Following Li Boming's instructions, Marcus Aurelius, while replying to the governor of the Arab province, also sent people to spread the contents of his letter requesting war, and expressed his intention to go to war with Parthia.

Once the news spread, it immediately caused a wave of public opinion in Rome.

Many pro-war nobles stepped forward to express their support for Augustus in launching a war against Parthia.

These pro-war nobles were mainly composed of small and medium-sized nobles with limited financial resources, merchants, and some slave owners.

After all, opening up land trade routes would be extremely beneficial for them.

Marcus Aurelius also took the opportunity to convene a Senate meeting, proposing to the Senate that war be waged against Parthia. He demanded that the nobles in the Senate not only provide military funding but also completely relinquish military power, transferring all military command authority over Rome to him so that he could command the war.

The Senate directly rejected both of Marcus Aurelius's conditions.

Rome's military expenses have always come from local taxes. Every time a war is launched, these nobles take the opportunity to impose taxes on the provinces and the people, making a fortune without ever spending any of their own money.

The cost of launching this national war is unimaginable, and it is certainly impossible to expect these nobles to be responsible for the military expenses.

Of course, the most important issue is military power. Whether it's the Senate or Augustus, the fundamental reason for the existence of this nominal republic lies not in their ideology and culture, but in the power they hold.

Almost every noble family that was able to enter the Senate had a legion and local armed forces loyal to them, which was the foundation of their position.

Now, Marcus Aurelius actually wants them to hand over the very foundation of their existence, which they naturally cannot agree to.

After receiving a clear rejection from the Senate, Marcus Aurelius immediately expressed his regret to the public that the Senate had refused to wage war against Parthia.

The news caused an uproar throughout Rome. Countless nobles, merchants, and slave owners gathered in anger and began to launch various verbal attacks against the Senate.

Some even began clamoring for Marcus Aurelius to abolish the Senate.

The Senate's top nobles simply ignored the clamor from the crowd below.

In their view, having troops at their disposal is the real source of confidence; words alone are useless.

As long as their family's legions exist, no one can shake their position, including Marcus Aurelius.

If you want to abolish the Senate, you'll have to see if the dozen or so top families in the Senate and their nearly 300,000 troops agree.

Seeing that the Senate had completely ignored their accusations, the minor nobles, merchants, and slave owners were furious and gathered outside the palace, hoping that their Augustus would stand up and support them.

Under Li Boming's guidance, Marcus Aurelius also invited all the pro-war faction members into the palace and received them.

Looking at the densely packed crowd in the hall, Marcus Aurelius, with a sorrowful expression, said loudly, "Gentlemen, waging war against Parthia and opening up the land trade route between the Han Dynasty and our country is a great thing that will benefit the whole of Rome."

However, the Senate believed that having a sea route would make war with Parthia a losing proposition, and therefore rejected my proposal to go to war.

Without the support of the Senate, Rome lacks sufficient military funds and troops to wage this war, and I have no other choice…

After Marcus Aurelius recounted the difficulties he faced in starting the war, the hall fell into a brief silence.

A former noble family head, now in decline, spoke up: "Your Majesty, even without the Senate, we can still raise military funds and build an army on our own!"

"Yes, we have so many people here, money and manpower, why should we be held back by the Senate?"

"That's right, we can do it ourselves without the Senate. We support His Majesty..."

The people in the hall also spoke up, expressing their willingness to contribute money and effort to support Marcus Aurelius in bypassing the Senate and launching a direct war against Parthia.

Individually, none of these people present could compare to any family in the Senate, but if they were to unite, it would be a different story.

After all, no matter where you are, the middle and lower classes will always be the largest. If these people can unite, it will be easy to overthrow the top.

Li Boming's plan for Marcus Aurelius was to unite the lower and middle classes of Rome to deal with the Senate, which was at the top.

Now, because of the war against Parthia, these lower and middle classes are on the opposite side from the Senate and have expressed their support for Marcus Aurelius.

Everything was going in the direction he had expected, and Marcus Aurelius was extremely happy.

Subsequently, following Li Boming's prior arrangements, he organized the minor nobles, merchants, and slave owners present into an alliance, appointing himself as the supreme commander of the alliance and granting it fifteen legion designations.

In Rome, each top family would have one to five legion designations, and the more legion designations they had, the higher their family's status.

However, according to Roman law, the number of legions each family could possess, apart from the family's own wealth and resources, was most importantly determined by Augustus.

This is the real reason why the Senate was able to control the Roman emperor, but never dared to openly break with him.

Soon, news spread that Marcus Aurelius had formed an alliance with a group of pro-war factions.

Granting the alliance fifteen legion designations at once immediately plunged the nobles of the Senate into panic.

Anyone with a brain knows that, on the surface, those fifteen legions belong to the alliance, but in reality, they are controlled by Marcus Aurelius.

Once these fifteen legions are formed, Marcus Aurelius will have an army capable of rivaling the entire Senate.

At that time, he will be fully capable of forcibly abolishing the Senate by force.

This was unacceptable to the top nobles of the Senate.

As a result, the thirteen member families of the Senate immediately gathered together to discuss corresponding solutions.

Soon, the Senate issued a proclamation declaring the alliance illegal and demanding that Marcus Aurelius immediately dissolve it.

The announcement immediately drew strong opposition from the pro-war faction in Rome.

Damn it, it's one thing for you guys not to send troops, but you won't even let us organize our own troops to send troops. Isn't that a bit too domineering?

Almost all the lower and middle classes in Rome expressed extreme dissatisfaction with the Senate, and many even stormed into the homes of the top nobles.

In an instant, the entire city of Rome was plunged into chaos.