. But I must take the rest of the main force with me. I will not stop with the enemies I have recruited, as well as the vassal armies of Asia Minor and Egypt, but will go on an expedition to Parthia and Mesopotamia, this ancient and sacred region. Please forgive me for my hard work, because the shame of the Republic still echoes in the wilderness of Carrhae, and I will go there and cleanse it thoroughly with flames! "

So, Lepidus assembled troops in Nicomedia and Lepidus Fort. He also assembled the navy and fleet in Rhodes and Cyprus. He was not going to return to Rome. He needed one to two years to completely defeat the incompetent Parthian monarch Herod and put the Parthian crown prince Mindaz, who was close to him, on the throne. No, for the long term, he still had a long-term plan.

At this time, the ship in the bay had hoisted its sails and then lit its lights to salute the lighthouse of Nicomedia. The cold sunlight in the early morning had already shone down along the cliffs on both sides, coating the water waves and the mountain walls with colorful colors. Lepidus watched the ship at this time, holding two plums in his hand and chewing them.

"Your eating posture. Sometimes it's still so rude." Adiana, wearing a loose silk nightgown, came from behind.

"The expedition is about to start. You can also temporarily return to the palace in Sinop and dispatch supplies from the entire Euxin Sea to support my expeditionary army."

"Well." Adiana said, and also lay on the terrace. Holding her cheek with her hand and looking at the ship, they both saw that a thin man on the deck was walking out to the side of the ship, waving his bandaged arms desperately at the vague position where they were, as if to express gratitude.

"That's great..." Adiana sighed, leaning her head against Li Bi Da's arm, "Some people can go to a new place and start a new life after everything is over, but they are still the old people - but some people have to stay in this old world after everything is over, trembling with fear, trying to maintain the unchanged present, but still have to face the future that will inevitably collapse."

"Are you talking about me? That's right, in the years to come, I can only wear golden shackles and continue to dance."

"Do you need a dance partner?" Adiana smiled, her beautiful curly hair fluttering in the morning breeze.

Then, Lepidus sent Leo, Paullus and other civil bureaucrats back to Rome to cooperate with Cicero and others to implement governance and reforms. He and all the generals, with the main force of ten legions, two vassal legions of Adiana, and two thousand auxiliary troops sent by Thrace, as well as the "Restoration Advance Army" of about one thousand people assembled by Mindazes to form the remnants of the Parthian opposition. Half a month later, they set out and arrived at the foot of the holy land, Mount Amasinus. Here, as the current supreme ruler of the Republic, he summoned all the vassal states of Asia Minor to send troops and food. The Kingdom of Gaelasia, the Kingdom of Eubernia, the Kingdom of Armenia, etc., all sent troops, pouring in from all directions, and the foot of Mount Amasinus once again turned into a boiling ocean.

The armies of these kingdoms are all regularized. The Galatian warriors of Gerasha all wear pointed helmets with white tassels, chain mail and cloaks, and carry long swords, marching in formation according to the pattern of the legion; the heavy cavalry of Armenia, holding high their spears, and the half-armored war horses line up in the center of the review field; and the army of the Kingdom of Euboea, due to various objective reasons, is more complex, with legion-style infantry with broadswords and shields, model troops fighting with lance phalanxes, and medium or heavy cavalry with Cappadocians as the main force. But apart from these three kingdoms and the legion to which Lepidus belonged, the other barbarian armies from various places are all kinds of things, which makes Lepidus feel headache. He decided to reward these barbarians with appropriate remuneration after giving a speech and then send them back, because most of these people can only cause trouble in future expeditions.

The entire inspection field at the foot of the mountain was filled with flags flying and drums beating. The high priest, sitting in the middle of the high platform amid the cheers of the crowd, stood up majestically. Then, under the forest of sticks and flags, he walked to the front desk and looked at the crowd that was like a mountain and a sea. Only a central passage was left below, where flowers and plants temporarily moved from elsewhere were placed, making the colors of this wilderness mountain less monotonous.

When the high priest raised his hand to salute, the drums, bugles and noise of the soldiers stopped immediately, and the scene returned to solemnity and majesty. Then the high priest cleared his throat and prepared to give an impromptu speech. At this time, a girl's shout of "papa! Papa!" suddenly came from below. (~^~)