"Citizens of Rome, I stand here today, not for my own benefit, but for all of us, for each and every one of us. Pen × fun × Pavilion www. ｂｉｑｕｇｅ。 infoWe work so hard to cultivate, labor, however, still get too little, don't we? Look, those large estates, the great workshops, are now crowded with slaves from the provinces, and they are now usurping our jobs, and our salaries have been cut again and again, which was originally our work, so please support me, and when I become your tribune, I will fight for our own and for the vital interests of each and every one of us in the halls of the Senate, and I will get back the wealth that belongs to us. I will propose that the slaves who had been plundered by the war should come out of the farms, estates, and workshops and participate in the construction of large urban infrastructure, and we need more bathhouses, gymnasiums, more theaters, and more racecourses. By the time the slaves come out of the estates of the great nobles, we will have more jobs, more pay! ”

In the market square of Uppi Lane after the rain, the crowd was undoubtedly cheering when Appis stood on the steps of the upper level and loudly proclaimed his campaign lines. Civilians who had been buying food or pottery at the market gathered in the audience and listened excitedly to Appis's speech. In their view, this kind of unpretentious campaign promise is the person who deserves their support, the person who really thinks about them, just like Gracchus a hundred years ago, who uses his own promises and practical actions to seek the most fundamental and practical power for the common people of Rome. However, Appis knew that these days, such speeches were nothing more than routine performances. All this, no matter how nice they say, no matter how beautiful they say, no matter how much they promise, the end is fixed, those votes have long been fixed, and the citizens who have taken Caesar's coins have long been playing with prostitutes* at home, and they are happy, and when the day of the election comes, they only need to exercise their sacred citizenship rights and cast a vote for those on the list.

Caesar bribed so many people, the scale of the scale, even involving the slaves of the aristocracy, the Senate had no way to do it, or rather, the investigation was difficult, or rather, the senators of the Senate were unwilling to pay out of their own pockets to eradicate these cowardly citizens.

"Behold, this is Caesar's conspiracy, this man is so similar to Caesar, both are good at agitating the people, good at bringing their emotions to a high *tide, the people are ignorant, they will frantically support him when they hear this or that promise, and yet, once they take office, they do not meet the previous requirements, and these officials can find a hundred plausible reasons to perfunctory those stupid audiences."

"However, the previous tribunes were on our side, and now they have Caesar's back."

The market square was full of people, and Appis was already surrounded by a fanatical crowd cheering the name of Appis, and in this boiling feast, Carrenus and Cato the Younger were also mixed in with the crowd, although their white robes easily attracted the attention of the townspeople, but no one knew that these two men were the senators of the Senate, because the nobles often wore white robes and walked the streets and alleys.

"Now is not a question of which side the tribune is on, as we all know, this year's tribune is still Caesar's candidate. What we need to discuss is what kind of bills these new officials will propose when they take office, and what Caesar will make through them. ”

Little Cato stood in the crowd and whispered to Carenus, wiping his robe uncomfortably, as if he was afraid that his clothes would be soiled by the slaves and freemen of the market.

"Caesar's request, what else can he ask, is that he wants to wait until the governor of his province leaves office, he can still be the consul of Rome, but we can't let him succeed."

Carenus replied.

"It takes planning, Karenus."

Little Cato looked at the frenzied crowd around him and frowned again, he knew that the strength of the Senate alone was not enough to fight Caesar.

"Caesar had a lot of political enemies in Rome, and we could take advantage of them. In fact, I have repeatedly wished that you would personally go to Villa Pompey and agitate against Caesar, the first man of Rome, but why do you always refuse, what are you worried about? Politics is like this, you are now behaving like a hunter, because you can't bear to release the beast to bite your prey, and in the end, you will be bitten by the prey, and this bite will be fatal, he will use his sharp teeth, bite your throat, and make you fall down bloodily. Caesar is such a man, we need allies like Pompey, and the best way to deal with a beast is to release a beast that is more ferocious than it. ”

Carrenus tries to convince Cato the Younger, just like his previous plan for Appis, to use assassination, simple and direct, but at the same time, probably the most effective. However, Cato always refused again and again.

"Carenus, my friend, my comrade-in-arms, you know, the reason why I have been reluctant to ask Pompey for help, because Pompey may have the same ambition as Caesar and Sulla. It may be that Pompey has restrained his ambitions and desires under certain circumstances, but this does not mean that he has changed his mind, and when the time comes, he will still want to become a second Sulla (dictator). At the moment, the situation is not so imminent, Caesar did not say that he would not hand over the military power, and his term of office is indeed not expired, in this case, if we unite with Pompey and defeat Caesar completely, then then, in Rome, there will be no force in Rome that can stop Pompey, and then, as long as he wants, the legions will immediately march into the city of Rome, then, we have defeated Caesar, but created a real dictator, just ask, at that time, we look back at our decision today, Doesn't it feel stupid and naïve? ”

If Cato did not tell the reason in detail in the conversation with Luceris at the beginning, then today, when Carrenus pressed him again about it, little Cato gave out his worries and thoughts in detail. Having fought with Caesar and Pompey for so long, for Cato the Younger, he knew too well the peculiarities of these two Roman generals.

However, Carenus is different from Luceris after all, he is a cunning viper. And unwilling to be threatened by other beasts.

"I have a plan, Cato."

Karenus said with a sly smile.

"I'm listening."

Little Cato looked embarrassed. He doesn't like to use covert means to defeat his opponent, so even if the other party hasn't said anything about Carrenus's advice, Cato Jr. knows a thing or two.

"Pompey hasn't attacked yet, but we can force him to attack. Every year in his sphere of influence, Pompey selects his own people to important positions in Rome, and we only need to make some arrangements in his list, such as placing Caesar's people in positions that originally belonged to Pompey's choice, and squeezing Pompey's people out of these positions, at that time, as the controlling general Gnaeus, he will no longer sit idly by. ”

Carrenus spoke like an iceberg, hiding in a dark corner, contemplating his plan to deliberately infiltrate Caesar's sphere of influence into Pompey's forces and force them to turn against each other, so that the Senate could then help the weaker side. Continue to maintain this balance. Even in times of fierce fighting, the Senate could profit from this, uprooting the foundations and power of both sides in Rome, thus regaining power in the hands of the Senate. (To be continued.) )