Oh no, dear Lypidaus, you are self-exiled, my impeachment of you has been successful, the Republic will exile you for two years, the destination is Gaul, where Caesar is located, but I think you must have stayed in the penal place for these two years to reflect on yourself, because Caesar will take care of everything for you. And I, Triari, though Cassiyo does not look down on my abilities, but I will never waste the money of my supporters, and the position of tribune seems to have been established as me, because I am well versed in the dark laws of Roman politics, so I have done what you asked, and through the Jewish slave under Pompey, I have spent a full three hundred Tallents to gain Pompey's trust, so that he thinks that he is not a man to be relied upon.

This is where I am stronger than Maximus, because the latter has nothing left but to fight, or that head full of porphyry stubborn and anachronistic republican ideas, because Pompey has deprived him of all the qualifications to "eat"!

Very good, it seems that the script is being performed according to the prior arrangement, Li Bida lay on the couch on the terrace, and watched the green in front of him, remembering that there was a proverb in my dynasty before, "When a cannon fires, gold is ten thousand taels", this sentence is also applicable in this era, since the expedition to Cyprus and Egypt, my private wealth has swelled to more than 2,000 talents, and 5,000 talents are used in the funds for running the legion and the fleet, just a few mines in Upper Nubia, there are eighty talents of surplus invested in the fleet fund every year, I built ships in the dockyards of Alexandria, built a naval fortress on the island of Sepi, I withheld and managed the customs revenues of Egypt, I took a cut of the various businesses in the Jewish Quarter, and I also absorbed many close knights from Rome (all of whom were willing to lend to me before). discerning) to come as a tax collector and administrator. Take care of everything.

The Serapis Legion and the XIII Legion were already carrying full gear and luggage. After assembling on the outskirts of Alexandria, Li Bida transferred some soldiers from the River Transport Guard, the Border Guard, and the Tomb Guard to form three separate auxiliary brigades to accompany the battle. In this way, a total of 15,000 men and horses were assembled, and then Li Bida and the generals discussed and rectified the establishment, and the archers brigade of the 13th Legion and the cavalry artillery team were separated. A separate auxiliary brigade was formed, and the rest of the soldiers, as was customary for the Romans, fought in the same position as hoplites, as was the Serapis legion, except that instead of fighting swords, Egyptianized habais, and light leather shields adapted to desert warfare, with five light pikes inserted in the grooves of the shield.

In April, Crassus, who had assumed the post of consul, finally sent a declaration of war and a token, ordering "the nearest legion to Cyrenaica." Whether it is a regular army or an auxiliary army, they rush to the aid of Balka Castle. The rebellion of the Hashids was suppressed, and the army was directly under the control of the consuls and not under the jurisdiction of any provincial governor. ”

In addition, because the commander-in-chief was still an exile, Crassus played a trick through Tri Ali, who had been elected triad, that is, through the meeting of the Hundreds, "appointed" Caesar's confidant Basatus as the commander of the Thirteenth Legion of Illyria to command the Cyrene War. Therefore, the actual command of the expedition was naturally in the hands of the Roman exile and the king of Cyrenaica of Egypt.

In addition, there was a dangerous episode in the middle, that is, the great Pompey also wanted to intervene in the Cyrene War, and was ready to operate for Gabinus to go there, but Li Bida obviously kept a hand: the horse bandit Cambano, who was originally entrenched in Lusitania, suddenly crossed several large rivers at the beginning of spring, broke through the fragile interception of the garrison, and raged in the mountains of northeastern Spain, and together with the local Celts, plundered everywhere, and the helpless Pompey backyard caught fire, so he had to abandon Cyrene, He threw one of his remaining auxiliary regiments into the clean-up activities.

"This time, marching from the region of Nasdemonez, there are still some oases scattered there, and supplies are not difficult to obtain." Obviously, Li Bida did not have much confidence in his new fleet, although the number of ships was available, but the quality of oarsmen and combatants was insufficient, many of them were from the fleet that had been temporarily recruited before, these people only had the experience of running smooth merchant ships (in those days, merchant ships and flat-bottomed river boats were much easier and more comfortable than oared warships), and it took at least half a year to a year of training time to form combat effectiveness.

This was the fundamental reason for the expeditionary force to take the overland route, and this time Li Pida did not wear the clothes of a Roman general, but carried the blue feather crown of the king of Cyrenaica, carried a mobile tent comparable to that of the pharaoh, left the garrison of the royal city to the first brigade of the Twelfth Legion, and then marched towards the settlement of the Nasdemones tribe.

On this expedition, Li Bida put a lot of effort into logistics, bought a lot of pack horses and camels, carried a considerable amount of wine, sheep cheese and grains, and carried them in two-wheeled light vehicles, which were very suitable for traveling in the desert wasteland.

In Libya, there are four main ethnic groups, among which Nasdemonez lives on the eastern edge of the desert, and when Libida's army crosses the border of this black kingdom, they are hurrying to catch locusts, and all the villages are catching these green insects, they believe that these terrible flying insects fly out of some abyss in the depths of the great desert in the distance, and then the families roast the locusts under the scorching sun, and then mash them, mix them with goat's milk and milk to eat, and when Libida's soldiers pass through the village, Many residents also took out these "locust milkshakes" to these passers-by, and Li Bida threw them down when he saw them, and Alp and Hebrida, who were guarding the flag beside him, looked at the green milk and drank it very happily, and then several soldiers who were supposed to be in the marching column were chased out with sticks by local women who were also half-naked, but they were held by the weighing officer who was picketing the style and discipline, and they were to be locked up.

At the end of the day, the local elders came out to intercede, because the women of Nasdemones were "hybrid", and any man could go in and have a good time as long as they put a stick at the door, but they had to leave gifts, and the soldiers who only went to have fun without gifts were chased and beaten by the women with sticks. (To be continued......)