Roman Slave Owner

He can't keep preventing the creation of financial officers and construction officers, or the country will be in great trouble.

Li Wei smiled disdainfully. He thought he had a good chance of winning when he was about to die, so he just washed his neck and waited for death.

Half an hour later, the tribunes blocked the passage, and the citizens' meeting was officially held.

Levi stood on the high platform, and this month it was his turn to preside over the citizens' meeting.

The fortune teller glanced at the sky and said, "The omen is not good."

Many citizens cursed, and after preparing for such a long time, they even said that the auspicious omen was bad.

"It's really shameless."

Gaita said.

"It's okay, we can afford to wait."

Li Wei said with a smile, and then led everyone out of here.

Metellus' face was gloomy. Although he won this time, he knew that he was still very dangerous.

At this time, he regretted why he didn't propose to disarm the Crusaders early, and it was too late now.

Even if the Senate passes the resolution, Li Wei may not abide by it, and it is likely to be vetoed by the tribunes of the people.

Since the killing of Saturnin, the relationship between the other civilian tribunes and him has become extremely bad, and they have all stood by Li Wei's side.

Unless a Citizens' Assembly is called to make this a real law.

But once the Citizens' Assembly is called, he's dead.

This is actually an endless loop with no solution, and his future is bleak no matter what.

***

***

After sending away an elder, Li Wei fell into deep thought.

It is already May, and many people have already begun to prepare for this year's change of term.

Rome will elect 20 treasurers, 10 civilian tribunes, 8 justices and 2 consuls every year, and these people will all become members of the Senate.

As the largest group of citizens in Rome, Li Wei is naturally the target of countless people. They hope that the citizens in Li Wei's hands can support them.

Even though some members of the Senate are full of dissatisfaction with Li Wei, they will test Li Wei's attitude at this time.

What if Levi supported them regardless of the past?

Li Wei also began to prepare for the next year. After the expiration of the term of office, the consuls and justices will be released to serve as governors.

In the past, the Roman consul would only serve as the governor of a province for a term of one year, and had an army of 2 legions.

Since Li Wei laid down the territory of 9 provinces, which greatly increased the territory of Rome, the previous regulations naturally did not apply.

The Senate quarreled fiercely over how to allocate the provinces of consuls and justices, and Li Wei certainly wanted to get a share of it.

His goal is to serve as the governor of the three provinces, with a term of at least 5 years, with an army of 3 legions, but it is very difficult to achieve the goal.

His proposal will definitely be strongly opposed by the Senate, so Li Wei needs more support from the Senate.

"What did the elder say just now?"

At this moment, Emilia walked in.

At this time, Emilia was in her 20s, and she was at the most beautiful time in her life. Coupled with Li Wei's nourishment, she looked glamorous and radiant.

"Nothing, he wants me to support him as a justice."

Levi said.

"Have you promised him?"

"I didn't think so."

"I think you are the most unhappy, is it because of Metellus?"

"No, I'm thinking about how to get the support of the Senate. I want to choose my own province."

Levi said.

The selection of provinces for consuls and justices is generally determined by lottery, but there are also appointments by the Senate, but that requires the support of the Senate.

"What province do you want to choose?"

Emilia asked curiously.

"I want to choose three provinces, Gaul in the south of the mountain, Gaul in the north of the mountain and Illyria."

Levi said.

"Can you bring me some to work?"

Emilia asked.

"You'd better not go, it's not peaceful there, there are often rebellions."

Li Wei shook his head and said.

After Caesar became governor of these three provinces,

But after years of wars, he fought almost all the Gauls.

Although he had no intention of fighting the Gauls, his target was the Germans, but he did not know what would happen in the end.

But Emilia didn't think so, she couldn't help but pouted and said, "You won't bring another woman back, will you?"

Li Wei couldn't help sweating profusely, and said quickly: "It will definitely not happen this time."

"It's strange to believe you."

Emilia snorted coldly, and was about to leave after speaking, but was hugged by Li Wei.

Next, Li Wei turned into a dog licker, desperately patting Emilia's ass, and it took a long time before Emilia's anger turned into joy.

"By the way, how do you think I can convince those elders to agree to let me choose a province?"

Li Wei hugged Emilia, trying to divert her attention.

"Who knows?"

Emilia said, trying to break free from Levi's arms.

But Li Wei hugged him too tightly, and she couldn't break free, so she picked a soft piece of flesh around Li Wei's waist.

"ah!"

Li Wei shouted exaggeratedly, and then had to let go of his hands, and had to admit that this skill of a woman is too powerful.

After seeing Li Wei let go, Emilia laughed very happily.

Li Wei shook his head and said: "There is a saying in the far east, the prosperity of the world is for profit. The hustle and bustle of the world is for profit. As long as the elders are given enough benefits, even if they hate me to death, they will definitely Will agree to my request, the key is what benefits can buy enough veterans."

Hearing this, Emilia's eyes lit up.

"I have an idea, do you want to listen to it?"

"What idea."

Levi said.

"You know my father used to be a tax collector. Whenever he competed for the taxes of major cities, what he hated the most was to pay taxes in advance. Because at that time he had to borrow money everywhere to make up the astronomical sum, He always said that he would give his full support to anyone who didn't make them pay advance taxes."

Emilia said.

"Advance tax payment?"

Hearing this, Li Wei fell into deep thought.

Roman law stipulates that if a taxpayer obtains the tax-contract qualification of a certain place, he needs to first hand over one-third of the tax collected as prepaid tax to the national treasury.

The taxpayers, of course, would hate it because it would take a lot of their money.

For this reason, they made unremitting appeals in the Senate, hoping to change the law, but unfortunately it was never passed by the Senate.

Li Wei still has some understanding of this, even Crassus supports the abolition of prepayment taxes, because he secretly participated in many related businesses.

Li Wei estimated that his family also had this kind of business, but he didn't care much about it.

"A very good idea, I think it can be directly submitted to the Citizens' Assembly."

Li Wei thought for a while and said.

With the passage of his earliest proposals, the Citizens' Assembly had acquired full legislative power, requiring no Senate consent at all.

In this way, he has more room to operate, and the common people do not like to see this law passed.

They don't have a good impression of taxpayers, and they probably support anything that can make taxpayers suffer. In this way, powerful people are needed to promote this bill, such as Levi.

In this way, he can engage in PY transactions and gain the support of veterans who have interests in taxpayers.

Don't underestimate the energy of the taxpayers. Historically, Lucullus has won consecutive battles in the East, and even defeated the three-nation coalition forces of Pontus, Asia, Asia, Asia, and Parthia. His military exploits are not insignificant.

But just because they harmed the interests of the taxpayers, they joined forces with Pompeo to deprive him of his command, and even the triumphal ceremony was almost cancelled, which shows how powerful the taxpayers are.

Moreover, if this bill is to be passed, a citizens' assembly must be held. Once the citizens' assembly is held, the Metellus family will die.

Soon Li Wei made up his mind, and by doing so, he could let the news out through the "Roman Daily" first to see the reactions of those taxpayers.

***

***

Metellus' home is gloomy, and although it's only been two weeks since the last citizen meeting, Metellus looks as if he's aged 10 years.

"Thank you for coming to see me, don't worry, my body is fine."

Metellus tightly held the hand of a middle-aged man in his 40s and said, but tears were faintly visible in his eyes.

"Those damn bastards, now they need Levi, and many people are going to lick his ass, a bunch of unscrupulous bastards."

The middle-aged man cursed viciously. He was tall, with a hooked nose, and a square face. He seemed to be a man with a tough personality. He was Justice Claudius Marchelus, a die-hard supporter of Metellus.

"I understand that they also have their own demands, so don't blame them."

Metellus said with a sigh.

Every time there is a change of term, some veterans will vote for Li Wei, more this time, he made a deal with many senior citizens with his own citizens to obtain their support.

Marchelus still didn't intend to let them go, and kept scolding those veterans who had voted for Levi.

The two sat down, and some of the slaves immediately served wine and dessert.

"Do you have any plans? Now it's not far from July, and it's not an option to drag it on."

Marchelus said.

"I talked to Li Wei, and I said it well. I would not only apologize publicly, but also make compensation, but he still refused to let us go."

Metellus said.

"He's gone too far. Isn't it because Scipio did something wrong? He also sent someone to kill Mucia's personal slave? Why don't you find someone to sue him?"

Marchelus said.

"He did it very cleanly, and I couldn't catch any evidence of him. And even if it got to the citizens' assembly, I couldn't do anything about him. Not only was there a lot of people, but don't forget what happened to Sidhigus .”

Metellus shook his head.

Marchelus fell silent. At this time, he remembered the oracle event that had caused a lot of trouble back then.

It is estimated that the Roman people are not willing to see Li Wei being prosecuted. What if the True God is offended and there is another Spartacus uprising, the Romans have had enough.

"Have you read the latest Roman Gazette?"

Marchelus said.

"Look."

Metellus said.

"Lee Wei proposed a new bill to abolish taxpayers' advance tax payment."

"I know."

Metellus said with a heavy heart that he knows what this means, and many knights may vote for Li Wei's side, including the veterans who have interests in them.

"He has been in contact with many elders and taxpayers these days. He wants to serve as the governor of the three provinces of Shannan Gaul, Shanbei Gaul, and Illyria. Power. As long as he agrees to this request, he will fully help them pass the bill to eliminate advance tax payments."

Marchelus said.

"What did you say? How is this possible! Could it be that he wants to start a war again!"

Metellus said in shock.

"Yes, it is said that he wants to use troops against the Germans."

Marchelus said.

"It must not go on like this. If he makes more contributions, whoever can control him in the future will definitely ask to become a dictator."

Metellus said.

Marchelus nodded in agreement, suppressing Li Wei was once the consensus of many people in the Senate.

It is a pity that due to the alliance of the three giants of Rome, the suppression was in vain.

Fortunately, the Big Three disintegrated later, coupled with Li Wei's wrong decision-making, he was at a disadvantage among the elders. Unexpectedly, he seems to be about to turn around again now.

"What did Crassus think?"

Metellus asked.

"He is a guy who is dazzled by money, so of course he has no objection."

Marchelus said with a look of disdain: "And it is said that Levi intends to submit this bill to the Citizens' Assembly."

Metellus turned dark at once, and now his legs trembled when he heard the assembly.

You don't need to ask to know that Li Wei must be planning to use this to put pressure on him.

"This must not be done, and we should find someone to persuade this bill to be brought to the Senate."

Metellus said.

"You're right, I'll leave this matter to me, but Li Wei will probably object."

Marchelus said.

The two sides discussed for a while before Marchelus left here.

Metellus was in a bad mood, and he knew that the pressure would mount on him as time went on, unless he could postpone the assembly of the citizens until Livi left Rome when he became doge.

But this is not safe. Li Wei can completely keep the Crusaders until they kill their whole family.

***

***

Time flies, and three months have passed in a blink of an eye, and it has come to August.

A large number of Roman citizens came to Rome, and Rome held many games and gladiator competitions to welcome them, and the whole Rome was full of singing and dancing.

Two consuls and 8 justices were successfully elected through the centurion assembly, and 10 civilian tribunes were also successfully born through the civilian assembly.

But only 20 financial officers and construction officers could not be selected for a long time, and everyone knew the reason.

That's because the Citizens' Assembly was repeatedly canceled due to bad omens, which put the Metellus family under unimaginable pressure.

The "Roman Gazette" censures the Metellus family every day, and many senators criticize them in the square every day.

Even some of his former allies were very dissatisfied. Their sons and nephews wanted to be finance officers and construction officers. Various forces contacted them and gave them money, but they were unable to be elected because the citizen assembly could not be held.