Intempodipace, ifigliseppellisconoiloropadri, inguerra, ipadriseppellisconoifigli (in peacetime, the son buries the father; In times of war, fathers bury their sons)

- Herodotus (ancient Greek historian, revered as the "father of history")

Leisure time always flies quickly, and it has been half a month since Oscar sent someone to the Maxentius family to propose marriage. Just yesterday evening, the five legions that the Senate was responsible for forming had been formed at the same time.

Later today, the Five Great Families will go to collect the Legion; At the same time, the Senate also approved the proposal of the three families of Julius, Scipio, and Brutus to directly bring back the unarmed army of recruits. Therefore, after receiving the legion today, only the First Legion of the House of Augustus and the Second Legion of the House of Maxentius will go to the legion camp outside the city; The other three legions will be led directly out of the Latin provinces.

In order to welcome the arrival of the new legion, the council chamber of the Augustan family mansion was already full of people at this moment; Luquis, the leader of the Wolf Legion, Thales, the leader of the family guard, Oscar's second brother Tuka, third brother Raka, and old Carabes, as well as the two previously appointed lieutenant generals of the legion and the eight Grand Special Captains. Oscar, who was sitting at home, said in a commanding tone: "When nine o'clock comes, we will go together to the recruit camp outside the city to collect the army. Luquis, Belis, you two and your captains will take their captains and collect the army, don't worry about the rest of us, just go back to the Wolf Legion station; Tomorrow the Carters will send the weapons and equipment needed by the Wolf Legion. Luquis, you are the leader of the Wolf Legion, I will leave this legion to you, hurry up and train, we only have a month.

Licinius, Vipsani, Marcus, Cassillo, and Ronkina led three hundred veterans with me to the recruit camp, and when they arrived at the recruit camp, 40 of the 300 honorable men were appointed centurions, and the others were all officers of all ranks; With a veteran in charge of 20 recruits, a certain degree of organizational discipline should be established as soon as possible. When I return to the First Legion station, I myself will train with you as the Commander of the First Legion.

After a month, we will at least have to make the First Army have simple combat effectiveness, and as for the rest, we will only go to the battlefield to slowly hone it; And you don't have to worry about weapons and equipment, the Carters family will deliver all the equipment of a legion to us in three installments within a month. Moreover, these weapons and equipment are definitely stronger than those of the other four legions; So, you have to train harder.

By the way, Luquis, after you go back, send someone to send all the standard weapons and equipment in the Wolf Legion to the First Legion station; Today, the Carters family sent you the elite weapons and equipment of a standard legion, you don't ask why, don't think about why, just do your own thing. Now, everyone except Luquis who was named just now should go out and prepare. ”

After speaking, the two lieutenant generals of the regiment went out with eight brigades; There were only five people left in the entire council chamber, including the old butler. Oscar swept over the faces of the five people one by one with sharp eyes, and then said in a deep voice: "You are the most core members of the Augustus family now, so you listen carefully and do the next thing seriously; Don't ask, let alone tell. Old butler, first report on the situation of the family in Rome. ”

Carabes Sr. was very touched by Oscar's trust in him, but also knew that now was not the time to be sentimental; Immediately stood up and said to everyone: "Now the family has a total of 300,000 gold coins in Rome City that can be used at any time, and if you do your best, you can still withdraw an additional 200,000 gold coins, but this will be a devastating blow to the family industry."

Also, there were now 1,000 trained guards and 500 gladiator slaves in the family mansion; In addition to this, there were 500 guards and 1,500 gladiator slaves secretly scattered throughout the family estates throughout the Latin provinces. However, once this part of the secret force is mobilized, it will inevitably bring security risks to the family industry; Therefore, it is generally not easily transferred. ”

Old Carabes bowed to Oscar and sat down, and Oscar nodded and continued: "Old butler, these things don't need to be considered; All you have to do is do what I tell you to do. After the meeting, you will secretly send 200,000 gold coins to the Richard family's cargo ship in the harbor tonight, and then Luquis, you will write a letter and ask a henchman who is trusted by your brothers to send all 200,000 gold coins to Crete with this letter.

In this letter, you have Lucas and Calis see the letter, and immediately send two large groups of elite troops to the freighter, and the Richards will transport them to the Tyrrhenian sea to join our Sardinian expeditionary corps; Then let them use these 200,000 gold coins to quickly expand the Cretan Legion into a complete legion, don't be afraid to spend money, be sure to form the legion as soon as possible and quickly improve its combat effectiveness.

The rest of the money is used to buy and build warships for the Black Fleet, and quickly expand the strength of the Black Fleet! Luquis, go down and write a letter, and the old butler you should also go and tell your henchmen to prepare the gold coins, which will be used tonight. When you have given the order, you order the henchmen of the clan to gather all the guards and slaves together in the Star of Casa; I don't care about the rest. Go and put it. ”

Without questioning or thinking, Lucis and the old butler dutifully carried out Oscar's orders. looked at the remaining three, one was a childhood playmate who was two years older than him, and the other two were his younger brother who had just reached adulthood at the age of 16; Oscar really wasn't going to risk them, and now he can't take care of it. Oscar confessed to the three of them:

"You three are my closest family, and I wasn't prepared to let you take the risk, nor did I plan to let you take on this great responsibility; But the Augustan family has reached the moment of life and death, and if the family fails in this combat operation, then soon the name of Augustus will disappear from the stage of the republic and become a historical term. I know you have a lot of doubts and a lot of confusion; It doesn't matter, you just need to know that we are fighting for the survival of our family. Tell me, can you? ”

In the face of Oscar's sincere eyes, Thales, Tuca, and Rakka resolutely stood up and said to Oscar in unison: "All for Augustus!" Looking at the three people in front of him with satisfaction, especially his two immature brothers, Oscar said with emotion:

"Good! All for Augustus! Listen, Thales, when the 1,500 guards are assembled, you will hand over the reins to Tuka and Raqqa; Tuka, you are the elder brother, you are responsible for leading 1,000 guards to garrison the Casa Star, and you will not let anyone enter the Casa Star during my expedition, no matter what happens. Unless I come back or you're dead for the sake of the family, no one is allowed to enter the Casa Star; Remember it's anyone!

Raqqa, you lead 500 family guards to be secretly stationed in the farmstead near the port; If something happens, you don't care about Tuka or anyone, you just lead your guards out and take the port. Then, you wait for the arrival of the Richards of House Carters; As soon as they arrived at you, they sailed for Crete. If this is the case, you will be the leader of the Augustan family in the future, and you must lead the Augustan family to survive in Crete! "Big brother! The three of us brothers will live together, and die together; I can't watch you and my second brother work hard for the family while hiding by yourself! Hearing Oscar say so tragically, Raka said excitedly.

"Haha, you are all my good brothers, we will not fail so easily; What we're talking about now is all about prevention, and it will not happen in the future, so you don't have to worry too much. Well, from tomorrow onwards you will go and eat and live with the guards and practice with them; Only then will they recognize you, believe in you, and be willing to fight after you. Go and prepare yourselves. “

At this time, only Oscar and Thales were left in the council room; Oscar smiled and said to Thales, "Tyler, are you unhappy that I deprived you of the command of your guards?" Thales said helplessly: "Okay, I don't know you yet?" Hurry up and give me a task, I'm going to fight the Carthaginians, and you won't let me go. "Haha......" Oscar laughed at Thales' words, and then said, "I know you too, and I believe in you; I entrust my future to you, and I hope you can surprise me. When the family's 2,000 gladiators have assembled, you lead them to Sicily in batches on smuggling ships; You will enter the province of Lower Sicilia in Carthage one after another, in the name of slaves and gladiators. I trust your loyalty, but I can't guarantee the loyalty of your family slaves; So, I can only pin my hopes on you. ”

Thales asked a little puzzled, "Isn't the family's war against Sardinia in Carthage?" Why such an infiltration of Lower Sicilia regardless of losses? Oscar simply replied: "Thales, I said it, this time there is no why, let alone an explanation; So, you can only go for it. But I can guarantee that by the end of October at the latest, the family army will attack Lower Sicilya. When the time comes, it's all up to you. ”

Thales looked at the mysterious Oscar, and had to shrug helplessly and said, "Okay, I accept the task!" I'm going ahead of time, so take care of yourself. With that, Thales stood up and walked out of the chamber; Looking at Thales, who was about to walk out of the council hall, Oscar thought for a moment and said:

"The legion of Hannibal of Carthage is in Lower Sicilya, and you will have many opportunities to see him; I hope you can hold back. ”

Thales, who had already walked to the door of the council chamber, trembled when he heard Oscar's words, and didn't say anything, but his steps became more powerful.