My XX deal with Sister Nero

In fact, if we really want to talk about it in detail, the Roman army was equipped with recurve bows.

As we all know, the Romans have always paid attention to heavy infantry. Most of the arms other than heavy infantry are regarded as subsidiary arms, or auxiliary arms, which naturally include archers.

In Europe, whether it was the Romans or the Greeks, most of the bows they used were long-tipped bows. After all, in that era that advocated personal force, archers really did not play a big role in melee.

But the nomadic peoples in Central Asia are different. Their bows and arrows are used not only for killing people, but more importantly for hunting. Therefore, the nomadic peoples in Central Asia have put a lot of effort into bows and arrows, which also makes the recurve bows of Central Asians far more powerful than the longbows of Europe.

Although the Romans did not pay much attention to archers, when their weapons were inferior to those of others, the Romans learned from their mistakes and confiscated a batch of recurve bows to equip their army. However, the number of recurve bows was not large, and so far, only a small number of them have been equipped to the border defense forces.

The most crucial thing is that the Romans' recurve bows mostly came from those seized on the battlefield. They... were not yet able to make recurve bows. After all, in this era when Newton had not yet been born, all concepts about "force" were determined based on experience. Who the hell knew what kind of physical knowledge was contained in it?

Of course, in this era, if you really want to make bows and arrows, the best material must be antelope horns. It is said that the bows made of antelope horns were the most powerful bows at the time, but this thing is really not easy to mass-produce, otherwise Tony would have ordered a large-scale killing of African antelopes long ago.

Soon, Tony completed his drawing on the white paper. In order to facilitate understanding, Tony specially marked the two ends of the bow arm, where they needed to bend outwards.

"Is this the secret of the Parthian bow?" Nero and Leonius looked at each other in confusion after taking the papyrus from Tony.

Honestly speaking, if you don’t observe carefully, few people would notice the difference between the longtail bow and the recurve bow. Even if they noticed it... in this age where people don’t understand physics, few people would guess that this slight curvature is the problem.

So when Tony pointed out that the fundamental reason why the Parthian bow was stronger than the Roman bow was the curvature on the bow arm, both Leonius and Nero were stunned.

Just...just this reason?

Seeing Nero's skeptical look, Tony smiled and said, "If you don't believe me, you can ask the ordnance personnel below to make a recurve bow according to what I said. It's just a bow anyway, and it won't cost much."

"That's right." Nero nodded, handed the paper to Lius and said, "General Lius, thank you for your help."

After Leus left, Nero reached out and rubbed Tony's forehead, grinning and saying, "Brother, sometimes I really want to open your head and see what's in your little head and why you're so powerful."

"Ahem, it's nothing, just basic exercises, basic exercises." Tony said with a light cough.

Just as Nero was about to continue kneading his brother's face, the tightly closed door was suddenly pushed open, and a soldier covered in dust stumbled up, knelt down in front of Nero and shouted: "Your Majesty, urgent military information from the front!"

Military emergency?

Hearing this word, Nero and Tony were both stunned. Could it be that the front line suddenly suffered a defeat? !

"Show it up." Nero's face darkened when she thought of this. She quickly sat behind the table and said to the soldier in a deep voice.

"Yes." The soldier took a breath and tried to get up from the ground with some difficulty.

"Forget it, let me do it. You give me the scroll." Tony frowned when he saw that the soldier was struggling. He took two steps forward and said to the soldier.

"Thank you, Your Highness." The soldier reached out his hand with some difficulty to touch the lining of his armor. Then, a gleam of light flashed in the soldier's eyes. Then, he took out a dagger from his arms and stabbed it towards Tony!

Hmm? Assassin?

Without having time to think, the moment Tony saw the dagger, he subconsciously took a half step back, dodged the stab by leaning sideways, and while holding the opponent's arms with both hands, he hit the soldier's elbow hard with his right knee.

There was a crisp "click" sound, and the soldier's right arm was in an unnatural bent state.

"There's an assassin!" At this time, Nero, who was sitting behind the table, finally reacted. The soldier in front of him... was an enemy!

As soon as Nero finished speaking, several female guards rushed in with weapons and pinned the assassin to the ground.

"Brother, are you okay?" Nero walked to Tony in two or three steps, and looked at him carefully with some nervousness. After confirming that Tony had no wounds, he pulled Tony behind him and said to the assassin who was pinned to the ground: "Very good... You dared to attack my brother, you are very good... Pass the order to block the whole city! I don't believe that he is the only assassin in this city!"

"Sister..." Feeling the strong murderous aura emanating from Nero, Tony opened his mouth but didn't dare to speak.

Fortunately, I learned the skills of grappling and fighting when I was in customs in my previous life, otherwise that knife just now would definitely take away half of my life, not to mention anything else.

"Yes!" After several guards kicked away the dagger dropped by the soldier on the ground, they reached out to grab him and subconsciously glanced at his right arm... Emmm, the little prince is quite strong, this kick was a bit fierce.

"Are you really okay?" After the guards took the people away, Nero leaned down and looked at Tony nervously, and asked with a worried look on his face.

"I'm really fine." Tony coughed lightly, feeling the fragrance emanating from Nero... It seemed that his sister must have gone into the city last night and took a bath. This floral scent was definitely the petals she dropped when she took a bath.

Ahem, here, the author would like to specially explain one thing for our protagonist. The reason why Tony guessed that Nero had taken a bath yesterday was simply because Nero had a floral scent on his body. It’s not like what you old thieves think, that he already had a basin and a spoon ready to scoop out a basin of Nero’s bath water to taste it!

Ahem, it seems like I'm going off track.

Nero blinked his eyes and suddenly fiddled with the toga on Tony's body. He said seriously, "Yes! Yes, if you are injured, you can't see the wound if you are wearing clothes. Let me ask someone to prepare it. You and your sister will go to the bath later. I will check your body for you~"

PS: Let me tell you something. In the column called “Stories Around the Author”, there is a story about a man and a woman that happened around the author. Well, there is a female-lead version in the brackets of the title, which means that it was written by the female protagonist in the story. In fact, there is also a male-lead version. I originally planned to post the male-lead version as well, but after taking a look at it, the word count is almost close to 13,000. If I put it here, I feel that it is not worth it for you. Well, after thinking about it, I decided to do this. I will post the male-lead version to the group. If anyone wants to read it, they can go to the group to read it. On the one hand, it can save you some unnecessary money, and on the other hand, it can also be regarded as... digging a hole for myself to update more?

Chapter 174: Future Planning (Additional Chapter 48)

???

As we all know, our country has a complete set of criminal laws... Oh, no, Chinese laws don't seem to apply to the Roman Empire?

As we all know, ancient Rome... Um, can someone tell the author if there were any relevant laws in the Roman Empire?

Well, it doesn't matter whether we say it or not. It doesn't matter whether there is such a law or not. After all... if His Majesty breaks the law, what can you do about it? Hmm?

So Tony was confused at this moment and really didn't know how to react.

Check up? Let's go to the bathhouse and check up together?

No, I'm really afraid that I can't hold the gun.

"Well, sister, I think... should I find a doctor to check it out?" Tony coughed lightly and took a half step back silently.

"How can a doctor examine you as carefully as I can?" Nero refused righteously, "Be obedient, I will examine you carefully. If you have any internal injuries, I will be very sad!"

Suffering...internal injuries???

Tony opened his eyes wide. What the hell? Forget about the fact that I wasn't stabbed by the dagger. Even if I was stabbed, I should have suffered external injuries, right?! Internal injuries?! Do you think this is a fantasy novel? There's also sword energy attached to the dagger?

"No, no, no, sister, don't worry, I definitely don't have any internal injuries, I swear!" Tony patted his chest hard.

Although I really want to drink with Nero... bah, go to the bathhouse with him, but, if I can't control my anger at that time, it would be a bit embarrassing, right?

"Okay, sister knows that brother doesn't want to make sister worry. Be good, come, sister will help you take off your clothes, okay~" Nero's face turned slightly red, cough cough, taking the opportunity to take a look at his brother's body... I am really a genius!

"No!" Tony jumped back two meters and hugged himself: "Sister, if you do this again, I will call for help! I want everyone to know that my sister is a pervert!"

abnormal?

Nero was stunned. This... emmmmm, forget it. It won't be good to force him. Alas, I really miss the younger brother who liked to stick to me when I was a child.

After temporarily overcoming the crisis, Tony made up an excuse without thinking and quickly slipped back to his room.

The lost brother was found, and he was temporarily unable to get rid of the Praetorian Guards. After staying here for a few more days, in mid-March, Nero took Tony on the journey back to Rome.

It is worth mentioning that two days before Tony left Kyria, Martha also said goodbye to Tony again. From her tone, it seemed that she wanted to take advantage of this time to visit Jerusalem and the village where she once lived.

"We will be busy when we get back." Tony stretched out his body while lying in the wide carriage, and said with an unhappy look on his face while looking at Nero who was sitting next to him.

According to Tony's plan, he will stay in Rome for a while after returning to Rome. First, he will ask someone to pick out some feces from the cesspool and see if there is any saltpeter mud on the surrounding walls. Second, yes, it's time to set up the Roman Customs!

As mentioned earlier, the Roman Empire did collect tariffs, but the tariffs they collected were too huge and complicated.

Let's put it this way, the central government of the Roman Empire did not establish a unified agency to manage tariffs. The most direct result of this was that although the central government of the empire formulated a tariff price list, when this list fell into the hands of local governments, these local financial officials added a number of new taxes based on local conditions.

Let me put it this way, if we really want to talk about commodity taxes, generally speaking, the commodity taxes in the Roman Empire were not actually high, because the Roman Empire only collected taxes on foreign trade goods in border areas and the capital area. In other non-tax areas, these goods were basically not taxed.

But in the tax area, the taxes on these goods can be quite varied.

For example, when a ship with goods arrived at the port, the Roman Empire would collect the first tax on the goods, which was the port tax. After that, the goods would be on the road. Within the tax collection area, every time the goods passed through a city, a road tax would be levied on the goods. When crossing a bridge, an additional bridge tax would be charged.

The amount of tax collected each time is not much, but the problem is that the number of urban bridges in not all tax collection areas is the same. A batch of goods may be taxed four times in tax collection area A, but may only be taxed three times in tax collection area B.

Merchants are profit-driven, and no merchant wants to be taxed more than once. So after they discover that place A collects taxes more often than place B, will they go to place A again?

Then they will not go to Place A. The most direct consequence of the slow flow of goods in Place A is that the business in Place A will be completely destroyed.

So what Tony has to do is to establish a unified customs system and unify the collection of tariffs. All goods will only be taxed once according to a certain proportion. At the same time, the collection of tariffs can only be done by the central government.

In addition, Tony also plans to open up new trade routes, such as...trade routes to India.

In this era, Rome actually already had a trade route to India, but this route was not controlled by the imperial government, or in other words... the Roman Empire had not yet shifted its business focus from Europe to Asia.

However, Tony now urgently needs to control this route. The reason is very simple. As long as this route is in the hands of the Roman Empire, Tony can use this route to bring back the saltpeter he needs most from India!

Besides, India...seems to have many other gems besides saltpeter...

Tony could even use this new trade route to bypass Parthia and the Kushan Empire, enter the territory of the Eastern Han Empire from the South China Sea, and establish a certain degree of trade relations with the Eastern Han Empire. In this way... although there is a two thousand years of time difference between them, Tony could still get some familiar things from the Eastern Han Empire.

But then again...wasn't he a prince who was responsible for eating, drinking and having fun? Why did he worry about the emperor?

Thinking of this, Tony couldn't help but glare at Nero, who was sitting next to him with an innocent look, with some annoyance.

Nero is not very happy to be the emperor. This is true for both the Nero in the Type-Moon world and the Nero in Tony's previous life, because what our Emperor Nero desires most is art.

In Tony's previous life, the world he lived in was still okay. Nero had the threat of Britannicus, so the Emperor Nero was a wise ruler for five years. After he killed his brother and mother, he began to gradually degenerate. But the Nero in this world... Agrippina the Younger had already been exiled, and Seneca couldn't control her. In addition, Nero was surrounded by some unlearned jesters, so... To put it bluntly, in this world's Roman Empire, even if Nero ran away and no longer served as emperor, it would probably have no impact on the operation of the empire.

PS: Why do I feel like I've even updated the extra 87 chapters? Well, something must have gone wrong. So I still owe you chapters... Goodbye!

Chapter 175: The Little Lolita Who Is Most Likely to Become His Brother-in-law

After a month and a half of long journey, Nero and his entourage finally returned to the prosperous city of Rome in early June.

"So... who are you?"

Inside the bedroom, Tony scratched his head as he looked at the very cute little girl in front of him.

That's not right. I haven't reached the stage of Alzheimer's disease. Although I can't call out the names of all the maids in the palace who are responsible for taking care of my food, clothing and daily life, I am familiar with them. But this... I have never seen this loli before!

"Spoluya...hello...hello, His Royal Highness." The little girl lowered her head, twisted the corners of her clothes with her hands a little nervously, and spoke in a soft voice.

Spoluya?

Tony scratched his head. Well, this was definitely the first time he had heard of this name. This meant that this little Loli who looked only seven or eight years old should be a newcomer to the palace.

So... this is the new little maid that my sister assigned to me? But the problem is that she is only seven or eight years old, what can she do? Even if I asked her to do some laundry, Tony would still feel guilty.

And... although it was the first time I heard this name, Spoluya... always felt that the name sounded familiar.

Could it be someone the previous owner of this body knew? !

"Then...what job did Tita assign you?" Tony asked after frowning and thinking for a while.

Because the head maid Ola is also Tony's personal maid, in order to facilitate management, Tony specially set up a deputy head maid so that when Ola is not around, there will be someone who can manage the maids around him in a timely manner.

"Miss Tita asked me... asked me to stay with everyone and study hard first." Hearing Tony's question, Spoluya lowered her head even lower.

Hmm? Study?

Tony was visibly stunned when he heard this word.

Generally speaking, if there are new servants in the palace, they must learn something. First, they need to be taught how to do laundry and cooking, and second, they need to be taught some rules of the palace.

But the problem is, as far as Tony knows, there is a department in the palace that specializes in teaching these newcomers. He has never heard of anyone who starts learning after being assigned a position after entering the palace.

This is like China two thousand years later. If anyone wants to join the army, they must first train in the recruit company for three months, become familiar with the army's rules and regulations, and master the basic training before being assigned to a company. I have never heard of anyone skipping the recruit company training and going directly to a company to get familiar with these things.

What kind of arrangement is this?

Tony frowned and sighed, "Okay then, you can learn from everyone first, um... so, from now on you can... you can wake me up every morning."

This girl... looks like she's only about seven or eight years old? Well, let's give her an easier job first and wait until she's a little older.

"Yes, Your Highness." Spoluya bowed to Tony in a panic. Just as she was about to thank His Highness for giving her an easy job, Tony suddenly put on a gentle smile and said to Spoluya, "Okay, don't be nervous. I'm not a cannibal. Well, since you're going to take care of me in the future, then... chat with me for a while?"

As he spoke, Tony pointed to a chair next to his desk and said to Spoluya with a smile, "Come, sit down first. Aren't you tired of standing here?"

"...Yes." Although she didn't know why His Highness wanted to chat with her, but since His Highness said so... Spoluya still sat obediently on the chair next to the desk, looking at Tony somewhat at a loss.

"Well...you're so young and you're learning how to serve others...your family background isn't that good?" After thinking for a while, Tony coughed lightly and said.

"I... Your Highness, my family are all slaves." Spolua lowered her head and answered in a soft voice.

Ah... okay. Tony scratched his head awkwardly and touched his chin before continuing to ask, "Do you... have any other family members besides your parents? Like brothers and sisters?"

Spoluya shook her head and said with a somewhat lonely look: "I heard that before I was born, I had an older brother, but he unfortunately died a year before I was born, and my parents wanted to give birth to another boy, and then..."

Uh...does the Roman Empire still have the custom of favoring boys over girls?

Tony touched his nose. Judging from the little girl's tone, her parents seemed to be somewhat biased towards boys?

However, the Romans named their children in the same way. If it was a boy, the name would end with -us, that is, something like Us, and if it was a girl, the name would end with -a, that is, something like Aa.

So, if Spoluya is a boy, his name should be...Spolus?

Sporus?!

???

Tony stood up subconsciously and looked at the little girl in front of him with surprise.

This kid... is Sporus's gender changed? !

As mentioned earlier, in the world of Tony's previous life, the male tyrant Nero did marry several wives, but because all his wives were women, in this world, Tony didn't take Nero's wives too seriously.