"There are only four ways in which Plato speaks of flattery, but she has a thousand ways." —Plutarch on Cleopatra

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"Determined to win? Will it be three years from now, five years from now, or ten years from now? Li Bida let go of his arm and said sarcastically.

Kassiyo diverted the topic a little embarrassed, saying that I still have two adjutant generals who have not introduced to you, who knew that Li Bida could see at a glance that one of them was the commander of the Eighth Army who lost the Eagle Banner in the Mithritian War before, Tri Ali, I didn't expect this guy to be down to the point of being a deputy general for Kasillo, but Li Bida still greeted him very politely.

Triali changed the arrogance he had seen before with Lybida, or he had forgotten him at all, and only saw the commander-in-chief of the Restoration Army in front of him, shook his hand excitedly, and talked about his coming from the plebeian party, how he was close to Caesar, and how he hoped to be cared for and sympathetic by His Excellency the Commander-in-Chief, and said many noisy words, until Cassiio became impatient, "All right, you must know that it is Gnaeus who continues to give you food. General Pompey with Doge Gabinus. ”

The words were so direct that Triali seemed to burp and stood silent, holding his head between his legs.

Subsequently, Cassilo's left wide chin, a capable man in his early thirties, named Maximus, was also Pompey's old subordinate, "When the great Pompey suppressed the pirates in the Mediterranean, Maximus served as the commander of the navy many times, and had extremely rich experience in naval warfare, and stayed until the end of this war." My dear Maximus is ready to return to Rome and take up the post of tribune. "Cassiyo was very enthusiastic about him.

Maximus didn't smile. It's just a military salute to Li Bida.

A short introductory moment. Li Bida quickly made a careful analysis, Cassiyo is not to mention, Tri Ali is a wall grass, he must have spent a lot of money to take the path of Pompey and Gabinus, and became the deputy general of the navy, but his position is still pro-Caesar, and he was also the support of the Plebeian Party back then. He only became the commander of the legion in the east, but this guy's incompetence has already been outraged, and he was discharged from the army with dignity after the last time, but he still has a thief's heart. And Maximus is obviously the lieutenant general that Cassiyo relied on, and this person still can't see whether he is loyal to Pompey or bewitched by the republican Cato Jr., you must know that the ability of little Cato to brainwash with family mottos, ancient styles, and honors is still quite strong.

And the fleet of the commander of Cassiio is actually a combination of the Ravenna and Yagerdina forces. He is also one of the few standing naval forces in the Republic, and he was originally the commander of the naval forces in the province of Illyria. Later, Caesar served as the governor of Gaul, and because of the division of political regions, he went to Gaul to serve in the army. However, after the outbreak of the Egyptian War, Pompey claimed through the Senate that Caesar's war did not need a fleet, so Cassiio should be sent to Cyprus and Egypt, so he followed Gabinus.

But in terms of command, he was still Caesar's subordinate in name.

Therefore, Li Bida opened the skylight and said brightly, "How do you calculate the command of your fleet?" ”

"Belongs to His Excellency the Governor of Gabinus." Cassiyo replied quickly.

"No, where did the Roman fleet come from in Cyprus? Your people are from the province of Illyria, and they have been sent here temporarily, so they are Julius. Caesar is the supreme superior, and according to Roman military regulations, the navy must be subordinate to the legion, so according to the current situation, am I the supreme commander of this fleet? Because I was the commander-in-chief of the Thirteenth and Twelfth Legions of Illyria. ”

"You're getting more and more able to add titles to yourself." "But there's no need to argue about that," said Cassillo, "and you can't command even one Librna on the surface of the sea (the Roman term for a single ship, a Librna is a fighting body), and you can—let's talk about the conditions, and you know that it is not a good idea that I have come all the way here to reinforce you." ”

"After the loot is discounted, you are three and I are seven." Li Bida calculated quickly.

"Oh, no, no, no, it's too low, it's still fifty-five."

"Little Cato has no money to run for the election, right?" Li Bida grinned, "Pompey's old subordinates are also here, well, in order to take care of Tri Ali and General Maximus, I can consider splitting the account fifty-fifty, but twenty percent must be at the disposal of these two generals." This move was very beautiful, and Li Bida could see tears flashing in Tri Ali's eyes.

After the terms were negotiated, Cassiyo began to joke that he could not wait to fight the Egyptian fleet.

The joke became a prophecy, and the next day an Egyptian detachment arrived.

This detachment should have investigated the details of Lipida's army beforehand, but its tragedy lies in the fact that it has been investigated clearly—thinking that Lipida's fleet consisted only of civilian and commercial ships, and that Cassillo's newly formidable combined fleet had been excluded from the intelligence, and was suddenly dumbfounded by the fact that the Romans were faced with twenty three-column rowing ships, fifty double-column Librna throwing swords, and nearly a hundred single-column light assault ships.

"Cassillo, and Maximus are indeed masters of commanding naval battles." Li Bida, who watched the battle from the watchtower by the tent, praised from the bottom of his heart, "Perhaps in commanding naval battles, generals need more skill and luck than on land, and soldiers also need greater courage and patience." ”

It was easy to distinguish the Roman navy from the Egyptian navy, which required that the sails, sailors' clothes, and hull be painted sea blue for ease of camouflage. The latter is uniformly white, which is easy to stand out and show off. However, this time the Egyptian naval forces obviously failed to achieve the same combat effect as the livery - Cassiyo through a very complex flag command system, the projectile ships with three rows of oars to protect tightly, the Egyptian ships continued to fire rockets and stone projectiles, many Egyptian ships in the front were set on fire and fled, and then the single-row Libulna lined up in a long roundabout formation, cut over their right flank, and surrounded most of the Egyptian fleet, each of these small libronas was on the open deck, After keeping twenty or thirty soldiers armed with sharp swords, they were very agile and ferocious to use the "crows" to catch the other party's ships, these soldiers smoked, crossed the drawbridge between the two ships, the sea, and the enemy on the opposite side of the white-knuckle battle, and people kept falling into the water, and now the Romans' ability to control the ships was not comparable to the youth and clumsiness of the Punic War, most of the helmsmen (most of them were in the stern, relying on a pair of shorter round paddles, controlling the direction of the ship) could easily turn, with the crows to lower and receive, After hunting a ship, quickly move on to the next one.

About two days later, the Egyptian detachment was captured more than a dozen ships in the "Crow" gang battle, five or six of which were sunk, and more than a dozen were damaged by ballistas. (To be continued......)