When people abandon reason, they are governed by feelings, and fragile feelings are overflowing and uncontrollable, like a ship that accidentally sails into the deep sea and cannot find a place to anchorage.

- Marcus Tulius Cicero (Roman statesman, orator, orator, jurist, and philosopher)

Unfortunately, Sevious's next words made Decius sigh helplessly at the two sons again; When Sevios came out, he eagerly asked Decius, "Father, what do you mean by the approaching deadline?" Hasn't your body been tough all the time? How could the deadline be approached? Is there something wrong with you, or have you been overworked lately? “

As Sevious was anxious, Marcus also looked at his father with concern; Seeing that the focus of the two sons was not Oscar and his own hypocrisy at all, but his concern for his body, Decius was both helpless and relieved. I can't help why my two sons can't become family-oriented like Marius or Oscar, and I am glad that I have two filial sons.

In any case, I have prepared everything for them in advance; If Marius doesn't move, he will be doomed! Did Marius really think that he was a little fox who was only twenty-four years old and wanted to calculate the entire Maxentius family? As long as it is determined that the Augustus family echoes the two Sevvius brothers from afar, Decius naturally has other arrangements for internal affairs.

However, there are many things that need to be done by Sevious and Marcus on their own, and neither of them can help them; For example: the wariness of Marius, the cooperation of the Augustan family to maintain the operation, the control of the Senate, etc. Of course, even none of them were able to do it well; Decius still had one last move, the one he used before he died, and it was too early for all to come.

When the father and son were discussing in the study here, Oscar over there also showed a knowing smile on the way to the backyard; In fact, Oscar had already discovered that Sevio and Marcus were supposed to be hiding in a hidden institution in the study. Otherwise, Decius would not have said so much to himself; How can a simple secret conversation explain all the issues so comprehensively? It's not for the two people hiding in the shadows!

Then again, Oscar himself admired Sevio and Marcus very much; Although both of them are not young, their wisdom is also outstanding. Especially Marcus. With his ability, it is more than enough to govern a country, let alone a family of Maxentius; It's a pity that they were born at the wrong time! Both of these men are too emotionally attached and have no ambitions; Even the heart of guarding against others is not enough.

If only it were in times of peace. They will surely become outstanding officials of the Republic who will leave their own glorious pages in the history of the Republic; But this is an era of family supremacy and kingdoms competing for hegemony! the northern barbarians who are ready to move, the North African countries that are eyeing each other, and the Greek countries with bad intentions; The situation of the Romans was fraught with danger. The times create heroes, and families and characters who cannot adapt to the times can only be abandoned by history; This is the fate of those in troubled times.

Of course, Oscar is not the kind of person who crosses rivers and demolishes bridges; As long as the Maxentius family really sincerely helped themselves and the Augustus family. Then you won't let their family suffer! Once Decius died, Marius really wanted to take advantage of the opportunity to fish in troubled waters; Then he will definitely not sit idly by, even if he is desperate for heavy losses, Oscar will try to protect the inheritance of Sevvius and Marcus to the Maxentius family!

The grace of dripping water, the spring reciprocates; Oscar was never an ungrateful person. It's just that the world is too complicated; Oscar didn't dare to reveal his emotional side in front of anyone, because it was not a good but a disadvantage, at least in this troubled world. Therefore, in front of the father and son of Decius, Oscar does not see the rabbit and does not scatter the eagle; But Oscar had already secretly decided in his heart to protect his two eldest brothers.

But. Overall, Oscar didn't suffer either; The conditions offered by Decius are indeed very conducive to the development and growth of the Augustan family, and Oscar will naturally not refuse such favorable conditions. Moreover, Oscar was going to discuss the issue of immigration with Decius today; In Oscar's view, the sheer number of vagrants and poor people in Rome could have migrated to the newly expanded overseas territories.

The advantages of this are twofold: first, it can slowly reduce the number of vagrants and poor people in the city of Rome and even in the Latin provinces, which will greatly reduce the pressure on the republic in maintaining law and order, and can even solve the problem of vagrants that has been formed for hundreds of years in this way; Second, it could expand the influence of the Republic in the newly occupied areas, accelerate the process of Romanization in the newly occupied areas, and even facilitate the recruitment of Roman legions in new territories.

In a word. This practice of emigration is beneficial to the Republic; The only obstacle was the large number of unemployed vagrants who did not accept this form of migration and left Rome proper. However, this problem can also be solved; The Senate could come forward to sketch out a bright future for these people, and even promised them that as soon as they arrived in their new territory, they could become the nobles of the new territory. From now on, you will not worry about eating and drinking, and enjoy the glory and wealth.

After they got on the ship and were transported to Sardinia; That's not up to them. Sardinia is an overseas province far from Rome proper, and it is also the domain of the Augustan family, which is the hall of Oscar; As soon as they set foot on the land of Sardinia, they became the subjects of Oscar. When the time comes, you will be willing to obey. If you don't want to obey, you have to obey the decrees of House Augustus; Sardinia is not Rome itself, tens of thousands of immigrants are not the unemployed and impoverished class of the Republic with 400,000 young and strong, and Oscar's legion is not vegetarian!

Oscar believed that under the sword of his own army; No matter how lazy a person is, he will become diligent, after all, there are no eyes for knives and guns. It is even more impossible that they wanted to send the news back to Rome, or to flee back to Rome themselves; The whole of Sardinia was Oscar territory, and Oscar would never allow untamed immigrants to come near the port. Beyond that, Oscar didn't believe that anyone could swim back to Rome from Sardinia.

And, as long as they were diligent in their work, they had no thought of returning to Rome at all; The reforms to be implemented in Sardinia will fundamentally change the social status of the ordinary poor. As long as they work hard, whether it is farming, business, or joining the army; They can all become the new nobility of the House of Augustus. Thus gaining privileges and status as well as wealth. Isn't this what civilians have been pursuing?

Now it's okay, because Decius first put forward this condition, and Oscar and the Augustus family don't have to come forward to be this villain at all; The Maxentius family will find a way to fool 100,000 immigrants into going to Sardinia. In fact, the size and grain production of Esardinia, which could support another 100,000 Roman immigrants, was already the limit; It is unrealistic to feed more immigrants.

Although the area of Sardinia is not small. But much of the land is either forests or vineyards; Clearing forests requires high costs and a considerable period of time, and vineyards are a real source of income for Sardinia. So, neither of these aspects is the root of the problem; And Oscar also needed to leave a considerable part of the land to pave the way for the imminent military hierarchy, so that the population that Sardinia could feed was thought to be limited.

But as long as Oscar could complete the reforms of Sardinia and the training of the recruit corps before Hannibal was ready for war, the Balearic Islands of Nacarthage and the Bertika, Hannibal's old nest, would have been in the possession of the Augustan family; No way. Who told Carthage to lose its maritime hegemony in the Mediterranean decades ago! In such an era when crossing the sea could only be carried out by boat, the absence of sea power meant that Hannibal would never be able to get out of Sicily and would never be able to grasp the initiative in the war; Unless he can appear in Rome itself, the initiative in the war will always be in the hands of the Romans!

Of course, Oscar can't pin all his hopes on unpredictable sea power; If Hannibal had gathered a strong fleet to fight Oscar's fleet and had won by chance, what would have happened to the Republic Oscar didn't know, but the Augustus family would have been finished. Therefore, Oscar did not dare to slack off in his heart, and only wanted to rush back to Sardinia as soon as possible. The Sardinian reform program and the real training of the legions began.

While Oscar was worried about Sardinia and Hannibal in the city of Rome, what was the situation in Sardinia and the dynamics of Hannibal? In Sardinia, Luquis is leading the generals in a military conference; The meeting was presided over by Luquis, and the participants were Generals Vipsani, Ronkina, Marcus, Cassillo, Gumos, Ulles, Gabriel, Narsi, Scorry, Gatesi, Anne, Shixiu, and Mary.

The reason why Luquis would bring all the generals of Sardinia together for a military meeting was also to deal with the new crisis of the Augustan family; That is, Hannibal united with the Greeks in Sicily! Hannibal not only did not attack the Greek city-state of Greater Sicily, but threw an olive branch to the Greeks; Naturally, the capricious Greek city-states accepted Hannibal's peace.

Even, in order to show their sincerity to Hannibal, the Greek city-states specially formed a new Aristocles regiment and a new Pallas fleet from the mainland to Sicily to obey Hannibal's command. The so-called Aristackle Legion was nothing more than a corps of six thousand recruits; Moreover, its members were all javelinmen, archers, and militiamen, and the most elite part was no more than a thousand or so Greek infantry, which did not matter at all.

It is estimated that even the Greek city-states themselves and Hannibal regarded this legion as a goodwill exchange between the two sides; But. It was the Pallas fleet that was really deadly. Although the so-called Pallas fleet was a newly formed fleet, its warships and fleet members were drawn from the elite Greek fleet; Moreover, its scale is also very large.

According to the person who delivered the information to Luquis, the entire fleet was commanded by the famous admiral of the Greek city-state, Pallas, who had two five-column warships under his command. Four tri-columns and a full ten double-columns, as well as a number of twenty transports! Now, with the addition of this powerful naval fleet; Hannibal's naval power will grow like never before, and he will already have the strength to compete with the fleet of the House of Augustus.

And Luquis convened this military conference today to brainstorm and let everyone think of a solution to this crisis; But Vipsani and other generals were all legionary generals. Doesn't understand naval warfare at all. Therefore, after Luquis finished talking about the information, everyone naturally turned their attention to the four fleet commanders of Gatsi, Annie, Shixiu, and Mary, hoping that they could provide some better solutions for everyone. (To be continued.) )