My XX deal with Sister Nero

Suffocated!

Like the senators, these officers of the Praetorian Guard had a brief discussion and quickly came to an answer. It must be those officers who had previously teased Claudia that made Nero feel disgusted with the entire Praetorian Guard. That's why Nero chose to crack down on the Praetorian Guard this time.

The officers who made mistakes have been punished. Your Majesty, Your Highness, Seneca, and the Guards dare not do anything to them, but they still have to vent their anger, right?

Well, look at the person who came to report the news. He is of a suitable height, weight and body shape!

As a result, many Royal Guards officers "accidentally" met Doryfullus, causing Doryfullus to return to Tony with injuries.

"Well, it seems that the Guards... hate you a little bit." Tony coughed lightly and said seriously.

I have been professionally trained! No matter how funny something is, I will not laugh out loud!

"How about this, you take a few days off, and I will arrange for you to go... to Iberia after a while, um, you live well there." Tony thought for a while and said to Doryfulus with a serious face.

"Oh! Thank you, Your Highness!" Doryfulus cried out, knelt on the ground with excitement, and kowtowed to Tony. Iberia! Although not as prosperous as the Italian region, and not as rich as the Gaul province, the Iberian Peninsula is still one of the famous rich regions in the country!

As a freed slave, I have escaped from my slavery and should be able to find food to eat there, right?

After comforting Doryflus with a few words, Tony sat upright on the chair in the middle of the tent, tapping the table with his fingers, lost in thought.

It's obvious that the Guards have understood Tony's provocation. Although the Guards dare not do anything in a short period of time, if the Guards are not eliminated as soon as possible... there will be trouble later.

"Your Highness, I don't quite understand why Your Highness wants to provoke the Royal Guards?" Just as Tony was deep in thought, Jie Luo walked out from the shadows in the big tent, came in front of Tony, and asked with a cold face.

"I..." Tony opened his mouth, not knowing how to explain for a moment.

After all, at this time, generally speaking, the Praetorian Guards were still relatively loyal to the Claudius family. Of course, the assassination of Caligula did not count, as Caligula brought it upon himself.

So at this moment, including Mary and Zero, they were a little confused. Why did Tony... target the Royal Guards so much? If he was just trying to balance the forces and suppress the Royal Guards, then Tony was going too far, wasn't he?

Tony couldn't explain it. He couldn't say that more than ten years later, the Guards would raise the banner of rebellion and abandon their emperor? He couldn't say that a hundred years later, the Guards assassinated several emperors in order to control the imperial government?

The Royal Guards are notorious, but that is a matter of the future after all. Even if Tony told these things now, would Zero and the others... believe it?

After thinking for a long time, Tony, who didn't know how to explain, could only sigh: "You...just think of this as the author's arrangement."

PS: Starting from tomorrow, there should be no more interruptions. Well, the February bounties haven't been issued yet, right? Then I will prepare to issue the bounties tomorrow or the day after tomorrow.

Chapter 140: Test Gun

Early in the morning, Tony got up early and brought Nero and a group of guards to the open-air arena north of the Pantheon.

"Brother, why did you choose the open-air arena as the experimental site?" Looking at the vast open-air arena, Nero frowned subconsciously and asked with some dissatisfaction.

After returning from Thessalonica, Nero had been planning to hold a grand Nero Festival similar to the Olympic Games. However, because the competition events had not yet been determined, the proposal to hold the Nero Festival had been on hold. However, in Nero's proposal, the core venue for the Nero Festival would naturally be this open-air arena. After all, whether it was equestrian competitions or running, this stadium... had enough space for athletes to display their talents to the fullest.

It had already been designated as the venue for the competition, and Nero was not really willing to see it filled with blood.

"Well...if I tell you that the reason I chose this venue is because it's close to the palace, will you hit me, sister?" Tony shrank his neck and asked uncertainly.

"Yu..." Nero raised his eyebrows, opened his mouth, and finally said dejectedly: "How can I bear to hit you."

"I knew it~" Tony grinned and said to Nero, "Wait a moment~ The show is about to begin."

The Prince of the Empire personally sent people to invite the Guards and the Senate, no matter whether they had any objections to the Claudius family or not, the Emperor and His Royal Highness the Prince were sitting here waiting for them, and no matter how big their objections were, they had to bite the bullet and come. Soon, senior officers of the Guards and three hundred senators of the Senate entered one after another, and sat in groups of three or five in the open-air arena, whispering.

"Everyone is almost here." Tony glanced at everyone present, coughed lightly and snapped his fingers.

"Your Highness." With the sound of snapping fingers, a young slave brought a large headless cone made of iron sheet and placed it in front of Tony, while another slave held a wooden bracket and placed it on the ground. After placing the headless cone made of iron sheet on it, a simple loudspeaker was completed.

"Ahem, um, Mary, you can command the army now and get the scarecrow ready." Tony coughed lightly, then shouted loudly with a loudspeaker.

Although this simple loudspeaker can amplify people's voices, it is too crude after all. If you want everyone in the arena to hear you, you still have to shout.

"I should have gone to other arenas to ask where they found the magician who made the sound system for them." While shouting at Mary, Tony kept complaining in his mind.

Unlike the world he lived in in his previous life, this world existed magic and so many large arenas and theaters in Rome used magic to build a complete sound amplification system. The host of the arena did not need to roar like Tony did when making announcements.

Hearing Tony's voice, under the command of Mary, the soldiers of the First Legion of Odney carried five scarecrows wearing Roman legionnaires' armor and came to the center of the arena. After inserting the scarecrows, the five soldiers quickly retreated.

"As everyone knows, the Roman Legion has never paid much attention to auxiliary arms, so our archers are always inferior to the barbarian archers in terms of range and power. This is why we want our vassal states to form auxiliary legions to make up for the poor combat effectiveness of the Roman Legion's auxiliary arms."

After shouting to this point, Tony paused, and a barely noticeable curve appeared at the corner of his mouth.

Why were Roman archers inferior to Parthian archers? The reason actually lay in the bow. To be frank, the Roman hunting bow was actually a long-stemmed bow, while the one used by the Parthians was a recurve bow which was better than the long-stemmed bow.

Compared to the longbow, the recurve bow can store more energy, making the arrows shot out have higher kinetic energy. Therefore, the archers of the Roman Legion were far inferior to the Parthians in terms of range and arrow power. In addition, the Roman Legion did not pay much attention to auxiliary troops, so the combat effectiveness of the Roman archers was far inferior to that of the Parthian archers.

In fact, Tony is fully capable of designing a recurve bow. After all, it is just about adding an arc to the bow arm, and it doesn't really require too much technical content.

Ahem, the topic has gone too far.

"Although the combat effectiveness of the Roman Legion's medium and long-range auxiliary arms is not as good as that of the Parthian Army in frontal combat, you should know that when I was in Britain, I invented a new weapon, a new weapon called the hand cannon. This weapon can make up for the lack of combat effectiveness of the Roman Legion's medium and long-range auxiliary arms to a certain extent!"

"Invent new weapons to improve the combat effectiveness of the long-range auxiliary arms of the Roman Legion?" A Guards officer chuckled and whispered to his companion, "I admit that this young prince has some wild ideas. He invented the stirrup and the rattle arrow. These two things can indeed improve the combat effectiveness of the Roman Legion to a certain extent, but... but these two things can't make up for the lack of combat effectiveness of a certain arm."

"It's normal for kids to brag." Another officer of the Royal Guard looked at Tony on the podium with a mocking look on his face and said with a smile.

As the two Royal Guards officers spoke, three men holding an iron cylinder in their hands came to a position about a hundred steps in front of the scarecrow in the arena and stood there, waiting for the next instruction from His Highness Tony on the platform.

"What is this?" Looking at the iron cylinders held by the three soldiers, a guard officer with a scar on his face subconsciously raised his eyebrows. This... looks like a weapon? But what kind of weapon is it? What is it for? Do we need two strong men to throw it at people?

"This is the weapon I invented to make up for the lack of combat effectiveness of the long-range auxiliary troops in the Roman Legion. I named it the Hand Cannon!"

Hand cannon? Upon hearing this name, the officers and elders of the Royal Guards present could not help but whisper to each other.

How do you use this thing...

"Load ammunition!" Seeing everyone present whispering, Tony was very satisfied with the effect. He snapped his fingers and quickly gave his orders.

Following an order, the three guards present took off the ox horns that had been prepared at their waists, poured the gunpowder inside into the gunpowder pool of the hand cannon, then took off the grapeshot hanging on their backs, stuffed it into the hand cannon, took a small pestle from their shirts and poked it hard at the muzzle, then held the hand cannon with one hand, held the tail of the hand cannon with the other hand, and took the torch that had been prepared from another soldier.

"ignition!"

Compared with later rifles, the hand cannon is rather bulky and inconvenient to aim, so Tony simply skipped the step of aiming. Since he was using grapeshot anyway, what was the point of aiming after one shot?

"Sizzle..." The soldier took a torch and ignited the fuse on top of the hand cannon. In the intense burning, the fuse quickly completed its mission.

"boom"!

With a dull sound, dozens of grapeshot shot out from the muzzles of three hand cannons. Almost at the same time, a hundred steps away, the five scarecrows wearing standard Roman legion armor seemed to be hit by something and flew backwards. One of the scarecrows even disintegrated directly in mid-air and fell heavily to the ground.

PS: I came back too late, I’ll issue the reward tomorrow.

Chapter 141: The Frightened Guards

……

silence.

After the low roar, the whole audience was silent.

"Snap." Accompanied by a series of light sounds, the scarecrows in the air fell to the ground one after another. Looking at this scene in front of them, the elders and officers of the Royal Guards present could not help but look at each other in bewilderment.

"Is this... God's weapon?" A Royal Guard officer trembled, breaking the eerie silence.

God's weapon! This was a common thought that flashed through the minds of the Royal Guards officers and elders.

The low roar like thunder, the flickering fire at the end of the iron pipe, and the scarecrow that suddenly flew into the air for some reason after the sound, this... is this the work of the gods? Could it be that His Royal Highness borrowed the weapons of the gods from Mars or Jupiter?

"Gu..." A Royal Guard officer swallowed subconsciously. The scene before him was too shocking. He didn't know what to say. He could only look at the twelve-year-old boy on the podium with horror. He... might be God's messenger!

Glancing at the reactions of the Royal Guards officers and elders present, Tony raised the corner of his mouth slightly, nodded with some satisfaction, and said, "Not bad, three soldiers, you can go down and claim your rewards now."

After the three soldiers holding hand cannons took their positions, Tony smiled and continued, "I wonder if you are satisfied with my new weapon? Well, I am quite satisfied anyway."

"...Hehe." Seeing Tony smiling so brightly, these Guards officers pulled the corners of their mouths, revealing a smile that was uglier than crying.

If this little prince is really the messenger of Mars or Jupiter, then... our guards should just obey him.

Although these guards dared to assassinate Caligula, that was because Caligula was still a human being after all, and he did go too far. But now, if the opponent was to be replaced by a messenger of God, or a being who mastered the weapon of God, then... just forget it or go to bed.

Nice!

Looking at the terrified faces of these Guards officers, Tony was already rolling on the ground laughing in his heart. He knew how a person who had never been exposed to hot weapons felt when he saw them for the first time. After all, the Spanish colonists defeated the Inca Empire with an army of 80,000 with only an expedition team of only 168 people.

Like a god!

This was the Inca Empire's evaluation of the Spanish colonists at that time.

Similarly, now, similar comments have finally fallen on Tony's head.

Perfect shock!

To be honest, the range of a hand cannon is not as good as a bow and arrow, and its power is not that great. The process of loading ammunition is also very slow. You can be lucky if you can fire two shots within a minute. This time, the reason why Tony's hand cannon was able to knock the scarecrow away is simply because the scarecrow is too light compared to a real person, and the hand cannon Tony made is more powerful than the original hand cannon.

【&

Generally speaking, the hand cannon can only scare those who have never seen it, just like the story of the boy who cried wolf. After a long time, the officers of the Guards came to their senses and realized that this thing is just like that. Then... the deterrent effect of the hand cannon has come to an end.

Just as Tony was thinking about what to do next, a soldier with his armor covered in mud stumbled into the arena from the gate next to the arena. He held a sheepskin scroll high in his hand and knelt in the middle of the arena with a tired look on his face. He shouted in the direction of Tony and Nero, "Report! Your Majesty, urgent military information from the front!"

Urgent military intelligence? Hearing these four words, Nero stood up subconsciously and glanced at his brother nervously.

Looking at the soldier's dusty appearance, it is obvious that this so-called emergency military information is definitely not a good thing!

"Don't panic, sister." Feeling the trembling body beside him, Tony gently squeezed Nero's hand and whispered comfortingly.

"Hmm." Nero nodded slightly, took a deep breath and said loudly: "Read!"

The soldier shouted in his hoarse voice, "Your Majesty, there is urgent military information at the front. General Vespasianus, the deputy commander of the Eastern Legion, was ambushed on the battlefield and is in critical condition!"

what? !

Hearing the news, Tony subconsciously widened his eyes.

Are you kidding me?! Vespasian is dying?

Vespasian, the conqueror of Britain, the pacifier of the Jewish rebellion, the terminator of the Rebellion of the Four Emperors, and the founder of the Flavian Dynasty, was ambushed on the battlefield and was in critical condition? !

Although he didn't know much about Vespasian, Tony already knew in his previous life that Emperor Vespasian was a horse-riding monarch who was good at fighting. A general monarch who spent most of his life on horseback was actually attacked on the battlefield. You are lying to your dad because April Fool's Day is only a few months away, right? !

"Brother." Seeing his brother's unbelievable expression, Nero coughed lightly, attracted Tony's attention, and whispered: "Let's stop the test here for now. Let's go back first. If something happens to Vespasianus... This means that the Parthian army may have made some unusual moves."

"...Okay." After taking a deep breath, Tony nodded grimly.

After a quick summary of the Liang army, Tony followed Nero back to the palace quickly.

"Sure enough." Looking at the battle report on Nero's desk, Tony gritted his teeth and frowned.

As winter was about to pass, the long-dormant Armenian rebels finally could no longer bear it and began to launch several exploratory attacks on the front lines of the Roman Empire.

Because the scale of these battles was not large, Domitius, who was in charge of the front-line command, did not report it to the city of Rome. However, this news could not be concealed from Vespasian on the Asia Minor Peninsula.

According to the city of Rome, after Vespasian's arrival, Domitius would resign as the front-line commander and go to Parthia with his guards to make peace with Parthia, adopt delaying tactics, and give Vespasian enough time to defeat Armenia. However, what was unexpected was that when Vespasian took over the command and personally led a tentative battle, he was hit by an arrow that came from nowhere.

Although Vespasian urgently appointed Titus to temporarily take over his position before he fell into a coma, Titus was too young to support the overall situation. Therefore, the only solution now was to let the city of Rome decide whether it was necessary to send another general to command the 200,000 troops on the front line.

"In other words, I'm going to the front line?" Tony raised his eyebrows. As the commander of the entire Eastern Legion, Tony knew that Vespasian had fallen, and he, the commander who was always slacking off, had to show up and appease the morale of the troops on the front line.

However, at this moment, a female guard suddenly appeared at the door of the study, knelt on one knee and said, "Your Majesty, someone outside the palace wants to see His Royal Highness."

PS: There will be another chapter later

Chapter 142: These women always have bad intentions towards my brother!

"Huh?" Tony looked at Nero in surprise. Looking for me? Who is looking for me? What do you want from me?

"Male or female?" For some reason, Nero suddenly felt alarmed and had a bad premonition.

"...female." Although she didn't know why His Majesty asked this, the female guard still answered truthfully.

"Oh, drag him away and hang him." Nero nodded and said expressionlessly.

???

Damn it?

Tony looked at Nero in bewilderment. Pause for a moment. Is the plot moving too fast? No, isn't it someone looking for me? Why is he hanged directly?

"Ah... yes." As the emperor's most loyal lackey, the guard quickly stood up after receiving the order, preparing to retreat and convey the emperor's order.

"Stop!" Although he didn't know what happened, Tony still called out to the guard: "Don't follow this order, okay? Back off first. You have nothing to do here for now."

"This..." The guard looked at the Emperor with some embarrassment. After all, the order was issued by the Emperor himself. Even if Tony asked her not to execute it, she couldn't really believe the evil of this little guy.

"Sister!" Tony could guess what the guard was thinking with his big toe, so he could only turn his head and look at Nero helplessly, scratching his head and saying, "Sister, you... I don't even know who it is, why did you suddenly have someone drag the person who was looking for me away and hang him?"

"Brother." Nero turned his head and looked at Tony who had a helpless look on his face. He rolled his eyes and said, "Brother, let me tell you a fact. You are a prince of the empire. Many girls approach you with bad intentions, especially those pretty girls. They are even worse. They approach you just to get more benefits from you. I am helping you eliminate those bad girls who have bad intentions towards you!"

???