I ask everyone to learn obedience and self-discipline, which is no less important than not being afraid of danger and moving forward.

- Gaius Julius Caesar (Roman dictator)

After negotiating the pact with Decius, Marcus and Sevios became more enthusiastic about Oscar; The two of them were not very much in favor of being enemies of the Augustan family. Now, Oscar and Prisca have officially married; In a sense, Oscar himself is part of the Maxentius family.

Moreover, today Oscar and Decius signed the "Gripen Covenant"; From now on, both in terms of personal relations and family interests, the Augustus family and the Maxentius family have been closely united. When the time came, Oscar led the Augustus family to expand the territory of the republic beyond the Apennine Peninsula; Sevios and Marcus led the Maxentius family in establishing a new order within the Republic.

The two families, one inside and one outside, will definitely be able to create a new era for themselves and others; Everywhere the Roman legions went, the eagle and lion flags would fly! Sevius and Marcus couldn't help but feel a little fluttering about these beautiful ideas, and Oscar was excited about the benefits that the Maxentius family would bring to him and his family; For a while, the atmosphere in the study became warm and jubilant.

However, when Sevio opened his mouth to ask Oscar to have dinner in the mansion, Decius interrupted Sevious' invitation; Decius hopes that Oscar will not waste the huge influence brought by the triumphal ceremony and the wedding in the recent period, and should appear in public and buy the hearts of the soldiers of the new legion.

So, Decius suggested that Oscar go to the Place de la République this afternoon; Wine, meat, food, and clothing were given free of charge to the homeless and impoverished families in Rome in the square. After that, we will go to the recruit barracks outside Rome and inspect the two legions belonging to the House of Augustus and the Fifth Eagle Legion, which is now part of the Scipio family under Oscar; It just so happened that yesterday was Oscar's wedding, and Oscar could use this as an excuse to give wine and meat favors to the soldiers of the three legions.

Of course, Oscar would not refuse Decius's old Cheng Mouguo's suggestion, and immediately prepared to say goodbye to the three of them and go home to prepare wine, meat, food and clothes; As a result, Decius actually said that he had ordered the two brothers Sevious to prepare for Oscar in the mansion of the Maxentius family, which could supply 50,000 poor people of Rome with food and wine, and 10,000 sets of simple but clean clothes; Even the supplies to reward the three legions, Decius, were ready for Oscar.

At this moment, Oscar's heart said that it was fake not to be moved; Although Decius did everything for the benefit of the Maxentius family, it did give Oscar himself and the Augustus family a lot of help. While Oscar silently accepted this, he also expressed his heartfelt gratitude to the three fathers and sons of Decius for their efforts, and Decius and Marcus were not excited; On the contrary, Sevios said that everyone is a family. There is no need to be too polite as a family.

Marcus also said after Sevious: "Oscar, concentrate now on what you have to do; Prisca, you don't have to worry about her for a while. After she has eaten with her mother in the family mansion tonight, I will personally send her back to the Augustus family mansion; You just have to behave well in Republic Square and in the barracks. ”

Naturally, Oscar would not refuse the kindness of Marcus and others; So, Oscar went alone with the carriage procession prepared by Sevio and Marcus towards the Place de la Repubblica. Before Oscar arrived at Republic Square. Sevious had already arranged for hundreds of propagandists throughout the city of Rome to spread the word that His Excellency Oscar the Triumphant was about to provide free wine, meat, food, and clothing to the unemployed and poor families in Piazza della Repubblica.

After the propaganda of these people and the huge and long procession of carriages behind Oscar, more and more people poured towards Republic Square; However, these people were not all poor people who were trying to receive free goods, but also included a small number of Roman nobles and spies of the other three major families. Their families desperately need to know what Oscar wants to do in the city of Rome.

You know, Oscar has been the man of the day since he returned to Rome with the glory of conquering Sardinia; From a dream speech at a triumphal ceremony to a free gift of millions of gold worth of wine to the citizens of Rome. and then to the previous lavish wedding, Oscar has become the talk of every Roman after dinner.

Now, what does Oscar want to do? Oscar is less and less like a young man in his 20s, and this kind of large-scale distribution of supplies in Republic Square is a political veteran's tactic; The nobles present could not have imagined that these were actually taught by Decius to Oscar. However, none of this affected Oscar's action in distributing supplies; When Oscar began to direct the coachmen to distribute supplies to the long-awaited poor, the cry of Viva Oscar once again resounded throughout Republic Square.

This time, however, the Oscars did not indulge in the cheers of the Romans; He knew that these superficial cheers were ethereal. For these ordinary lower-class Roman burghers, they didn't mind cheering for anyone, as long as the person was willing to provide them with enough favors; Today they can cheer for Oscar, tomorrow they can cheer for Mallor. The day after tomorrow can cheer for anyone who gives them supplies for free.

So, Oscar didn't care too much about these people's cheers for him; He just hoped that his efforts would allow these people to promote themselves in the streets of Rome, so that he and the Augustan family could slowly win the favor and support of the Roman people. Soon, the distribution of the supplies brought by Oscar was over; Before leaving for the barracks outside the city, Oscar said the following incendiary words to the citizens who were receiving supplies:

"Citizens of Rome, you are part of the great Roman Republic; You should not live in poverty and triviality like this, you should go to the battlefield to build merit and gain wealth. Now, there are plenty of opportunities to make contributions in the north, south, and east of the republic; If you wish, you will soon be able to gain enough wealth in war. In this way, you will be able to lift yourself out of poverty and lay a foundation for your children and grandchildren that will provide them with a good life.

Believe me. It was a time that belonged to the Romans; No matter how many difficulties and setbacks we Romans have experienced, the final victory will always belong to us Romans! As long as you grasp the opportunity and bravely go to the barracks outside the city; The Senate and the Five Families will provide you with excellent equipment and high remuneration. And you only need to harvest the enemy's head in the war! ”

It's obvious. Oscar overestimated his own influence and underestimated the laziness of these unemployed and impoverished citizens of Rome; Although they were all very active in queuing up to receive the supplies that Oscar distributed to them for free, they still chose to be indifferent to Oscar's encouragement to go to war. This is not to say that everyone present is greedy for life and afraid of death, lazy and lazy. It can only be said that the centuries-old national fortunes of the Roman Republic have made most Romans lose their enterprising spirit and belief in victory.

In order to rekindle the Romans' belief in victory and ambition for expansion, it was not enough to rely on the crisis of aggression from outside; They also need big wins to motivate them. Only one victory after another brought countless glory and wealth that these lazy and numb Romans could slowly re-establish their own belief in Rome's victory and their ambition for foreign expansion.

After thinking about this. Oscar won't talk nonsense anymore; He left the Piazza della República with his wagon and headed for the Roman barracks outside the city. Look at the back of Oscar leaving. The ill-intentioned nobles showed expressions of relief and originality; It turned out that Oscar wanted to raise more troops for the republic through speeches, encouraging unemployed vagrants and poor citizens to join the army. But the effect turned out to be as expected, and the citizens of Rome remained indifferent to Oscar's speech.

In fact, before Oscar's return to Rome, the senators of the Senate had exhausted all means to raise more troops; But it didn't work very well, and it was as difficult for Oscar alone to change the minds of the citizens of Rome with one or two speeches! Of course, there are also some aristocratic young people who are enthusiastic about Oscar's speech, and want to leave everything behind and follow Oscar to fight against Hannibal, the enemy of Rome; However, the blood of these people was only a momentary impulse, and after calming down and thinking about Hannibal's terrible, they dispelled this terrible thought one by one.

Oscar, who came to the barracks outside the city, didn't talk much nonsense this time. After assembling the three legions of the First Eagle Banner Legion, the Eleventh Legion, and the Fifth Eagle Banner Legion, Oscar asked the three chief captains of the army to lead the first brigade of the three legions to start distributing supplies to the legion soldiers without saying a word. By the time night began to fall slowly, every soldier had already received what he was entitled to; Oscar was ready to return to Rome with the convoy.

At this time, more than 20,000 soldiers of the entire three legions, led by their captains and centurions, shouted in unison: "Please give a lecture to Your Excellency Commander!" At this moment, Oscar had a feeling of wanting tears in his eyes; Even though there are countless numb people in the city of Rome who are content with the status quo and do not care about the life and death of the country and the nation, there are still tens of thousands of warriors who are loyal to the motherland and are willing to sacrifice their lives for their motherland! Only with them, why worry that the enemy will not die and Rome will not prosper?!

So, Oscar once again stood back on the podium; Looking at the 20,000 pairs of blazing eyes in the audience, Oscar said in a passionate voice: "My soldiers. You are my most loyal soldiers, and the most fearless warriors of the Republic; At a time when the Republic is facing a crisis, it is you who have stepped forward and sacrificed your youth and life for the Republic. You are the most courageous Romans in my heart, whether it is Hannibal of Carthage. or other enemies; They will all be corpses under your feet, stepping stones for you to reach the top of the world! Long live Rome! ”

When Oscar shouted the last slogan, the entire Roman barracks became a sea of "Long live Rome"; At this moment, Oscar's heart is with the hearts of these 20,000 soldiers. (To be continued.) )

PS: Today's last update, tomorrow chasing the wind will not even have a text recommendation; A little bit of sadness. But. I still hope that book friends can continue to support Chasing the Wind!