Rome must fall.

Chapter 403 Coveting the Knicks

Tullius followed the slave into the governor's residence and came to the central courtyard. From afar, he saw the new governor wearing a white toga, sitting in the pavilion of the corridor, with his back to him, admiring the statue in the pool in front.

Tullius recalled some experiences about the new governor, bowed, and said respectfully and loudly: "Dear Governor, Tullius salutes you!"

Caesar turned around, looked at him with his hands behind his back, and said with a half-smile: "I have heard of you, Tullius, a famous arms dealer in the northern Italian province. Half of the weapons and equipment of the army here are provided by you. Tell me, who is your patron?"

Tullius did not expect Caesar to ask so directly. He was stunned for a moment and immediately answered: "Gaius Cornelius Citegus was my former patron. After he was executed (Citegus was one of the five "Catiline conspirators" designated by Cicero), his family gave up their protection of me. However, because of my friendship with his family, I was attacked by competitors here and fell into trouble..."

At this point, he bent down again and said sincerely: "I heard that you, Governor, have been defending Lord Kitaegus. I am willing to serve you as my Lord and devote all my strength to your cause!"

"I understand. You go back first." Caesar said calmly without comment.

Caesar's silence made Tullius a little flustered, and he quickly said, "Governor, I recently discovered a major secret and I want to report it to you."

"tell me the story."

Tullius said nothing, but looked around.

Seeing his serious expression, Caesar couldn't help but feel curious, so he dismissed his attendants and only kept his trusted slave by his side.

Tullius took out a gorgeous small cloth bag that he kept close to his body from his arms, carefully took out a palm-sized piece of light red "cloth" from the bag, and handed it respectfully to Caesar.

Caesar reached out to take it, and through the touch, he immediately realized that it was not cloth. It was soft and dense, somewhat similar to papyrus, but thicker and more resilient than papyrus.

What’s even more amazing is that there are complex patterns painted on this thing: in the mountains and forests, beside a wide and calm river, there stands a tribal camp, with houses of all sizes scattered in the camp, a wooden bridge spanning the river, boats sailing on the river, and people walking in the camp…

The vast natural landscape and tribal life are condensed into such a small thing, yet it is so lifelike that it gives the viewer a sense of tranquility and harmony. It can be said that the producer has extremely superb and exquisite painting skills.

Caesar quickly turned to the other side, but unfortunately there was no pattern on the other side. Instead, there were a few strange symbols in the center and a line of Latin below the symbols.

Caesar stared with wide eyes and looked closely: "Ni... Nix... Tribe... Bank... Issued... What is this?!"

In response to Caesar's question, Tullius immediately replied: "Governor, this is the paper money used by a tribe called Nix outside the northeastern border of our Northern Italy Province—"

"Bills?"

"We in Rome and other city-states in the Mediterranean use gold, silver and copper coins to trade, but this tribe called the Nix uses this kind of paper money to trade. However, this kind of paper money is only used in their tribe and is strictly prohibited from being circulated outside!

I also discovered that the chief of Noriki had this thing when I was trading iron ore with him, so I offered to buy it from him. He was reluctant at first, but I had been dealing with him for many years and had a good relationship with him, and I paid a high price, so he finally agreed.

He also told me that he exchanged this banknote from a Norik tribe leader who was close to the Nix tribe and had a close relationship with them, and he paid a high price. The Norik tribe leader secretly exchanged it from the hands of the Nix tribe members, and also paid a high price, because the Nix tribe member had to take a great risk. It is said that the Nix tribal decree stipulates that anyone who gives banknotes to people outside the tribe will be severely punished...

The Noriki chief also told me that the Nixen banknotes have many denominations. This banknote is equivalent to one of our Seth, which is the lowest denomination. Their highest denomination banknote is equivalent to our Seris gold coin. It depicts a Celtic goddess they believe in. It is said that the painting is very beautiful. If he can get a banknote like that, he will not change it no matter how much money I give him..."

As Caesar listened to Tullius's story, he repeatedly stroked and examined the banknotes in his hand. His originally calm expression was disturbed. "You said this thing is called paper money. Since the Nix people use it for transactions, it means that the Nix tribe has a lot of this kind of paper money?"

"I heard from Chief Noriki that trade in the Nix tribe is very prosperous. There are markets in every town, and the markets are very busy every day. I think trade activities must be very frequent, and the demand for this kind of paper money must be quite large." Caesar pondered and said, "Since there are a lot of this kind of paper money in the Nix tribe, then the patterns on the paper money are definitely not drawn one by one by the painters. Do you know how the Nix people can produce such paper money with such exquisite patterns in large quantities?"

“Governor, I have also discovered this problem before. I asked the Noriki chief, but he was ignorant and didn’t care about it. So I spent a lot of money to ask him to help me find out.

After a while, he told me with regret that the Knicks tribe was strictly controlled and any outsider who approached their workshop would be arrested. He was unable to obtain any information in this regard.

Later, I used a large sum of money to recruit several adventurers and asked them to use various methods to enter the territory of the Nix tribe to obtain relevant information, but no one has returned so far..."

Caesar frowned, and he gently rubbed the banknotes in his hand, then turned to his trusted slave and said, "Go get some pen and ink."

The pen and ink were quickly brought, Caesar unfolded the banknote, picked up the pen and wrote on the side of the banknote without a pattern.

"General..." Tullius wanted to speak out to stop him, but immediately closed his mouth and watched Caesar write his name on the banknote with heartache.

Caesar looked at the words he had written, savoring the writing process. "This kind of paper money has strong water absorption, and it will not crack even if you write hard. Even if you write densely, the handwriting is still clear, and it can be folded and rubbed... Since the Knicks dare to use it as currency, it should be able to be preserved for a long time. Moreover, it can be used in large quantities, so the production cost should not be too high... It seems that this kind of paper money made by the Knicks is more conducive to writing than the Egyptian papyrus!"

At that moment, Caesar thought a lot, his eyes burning with a burning light: "And since they can copy patterns on banknotes in large quantities, they can naturally copy text and knowledge on paper in large quantities so that more people can see it. This will be a great thing for the Roman people!"

"Governor, you are so wise!" Tullius complimented sincerely, "I just thought that if I could get this technology to make paper money and make paper better than papyrus, people all over the Mediterranean would definitely rush to buy it, and then I would be able to make a lot of money!

"I don't think as deeply as you do, and I want to seek more and better benefits for the Roman people! However, the Nixes seem to understand how tempting these technologies they have are, so they are on guard, and I'm afraid it will be difficult to obtain them easily!"

Caesar looked at him with a half-smile: "Are you encouraging me to send troops to attack the Knicks?"

Although Caesar's tone was light, it frightened Tullius so much that he trembled all over. He immediately bent down even lower and quickly explained: "Your Excellency the Governor is innocent. I would not dare to do this even if I had the courage to do so! It's just that after I got this banknote from Nix, I kept it a secret and didn't let anyone know. But I'm not the only one who trades iron ore with the Norikis. Other arms dealers may also be able to get information from the Norikis, and behind them are other elders. What if-"

Caesar curled his lips and said calmly, "I am the governor of the three northern provinces of Italy appointed by the Senate, and my term of office is five years. Conquering the Nix tribe is within my authority. Do you think other senators have the ability to bypass me, destroy the Nix, and obtain the technology to make paper money and copy patterns?!"

"This... Please forgive me, Governor General, I am so stupid!"

Caesar smiled slightly, turned around and pointed to the center of the courtyard, and said leisurely: "The thing I like most about this official residence is the statue in the pool. It is not Jupiter or Mars, but Minerva. It seems that the governor who had this statue built knew very well that when dealing with the barbarians in the north, you can't just act recklessly. You need to plan more and use more wisdom to achieve your goals more easily."

Tullius blinked, bowed again and said, "You are right, Governor. I was too anxious and foolish!"

"You are not stupid, you are a smart man!" Caesar walked up to him and said seriously, "And I like to use smart people. You asked me to be your patron - I agreed."

"Thank you, Governor!" Tullius was overjoyed when he heard this. He immediately knelt on the ground and said excitedly: "From now on, I, Tullius, will always be loyal to you! I am willing to do anything for you!"

"Get up." Caesar picked up the gift list and handed it back to him: "Take this back."

Tullius was stunned and quickly waved his hand: "Governor, this is a gift from me, please accept it!"

Caesar ignored him and looked at his trusted slave: "Take him to see Labinus later and tell him that he is my weapons contractor and is responsible for providing weapons and equipment for the two new legions."

(End of this chapter)