Chapter 25 Marching Towards Alexandria (Part 2)
At the same time, the envoys from Egypt arrived in Paphos. They got off their carriages one after another in front of the regiment's strict camp, bowed at the knees of Caesar, the actual king of Rome, and presented two wine urns.
Caesar's personal shield-bearer opened the lid of the wine jar and took out the heads of Gebinus and Marcellus. Caesar just glanced at it and then asked the details of the death of the two former consuls. process, so the envoy added fuel to the fire, because in his eyes, these two were Caesar's old enemies. It was always in line with the appetite of the Roman dictator to describe the death of his old enemies in a more miserable way.
Unexpectedly, Caesar interrupted him before he finished speaking. The dictator was shaking all over and even shed tears. He was furious and accused the Egyptian envoy in front of him: "It is difficult for me to sum up your nation in one sentence. Yes, I can only say that you Egyptians are not rash, cunning, or brave, but you are the best at betraying those who trust you. No other nation in this world dares to surpass Egypt and occupy the first position. The new pharaoh really thinks that I will be proud and happy that two consuls were assassinated in a foreign land and a general was imprisoned in a dark prison? Then you are totally wrong. Not only am I To retrieve their corpses for burial, and to punish the relevant murderers, I now have one of the most elite legions here, as well as ten decked ships, and are supported by many allies, ready to sail to Alexandria at any time. Raise an army to investigate! "???! Ten thousand books! .nsb.;? The Egyptian envoys were so frightened that they calmed down. Fortunately, Motenmenes had prepared a plan for them before setting off, so The envoy hurriedly apologized, saying that the two consuls were dead. In fact, the new Pharaoh later prepared to hold the relevant people accountable. Originally our Pharaoh's idea was just to arrest these three people. Wait for the dictator to come to Egypt and donate it to them so that they can accept your sanctions. But there was an accident on the way. A retired Roman centurion named Septimius suddenly killed two former consuls for some unknown reason. We tried our best to rescue them and finally recaptured them. Our country has now launched a rigorous investigation into the life of General Scipio. Now all the fingers are pointed at the Pharaoh's sister Cleopatra. This insidious woman has never advocated her dead father's will and tried to destroy the friendship between Egypt and Rome. Septimius is likely to get it. Her instigation.
"Where is that woman now?" Caesar asked hurriedly.
The envoy replied that she was currently hiding in the Pelusim Fortress in the Sinai area, but please rest assured, the dictator, that the new pharaoh would soon organize an army to conquer her and execute her to apologize to the dictator. "Oh?" Caesar smiled faintly, then asked the clerk to get another pile of tablets, and then told the Egyptian envoy clearly. "But Lady Cleopatra in Perusium also sent me a letter before. It claimed that she was my loyal sponsor, and said that the person who destroyed the relationship between the two countries and the piper's will was Her brother, what do you think of this?"
The envoy was dumbfounded and could only accuse Cleopatra of being a femme fatale, and persuaded Caesar not to be deceived by her. "How can you accuse a beautiful lady without any basis? We Romans absolutely cannot do that. Such a thing happened." Immediately in front of the envoys, Caesar summoned all the generals and chief centurions and made a decision to lead the army to Alexandria:
"The ten legions and the Rhodian fleet of Hittius followed me to that city; I also informed Lepidus' winter camp in Asia Minor and asked him to lead two or three legions to Perusium, and the rest The legion continued to camp. I, Caesar, could not bear to see the bloody and tragic internal strife among the descendants of my friend the Piper's royal family. Maybe some hateful eunuchs were causing it, so I must resolve this matter properly before returning to Italy. "...
Isn't this tantamount to invading Egypt? Seeing that the negotiations failed, those envoys begged Caesar not to come to their country with troops and eagle flags. This would arouse the anger of all Egyptians and not only disrupt Egypt's internal affairs, but also put himself in danger. . But Caesar did not listen to him at all. Instead, he used the fluteer's will as evidence, saying that the Roman Republic had the obligation and power to resolve the disputes in Egypt, and then drove all the envoys back.
When the token reached the foot of Mount Asimanus, the Ares Games had come to an end. The city-state of Athens won all the olive branch crowns of the heavy infantry race, Thrace won all the championships in the boxing competition, and the representatives of Lepidus' legions The team won the first place in all long-distance races (50 stadia distance), and the team sent by Adiana won the "Best Style Award" (because their runners were as difficult as the Queen, with the number of protests and withdrawals) (the most), and in the end, all the awards in the cricket match were collected by the Tianzhu Myrrh merchant delegation. In short, everyone was happy. At the same time as the grand flame-extinguishing ceremony on the mountain peak, the Grand Campus held a song in praise of Dionysus, performed by the Armenian singer Theros and the female organist Phob from Athens. The entire audience included slaves, women ( This group of people (who were not allowed to watch competitive games in the past), all danced happily in the singing.
The song echoed throughout the land beneath Mount Asimanus:
"People's hair is entwined with roses,
The singing is soaring to the accompaniment of the organ,
The chorus sang loudly,
Putting the crown of praise on the head of beautiful Semene,
Because she is the mother of Dionysus! "
Amid the singing, the officers, bureaucrats and contestants reappeared one after another, presenting small statues, wool balls, poppy seeds and precious spices to the obelisks engraved with the names of various gods, calling for freedom and peace. Then the entire camp entered the last and most peak happy time - grand singing, feasting and revelry. At this moment, Lepidus, who received Caesar's order, kissed Adiana affectionately in the corner behind the stands and said, "Take good care of our Euaget, because his father is going on another journey."
"Control your lust, okay, even if you can't control it, don't do things like getting pregnant after a spring breeze." This is the weakest warning from Adiana, which is extremely rare for her, because Lepidus promised her in advance that the palace built in Nicomedia would belong to them alone.
Before May, Lepidus, who had completed his reorganization, commanded the Sixth and Fifteenth Legions and began to head for Cilicia, preparing to meet up with the fleet and march to Egypt again.