An indispensable quality of a general is fortitude.

- Tacitus (the greatest historian of ancient Rome)

With Marius's order, the Third and Ninth Legions, which belonged to Octavian, and the Fourth and Fifth Legions, which belonged to Aulus, rushed to the province of Apria of the Brutus family; Such a large-scale and unconcealed military operation naturally could not be concealed from the Brutus family.

Vibius, where the Brutus family was in Apulia, immediately personally led the Seventh and Eighth Legions, which had remained on the mainland, to the border area and stationed them; At the same time, information about the military operations of Marius and Scipio was sent to Tiberius' army as quickly as possible by Vibius.

In Vibius's view, it was already his luck that the combined forces of Marius and Scipio, who had an absolute superiority in strength, did not take the initiative to attack; Vibius certainly wouldn't be bored and took the initiative to ask. Thus, the armies of the two sides tacitly confronted each other on the border between the provinces of Apria and Campania.

Tiberius received information from Vibius on the sixth day of the confrontation; At this time, Tiberius had just returned to Apollonia with his army for less than two days, and the raids against the kingdoms of Dalmatia and Macedonia had just been put on the agenda. With this happening, all other plans in Tiberius' mind were disrupted.

the two southern provinces of the Roman Republic, the provinces of Apuria and Brution, which had long been part of the Brutus family; When these two provinces were still Greek city-states, they were gradually defeated by the ancestors of the Brutus family, and they have been under the rule of the Brutus family since then.

Although these two provinces were nominally the territory of the Roman Republic, they had long since become the private fiefdoms of the Brutus family; This can be seen from the centuries-old Governors of Apria and Brotien who have been hereditary for centuries by the Brutus family. Now, with Marius and Scipio's family joining forces to express their ambitions for these two provinces, wouldn't this give Tiberius a headache?

If this happened a month or two earlier, it would not have been a difficult thing to be entangled, and at that time the Brutus family could be in the territory of these two provinces; Needless to say, if Marius and Scipio dared to expose such ideas, the Brutus family would not mind a Roman civil war with them.

However, this time was not two months ago; The Brutus family was not only the southern provinces of Rome proper, but also the two newly occupied provinces on the Greek peninsula that were also indispensable territories of the Brutus family. Although, these two newly occupied provinces were far less prosperous than the two provinces in the south of the Republic; However, in a strategic sense, it is extraordinary!

The two provinces in the south of the Republic are the bases run by the Brutus family for hundreds of years, and they are also the two provinces that are loyal to the Brutus family; However, its practical value has been exerted to the limit, and it is almost impossible to make any better achievements based on these two provinces.

On the contrary, the two newly occupied provinces were newly occupied by the Brutus family, and their loyalty to the Brutus family was extremely limited; However, its actual value is much more than that. As long as the Brutus family can use these two provinces as a springboard, then the entire Greek peninsula will be in the Brutus family's pocket sooner or later!

Moreover, with the existing strength of the Brutus family; It was simply impossible to send a large army to fight a civil war against the combined forces of the two provinces without preserving the two newly occupied provinces. These two choices were placed in front of Tiberius, and Tiberius naturally had a difficult choice; In fact, Tiberius's heart was still focused on keeping the two newly occupied provinces.

However, such a choice was impossible for Tiberius to make; Not only because of the Brutus family's affection for the two southern provinces of the Republic, but also because the strength of the Brutus family is based in the southern provinces of the Republic. If the Brutus family loses these two provinces, it will lose all the weapons and equipment production capacity and financial resources of the Brutus family, and the consequences are immeasurable!

Faced with such a dilemma, Tiberius had no choice but to call the generals of the Brutus family, as well as Sulla and Pompey, to discuss countermeasures; When Tiberius informed everyone of what had happened in his native land, the generals who were present immediately exploded and began to criticize Marius and Scipio.

What is the use of these meaningless words of indignation? Tiberius had no choice but to let the generals go down first, leaving only Sulla and Pompey. Although these two men joined the Brutus family with a purpose, their purpose was also based on the Brutus family's successful conquest of the Greek peninsula; Therefore, before that, they will still sincerely help the Brutus family.

Tiberius still trusted the wisdom of these two men; At least more trustworthy than the grumpy generals of his own family. Faced with the difficult questions thrown by Tiberius, Sulla and Pompey gave clear answers; After all, they are all businessmen, and in the face of such a choice, it is inevitable to make a choice to maximize profits.

In their opinion, the reason why Marius and Scipio did not directly forcibly seize the two southern provinces of the Brutus family was that they were unwilling to really tear up face with the Brutus; The Brutus family could have used their family's two native provinces for some other purpose.

Moreover, with the future expansion of the Brutus family on the Greek peninsula, the role of the two mainland provinces will become smaller and smaller, but a lot of troops will have to be divided to garrison, and enough warships and transports will be needed to go back and forth; These two provinces are of little significance to the Brutus family, and it is better to exchange them for enough benefits.

As for the question raised by Tiberius about the production capacity of weapons and equipment, the solution given by Sulla and Pompey is also very simple; That was to make an agreement with the Marius and Scipio families to sell the two southern provinces of the Brutus family to them. However, the Brutus family had to be given three months to move things before they could be sold.

Three months, plus one hundred and forty transports at the Brutus family's disposal; It was enough for the Brutus family to move all the means of production and about a third of the population of the two southern provinces to the two newly occupied provinces. With these tools and populations, the two newly occupied provinces were quickly transformed into fiefdoms loyal to the Brutus family.

In addition to this, the Brutus family could use it as an excuse to demand enough benefits from Marius and Scipio; Didn't Marius last time amass a great deal of wealth in the city of Rome? He could have used a large amount of gold to buy these two provinces, and the Brutus family could also manage and develop the territory of the Greek Peninsula more quickly after obtaining this gold coin.

After some persuasion by Sulla and Pompey, Tiberius reluctantly chose to compromise with Marius and Scipio; After all, the current Brutus family really can't withstand the huge pressure of fighting on two fronts. Sacrificing the family's two provinces in the mainland of the Republic in exchange for enough benefits can be regarded as fighting for the Brutus family's plan of Greek conquest.

With the results of this deliberation, Tiberius once again summoned the generals of his family to the meeting room, and informed them of the decision; Faced with Tiberius's choice, most of the generals on the spot made it clear that they could not accept such a decision, even if they died fighting for the family, they could not accept losing the foundation of the family for no reason!

Tiberius, of course, could not blame the generals for their loyalty to the Brutus; Tiberius then had no choice but to tell the generals the results of his negotiations with Sulla and Pompey. Of course, in telling this, Tiberius also made it clear that he had another idea to the generals.

That is, the reason why the Brutus family had no choice but to compromise was because the Brutus family was not strong enough to ensure the absolute security of the newly occupied territory while ensuring that the family's homeland was not coveted; However, these were only temporary difficulties, and Tiberius encouraged the generals to work harder to grow the Brutus family!

In this way, from now on, the Brutus family will no longer be coerced by others, nor will they lose what they rightly have; What's more, everything that originally belonged to the Brutus family can also be taken out again! Tiberius hinted so clearly that the generals present naturally knew it; There was no more to complain about.

After convincing these generals, Tiberius also announced the suspension of the Brutus' plans to conquer the kingdoms of Dalmatia and Macedonia; Before that, Tiberius himself had to return to Tarentum to negotiate with Marius and Scipio in order to resolve the crisis in the best interests of the Brutus family.

At the end of this meeting, Tiberius offered to Sulla and Pompey to return to Tarentum with them; To this, Sulla and Pompey naturally gladly agreed. Immediately, Tiberius began to prepare for his return to Tarentum; However, before he could return to Tarentum himself, Tiberius first sent an emissary back to Tarentum.

The task of this messenger was to be the first to rush back to Tarentum, and then to get in touch with Marius and Scipio; Representatives of both sides were invited to negotiate in the border area, preferably by the Marius himself and the leader of the Scipio family. After sending the emissaries, Tiberius arranged his family's army in Epirus, and then set off with Sulla and Pompey! (To be continued.) )