Chapter 12 Time Rain (Part 2)
"No, I was thinking..." Lepidah's fingers on his chin kept moving, "I don't have time to be too sad, Sabo. I was just thinking about the final game of this Egyptian expedition. Did I take advantage of the Republicans, or did the Republicans take advantage of me? At least now Brutus and his uncle agree with the latter, but every time the one who makes the final comeback is always me...it’s time again this time. How to make a comeback? Seeing the commander flipping his hair again, Sabo knew that he had entered the "deception" mode, so he shook his head, went to the military camp to arrange duties, and ignored him.
The following process was very uneventful. About a month later, Cato left for the island of Cyprus with great success. No one in Rome would publicize the achievements of Lepidus' legion. They would only stare enviously at him who was under forty years old. , he was kidnapped a year ago and went to Rhode Island with only a gunman and a thief. A year later, he cleverly made use of the situation and conquered a kingdom without costing the Republic a single ace. , restored a vassal state, and brought back 3,500 talents of wealth. What did he do worse than Caesar and Pompey?
However, Cato the Younger did not fully express this idea before the battle in Egypt was completed. Instead, he listened to Brutus's suggestion and temporarily divided the island of Cyprus into three administrative regions. Salamis belonged to Lepidus. The legion was stationed in the camp, and the flute player was stationed in order to facilitate the advance into Egypt, while he stopped in the small town of Nicosia in the north of the island, where he could easily meet tax collectors, business groups, etc. from Asia Minor and Greece. Defomochi After handling the funeral of his brother, Si temporarily remained as the high priest of Paphos in the southwest, but he was under the supervision of Cato and was strictly prohibited from contact with Beneniki.
In this way, everyone was busy doing their own thing, and everything was safe, and Lepidus heard that Cato had asked the Republic for instructions. He would return to Rome with the wealth at the end of winter, and humbly ask that in the coming year or the year after, That is to say, when the Egyptian expedition was successful, he ended his term as governor of Cyprus and continued to serve as a legal officer in the state, never seeking a longer term. This behavior was in sharp contrast to the three-headed monster's unusual infatuation. It must be said that A great move from Cato.
Soon after, the Pharaoh's guard of honor appeared in the city of Salamis. He did not dare to take a ship because he was afraid of being intercepted by the Egyptian fleet. Instead, he crossed the entire Cyprus and came in a sedan chair. When he saw Lepidus, the first thing he said was, "My thief brother who embezzled money is dead?"
"Yes, even though he was an enemy, he still maintained his royal dignity when he died. He died sitting on the Pharaoh's chariot after the whole family swallowed poison."
Hearing this, the flute player's face darkened. Lepidus' description really couldn't give him the pleasure of defeating the enemy. On the contrary, it added a certain feeling of sorrow for the death of a rabbit and a fox. The daughter gently held her father's hand and comforted him, "This is also the inevitable outcome. Not only do we want him dead, the Roman Republic has long wanted to annex Kiti (Cyprus), a sea route, into a province."
"Also, I did receive half of the money, but eight hundred talents of rewards were given to the officers and soldiers. This is indeed very sorry. Our legion will fight with double the reward in the Battle of Egypt to repay His Majesty the Pharaoh. ”
The Pharaoh raised his fake beard, his expression was very gentle, and he tapped Lepidus' shoulder with his staff, "I should be the one regretting the most now. If I could have listened to my ministers' advice and insisted on staying in Alexandria, maybe I would have put down the rebellion. Go down instead of standing in front of the Roman bureaucracy like a beggar asking for their troops. Now that you have become the royal sword, what should I be stingy about in terms of money? I have seen what happened to Lemy, and I don’t want to end up like this... Dear Minister of Finance and Supervisor, I have decided that the extra two thousand talents will be used to repair the palace at Salamis. I will be stationed abroad, and all the rest will be used as military expenses.”
After speaking, the surrounding slaves, including Lepidus and other Roman generals, all bent their waists with all their strength and praised the Pharaoh for his wisdom, martial prowess, and high ambition.
Sabo obviously noticed that the recent commander-in-chief was silent. Sometimes he just marked something on some military training drafts and pictures he had drawn up. Sometimes he looked thoughtfully in the direction of Ephesus in the north. The current Thirteenth Army Corps The training has become formal, but the weapons used by the two archer brigades are different, which is a bit tricky. One is similar to the attached cavalry brigade, using single-body bows from the Mediterranean, and the other is from Syria and is used to using Asian weapons captured before. Describe the compound bow.
"The former is placed in the center and right of the formation, and the latter is placed at the right end of the right wing, so that the archers can have the best view and have complementary shooting ranges." Sabo gestured with his fingers on the sketch, but the commander His eyes were dull, he was half leaning on the chair, and he nodded occasionally. Suddenly he shouted to prepare horses and entourage, and he was going to Nicosia to pay a visit to Cato.
Later, Lepidus suddenly shouted nervously, "No, I'm not going to pay homage to Cato!" The commotion made Sabo and others a little confused.
When he arrived at the gate of Nicosia, Tagus and Sabo clearly heard that he used the name of a legion soldier named "Marcus Lucius" to register. There were at least 8,000 such names in the Roman world. Anyway, it was enough to have a talisman. Then he said to Sabo, "You and Tagus go to see Cato. Remember, there is no need for any skills. Just keep asking him to provide part of the budget and supplies, keep nagging him, and try to get him to stay for dinner. However, Cato's meals will not be very delicious. Just hold on. This is your mission."
After giving instructions, Lepidus hid in the alley at the entrance of Cato's mansion, wearing a civilian short shirt, constantly observing something, because he remembered that there was such a rule in old Cato's family motto:
You can only let the slaves prepare their own meals every day, and never prepare banquets for guests unless you have to, because the guests who come to the banquet will definitely not meet your requirements.
So when Sabo entered the mansion, he did not directly raise any issues. Instead, he stood in front of Cato and reported various intelligence, military training, military pay, the preparation of oarsmen and ships, the combat readiness of the Egyptian army on the other side, etc.
What surprised him was that although Cato's performance was obviously not going to solve their problems, his expression was not bored. He politely invited Sabo and Tagus to sit opposite him. Originally, according to Roman customs, superiors and subordinates could not sit at the same time unless they were allowed by their superiors.
Because Cato also needed to understand Lepidus's movements, he had to obtain valuable information from Sabo's official report. In Cato's eyes, Lepidus's position was "enemy". (To be continued.)