Augustus Road

"The indispensable structural layout of transporting so much water is comparable to the worthless pyramids or the slightly useful Greek works of art."

——A Roman water commissioner enthusiastically praised the aqueduct of the city of Rome

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When Calabis's team entered Prema, which was full of fruit trees and green shade, many craftsmen hired by Luculas had already begun to level the land and dig the foundation. Three days ago, Luculas invited the most famous fortune teller in Rome to conduct a detailed divination on the fortune of the chosen location. The answer was everything was auspicious, so today he was in a very good mood and sat down with Marcus. Under the parasol, his wife Claudia also rarely sat beside him, eating fresh fruit.

When he saw several people dressed as freedmen standing respectfully next to Claudia, Calabis's heart sank. He recognized one or two of them. They were all architects and contractors in the city. Claudius The purpose of Ya calling them here is very simple, which is to persuade her husband to hand over the Prema project to these people - naturally this woman can get huge benefits from it.

This bitch wants to be the first to take my job! Calabis stood under the scorching sun, sweat dripping down his face.

"A hundred and fifty thousand drachmas, are they so expensive? My dear, I don't raise a golden goat, otherwise I would just have to cut a roll of its golden wool to pay for it." Luculas listened to Claudia's statement After asking for the price, I said unhappily, thinking that the asking price was too outrageous.

Claudia's face twitched twice. Originally, she was about to have an attack, but thinking about the small silver money, she could bear it. She squeezed out a smile and said, "Originally, fifty or sixty thousand was enough. But opening up the tunnel and drawing in seawater will inevitably lead to high costs.”

What!

Calabis couldn't bear it anymore, so he stood up bravely and said to Luculas: "Lord Sanctuary, I remember that I first proposed the design of the tunnel and the sea water. How come someone is plagiarizing other people's ideas now? Originally, these people, Aren’t they all about building a mountain road, climbing over the mountain, and then building a seaside water park there?”

"This..." Luculas said with some embarrassment, "Dear Calabis, I naturally know your idea, but you are just a freedman who has just been released. How can you find the strength to complete such a project? . So I discussed with Marcos to combine your idea with the financial and manpower of these two contractors. Don’t worry, your tunnel idea is very good. I will pay you three thousand dinars immediately. remuneration."

Um? Three thousand dinars to buy an idea, yes, maybe I would have been happy to agree to it in Karabis before, but it is different now. Now that I am here, I have decided to do something big, with this little money, Sorry, I'm not interested anymore.

"Dear Sanctuary, I am not without strength. This time I brought the team." Karabis pointed at Milu behind him, which caused a burst of ridicule from Claudia and the architect, "Karabis Bisi, Calabis, why did you call the retired beggars? Just ask Kelly to give them ten sesterces each and send them all away." Claudia rolled her eyes disdainfully. arrive.

At this time, Kelly came over in a hurry, but it seemed that he was not here to send Calabis and his party away. He ran to Claudia's ear and said, "Langhis' compensation has been sent!"

Langis, the upstart knight who was once a lover of Claudia, last time "slandered" the beautiful Claudia, saying that she was a fire in the field and a piece of cake in the bed. Bing was so angry that Claudia went to settle the score with him. Thanks to Calabis, he defeated his men with fighting fists, so that he could be annihilated by Claudia's slaves again, avenging Claudia's death. Arrow revenge.

When he was punished, Langis begged for mercy and said he would compensate Claudia 10,000 drachmas to calm her anger. Now he has raised all the money to send it.

"Bring it up, I want to take some money from it and send away these beggars brought by Calabis." Claudia smiled charmingly and put a piece of fig into her mouth.

"Dear Madam, we are not beggars. We are all former legionnaires who have served under Sura. We are confident that we can do any construction work." Milu protested with a hint of dissatisfaction.

At this time, Luculas noticed Milu with his sharp eyes, "Your name is Milu Quintus. You once served in Sulla's Seventh Legion. Later, because of your outstanding performance, you served as a retained non-commissioned officer in the city of Rome. Then...you served Marius and Sethius and became the chief centurion of the rebels in Spain."

"Yes, I recognize you too, Your Excellency." Milu gave a military salute.

"That's enough, Calabis." Luculas stood up from his armchair and announced with regret: "I am a general who has just enjoyed a triumphal victory. I will not let the rebels accept the project of my villa. , It's a pity." After saying that, he pointed to the engineer beside Claudia, "Feltus."

"It is Portus, the honored victorious general."

"The tunnel project is handed over to you. The advance payment is 30,000 drachmas. Kelly will help you get it done soon." This was Luculas' final decision.

Calabis lowered his head, the wind blew through his ears, and his heart was full of unwillingness, but he clearly heard a mockery from Claudia and the guy named Portus on the other side, and ran away without knowing whether the sky was high or high. If you try to overstep your bounds, you will only make people laugh.

Suddenly, Claudia screamed in anger. She opened the purse that Langis gave her and found that it was not filled with silver drachmas, but copper coins. Soon, the whole Prima echoed her cry: "Carabis, I am willing to give you the contract for this project, on the condition that you follow me to the Subura District again now. I will kill that guy Langis!"

On the way back to the boulevard, Milu looked at the somewhat depressed Carabis and comforted him: "It's not your fault. Luculas did nothing wrong. A general of the Republic should not trust a centurion who was once rebellious." At this point, Carabis could only smile awkwardly and separated from the group of veterans who had made a wasted trip near the sanctuary of the city wall.

At home at night, Boti brought up a plate of "massa", a kind of paste made of flour, honey, oil and salt, and a plate of chestnuts. Carabis and Paluma lowered their heads to eat. "I heard that today's matter is very important. Did it go smoothly?" Boti pinched Carabis' nose and asked.

Carabis shook his head and said with a wry smile: "I am not pragmatic enough. I always dream of reaching the sky in one step. The most important thing in this city is to be content. What am I dissatisfied with now? With an income of one or two hundred drachmas a day, we can still buy a small villa in the Apilon Valley in two or three years - I have decided that I will continue to go to Tyranion tomorrow for military training. That thing cannot be lost."

At this time, Boti, like a magic trick, brought up another plate of fragrant roast meat, which made Carabis' eyes bright and his index finger moved. "In fact, sometimes, when you are disappointed with the table, you didn't expect that there is actually a dish that has not been served." Boti said proudly.

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