"It seems that Your Excellency has made ample plans." Hermanus's furrowed brow widened quietly, and he remained silent, continuing to listen to Luga's next plan.

"First of all, we use Syracuse as a strategic point to control Sicily, and then we move towards the north of Sicily." Luga said, pointing his finger at Palermo in northern Sicily, and said: "If Gaisaric attacks Syracuse, then he will inevitably gather all his remaining forces to open up new battlefields in other parts of Sicily, and Palermo, the capital of the Sicilian province, will bear the brunt of the point they must take." ”

"So, how did you analyze it?" Hermanus completely let go of all his scruples and began to listen to Luga wholeheartedly, for he gradually felt that the young Roman in front of him had a completely different idea from the rest of the world.

"Gaisaric has suffered a loss without a navy this time, so they are attacking Palermo with a plan that they will inevitably use their proud navy to strike from both land and sea!"

"Then you mean that we will set out tomorrow for Palermo, and then fight the Vandals there?" Hermanus looked at the map, his brow furrowed. "Your Excellency, can we really win this decisive battle?"

"And what are your chances of winning against the Vandals' fleet?" Luga asked Hermanus rhetorically.

"At worst, we can afford to lose both, but we can't afford to lose a lot." Hermanus said urgently: "Augustus cannot do without our huge navy, otherwise, the merchant ships in the Mediterranean will be unsafe, and the empire will have no confidence in all the battles to suppress the Vandals in the future." As he spoke, he glanced with the rest of his eyes at Berialius sitting beside him, and it was evident that his son's safety was much higher than that of this large army. Although he said that he cared about the fleet, he was actually afraid that something would go wrong with his only son who had never been on the battlefield.

"We can ask for the assistance of the Senate and Valentinian III to establish supply lines for soldiers and logistics in Rome and Naples, we can't fight naval battles, we can always fight land battles!" Andrew spoke his mind on the sidelines.

"If the Senate is willing to help, then I don't have to follow the fleet at sea all day to deliver supplies!" Without Luga's rebuttal, Berialieu himself expressed his opposition, and Andrew was speechless.

"You mean we're going to fight it to the death?" Luga waved at Hermanus and Andrew and said, "I'm not going to fight the Vandals in Palermo, I'm not even going to Palermo!" ”

"What about you?" The expression on Hermanus' face was very surprised.

"Gaisaric to the north, we to the south, to attack Trapani, which is occupied by the Vandals, but I will leave an auxiliary army to guard the Strait of Messina and maintain our connection with the Western Empire, what if Aetius goes south in advance?"

"I can't believe that Your Excellency still counts on Aetius and them." Hermanus smiled and shook his head, "If we can get the help of the Western Empire, we won't start from Athens." ”

"Also, now that the Western Empire is no longer able to protect itself in Gaul, if it draws troops to aid us, then I'm afraid that when we haven't recovered Carthage, the Gallic provinces will no longer exist!" Luga was still opposed to the Western Empire's aid, "If I and my troops are accidentally annihilated, at least one army will hold the Strait of Messina between the Apennine Peninsula and Sicily, and as long as the strait is no longer in the hands of the Vandals, we will have a chance to retake Sicily." Luga himself understood that Gasarik would be defeated in history, but it was not known who had defeated him. Knowing that he may not have that ability, then pave the way for a real hero and be a paving stone honestly.

"That's not going to work!" Hermanus was the first to stand up and refuse, "You are the adopted son of His Majesty Augustus, if you say so, then it must be in crisis, and if it affects your safety, naturally you can't give priority!" "It seems that the battle of the day has taken such an effect on Hermanus's mind that he has not dared to mention any plans that would be even more risky, let alone allow anyone else, even Luga himself.

"So, isn't it dangerous enough to leave Gaisarik's weak rear and not fight, and to have to go head-to-head with their army?" Luga's rhetorical question left Hermanus speechless.

"Then it's decided!" Hermanus seemed to have a clear idea of everything that would follow, and Luga's plan sounded very useful to him, presumably because he understood that such a problem had nothing to do with him, and that it was up to Luga to succeed or fail.

"Oh, cunning old fox, I knew you would be like this!" Lu Jia sneered, thinking in his heart, after all, he was the commander of the naval fleet, and Lu Jia couldn't say anything.

Hermanus retreated with Berialus satisfied, leaving only Andrew and Luga in the room, and the map that lay on the table.

"Luga," Andrew retracted the smile on his face and replaced it with the same solemnity as Luga.

Luga sighed, took out the crumpled parchment from his coat pocket, spread it out again, and looked at the handwriting on the paper, he couldn't help but close it again, as if he couldn't bear to look at it again.

"How many casualties?"

The chatterbox was opened by Andrew first, he knew that Luga's heart must be very sad at this time, and what he wanted to do was nothing more than to share his grief with Luga.

"More than 1,500 people died, more than 600 people were wounded, all of them lost their combat effectiveness, and this time we lost a total of 2,100 people." Luga's voice was calm, and he was trying to restrain himself.

What a failure, he was not used to Aetius's way of fighting from the beginning, and thought that it was a shame to lose a large number of soldiers, but when he also experienced such losses, he was the one who had just become a commander, and he never thought that more than a thousand lives would die because of him in less than half a day.

"If such casualties happen again, then the legion will probably collapse!" Luga muttered to herself in distraction. He was very disappointed, and felt like Aetius, probably in the minds of the soldiers.

"When, then, liquidate them?" Andrew's moral is very obvious, that is, Hermanus who neglected the fighter.

"No!" Luga flatly refused, "I still need him, at least until the defeat of the Vandals, he is indispensable!" ”

Luga said, clutching up the parchment and placing it on the flame of the oil lamp, watching it burn with both eyes.