My XX deal with Sister Nero

While a huge storm was brewing in Rome, on the other side, our Tony also encountered some troubles.

After seeing Boudica off, Tony was planning to have lunch and take a good nap, but because of Varro's arrival, Tony had to give up his plan to take a nap.

"You said that our musket exploded?" After listening to Varo's report, Tony was stunned for a moment and asked with a frown.

Some time ago, because the production of saltpeter could be kept up to date, Tony gave up using the transitional model of hand cannon and turned to developing real cannons and muskets.

Since the Gunpowder Manufacturing Bureau has experience in developing hand cannons, it seems to you that developing muskets and cannons should be a piece of cake, right?

After all, cannons and matchlock guns are nothing more than hand cannons with larger or smaller calibers.

But Tony overlooked one problem.

That's the material used to make matchlock guns.

As we all know, when a bullet is fired, the temperature inside the barrel will be very high, and the pressure faced by the barrel will also be very great. Even when bullets are fired continuously, the barrel will be deformed due to the high temperature. This is why, in modern warfare, almost all soldiers will adopt a point-shooting posture. One is to ensure the stability of the rifle when shooting, and the second is... it is to prevent the barrel from suddenly exploding during shooting.

Even so, the barrels of modern firearms are mostly made of high-strength seamless steel pipes. Only this can ensure that a rifle can fire thousands or even tens of thousands of bullets.

But, can Tony produce high-strength seamless steel pipes?

It doesn't exist. According to the current iron-making technology of the Roman Empire, Tony can't produce high-strength seamless steel pipes, let alone ordinary carbon steel.

So, how did Tony solve the hand cannon barrel problem?

It's simple, thicken.

Almost in ancient times, no matter which country, their cannons were the same, that is, the barrel was very thick. These cannons looked very majestic, but in fact, their caliber was not as large as they looked. The reason was nothing more than the thick barrel wall.

So don’t be fooled by the hand cannon’s large size; in fact, the caliber of the hand cannon is not that large.

The enlarged version of the hand cannon, which is the mortar that Tony is developing, will no longer be a problem for the hand cannon.

What? The ammunition is enlarged, so the barrel wall must be thickened? No problem! Anyway, the mortar is so big, it doesn't matter if it is enlarged a little bit.

But the matchlock gun is different!

The size of a matchlock gun is so small, and the wall of the barrel has to be thick, so how much caliber do you think is left?

The Gunpowder Manufacturing Bureau kept trying to find a balance point that would ensure both the caliber and the thickness of the tube wall, but... obviously, they failed. Therefore, this newly developed matchlock gun successfully exploded.

Actually, no matter it is a cannon or a hand cannon, their service life is not long. The reason why this hand cannon has been fine after half a year is simply that Tony has hardly used it many times.

"Let's suspend the research and development of the matchlock gun for now and seal up the blueprints for now. We can talk about other things after we can solve the problem of cast iron."

After arriving at the scene and understanding the specific situation, Tony spoke calmly.

Since I can’t make a matchlock gun, I can only try the combination of hand cannon and mortar.

Although the development of the matchlock gun at the Gunpowder Manufacturing Bureau failed, good news came from the Arsenal.

The trigger of the Qin crossbow has been successfully developed!

As mentioned before, Tony plans to develop a crossbow, but there is a technical problem here, that is, how to solve the trigger of the crossbow?

In modern firearms or crossbows, there is a component in the trigger called a spring. But in that era, when there were no springs, how were triggers made?

Fortunately, Tony had watched CCTV-10 in his previous life, and one of the programs introduced the Zhuge Crossbow. In that program, he probably also saw the production of the ancient trigger.

After thinking it over carefully, Tony drew a rough sketch based on his memory. Guided by this sketch, the staff of the arsenal spent more than a month and finally succeeded in making the trigger!

"Now that we have the trigger, it means the crossbow should be ready soon." Tony clapped his hands happily and said to himself when he returned to the Chief Executive's Mansion.

In the following week, His Royal Highness the Prince lived a very fulfilling life every day. On the one hand, he supervised the research and development progress of various new weapons, and on the other hand, he planned to learn from Varro how to govern a city.

However, this fulfilling and happy life only lasted for a week.

"Your Highness, the Senate has sent a letter, hoping that Your Highness can return to Rome."

Early in the morning, Tony had just finished breakfast when he saw Varro running in hurriedly from the door and said.

"Why are you going back to Rome?" Tony asked curiously.

Because he had previously shown an attitude that was not very willing to cooperate with the Senate, so logically speaking, the Senate should have been too lazy to pay attention to him. Why did they suddenly want him to return to Rome?

"This... the letter says that it is related to the new policy that His Majesty intends to implement. I hope Your Highness will go back and discuss it carefully." Varro replied with his head down.

New policy? Tony was stunned. What? Has his sister figured it out and decided to take charge? She's actually starting to implement a new policy?

But that's not right. The Senate has a lot of power. You said you want to ask the Senate to implement new policies, which is fine, but why are you asking me? I'm not a senator. According to the existing laws, I don't even have the right to interrupt, okay?

Why did you ask me to go back to Rome?

After thinking for a long time, the only thing Tony could think of was to get himself involved. Either Nero thought that Tony should be involved in the policy promotion, or... this policy should be related to him.

Could it be that this is a legal provision related to customs?

But this is not right. In the detailed report on customs that Tony gave to Nero before leaving, he not only determined the personnel structure of customs, but he also specially compiled a complete customs law.

Don’t ask why Tony could compile a complete customs law. When Tony was a customs officer in his previous life, this was something he had to memorize. He had to take an exam on relevant laws every month. If he didn’t get a full score, he would be dismissed directly. Do you think he couldn’t memorize it?

Chapter 213: The assassin lurking in Rome

"Your Highness?" Looking at Tony sitting there with a frown on his face, Varro took two steps forward and called out tentatively.

"Ah... It's okay." Tony waved his hand and said to Varro, "Go call Sister Mary. I have something to arrange."

The musket drawings were sealed, and Tony did not plan to manufacture any subsequent firearms for the time being. After all, at present, the Roman Empire did not have the ability to produce a reasonable gun barrel.

But as mentioned before, there has been a breakthrough in the trigger of the crossbow. After this biggest technical problem limiting the crossbow has been overcome, Tony is sure that as long as he is given enough time, he can equip every soldier with a crossbow!

In addition to the crossbow, the recurve bows developed by the Arsenal were also equipped to the Sarmatians first. At the same time, Tony also allowed the Sarmatians to engage in a certain degree of grazing. After all... these cattle and sheep were the property of the Sarmatians. If they all starved to death, the Sarmatians would probably riot.

After arranging everything in the territory, Tony took his guards and the First Legion of Odeni and left the city of Sanoni and headed towards Rome.

The fact that His Majesty had decided to implement the new policy was naturally not concealed. When the news came out, almost all the men in the Roman Empire cheered. Just kidding, how could they not be happy about being able to marry several wives? What? You mean the kidneys? Don't worry, kidneys are not a problem!

"What? Is this the new policy that the Senate is about to implement? Or was it proposed by my sister?" In the governor's residence of a small town in the southern part of Gaul Province, Tony looked at the governor kneeling in front of him with a surprised face and asked with some astonishment.

"Yes, Your Highness... This is exactly the new policy that Your Majesty intends to promote." The chief executive replied with his head lowered.

"Interesting..." Tony touched his chin and muttered to himself.

Your Majesty proposes to replace monogamy with polygamy. What...what does Your Majesty intend to do?

For men, such a new policy is a great thing, but the problem is... Your Majesty is not a man, so... Why does Your Majesty intend to forcibly promote this new policy?

To be honest, even though he came from two thousand years in the future, even though he had read so many history books and watched quite a few TV dramas about palace fighting, Tony, who considered himself to be quite resourceful, couldn't help but feel puzzled at this moment.

Everyone has certain motives for doing things, whether it is for themselves or for the people of the world. At least, this "for" someone is a motive.

But Tony really couldn't figure out Nero's motivation for promoting this new policy!

For the sake of the people of the world? No, although the Nero of this world is not the tyrant that was widely rumored in the world where he lived in his previous life, the Nero of this world is not a wise or virtuous king! Besides, according to the current Roman law, this policy is not a wise policy, okay?

For myself? Are you kidding me, brother? If Nero promotes a "Lesbian policy", Tony believes it's for himself, but... Nero is not a man, and this new policy is of no use to her, so how could it be for himself?

So...why did Nero promote such a policy?

Tony couldn't figure out the reason after thinking for a long time. He could only frown and scratch his head in annoyance. It seemed that he could only ask Nero in person after he arrived in Rome.

Of course, Tony didn't know that Nero would definitely not tell the truth this time.

Although Tony always felt that Nero should like him, Nero did not think that Tony's feelings for his sister had surpassed family affection. The reason was very simple, that is, Tony would be thirteen years old this year.

How could a thirteen-year-old child understand love and affection? So...how could I let my younger brother know about this?

What if my brother gets scared and runs away again?

Ahem, that’s too far off topic.

In short, after nearly two months of travel, Tony returned to Rome again.

"Is that the legendary Prince Odney?" At the door of an inn near the city gate, a middle-aged man dressed as an Egyptian businessman looked at the carriage guarded by a team of female knights and suddenly whispered.

"Yes, sir, that should be Prince Odney's carriage." Next to the guard, a young man who looked like a slave said with his head slightly lowered.

"Where is Prince Odney..." The middle-aged man narrowed his eyes and suddenly asked, "If you were allowed to do it, how confident are you that you can kill this prince?"

"This..." The young man raised his eyes and looked at the female cavalry cautiously, and replied somewhat awkwardly: "I'm afraid that even if all of us were killed here, we wouldn't be able to hurt His Royal Highness even a hair?"

"Oh? So powerful?" Hearing the answer from the young man next to him, the middle-aged man subconsciously turned his head to look at the young man standing next to him, and asked in disbelief: "You hired elite soldiers at a high price, how come even you can't handle the guards of His Royal Highness the Prince?"

"That's not the case, actually." The young man shook his head and smiled bitterly. "We have too few people ambushing in Rome this time. If the enemy only had that team of cavalry guards, we would be sure to kill the prince before alerting the Roman Guards. But you see, in addition to the more than 40 cavalrymen around Prince Odney, there are also 200 elite infantrymen following him, and..."

At this point the young man paused before continuing, "And there should be a master by the side of His Royal Highness the Prince."

"Master? What kind of master?" The middle-aged man was stunned and a little surprised.

It is said that this assassin unit was a group of bandits roaming the Arabian Peninsula hired at a high price by King Ramses II. Their combat effectiveness was evident because they had fought against the Roman and Parthian armies many times and were able to escape unscathed.

But more than half a year ago, this unit was hired by Lindenwan in Upper Egypt. Under the personal training of Ramses II, this group of once notorious thieves was transformed into an elite killer unit after more than half a year of training.

The middle-aged man was very surprised. How strong could the opponent be to be so afraid of the deputy leader of this killer unit that had fought against the armies of two superpowers and escaped unscathed?

"I don't know..." The young man shook his head and said, "I can only feel that the murderous aura emanating from the woman with white hair... I have only felt it on fantasy species, and... they are top-notch fantasy species."

"Top fantasy species?" The middle-aged man was stunned at first, then suddenly realized: "This woman... is actually as strong as a dragon?!"

PS: After watching the latest episode of Date A Live, I suddenly wondered, if Kurumi participated in the Holy Grail War, without any relics, the Heroic Spirit with the highest compatibility with her would probably be Gon IV [funny]

Chapter 214: Brother, the continuation of the family bloodline depends entirely on you!

Tony didn't know that there was a killer lurking in the city. After entering the palace, Tony went straight to his sister to find out why she would implement such a policy.

"Ah? Which policy are you talking about, brother?" Faced with Tony's question, Nero looked naive, trying to get away with it.

"Don't pretend!" Tony waved his hand, picked up the cup in front of Nero's desk and drank a sip of water, and said, "What's going on with your polygamy policy?"

Along the way, Tony roughly understood what had happened.

Nero was planning to forcibly promote a new policy, that is, the polygamy policy, but because it conflicted with existing legal policies, the senators originally planned to reject Nero's request. However, Nero seemed to have grasped some leverage over the Senate and forced the Senate to compromise. However, the Senate was not there to sit there and do nothing. If they wanted to approve this policy, then they could do so in exchange for equal conditions, such as... Roman customs.

Then Tony was called back as the designated first Director of Customs.

So Tony didn't quite understand why Nero wanted to pass this bill? And he also agreed to exchange it for customs.

You have to know that the proposal for customs was made by Tony, and even the entire customs-related laws and structure were all formulated by Tony. Nero was just doing things step by step according to what Tony had formulated. Tony was the real owner of the Roman Customs.

Why on earth would Nero use his brother's interests to make such a swap?

“This…” Nero’s eyes were a little erratic. After a light cough, he said, “Hmm! Brother! It must be very tiring to come from such a long distance! Take a good bath and rest first. Sister will prepare delicious food for you!”

???

What is this? Just keep getting away with it?

"I'm not tired or hungry right now." Tony waved his hands irritably. He really didn't know what his sister was thinking. On weekdays, she was a hands-off boss. Except for some necessary matters, she would handle most of the rest of the matters. She left them to Seneca and other confidants.

What about Tony? He was determined to be a leisurely king who farmed the land. For the sake of this empire, Tony had to set up the Roman Customs so that the imperial government would have more money to complete the things that the empire needed to accomplish in the future.

However, this sister didn't lend a hand, but now she's ruining things for me! What kind of sister is she? Drag her out and give her a beating!

Seeing her brother's unhappy expression, Nero knew that it would be difficult for her to get away with it this time, so she suddenly looked sad and about to cry: "Brother, I did this all for you."

"??? For me?" Tony was stunned. He didn't expect that this policy that was about to be implemented was actually for me?

"Brother, think about it. Drusus has been dead for many years, and I am a girl. Now, you are the only one left in the entire Augustus and Claudius families who are truly direct descendants. In other words, brother, the glorious mission of continuing the family bloodline falls on you!"

Yeah?

Tony was a little confused. He didn't know much about Roman history, so...the direct bloodlines of the Claudius and Augustus families were all extinct?

"Brother, I think that if you only have one wife, although you will love her, you will not be able to afford the glorious and arduous task of continuing your bloodline with only one wife. Therefore, I decided to amend the law to allow you to find more wives. Only in this way can the bloodline of the Claudius family and the Augustus family be continued!" Ignoring Tony's confusion, Nero said to himself with a very sad expression.

...?

Isn't this a fucking stud?!

Tony almost jumped up on the spot. What the hell! You spent so much effort and even gave me a piece of customs, just to let me be a stud?

Damn! You really are my sister!

"Sister, let me ask you something." After taking a deep breath, Tony looked at Nero expressionlessly and suddenly spoke.

"Ah? Brother, tell me." Nero coughed lightly and said.

"Sister, I don't know much about the law. I just want to ask, is there a law in the empire that prohibits the prince from beating the emperor?" Tony asked Nero without blinking.

"Ahem, well..." Nero coughed twice, scratched his head and said, "Brother, although I am not sure whether there are relevant laws, I think... the prince seems a little weak. He should be unable to defeat the emperor, right?"