"As long as you can get a donkey carrying gold around the back door, there is no castle that cannot be attacked." Philip, the father of Alexander, the one-eyed king of Macedon

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

On a rare hillside covered with greenery, where the old royal city is located, which has been renovated to serve as a temporary residence for Lypida, the king of Cyrenaica is comfortably draped over his family's blue toga robe and seated on a circle chair with a laurel crown on his head, in a gesture of contemplation.

On his front and sides, several Cretan sculptors who had come to Kiel were meticulously observing the models and making the original embryos of the busts of the kings, which in the future would be magnified ten times or more to be placed in front of the temple doors. It was his rule that all the military fortresses in the kingdom be demolished, and that all the nobles and populace should live in three newly built temples in an undefended and walled city, but he drew two large groups of men from the Serapius legion to keep them, one in the small fortified acropolis of the old royal city (the only remaining fortification), and the other in the barracks next to the temple of the goddess of hunting.

At this time, Sabo held a stack of boards and said with some concern: "Your Excellency, Commander-in-Chief, you have been wandering here for too long! Even Barsatus sent a question in Sicily, because Cyrene's city-state legions were on the verge of ruin, and if we did not act, there would be only two ways before them, all of them would be killed, or surrender the fortress. ”

Who knew that Li Bida was full of indifferent expressions. "If the city-state of Cyrene is not completely destroyed. How will I be in this newly crowned king's position? "It seems that this person is determined to sit on the mountain and watch the tiger fight. So now he is meticulous and meticulous in any pre-war preparations, and he needs to go to Cyrenaica without fail.

The 3,000 Talrants he had previously acquired in Cyprus and Egypt were all given to the legionnaires, centurions, and soldiers, except for 500 to Julia, and a large amount of gifts to the nobles of Essia - the nobles of this tribe had only some privileges in the distribution of lizard meat, but now they are different. The nobles of Essia soon understood the beauty of the round coins made of gold and silver, and they began to drink fine wine, play with pigeons and other pets, wear precious jewelry that symbolized status and wealth, and carefully carved the chariots left behind by the Garamanian people, and sat on them to inspect their own acres and thirds of land, just like the other nobles of this world.

When these people's ambitions are all focused on how to eat, drink, and be merry, they will become more and more afraid of losing such a life, and their fighting spirit will become weaker and weaker.

After a while. The herald entered, saying that it was under the transformation of an Egyptian mechanic named Gable. The firing range of small bellows guns has been effectively improved. On the Wangcheng school field, Li Bida stood under the parasol, saw the improved bellows cannon, and took a closer look, it was actually a double-headed bronze pressure pump, and Gable, who had slightly dark skin and a linen skirt around his lower body, walked over very respectfully, bowed to Li Bida and saluted, saying that his invention was completely contributed to the war of His Excellency the Commander-in-Chief, hoping to come in handy for a weak use.

Li Bida waved and smiled at him, and asked the technician to show him how to use the modified bellows cannon.

"The filling of this pressure pump is an improved fuel, mainly sulfur, salt, rice oil, fig juice with a small amount of bitumen, which has been carefully ground and blended. In front of the nozzle, there is a heat-resistant iron ring coated with fuel, which is used by a famous artilleryman with a red-hot soldering iron. Gable said at the same time, "Bellows cannon. "A few gunners next to him began to follow his description, "a pullable piston on the left and right, which can automatically reset, so that it can be greatly pressurized and increase the range of this bellows cannon!" As he spoke, the gunner in front of him, with a look of fear, stretched out the red soldering iron to the iron ring in front of the nozzle, and then the iron ring immediately burned, and the gunman immediately retreated to a safe distance, and the two gunners kept twitching the pistons on both sides with sweaty faces, and the fire made a loud noise, spraying thirty or forty centimeters away, and attaching to the target made of wood, burning it into a mass of ashes.

"Papapa" Li Bida applauded very happily, this Gable did exactly what he wanted, and then the commander-in-chief asked Gable about his background with great concern, this very sincere and fearful replied, he was originally a carpenter in Memphis, and later came to Alexandria to become a shipbuilding technician, and then the fleet was destroyed, and the remaining ships were all divided between Cassiyo and Li Bida, and he entered Li Bida's army system, and then heard that the commander-in-chief wanted to improve the bellows cannon, so he had the courage to report to the soldiers' committee.

"Very well, you have been appointed as the head of the engineering of the 'Serapis Legion', and you are responsible for the operation of the newly built bellows. Also, give you a silver of Tallant. ”

Ten days later, the prepared army left the kingdom of Garamatanes and began to march towards the headlands of northwestern Libya, where they found a small trade route with oases and water sources on the way, which helped a great way, as it was late autumn and did not encounter the southerly winds from the desert. At this time, the soldiers of the king of Cyrenaica, wherever they had come from, were dark-faced, wearing fat short skirts, and their sturdy and thin legs were moving rhythmically on the sand. Thirteen days later, they finally saw the green, and over the southern slope of the Atlas Mountain, in the north suddenly there were a large number of trees, springs, and at the source of the Tostoon River, they also found what the Esioans had called the Apollo Spring, and legend has it that after the Greek settlers arrived there, the heavens cracked, and it rained for forty days, and this spring water (in fact, a very large inland lake) was accumulated, and the Toston River began there.

The Romans hurriedly cut wood and erected fences by the lake, measuring the perimeter and size of the camp, and it was obvious that the Hashdi rebels on the other side of the Tost Valley had also discovered the sudden appearance of Libida, and they became alert, and after sending scouts to reconnoitre, they found that the banners of the Egyptians and the Romans were present in this army at the same time, and they determined the identity of the other party.

In the evening, several horsemen galloped through the grass and were stopped by the soldiers at the main entrance of the camp, who then introduced themselves as followers of the Hashidic sect and wished to meet General Lybidaeus. (To be continued......)