No matter which of the two paths is chosen, Caesar's war against Brindisi will not last long, and if he is to take over the war against Marcelia when the time comes, then my gains and benefits will be in vain?

How could the gears of war really stop working for someone, so Li Bida's reply gave hope and assurance to poor Portia, but at the same time, it was also a little ambiguous, "I must do what I am told, I am Caesar's lieutenant general and governor of Sardinia, and this status is far more prominent now than I am your friend, and I have always spoken to you without false words." I can only assure you that Massella is the most prosperous and wealthy city in southern Gaul, and it is also the oldest and oldest city; Your father was the most glorious and upright citizen of the Republic. Caesar has given me the limit that he will never destroy the city of Miè, let alone the people in it. But I can't stop this campaign, because it's just one of the catastrophes unleashed by the infighting in the entire republic. What I can do now is to try to get the city to surrender without resolute resistance, which is my best plan. ”

Towards April, when Li Bida landed at the port of Liguria with three legions, Caesar also officially began the encirclement attack on Brindisi. It is said that Pompey still maintained his fearless courage in the moment of desperation, probably because he was still unwilling to abandon this coastal fortress at the ankle of Italy, so he only took twenty brigades of troops, most of them new recruits, to defend the walls of Brindisi and resist.

Caesar also intended to besiege Pompey, and he began to build a massive siege along the pass of the river that flowed outside Brindisi. with a floating raft. Carrying dirt began the construction of two causeways on the water. Every third length of the raft, and the timber of the construction of the guard, the two embankments under the rain of arrows in the city, the two embankments made rapid progress, and finally linked to the breakwater of the port of Brindisi to form a circular blockade, but Pompey was not to be outdone, and he used his "circle" to counter Caesar's circle, which would be a tall commercial flat-bottomed ship. They were also retracted with iron cables, anchored around the city walls, placed soldiers and ballistas on them, fired fiercely, and carried hay and sulphur bitumen on brisk ships, which ignited and struck Caesar's causeway, and in Brindisi there was constant blockade and anti-blockade warfare.

It is worth mentioning that the person who designed the city defense was the one who was previously captured by Li Bida. Macchius, the director of engineering who was released by Caesar, also brought back Caesar's request to Pompey. Pompey was noncommittal about the meeting of the two giants again, but the letter was burned to dust by the other senators: even if it was finished with Pompey, they did not want the two giants to join forces to destroy the foundations of the republic.

But while Caesar continued to throw olive branches, the war undoubtedly intensified further in the sea and land ruled by the whole republic: Caesar's eighth, ninth, and tenth legions, led by his lieutenant general Tellureas, were fighting against Pompey's front army in the mountain passes of Spain; With the 6th, 15th, and 16th legions, he also approached Masseria at the same time, trying to pull out the nail in the belly of Caesar's territory; Curio had already begun to march into Sicily, and the Afrigian army of Pompey, mobilized by Turas and other generals, was also rapidly assembling, and it seemed that sooner or later the two sides would have to fight to the end; In the east, Adiana made a lightning attack, instructing her subordinates to invade Silesia in cooperation with Gahassia, to drive out the unprepared governor Cicero, while in Syria Dehemoth had driven out all the Pompeians, and it is said that Caesar, who had reciprocated, had decided to make him the next governor of Gaul; The resurgence of pirates in Cyprus and Crete was unusually active in attacking Pompey's shipping routes, while the Kingdom of Egypt disappeared, declaring that it would not support either side for the time being because of the rampant piracy, nor would it provide Pompey with a fleet of servants.

The whole world has become a constantly jumping sub on the chess game, but the worrying thing is that it seems that the two chess players can't really control it.

When Lybida was in Liguria, three surprises occurred, the first of which was the arrival of Adiana's letters, and his child, Eujit, was safe and sound, healthy and lively; The second is that his fleet in Cyrene has bypassed the Strait of Messina, and his engineering director Gable has also arrived with the fleet, and Caesar has sent back another engineer Pop, both of whom are necessary to attack the city of Masseria immediately, and Tobias, who remained in Cyrene to be in charge of the horse, specially carried two thousand good horses on board and sent them to the barracks as a help in the war (fortunately, Tobias was very well bred and did not die of the plague in the sea).

The last surprise was the reaction of the Ligurians, which was really beyond Lybida's expectations, and they were extremely generous, not only providing twelve auxiliary infantry brigades and three cavalry auxiliary brigades to Lee, but also the Council of Elders unanimously agreed that they would bear half of the military expenses required by Liberda to attack Massalia! In the end, they brought in 4,000 mules and pack horses for the transport of equipment and baggage.

Later, the knight Chemus who came from Etrunia told Li Bida the truth, since Caesar went to Gaul, the two adjacent city-states of Massella and Liguria have become incomprehensible enemies, and this time the Ligurians are so generous that they are willing to borrow his hand and completely raze each other.

It turned out that before the conquest of Gaul, Massella was the trade hub of the whole west of Italy, because at that time, the agricultural products of Gallic and Spain had to pass through it as a transit point and enter the Roman Republic, so the local Greek immigrants would accumulate huge wealth, and the luxurious temples and buildings in the city of Massella were the benchmark for half the world. However, after Caesar's attack, he also tried to reach an agreement with the Massella Chamber of Commerce, hoping that the other party would bear part of the military expenses, but the far-sighted Greek merchants did not look down on the previously unknown governor, so the agreement fell through.

Caesar, while magnanimous, was also a "vengeer", and he would take revenge in his own way—he soon opened the way between Milan and the Alps for both military and commercial purposes, so that trade between Gaul and Italy would not have to be pretended to be Massella, and in turn, the Ligurian merchants suddenly became rich because of their proximity to the water.

Therefore, after the outbreak of the civil war, the two city-states chose very different positions, which had nothing to do with the idea, "a qiē or just for monetary profit". (To be continued......)