"Octavia, you're melancholy again, thinking about your future, aren't you?"

"Mom...... Yes. ”

In the quiet of the night, Octavia stood in front of the courtyard with a sad face, looking at the stars and thinking. When Adia found out, she walked over, her eyes still full of love, but a little more wrinkled. It was the mercilessness of time, like flowing water corroding river rocks.

"Octavia, my daughter, there are some things that we can't get an answer to, no matter how much we think. Like this strife in front of us, this battle. I know you don't want any of them to win, and you don't want any of them to lose. Because almost all of the people on both sides are the people you give your affection to, Octavian is your brother, even if he has hurt you, but you still love him, this is the accumulation of years, it is the blood connection, you can't completely give up. Appis, on the other hand, is your first love, and he is indeed a perfect man. You have a hard choice, you want them all to be safe, but it can't be. ”

The cold water poured out of the spring, and Aditya, dressed in a soft cloak, walked slowly, her steps were very light, and she came to Octavia's side, holding her hand, and gently comforting her.

"Mother, alas, why is fate always so unjust and cruel to me? The people I love are either hurt or die because of me, and the people I love and care for end up standing on the opposite side of the enemy with the people I love deeply. I can't imagine Octavian and Apis facing each other. They used to be best friends and best partners, but why did they end up being enemies? How did it all come to be what it is today? ”

Octavia asked sadly, knowing that her mother could not answer the question. Just like this world, some people are born happy, bathed in sunshine and rain every day, with a happy family and a warm-hearted husband. For some people, their lives are a hard journey. Octavia knew she belonged to the latter. Was this the arrangement of the god Jupiter? Octavia didn't know, she just looked at the endless dark night sky, stunned.

"Because of power, power changes a person. Sometimes it's not that you want to do it, it's that you have to. When you're in that position, you have to take that responsibility. When you're in that position, you have to keep moving forward, you can't stop. Because once you stop, countless people around you will want to surpass you and occupy your position, and your people will suffer because of your lack of effort. Once you get down, you can't get up again, because you have so many political enemies. Not only will they laugh at you, but they will also trample you under your feet. A peaceful life that can no longer be. ”

Atia returned peacefully. She knew that her daughter might not understand these things, that Octavia might not understand them for the rest of her life, and that Octavian and Apis had already experienced them. Coming to this point, many times, it is the inevitable result of the trend of the times, they are all pushed forward by the trend of the times, there is no room for choice, there is no possibility of choosing their own life.

…………

Ostia.

Two weeks later, when Appis's army arrived at the Roman port of Ostia, the defenders were undoubtedly blinded by the sight of hundreds of large Roman warships approaching the port in the morning light. There is no doubt that such a large fleet group must not have broken into the port by accident, but the main fleet of Appis, and even, all the elite regiments are on this fleet.

"All fleets, out of port, bring fuel! Fast! Oh my God, the devil is coming. ”

The commander of the Roman Capua fleet shouted loudly and commanded his own fleet in naval battles. Despite his haste and little chance of victory, Octavian's commander-in-chief of the naval fleet had to defend the port with all in his might. From here, all merchant ships that entered the city of Rome, ships carrying wheat, entered the Tiber River. If this port falls, Rome will be choked by the economic chokehold.

Immediately, in the sea outside the city of Ostia, the flames of war were raging again, and countless flints shot out of these ancient plank ships, with their tails of billowing smoke, swept across the sky, and hit the opposite ships, warships.

Appis's flagship was surrounded by at least thirty heavy three-tier warships, protecting the commander from enemy naval raids. Afterwards, Appis, who was not skilled in naval warfare, stood on the flagship belvedere and watched as his new naval commander commanded the battle.

Octavian's Capua navy drove straight in, while Appis's Mediterranean fleet dispersed in an orderly manner. The new commander Quintus Marchius issued orders in a series of complex flag languages. The ships in the center then slowly retreated, symbolically throwing flaming shells and heavy bolts. The warship groups on both flanks advanced at a rapid pace, gradually forming a trap on the oncoming Roman Capua battleship group.

In less than a Roman hour, the naval fleet from Ostia was surrounded by the vast navy of Apis, and the guns and heavy javelins were fired from the sides of the ships, like countless fireworks swept through the sea between the two ships, splashing up columns of water and spray. Rows of ballista guns protruded from the side decks of the Apis Mediterranean Fleet warships, and the flaming cannons whistled past and smashed into the ships sailing on the opposite side, and then, with a loud roar, the guns on the opposite side were already shattered, and the shattered planks fell into the water, carrying a thick water of blood, staining the sea red. The entire ship was in flames. The crew abandoned the ship and fled, but even as they fell into the water, the javelins and cannons above their heads continued to fly, and the huge hull sank to the surface of the sea with a terrifying cracking sound, leaving behind a blazing flame.

In the most intense places of naval battle, the ships of the Capua fleet were even crowded together with the ships of the Mediterranean fleet of Appis, so close that they could even shoot directly with bows and spears.

Subsequently, the colliding ships drove side by side in a runaway attitude, and in the loud collision sound, the two warships were "shoulder to shoulder". The crew was first overturned by the force of the impact, staggering and falling to the deck, and then, when the ship was stable and moving forward, they shouted and got up and began to fight at close range......

A small group of people jumped onto the opposite ship and fought with melee weapons, however, just as more people were about to jump onto the enemy ship for hand-to-hand combat, the power of the current "cruelly" separated the two ships. Then, the soldiers who were about to jump ship stopped urgently, but many of them still fell into the water due to uncontrollable inertia. The soldiers who had already jumped onto the enemy ship were unfortunate, they were weakened and were soon besieged. The blood stained the deck red, but it also stained the sea......

In the distance, three Roman warships collided with each other, huddled together.

The Capua warship, which was full of slave oarsmen, was hit by Appis's warship, and the sea water instantly flooded into the gap like a beast, and the huge impact of the water made the oarsmen in the cabin have no room for resistance and struggle, and they drowned directly in the cabin......