7. Opponents

"Appis's intention in doing this is clear, he is buying up small mines around Capua to drive down the market copper price, thereby squeezing our profits, and perhaps he wants to buy our mines at a low price at the last minute. Pen, fun, pavilion www. biquge。 info That's what he's trying to do. ”

"I know, but Apis's background is not simple, his wealth is far above ours, he was originally a legion commander under Caesar, after defeating Pompey, he made a huge fortune in Rome by creating an insurance industry, and now, his ambition is obviously not satisfied with gaining profit in Rome, he wants to extend his greedy evil hand to the other industries of the Republic, mining, yes, he now has his sights set on our mines, when he buys the first pit and begins to lower the price of production, I knew what he wanted to do, but even if I did, I couldn't compete with his wealth and power. ”

In the great mansion of Tiberias on the outskirts of Capua, Titus was sitting in a circle chair at home, indignantly talking about what was happening in the copper market of Capua these days, and that Apis appeared like a robber from the north, forcibly digging their wealth out of his pocket, and the goal was not only a temporary price war, but also a monopoly on the city's mining industry in the future.

Titus' partner, Carudes, was also aware of Appis's intentions, and at the same time, he was a staunch aristocratic faction, an old man of Pompey.

"My friend, these days, I think a lot, Apis is like a hungry wolf from the north, although his strength is strong, but his source of wealth is too single, I have investigated his family history, except for the insurance industry, he has no other wealth income, all his income in the society comes from the insurance industry and the lending benefits generated by this interest, that is to say, although his financial resources are very strong, but the less risk-resistant he is, because his income is too single, and my idea is that he only needs to carefully prepare for a stormIf there is a major accident in his own business, then he will have no intention, or even no ability, to take care of the acquisition of the mine that took place in Capua. ”

Caludus sat down in front of Titus and said treacherously.

"You mean to shift his gaze to other battlefields and address this hungry wolf at its roots?"

Although Titus was a Roman aristocrat who inherited his father's assets, his more than ten years of political and business career made him quickly understand the meaning of Carudus. The giants were too strong, but the weaknesses were also obvious, Carrudes continued.

"Yes, in Rome, any Roman aristocrat who was in the insurance business actually hated Appis very much, because he took almost all the market share so that no one else could profit from it, and this industry, in fact, is also a very risky business, I mean, if anybody were going to make a fool of themselves. According to the information obtained by my eyeliner in Rome, in order to control the occurrence of insurance fraud, Apis stipulated that every insurance policy exceeding 100,000 sistyrs must be reviewed before it could be approved, and he stipulated that the validity period of a policy, that is, the accident that occurred within a month, his guarantor agency would not be responsible, and high-risk groups could not be insured, such as gladiators. All kinds of regulations, so that the whole industry at the beginning of the development of the risk of almost all of the thought of him, but, as long as the artificial destruction of it, in fact, he still can not prevent, however, because its organization is too large, strong financial resources, so the general small accident he can still afford to pay, and we can carefully prepare a gift for him. ”

"To kill the civilian or knight who insured him?"

Titus quickly asked.

"No, the insurance amount of those people is too small to shake the guarantee agency of Appis, and the nobles, we dare not start, because the strength and relationship behind each nobleman should not be underestimated, so we can set our sights on those large assets that are guaranteed by Apis. Ships and warehouses, all large-scale property insurance, are our targets. And these people, we destroyed their supplies, and in fact the loss to them was not great, because they could take the fact that they could go to Appis to exchange their bonds. On some high-value insurance policies, Apis promised three or four times the amount insured, just imagine, as long as three large Roman warehouses caught fire at the same time, Apis would not be able to raise so many silver coins in a short period of time to pay for the wrecked merchants. ”

Caderus narrowed his eyes and said, and the idea was quickly endorsed by Titus. Although he did not take sides in politics, Titus was willing to take risks when his vital interests were threatened, because the aristocracy who lost his wealth was equivalent to losing everything. At this time, even a risky move was worth trying, although before making this decision, Titus already knew that he was likely to find himself in the chaotic political struggle of Rome at this time.

Two days later, Cardrus' men found Appis' greatest rival in Rome, Appius. The former "father and son" are still chattering and fighting after the end of the civil war, which has to be said to be a dramatic story. However, in view of the difficulties and obstacles encountered by Caesar in the reform, Apis tried to pull out the potential threat of Appius many times, but could not actually carry out the action, and now, Caderus's men have found him.

"Arson to the great warehouse of Panutya? Oh no, it's too risky, I'm just a fallen nobleman of Aretia, and you expect me to do something like this, and I won't want to do it. Caesar is now king of Rome, dictator, Apis is his deputy, senator, I won't do such a risky thing. ”

When the envoy first met Appius, Appius's attitude surprised the reaction of Caderus' men. According to the information they had gathered before, Appius and Apis were absolute enemies and enemies in Rome, but now it seems that even Appius, who hated Apis deeply, did not dare to take on this risky plan.

When the envoy returned to Capua, Caderus himself quickly understood why.

"It's not that he doesn't want to be part of the project, but he's testing our sincerity. Yes, Appius was one of the most shrewd aristocratic merchants in Arretia, and his hatred of Apis, known to many Romans, was only testing me and our sincerity. In addition, I guess he wants to make a profit from this. Well, he's waiting for us to speak. ”

Instead of disappointing Caderus and scolding his men, he smiled at Titus. In his opinion, Appius is not the kind of person who can work together deeply in one or two meetings.