(The second update has arrived, the heroes have appeared one by one, and the monthly pass has to keep up, comrades!) ）

The stage of national hegemony.

It has always been you singing and I appearing, the only difference is the length of time you sing.

In the 4th century B.C., the glorious Greek civilization fell, and the Odyssey heroes in Homer's epic poems were drowned in the long river of history one by one, and Carthage dominated the Mediterranean for a while. Their merchant ships sailed along the African coastline, and their dhows were laden with precious metals such as gold and silver, animal skins and luxury goods, wine and olive oil.

There is no doubt that the first golden age of the Age of Sails belonged to the Carthaginians, the Greeks were confined to the Aegean Sea and the Carthaginians owned the whole of the Mediterranean.

In the first half of the 3rd century B.C., Carthage was dotted with handicraft workshops in the Bagradas River valley in inland Africa, where the fertile land could provide sufficient food for the Carthaginians, and the emergence of slave estates made Carthaginian civilization a pearl in the history of Western civilization. However, with the rise of the Romans, the Carthaginian civilization also began to flourish and decline.

Emaciated camels were bigger than horses, and the Second Punic War had not yet completely destroyed the foundations of Carthage, but they still had a fleet of ships across the Mediterranean. In addition, Carthage was able to plunder black slaves in central and southern Africa and sell them elsewhere for huge profits.

There are so many unique conditions. The Carthaginian hero Hannibal, who had sworn an oath of no compromise with Rome, was of course unwilling to be suppressed by the Romans, and he wanted to make a comeback, and the shame of being defeated by Fabian and Scipio together, Hannibal knew that it was obviously impossible to rely on Carthage alone.

It is not only the difference between the strength of Carthage and Rome, but also because the nobles in Carthage, coveting the little favor given by the Romans, they gave up their national freedom. He gave up his ideals and willingly became a lackey of the Romans.

"You go and tell those in the Senate that a strong enemy of the Romans has appeared, and we must seize this opportunity. To forge an alliance with the Orientals, we should rely on the Liliang of Qin to recover all the land, wealth, and slaves that the Romans had plundered us. Hannibal exclaimed, with a hideous expression.

"Subordinate, subordinate will repay." The hunchbacked messenger was so frightened that he fell back again and again, and replied repeatedly.

Who to find as an ally? During this period of house arrest, Hannibal has been studying the history of the Shijie. Especially those neighboring countries around the Mediterranean that were able to pose a threat to the Romans. He had hopes for the Macedonians, but Philip IV, Ptolemy V, and Antiochus III made him feel untrustworthy.

Just when he was wandering and disappointed, the news about the eastern power Qin suddenly came, and the Great Qin army from the far east actually went all the way for more than 3,000 miles, from the east coast of Asia to the east coast of the Mediterranean.

If only that's it. Hannibal was just curious at best, but then, the Qin people actually settled down in West Asia, and groups of Qin people migrated from the East. They worked hard to expand foreign territories, and they put on a frame to rule this vast land for a long time.

If the Qin really had the intention of expanding on the eastern shore of the Mediterranean, it would inevitably clash with the Romans, the enemy of the enemy. It's a friend, Hannibal thought of this, and there was a rare look of joy and excitement on his face.

United Qin State. Fight against Rome.

This is the only way Hannibal found to revive Carthage, he must act quickly, take advantage of the strength of Qin, provoke the anger of the Qin and Romans, only by fishing in troubled waters, Carthage will have a chance.

――。

On the banks of the Nile.

Li Yuan was leading an army to engage the Ptolemaic army, and he was unaware of the good intentions of Carthage, another country in West Africa.

After the Qin army entered Egypt, it started smoothly, and the cities along the way were breached, and the rapid movements of the Qin army made the Egyptian army that could not be on guard repeatedly failed, but then, Ptolemy V began to concentrate his scattered forces in a few key cities such as Alexandria, which made the Qin army's offensive difficult.

Cities of Egypt.

Unlike northern Europe, the Egyptians liked to pile up pyramids with huge stones, and these pyramids were mainly the burial places of the pharaohs in later generations, many of which gradually faded over the course of history, and in the time of Li Yuan's arrival, the pyramids provided shelter for the Egyptians.

In addition to the stone towers, the army of war elephants proposed by Cleopatola was also called to the battlefield by the Egyptians, and there were nearly 700 Ptolemaic troops in this kind of war elephants, and on the backs of each elephant, there were three or four Ptolemaic soldiers with spears or arrows, and they were condescending, like moving fortresses, which made people unguardable.

In a hurry, Li Yuan summoned Li Zhongxiang and other generals to think of a lot of methods, among which the tactics of fire to defeat the enemy and scare the elephant by thunder were also mentioned, but in the specific implementation, they encountered difficulties.

The frightened Egyptians were unable to defend the city, and their war elephants were mainly responsible for intercepting the vanguard of the Qin army when the Qin army fell into the city, and in the narrow area, protected by Egyptian soldiers, the Qin army's thunder was unlikely to be accurately thrown near the elephant. In this unfavorable situation, the Qin army could only pull out the nails of the Egyptians point by point, but fortunately, the generals of the Ptolemaic kingdom were like their emperors, and their military talents were general, and none of them could lead the army well.

Early April.

After more than a month of dramatic warfare, the Qin army finally cleared the Egyptian army in the upper and middle reaches of the Nile, and the war began to concentrate in Alexandria in the delta.

At this time, there were still 60,000 Egyptian troops defending Alexander, these soldiers were the elite troops of Ptolemy V, they relied on the favorable conditions of the port to supply, and they did not have to worry about being besieged by the Qin army for a long time, on the contrary, the Qin army was too long because the battle line was too long, even if it was transported from the nearest Jerusalem, it would take more than 20 days, not including the loss on the road.

Daqin's navy also formed drills in the port of Troy, and the soldiers of the Qin army, who lacked actual combat, still needed hard training before they could land on the battlefield of the sea battle.

And if the port could not be blocked, Ptolemy V could wait for the arrival of Roman reinforcements without worry, which was a bad result for the expeditionary Qin army.

In the city of Cairo.

The Qin army was at a loss.

At this time, a caravan from Carthage came all the way along the north coast of Africa, bringing not only furs, rum and other items traded with the Qin state, but also an important person, Hannibal Baka.

Hannibal, who had received news of the Qin state, could no longer hold back any longer, and while under house arrest, he immediately summoned the old ministry, and it happened that the Carthaginian nobles had recently been resentful of the heavy taxes imposed by Rome, and the two liliang were multiplied together, and although Hannibal was not able to restore the power of the administrator at once, he still had freedom.

After successfully lobbiing the Carthaginian Senate, Hannibal volunteered to follow the caravan eastward in an attempt to find Qin's troops in the valley of the two rivers. After arriving in Egypt, Hannibal was overjoyed that the Qin army was attacking the Ptolemaic kingdom on a large scale, and the commander of this Qin army was Li Yuan, the Shenwu Emperor of Qin.

There was nothing more exciting for Hannibal than meeting the leader of the Qin army in person, and along the way, his mind was full of ideas on how to convince Li Yuan, and Hannibal's confidence was even greater when he saw the Qin army stranded in Alexandria.

The Qin army was stationed.

Li Yuan received the man, who was said to be an emissary of Carthage.

"I've heard that Carthage and Rome were at war in the Cannae area, and it was you Carthaginians who won the victory, I wonder if you can elaborate on it?" Li Yuan asked. Hannibal's name, he is naturally like thunder, but the emaciated man in his fifties in front of him is not the legendary Western god of war, Li Yuan is still unsure.

When Hannibal heard this, his expression perked up, and he smiled proudly: "Bixia also knows about the Battle of Cannae? The commander of the Carthaginian side is none other than me, and no one knows the details of this battle better than me. ”

Li Yuan's situation of the Battle of Cannae comes more from the historical records of later generations, which is only a few descriptions of about 100 words, and Hannibal, an eyewitness, explains all aspects of the cause and effect, the comparison of the forces of the two sides at the beginning of the battle, the distribution of troops and the choice of terrain, these complex battlefield information are presented one by one, so that Li Yuan can't help but praise Hannibal.

In the case of the great superiority of the Romans, Hannibal unexpectedly climbed over the Alps and occupied the granary of the Romans, Cannae, and then, the 50,000 Carthaginian expeditionary force and as many as 80,000 Roman troops launched a desperate battle, Hannibal, who was inferior to the opponent in strength, set up a leeward formation, with the famous half-moon defensive formation, held the weak front, and made a breakthrough on the two wings of the Romans, Varro's 80,000 Roman troops 70,000 died, while the Carthaginian side only lost less than 6,000 men.

The Battle of Cannae was Hannibal's most proud battle, hearing Li Yuan's question, Hannibal was like being scratched to the itch, unreservedly telling how to plan, how to lay out and how to design the process of the Roman commander's plan, and his analysis also made Li Yuan convinced that the somewhat down-and-out man in front of him was the hero of Carthage, the great general in Western military history - Hannibal. (To be continued......)