Chapter 33 The Name of the Ruler (Part 2)

And Leo seemed to have relieved his depression, and then he asked his father a second question, "I have learned from brother Maecenas that Turinus and his father Antony listed a long, long list. The list of public enemies is about to start a terrifying massacre in the city of Rome. As the leader of the alliance, why do you allow such a cruel thing to happen? Even if it is to avenge the dictator Julius, but this? The scope of killing is really too wide,"

The implication is that Leo seemed to blame his father for going too far with his iron-blooded methods, and he was also afraid that such a large-scale killing would have a backlash.

Lepidus, who was sitting on the couch, laughed and asked his son, "Do you know how many people on this list I have stamped my seal on?" Seeing that Leo was confused, his father said directly, " There are less than twenty people, and even these twenty people are all signed and sealed by me and the other three people. Most of the rest, about eighty senators and seven hundred knights, are I have no objection to the fact that your friend and Anthony stamped their stamps alone.

Leo was a little more confused, "But Papa, according to the agreement between the four of you, everyone who is going to be sentenced to death has a joint signature and seal. In other words, no one can get rid of the involvement."

"But this list will soon be hung on the main square and on the inscriptions in all neighborhoods. In other words, most of the senators or knights who are implicated will easily find that my and Pansa's seals are at the bottom. , they quickly understood the principle. This is a simple truth that is easy to understand for the nobles who are afraid of life. Okay, before I give any further answers. I would like to ask you, Leo, why do you think Caesar and Antony made such a long list? "

Leo lowered his head and didn't think about it for too long, or maybe he already understood the answer, and then said, "Because Turinus and Antony are very, very short of money, and they want to raise legions." . Come to fight with Papa, but the existence of the Senate prevents them from doing anything about finance. "

The father nodded. It seemed that his son was not stupid, and he was not a nerd after all. He could see the plan and strategy from the book, "Leo, you know, father, I can be completely self-sufficient in money, Turinus With my help, I have just inherited some of the free slaves left by Caesar. But how can Caesar's free slaves compare with Crassus and my patron? Because Caesar still carried the burden when he was alive. He had a huge debt, which he could only pay off after being exiled in Gaul. His source of wealth was also very simple, that is, plundering and selling slaves. This kind of money came quickly, but disappeared quickly. And Caesar. There is no time to train his free slaves. To be honest, his people are not qualified to carry the shoes of Crassus's free slaves and slaves in terms of calculation and management level. In addition, most of Caesar's properties are just garden villas, and there are only The value of the one-time sale was distributed to the people for free use in the will. Didn’t you burn all the land deeds stamped by the government before? But father, I am different. What I inherit is the first-class one in the entire republic. The knights, free slaves and high-level slaves were personally trained by Crassus and Luculas. There is no one in Rome who can match them. According to what I said when I educated you before, they are all at the 'teacher' level! , estimators, financial engineers, joiners, metalworkers, architects, weavers, mechanics, agricultural engineers, etc., these are all the best talents that Crassus and my patron have gathered over decades, and many are scattered. I spent a lot of money to recruit them. Some slaves worked for ten years and accumulated more wealth than the knights of Rome. However, I still did not redeem their bodies and hired them at high prices so that they could pass on their skills to future generations. , and settled them in Cyrene, Alexandria, Sardinia, and Lepidus Castle. Leo, you should understand why-an agriculturist with an annual salary of one hundred thousand sesterces, the benefits achieved may be Not even a million sestes can stop him." Then Lepidus called Leo to come to him, and then he took his son's slender finger, which was King Numa's ring, and asked softly, "So you know. What does this ring mean?"

"It means I inherited this wealth. It's not just money, but people, papa." Leo whispered.

"Not only that, it also means that you are much stronger and stronger than Turinus. You can do what he can do, and you can do it better. What you lack now is legion But it doesn’t matter. If you are interested, just do it. If you are not interested, my father will do it for you, or you can leave it to Sabo, Paluma and Petnaeus.”

"Well, Papa, I have one last question, that is, did I do something wrong when I asked Turinus to burn the land deed?"

Lepidus burst out laughing and said, "It depends on how you look at this question, whether it's Turinus or yourself. It's like what Turinus did right away was a far-sighted thing for him, or a poison to quench his thirst."

There was no need to explain what happened next, so he gestured to Leo, meaning that he could leave.

The next day, when Li Bi Da walked out of the gate of Prima Villa, he was ready to go to the Kunta Plain camp to change guard under the escort of the guards, but when he arrived at the gate, he found that dozens of elders were standing densely. When they saw Li Bi Da coming out, they crowded around like flies seeing meat, using all kinds of disgusting and flattering words and making all kinds of promises. Some wanted to donate property, some wanted to donate money, and some wanted to hold a meeting to grant Li Bi Da great and noble power. In short, they showed their loyalty and love in various ways.

Lepidus smiled slightly and said to everyone, "I am not as enthusiastic about office and money as you think. I am already the high priest of the former, and I have nothing to pursue for the latter."

This statement almost broke the hearts of the elders. They even asked people to clamor for Lepidus to take office as dictator and dictator, but Lepidus just shook his head. In the end, he still appeased the group of people and said, "Wait for the news of the Senate's negotiations with us."

This sentence is not only a comfort, but also a silent reminder, and even a threat.

When Lepidus left the city gate, the inspector Piso and Cicero, who was worried and failed to escape, were forced to convene a meeting of all the elders. As for the group of people who were previously released by Cicero, they were even deprived of the qualification to attend the meeting. (To be continued...)