In this world, we are all prisoners, and we are imprisoned in the flesh of this world.

- Epictetus (famous Roman philosopher)

Since the Brutus family experienced the crushing defeat in the last Battle of Turbo, they began to start a new round of arms expansion with the support of the Senate and the courage of their own family; The three legions annihilated by Pyrus in Tulbo were reorganized, but the auxiliary legions were temporarily decommissioned.

Later, with the successful expansion of the Julius family and the change of the situation in Rome, the Senate's support for the Brutus family also came to an end; In order to be self-reliant, the Brutus family had to rely on their own strength to form an army. It has to be said that relying on the rich southern provinces of the Roman Republic, the Brutus family itself developed and grew relatively rapidly.

The four legions belonging to the Brutus family, including the War Horse Legion, were renamed the Brutus Legion; They were the 1st Brutus Legion, the 2nd Brutus Legion, the 3rd Brutus Legion, and the 4th Brutus Legion. The heir of the family, who was originally the commander of the legion, officially handed over the position of captain to the more professional deputy general of the Alvin Legion, and Alvin also became the commander of the Fourth Brutus Legion.

In addition to the rebuilding of the three legions, the Brutus family also expanded the fleet belonging to their own family; The current fleet of the Brutus family now had a full thirty double-lined ships, twelve three-column ships, and two five-column ships. As his own strength expands day by day, the call for revenge within the Brutus family is getting louder and louder.

The last war to conquer the kingdom of Epirus has become an indelible pain in the hearts of everyone in the Brutus family, but Tiberius, the leader of the family, who has grown wise, understands that the current Brutus family does not have the strength to take revenge; Not to mention the command ability of the Pyrus and Pylos brothers, the two thousand ironclad cavalry of the Kingdom of Epirus alone are not something that the Brutus family legion can deal with.

Even if the Brutus family plans to use the lives of the soldiers to pile up these two thousand ironclad cavalry, there are not enough soldiers to pile up! After all, it is impossible for all the four legions of the Brutus family to be sent out to attack the kingdom of Epirus, at least one legion must be left to garrison the homeland; The remaining three legions are not as large as the number of the last attacking army!

In view of this, plans to continue the expansion of the army within the Brutus family were put on the agenda; However, it was not so easy for the Brutus family to expand the number of troops. Because although the Brutus family has enough wealth and soldiers, it lacks sufficient production capacity for weapons and equipment; Without the support of the Senate, the Brutus family had to figure out their own weapons and equipment.

This is not an easy problem to solve, and what is the point of forming a new corps without weapons and equipment? Can the soldiers of the newly formed legion still be allowed to go to the battlefield with their bare hands to fight the heavily armed army of the Kingdom of Epirus? Just when the Brutus family was preparing to invest a lot of money in the development of their own weapons and equipment production capacity, two people appeared.

The two people who appeared were the two most famous tycoons of the Roman Republic, the former of whom was Sulla, the largest real estate merchant in the Roman Republic; It is said that more than half of the houses in Rome were built and sold by Sulla, which shows the extent of Sulla's wealth.

The latter is Pompey, the richest nobleman of the Roman Republic, whose existence is a myth among the nobility of the Roman Republic and a legend in the Roman business world; He inherited his family at the age of twenty and became a noble Roman nobleman. After that, he spent five years destroying his family fortune, and under the guidance of everyone, he became the richest nobleman in Rome in another five years.

Both of them are not very old, but they are in their thirties; But they are all the top figures in the Roman Republic, and they are also the figures who can call the wind and rain in the Roman political and business circles. The arrival of these two men was naturally warmly welcomed by Tiberius; However, the two of them shocked Tiberius as soon as they opened it, so that Tiberius had no idea if he was dreaming or not!

It turned out that these two men were aware of the open and secret struggle between the Maxentius family and Marius in the city of Rome, and thought that the city of Rome might not be safe; So, these two people came to the Brutus family and wanted to join the Brutus family. Of course, with their net worth, they don't just talk about defecting; The gift they prepared for this was a whole two legions!

By two legions, they don't mean enough gold to form two legions, nor are they enough weapons and equipment to arm two legions; It was two Roman legions that really existed! In fact, since the last time the Maxentius family issued a new Roman decree, these two people have already sensed that the Roman Republic is about to change.

With the wealth and status of these two people, they naturally formed two legions that could protect themselves and their families; The legion formed by Sulla, the leader of the legion is Otis, a member of the family that Sulla used to spend a lot of money to cultivate, and the legion formed by Pompey, the leader of the legion, is Amos, the guard leader of the Pompey family.

Regardless of the abilities of the two legions, the weapons and equipment of these two legions were even completely superior to the Roman standard legions of the Brutus family; Tiberius was happy with the surrender of these two legions, but he also couldn't believe it. There is no pie in the sky, and Tiberius, as the leader of the Brutus family, naturally did not understand this truth.

However, the Brutus family does need strong support now; Tiberius then had an open and honest conversation with Sulla and Pompey. No one knew what the three of them had talked about during the night's secret conversation; However, the next day, the 5th Brutus Legion and the 6th Brutus Regiment appeared in the army sequence of the Brutus family.

In addition, Sulla and Pompey also took out five million gold coins each to help the Brutus family improve the production capacity of weapons and equipment; And Tiberius also officially announced the importance of Sulla and Pompey in the Brutus family. From now on, within the Brutus family, Sulla and Pompey will be second only to the family leader and family heir, and their status will be higher than the others!

Although the credibility of such statements is not very high, the possibility of actual implementation is almost none; But at least it's a gesture, isn't it? Can Sulla and Pompey still run to command the commanders by virtue of their position above the various commanders? A lot of times, a lot of things don't require a definite and realistic result; Just having an adequate posture is enough.

Tiberius knew this, Sulla and Pompey knew this, and the generals of the Brutus family knew this; Since everyone understands this, isn't there a tacit understanding? Do you need to say anything clearly? With the strong support of Sulla and Pompey, the Brutus family grew even more rapidly; The weapons and equipment of various legions are also being upgraded at an accelerated pace.

Originally, the weapons and equipment used by the Brutus family legions were the weapons and equipment used by the standard Roman legions, but now that Sulla and Pompey's legions are compared, the gap is more obvious; Although the standard standard weapons and equipment of the Roman legions are already much stronger than the armies of other power countries, after all, they are mass-produced weapons and equipment, how can they be compared with those two legions?

But now it was different, with the financial support of Sulla and Pompey, the Brutus family began to have a lot of money to replace the four legions of their family with better weapons and equipment; Once this change is complete, the weapons and equipment used by the Brutus legions will be superior to the Roman legions of all other families.

While seizing the time to create this more sophisticated weaponry, Tiberius could not waste the standard weapons and equipment used by the four legions in vain! Thus, the Brutus family began a new round of military expansion; That is, the plan to find a new master for the weapons and equipment of the four regiments that were replaced.

After negotiations within the Brutus family, the Brutus family decided to recruit new recruits from the four more legions, let them use the weapons and equipment of the replaced four legions, and become the seventh, eighth, ninth, and tenth legions of the Brutus family! Of course, it is completely unbearable for the Brutus family to feed the army of ten legions on their own; Again, this relied on the support of Sulla and Pompey.

In order to thank Sulla and Pompey for their strong support of the Brutus family, Tiberius was not stingy, but gave Sulla and Pompey enough in return; The four newly formed Legions, Bruce of the Ninth Brutus Legion and Captain of the Tenth Brutus Legion****** were the generals of the Brutus family appointed by Tiberius.

and the remaining Seventh and Eighth Brutus Legions, the commanders of which were Gabriel appointed by Sulla and Nelson appointed by Pompey; This means that Tiberius, the control of these two legions, was given to Sulla and Pompey, and the Brutus family gave ownership to Sulla and Pompey as long as their command remained!

There is also a reason why Sulla and Pompey were able to accept the ownership of the two legions with peace of mind; With the exception of the secret meeting with Tiberius that night, the formation of the four recruit legions was all paid for by Sulla and Pompey. In other words, Tiberius's Brutus family gained ownership of two legions and command of four legions without taking out a single gold coin.

Whatever Sulla and Pompey did for what they took to the Brutus family, and whatever Tiberius accepted Sulla and Pompey; In short, the Brutus family grew stronger and stronger with their own efforts and the support of Sulla Pompey, and the total strength of the ten legions was even higher than the total strength of the Macedonian Kingdom! (To be continued.) )