My XX deal with Sister Nero

But Tony doesn't want this icing on the cake, what he wants is Nero's timely help!

"My... my finances are quite tight right now. I'm sure you all know that I rented a theater some time ago. Also, the First Legion of Odney is planning to expand, so... the money I earned a few days ago... is basically gone now." Tony said bitterly.

"Oh... I have also heard about your Highness buying a theater..." Vanore looked at Tony apologetically and said, "I am really sorry, Your Highness, I am really powerless to help you with the construction of the community. If Your Highness really does not have much money... how about putting it on hold? Let's talk about it in a few months?"

In a few months?

Haha, I already expected that you would refuse, okay?

That's right, before Tony came, he had guessed that the Senate would most likely reject his proposal.

Anyone who can enter the Senate is definitely not a fool, so when Tony proposed to build a community in the name of the government to accommodate the homeless, the senators in the Senate certainly understood what this guy was planning.

What about the Senate? Although some senators hope to coexist with the imperial power, the mainstream tone in the Senate is still to restore the republic and oppose dictatorship. It is for this reason that the Senate is unlikely to agree to Tony's proposal.

The Senate also understood that Tony had just bought a theater and did not have much money. As for Nero... although a lot of treasures had been stored in the palace since Augustus, our great Majesty Nero ordered the construction of his own palace as soon as he came to power, and Nero's requirement for this palace was to be the "most luxurious" palace.

【-&

Most of the money in the palace was used to build this palace.

Your Highness and Your Majesty are both poor, and that is why the Senate has the audacity to say that it is poor.

Don't believe it? If you don't believe it, just check the accounts!

Your Highness, will you check the accounts?

But... is there really nothing Tony can do?

Of course there are.

"How about this, let's buy this land... in the name of the royal family, and wait until the imperial treasury has money in a while... so how much is this land?" Tony pondered for a long time before saying impatiently.

Chapter 345 Land

"Look at what Your Highness said. There is an old saying in the East, 'All under heaven belongs to the king, and all the people in the world are the king's subjects.' If Your Majesty needs to requisition the land outside the suburbs of Rome... this will naturally be given to Your Majesty free of charge." Vanore smiled at Tony and said.

……Fine.

Tony knew that the land system of the Roman Empire was different from that of the East. In theory, the land should belong to the country, but in reality, the land in Central and Western Europe was distributed with slave estates of all sizes of nobles and the land of small farmers, while North Africa was the self-cultivated land of various veterans and the slave estates of some slave owners.

As for the East...that is the territory of the emerging warlords.

The remaining unowned land is the territory of the empire.

The Claudius family was naturally the largest private landowner in the empire.

"In that case... I would like to thank you all on behalf of His Majesty." Tony nodded.

"It's okay." Vanore nodded with a kind smile.

You don’t have any money anyway, so what’s wrong with me doing you a favor?

After leaving the Senate, Tony took a deep breath...

What a narrow-minded bunch...

That’s right, Tony has no money at the moment, and there is no money in the palace either, but... this doesn’t mean that they have always been poor.

Don't forget, Tony...there's another sum of money coming in soon, Princess Ryan's dowry!

Besides, even if Tony is in trouble, he can always borrow some money from Vitellius, right?

After all... according to the tacit official rules within the empire, when Tony became the governor of the British Province, in a sense, the British Province had become his private territory.

At that time, the worst that could happen is that I can take out a part of my income and return it to Vitellius.

After all, Vitellius was also a member of the Royalist Party, or in other words...his future had long been tied to Nero, so borrowing money was no big deal.

But...are they really so stupid that they don't know the difference between paying for something and not paying for something in the eyes of the public?

Maybe... they are not unaware of it, but they have never thought about it at all?

The Senate represents the republican system, and this republic... refers to the aristocratic republic.

Let me put it this way, although in name commoners are qualified to serve as senators, this is only in name. In reality, the senators of the Senate do not receive any salary.

And it's not just that you don't get paid, the most infuriating thing is that in order to please the people and gain their support, you not only have no money but you also have to spend a lot of money. Not only do you have to spend money, but according to the tradition of the Senate, senators are not allowed to do business.

It is precisely these harsh conditions that have led to the fact that there are not many truly civilian senators in the Senate. After all, not all civilians are rich.

This also leads to another problem.

Suppose a commoner finally enters the Senate and becomes a senator, but in order to obtain a higher position, this senator can only ask his relatives to constantly find ways to make money to maintain his own needs.

The first and second generations may still pay attention to the common people, but later on, these "common people elders" will gradually transform into "aristocratic elders". They will also pay attention to the common people, but their focus is only on whether these common people can bring them votes.

But the question is, among the so-called homeless imperial citizens mentioned by Tony...how many of them are eligible to vote?

Since they are not qualified to vote for me, why should I care about them?

That's right, Tony was not well prepared.

According to Tony's idea, Rome, as the capital of the Roman Empire and the most prosperous city in the whole of Europe, must have many "Beijing drifters", and these so-called "Beijing drifters"... some of them should be citizens of the empire... right?

But Tony was wrong.

The so-called citizens refer to all males born within the territory of the Roman Empire, and few of these citizens headed for the city of Rome, because their ancestors were either local people conquered by the Romans, or they were genuine Latins from the Apennine Peninsula. These people would either choose to stay in the local area or open up new land in the border areas as much as possible. After all... in an agricultural society, land represents money, and the land in inland areas has basically been divided up, so you can only move towards the border and settle in areas with large amounts of wasteland on the border.

But the situation was different between freedmen and freed slaves.

Free people refer to the non-citizen class living in the Roman Empire. Most of these people are new conquerors. Among them, there are quite a few merchants or small handicraftsmen who choose to leave their hometowns in order to make a living. They either go to nearby big cities or... choose to settle in Rome.

So later generations counted that Rome had a population of one million, and this one million people not only included residents within the city of Rome, but also included the population in the suburbs outside the city.

But that doesn't matter.

Regardless of whether they are citizens or not, at least... there is indeed a considerable number of people in Rome who cannot afford to rent a house.

And these people are exactly the ones Tony wants to win over!

And Tony didn't need them to vote for him. After all, he was a prince, not a elder. Votes were of no use to him. What he needed was reputation, the reputation of His Majesty.

"Now that we have the land, next...Sister Tita, please accompany me to see the land." Tony snapped his fingers and said happily.

the other side.

After more than two months of long journey, Rosa and Prince Lampado finally arrived in front of this very quaint castle.

"Is this the third magician's magic workshop?" Inside the carriage, Rosa couldn't help but marvel at the huge castle in front of him.

The Third Magician was the true ancestor of the Einzbern Family. Although he had long since passed away at this time, the magic workshop created by his disciples could still use the Third Magic.

"Your Majesty..." At this moment, Prince Lampado, who was sleeping in the carriage, suddenly opened his eyes and sat up, saying to Rosa: "The research institute has sent news that they have detected a certain degree of fluctuation in the ether sea outside this world. It is preliminarily determined that a certain number of objects from other worlds have come to this world."

"Huh? Identity, coordinates." Rosa was stunned for a moment and said.

"We don't know for now. The institute said it will take about an hour to analyze the data, but...but the institute speculates that the other party is very likely to be from the Lostbelt, but not the one we are in." Prince Lampado said in a deep voice.

PS: There will be no update tomorrow, because I will be on a plane tomorrow. Even if there is any update... it will be at least four or five o'clock.

Chapter 346: Preparing to Attack the Senate

"This piece of land... is okay." Standing on the south bank of the Tiber River outside the east gate of Rome, Tony squatted down, grabbed a handful of soil on the ground, twisted it lightly to feel the soil texture, and then said in a low voice.

"Your Highness..." Tita looked at Tony in surprise. Your Highness... actually knows about land?

Isn't this... generally speaking something that only farmers would understand? Could it be that... Your Highness has to farm in person in the British province? !

Because information transmission is not very convenient in this era, although the existence of magic in this world can establish certain channels for rapid information transmission, these channels are mostly used to report and transmit some major events, such as the outbreak of war on the front line. No one will use this channel to deliver a family letter or something.

As for Tita, because Tony had kept her in Rome, she was not very clear about the situation in the British province. The only thing she knew about the British province was... it was the empire's first overseas colony and currently the most remote province of the empire.

Two thousand years later, some people may wonder how Africa could be more prosperous than England. But in the Roman Empire, Africa... was more prosperous than England.

After all, the Roman Empire had been operating in Africa for nearly two hundred years, and the British province...all told, the Roman Empire's rule in the British province lasted only a little over twelve years.

How can this be compared?

So Tita naturally thought that our Highness...had a very hard life in Britain, so hard that he had to go to the fields himself to farm in order to ensure self-sufficiency.

...No, I must tell His Majesty about this!

Compared to that sister who only wanted to marry...want to marry her own brother, Tita must have really treated Tony as her younger brother. Sometimes when she couldn't sleep in the middle of the night, she would quietly come to His Highness's room, tuck in the quilt for our little Prince, and gently tuck the exposed legs or hands back into the quilt to prevent His Highness from catching a cold.

Now, seeing that Tony seemed to know a lot about the land, and thinking that His Highness might have to farm the land himself and be self-reliant in the British province, Tita couldn't help but feel a little heartbroken.

No, I must talk to His Majesty about this.

However, after our prince finished showing off, he stood up, glanced at the land and nodded, saying, "Not bad, at least the size of the land meets my expectations. So, Sister Tita, you will inform several city councilors in Rome later and tell them that I want to build a new Vesi here. Considering that this place is relatively remote and important, I require an administrative agency to be set up here, which requires at least a tax collector and a sheriff... Well, also ask them to send someone with sticks and ropes to enclose this land and write your majesty's name on it."

"Okay, Your Highness." Tita nodded.

"Okay, let's go back." Tony stretched a little, looked at the tall Roman wall not far away with a calm expression, and an undeniable smile appeared at the corner of his mouth.

Senate... let's use this new Visi to launch the first wave of exploratory attacks against you!

After returning to the palace, Tony first wrote a letter to Vitellius. The content of the letter was very simple, just two words: borrow money.

"Your Highness...are you planning to build a low-rent residential area in the eastern suburbs of Rome in the name of His Majesty...or in the name of the royal family..." Looking at Tony's simple summary of his plan in the letter, Vitellius was stunned for a moment, and instantly understood a lot.

Your Highness...are you trying to use public opinion and support the common people to suppress the Senate, and ultimately make the Senate a mere advisory body to the emperor?

In that case, then... of course this money must be loaned out!

Vitellius was not a good man. It was impossible for an official to be a consul and be a truly good man.

He understood what His Highness wanted to do, and he also knew that if His Highness really took action against the Senate, the consequence would naturally be that many senators in the Senate would give up some of the official positions that originally belonged to the Senate and share them with everyone. As for the civilians... there were only a few capable civilians after all, or in other words... why not take the opportunity to place a few younger generations of his own family?

During this time in the British province, Vitellius had already figured out His Highness's governing attitude. He didn't care whether you would insert any relatives into the government. He only cared about three things: working for the people, being loyal to him, and... being really capable.

As long as these three points are met, you can even bring your entire family over.

"Isn't it just borrowing money... Even if it's to build a beautiful so-called community for Your Majesty, it's not a difficult task." Vitellius smiled, muttered to himself, took a piece of cloth from the bookshelf next to him, and began to write on it.

Almost at the same time, under Tony's secret instructions, waves of discussions gradually spread in the city of Rome.

"Hey, have you heard? His Majesty...seems he has fenced off a piece of land in the eastern suburbs. I heard he's going to build a house there."

"Ah, what do you mean by that? What kind of house can His Majesty build? You just want to build a villa? Or a new theater?"

"It shouldn't be a theater, right? How can a theater be built outside the city? Who would go to see it?"

"Too."

……

"I heard that His Majesty seems to be planning to build something called a residential complex. It is said that the Roman Empire is short of rental housing, so His Majesty borrowed money to build a few buildings, saying that it will be convenient for everyone."

"Borrow money? No way, Your Majesty still needs to borrow money?"

"There's nothing I can do. I heard that the Senate controls the empire's finances and doesn't give Your Majesty any subsidies. Your Majesty is still a child, so he naturally likes to play, so he spends a lot of money. But Your Majesty really wants to do something practical for everyone, right?"

"Oh oh oh..."

……

"Not bad." In a corner of a tavern, Tony, wearing a turban that almost covered his entire body, sat there quietly eating hummus in his bowl, and from time to time he looked at Utica who was sitting in front of him.

Although I'm not sure what other abilities this guy has, for now, he can complete the tasks I've assigned him, which is pretty good. And based on the information provided by Jie Luo, this guy... has a clean background.

"Utica." After a moment of silence, Tony suddenly said, "Are you interested in giving up your status as a freelance mercenary and helping me?"

"Eh? Is this...really possible? Master...?" Utica said excitedly.

"Of course." Tony nodded.

"Well, well, well... that's great!" Utica's face was full of excitement. After all, his purpose of being a free mercenary was nothing more than to make money. If he could work with His Highness... his income would definitely be higher than when he was a mercenary, right?

PS1: The "Vici" mentioned in the text is an administrative concept in the early Roman Empire, similar to the current streets, but the difference is that streets at least have a street office, while Visi does not have its own administrative agency. It is just a nominal administrative concept.

PS2: Starting from the 89th, because I am out of town, I owe a total of four chapters until the early morning of the 93st. I owed chapters before, and now the total is . OK, I will write as much as possible in these two days. As for the day after tomorrow... Starting from the day after tomorrow, I need to work to support myself. After all, I can only make ends meet with the royalties alone, and I... still owe some foreign debts. How can I pay them back if I don't work?

PS3: You guys hurry up, Boss Mo Bai has prepared the women’s clothing, and he even wants to send it out earlier so that you can prpr!

PS4: Damn, my desktop and laptop are on the same network, why is my desktop not connected to my laptop? It's like there's no network at all now? I scroll through web pages in circles, and it's almost impossible to transfer this chapter to my desktop via QQ, so I just copy and paste it.

Chapter 347: My younger brother is truly a genius~

Vitellius's support soon arrived.

About a week later, Tony received support from Vitellius.