"Kingdoms often fall to the absence of an iron nail." - An ancient proverb

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For I am short of money, and this is the justified reason of Lybida, dear Sabo, you must know that the winter camp of Kimira now has nearly two thousand infantry and projectiles, thousands of horses for various purposes, and a considerable number of hostages and slaves, and the daily consumption of money, clothing, and food is as deep as the mouth of a sea beast. The tenths of the tax and blood tax of the surrounding tribes of Italy and Osir alone could not support it, and the treasury I had brought, even including my private property, more than three hundred Tallents, had now been consumed by recruitment and training, additional equipment, etc., and I was in dire need of money, more money, and the mountains of Vitonny had nothing but goats, and Betnari was different, with developed commerce and fertile fields.

"But it is not your duty, and you should not be attacked by your army, you will be seized by Pompey and impeached and even punished in the Senate." Saab Kemus's suggestion was serious.

Li Bida did not argue with him, but told him to go to Italy as soon as possible to help Habaruka deal with his affairs, and then we took the baggage and marched to Betnari.

But three days after Saab Kemus left, he returned to the winter camp of Kemira, and personally brought Caesar's "herald's stick" to Li Bida to show him, a kind of command document engraved with the letters of the army's internal code, in which Caesar's request was urgent: the journey to Newman Sea was put on hold for the time being, and Li Bida you immediately took the existing men and horses, and then crossed the Guadajivi River to Cadiz. There were immediately a thousand lightly armed soldiers sent by King Juba of Numidia. There is also the most critical weapon - the four-headed war elephant. Your men and horses must escort these reinforcements, especially the four huge men with long noses, safely across the Guadiana River after the beginning of spring, to assist me in my battle, and recently there has been a large number of green forest bandits near the city of Cádiz, who have plundered the towns and ambushed our food convoys and replenished recruits.

Yes, "thyme balm" will come in handy again. Tossed back and forth. After reading it, Li Bida finished reading. He was about to light a torch to burn the herald's stick, but when he turned his mind and wanted to say something, he saw Saab Kemus beside him with a serious face, so he stopped talking, but asked two of his own soldiers to keep Caesar's herald stick.

Then he had all the soldiers of Kimiran assembled, told them to leave the winter camp at once, and marched to Cadiz as fast as they could.

The so-called "mountain baggage". It was the standard established by Marius that year, that is, soldiers carried light backpacks alone. It contained only the necessary supplies and equipment to ensure survival, plus a small amount of money, and the pack horses that carried heavy baggage did not move with the army, so that the whole army could travel lightly and give full play to the speed advantage when traveling through geographical places such as mountains.

Soon, all the soldiers of Li Bida were lined up in a long column, the Ala cavalry surveyed the way in front, and the infantry galloped in small steps behind, and when passing through Italy, Habaruca joined the ranks at the request of his master, and everyone hurried towards the city of Cadiz.

A few days later, when they arrived at the city of Cadiz, the reinforcements of King Juba arrived in the harbor by boat, and in front of the large pier pier, the workers were busy setting up plank ladders on the side of the Numidian ships, and groups of colorful and strange Numidian light infantry, one of the most highly regarded javelin infantry in the Roman Republic, disembarked in droves and arrived in the city. Li Bida held Caesar's herald stick, and stood on the square behind the dock with Sabo, Habaruka and other staff members with a smile, greeting the clan chiefs of the other party.

Suddenly, the high-pitched beast cries from several ships on the sea made many dock workers scurry up, and Li Bida looked there, only to see several special ships with high guards (the aspect ratio was almost square), slowly approaching, and the boatmen and sailors climbed densely on the bridge and masts, shouting at the dock, saying that they could not let the ship dock on the wooden trestle, which was full of limestone and cliffs, and could they find an open gravel field, Let our ships release the sacred elephants and go ashore.

Under the laborious guidance of the dock staff, these boats finally found a barren and idle long beach on the other side of the city, and Li Bida and the chief of the Numidian clan came there on horseback to wait, but saw that the boat transporting the elephants threw down the iron anchor in the shallow water, and many people opened the wide guard plate and laid it in the water, and then a rattle sounded, accompanied by a roar that shook the sky and spirit, the mahouter rode the richly decorated Afrikan forest elephant, stepped on the guard, and rushed to the shallow water and trekked ashore, setting off the rolling muddy waves, Li Bida's mount" The owl was a lady of horses, docile and well-behaved, and a little arrogant and noble (which was somewhat similar to her former mistress Adena), but she was frightened by these monsters that came from the water, and the rest of the people's mounts also turned back, and everywhere there were quiet shouts of scolding and scolding mounts, only the mounts of the chief of Numidia were very calm, and they must have been dealing with these war elephants for a long time, and they were used to it as usual.

These small forest elephants, with their versatility and agility, are best suited for use as war elephants, and they are ornately saddled and manned by a mahoutman who wears only a helmet and no armor, and holds a taming stinger in his hand, which can guide his mounts to charge and trample the enemy's formation.

When the war elephants of the forest had quieted down and scattered out for a small walk on the long beach, the thousand Numidian javelinmen came to rendezvous, not so much to fight as to serve the elephants, for each man was carrying heavy bales of hay, "in the name of the governor, to collect a large quantity of hay and men from Cadiz." Li Bida looked at the elephant, stroked and comforted the frightened "owl", and indifferently instructed Habaruka, "Also, immediately collect the tenth tax for the coming year in advance." ”

"If you say in advance, does Your Excellency the Governor know?" Habaruka's voice was small, and he didn't want the serious Sabo to hear it.

"I don't know, but it's also a war need, and the tax debt is all on the bald man's head." Li Bida lowered his voice.

At this time, the chief of the Numidian clan spoke Phoenician to Lypida, and Sabo and Habaruka translated together, the other party meant that the reinforcements had arrived on time, and where to go.

"Oh, that's it." Li Bida took out Caesar's herald and said loudly: "Ladies and gentlemen, I am Caesar's confidant and treasurer in Far Spain, and immediately the war elephants and warriors will join our army - go north, and open the road between Betnari and Newmancia, this is Caesar's order!" (To be continued......)