The absence of happiness is inherently bad, but some happiness generators bring many times more disturbances than happiness. Pen? Interesting? Pavilion wWw. ｂiquge。 ｉｎfo

- Epicurus (representative of the hedonism of Arestepus)

Marius's idea of an alliance was not the product of his impulse, but a well-thought-out response; After the three emissaries had departed, Marius did not rush to Tarentum, but first waited for the reply of the Ulius Empire in Rome, and it was still very important for Marius to have the support of the Ulius Empire.

The Ulius Empire and the Roman Empire were originally connected, and from the capital of the Ulius Empire, Aletion, to Rome, the capital of the Roman Empire, it was only a day or two to get up quickly; After all, the Latin province where the city of Rome was located and the Etruscan province where Arethion was located were the border provinces between the Julius Empire and the Roman Empire.

On the third day after Marius's emissaries were dispatched, an agreement regarding Marius was sent to the palace of the Empire of Julius, and Flavies convened a meeting with the important ministers of the Empire of Julius on the matter of the alliance; Although the matter of the heir to the throne within the Julius Empire is still in the struggle, such a major event is enough to put the battle for the throne on hold for the time being.

Regarding the recent rapid expansion of the Augustan Empire, Flavis's heart must be false when he said that he was not worried, but was the alliance between the four empires really that smooth? Frankly, Flavis was not optimistic about this so-called alliance; Such alliances have not been unheard of before, but everyone knows what the final result will be.

But what about non-alignment? Does the current Ulius Empire have the strength to fight against the Augustan Empire alone? Will Flavis not be able to see through the situation that Mallio can see? It's just that Flavis has more options than Maleville.

If the four empires really became allies in order to deal with the Augustan Empire, could everyone put aside their past grievances and grudges and work together to deal with the Augustan Empire? When the time comes, will the four empires send their own troops to deal with the Augustan Empire at the same time, or will the four empires form a joint army to deal with the Augustan Empire? Such a problem is not easy to solve.

With the current strength of the Roman Empire, Marius's best choice is naturally to ally with the other three empires, and then gather the strength of the four empires to take the initiative to launch a war against the Augustan Empire; Even if the Augustan Empire cannot be strangled in the cradle of development, the momentum of the Augustan Empire's development must be suppressed.

But is such a choice really the best choice for the Ulius Empire? At the meeting of the imperial ministers held by Flavis, most of the important ministers of the Ulius Empire agreed with Marius's proposal for an alliance, but there were also a considerable number of people who opposed the Ulius Empire's joining the so-called alliance proposed by Marius; While these people are opposed, they also put forward a new proposal.

The suggestion was to abandon the expansion of Julius' empire in the Germanic lands for a while, and to focus on the Roman Empire, which owned Rome proper; Marius's idea is recognized by everyone, with the current strength of the empires, it is true that it cannot fight the Augustan Empire alone, but why can't the Julius Empire annex Rome proper, and then go to war with the Augustan Empire?

The expansion direction of the Ulius Empire has always been either the barbaric Gallic lands or the primitive Germanic lands, and these barbarian regions could not quickly promote the development of the Ulius Empire except for providing raw materials for the Ulius Empire; The Roman Empire had Rome itself, which was one of the most prosperous regions in the world.

Instead of cooperating with the Roman Empire to deal with the Augustan Empire, it is better to directly mobilize a large army to destroy the Roman Empire, and after the Julius Empire annexes Rome proper, after a few years of development, it may have the strength to compete with the Augustan Empire; Even if the Julius Empire is still unable to compete with the Augustan Empire, wouldn't it be possible to unite with other empires when the time comes?

From the beginning to the end, there was no need for the Empire of Julius to unite with the Roman Empire, because the strength of the Roman Empire was too weak; If it weren't for the food importation of the Julius Empire, the Roman Empire would not even be able to solve its own survival problems, so what value would such a Roman Empire have to continue to exist?

While the important ministers of Julius's empire were arguing, Flavies finally decided to agree to the alliance agreement of the Roman Empire and temporarily gave up his intention to attack the Roman Empire; It's not that Flavies was merciful at a critical moment, but now is indeed not the best time to attack the Roman Empire, and if he is not careful, it will even give the Augustan Empire a chance to take advantage of.

After all, no one dared to guarantee that the army of the Julius Empire would be able to quickly defeat the army of the Roman Empire in a short period of time and annex the entire Roman Empire; If the armies of the Roman Empire were not so easy to defeat, and the Empire of Julius was locked in a bitter battle with the Roman Empire, the lessons of the Numidian and Carthaginian kingdoms would have not been long in coming.

In Flavies's view, the strength of Julius's empire must have been much stronger than that of the Roman Empire; Forming an alliance ahead of the Roman Empire for the time being is not necessarily a bad thing for the Ulius Empire, as long as everyone's alliance can completely suppress the development momentum of the Augustan Empire, won't the Ulius Empire be able to attack the Roman Empire with confidence and boldness?

After the formal decision was made, there was no need for the Ulius Empire to argue about this matter; After Flavies handed over the affairs of Aretion to Quintus to handle on his behalf, he went to the Roman Empire with his personal cavalry.

Compared to the disputes within the Ulius Empire, the choice of the Brutus Empire was much easier; For the current Brutus Empire, the threat of the Augustan Empire is not so deadly, but it is also impossible to ignore.

Even after this alliance was formally formed, the Brutus Empire did not need to fight head-on with the armies of the Augustan Empire, and who made it impossible for the Augustus Empire to have a land connection between the Augustus Empire and the Brutus Empire; As for the battle on the sea, the fleet of the Brutus Empire is not as good as a detachment of the Augustus Empire, and it is better to preserve its strength than to die in vain.

Therefore, this alliance does not pose any substantial harm to the Brutus Empire, but can allow the Brutus Empire to stand aside and watch the other three empires fight with the Augustus Empire to the death; How could the Brutus Empire disagree with such a beneficial and harmless thing, and after receiving the alliance agreement from the envoy, Tiberius set out on the same day.

The last of Marius's emissaries was Antioch in the Seleucid Empire, which was too far away; After the emperors of the Ulius and Brutus empires had arrived in Tarentum, the emissaries had only just arrived in Antioch.

Faced with this alliance sent by the Roman emperor, Seleucus VII was not willing to make an enemy of the mighty Augustan Empire now; So far, the Seleucid Empire's military expansion is still underway, and the Kingdom of Egypt is stationed with a full ten legions of the Augustan Empire, so it is too difficult for Seleucid VII to put the Seleucid Empire and the Augustan Empire face each other at this time.

However, Seleucus VII was not willing to lose such a good opportunity; With the strength of the Seleucid Empire itself, it is impossible to face the alliance between the Augustan Empire and the Kingdom of Egypt no matter what, and the alliance formed by participating in the other three Roman empires is undoubtedly the best choice for the Seleucid Empire, but the timing is too wrong.

Reluctant to let the child trap the wolf, Seleucus VII was still the eloquent emperor of the Seleucid Empire after all, and it was impossible for him to leave Antioch during the critical period of the expansion of the Seleucid Empire; So he sent his eldest son as a delegate to Tarentum in the Roman Empire to participate in this alliance meeting, although Seleucus VII's eldest son did not have the right to make any decisions.

Long before his eldest son left, Seleucus VII had explained to him the attitude of the Seleucid Empire; For this so-called alliance, the Seleucid Empire must participate, but the Seleucid Empire will not have the strength to fight the alliance of the Augustan Empire and the Kingdom of Egypt on the Eastern Continent within a year.

Even after a year, the Seleucid Empire could draw at most 100,000 to 150,000 troops to attack the alliance between the Augustan Empire and the Kingdom of Egypt; At the same time, Seleucus VII also made a request on this matter, that is, once the Seleucid Empire launched an attack on the alliance between the Augustan Empire and the Kingdom of Egypt, the Brutus Empire must send ten legions of troops to attack in concert.

You must know that the Brutus Empire now has a huge force of eighteen legions stationed on the eastern continent, and there are also ten legions of Augustus Emperor ** in the Kingdom of Egypt; If he really let his Seleucid Empire attack the Kingdom of Egypt, the ten legions of the Augustan Empire would inevitably join the war, and Seleucus VII did not think that there was anything wrong with asking the ten legions of the Brutus Empire to join the war.

Of course, this is not the real main reason, the more important reason is that Seleucus VII was not at all worried that the huge army of the Brutus Empire was stationed behind him; What if the army of the Seleucid Empire fought desperately against the Kingdom of Egypt, and the army of the Brutus Empire stabbed the Seleucid Empire in the back?

It's not that Seleucus VII was unwilling to trust his allies, but when it comes to the interests between states, Seleucus VII didn't dare to trust anyone; If the Roman Empire, which initiated the alliance, could agree that the Seleucid Empire would not enter the war for a year, and persuade the Brutus Empire to agree to the Seleucid Empire's demands, the Seleucid Empire would naturally join the alliance, otherwise it would only be in its own interests. (To be continued.) )