You can think about what you think, and say that the era you think about is a very happy time.

- Tacitus (the greatest historian of ancient Rome)

The messengers sent by Tiberius returned to Tarentum in only eight days by speedy horses and boats; At this time, the heir to the official Brutus family in Tarentum, Aulus Brutus. Having secured the support of Aulus, the emissaries immediately rushed to the border region of Apria to find the high-ranking of the allied forces of Marius and Scipio to convey Tiberius' wishes.

Octavian and Aulus Scipio met the messenger and immediately reported the matter to Marius and Julianus, who were in the city of Capua; When the two of them obtained such information, they understood that there was hope for the peaceful annexation of the two southern provinces of the Brutus family! So, the two received the envoy sent by Tiberius and agreed to negotiate with Tiberius.

Tiberius, on the other hand, was already about to arrive at the port of Tarentum, a few days before the formal negotiations between the two sides. When Tiberius returned to Tarentum, he did not leave Tarentum immediately for the border, but had an all-night conversation with his heir, Aulus, in Tarentum; Told Aulus all the reasons for his and Brutus' thoughts.

Aulus could only choose to accept this, after all, this was the decision of the Brutus family, and it was not something that could be changed by one or two people; In addition, the father and son also had a long talk in various aspects. Early the next morning, Tiberius took Sulla and Pompey in the direction of the border; Aulus also began preparations to move the family's wealth to Epirus and Semon.

When Tiberius arrived at the border, he was greeted by the commanders of the seventh and eighth legions of the families of Vibius and Brutus, who were sitting in the borderland; Although Gabriel, the commander of the Seventh Legion, and Nelson, the leader of the Eighth Legion, were both men of Sulla and Pompey, that didn't mean they could ignore the majesty of Tiberius, the head of the family.

So, when Tiberius led Sulla and Pompey to the border barracks, it was these three who came out to greet them. As Tiberius entered the barracks, he ordered his son Vibius to send an emissary to the camp opposite, inviting their lord to meet in two hours.

Although the Seventh and Eighth Legions were newly formed, the discipline and overall state of the army were still very good, and the barracks were very good; However, Tiberius's mood at this time was completely different from this. Therefore, Tiberius only praised the two legion commanders a few words unintentionally, and then ended the exchange with the two legion leaders.

Tiberius had previously negotiated most of the terms of the negotiations with Sulla and Pompey, but some specific matters had not been negotiated; The most crucial question is, of course, the price at which Marius and the Scipio family 'bought' Apria and Brution. Sulla and Pompey's suggestion was to receive a symbolic two million gold coins, but Tiberius was not willing to sell his territory for two million gold coins.

However, sometimes unwillingness will not solve the problem; The current Brutus family really does not have the strength to keep the two southern provinces under the high pressure of the Marius and Scipio families, and it is purely helpless to hand over the two provinces to the Marius and Scipio families by negotiating conditions! Even Sulla and Pompey persuaded him repeatedly, but Tiberius did not let go of the knot in his heart.

Two hours passed quickly, and Tiberius, with Sulla and Pompey, and a hundred and ten guards of his guards, left the camp and headed for the border between the two armies; For Tiberius, today's meeting was nothing more than a meeting between himself and the commanders of Marius and Scipio's allied forces, a small prelude to formal negotiations.

But this was not the case, and after leaving the barracks, Tiberius found that Marius and Scipio's army had already sent a group of soldiers to set up a tent in the center of the two armies; To the right of the tent were a hundred and ten guards in purple and blue uniforms. There was no need to guess, Tiberius knew that the empty right side was reserved for his own guards.

I just don't know, what about Octavian under Marius in the military tent? Or the young commander of the Scipio family, Aulus? Or are these two people coming together? When Tiberius came to the tent, he left his guards behind, and then took Sulla and Pompey to prepare for the tent; However, he was stopped by the guards outside the tent, and only Tiberius was allowed to enter.

This directly angered the guards behind Tiberius, who immediately drew their short swords at their waists and confronted them; Before Tiberius could speak, a burst of laughter came from inside the military tent: "Your Excellency Tiberius is here, how dare you be so disrespectful?" Don't hurry up and get out of here! ”

It was Marius himself and Iulianus, the leader of the Scipio family, who walked out of the tent with the voice, and looking at the two guys in front of him, Tiberius did not care about the disrespect of the ordinary guards; After ordering his guards to put away their weapons, Tiberius also walked to the tent on his own, while Sulla and Pompey consciously retreated outside the circle of guards to wait for Tiberius.

Tiberius ignored Marius' feigned intimacy, much less the welcoming gesture made by Julianus; Instead, he walked into the military tent with his head held high. After looking at each other and smiling, Marius and Julianus followed Tiberius into the tent with a smile on their faces. The furnishings in the military tent are very simple, just three tables and three stools; And it's also distributed in a triangle, with no big or small differences.

Tiberius sat on a stool at random, and said bluntly: "It is not kind for you two to secretly come here while our Brutus family is on an expedition to the Greek peninsula!" Especially you, Iulianus, your Scipio family have been allies of us Brutus for centuries; Your father, Scipio the Elder, was my best friend when he was alive, why are you like that? ”

In the face of such a sharp reproach from Tiberius, Julianus did not show any annoyance; Instead, he smiled softly and said, "Uncle Tiberius, you also know that with the successful expansion of the House of Julius to the north and the rise of the House of Augustus; The Roman Republic is no longer the Roman Republic it once was, and there are some things that we have no choice but to do.

And I'm sure my father, even if he were alive now, would have made the same decision as me. After all, our purpose is only for the better survival of the Scipio family. With the Brutus family's recent success on the Greek peninsula, why bother with these little details? ”

Tiberius's words did not anger Julianus, but Julianus's understatement directly angered Tiberius, who was already unwilling; Tiberius immediately exclaimed, "A small detail?!" Can you Scipio treat the land of the two provinces as a small detail?! ”

Seeing that the situation was developing in the direction of collapse, Marius on the side hurriedly stood up and said: "The two Excellencies are both giants of the Republic and leaders of their respective families, if outsiders see this scene, then they are not ashamed to laugh at us?" We are gathered today to find solutions to the matter at hand; Don't say these pointless things again! ”

After Marlius played the round, Tiberius finally swallowed what he still wanted to say, but snorted heavily; When Marius saw Tiberius's blue face, he also smiled and said, "Your Excellency Tiberius, your Brutus family has indeed been smooth sailing and enviable recently!"

Your expeditionary army successfully took the kingdom of Epirus along the way, not to mention, but also took Aeturia in the city-state of Semon as a matter of course; With these two regions as their foundations, it is only a matter of time before you, the Brutus, defeat the corrupt Macedonian kingdom and the shattered confederation of Greek city-states. Can't we give our people a little benefit in such a good situation?

I, Marius, are united with the Scipio family, and their overall strength is only two provinces; Whether it's the House of Julius in the north, or the House of Augustus overseas, or you Brutus, which family is not stronger than our alliance? Sir Tiberius, if you are willing to hand over the two southern provinces to us, then we can be fully united!

From now on, your Brutus family is fully committed to expanding on the Greek peninsula, and we can provide your family with a large number of Roman people to immigrate; In addition, we can also deal with the possible threat of the House of Julius and the House of Augustus together, so that your family can conquer the entire Greek Peninsula without any worries! ”

Marius's demagogic words did not have the slightest temptation in the ears of Tiberius; However, what has already been decided, Tiberius does not intend to go around in circles. So, Tiberius spoke directly: "I can give you the two southern provinces, but you must give us the Brutus family more than three months to transfer some things that need to be transferred.

In addition to this, you will need to pay a certain amount of gold to buy these two provinces; Especially you, Marius, you know how much wealth you amassed in the night you tossed in the city of Rome. You also know that the wealth that originally belonged to our Brutus family, plus the affairs of these two provinces; You must give me enough gold for the Brutus! ”

Hearing Tiberius relent, Marius immediately agreed: "Good! Since Tiberius has said so, it is impossible for us to refuse; For the purchase price of two provinces, we are willing to pay 5,000,000 gold coins per province! As for the three-month transfer time, we naturally agreed; What does Lord Tiberius think about our alliance? ”

In the face of the alliance proposed by Marius three times, although Tiberius was reluctant to form an alliance with these two families, reason told him that the alliance was more beneficial to the Brutus family. After resolving the conflict between the two southern provinces, the Brutus family and these two forces had no conflict of interest at all; So, Tiberius replied with difficulty: "The alliance can!" (To be continued.) )