In a word, everything that belongs to the body is just a torrent, what belongs to the soul is just a dream, life is a war, a sojourn of a passerby, and the reputation behind him also quickly falls into Lethe, so what does a person rely on to guide? Only philosophy.

- Marcus Aurelius (the only philosopher-emperor in Western history)

Oscar, who hurried back to Calaris, did not go directly to Marcus, but first took a comfortable hot bath in the bathroom in the governor's palace; After changing into clean clothes, Oscar ordered the servants to prepare some Sardinian wine and food in the pavilion in the back garden, and then sat down in the pavilion and waited for Marcus to arrive.

Marcus didn't keep Oscar waiting, and soon followed the servant to the pavilion in the back garden; Seeing that Marcus was still as personable as ever, Oscar immediately stood up and greeted Marcus with a smile on his face and said:

"Second Brother Marl, we haven't seen each other for more than half a year since Rome parted; The younger brother was not on Sardinia Island before he had important matters, and if the servants were negligent, please forgive the second brother! ”

The atmosphere that Oscar tried his best to create did not change Marcus's mood, Marcus sighed helplessly and said: "Oscar, I didn't come to you this time to fight the autumn breeze; Recently, the pattern of Rome has changed so fast that I can't accept it. The stability that the Republic had developed for centuries collapsed overnight; The crisis of our Maxentius family has arisen! ”

"The crisis of the Maxentius family? Second brother, although the Julius family brought the whole of Shanuchi Gaul under their family's rule through their expansion wars in the north; However, Flavies is not a stupid person, he will not always want to attack the Maxentius family, right?

If they really want it, let alone whether the citizens of the republic and the people of the Latin provinces will oppose them; Even the other three major Roman families could not allow such a thing to happen! The current Scipio family and the Senate are definitely close to each other, and the Brutus family will hold on to Rome until they succeed in advancing into the Greek peninsula.

Our family of Augustus is a staunch ally of the family of Maxentius, and in the face of such a situation, it should be impossible for the family of Julius to take the initiative to invade the Latin provinces; Even if the current Julius family has achieved unprecedented development, they don't have the strength to fight against the other four families at the same time?

What's more, their new occupation has only been around for about a month; Not that I'm exaggerating. It was impossible for the Julius family to fully assimilate the three new provinces into their domain for three years. Therefore, it should be impossible for the Julius family to make new moves in the past three years, how can the Maxentius family have a crisis? Oscar analyzed puzzled.

With Oscar's analysis, Marcus's face became even more sad; He sighed helplessly once again and said, "The source of the crisis is not just the Julius family. There are two other aspects; Let's take the example of the Julius, who were powerless to threaten Etrusa and the Roman provinces south of Ubria for three years, but what about three years later?

The reason why the Senate, which was controlled by the Maxentius family, divided the territory of the Julius family to the north and the territory of the Brutus family to the south was to allow these two families to resist the attacks of the Gallic barbarians in the north and the Greek city-states in the south respectively; But now this layout has become the biggest obstacle to the development of the Maxentius family.

The Julius family after completing the conquest of Gallic in the mountains. They would certainly continue to expand into the extra-mountainous Gaul or Germanic regions; The Brutus family was also actively seeking opportunities to expand into the Greek peninsula. Although the kingdom of Epirus defeated the first attack of the Brutus family, in terms of substance; If the Brutus family had been determined to continue their attack, sooner or later they would have been able to destroy the kingdom of Epirus and successfully march into the Greek peninsula.

Your family of Augustus is also actively expanding in the Mediterranean, except for Sardinia, which is preparing for war, you will definitely take advantage of the tense war in Carthage to expand into the western Mediterranean. It is even possible that in the future you will defeat Hannibal and occupy all of Sicily. And what about our Maxentius family?

The two major barriers between the north and the south, which once protected us from the flames of war, have become obstacles to our expansion, and even our plans to expand outward through the navy cannot be carried out without the support of overseas bases. As time goes on, the three of you who maintain external expansion will grow stronger and stronger; Correspondingly. The gap between our Maxentius family and you will also grow! ”

The Maxentius family's fears were not unreasonable, and it would only take ten years at most; The Maxentius, the first family of the Roman Republic, who had once ruled the Senate, would become the fourth family of Rome. What's even more terrifying is that this fourth family will also completely lose its strength to compete with the other three families; This is nothing short of a disaster for the Maxentius family!

However, what do you make Oscar, the leader of the Augustan family, say about such a thing? Oscar had to choose to silently raise the wine glass in his hand and drink the wine, Marcus saw Oscar's silent drinking, and also raised the wine glass in front of him to drink the wine; Then continues:

"Of course, these will be years away, and at least we won't feel the actual threat in ten years; I also believe that we, the Maxentius family, will be able to come up with new solutions to this crisis within ten years. But another crisis is the imminent threat of our Maxentius family; That's the aggressiveness from Marius!

Since the great victory of the House of Julius in the north, we have brought back the Ninth Legion belonging to our family; Afterwards. Because of the formation of the new pattern, the three legions of our Maxentius family have also changed their numbers accordingly. Originally, we were going to use the number of Maxentius's legion; However, Marius joined forces with his other two corps commanders to refute this number.

However, the new name proposed by Marius is directly named after the Roman legion. Naturally, we disagree; But these three people worked together to strongly demand the use of this number, and we had no choice but to agree to them. If it's just a matter of the number of the legion, it doesn't mean anything; However, Marius also forced us to give him the official position of consul of the Republic with his army. ”

Hearing this, Oscar couldn't help but glance at Marcus in surprise; Then he interrupted Marcus and asked, "What does Marius want for the position of consul?" He served as the words of the consul. What should you do with your second brother? ”

Faced with Oscar's inquiry. Marcus smiled bitterly and said, "What can I do but give him the position of consul; Originally, we thought that Marius was just a false name, after all, how could he be a military commander who knew how to handle government affairs. Unfortunately, this is just wishful thinking on our part; Marius did have this ability; He was even better suited to be an archon than I was.

It's only been a month in power. Marius introduced a large number of new policies; Not only did he change the Roman ethos in the Latin provinces, but he also influenced the two provinces of Julius and Brutus in the north. Not only did he bring together a large number of homeless and poor people to arrange jobs, but he also distributed free food to them.

In short, with his wealth that he did not know where to go, he won the hearts and minds of almost all the six provinces of Rome in a very short time; Now not only the Latin provinces of our Maxentius family, but also the five provinces of the other three families are extremely sought after by Marius. And so on. Father is worried that we Maxentius family will eventually be slowly controlled by Marius! ”

Oscar had long known about Marius's wolf ambitions, and previous plans for military reform had indeed proven his talent; But Marius's ability in government affairs was beyond Oscar's expectations. If the truth is really what Marcus describes, then the presence of Marius would indeed have had a very large impact on the Maxentius family; and even changed the pattern of Rome itself.

But what does all this have to do with the Augustan family? The first task of Oscar and the House of Augustus was the war with Hannibal, and the decisive factor in this war was who would be the first to complete the preparations and the established strategy; At a time when everyone was competing with each other, how could the Augustan family be distracted from the affairs of Rome itself?

Besides, even if Oscar had the heart to take care of these things, the affairs of Rome itself were not something that Oscar in Sardinia could manage; Besides, the Augustan family's strength in Rome itself was extremely weak, and they were unable to assist the Maxentius family to deal with Marius!

Marcus naturally saw Oscar's hesitation and hesitation; Thereupon. Marcus said solemnly: "Oscar, you don't have to worry; I'm not here to ask you for help. Your family of Augustus, though growing rapidly, is still too thin in Rome; The struggle between us and Marius is simply not something you can get involved in.

I have come to Sardinia myself this time for you, but for another matter; We, the Maxentius family, are not confident of a final victory in the struggle against Marius. So, we searched for two children of the same age and who looked similar to my eldest brother's youngest son in the city of Rome to pretend to be our second son; My eldest brother's second son, Papillia, and my second son, Gaius, have both been brought to Sardinia by me.

I want to hand them over to you, if anything happens to us in the future; I hope that you can take care of these two children in our place and let these two children re-establish the Maxentius family. Of course, we don't want them to regain their family glory, as long as they can ensure that our Maxentius family can pass it on.

Oscar, I have also heard a little about the military merit hierarchy you got in Sardinia, and I will hand over these two children to you in the future; You can have them fight for the House of Augustus on the battlefield or as officials. It can also allow them to spend their lives ordinary. But, I hope you can give them the title of earl when they come of age; This is what we owe them.

If it weren't for the incompetence of our generation, how could they lose the glory of the Maxentius family? Oscar, you're their uncle, and that requires me that I hope you don't reject me. As for Prisca and Old Carabes, who remained in the city of Rome, I had intended to bring them with me; But Mallo's close monitoring of the Casa Star left me powerless.

After going back this time. I will also do my best to send Prisca and Old Carabes to Sardinia to be reunited with you; In addition, if something really happens to our Maxentius family, all the naval fleets belonging to our family will surrender to the Augustus family. I hope that one day you can fight back to Rome and avenge us; We have a gift for you there. ”

Looking at Marcus as if he was telling his last words, Oscar really understood the severity of the internal situation in Rome and the predicament of the Maxentius family; But. These are things that the Augustians can't help. Oscar had to reply firmly:

"Second brother, don't worry; I would treat Papillia and Gaius as if they were my own sons; They will all be the pillars of my Augustus family in the future, and the legacy of the Maxentius family will never be broken. As for the title, I will personally confer upon them the title of Marquis when they come of age; I will keep them prosperous and prosperous for the rest of my life! ”

After beating Oscar's promise, Marcus finished the meal with Oscar satisfied; Marcus then left behind his two children and set out on his way back to Rome on his own. Even though he knew that there might be death ahead, Marcus still chose to live and die with his father and eldest brother without hesitation; This is Marcus. (To be continued.) )