My XX deal with Sister Nero

"Reject? No, no, no." After hearing Tony's words, Pasu waved his hands and said, "We just think that the bill that Your Majesty intends to promote... is a little bit ill-considered. This... Your Majesty has decided to make some modifications."

"Yeah, that makes sense. Please continue, Passu." Tony nodded pretentiously and said.

“Your Majesty means that, considering that this bill may encounter certain obstacles during its promotion, it is planned to conduct a certain degree of trial promotion among government officials first. If there are no problems, it will be promoted nationwide.

"Oh! That makes sense." Tony nodded: "And then?"

Passu glanced at the second senator Vanore, who was sitting in the center, and then at Tony, who was sitting next to him with his legs crossed like a second uncle. He gritted his teeth and said, "Your Majesty means that since the new law is to be promoted among public officials, the Roman Customs, as a new government agency, is naturally no exception. Considering that Your Majesty intends to promote it immediately, and we are relatively familiar with the situation in the Senate provinces, I hope that Your Highness can give us the task of building direct customs in those Senate provinces."

"Oh~" Tony dragged out the last word, glanced at all the elders present and said with a smile: "Why didn't you say this earlier?"

As mentioned before, Tony built the customs not for himself, but for the entire Roman Empire.

Or to put it another way.

Because he has a sister who loves him, the things of the Roman Empire...are no different from Tony's things.

What belongs to the empire is mine, but what belongs to me is still mine!

So, Tony built the Empire Customs, in fact, to put it bluntly... to put it bluntly, it was still for the country! Yes, that's right, for the country.

So, when Tony first learned that Nero wanted to exchange his own interests with the Senate, he looked unhappy.

Well, it doesn't matter. Who is Tony? He is from the future 2,000 years later. As one of the violent law enforcement agencies of the country, 2,000 years later, will the governments of various countries in the world have no restrictions on their own customs?

The army has military police or inspectors, and the police also have police inspectors. So what about customs? Is there a corresponding regulatory department for customs?

Have.

Take the Chinese customs as an example. In addition to the internal inspection of the customs, there are also resident agencies of the Discipline Inspection Group and the Supervision Commission to supervise the customs to a certain extent. So... Tony's idea is very simple. You want a few customs directly under the Senate Province? Sure, I'll give it to you, but... you are still nominally under the management of the Roman Customs General Administration, right?

As long as you say "yes", there's no problem!

You want to be directly under the customs just to arrange your own people to come in so that you can reap benefits from it. But, what if I arrange some people from the Discipline Inspection Commission and the Supervisory Commission to supervise you?

How do you fish?

Well, even if you are powerful and dare to make money, you can't make money openly under the supervision of these prosecutors, right? So...

Of course, although it has been decided to throw out some "bait" to the Senate to ease the increasingly intensified conflict between the two sides, but... Tony does not want to just throw this "bait" out so casually.

"Although I am very grateful to the elders for sharing some of the construction of the direct customs with me, but... to be honest, this will make me feel a little guilty. After all... how can I have the nerve to ask the elders to contribute money and effort?"

???

What the hell?

Not to mention Pasu, even Vanore's mouth twitched subconsciously when he heard Tony's words.

Your Highness! Can you please have some shame?

You two siblings, ah! You want to promote a policy, okay, we will promote it, but I will exchange benefits with you, is there anything wrong with that? But what about you? You also want me to build an office space for you? And also contribute money and labor?

Can you please give me some face?

"I..." Pasu opened his mouth but didn't dare to answer.

Originally, there were 300 senators in the Senate, but Octavian doubled the number of seats in the Senate in order to suppress and disperse the power of the Senate. Now there are 600 senators in the Senate, and these senators basically form a community of interests. Pasu dare not continue to speak on behalf of the Senate after hearing Tony's words.

"Your Highness, do you mean that the Senate should bear the cost of building customs in all the Senate provinces?" Vanore turned his head and looked at Tony who was sitting next to him and asked.

"Ah? Isn't this what the Senate meant?" Tony looked at Vanore with a look of sudden enlightenment and asked.

"..." Vanore's mouth twitched unnaturally twice, then he took a deep breath and nodded: "Okay, we'll pay for this."

Anyway, as long as His Highness agrees to let us arrange the personnel for these customs directly under His Highness, everything will be fine. How much does it cost to build these office spaces? As long as the personnel are ours, we can get them back no matter what!

"how's it going?"

At noon, Tony returned to the palace. Before he had time to sit down to eat lunch in the restaurant, Nero appeared out of nowhere, suddenly came to Tony and asked with a smile.

"Ah? Is there any need to say that?" Tony curled his lips and said, "I guess these elders have one thought in their minds right now, right? That is, I don't want to be embarrassed. After all, I just tricked them and asked them to pay for part of the construction costs of the direct customs. And... the benefits I gave them were just a pie in the sky after all."

Chapter 218: Big Cake Prepared for the Senate

Now is not the time to conflict with the Senate.

As a prince, Tony is destined to be loyal to the Claudius family, so his opponents are mainly the Guards and the Senate.

Compared to the Senate, the Praetorian Guards were a greater threat at the moment. After all, the Praetorian Guards held military power and were the largest army in the entire city of Rome and the surrounding areas. What about the Senate? Although it still held some power in the government, at least in the short term, the Senate would not backstab Nero. And even if it did, without the Praetorian Guards, the Senate's backstab would be useless.

The reason why Nero committed suicide in 68 AD was nothing more than the double backstab of the Senate and the Praetorian Guard. The Senate was stabbed in the back because Nero planned "Greek autonomy", which intensified the political contradictions between the Senate and Nero, and eventually led to the rebellion of Vindex and the "public enemy" issued by the Senate.

But if we put the Praetorian Guard rebellion aside, let's look at what the Senate did to Nero.

Vindex joined forces with Galba to raise the banner of rebellion, but not long after, the Roman legions from the Germanic province were stationed in the Gaul province to quell the rebellion. Not long after, Vindex committed suicide, which caused great chaos in Galba's army and dealt a heavy blow to the rebel forces.

Nero, who hurried back to Rome from Greece, did not know the true situation of the rebellion. The news he heard was that there was rebellion all over the country, and that Spain and Gaul had been out of the control of the empire, and even the Praetorian Guards had betrayed him.

Of course, at this moment, except for the real betrayal of the Guards, everything else is fake news.

But Nero was very sincere and fled Rome in a hurry. Until this time, the Senate dared to declare Nero as the "public enemy" and anyone could capture or even kill Nero. After Nero's death, the Senate sentenced Nero to the amnesia curse.

To put it bluntly, if the Praetorian Guards had not rebelled, Nero would not have run away. If Nero had not run away, the Senate would probably still not dare to say a word.

So compared to the Guards who hold military power, the Senate is nothing.

He had just had a conflict with the Praetorian Guards. If he were to have a conflict with the Senate at this time, it would be really troublesome as he was not yet firmly established.

That's why Tony made a big promise.

It takes time to establish the Discipline Inspection Commission, the Supervisory Commission, or even secret police such as the Gestapo, and Tony plans to establish them without telling the Senate, so it may take even longer. During this period of time, Tony allows, or secretly condones, the Senate to make a lot of money. Once these regulatory agencies are established, it is about time to replace a few obedient senators.

"A big plan?" Although Tony didn't explain it clearly, Nero could tell from his confident look that his brother must have prepared a lot of tricks.

How would my future grown-up brother describe me? Oh, yes, a dark-hearted person.

The senators in the Senate were not fools. After they initially determined that the Roman Customs was Seneca's idea, they carefully considered what Seneca would do if they were to take away part of the management rights of the Roman Customs.

That’s right, from the very beginning, the Senate’s imaginary opponent was Seneca, not Tony.

Of course, they also considered that Seneca might set up a regulatory agency to supervise Roman customs, and naturally, they were also taking corresponding countermeasures.

Well, they really didn't expect Tony not to be so critical of them.

But they didn't expect that Tony would come up with a new idea within a few days.

"Come to think of it, sister, the Senate still holds a lot of political power, right?" One morning, Tony suddenly asked as he watched Nero returning to his study from the Senate Hall with a tired look on his face.

"Hmm, that's about it. What's wrong?" Nero nodded and asked in confusion.

Although Nero of this era began to use the freed slaves to counter the Senate at an early stage under Tony's suggestion, most of the slaves in the freed slave class had only received low education, and a considerable number of those slaves with higher education were prisoners of war. For now, these prisoners of war... were not trustworthy enough to be trusted by the empire.

Therefore, at present, the freed slaves cannot be integrated into the imperial government. Most of them can only serve as low-level officers in the militia, or do some simple government-related jobs that do not require too much thinking.

Simply put, it is a temporary worker.

At the beginning, the Senate was quite surprised when it found out that Nero was planning to use the freed slaves against itself. After all, the Senate belonged to the aristocratic class and there was a class conflict between them and the freed slaves. However... when they saw that these freed slaves could only work as temporary workers or serve as low-level officers in the militia, these senators almost breathed a sigh of relief.

But that’s it!

"Are these elders... clean?" Tony asked after thinking for a while.

"Clean? They should have all taken a shower, right?" Nero blinked and said.

"Emmmm, I'm not asking whether they are clean or not. I'm asking whether they are honest and fair people." Tony asked with a helpless look.

"Brother, I said they are all fair and honest. Do you believe it?" Nero looked at Tony strangely and asked.

"I... don't really believe it." Tony shook his head and said.

"So, brother, why are you asking such an idiotic question?" Nero looked at Tony with a caring look for a mentally retarded person and asked in confusion.

Tony asked these questions just to make sure of one thing.

Did the Roman Empire have regulatory officials similar to the ancient Chinese censors?

The answer is yes.

The censor is an official position that has existed since the Roman Republic. Its duties are similar to those of the public security and judicial organs in modern society. It is mainly responsible for supervising the moral issues of all citizens in the entire Roman Empire, which naturally includes supervision of the Senate.

However, after a long period of evolution, the inspectors...seem to have become quite corrupt.

Even Nero could catch some senators doing immoral things in the bathhouse, so how could the censors not know about it?

Since the inspectors have turned a blind eye to these elders, it means that these inspectors can no longer be used. It is useless anyway. It would be better to set up a new secret inspection agency, similar to the Jinyiwei or the Gestapo, and then collect some intelligence on the elders and replace them according to relevant laws.

Of course, it would be best if the Inspectors could form a department with clear division of labor. For example, work such as the census should be separated from the Inspectors.

PS: I forgot what I wanted to say yesterday

Chapter 219: Son of Ra, Daughter of Horus

"Your Highness, an officer from the Royal Guard is here to see you."

This morning, Tony was practicing calligraphy in his study room when he suddenly heard Ola's voice outside the door.

"Huh? Royal Guards?" Tony was stunned. Why did the Royal Guards come to find him?

"Let him in." After thinking for half a second, Tony nodded and said to Ola outside the door.

The door of the study opened, and a young officer wearing the armor of the Royal Guards walked to the desk with vigorous steps. He knelt on one knee and said to Tony: "I am Mario, the tribune of the Royal Guards. I am honored to meet your Highness."

"Ah, it's the water pipe... General Mario." Tony coughed lightly and almost said something he shouldn't have said: "I wonder why General Mario came here?"

"Your Highness, the prisoner that Your Highness had previously asked us to interrogate has now given up."

Oh?

Blinking his eyes, Tony suddenly remembered that he had encountered an assassination attempt on the road a few days ago. Relying on his ability to transform into a Kamen Rider, Tony captured several assassins and then handed them over to the Royal Guards, asking the Royal Guards to pry some information out of them. It seems that now... there is an answer.

"What did the other party say?" Tony looked at Mario with interest and asked with a smile.

"Your Highness, the other party is a killer organization. According to reports, they are affiliated with the Egyptian rebels and were trained personally by Ramses II. Their mission in Rome this time was to assassinate several senators to create panic, but because Your Highness happened to return to Rome, they changed their strategy and attempted to assassinate Your Highness." Mario said with his head down.

If the previous gun test had caused the Royal Guards to feel somewhat disgusted with His Royal Highness the Prince, then the Royal Guards' current attitude towards Tony... should only be filled with fear.

The assassination of the prince was no small matter, so after receiving Tony's order, the Guards dispatched dozens of people to seal off the scene, and then took away the assassin and the body captured by Tony.

That afternoon, the guards were divided into two groups. One group was responsible for interrogating the living, while the other group was trying to get some clues from the dead assassins.

So they began the autopsy as expected.

however……

"It looks like a few of these people were pierced through the body by some sharp object, and their internal organs were damaged, leading to their death. However... we didn't find any crossbow arrows around the bodies."

After stripping off the dead man's clothes, a soldier of the Guards muttered as he looked at the holes on the body.

As soldiers, they were already familiar with all kinds of wounds. For injuries like this one, they could tell at a glance that it was a wound left by some kind of crossbow arrow piercing the body.

"That's easy to explain, but the body I'm examining here... is a bit puzzling." Another soldier reached out and touched the bloody body in front of him, and said with a wry smile.

"Huh? How did this man die?" Several of the soldier's colleagues asked curiously not far away.

"His sternum and spine were almost completely shattered. Judging from the scraps of flesh hanging from the corners of his mouth, his internal organs should have been shattered. It was initially determined that he was hit head-on by some heavy object, which led to his death."

"Killed by a carriage?" One of the soldiers asked subconsciously after hearing the analysis.

"No, no, no." The soldier unbuttoned the corpse's clothes while speaking, pointing to a dark blue spot on the abdomen. He said, "This scar should have been caused by a blunt object. Judging from the size and shape of the scar, this guy must have been punched directly into the bones and internal organs, and died."

???

"Are you kidding me?" After a brief silence, several colleagues in charge of the autopsy standing around the soldier exclaimed subconsciously.

Having your internal organs and bones shattered by a single punch, is this something a human can do?

"Moreover..." Seeing everyone's incredulous expressions, the soldier was going to report some explosive news: "Besides the assassins, there were four people present: two of His Highness's guards, a carriage driver, and His Highness himself. When we arrived at the scene, the driver was trembling in the carriage, and although the two guards were holding swords, they didn't seem to have bows and arrows. As for His Highness... he was sitting on a box nearby, looking bored."

At this point, the soldier lowered his voice and said, "You have forgotten one thing, Your Highness... is a dragon slayer."

"You mean... that punch was thrown by His Highness?" Looking at his colleague's mysterious expression, one of the soldiers also asked in a low voice.

"Anyway, that's what the assassins said. They said they saw with their own eyes a man in strange armor rushing out of His Highness' carriage. That man first broke a wall with one punch, and then killed the man with one punch."

“This…” The soldiers of the Royal Guards looked at each other. There was a legend that His Highness had slayed a dragon, and these soldiers also said that they had seen His Highness kill this guy with one punch. Could it be that this guy was really killed by His Highness’s punch?

Your Highness...are you so strong?

Before the interrogation of the prisoner could reveal anything, the news that His Highness had killed an assassin with one punch spread throughout the entire Imperial Guard. Many senior generals known for their bravery gathered in front of the corpse. One reason was to analyze whether they could also hit with such force, and the second reason was to see if they could withstand His Highness's punch.

Then these generals discovered that they could neither exert such force nor withstand such force.

Your Highness... is really strong!