Augustus Road

As he spoke, Lepidus slowly raised his hand. For a moment, the senator's heart felt as if a century had passed. This was like a gesture of ordering execution, but the chief deputy general was still saying slowly, "After detailed investigation, With the authorization of Dictado, I hereby declare once again that regarding the declaration of public enemies——"

In the dead silence of the auditorium, thousands of eyes looked at his raised fingers, and they could even hear the breathing and gasping of the people next to them. After an unknown period of time, Lepidah's hand struck down hard, "The system of public enemy declaration and informing, All canceled and abolished from now on!”

Then, Dictado's deputy followed the posture and leaned next to the lectern. Several scribes were also stunned for a moment, and then continued to record on the papyrus. Two carpenter slaves were sweating. The content of the meeting was engraved on a wooden board, which was to be cast into a bronze block in the future and promulgated as a national edict.

Since these words were spoken by Lepidus in the Juilliard Hall, and were engraved on the inscription, they are absolutely untrue. After all the senators were silent, they first stared at each other, and then raised their heads. Gao raised his hands and burst into thunderous shouts, as if the resentments and worries that had been weighing on him for half a lifetime disappeared in an instant.

All the praises, all the kind words, were heaped on Caesar and Lepidus. Even Cicero, Banks and other old figures couldn't help cheering and stood up to applaud - the biggest terror since the time of Sulla. The source of the government was actually abolished by another dictator. Although Cicero was still skeptical about this great news in his heart.

"Probably because in this era, the immediate power struggle does not even require informants. Just use the legion's armed forces to solve it!" Li Bida smiled. He gave a futuristic annotation to Cicero's question in his mind.

I saw that everyone was in a lively and happy mood. Lepidus temporarily sat on the armchair, stroking the wide red belt embroidered on his robe, and then pinched the hilt of the sword on his waist. Even in the synagogue, he carried this thing with him for about a quarter of a quarter. Finally, after seeing that these people had finished talking nonsense, he stood up again. Announcement of the second matter: Can the decree on the restriction of luxury and family expenses be formed into a Senate resolution and then submitted to the Assembly of Teblis for formal approval and implementation?

After brushing it up, the elders became very embarrassed. Many of them still maintained their jubilant postures and didn't know how to deal with themselves. During this time, their energy was entirely focused on the possible declaration of public enemies, and they had no countermeasures for this matter. It was Lepidus himself who proposed a compromise method in an "understanding" manner, "Gentlemen, I know that this current decree is difficult to operate directly on a practical level. So I proposed a relative compromise to all the nobles and fathers present. The solution - Dictado is short of money, but not of food. I served as food supervisor this year and know that there is still a considerable amount of food, nails and wood left in various parts of Italy. "

The following meaning is understood by all the senators present - that is, any share of the money in hand that exceeds 60,000 sesterces must be used to force the purchase of these things. How crazy is this? Who needs these? Things for forts and ships, besides the poultry and grain from my own estate, aren’t they enough? What's more, where can I find those things to stock up on these heavy and bulky "goods"?

Questions and discussions gradually arose. Of course, Lepidus had long expected this difficulty. He calmed down the noise and then narrated, "Of course, I have also taken into account the difficulties in warehouses and transportation. Although everyone does not Doing business is also regarded as a despicable job, but after all, there are still some financial slaves engaged in these activities. We might as well pretend that everyone bought these goods, of course it is just virtual, so there is no need for granaries and warehouses - Caesar's excess food can still be used. In future wars, or in the rationing and relief for the civilians of Rome, as for the excess wood and nails, I will easily consume them in military construction - but the money handed over still belongs to everyone, but It is only temporarily given to Caesar for safekeeping and use. The credit for repayment is based on the creditworthiness of the country and Dictado, and the terms are separate, ranging from six months to three years depending on the amount."

After saying this, Matthias next to Lepidus immediately took out a shiny bronze tablet from the box he was carrying. On it was engraved the amount of coins and Dictado's seal, "Gentlemen, please call this thing... How about holding it as a 'bond' and using it as proof to demand repayment from the country when the time limit is reached?"

After saying that, several slaves held baskets full of such bonds and walked around the venue. The elders grinned in pain, but they could only follow along and select the nameplates that matched their respective financial resources. With trembling lips, he held it in his arms with a purr.

A bronze plate is equivalent to one hundred thousand or even millions of Sethtus, which is simply...

After the meeting ended in the evening, there was once again a long queue in front of the Juilliard Hall. All the nobles were forced to come and hand over coins. Lepidus asked not to have copper coins, but only gold and silver coins, because collecting copper coins was meaningless.

Looking at the jars of dazzling coins, Matthias became excited. He seemed to understand what Lepidus meant. "I see, the last step is to mint coins, right? Caesar is short of money now, so we can mint new coins." Coins, but mixed with an appropriate proportion of lead or other things, so that the quality of coins of the same face value is lower than before, and the excess is included in Caesar's private treasury to support the operation of the army, or it can Solve the money shortage and stabilize prices in the market." The Jewish child became more and more excited as he talked, but Lepidus took out a gold coin from the pottery urn, looked at it, and touched the gap on it. Romans liked to buy gold and silver coins. Use teeth or tools to make such a gap and observe the quality inside. Then he immediately rejected Matthias's idea, "No, the quality is actually better than the previous coins, because I think the current problem, The first thing is not to search for money, but to ensure the credit of the bonds. If they are of sufficient quality, the circulation will be surprisingly fast. We only need to transport the materials to the city of Rome, relax the luxury goods market appropriately, and collect taxes. In this way, we can accumulate enough funds."

"This way..." Matthias said at this time, and then he became embarrassed again, saying that if the gold and silver coins paid by the nobles were recast and circulated, the quantity might not be enough.

"It doesn't matter. Didn't I just ask the senators to gather and vote again? I also issued an order in the name of Dicrato to urgently requisition the gold and silver wall decorations and utensils of all temples and recycle them to mint new coins. This amount is enough." Lepidus said that in the end he suddenly smiled strangely and whispered to Matthias, "The extra small part will be recorded as fire consumption and cast into gold and silver ingots. I will keep it privately and can still use it in Cyrene in the future." Got it." (To be continued...)