Chapter 3: Faberia's Anger (Part 1)
ps: Read the exclusive story behind "The Road to Augustus", listen to your more suggestions for the novel, follow the official account (add friends on WeChat - add official account - enter dd), and tell me quietly!
"Since you are going to collect taxes twice a year, you must find a way to ensure that we have two summers and two harvest seasons a year." - Marco Antony, a mayor of a vassal city who levied heavy taxes in the East so argue
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
This kind of killing continued until the seventh day. One hundred and eighty senators and nearly one thousand two hundred knights were killed under the declaration of public enemies and the execution order. Due to the participation of the legion, the efficiency of the entire massacre increased several times. You must know that the firing squad had just executed the sixteen murderers one by one within three days.
Centurions and soldiers were densely packed inside the city, as well as in the forests, fields, roads and swamps outside the city. There were sentries and patrolling cavalry everywhere. Ninety percent of the fleeing people were found in various places and killed one by one. One senator even hid in a manure pit, but was stabbed to death by the Gallic cavalry with a spear. His stinking head was not even wiped of the dirt on it before being sent to the square. It was not only the murderer who died. Not only the relatives of Pompey who stayed in Rome and were related to him during his lifetime, nor even the marginalized people within Caesar’s party, as long as they were hated by these few people, especially the young Caesar for money, Antony would let these people be killed for personal grudges.
For example, the praetor Corolla only acted when the Senate had previously issued a public enemy declaration against Brutus and Cassius. Abstained. He was spotted by Young Caesar. In order to avoid the disaster, he put on coarse clothes and ran to the Avondine Hill, where he squatted at the street corner. When he saw a funeral procession coming down the mountain, he got in and pretended to be a coffin bearer, because he was in contact with the rich man. Unlike the garden-like cemeteries in the city, the poor people on Avendine Hill can only be buried in mass graves outside the city. This gave Korola a chance to get out of town. As a result, they were searched by soldiers of the Ninth Legion at the city gate. Unfortunately, when the soldiers saw the funeral procession, they immediately shouted:
"There should be nine normal coffin bearers, one of whom is the best man and eight are responsible for carrying the coffin. Why are there ten of you?"
The other pallbearers panicked and tried to push Korola out, because this person was not a figure in their funeral party at all. But fortunately, the centurion who took the lead was particularly "witty". He reprimanded the soldiers and said not to pay attention to the number of coffin bearers, but to check the inside of the coffin. Many public enemies now use this trick.
So the soldiers opened the lid, and as expected, a man emerged from inside, screaming and rolling to the ground. Although it was only for a moment, Korola recognized him as the former consul Valentius, who was also a public enemy. See He came here to hide in the coffin and sneak out of the city like himself. It was really "quite fate". However, the centurion stepped forward and stabbed Valentius to death from behind with a sword. The soldiers all cheered. As if watching the killing of an animal, the whole checkpoint was in a joyous chaos - everyone was identifying the deceased and then running to collect the reward - Korola was a blessing in disguise and managed to sneak out, and later he ran away He went to Spain to avoid trouble and successfully joined Lepidus, and then continued to live a long life as a legal officer and censor, enjoying a long life and glory.
Colora was just an example. Soon the treatment of public enemies changed. Pansa was soon excluded. He was unwilling to participate in such things. His spirit almost collapsed and he escaped into his home. Went to recuperate. Slowly, the hidden conflicts between Anthony and Young Caesar came to the fore - they began to "pinch" each other. Anthony sent a firing squad to kill Young Caesar's friends, and also wanted to list his stepfather Philips as a public enemy; but Young Caesar did not want to Showing weakness, he killed more than a dozen knights protected by Anthony and deprived them of their property.
The "war" between the two intensified. Not only did they openly criticize each other in the square, but Antony soon targeted Caesar's crony Rufus, who was originally a Sicilian financial officer and followed Curio to fight in Africa. After the fall of Austria, he fled back to Italy. Now, Rufus is on the side of the young Caesar Octavian, and Antony's think tank Curio wants to kill him because of his past personal grudge (for not saving him in the war), so Antony is ready to kill him. Rufus.
More importantly, Antony's wife Fulivia took a fancy to the Rufus mansion and attempted to take it for herself. The couple then instructed Caridius, another confidant of Caesar's party, to fabricate a slanderous story. "Evidence" put Rufus on the death list. Rufus' head was sent to Anthony the next day, but he was not interested at all and just said lightly, "This is what my wife Fulivia wants." As for the result, just give her the head to observe."
After Fulivia checked in the atrium, she ordered Rufus' head to be hung on the porch of her house. The next day, Young Caesar also sent a "gift" to the hostess: the head of Caridius, Young Master's head. Caesar asked Fulivia to hang the head as well.
Antony was so angry that he immediately led his guards and rushed to the square to fight with Caesar, but Lepidus dissuaded him. "Okay, let's divide the boundaries so that everyone is responsible for a city, without interfering with each other and being independent." If we carry out the work of declaring and eliminating public enemies, there will be far fewer conflicts.”
The peacemaker's plan was finally accepted, so Lepidus was given the Ostia River Port and Mount Aventini, Caesar and Octavian were given the Subura District and the Via Colle, and Antony was given the Mars Field.
The killings were even more horrifying. The butcher's knife was not only aimed at the elders and knights, but also at the wealthy freemen, vendors, cooks, and even actors. In particular, the actors who often went in and out of the noble courtyards in the past were particularly fond of talking nonsense and showing off their shallow "wisdom". Many of them were killed. A banquet host named Bifurdras from Greece used to like to make fun of the occasions he managed. Many years ago, he once made a joke about Caesar's baldness. As a result, he was exposed by his door slaves and chased to his home by Octavian's execution squad and killed.
On the contrary, Lepidus and Leo sheltered many senators who fled in the neighborhood where the father and son's team was stationed. Of course, they were restrained because Lepidus was afraid that Antony and Caesar the Younger would use this as an excuse to attack him. He handed over the matter of identification to Princia and Helsius. Therefore, from morning to night, countless people crowded in the villa where the two were, and would rather lose their homes and fortunes to save their lives.
Today, there are few people in the Roman Forum. Except for the guards, it is like the resurrected Sulamarius Civil War era, with a cruel scene of piled heads. Crows, vultures and wild dogs come in groups to eat - the number of deaths rose sharply, and in the end, 400 senators, 2,200 knights, and tens of thousands of free people, retainers or slaves died tragically.
But Caesar the Younger and Antony felt that it was not enough. They believed that if they wanted to maintain the new and old legions they recruited, they still lacked about 200 million sesterces of property that had not been plundered. (A great event, a cool phone is waiting for you! Follow us~ Click on the official account (Add friends on WeChat-Add official account-enter dd), and participate immediately! Everyone will win a prize, follow dd's WeChat official account now!) (To be continued..)