?? The Macedonian army was full of enthusiasm and entered Tarragonanis one after another. A conservative estimate is that there are 200,000 to 300,000 troops.

Aloyos was in no hurry to advance immediately into the interior of the Iberian Peninsula. He divided the main army into three directions and stationed them to defend first.

The mountain roads in Spain are twists and turns, and the deep mountain narrow roads are the easiest to set up ambushes. Therefore, caution is required. While mobilizing troops, he also spread his net to spread spies and gather intelligence.

When attacking other countries, the more troops you gather, the more likely you are to win. There is nothing wrong with this, but there are advantages and disadvantages in everything. The use of large-scale military force will inevitably face two practical problems.

One is the issue of command and dispatch, because if the army is huge, it will look bloated and have the feeling that the tail will not be lost. It is also prone to confusion.

The other is the problem of logistical supply, which is extremely expensive to provide so many people with food, grass, weapons, and other necessary items for war. It's a headache.

Art:

This is exactly what happened, not to mention the fact that three-quarters of Macedonia's troops were now pressed into the remote Spanish region.

Podarre Ríos has already mentioned twice in his letter to the king:

The Kingdom's finances are under excessive pressure;

Macedonia's domestic transport system is on the verge of collapse.

After all, Aloyos is a veteran, and it has not been three or five years since he led his troops to fight. He still insists on a conservative style of play. He feared that the army's offensive would be hindered or bogged down in attrition, which would be catastrophic.

In addition, he was unstable with the attitude of Carthage and Gaul. Should they be attacked regardless of it?

Soon new reinforcements from Rome also arrived. It turned out that Podarre Rios heard about the cavalry battle and feared for the safety of the king, so he specially sent a new royal cavalry.

He suggested updating the clan configuration. The king's guards were not armed with light cavalry, but were all armed with heavy cavalry. At present, it is not possible to replace the whole army, but it will be the trend in the future.

Because other countries now generally attach importance to the development of cavalry, light cavalry can no longer be the main force of Macedonian cavalry troops. It can only be used as an auxiliary operation.

Podarerios only looked at the briefing of the battle and the comparison of casualties between the two sides, and uncovered the deep-seated key issues. He is a rare military expert.

The situation in Spain is turbulent and unpredictable.

After entering the peninsula, the Macedonian army occupied Tarragonis in the north.

The Gauls who had retreated to Canterbury had long amassed strength. Seeing the wind and rudder, they took advantage of the fire to loot, undeclared war against their allies, and skillfully seized the southern city of Córdoba.

The betrayal of the allies devastated the Spanish alliance under Carthage, which was only separated from the east and west.

At this time, Carthage's situation became more and more awkward.

As an advanced country with a rich civilization, Carthage failed to organize an alliance effectively. The relations between the major Western European powers were complicated, such as Gaul and Spain, and even internal wars.

In the final analysis, it was the Carthaginians who were clever and mistaken by their cleverness. For many years, when Rome was involved in the League, it made plans behind the scenes, contributed funds, and stepped forward when necessary.

On the other hand, these shrewd businessmen have been hiding deep in the background, and they are still trying to make the profits of the barbarian state. Neither willing to contribute money nor effort.

As the saying goes: "Light wealth is enough to gather people, and being the first is enough to lead people." By looking at this, we can see why Carthage's peripheral allies were unreliable.

Aloyos felt the time was ripe. He held a brief military meeting, and everyone expressed their opinions, and most of them agreed that there should be two simultaneous and two-pronged approaches. With superior forces, the hostile forces of the entire Spanish peninsula were eliminated in one go. The king did not say anything.

After the meeting ended, he talked to Ducini alone.

"The outnumbered man decides to attack, and if he does, he will win."

"Your Majesty, I humbly think:

Quick action is decisive action, and every move must be killed. Spain's special geographical environment has created the advantage of local defense, that is, it is fortified layer by layer, and it is blocked everywhere. The Spanish mountain infantry was very good at hill field warfare. And the Macedonian phalanx is precisely afraid of a large angle of upward attack and downward attack.

Our heavy forces should insist on fighting positional warfare.

Storm enemy strongholds and capture their base camps. The rest of the stragglers will not last long, and will soon collapse on their own.

Attacking directly from the interior would have resulted in a lot of losses and would have been time-consuming and labor-intensive. Carthage could enter the war, and a protracted war was inevitable.

If we send an elite army down the Iberian coast to attack the city of New Carthage, then Carthage will lose Spain as a continental foothold. They will retreat again and again.

The remaining Lusitanian tribes in the southwest, far away, were no longer a threat. The Gauls would have wiped them out, or the Galicians would have counterattacked.

If things go well, the Gauls are also unsuitable for mountain warfare, considering that they are foreign inhabitants after all. At that time, the Macedonian army would be able to eliminate the Gallic forces in one fell swoop and unify the entire peninsula. ”

"Good. Good plan. Dunissy, you are familiar with the situation on the peninsula, and the widow has just come here and is sparse, and he really needs a friend like you. ”

"If we can let the mother country of Spain enter stability as soon as possible, we must do our best."

The plan of action was soon drawn up, and Ducarus again led the Campanian Legion in a sea raid to capture the city of New Carthage. It is the main fleet of the homeland that is responsible for the task of escorting the sea.

Then he ordered Polype to command the Aegean Naval Regiment and Thessaros to lead the newly formed Seventh Army to the south along the flat coastline and open an overland supply line to the city of New Carthage.

Early in the morning of the third day, military operations began. Codename "Cross Sword". Due to the secrecy and swiftness of the operation, the Navy did not encounter any enemy ships along the way.

The raiding force successfully reached the seaport city of New Carthage. After Ducarus was transferred from his own army, this was the first time he was reinstated and led his own soldiers into battle, full of confidence and eager to make meritorious contributions.

When the legion formed up and came out of the city, the local residents were still pushing wagons and driving horse-drawn wagons out of the city to the docks to transport goods at a leisurely pace.

The defenders immediately closed the city gates when they found out about the enemy. There was tension in the city, flags waved, and battle horns sounded. Ducarus could see that this was a port fortress, and the garrison was quite sufficient. It's normal to think about it, this is the door and window of Carthage's control of Spain, the main entry point.

Ducarus did not hesitate at all, and immediately ordered the siege of the city. Their task is to make a surprise attack and forcibly seize points.