My XX deal with Sister Nero

The human-powered trebuchet that Tony plans to make, although its hit rate is similar to that of the torque trebuchet, is much simpler to manufacture. To put it simply, the human-powered trebuchet uses manpower to replace the torque generated by the winch in the torque trebuchet. In this way, in terms of the speed of manufacturing the trebuchet, manufacturing a simple and low-cost human-powered trebuchet is much faster than manufacturing a torque trebuchet.

Although the human-powered catapult has many problems in general, it is sufficient for launching thunder bombs.

In addition to making human-powered catapults and thunder bombs, Tony also plans to make a new toy, the famous three-bow crossbow!

When he was in junior high school in his previous life, Tony saw a news report on TV. It was about a farmer who liked to study ancient weapons when he had nothing to do. He managed to restore the three-bow crossbow from the Song Dynasty on his own. Because the film systematically explained the manufacturing process of the three-bow crossbow, Tony, who watched the entire film at the time, took note of the general idea. Although he could not completely replicate the same three-bow crossbow, it should not be a problem to replicate a three-bow crossbow with slightly less power.

Tony plans to manufacture three new weapons: the thunder bomb, the human-powered catapult, and the three-bow crossbow, and then use these three weapons to enhance the combat effectiveness of the Roman army.

It’s just that the first two can be manufactured in a short time, but the three-bow crossbow will take some time.

Just as Tony was thinking about these things, a eunuch suddenly came to the door and knelt on one knee. He bowed his head and said to Nero in the room: "Your Majesty, Seneca and Pallas are here to visit."

"The teacher is here?" Nero's eyes lit up, and he said to Tony with a smile, "Brother, I'm going to go see the teacher first, you go and play for a while, remember to come to my place for lunch at noon, and when you come back from the battle, I'll let my teacher teach you philosophy."

But pull it down!

Tony curled his lips secretly. He didn't like studying much in his previous life. Could it be that he would change his personality and study seriously in this life?

However, he had heard Aura and the others mention Nero's teacher Seneca, a famous philosopher in the empire and Nero's teacher. If he remembered correctly...it seemed that this teacher was forced to commit suicide by Nero?

Well, judging by Nero's reaction now, Mr. Seneca should be able to live for quite some time, so it doesn't matter!

With this thought in mind, Tony left Nero's palace, planning to return to his own palace first to discuss future matters with Tita.

Considering the possible situations that might happen in Rome in the future, Tony had originally decided to leave Rome with Tita and go to the British province after the New Year for the sake of safety. However, plans cannot keep up with changes. It is expected that the Empire will officially declare war on the Parthian Empire in the afternoon, and he will go to the Anatolian Peninsula as the commander-in-chief to command the war. Although it is estimated that the war will officially start after the beginning of spring, Tony can't send people to the British province first and then return to the front line to command the battle, right?

"I remember that due to the climate and altitude, there should be heavy snow in eastern Turkey... that is, right now on the battlefield front. The mountains will be blocked by heavy snow. Under such climatic conditions, the war cannot be launched. It is expected that there will be a short peace period of at least three months. Moreover, Vespasianus cannot be found now, and the Senate will probably spend some time looking for him. In this case..."

As Tony lowered his head and muttered to himself thinking about issues on the front line, he suddenly felt a darkness in front of his eyes, and then his head hit a familiar and soft place.

"Ah!" Accompanied by a short and slightly panicked scream from the other party, Tony subconsciously took a half step back, then looked up at the soft... breasts that his head had hit.

A head of dazzling golden long hair, a pretty face that is no less beautiful than Nero, an elegant bright yellow robe and a white waistcoat wrapped around her shoulders, showing off the girl's enchanting figure to the fullest.

"Emmmm..." Tony sighed after taking a close look at the charming girl in front of him. It seems that his sister has finally taken action against the noble girls in the city!

"You are... Tony." After a brief panic, the girl in front of him crossed her arms, looked at Tony carefully, and asked uncertainly.

"Ah, hello, I'm Tony. You...how should I call you? Future queen? Sister-in-law? Or...brother-in-law?" Tony coughed lightly and scratched his head, feeling a little embarrassed.

Logically speaking, my brother's woman should be called sister-in-law, and my sister's man should be called brother-in-law, but...what should I call my sister's woman? Sister-in-law?

I am also Princess Iron Fan!

"What are you talking about?" The charming girl, who was about the same age as Nero, blushed slightly: "Have you forgotten who I am? Little guy, I held you in my arms when I was a child."

Did you hug me when I was a child?

Tony was stunned for a moment. When he was in the province of Macedonia, he heard Nero say that Tony secretly ran out of the palace to play two days before his fifth birthday, and his whereabouts have been unknown since then.

In other words, this girl had been in the palace since he was five years old? By this calculation... Damn, could it be that the late emperor knew about the sexual interests of his cheap sister?

Seeing Tony's tangled expression, the charming girl sighed softly, bent down slightly and stroked Tony's face with a sad smile on her face: "Sure enough, His Majesty said that you lost your memory and suffered a lot while wandering outside. It seems to be true."

At this point, the girl paused and said softly: "My sister's name is Octavia. Yes, she is also your sister~"

Octavia?!

Tony paused for a moment and blinked.

She is truly the future queen!

Anyone who is slightly familiar with history knows that Nero in history was the son of Agrippina the Younger. The third-generation emperor Caligula was worried that this child would threaten the succession to the throne of his descendants, so he exiled his sister Agrippina the Younger and nephew Nero. After Caligula's death, his uncle, the fourth head of the Roman Empire Claudius, brought back Agrippina the Younger and others, and then... married his niece.

At this time, Claudius actually already had a daughter of his own, yes, Octavia, born to him and his ex-wife Messalina.

Then in history, Nero married his aunt and sister.

In this world, Nero is a girl. Although he cannot marry Octavia, but...is Octavia his aunt or his sister?

Oh my god, your circle is so messed up!

After dinner, I will upload a chapter, then wash the dishes and write some words. Bye!

Chapter 90: Gladiator (Additional Update 33)

The previous head of the empire, Claudius, later known as Claudius I, was an old man who did not even let his niece go. He had five children: the eldest son Drusus, the second daughter Claudia, the third daughter Antonia, the fourth daughter Octavia, and the youngest son Britannicus.

Because it is not the same world line, Britannicus does not exist in this world, so there are only four descendants with the blood of Claudius, and Nero and Tony are just Claudius' adopted sons.

Claudius had four children. The eldest son Drusus died in an accident in his early years. Claudia was expelled from the palace because Claudius suspected that the child was not his own. Antonia was married to a senator's child due to the need for political marriage. Only Octavia was left. Before Claudius had time to arrange her future, he was poisoned by Agrippina the Younger.

So far, Octavia has been living in this palace. The last time Tony came, because the situation was unstable, Octavia was worried that her life would be taken by Nero or Agrippina the Younger, so she had been hiding in the palace and dared not come out. Later, Agrippina the Younger was exiled and Nero also made his attitude clear. Only then did Octavia dare to come out and move around in the palace.

"Ah...sister...hello sister." Tony scratched his head and nodded to the girl in front of him.

Since Octavia has already stated that she is the elder sister and not the aunt, it is not wrong to follow her wishes and call her sister.

Anyway, I already have enough sisters, so it doesn’t matter if I have one more.

After all, Tony was not familiar with Octavia, so after simply saying hello to her, he said goodbye to Octavia.

After returning to his palace, the first thing Tony did was to call Ola over and ask her to send someone to the town of Odney to retrieve the remaining two hand cannons.

It would take more than half a month to travel from Rome to the town of Odeni even if one rode at full speed. Adding the time he had wasted along the way, by the time the cavalry he sent back arrived at the town of Odeni, it would have been nearly two months since he left the town. In two months, the two half-finished hand cannons should have been completed.

That afternoon, the Senate issued an edict, the Roman Empire officially declared war on the Parthian Empire, and at the same time appointed Domitius, the governor of the province of Asia, as the commander-in-chief on the front line to control many provinces on the Asia Minor Peninsula and make every effort to wipe out the Pontic rebels on the Asia Minor Peninsula!

In addition, the Senate ordered the legions to assemble, led by the dragon-slaying hero "Prince Odeni" Tony Claudius Germanicus, to go to the Armenia region and defeat the Parthian Empire!

In the evening, several cavalrymen under the Senate left the city of Rome and galloped towards the Alps.

"The Alps?" Tony's heart moved when he heard Ola's report. Vespasianus... could it be that he is in the Alps?

You know what, this possibility is really quite high!

As a famous general of the empire, Vespasian only thought that he had offended His Majesty, not that he did not want to continue to be an official, so the place where he lived in seclusion would definitely not be too far away, because he needed to keep an eye on the developments in Rome to ensure that His Majesty would calm down so that he could return to his original post. In the entire Italian peninsula, the most suitable place for seclusion is near the Alps!

Vespasian's military command ability was not bad, which was demonstrated during his expedition to Britain. As a well-known general of the empire, how could the Senate not win him over? So when he offended His Majesty and fled Rome, the Senate would definitely investigate and find out where Vespasian was hiding so that they could find him at any time.

Such as now.

The Senate wants to support Tony to compete with Nero, so the first step is to make Tony's wings grow stronger, strong enough to compete with Nero. Only in this way can he defeat Nero, seize the throne, and then restore the glory of the Republic. Vespasianus, who offended Nero, should be able to serve as Tony's right-hand man!

So now, whether it is the imperial power headed by Nero or the Senate power, they have reached a tacit consensus, that is, Tony's configuration must be up to standard.

Although the goals of both sides are different.

"What happened..." Seeing that Tony had been sitting at the table with a frown on his face and not saying a word since he came back, Tita carefully came to Tony and gently massaged his shoulders with her tender hands.

"Huh?" Tony noticed Tita's actions and subconsciously twisted his shoulders, trying to free his shoulders from Tita's hands.

"Eh? Did...did it hurt you?" Seeing Tony subconsciously avoiding her, Tita retracted her hands, a little at a loss.

"Ah, no." Tony scratched his head and turned to look at Tita: "I'm just not used to someone massaging my shoulders or something. After all, sister Tita, you know, I've been wandering around for so many years, and no one has ever massaged my shoulders or anything like that. I'm just simply not used to it."

"Is that so..." Tita was a little confused. Although she was not a noble and had never come into contact with nobles, she knew that the lives of nobles were often very... well, although there was a complete set of laws in the empire, this set of laws was obviously not well implemented in the aristocratic circle. What's more, at the end of Claudius' reign, considering the current situation of the empire, many laws that were considered "inappropriate" had basically been deleted and modified.

For example, monogamy, although it is clearly stipulated in the law, but... keeping mistresses and playing with slaves are not illegal. Besides, every time the empire returned from foreign wars with a large number of slaves, the price of those female slaves was so affordable that it was only slightly more expensive than a pig.

In Tita's opinion, Tony should have lived a life of luxury after following Nero back to Rome half a year ago. Regardless of whether he had a wife or not, he should have a lot of slaves.

However, the fact is that Tony went to the British province not long after returning to Rome, and the worst thing is that he spent almost three months on the road during these four months.

So let alone never enjoying fine clothes and delicious food, even the time spent simply living in a big house was not much.

After rubbing his temples, Tony sighed and stood up. He took Tita's hand and said with a smile, "It's still early now, sister. How about I take you to visit Rome?"

"Okay~" Tita nodded happily and let Tony hold her hand and walk out the door.

After briefly explaining a few words to Ola, Tony and Tita left the palace hand in hand, while Mary and other guards were also very tactful and followed Tony from a distance. As long as nothing happened, they would not go forward to disturb the two.

In Mary's opinion, although Miss Tita's family background is not very good, she is an old acquaintance of His Royal Highness the Prince after all. Considering their past relationship, Miss Tita will sooner or later become His Royal Highness the Prince's mistress.

If Tony, who was walking in front, knew what Mary was thinking at this moment, he would probably smash the young lady's head off himself.

Although the whole city of Rome now knows that the Empire has officially declared war on Parthia, the war is too far away for the citizens of Rome. In addition, with the approaching Saturnalia, Rome is still immersed in a sea of ​​festivals at night.

"It's Saturnalia..." Tony smiled as he looked at the happy faces of the Romans around him. After this festival, it would be time for him to get ready to go to the front battlefield, right?

"Brother~ How about we go over there and take a look~" Just when Tony was daydreaming, Tita gently pulled Tony's hand and pointed to a small square not far away which was surrounded by a group of people. It seemed that something thrilling was being performed in the small square, and the citizens around were watching with great interest and did not forget to say hello.

"Okay, let's go and take a look." Tony nodded and took Tita into the crowd.

Gladiatorial combat was originally a funeral ceremony in a country called Etruria on the Italian peninsula. After this strange ceremony was spread, it gradually became a popular culture and a form of entertainment at the time.

The last time Tony was in Rome, he learned some common sense about gladiatorial combat. Because some film and television directors two thousand years later were not from professional history backgrounds and did not understand the history of gladiatorial combat, their films misled many audiences. For example, this was the case with Tony. Before coming to the Roman Empire, he always thought that the main occupation of gladiators was to fight with ferocious beasts such as lions and tigers, and to fight other gladiators part-time.

After all, it’s quite interesting to see humans fighting against wild beasts!

But in fact, it is not true. Those who fight with animals in the arena are "beast fighters", and those who fight with humans are "gladiators". Moreover, among the slave class, the status of gladiators is relatively high. Many gladiators possess superb killing skills. Some time ago, Tony even wanted to recruit a Thracian gladiator to form his own spearhead force, but he chose to give up because he was not confident about the loyalty of the Thracian gladiators.

Well, it’s definitely not because I don’t have the money to hire someone that I gave up.

Going to the Colosseum to watch gladiatorial contests was not considered a luxury for ordinary people, but the price of a ticket was enough for a Roman citizen to have a good meal... It's like modern people spending money to buy a movie ticket to watch a movie. Although everyone would go, few people would go every day.

And now, in this small square, two gladiators wearing helmets and bare-chested are walking around the square carefully, staring at each other with hawk-like eyes.

Oh my god, I'm so sleepy

Chapter 91: Gladiator Contest (Additional Update 34)

Gladiators? Tony, holding Tita's hand and squeezing to the front of the crowd, looked at the two people who were constantly performing a duet with interest. He looked carefully at their costumes and found that one should be a Thracian gladiator, and the other should be a Momiro gladiator.

However, perhaps due to safety or other factors, the two gladiators did not fight with weapons and shields like those in the duel in the arena. Instead, they just clenched their fists and seemed to be preparing for a hand-to-hand fight.

interesting.

Although compared to the melee in front of us, the gladiators fighting with weapons and shields in the arena looks more bloody and exciting, but after all, you are sitting in the audience to watch. Unlike this, you are standing at the edge of the square and watching a melee between gladiators up close. In terms of the degree of excitement alone... each has its own merits.

"A fight?" Tita looked at the two people in the arena with great interest and exclaimed in a low voice.

Although gladiator fights were commonplace in Rome, there were no such performances in Riverwood Town.

Let's put it this way, gladiatorial combat is an entertainment activity, an entertainment activity full of blood and violence. Since it is an entertainment activity, there must be bosses behind these arenas, who may be some noble or wealthy person, or it may be our imperial government. No matter who they are, the fundamental purpose of these bosses behind the scenes in opening arenas is definitely to make money rather than lose money.

After all, gladiators also need to eat.

So in a town like Riverwood that obviously couldn't make money... where did the gladiatorial shows come from? The last time Tita saw a gladiatorial show was when Antonio invited her to see one when she went to Thessalonica with her father a few years ago.

So now, this free gladiatorial show in a small square in Rome naturally aroused her interest.

Tony had never been to the arena to watch gladiatorial performances, but he knew that real gladiators would undergo special gladiatorial training, just like the stars of later generations. They would learn gladiatorial skills in gladiatorial schools, master the use of various weapons, and then go to the ring. In the end, their own fate would be determined by their own fame, whether they would die under the weapons of other gladiators, or become famous and be valued by those noble ladies.

So in Tony's opinion, the fighting skills of the two people in front of him should not be as good as those of the gladiators in the arena.

Inside the small square, the two gladiators dressed differently naturally had no idea of ​​Tony's thoughts outside the arena. They just bent down slightly, locked each other with their hawk-like eyes, and almost at the same time, they exerted force with their feet and rushed towards each other.

With a dull "bang" sound, the Thracian gladiator wearing a golden helmet bent down to avoid his opponent's punch, and at the same time, his right hand suddenly and fiercely hit the opponent's abdomen.

"Ugh..." The Momiro gladiator wearing a silver helmet felt pain. He covered his stomach with his left hand, took two steps back, created some distance, rubbed his stomach twice, then bent slightly again, preparing for the next wave of attack.

"The reaction of this Thracian gladiator is pretty good." Although he could guess that the two men knew each other and that the Thracian gladiator would not kill him, Tony, who had received a certain degree of combat training in his previous life, could see at a glance that neither of them held back when they were fighting. In other words, these two were really fighting.

The Momilo gladiator learned his lesson. After seeing the opponent's reaction ability, he decided to adjust his tactics.

Thracian gladiators usually rely on physical strength, speed and skills to decide victory or defeat, but Momiro gladiators are different. Compared with Thracian gladiators, they are shorter in stature, but correspondingly, they are stronger. This is why after the Thracian gladiator punched him, the Momiro gladiator just rubbed the punched part twice and was back to being fine.

"Go ahead! What are you afraid of?" The people around were watching the fun and when they saw that the Thracian gladiator was reluctant to step forward, the onlookers became impatient.

Although he knew that the Momiro gladiator opposite him already had a countermeasure, but seeing that the onlookers were getting a little impatient, the Thracian gladiator felt a little panicked, but he still had no choice but to bite the bullet and rush towards the Momiro gladiator!

"Lost." Tony shook his head. He knew that the Thracian gladiator had already lost. His mentality was too bad and he rushed forward so rashly. It was obvious that the opponent had already prepared countermeasures.

Sure enough, just as the Thracian gladiator swung his fist and hit the Momiro gladiator's left chest, at almost the same time, the Momiro gladiator hit the Thracian gladiator's abdomen with the same punch.

"Hmm..." The punch of the Momiro gladiator was completely different from the punch of the Thracian gladiator before. The Thracian gladiator who was hit by the punch took several steps back. His face flushed, he covered his stomach with his hands and knelt on one knee. Judging from his trembling legs, the Thracian gladiator probably didn't have the strength to fight anymore.

"You bastard..." The Thracian gladiator took two deep breaths, stood up with difficulty, stretched out his right hand, and raised his right index finger high.

"He's smart enough to admit defeat." Tony shrugged and glanced at the crowd around him.

It's obvious at first glance that these two gladiators are amateurs and have never received systematic training in a gladiator school. But from an entertainment point of view, their gladiatorial performances are not at all entertaining. They only fought twice in total. Perhaps the only thing worth mentioning is that their gladiatorial performances are... more realistic?

But it didn't help.

"Sister, if you really want to watch the gladiatorial contest, I'll take you to the arena tomorrow." Looking at Tita who was excited next to him, Tony shrugged indifferently and said.

"Yeah." Tita nodded excitedly.

Just as the two were about to leave the square, Tony suddenly caught a glimpse of a little girl of similar age and wearing tattered clothes, holding a bowl and walking around the crowd not far away. Seeing the little girl walking towards him, the onlookers around her more or less took out a few bronze or copper coins from their wallets and put them in the child's bowl.

Hmm? Isn't this a street performer? Tony's mind was moved. There were many such street performers in ancient China, but he didn't expect to see similar ones in this distant Roman Empire.