"If the defenders are well trained and ready to play, it's getting harder and harder to beat them." -- A battlefield witness in the Hundred Years' War between England and France

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Curio is very confident in taking the city of Utica, he has sent spies into the city, and many people in the Chamber of Commerce and the Council of Elders began to quietly contact him after hearing about the victory or defeat of the battle outside the city, especially the leader of the Chamber of Commerce, Galba, a respected old man, even encouraged everyone to give up useless resistance, and prepare to drive away the Pompei party and sacrifice the city at the right time.

But on the other hand, Curio did not dare to take it lightly, because he knew that Pompey and King Juba might appear at any time, so he sent the token officer to ask Malclos and Maximus on the other side of the old camp to lead some oarsmen to go ashore and connect the old camp of Gaurnerius with the camp that he had previously seized from Turas, because there were wheat fields, meadows and salt ponds around it, and the products were abundant, and he planned to build a huge position on this side, so that he could attack Utica, and even if Pompey and King Juba came, it would be enough to retreat. Until Caesar's main force arrived.

"Send good news to Your Excellency the Dictator, even if I am not the Governor of Sicily, but let Ebro, the treasurer who remains behind, recruit for me another army of recruits and some cavalry to cross the sea, so that the war in Africa will end in my hands sooner."

At the same time that Curio was running at high speed, in the capital of the Numidian Kingdom, in the city of Kirta, King Juba, who was sitting on his throne and wearing a lion's crown, was discussing with Pompey about sending more reinforcements.

This negotiation. Pompey came alone to the royal palace in the city of Kirta. Hardly any troops were brought with them. With the exception of a small number of retinues, his two legions remained at the borders of the Masasia trenches, for Pompey was Pompey, and his fame in Africa and the East had been thunderous thirty years earlier. "In Africa, even a lion must learn to obey the judgment of the Romans!" This is the famous quote of Pompey in his youth.

Now in front of the eyes of King Juba, the darling of the Romans. Although the "Alexander the Great" produced by the Tiber River is still majestic, it is indeed old. And King Juba also knew from Spain and other places that Pompey had lost most of his legions in the Roman civil war, in other words, he was almost at the end of his rope.

In the main hall of the palace, there were three chairs, and Pompey stood there, and suddenly felt that King Juba did not trust him very much, but was wary.

It is because of the inexplicable meaning of these three chairs.

Numidia was a Roman vassal, so it stands to reason that figures like Pompey came to the royal palace. His status was equal to that of the king, so King Juba could not sit on the throne to receive him. Two additional ivory chairs should be arranged, and the two of them will sit down opposite each other to discuss.

But the king of Juba made three of them, and then the young and vigorous king, with his Greek braids, slowly sat down on the chair on the left, and then very respectfully made an inviting gesture to the standing Pompey, and quickly conversed quickly in the native language with the queen, the former Mauritanian princess Selene, who was standing next to him.

It soon became clear to Pompey that this was not the time to put on a show, for Demetrius, the Jewish slave he trusted most of his life, was well versed in the local dialect and customs, for he had dealt with the ivory merchants of Mauritania on the coast of Galilee as a child. Quietly and quickly Dmetrius stuck out a small pottery shard in the cuff, and Pompey's eyes swept on, on which only the Greek word "right" was scribbled.

Then Demetrius quickly withdrew the small pottery shard, and no one saw it, Pompey looked around, then took the edge of his robe in his hand, and sat down easily in the chair on his right.

The chair in the middle was emptied, "Let the gods who witness friendship sit!" Pompey said politely.

When King Juba saw this, he laughed with great joy, and said in Greek to Queen Selene that it was time to have wine and delicacies served in the kitchen at the rear, and that he was willing to entertain the king of Rome with sincerity. After saluting the crowd with a large group of servants, Selene went to the side corridor and went into the garden outside the palace.

There, Queen Selene saw her son, who was lying on the window of the garden wall with great interest, with a few slave playmates, looking at a qiē in the inner chamber, and when she saw the queen mother, the child asked in an unusually fluent Greek language, "Is that the great Pompey?" He disappointed me a bit, legend has it that he resembles a lion, but I think he's an old man. ”

"It was a shrewd old lion, and though his flesh had weakened, he was still able to overcome his young adversary with cunning and ferocity. Listen, go back after watching it, this kind of scene is far from being as simple as you think, kid. When Selene had finished speaking, he slapped his palms lightly, and at this moment in the bushes and secret doors of the garden suddenly appeared many men with swords and bows and arrows, and after the queen made two gestures to them, the group nodded and quickly dissipated into the night.

Little Juba immediately covered his mouth in horror and slowly retreated to his room, and Selene laughed twice before walking with his entourage towards the back kitchen.

If Pompey sat down on the chair in the middle just now, then King Juba may have a murderous opportunity, he is a self-respecting guy, he has always been committed to the dream of the kingdom of the Great Numidia, in fact, whether it is Caesar or Pompey, they must ensure the independent status of their kingdom, and even King Juba is trying to annex Mauritania, Getulia and Cyprus and other emirates, and now the civil war of the Romans happens to be the best time, so he put out three chairs, which is to imply that Pompey, no one in the middle is allowed to sit, Numidia and Rome were separated from each other and were on an equal footing.

"Oh, my friend, I feel that what you have asked for is a bit heavy for my country, and I have sent free troops on both fronts of Your Excellency, and I have sent tens of thousands of cavalry in Lyptis and Zeta, and I have three or four thousand volunteers in Utica." At the banquet, King Juba slyly said that he was no longer capable.

In place of his master, Demetrius spoke to him in clear and fluent Greek, "No, Dicktido Pompey wants His Majesty to devote all the strength of the whole country to 40,000 to 60,000 horses to Utica to a decisive battle with Caesar's army!" ”

"What a joke! Behind the city of Kirta, the Getulians and Mauritanians are eyeing my territory, and if I send so many troops, who will defend the borders and the palace? King Juba readily said no.

Pompey turned to his side and whispered a few words to Demetrius, after which the Jews made a formal announcement to the king of Juba: "If Your Majesty agrees to our request, we will guarantee the annihilation of all Caesar's armies in Africa by the end of spring, and we will give you the old site of Carthage, the region of Unonia, free of charge, and give you the right to conquer all the rival tribes in the west." (To be continued......)