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Leading by example is a great thing for good people; But to the bad guys, it's too harmful to do more. Pen & Fun & Pavilion www.biquge.info

- Homer (Homer, the blind poet of ancient Greece)

After a night of madness with Cleopatra, Oscar walked out of the study the next morning with a sore back; In Oscar's palace, there is also a bed in the study, which was originally only used by Oscar to deal with government affairs and rest too late, but he didn't expect to play other roles last night, looking at Cleopatra, who was still sleeping, Oscar could only go out by himself.

I have to admit that Egyptian women are still very capable, at least Prisca, a Roman woman, and Mary, a Spanish woman, are not as bold as Cleopatra, an Egyptian woman; Of course, this may just be a personal difference, Prisca and Mary are just queens of the Augustan Empire, while Cleopatra is the future queen of Egypt.

Since Cleopatra had offered that price last night, the cooperation between the Augustan Empire and Cleopatra had been irreversible; The Kingdom of Egypt is a kingdom that is not inferior to the Augustan Empire, and if it is judged by its war potential, the Kingdom of Egypt is the most powerful kingdom in the world.

Once the Augustan Empire could help Cleopatra ascend to the throne of the pharaoh of the Kingdom of Egypt, the entire Kingdom of Egypt would become the most important granary of the Augustan Empire; When that day comes, the army of the Augustan Empire will no longer have to worry about the shortage of food and grass, and even the entire Augustan Empire will be able to completely solve the problem of food.

And the huge population base of the Kingdom of Egypt can also provide the Augustan Empire with at least 100,000 auxiliary troops, perhaps not just auxiliary armies; In Oscar's view, there is no such thing as an elite army in the world, only waste generals who can't command the army, and the army of the Kingdom of Egypt just lacks a qualified and strict military commander.

Needless to say, such a military commander was not uncommon in the Augustan Empire, and Oscar could guarantee that after the army of the Kingdom of Egypt became the army of the Augustan Empire, it would definitely grow by leaps and bounds in terms of combat effectiveness; Even if it can't reach the level of the elite troops of the Augustan Empire, it will not be worse than the combat effectiveness of the ordinary Augustan Empire's legions.

However, it was not easy for the Augustan Empire to help Cleopatra seize the position of pharaoh of the Kingdom of Egypt; In terms of navy, whether it is the powerful navy of the Augustan Empire or the super fleet brought by Cleopatra, it is enough to make the navy of the Kingdom of Egypt, which is loyal to Ptolemy XIII, retreat.

But the battle on the army side was the key to Cleopatra's ascension to the throne of pharaoh of the Kingdom of Egypt; With the current military strength of the Kingdom of Egypt, Ptolemy XIII had an army of up to 90,000 troops that could be mobilized at any time, including the 30,000 Pharaoh's Praetorian Guard, the most elite army of the Kingdom of Egypt, and 10,000 elite chariot troops.

Apart from these 90,000 troops, the 20,000 infantry and 5,000 chariot troops of the Kingdom of Egypt stationed on the island of Cyprus had no chance of mixing in the battle for the pharaohs in the Kingdom of Egypt itself; Because the fleet of the Augustan Empire would completely blockade the island, so that all the armies on the island would have to stay on the island in peace.

Even so, the army of Ptolemy XIII that the Kingdom of Egypt could reinforce was 30,000 elite infantry and 10,000 chariot troops stationed in Judea, and 50,000 elite infantry and 20,000 chariot troops in Phoenicia; These 110,000 troops were the key factors in the battle for the position of pharaoh in the Kingdom of Egypt, and they were also the factors that the Augustan Empire had to consider.

If neither of these armies was involved in the battle for the position of pharaoh of the Kingdom of Egypt, then the Augustan Empire would only need to send six or seven legions to ensure that Cleopatra would be the pharaoh of the Kingdom of Egypt; If they were all involved in this war, the Augustan Empire would not have been able to help Cleopatra ascend to the throne of pharaoh without an army of 100,000.

With the current strength of the Augustan Empire, it would not be difficult for Oscar to gather these troops within half a month if he immediately dispatched six or seven legions to help Cleopatra return to the Kingdom of Egypt and compete for the position of pharaoh; But if it is an army of 100,000, then Oscar also needs to weigh it carefully, after all, the total military strength of the Augustan family is only what is.

Originally, the Augustan Empire still had ten legions stationed on Sicily, but with the return of Calis, Oscar sent Marcus's Third Legion and Tetius's Fourth Legion to Crete and Rhodes, respectively; In this way, there will be only eight legions left in the army of Sicily, and at least a few of these eight legions must be left to defend Sicily.

According to Oscar's idea, the Seventh, Tenth, Eleventh, First Cavalry, Guards Infantry Legion, Guards Cavalry Legion, Samonai Legion, and Hannibal Legion currently garrisoned in Sicily also needed at least three hoplite legions and one cavalry legion to ensure the safety of Sicily, and the maximum number of legions that could be drawn out was only four.

The Augustan Empire could also draw some legions from the garrison on the Iberian Peninsula, after all, the current Iberian Peninsula is not the Iberian Peninsula of five years ago; After five years of rule by the Augustan Empire, the Spaniards on the Iberian Peninsula had become loyal subjects of the Augustan Empire, and there was no need to garrison so many troops.

Coupled with the fact that the Iberian Peninsula was bordered by the sea on three sides, the only land connection was the land of Gaul ruled by Calabes; In Oscar's opinion, even if something unexpected happens, Karabeth's army can quickly support the Iberian Peninsula in an emergency.

In the 1st, 5th, 8th, 9th, and 1st Cavalry Corps stationed on the Iberian Peninsula, only two hoplite legions and one cavalry corps need to be left to ensure the daily garrison work on the Iberian Peninsula, and the remaining two hoplite legions can be completely withdrawn.

Even so, Oscar could only find six legions that could be used to help Cleopatra return to the kingdom of Egypt; The size of these six legions is the minimum number of troops to go to the Kingdom of Egypt, and it is impossible for Oscar to really risk using these six legions to go to the Kingdom of Egypt.

If it really didn't work, Oscar had to form a few new legions or send Nuss's royal guard legions; After the Augustus family officially established the Augustan Empire, the Augustus family became a royal family, and Oscar naturally turned the family guard led by Nusis into a larger royal guard legion.

This royal guard legion does not exist in the battle sequence of Emperor Augustus, and the purpose of their existence is only to protect the Augustan family; In other words, this so-called Imperial Guard Legion was simply a private army directly under the Emperor Augustus, a secret army loyal to the Emperor Augustus.

The current royal guard legion is not the thousands of family guards led by Nusis at the beginning, but a super legion composed of the real 10,000 most elite warriors of the Augustan Empire; In this legion of guards, there were not only the most elite hoplites and Spartan hoplites of the Augustan Empire, but also a large number of the most elite bull warriors who once belonged to the Kingdom of Spain.

It's just that these bull warriors were not recruited by Oscar, but brought back by Mary when she returned to Sicily from the Iberian Peninsula; When Mary returned to Sicily, she also brought back thousands of Holy Guards, but Oscar saw that the soldiers of the Holy Guards were extremely elite, so he simply incorporated them all into Nussi's guards.

Oscar's recklessness directly constituted a mess of royal guards, anyway, in this royal guards, you can find almost all the most elite warriors of the Augustan Empire; They were mixed into hundred-man teams and brigades regardless of ethnicity or color, and the only thing that could distinguish them was the troops.

After five years of development and growth, the Augustan Empire naturally has an extremely deep heritage and a strong strength that can be controlled at any time; After Oscar told the important ministers of the Augustan Empire about the agreement he had secretly negotiated with Cleopatra, everyone unanimously agreed with the agreement between Oscar and Cleopatra, after all, how could the Augustan Empire miss such a great opportunity!

As a result, the important ministers of the empire began to negotiate with Oscar for specific expeditions; After discussion, the final expedition was decided to be the Seventh Legion, the First Cavalry Legion, the Samonai Legion, the Hannibal Legion, and the First and Ninth Legions of the Iberian Peninsula, in addition to the Royal Guard Legion of Nussi.

After the plan of these seven legions was discussed, Oscar naturally hurriedly gave the order to assemble the armies that needed to go out, especially the First Army and the Ninth Army on the Iberian Peninsula, it would take at least a month for them to arrive in Sicily after receiving the order, and the Augustan Empire had to discuss whether to form a new legion.

After all, the army of seven legions is still too small, and the Kingdom of Egypt is not comparable to ordinary small forces, it is a powerful kingdom with a total army of more than 200,000; Even if Ptolemy XIII could not get reinforcements from the Egyptian kingdom's garrison in the northern border region, he could temporarily recruit a large number of troops in the Egyptian kingdom itself, which is an unpredictable factor.

After considering these practical problems, everyone, including Oscar, felt that it would not be possible to successfully complete the expedition with the strength of the seven legions alone; In this case, the formation of a new legion is also on the agenda. (To be continued.) )