My XX deal with Sister Nero

Chapter 81: The author says he doesn’t want to take the blame

"Speaking of which, sister, there is one thing I have always been curious about." After returning to the palace, Tony stretched and lay on the chair next to him. He picked up a golden wine glass on the table next to him with a laziness on his face, took a big gulp of water, and then let out a long sigh of relief.

"Tell me, what's the matter?" Seeing his brother's lazy look, Nero smiled slightly, sat next to Tony, gently stroked Tony's little face, and asked.

"Emm..." Tony moved his head back a little unnaturally, fearing that the author would suddenly jump out from behind the pillar next to him and shout "I oppose this marriage" or something like that...

"It's like this." After dodging twice, Tony sadly found that he couldn't avoid Nero's slap, so he had to let him touch his face and said, "Why is the Marius reform a hundred years ago not so thorough until now? A hundred years ago, Marius reformed the military system at that time, launched a new conscription system and integrated the troops, but why... why is the reform incomplete? Use the troop structure before the reform and the troop structure after the reform at the same time? Isn't it troublesome?"

"Huh?" Nero looked at Tony in surprise and asked, "Why did you suddenly think of asking this?"

Tony scratched his head and said a little embarrassedly: "It's mainly because the author came up with such a complicated setting at the beginning, and then I forgot the previous setting because I became a coder and found that I couldn't get around it. If I don't solve it, I will have to tear up the book..."

"Huh?" Nero became more and more confused the more he listened.

"Ahem, I mean, don't you think this is troublesome? There are several different structures in one army, why not unify them..." Tony coughed twice.

"That makes sense... After all, Marius' reforms were not completely successful at the time. The reason was simply that he was born a commoner and the nobles did not agree with his reforms." Nero touched his chin and said.

"The nobles can't accept it? No way? A hundred years ago during the Republic era, no one would care about issues of status and class, right?" Tony said with some surprise.

Although I don’t know much about the history of the Roman Republic, but as far as I remember, the consuls of the Roman Republic at that time included descendants of aristocrats and commoners. After years of getting along, no one should care about bloodline and identity!

Seeing Tony's puzzled expression, Nero smiled and said, "Although it's just about status, in fact, Marius' military reforms caused losses to the aristocracy at the time. It was precisely because of this that the nobles strongly opposed it, resulting in Marius's reforms not being thorough. The previous emperors were almost always expanding abroad, so they never touched on the reform."

"Did it touch the interests of the nobles..." Tony touched his chin. Having lived two lives, he could probably guess where the problem lay. The army of the Republic had long been infiltrated and controlled by various families. Part of Marius' military reform was to activate a new military system, and doing so would inevitably disrupt the existing military system and destroy the nobles' control over the army.

A librarian once said that political power grows out of the barrel of a gun. This statement was still applicable today, more than 2,000 years ago. The army is the last lifeline for the nobles. Once they lose the protection of the army, won't they be at the mercy of others?

"This is troublesome..." Tony frowned. If he were to take over Marius' military reforms now, it would inevitably affect the interests of the nobles. But if he didn't reform, the author might really tear up the book... Oh, he might really not be able to remember such a complicated troop structure.

"Do you want to continue implementing military reforms?" If Nero still doesn't understand Tony's thoughts at this time, then she is really unworthy of being an emperor or a sister.

"Yes." Tony nodded and said.

"Although it's troublesome, it should be completely doable." Nero smiled and said, "When Augustus established the Julian-Claudian dynasty, he thought of the importance of Marius' reforms. Most of the nobles are concentrated in the Senate. Military reform is not only to unify the military system, but more importantly, it can weaken the Senate's control over the army. Although the Senate only has a small number of guards in Rome, it still controls a considerable number of troops in the entire vast country. If the Senate really intends to rebel, it will be very troublesome for us to suppress the rebellion."

Tony is not stupid. Although he looks like a child, the soul in Tony's body now is that of an adult from two thousand years later, an adult who is interested in history!

Although the Senate is now being jointly suppressed by the emperor and the Praetorian Guards in Rome, it still has enormous power in the local area. If the Senate really rebels one day and the Roman emperor wants to quickly quell the rebellion, in addition to sending his own troops, the city of Rome will inevitably have to rely on the Praetorian Guards to protect it. In other words, the Praetorian Guards will definitely become more powerful and threaten the imperial power.

Octavian, Augustus, the founder of the Roman Empire, was a founding monarch who was far-sighted. Naturally, he would find ways to suppress the Senate and undermine its power, but he could not overthrow the Senate directly. Therefore, from Octavian to Claudius, the emperors of the Roman Empire had been constantly suppressing the Senate in secret. If someone proposed military reforms at this time, they might be opposed by the Senate, but this resistance would definitely not be as great as the resistance to Marius' reforms.

"Although you are a prince, if you propose reforms, there will still be a lot of trouble. So, I will do the reforms, and you, little guy, just play house by yourself~" Nero rubbed Tony's head hard and said with a smile.

"What are you doing..." Tony stretched out his hands to smooth his hair, then stood up from the recliner, saluted Nero properly, and said, "Your Majesty, thank you!"

"Okay, you are my brother, why are you saying these things?" Nero smiled, touched Tony's little face and said.

"Your Majesty, thank you on behalf of the author... ahem, no, thank you on behalf of all the people of the Roman Empire!" Tony said calmly.

"You used memes four times in one chapter. Were you sent by the author to deliberately increase the word count?" Nero frowned and said.

"Ahem, let's change the subject..."

After coming out of Nero's palace, Tony breathed a sigh of relief. Fortunately, he found a suitable excuse, otherwise Nero would have to keep him and let him listen to her singing.

Well! I don't want to listen because your Majesty's singing voice is comparable to the great god of art Apollo. This kind of singing that is rarely heard in the world is simply a waste of art. It's not that your Majesty's singing voice is unpleasant! I will beat anyone who dares to say that your Majesty's singing voice is unpleasant!

Huh? Someone said that I said this when I met Nero just now? Nonsense! I tell you, what you saw before was fake! It didn't exist!

After returning to the side hall where he lived, Tony looked at the slowly sinking sunset in the distance, wrapped himself tightly in his bearskin coat, and thought, should he organize a hunting trip in a few days? After all, it was too boring!

When he was in his own territory, our little prince had so many things to do every day and was very busy. Occasionally, he would follow the hunters to the mountains to hunt to kill some time. But in the city of Rome... forget it, let's take a nap first and go out for a walk tomorrow. Who knows, we might encounter the same fun things as last time.

After resting for a night in his palace, Tony got up early the next morning and went out, planning to take a good look around the city of Rome.

After all, the Roman Empire ruled by Nero was the period when Rome was at its most glorious and decadent, and also the period when Rome was at its most prosperous and wealthy.

"So, it is very likely that our Prince has invented a new weapon of great power?" In a secret room of the Roman Senate, several senators in purple robes sat around a small round table, and the second senator Vanore whispered.

"According to the report from the spy, the new weapon Tony has is extremely powerful. Although we didn't see clearly what it was, the spy heard a loud noise in the distance. In addition, after His Majesty and his men left, the spy discovered that a tree in the woods was riddled with holes. The spy deduced that once His Majesty equips the city with this kind of weapon, our guards in the city may not be able to defend against it at all with their equipment." A bald elder whispered.

"So, what kind of weapon is this?" another male elder with long golden hair frowned.

The bald elder shook his head and said, "I'm not sure, but there is news that His Highness Tony slayed a dragon in Britain. I checked and found that the most elite troops under his command were less than fifty cavalrymen. This number of troops should not be enough to slay the dragon. I suspect that he was able to slay the dragon because of this new weapon."

"Slay the dragon?" Upon hearing these two words, several elders present were shocked. You know, the dragon is a legendary creature, and no one who can accomplish the feat of slaying a dragon is qualified to be called a hero!

After the poets' exaggeration, it won't be long before the name "Dragon Slayer Tony" will spread among the people, right? By then, the entire Roman Empire, and even the surrounding barbarians, will know this name, which will be a huge boost to Tony's reputation!

"Damn it! I suspect we've fallen into a trap!" At this moment, Vanore suddenly spoke.

"What's wrong? Lord Vanore?" Hearing Vanore suddenly say this, everyone present couldn't help but feel curious.

Vanore gritted his teeth and said, "Odney Town is the fief of His Highness Tony. We have always believed that this border town is neither a strategic point nor has any outstanding products. Even self-sufficiency is a problem, right? But what about now? His Highness Tony has made new weapons here and slayed the dragon. Do you still think this town is a dispensable place?"

At this point, Vanore paused and continued, "Let's not talk about anything else. After your highness accomplished this feat in this border town, how would the surrounding small countries view him? Being able to slay the evil dragon, I think the twelve Celtic barbarians, led by the Kingdom of Iceni, must be extremely impressed by your highness. With just this one move, the royal family can be said to have completely controlled the borders of the British province!"

PS: Without the interference from my nephews and nieces, I successfully uploaded the chapter, but I still have some bad news to tell you.

I roughly said the day before yesterday that I was going out to eat yesterday and I was going back to my hometown today, so according to the original plan, I prepared two chapters the day before yesterday because I was worried that I would not have time to write. However, plans cannot keep up with changes. Yesterday afternoon, I suddenly received news that an elder in the family had passed away, so this is why I was at my brother's house yesterday and today. As of today, the two chapters in my hand have been exhausted. In other words, I may not update soon starting tomorrow, after all, I am not sure when I can go back... But my father has to go to the funeral home to keep vigil at night, and I don’t have to go, so I can only try not to sleep tonight and stay up all night to write a chapter, to ensure that the updates are continuous, but the quality may be a little poor. I will find time to revise it later after I finish my work here.

Sorry

PS: The reader group number is in the introduction, please don’t ignore the introduction, and I have also posted the group number QAQ in the previous chapter

Chapter 82 Such a fragile life

"You mean... all of this is most likely a trap set by His Majesty?" The bald senator Spurius frowned.

Vanore nodded and said, "It's very likely. We all know that His Royal Highness is quick-witted and has wild ideas. It is for this reason that he invented the stirrup to improve the combat effectiveness of the Roman cavalry. But that weapon that looks like a thunderbolt, was it really made by His Royal Highness?"

"It shouldn't be." Elder Vitori shook his head and said, "No matter how wild the idea is, there are still clues. This new weapon should not be made by Your Highness yourself. But if it is not made by Your Highness yourself, then this weapon is either a gift from God, or His Majesty already knew the production method and the raw materials needed for this weapon and made it under Your Highness's guise."

"If that's true, then a lot of things make sense. With the deterrent effect of the new weapons and the huge reputation brought by the successful dragon slaying, I think that as long as His Highness Tony is in Britain, the several Celtic tribes around the British province will not dare to turn the tables. In this way, at least half of the troops stationed in the British province, or about 20,000 troops, can be withdrawn. As for what they will be withdrawn for, I think I don't need to say more, right?" Spurius said.

Hearing this, the elders present couldn't help but start whispering.

Twenty thousand troops are not a lot, but this is relative to the army of the entire Roman Empire. Now anyone with a little political sense understands that the entire Roman Empire was divided into four forces: the imperial force headed by the emperor, the aristocratic force headed by the Senate, the local force headed by local governors loyal to the empire, and the military force headed by the Praetorian Guard.

But what about now? The emperor represents the country, so the local forces have always followed the emperor's forces, and the military forces have just received the emperor's bounty, so they are temporarily advancing and retreating together with the emperor's forces. As for the noble forces... Not only are they alone, but they are also being suppressed.

Once Nero wanted to completely solve the problem of the Senate, it would inevitably lead to a series of military conflicts. At the local level, the Senate's army would be attacked by both the emperor's forces and the local forces. What about Rome? If the emperor did not want the Guards to become too powerful, the only solution was for him to mobilize loyal troops from other places to suppress the rebellion.

Therefore, the effectiveness of these 20,000 troops came into play.

Tony could never have imagined that he made the hand cannon just to get some raw materials from Nero to make muskets and muzzle-loading cannons, but this group of elders who had nothing to do actually analyzed out such a bunch of useless things!

And the most important thing is that this analysis is quite realistic and highly feasible. If Tony and Nero knew about this plan, they would definitely do it!

It would be a waste to leave such a powerful conspiracy lying there without using it!

It’s a pity that neither Tony nor Nero know what was discussed in the secret room of the Senate.

"How is it, Zero? Rome is fun, right?" Tony had heard about Zero in the small town of Oddney as early as that Zero had never left Britain since she was a child. That was why he wanted to bring Zero out to play this time, to stroll around Rome, the largest and most prosperous city in Europe.

"Not bad." Jie Luo said calmly, her expression as calm as ever.

"Tsk." Tony scratched his head.

The city of Rome is now very prosperous, and with the emperor's birthday and Saturnalia approaching, the whole city is immersed in a sea of ​​joy.

The festival brought huge traffic to the city of Rome, huge business opportunities, and... some strange people.

In a small alley in the east of Rome.

"Oh! A foreigner, a little girl from another place actually dares to come to Rome alone, she is very brave! Although she is a little thin, with no breasts and no buttocks, but it should be enough to make us brothers happy." In the alley, several young men surrounded a twelve or thirteen-year-old blonde girl and laughed.

"You guys..." The little girl hugged the luggage in front of her chest and stared at the young men with fear on her face.

The little Loli feels a little regretful now.

A few months ago, her family suffered a misfortune and her mother became ill due to missing her and eventually died. In desperation, the little girl had to give it a try and came to Rome with some money to seek refuge with someone.

But before he could show his face, he was surrounded by a group of people who looked like rich second-generations or official second-generations.

"We? What's wrong with us? Little girl, you look so tired after traveling all by yourself. How about this? Come to my house with us. I guarantee you can have a good sleep. How about that?" One of the young men said to the little girl with a grin.

"Tsk, this is Rome after all, and it's the center of Europe. Let me tell you, on such a great day, could you please not embarrass the Roman people?" At this moment, a faint child's voice suddenly came from behind these young men, at the entrance of the alley.

"Who did this little bastard come from? How dare he meddle in our business?" Hearing that someone dared to meddle in other people's business, a young man turned around with some annoyance and looked at the little boy in front of him with a cold face.

"I... um? Sister Tita?" Tony was about to say a few words to these young men to show off, but he didn't expect that the little girl they bullied was Tita who had taken care of him for many days a few months ago.

"Tony...brother?" Looking at the shocked little boy in front of her, Tita was also a little unbelievable.

"Bold!" At this moment, several guards beside Tony drew out the daggers at their waists and pointed the swords at Tita.

“This group of people…” The young men present were either second-generation rich or second-generation officials. Although they were a bit scumbags, they still had good eyesight. Seeing the guards in front of them drawing their swords in unison, even a fool could tell that these guys were probably not ordinary guards.

"Let's go, let's go." Several young men looked at each other, gently pulled their companions, and planned to leave in another direction.

"Hey? Want to run away? Does the king agree to let you leave?" Seeing these young men who bully the weak and fear the strong trying to run away, Tony sneered and said.

"This King?" Upon hearing this self-proclaimed title, cold sweat immediately broke out on the faces of these young people.

In the entire Roman Empire, there seems to be only one person of this age who is qualified to call himself the king, right?

Prince Oddney!

“This king…?” At this time, even Tita was surprised.

Speaking of which, Tita doesn't know your true identity.

When Agrippina the Younger assassinated Claudius, the power of the empire suddenly changed. Nero and Tony, who were far away in the province of Macedonia, suddenly received the news and were forced to return to Rome immediately. Before leaving, Tony did not tell Tita his true identity.

So Tita always thought that Tony was just a child from an ordinary family in Rome, and never thought that his true identity might be a long-lost prince.

Although Tita didn't know that Tony was a prince, it didn't mean that she didn't know that the Roman Empire now had a new prince!

Combining and comparing the two, wow, I never expected that my cheap brother is actually the prince of the empire!

"Sister Mary, please arrest these young men and send them to the police station first. Sister Tita and I have something to talk about." Tony said after looking at the young men who were standing aside and dared not move.

"Yes." Mary had followed Nero to the province of Macedonia. She knew that the girl in front of her had taken care of His Highness Tony, so she did not say much, but just ordered her men to arrest these young people.

To be honest, these people's families are either rich or powerful, and the sheriff will not do anything to them once they are taken to the police station. It's just that they have offended His Royal Highness the Prince... I'm afraid they won't have a good time after being taken back by their families, right?

Tony even wondered if their parents would tie them up and hang them on a tree and beat them.

After sending this group of people to the police station, Tony took Tita back to his palace.

"Brother, are you...really His Royal Highness the Prince?" Looking at this prosperous palace, Tita was a little at a loss.

"Guaranteed genuine!" Tony said with a chuckle.

He was still very grateful to Tita. If Antonio's family had not kindly rescued him, he would probably have died in some wilderness by now.

"Your Highness." Tita looked a little panicked, her legs went limp, and she was about to kneel down.

"Stop, stop, stop!" Tony took two steps forward to help Tita, and pushed her to sit on the chair next to him. Then he said, "Although we are not siblings, at least I have called you sister so many times, right? Stop kneeling, okay?"

Seeing Tita nod timidly, Tony frowned, glanced at the small package in her arms, and said, "Come to think of it, shouldn't you be in Macedonia now? Why are you in Rome? Where's Aunt Sevilla?"

Hearing Tony's question, Tita curled her lips and was about to cry.

"Don't cry!" Seeing Tita like this, Tony's heart skipped a beat, and he seemed to understand something.

"My father... my father was found not long after you left... his body was found, and after my mother heard about it... after that... after that, she fell ill, and not long after that... she died..." Tita said in a low voice while sobbing.

"Sure enough..." Tony sighed. On the battlefield, swords and knives have no mercy. The moment Antonio stepped onto the battlefield, Tony guessed that this uncle, whose mind was full of fancy moves, might not come back.

What he didn't expect was that Aunt Sevilla also passed away, leaving only Tita, living alone and helpless in this world.

Life is sometimes so fragile.

PS1: Fortunately, I got up at or this morning to write, otherwise I would definitely not update today. I didn't sleep well these two days, and now I'm very sleepy, plus I just went home to have dinner with my family and drank some wine, so I went to bed early tonight and won't update. I originally planned to watch the New Year's Eve Gala of Beijing Satellite TV in the evening, after all, there is coriander.

PS2: Thanks to "王剑出，誓护护" and "月紫影" for the reward, thank you~

PS3: What else did you want to say? Oh yeah, I was going to announce next month’s bounty today, but I was drinking and my mind is a little confused, so I’ll announce it tomorrow.

PS4: Well, finally I wish everyone a happy new year, and see you next year~

Chapter 83 The Useless Dog Emperor Throws Away

Antonio died on the battlefield. Although he had some meager military merit, it was not enough to support the living Tita and Silvia. Not long after learning of Antonio's death, Silvia also passed away.

After selling some of the things at home, Tita saved enough money for the trip to Rome. Following her mother's instructions, she took her luggage and went to Rome alone, intending to join Tony.

Fortunately, Tony was out for a stroll and accidentally saw this farce and decided to meddle in it, otherwise, Tita might not have been able to find Tony.