Everything is changing, not to cease to exist, but to become what it has not been.

- Epictetus (famous Roman philosopher)

In order to better brainstorm ideas, Tiberius decided to convene a family meeting of the Brutus family; In addition to Olus Brutus, who was the heir to the family, and Vibius Brutus, the governor of Tarentum, there were also the ten captains of the Brutus family, as well as Sulla and Pompey, who had a special position within the Brutus family.

Tiberius sat on his throne, with Sulla and Pompey on his left, and the four legionnaires subordinate to Sulla and Pompey; On the right, in that order, are the six captains of the Brutus lineage, Aulus and Vibius. After all fourteen had sat down, Tiberius and the others exchanged some pleasantries, and then moved on to the subject:

"You are all vital members of our Brutus family, and they are the pillars of our Brutus family; I think everyone knows about the recent changes in the Latin provinces. Marius, the son-in-law of the Maxentius family, and Scipio joined forces to attack the Maxentius family, which is now a historical name.

Such a major event of the republic also has a profound impact on our Brutus family, and what role our Brutus family should play in such a change is also very important; However, whether or not our Brutus family is involved in these matters still needs to be carefully discussed. What are your opinions on this? ”

The events of Rome are well known, and Marius has gone too far; But with the participation of the Scipio family and the victory of Marius in one fell swoop, the situation in the city of Rome has been stabilized, and it is not easy for the Brutus family to participate if they want to participate! Moreover, in the eyes of the generals, the replacement of the Maxentius family by Marius is not necessarily a bad thing.

If the Maxentius family had been in charge of the city of Rome and the Latin provinces, with the heritage and prestige of the Maxentius family, it would have been impossible for other families and forces to extend their tentacles to the city of Rome and the Latin provinces on a large scale; It's not a good thing to change to the unstable Marius now, at least it will give other families and forces a chance to take advantage of!

However, this other family and power does not include the Brutus family; As Tiberius asked, Gnaeus was the first to stand up and said, "Your Excellency, I think it is better for our Brutus family not to mingle with the events in the city of Rome; Whether the Maxentius family is in charge of Rome or Marius is in charge of Rome, nothing has changed for us.

Ever since Julius defeated the Gallic barbarians of the mountains to expand their armies, the situation in the Roman Republic had changed completely; There are no alliances between the major families anymore, and everyone is already a small kingdom in their own way, except for the last layer of the republic, which has not been lifted.

Our Brutus family's primary goal is not to get a piece of the turmoil in the Latin provinces, but to expand our influence in the rich and prosperous Greek peninsula; Until we succeed in expanding our influence across the Greek Peninsula, our family should do everything we can to expand the Greek Peninsula and not be distracted from the affairs of the Latin provinces and the city of Rome. ”

As soon as Gnaeus finished his words and sat down, Nero stood up and continued: "Your Excellency, I also think that our family should not participate in the changes in the city of Rome, but should wholeheartedly find a way to defeat Pyrrhus and the kingdom of Epirus; Other than that, there are any other affairs that we Brutus family should not interfere in for the time being.

You see, even if we were to meddle in the affairs of Marius and Scipio in Rome now, it would not change the outcome of Rome and the Latin provinces; If we are to settle a grudge with the alliance between Scipio and Marius, it will cause conflict between us and them, and even affect our Brutus family's plans to conquer the Greek peninsula.

From the perspective of the whole Mediterranean region, the Apennine Peninsula and the Greek Peninsula in Rome are truly prosperous and rich places, and they are also places where a family or even a nation can rise; And our Apennine Peninsula is so complicated that it is now divided by four powers.

The family of Julius occupies the two northern provinces, Marius occupies the most elite Latin provinces, the Scipio family occupies the central province, and the Brutus family occupies the two southern provinces; It is almost impossible for us Brutus to make a career in the Apennine by defeating not only Scipio and Marius, but also Julius, who are now powerful.

On the contrary, the situation on the Greek peninsula is much simpler; Although the many Greek city-states led by the Spartan city-states united to form a united city-state on the surface, they were actually very loose, and the strength of the entire Greek city-state was not strong. This, coupled with the fact that the powerful city-state of Athens had been isolated from this city-state alliance, further dispersed the power of the Greek city-states.

The Kingdom of Macedonia, which is entrenched in the north of the Greek peninsula, is even less worthy of mention, and the current Macedonian Kingdom is not the same Macedonian kingdom as it was two hundred years ago; King Antigone was not Alexander the Great, they were just a bunch of waste living in the glory of their ancestors, and they had no deterrent effect at all.

This means that as long as the army of our Brutus family can defeat the barrier kingdom of Epirus on the Greek peninsula, then the remaining Greek city-states and Macedonian kingdoms are not to worry about at all. We can easily defeat the illusory kingdom of Macedonia, and then smash the fragmented Greek city-states one by one; The conquest of the entire Greek peninsula was finally completed.

Once we, the Brutus, have conquered the prosperous and rich Greek Peninsula and succeeded in bringing the whole of Greece under our family's rule; Then, we, the Brutus family, will become the Macedonian kingdom of 200 years ago, following the example of Alexander the Great of the past, and start a war of conquest that dominates the world! ”

Nero's vision of the future is not ordinary! Throughout the ages, Alexander the Great's exploits can be regarded as truly unprecedented; As for the absence of the latter in the future, it is really not necessarily. If the Brutus family can really defeat the Macedonian kingdom and annex all the Greek city-states as Nero said; Well, maybe it can really be to that extent!

Just when everyone was falling into this beautiful fantasy, Gnaeus couldn't help but pour cold water on everyone: "The kingdom of Macedonia may really be just a façade, and the Greek city-states may also be divided internally; But the kingdom of Epirus and their king Pyrus on the other side of our family are not easy, we must defeat Pyrus and his kingdom before we can continue the attack! ”

Well, this basin of cold water from Gnaeus instantly extinguished everyone's illusions; Everyone remembered the fiasco a few months ago. Seeing that everyone turned from joy to sorrow in an instant, Tiberius, as the leader of the family, had to come out and say:

"The analyses of General Gnaeus and General Nero just now are very reasonable, and I very much agree with them; Then we, the Brutus family, will not participate in the internal changes in Rome for the time being, and instead concentrate on dealing with the Kingdom of Epirus and Pyrrhus. After these few months of development, our Brutus family has made great progress.

We now have an army of ten legions, six of which are armed with the finest weapons and equipment provided by Lords Sulla and Pompey, and the other four are equipped with standard Roman legionary equipment; In addition to this, we have 10,000 auxiliary archers and a way to deal with enemy war elephants.

Moreover, with the completion of the training of the major legions one after another, the army of our Brutus family can no longer improve its combat effectiveness through training; This means that preparations are ready for war between us and the Kingdom of Epirus. So should we launch a new offensive against the kingdom of Epirus at this time? Generals, tell me what you think! ”

In fact, the generals had already roughly guessed what was going to be discussed at today's meeting; With the recent substantial growth of the military strength of the Brutus family and the completion of war preparations, the voice of the Brutus family is becoming stronger and stronger. There are constant family generals who say that they should attack the kingdom of Epirus again and fight a war of revenge; But is it really possible to go to war now?

Tiberius had a hard time deciding; Although Tiberius felt that the strength of the Brutus family was far better than in the last war, the last fiasco left a deep impression on Tiberius, and Tiberius really didn't dare to be confident anymore, so he had this scene of discussing with the generals.

This time, it was Aulus, the heir to the leader of the Brutus family, who was the first to stand up and speak out; Aulus Brutus was the first to stand up and speak: "Father, generals; I think it's too hasty for the family to attack the kingdom of Epirus right now, and it won't give us enough advantage on the battlefield.

Although our family now has a large army and a way to deal with war elephants, all other preparations for war are also prepared; But the strength of the Kingdom of Epirus is also unabated compared to the last war! As Pyrrhus' prestige became known in the Greek peninsula, he formed a formidable Greek legion under his command.

Last time, Pyrus only had a 30,000-strong hoplite army, 2,000 ironclad cavalry, and a sparse number of war elephants, and nearly 30,000 of our family's army were wiped out. This time, in addition to the last legion, he has added a Greek legion of 20,000 men to his command, can we guarantee victory? (To be continued.) )