It is a pleasure to stand on the shore and watch others suffer in the angry sea.

- Lucretius (Roman philosopher)

Marius didn't expect Iulianus to ask such a point-to-the-point question, it seems that this Iulianus is not a pure wine bag and rice bag. However, even if Julianus didn't ask about these things, Marius had to take the initiative to tell him; After all, if these problems are not solved well now, they will affect the overall military planning of Marius in the future.

So, in response to the question raised by Julianus, Marius began to explain to Julianus bitterly: "Your Excellency Julianus, I know that using the new number will definitely make your family feel uncomfortable; However, there is no way to do it! If we still use the old number after the army is united; Then it quickly brings up a series of problems.

What are the First Scipio Legions, the Second Scipio Legions, and the First Marian Legion and the Second Marian Legion under my own command; Not to mention the rest, this title alone is enough to cause a very serious antagonism among our soldiers. The Scipio Legion was naturally cordial to the Scipio Legion, and the Marian Legion would only communicate with the Marian Legion.

In the long run, it will not make much sense for our generals to use it together; Moreover, the legions with the name Scipio would certainly not willingly help the legions of Marius, and the legions with the name Marius would certainly not do their best to help the legions of Scipio. In order to avoid such a situation, we must use a unified new number! ”

Marius explained that it was not unreasonable, but Julianus still felt that there was a problem with doing so; But he didn't know what the problem was. After struggling for a long time, Iulianus continued to ask, "Then what kind of new name does Your Excellency Marius think we should take?" What is the specific division? ”

The more Julianus hesitated, the more Marius knew that he had to strike while the iron was hot; After Julianus had asked this question, Marius hastened to reply: "In order to avoid any feelings of displeasure from our respective legions, I suggest that all our legions revert to the Roman legion; In this way, it is also easy for the soldiers below to accept.

Of our original five legions, my own legion was the First Roman Legion, Antony's was the Second Roman Legion, Octavian's was the Third Roman Legion, the Imperial Legion of the noble family Aulus was the Fourth Roman Legion, and the Legion of the Honorable Sprius was the Fifth Roman Legion.

The four newly formed corps were numbered the Sixth, Seventh, Eighth, and Ninth Legions; After all nine legions are formed and trained, I will also spend a lot of money to form nine subsidiary legions! According to intelligence, the powerful House of Julius army and the House Augustus army both had their own subordinate legions; In order to increase the combat effectiveness of our legions, we will also form subordinate legions for each legion.

Of course, whether it is the formation of four new legions, or the formation of nine subsidiary legions; All the money and weapons and equipment are provided by us. Last time we did gain a great deal of wealth because of the events that took place in the city of Rome; So, in addition to the gold coins for forming the clans, we will also provide the annual military expenses of these clans!

Also, to compensate for the great contribution made by the House of Scipio to our alliance and to the union of armies; I, Marius, am willing to give 5 million gold coins to the Scipio family and 1 million gold coins to His Excellency Iulianus personally, hoping that His Excellency Iulianus and Scipio family can cherish the cooperation between us and work with us to create a better future! ”

Marius's previous arrangement was reasonable, and the burden of all the expenses was also satisfactory to Julianus; But as the last sentence was spoken, Iulianus looked at Mario in great shock, looking very incredulous! You know, that's a whole six million gold coins! Six million gold coins! That's enough for Scipio to form dozens of legions, or feed four legions for a whole decade!

Julianus's shock made Marius feel very satisfied, and he was reluctant to let the child hold the wolf, and Mario understood better than anyone else; If he could exchange a mere six million gold coins for the full support of the Scipio family, it would be worth it for Marius. In fact, after obtaining countless gold coins during the Roman Night, Marius had already made a detailed plan for the use of gold coins for himself.

In Marius's plan, 20,000,000,000 gold coins were to be used to stabilize the situation in Rome and the Latin provinces and the provinces of Campania, and to complete the important task of buying hearts and minds; Another 20,000,000 gold coins will be used to finance the army under Marius for the next ten years. Another 50,000,000 gold coins will be used for the next decade to restore the production and operation of Rome's various industries, buy food supplies, and build weapons and equipment.

In addition to the 90 million gold coins, Marius also spent nearly 10 million gold coins in the previous lavish rewards and rewards for the whole army; And these are only a small fraction of the total number of gold coins obtained from the extermination of the family that night. The real wealth is not limited to this, the countless fixed assets left by those nobles and rich people are worth several times the value of gold coins; Because those are the real hens that lay golden eggs!

Marius didn't care about Iulianus's shock, but soothed his tone and continued: "According to the needs of reality, after we have completed the formation of all nine legions; The legions will be divided into four combined legions, which will be prepared for war in various parts of the Latin and Campania provinces.

Of these, the 1st and 6th Army Corps and the 7th Army Corps will form a combined corps, with myself as commander; It is responsible for garrisoning the Latin provinces to prevent possible attacks by the House of Augustus. The Second and Eighth Corps were to form a combined corps, commanded by General Anthony; He was responsible for garrisoning the Latin province and the border area of the Julius family.

The Third and Ninth Corps were to form a combined corps, commanded by General Octavian; He was stationed in the province of Campania and on the border of the Brutus family. The Fourth and Fifth Legions would also form a combined corps, commanded by General Aulus of your family; The Combined Legion responsible for garrisoning the province of Campania and supporting Octavian in wartime.

Above the four combined legions and the nine legions was the supreme command of the Roman army, which was specially set up to command all armies; I myself will be the Supreme Commander-in-Chief, and His Excellency Iulianus will be the Deputy Commander-in-Chief. Any order commanding a legion requires the consent of both of us to carry it out; Your Excellency Iulianus, what do you think of this plan? ”

On the face of it, Marius's plan did give enough benefit to Scipio's family; Scipio's family didn't have to pay anything, even the original military expenses were saved, and they earned six million gold coins. And Iulianus himself would be the second only being to Marius; This alliance was beneficial to the Scipio family no matter how you looked at it, and Iulianus naturally agreed to it in the end.

After that, the two engaged in some other negotiations, both of which were approved by Julianus under the deliberate arrangement of Marius; Finally, at the end of the negotiations, Iulianus praised the view of Marius' estate before leaving. Then, flattered by Iulianus, Marius gave the estate and a large amount of land in the vicinity to Iulianus.

Looking at the back of the radiant Julianus leaving with the guards, Marius also showed a satisfied smile on his face; Having a stupid ally like Julianus would be more useful than annexing the House of Scipio! Scipio, one of the four great Roman families that had been passed down for centuries, would soon follow in the footsteps of Maxentius.

When Julianus decided to accept Marius's suggestion to form a so-called army union, the Scipio family was already on a path of no return. From the point of view of immediate interests, it is definitely in the interest of Scipio to have Marius pay for the formation of four new legions and nine subsidiary legions, and to bear all the military expenses for the legions of the Scipio family.

However, over time; Won't the hearts of those soldiers who were originally loyal to the family of Scipio, who have been receiving the salary from Marius and receiving the reward given by Marius? Marius believed that sooner or later, the nine legions of the Roman coalition army would become his own; When the time comes, Scipio will still exist, but only as a vassal.

As for helping the family of Scipio to conquer the two southern provinces belonging to the family of Brutus; It is not known whether Marius helped the Scipio family, or whether the Scipio family helped Marius! After Julianus left, Marius did not stay too much in the wilderness; Instead, they hurried back to the city of Rome.

In recent times, with the investment of a large amount of money; The whole city of Rome, and indeed the entire Latin province, was developing by leaps and bounds in a state of rapid development. Countless factories that had stopped production because of chaos began to work overtime again; Marius also took the initiative to expand the scale of some industries, and the whole of Rome showed a rare scene of prosperity.

In addition to dealing with a large number of government affairs every day, Marius himself also needs to invest a considerable amount of time and energy in the army; The recruitment of four recruit corps and nine auxiliary legions has begun, and in order to obtain more troops and better allegiance to the army, Marius has increased the annual military expenditure of each legion from 70,000 gold to 100,000 gold coins, and the auxiliary legions are recruited with 50 gold coins at a time.

For the so-called auxiliary legions, Marius did not really attach importance to them, but simply studied the Julius family and the Augustus family. After all, the auxiliary legions formed by the first two contained a large number of cavalry, while Marius's own auxiliary legions could only consist of 1,000 light infantry and 1,000 archers due to the limitations of Rome's native cavalry resources; Combat effectiveness can only be considered average. (To be continued.) )