Augustus Road

"Come and see, the ruins left by the years that swallowed everything, Rome, this is her tomb, so sad." - Pope, an 18th-century British poet, said in front of the ruins of Rome.

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Cicero, who was obviously a little annoyed, waved his hand, and several followers immediately separated the crying Julia, then shook his clothes and shouted to Curio: "You should control your girlfriend!" Cicero's words were very vicious, because the streets and alleys of Rome were full of rumors about the intimate relationship between Curio and Antony, who had the same surname. Some people even described it vividly, saying that when the two met privately, Antony would wear gorgeous women's clothes to please Curio.

At this time, the people around were also excited. They didn't want the newly crowned father of the country to be harmed by these ignorant "golden youths", so they shouted and surrounded him. Milu and other centurions blew their whistles, led the new soldiers, formed a shield wall, and pushed the people out again, hoping to restore order.

"Enough, Antony, today I am magnanimous and will not pursue your behavior today, but you still have to be punished accordingly. The Roman army will refuse your service for three years. Obviously, this time is the same. You should learn from your good friend Claudius. Although the three of you are known as the "Three Dance Kings of the Banquet", he will become a civilian tribune after returning from this expedition, and you can seek a position as a military tribune in three years!" After throwing down this sentence, Cicero was ready to leave.

"Then I will tell you, Cicero, to verify the prophecy of the witch Sibyl, I will inherit the name of my stepfather Cornelius, and I will also become the third king of Rome. When that time comes, my tyrannical anger will burn you to death first." Antony, who was held by someone, protested to Cicero's back.

Cicero seemed to remember something, turned around and raised his finger and said, "The name of Cornelius? Yes, yes, I am going to give this name to the hero who took back the eagle flag of Marius. No matter what his identity is, even if he is a slave, Antony, you will compete with him for the throne full of thorns and garbage. We Romans treat this kind of thing as a worn-out shoe." His tone to Antony was extremely contemptuous, just like looking at a five-year-old child who lost in a ball game.

Marco Anthony was furious, but an oriental-looking officer listened carefully to the conversation between the two sides. "This time, should I also have a surname or something? I want to look a bit aristocratic in the future."

On the parade ground, the troops of the two city legions held a ceremony to remove the flags and swore to go to war. The flag bearer walked in front of the team holding a grape cane and a camp flag, but what made all the soldiers uneasy was that the commander and deputy consul Neruda fell ill from the beginning of the expedition. According to him, he ate too much seafood and suffered from gout. He lay on a stretcher carried by soldiers on all sides, groaning, and walked in the middle of the team so that all the officers and soldiers could see his pain.

Others may not understand, but Carabis knows it all. Cicero is also a fox. He and Neruda have already reached an agreement: Cicero will not pursue Neruda's previous close relationship with Catiline, and arranges for him to serve as the chief executive (governor) of the rich Macedonian province after he retires from the consulship; correspondingly, when Neruda is commanding the army, he must implement the "delay" strategy and try to delay until Pompey triumphantly returns. This Neruda is probably too into the role, not only "delay" is the first word, but also pretends to be sick.

Therefore, the actual command of the Second City Legion is now under the command of Lieutenant General Claudius. Of course, ordinary soldiers do not know the deal between Cicero and Neruda. The rumors all say that "Neruda deliberately pretends to be sick and is unwilling to fight because of his previous close relationship with the enemy Catiline."

When he heard this trend, Carabis's mind became brighter-this rumor was not spread by the "professional player" Claudius, it would be strange!

Carabis and several of his colleagues sat on the creaking bronze oxcart, surrounded by the dust stirred up by the footsteps of the soldiers recruited from the 4th and 10th battalions of the 2nd Legion, which made him cough. Milu, Tagus and other centurions stood on the side of the queue with their canes in hand, while the military musicians blew the trumpet, playing rhythmic music to restrain the soldiers' steps, "I told you to lift your left foot and follow the beat!" Tagus hit a recruit's ankle hard with his cane, and the recruit hurriedly and stiffly jumped twice in sync, finally keeping pace with the trumpet. As a result, his jump messed up the pace of the front and back again, and the sound of the cane whipping could be heard continuously.

Behind the oxcart was the "Visuan advance troops" following the team of Carapis, a large number of hawkers, prostitutes, craftsmen, and groups of poultry and goats marching in unison.

"Oh, you are the one in Asia Minor, right, right, you also sent me meals, Carapis, now you are my brother-in-law's retainer, right?" In the tent, Claudius saw Carapis coming to visit him, pretended to try to recall, and then smiled, indicating that he suddenly realized.

The entourage gently placed two exquisite bags on Claudius's table. Claudius lowered his eyes, opened and closed the rope buckle of the bag, which contained at least 5,000 sesterces worth of gold. He shook it twice and put it under the table. Then the person next to Carapis held up a set of exquisitely carved armor with gilded lions embossed on it, which looked no less than 15,000 sesterces.

"What can I do for you, Carapis?" Claudius asked with a smile and raised his fingers.

In the evening, Claudius walked directly into the camp of coach Neruda. Neruda, who was eating seafood on a chair, hurriedly hid the plate in a dark place, then crossed his legs and continued to hum, "I'm here to greet you." You applied for the arrangement of the marching route, General." Claudius said with a smile, his eyes showing nothing unnecessary.

"Track, just keep tracking Catiline's troops." - "Savage" Neruda said weakly on the couch.

"But just now, a scale officer who is loyal to his duty reported to me the dynamics of the army. The soldiers and centurions were full of unstable emotions. They need your clear and clear instructions. Because Catiline's army has been The mountains of Etrunia and Po Gaul led us by the nose, and pretended to be the consul, recruiting troops and food everywhere, and his team became larger and larger. "

Neruda said unhappily: "Young man Claudius, you have to know how poorly equipped the two legions we brought are. Many soldiers only have fighting swords, and they are not even equipped with shields and javelins. What can we use to fight with them?" The Battle of Catiline."

Claudius stepped forward and made gestures on the sand table of the discussion table: "General, don't forget, we also have reinforcements from three regular legions of General Metra from Gaul. Their equipment and morale are very good. Now Stationed in the Pichenum area, no matter how Catiline fled, he had only three options - one, to go to Bologna through the Lenno Valley; two, to go to Gaul through the Feumarbo Pass; , and finally from the Arno Valley to the Gulf of Liguria (now Genoa).”

"Go on." Neruda replied helplessly. Although he wanted to continue pretending to be sick, the complaints from the officers and soldiers were still enough to scare him.

"Now the first two roads have to pass through Pichenum. Catiline dare not confront General Metra in any case. Therefore, I judge that his next route is to go to Liguria, which is densely manned. , rich in products, is a good place for him to obtain supplies. "