The darkness in the heart must be dispelled with knowledge.

- Lucretius (Roman philosopher)

The bloody massacre plunged the entire city of Rome into a dead silence, but the forces represented by Marius took all the resources they needed for their next development in this massacre; The nobles and the rich not only owned gold, but each of them also owned valuable fields, mansions, manors, various shops, workshops, etc., and these fixed assets were also taken over by Marius.

However, Marius and Antony, among others, also knew that bloody slaughter alone was not enough to gain the population of the Roman people, and that a large amount of gold coins alone was not enough to make the power they represented stronger; Therefore, Marius formulated a series of plans to find ways to gain the support of the Roman people and the unity of his own internal forces.

Marius knew that in order to truly gain a foothold in Rome, the first thing was to really gain the support of the ordinary Roman people; And Marius also had a weapon in his hands at this time that could conquer the hearts of the Roman people! On the third day after the bloody Roman Night, Marius announced a policy to the Roman people throughout the Latin and Campania provinces in his capacity as dictator for life.

The new policy was as follows: every Roman citizen living in the city could go to the local official's office for the first five days of each month to receive five gold coins for living expenses, and the ten gold coins could be spent freely; And every Roman peasant living in the countryside could receive a permanent piece of land at the local official's office at one time, but not twice.

As soon as such a policy was announced, it caused an uproar throughout the Latin and Campania provinces; Countless Roman citizens and Roman peasants could not believe that His Excellency Marius would implement such a good social welfare, it was like a dream! Originally, everyone didn't believe it, and even worried that there was some conspiracy in it; After all, the blood of the Roman night made by Marius has not faded!

However, after some people tried to collect it, they did get the gold coins and the fields; The people of Rome went completely crazy. In all the rural and urban provinces of Latin and Campania, they crowded the offices of officials set up by Marius to collect their own gold coins and fields, completely forgetting that what they had obtained was stolen by Marius with a butcher's knife.

In the midst of such a general trend, everyone forgot about the unpleasant Roman night with extraordinary speed; Although it was a terrible thing to have so many nobles and rich people die, it didn't affect their lives for ordinary Roman people, did it? Coupled with the impetus of Marius's forces, everyone even thinks that those who were killed deserved it, and they should be killed!

Why did the people of Rome have such extreme ideas? This is still Marius's strategy! In order to gain the support of the Roman people, Marius arranged for a large number of loyal people to preach such an idea among the Roman populace when he gave them free gold coins and fields:

The reason why the nobles and wealthy people of Rome had a lot of wealth and high social status was because they brutally squeezed the blood and sweat of every simple Roman people, which was the root of their wealth. And the massacre of Lord Marius is in essence to take back the wealth that belongs to the Roman people from the hands of those evil nobles and rich people, and then return it to the people of Rome!

These words sound exciting, and Marius does them inspiringly; But the truth is far from that simple. The combined population of the provinces of Latin and Campania would never exceed five million, and the families they formed were just over a million; Among them, there are more than 300,000 families with citizenship, and most of the rest are workers and peasants.

In addition to the fact that Marius had to divide less than half of his land among the workers and peasants, he had to spend 1.5 million gold coins a month to gain the support of all the Roman people in the entire Latin and Campania provinces. Is 1.5 million gold coins a lot? It's an astronomical amount, enough for the 100,000 army of the Augustan family to need all the gold coins needed for three years!

Because with the deepening of the Oscar reform, the Augustus family has now implemented a new payment method for military rings; Each standard legion only needs to pay 50,000 gold coins per year, of which the main battle legion accounts for 70% of the military spending, and the secondary legions account for 30% of the military spending.

Moreover, the 50,000 gold coins were not issued in the name of military salaries, but in the name of the Augustus family subsidy; Because the armies of the House of Augustus were all from compulsory military service, they were not paid any salary. However, they have other benefits; Leaving aside the military merit hierarchy for the time being, the measure of granting five acres of land to the family of each soldier was enough for these soldiers to do their duty.

Therefore, it is enough for the ten legions of the Augustan family to consume only a subsidy of 500,000 gold coins per year; And Marius spends 1.5 million gold coins every month! In a year, Marius would need to spend 18 million gold coins on this expenditure alone! However, Marius did not intend to continue this policy forever, and he only prepared 20 million gold coins for this policy.

Marius believed that it would only take two months to implement such a policy and the five million Roman people of the Latin and Campania provinces would become his most loyal and reliable supporters; After a year of stabilizing the situation, establishing relations with other powers in an orderly manner, and expanding the army, the people of Rome will understand what the real course of action should be.

After solving the external problems, the internal problems need to be put on the table; How to obtain the unconditional support and allegiance of his army became something that Marius had to accomplish. Marius relied heavily on Antony and Octavian not only because of their abilities, but also because of their loyalty to him.

In fact, on the night when Decius of the Maxentius family contacted Antony and Octavian, Antony and Octavian reported everything to Marius through special channels; The next series of things are just the arrangements of Marius, Antony and Octavian have always been Marius's people, and Marius knows this.

Now, Marius had gained power in Rome with the support of these men; Then, the time has come to repay these people. Marius must give them enough benefits to guarantee their continued allegiance to him; In Marius's view, the relationship between people is so simple, and eternal interests are enough to guarantee everything!

As a result, Marius began to reward his men and allies aggressively; Iulianus, the leader of the Scipio family, was appointed as the new consul of the Republic, Antony was appointed as the treasurer of the Republic while continuing to be the commander of the legions, Octavian was appointed as the procurator of the Republic while continuing to be the commander of the legions, and the remaining three positions were left empty.

All the officers of the three legions under Marius and the two legions under the Scipio family, each of whom was personally received and rewarded by Marius; The reward given to them by Marius was a thousand gold coins per person and a luxurious villa on the outskirts of Rome! The centurions, on the other hand, were each given five hundred gold coins and a luxurious house in Rome.

As for Aulus and Exprius of the Banu Scipio, they personally led their legions to support Marius; Without hesitation, Marius gave each of them 10,000 gold coins and a large manor. Aulus, in particular, though he was only fifteen years old this year, was not even an adult; But he was a member of Scipio's blood, and Marius gave him a vineyard alone!

In short, Marius made all those who followed him and supported him reap the benefits of this feast; Even for the lowest soldiers, Marius rewarded each with fifty gold coins, allowing them to celebrate in the barracks for three days! Truth be told, Marius's generosity was beyond anyone's imagination; Everyone couldn't help but feel the correctness of their choice.

Especially the Roman people who were struggling to survive at the bottom and the ordinary warriors in every legion; In their hearts, Marius's status is no less than that of the gods. After all, the gods can't give them gold and a good life, but Marius can do it, and he did.

In fact, having won the support of the Roman people by squandering gold coins, Marius turned his attention to negotiations with Scipio. Originally, in Marius's strategic plan, after settling the Maxentius family, he was preparing to ally the Augustus family and march south to annex the Scipio family in one fell swoop.

However, things are impermanent; Because of an accident, Marius and the Augustus family became enemies of life and death. In this way, it would be impossible for Marius to annex the Scipio family with impunity; Otherwise, this will definitely incur a joint blow from the Brutus family in the south and the Julius family in the north!

They could allow Marius to annex the Maxentius family, since Marius himself was a member of the Maxentius family; Such a thing is at best a civil strife of the Maxentius family. If Marius is greedy enough to swallow the Scipio family, it will be worth thinking about Marius's ambitions.

So, unable to secure the support of the Augustan family, Marius changed his original strategy; Instead, he intends to form an alliance with the Scipio family and make the Scipio family a helping hand in his cause to unify the Apennine Peninsula! Marius's previous bounty on Julianus and Scipio, as well as on Scipio's legions; It's all about preparing for the next negotiations. (To be continued.) )