Augustus Road

"An important matter cannot be decided and carried out by a young man hastily." -Nicias of Athens

————————————————————————

Everyone present, Luculas, Caesar, Crassus and Lepidus, all of them instinctively felt that a new era was about to begin in the city of Rome at the moment Crassus said he was willing to join hands with Pompey. It was staged. It was an era when monsters joined together to hunt. Although at this time, only four or five people in the whole city of Rome were aware of this.

This feeling of standing at the forefront of the times was something Lepidus had never felt in the time and space he was in before. He held his breath and looked at the patron's expression carefully. He naturally knew in his heart the reason why Crassus was beyond everyone. Unexpectedly, 70% of the reason for agreeing to join forces with his enemy Pompey was due to his operation. The remaining 30% of the factors - maybe Caesar went to find him, maybe Pompey personally sent people to find him, is unknown. .

At this time, Luculas, in front of the candlelight at the dinner table, had wrinkles on his face like knives. He once thought that with the encouragement and assistance of Cato the Younger, he would be able to take office as consul for the second time. He was freed from the disease and once again dominated the political arena, but who wanted to change the situation? Caesar, Pompey and Crassus actually joined forces. He raised his slack eyelids and looked at the young and powerful Caesar sitting opposite him. He was wise and energetic. Vigorous and eloquent, he is at the most invincible age in a man's life. No dilemma can defeat him - he must first take advantage of Crassus and himself joining forces to quickly win over Pompey, and then Then go to persuade Crassus, he is the lubricant between the three, and the biggest beneficiary.

Perhaps, his own era was really over, and thinking of this, the original blueprint was shattered, but Tuna's mood calmed down. He restored his smile, wiped his mouth with a napkin, and said to Caesar politely: "Although I am proficient in Greek literature, but I am still a straightforward Latin at heart. Yes, Caesar, you win this time." After saying that, he threw the napkin on the table, "I don't want to bear the disaster of being attacked by three of you monsters. Let that Byblos bear it, or little Cato, I have done this to be worthy of my friends on the scene. I am now announcing my withdrawal from the campaign in private, but I will persist until the end on the scene."

Caesar leaned back easily on his chair, with a smile on his lips, raised his left hand and said, "May our friendship last forever. Tuna, you can watch all kinds of fish in front of the fish pond with peace of mind, away from the storm of the political arena. This is such a pleasant thing. You have avenged both Pompey and your ex-brother-in-law. With the help of Lepidus, you have no regrets in your life. And I promise you that for your brother Marcus Count me in for taking care of you—you don’t need to worry about my Caesar’s promise.”

"Thank you, but I think your next exchange price is to ask Lepidus to continue being your sequestre, right?"

"Aren't you at ease with this? Anyway, after I get the help of Crassus and Pompey, I will be in every possible way. The future of Lepidus under my account is immeasurable, and the higher his status, you and Ma But the safer it is - it can be seen from the situation of this campaign that his loyalty to your family is impeccable." Caesar said it nicely, making Tuna Luculas nod, and the two reached an agreement. , "I can not only give you Li Bida's ability, but also lend you the campaign funds from all walks of life. But I hope you can leave a way out for people like Little Cato in the future."

"It depends on my mood." Caesar put down the tableware very calmly, stood up and said goodbye to everyone politely, and then left the banquet. Before leaving, he winked at Lepidus and said, "I'll be here tomorrow." My mansion in Subra district.”

Early the next morning, Luculas was fishing in front of Prema's fish pond. As usual, Lepidus ran a long way to say hello to him before going to Subura District. After Luculas fished for a while, he He took the fishing rod back and shouted that he didn't even hang bait on it, "My child, you don't have to go to Pulaima in the future. Now your future has reached a critical period. Why waste time on a single bait?" Did you forget to hang it on the old man? "

"Actually, the reason why I am here is that regardless of my purpose, I deceived you before."

Luculas was silent for a while, then hung up the bait easily, "According to Roman law, if the person being protected deceived the patron, the patron has the right to take back all his property and confiscate him again. slave."

"Yes, if you are willing, after all, everything I have now in Rome was achieved with your help."

"It doesn't matter, I'm just waiting here for you to tell me personally." Luculus did not look back, "At the banquet last night, I actually observed that in my previous impression, Caesar was just a profligate Young master and radical and dangerous person, but now he can actually fight with Pompey and Crassus, which shows that God is favoring him, just like it is said that when Lycurgus of Sparta entered the Temple of Delphi, he heard When God said to him, "O Lycurgus, are you a man or a god, but in our eyes, you are indeed a god." What better future could there be than following a man who is favored by the gods? Where is the glory? My divine favor has been exhausted. Don’t believe too much in Crassus. He told me about your secret control of the alliance, but Caesar has been protecting you.”

Li Bi Da was stunned. It seemed that the patron knew everything he had done before Caesar came last night, but he did not hate him for it. Luculas continued: "Although I have become distracted due to excessive use of herbs, I am not stupid. Because I suffer from the painful state of excitement and fatigue every day, I can only rely more and more on this thing (Li Bi Da vaguely guessed that his patron might have a problem with his thyroid gland, which can be inferred from his swollen neck). My life is about to end under this kind of poisonous thirst. Although I entrusted Marco to you, You will surely achieve great success and status in the future to protect Marcus, but I am not stupid enough to hope to intervene in politics again before I die, offend people like Caesar and Pompey, and leave harm to Marcus. So my conversation with Caesar last night was really sincere. You did this to push me away from the center of the storm, didn't you? It not only saved my face, but also allowed me to perfunctorily deal with Cato's request, and also paved the way for your own future. "

"Yes." Lepidus admitted readily. It seems that he is still a child who can be easily seen through by Tuna in front of him.

"Go, just promise not to hurt Marcus in the future, no matter what happens!"

"I will keep this promise."

Afterwards, Lucullus quietly transferred funds to Caesar in the street campaign, and then Caesar's campaign group miraculously reversed the situation. The Senate and Cato the Younger thought he was doomed, but when the voting date was approaching, Cato the Younger felt the danger of the situation and began to encourage the senators to quickly transfer funds to Byblos, who had always been ignored. (To be continued.)