Augustus Road

"Okay, dear Lepidus, it's settled. Tomorrow I will ask Tuna to hold a small and luxurious banquet, and I will personally persuade him to give up this campaign." After the discussion, Crassus opened the cover. curtain, expressed his position with a smile.

Who would have thought that Lepidus said "no", the patron also has his own dignity, and I don't want him to break his promise to Cato, so he does not have to withdraw from this election. Crassus was greatly surprised and asked Lepidus what he was going to do.

"I am ready to do my best to be a sequester for the patron. What I need now is for you to publicly express your support for the patron's candidacy." Lepidus' words surprised Crassus, but he just smiled. , and didn’t say much.

Of course Li Bida had his own deep meaning in doing this.

Soon, Crassus held the hand of a smiling Luculas and stood in front of the Temple of Mercury and publicly declared that he supported Luculas' campaign. This news was simply earth-shattering and had an extremely serious impact on Caesar's campaign work. As we all know, Most of the city of Rome is Crassus's property, and more than half of the knights are Crassus' pawns. If you, as a consul candidate, want to use money to buy votes in various Tebris constituencies, you cannot do without Crassus's Assistance, especially for Caesar.

As for Lepidus, he traveled to various taverns, apartments, and venues owned by Crassus. As Luculas sequestre, he shook hands and ate with voters one by one. He also joined forces with Claudius and hired professionals divided into There were four teams of soldiers, one team was responsible for promoting Luculas on the podium at the traffic artery, the other team was giving generous monetary "gifts" to the audience off the stage (actually a blatant act of buying votes), and the other team was there. The team continued to encourage and persuade the listeners on their way home, while the other team knocked on the doors of each house day and night to continue the bribery act. These people openly use money as a way to win, which can only force Caesar to invest more money to regain the disadvantage. But the problem is that without the support of Crassus and Lepidus, Caesar has no money at all, and he is not even willing to lend him money. There are also very few senators or knights.

Luculas and Crassus combined were invincible in terms of money. Caesar's campaign group clearly felt the heavy pressure. The victorious general's friends bluntly told him that in such a situation he would make money. He lost to Luculas in battle and to Byblos in support of the Senate.

"You might as well say that if I fail, it's because I lose the help of Cornelius Lepidus!" Caesar roared openly in the synagogue. At this time, the friends around him fell silent out of shame.

In the end, Caesar couldn't sit still. After all, he was still unwilling to be expelled from this arena of fame and fortune, let alone lose this one of the few opportunities for advancement in his life. Finally, he came to Prague in the name of attending a friend's party. Laima Villa, walked into the banquet of Luculas and Crassus.

In the Apollo restaurant, the most luxurious restaurant in Villa Lucula, the entire room is round like the sun, with the top inlaid with ivory panels. A mechanism can also be set up to open the dome, allowing guests to enjoy the natural moonlight and starlight. Let's have dinner. Luculas and Marcus are very happy today. The dining theme set for the guests is "Zodiac". The slaves serve dishes to the guests according to their zodiac signs. For example, Aries is beans and Gemini is animals. Offal, Libra serves a scale-like dinner plate, with pie on one end and cake on the other. The guests were feasting, the prostitutes were dancing gracefully, and Julius Caesar, who was standing in front of the bronze door, had an inexplicable smile. When he saw the Luculas brothers who came to greet him, he respectfully said When Li Bida stood next to him, he smiled even more happily, "I came to the banquet as a friend. Even if I didn't receive the invitation, I hope we can still be friends."

They were still friends, of course. Luculas enthusiastically led Caesar to the small restaurant further inside. After Caesar sat down, he took out a roll of vellum and placed it in front of Crassus and Luculas, as Lepidus When he was about to resign, Caesar said: "Dear Lepidus, there is no need to leave. Of course you can share some secrets. Since you helped me in Lusitania and before, you will always be my friend. Friends will always be friends." There are banquets and secrets to share, aren't there?" After speaking, he slowly unfolded the vellum, and after Lepidus took it, he read it out. What surprised Crassus and Luculas was that this letter was exactly the same. Pompey commissioned a letter from his confidential slave Demetrius. The content was very simple: Pompey was willing to join forces with Caesar to share the interests of the country and show their fangs to the enemy together.

"Excuse me, what does this have to do with me." Luculas asked after listening quietly.

"In this way, if I am pushed too hard, of course I will consider joining forces with Pompey. Then tens of thousands of veterans will enter the city of Rome to help me campaign. They will not need any money to bribe, only a small Just encourage me. Dear Luculas, I still feel grateful that you helped me pay off part of my debt, so there is no need for us to be so tense." Caesar gently withdrew Pompey's letter, and then said meaningfully. Lepidus smiled. Yes, it was this person who originally urged Caesar to join hands with Pompey, but in front of Luculas, Caesar did not mention his involvement at all. Of course, he knew that telling the inside story would greatly hurt Lepidus. The relationship with his patron - keeping everything on the line, never breaking up unless necessary, and knowing how to take care of anyone. This is probably the biggest factor that made Caesar so comfortable with women and money in Rome!

Next, Caesar raised his hand towards Crassus, expressing his hope to hear the "King of the Night"'s opinion on this matter. His words were even more naked, "Crasus, remember that we also hated each other when we were young. Was it related to me? When I was captured by pirates in my thirties, I was even afraid of how happy you would be when you heard the sad news about me in Rome. But didn’t we end our feud later? You guaranteed my debt. And I work for your benefit, so it’s a pleasure to work with you.”

At this time, Luculas was a little nervous, looking at Crassus who was silent on the side, with some apprehension in his heart, thinking that it was unlikely that Caesar would push this friend to Pompey. ! It should be noted that Crassus was hostile to Pompey, but I was much more powerful.

"There are no absolute enemies in Rome. I think... I don't hate joining forces with Pompey now." Crassus' words shocked Luculas to the point of dropping his jaw. "In fact, I wanted to shake hands with him in the early years. We made peace, but that vain and proud guy rejected my offer. Now if he can recognize the truth, I wouldn't mind giving him another chance."

The whole scene quickly condensed. After a long time, Crassus patted Luculas on the shoulder and said, "I'm sorry, but please give up this campaign." (To be continued.)