"The capture of Perusim is urgent, but the capture of Alexandra cannot be rushed." This is what Li Bida has repeatedly emphasized to his subordinates in the past two days, so around the oasis around Perusim, the 13th Army Corps worked while resting, and built a peripheral defense line with the help of villages and rivers, scattering the various centurions as sentinels to monitor the defense, while the two elite 1,000 troops were stationed in the fortress and served as the core garrison.

Throughout the local people of Perusim, Li Bida returned to them the ploughing cattle, the village community (except for those that had been burned and looted), and the cistern, and selected from the old officials, captives, and regimental slaves who knew how to account, write, and collect taxes, and took the lead in emancipating them and becoming his own free people, responsible for maintaining and organizing production in the locality.

These teams, together with Li Pida, used the temple of Amun in the fortress as a government office, the whole temple was not large, but very strong, with Greek-style columns, the stone foundation was higher than the ground to prevent the invasion of damp and stuffy heat, the windows were narrow and high above, so that the dry dust would not follow them into the temple, and dozens of rooms underground were inhabited by the temple slaves, and now they were all full—it was not difficult to hire people in the local area, they were all poor people who were willing to sacrifice their lives for God, Nor did they care whether it was an Egyptian priest or a Roman officer who occupied the temple.

These slaves were responsible for the entire Restoration Command, and they diligently sifted wheat, brewed beer, and spun and weaved cloth in the basements, and a few rich slave girls had already fought with Anthony, and were exempted from servitude and served in the rooms of the military tribune all day.

"This is a letter from the Pharaoh, His Majesty wishing to ride the royal flagship at the end of a market day. Come to the fortress. The eunuch Motanmenes stood in front of Li Bida with a strange smile and a writing board with an envelope. Behind him was the Theotusus, who seemed to have been recommended as the chief of the palace guard, dressed in a beautiful and comical Egyptian garment, with a gold-encrusted waist sword, and a beard, which seemed to be quite good.

"Well, honorable chief eunuch. Whether or not we can return to His Majesty Pharaoh, the area around the fortress of Perusim is still a dangerous war zone, and our army still needs to rest and practice. There are also 2,000 Nubian mercenary captives that need to be dealt with urgently, or they may mutini at any moment. Therefore, His Majesty Pharaoh should remain on the safe island of Cyprus. Li Bida put the word board on the table and told Motammenes the truth very respectfully.

But Matamenes remained stubborn. He let out a dry laugh. "Your Excellency, Commander-in-Chief, allow me to tell me the difficulties of the Pharaoh, who urgently needed to enter the city of Alexandria, not because of his majesty's desire to enjoy the life of the palace, but because of the rebellious Benenici, who had brought Achellaus, a lowly man she had brought from the wilderness, began to win the approval of Thebes, and His Majesty Pharaoh had received terrible news that Benenicia was giving away a great deal of wealth to the princes and chieftains of Cyrenaica. All that was left of the treasury was almost exhausted. ”

Li Bida's expression became serious, and he crossed his hands. "Eunuch, do you mean that Benenici wanted to preemptively extradite His Majesty's children and daughters who were fostered in Cyrenaica before bribing the chiefs?"

Why, it seems that this commander also knew the fact that Cleopatra's brother was there, and it seems that it was Cleopatra who told him, and now things are a little tricky, because everyone knows that this guy is completely on the side of Cleopatra—Mortamenes laughed dryly a few more times, and said completely, "If Benenici had been given the son of Pharaoh, she might have abdicated from the position of regent with that Achilllaus, and would have the son of the Legislator succeed her, and be recognized by the officers, magnates, and priests, Then the throne of Pharaoh's majesty was really in jeopardy, and his majesty thought that Cyrenaica was a safe place, so he did not take his son to Rome, but now it seems that it is really a fallacy! Therefore, the hope of a quick battle is pinned on the commander-in-chief, no, it is His Excellency the Prison State, so His Majesty hopes to come to the fortress and personally cheer for the three armies. ”

Just when he wanted to emphasize the difficulties—the previous army had been too draining, the weather was hot, the prisoner problem had not yet been resolved, and so on, he had hoped that it would be best to march to Alexandra after the grain harvest had been completed, when the locals had been recruited into the army, and the number of generals and horses had been expanded to 10,000 (he was going to form a new army).

However, Diotusus kept giving himself a look at him in the back, and Lybida understood a little, so he smiled and said yes, "I am here to take care of the chores before the expedition, and when Pharaoh arrives in Perusim, our army will march towards Alexandria." ”

After nightfall, Diotusus sneakily down the drainage ditch behind the temple, under the cover of night and shade, came to see Li Bida and said that he wanted to provide crucial information.

Sure enough, after all, Diotusus has been following little Cato for a year, and he is also relatively clear about some entanglements in government affairs and power schemes, and he also strongly advises Li Bida not to delay too much time and start first. Because the Egyptian court is fighting for the throne for the time being, and on the side of Rome, Pompey's cronies, the former consul Gabinus (Rome will enthrone the new consul on March 1 every year, as the beginning of the new year, and the former consul will also go to the province to serve as the governor, that is, the governor) has also set off for the island of Cyprus, and the pharaoh must not stay there any longer, otherwise once he is controlled by Pompey, the benefits and benefits of your conquest of Egypt may be in vain.

After listening to Theotusus's account, Li Bida suddenly realized that it was a good deal to buy this tomb robber, and he immediately gave the other party three thousand drachmas as information expenses, and then told him to be careful in everything in the court of the pharaoh, "You are fully equipped with wisdom and cleverness, but do not slack off on the study of rhetoric and etiquette - even if Cleopatra cannot become a female pharaoh for the time being, the trust of her brother will depend on you, and you will be the future prisoner of Egypt, I really need you. Not only did he give money, but Lybidaeus also patted and hugged Diotusus like a brother of equal status, and thanked the other party so much that he didn't know what to do.

After a brief exhortation, Theotusus left the temple, and then Li Bida half lay down on the circle chair, looking at the paintings and hieroglyphics on the walls, and then Sabo turned the room, hurried to him, and said in a deep voice: "Oh no, the defenders and prisoners stationed outside the fortress have begun to mutiny, and some of them have escaped over the wooden fence - Hebrida is leading three hundreds, and is going to play the pressure!" (To be continued......)