The executive body of the government is like a trust and has to work for the benefit of the settlor rather than the benefit of the trustee.

- Marcus Tulius Cicero (Roman statesman, orator, orator, jurist, and philosopher)

Oscar thought a lot about it that night, but didn't come up with anything; Maybe it's the anguish of amorous love, or maybe it's the hatred of monogamy. In short, tonight's Oscar has insomnia; Oscar not only remembered every girl he met in this world, but also remembered the girls he had a crush on on Earth. Life is like a dream, the more Oscar thinks about it, the more decadent he becomes; In desperation, I had no choice but to divert my attention.

As the leader of House Augustus and the supreme commander of the Combined Legion of Sardinia, Oscar wanted to divert power too easily; As soon as he thought about other things in front of him, Oscar had to think about it again. Tomorrow's family meeting will definitely be discussing the matter of the auxiliary legions; This time, Adheba directly donated 5,000 war horses to the family, plus the next 10,000 war horses, which is a very large number.

Moreover, in order to have a suitable cavalry candidate, Oscar also asked Adheba for 10,000 herdsmen and their families; As long as these 10,000 herdsmen are in hand, Oscar can start to form the cavalry force of the Augustus family. However, these cavalry units formed auxiliary regiments in the form of a large group of 1,000 people; Or do you want to gather the cavalry together to form a large cavalry battle group?

These two types of cavalry have their own merits, and if the cavalry is dispersed to form auxiliary regiments; The combat effectiveness of individual legions will be greatly enhanced. For the combination of the standard Roman legion's six thousand hoplites and nearly a thousand armed brigades was quite flawed, plus an auxiliary legion of light infantry, Cretan archers, and Numidian javelin cavalry; Then a full Roman legion would have 10,000 people, and its multi-class combined combat ability would make up for its own shortcomings.

As a result, a combination of a standard Roman legion and an auxiliary legion will become standard for new Roman legions; On the other hand, the second method of using cavalry units is used. Although this method of concentrating the cavalry reduces the combat effectiveness of individual legions to a certain extent, it will form a powerful battle cluster from the overall point of view; This all-cavalry battle group will also become a nightmare for enemy infantry on the battlefield.

Faced with two approaches with their own advantages and disadvantages, Oscar is really difficult to choose; What made Oscar even more difficult was that with the expansion of the family's power and the dispersion of the military forces of the Greek city-states. The Tragic Dead had reported to Oscar about Calis and Lucas's impending move on the island of Crete; If nothing else, the two of them are ready to join forces to turn Crete into the territory of the Augustan family.

However, all this made Oscar feel very worried; Although with the military strength of the family on Crete, it is very easy to occupy the whole of Crete. But Calis and Lucas didn't report the matter to Oscar, who is the head of the family, which involuntarily made Oscar suspicious of these two people. Calis, in particular, has never surrendered to Oscar since he became the head of the family; How could such a person make Oscar trust him?

But. Now all the main forces of the Augustan family are concentrated on Sardinia in the western Mediterranean, and it is really beyond the reach of Crete in the far east Mediterranean; Besides, the Augustan family at this time couldn't withstand their own internal toss. As long as Lucas and Calis can complete the task they have given them, the others will have to go with them for the time being.

Oscar gave them the task of providing the Augustan army in Sardinia with a thousand elite Spartan hoplites and a thousand elite Cretan archers, as well as five thousand ordinary Cretan archers; This mission was born entirely for the needs of the family's Guards Infantry Legion and Auxiliary Legion, and it is also the core appeal of improving the combat effectiveness of the Augustus Family Legion in the future.

In fact, Oscar still needs the support of the Augustan family base on Crete so far; Because both the military composition of the Roman Republic itself. Or the demographic characteristics of Sardinia, which makes Oscar's command extremely lack enough ranged troops, so Oscar can't leave Crete to support him now. However, once the armies of the House of Augustus occupied the nearest Balearic Islands; Then Crete will be insignificant to the status of the Oscars and the Augustus family, and who makes the Balearic slingers not inferior to the existence of Cretan archers.

There are always so many things to worry about, and Oscar just thinks about it and falls asleep; The next morning, when the sun was already high in the sky, Oscar was ready to get up. It's been so busy lately that Oscar suddenly has the urge to lie down and sleep for the day; But impulses are just impulses after all, and Oscar still resisted his sleepiness.

After a little tidying up, Oscar took the generals to the conference room in high spirits; Today is the time for the last military conference. After this military conference is convened. The generals will also be busy with their own affairs; Oscar also needs to put aside the problems in the military for a while and start to deal with reform-related matters himself.

And today's topic is the establishment of auxiliary legions, which was not discussed last night; Once Sardinia officially began to reform, the seven thousand light infantry of the seven auxiliary regiments required by the seven standard legions would be very easy to recruit, and the three thousand five hundred slingers had already decided to be recruited after the occupation of the Balearic Islands, and the three thousand five hundred Cretan archers Oscar might arrive within six months. The only cavalry problem that was now lacking was solved after Oscar and Adheba became allies; The plan for the creation of auxiliary regiments looks ready for implementation.

Even so, the generals vaguely felt in their hearts that things should not be so simple; If things really came to the point where things came to pass, then Oscar had already announced the order to officially form an auxiliary legion at the meeting last night, and it would not be delayed until today to continue wasting time. Of course, these are just speculations in the hearts of the generals, and the real decision is still in the hands of Oscar.

At the beginning of the meeting, Oscar unreservedly told everyone present what he had thought about last night; He also asked the generals whether they intended to use the Numidian cavalry to form auxiliary legions, or to assemble the cavalry to form a large cavalry battle group. on this. The generals will also have a hard time making choices; The creation of auxiliary legions can greatly improve the combat effectiveness of each legion, but Hannibal's successful use of cavalry clusters in combat is also unforgettable.

In the end, it was Lucis who put forward his own opinion, and after thinking for a long time, Lucquius analyzed Oscar as follows: The establishment of a cavalry cluster is a necessary military act for a large force, and assigning a considerable number of cavalry to each legion is also a good strategy to improve the combat effectiveness of the legion; More critically. These two methods of using cavalry are not necessarily contradictory, and the Augustan family is now fully capable of combining the two.

With the establishment of trade between the House of Augustus and the Doge of Alexandria, it was soon possible for the House of Augustus to assemble an ironclad cavalry numbering up to two thousand; Coupled with the three thousand elite Numidian cavalry that Adheba should provide to the family in half a year, the family can completely use these five thousand cavalry to form a powerful cavalry battle group. That is, the Guards Cavalry Corps within the establishment. and the fifteen thousand horses and ten thousand herdsmen who were about to arrive in Sardinia, the Augustus family could use them to form seven thousand cavalry belonging to the auxiliary legions; And the remaining horses were handed over to the remaining herders to build a horse farm on Sardinia.

And so it goes. The House of Augustus not only possessed a powerful cavalry battle cluster, but also increased the combat effectiveness of each legion; Moreover, on a specific battlefield or terrain. The Augustan family can completely draw out all the cavalry in each auxiliary legion to form a super-large cavalry cluster to fight. If you simply gather all the cavalry in one organization, it will not only cause bloated formation, but also greatly limit the combat effectiveness of the cavalry; Rather than this, it is better to use the cavalry separately.

Luquis's suggestion and analysis did make sense, if the Augustus family really formed a large cavalry group of more than 10,000 cavalry; Then the logistical needs of this cluster are simply terrifying, and the combat effectiveness will be greatly limited. After all, there are not many battlefields suitable for tens of thousands of cavalry to fight, and it is indeed enough to form a cavalry corps with 5,000 cavalry.

Now that Luquis's suggestion convinced Oscar, the next step was to arrange for the establishment of the auxiliary legion; Because this time the Augustus family has already obtained 5,000 war horses, and from next month there will be a steady stream of war horses and herdsmen to send them. So, the specific plan for the Oscars is as follows:

The formation of the seven auxiliary legions was under the sole responsibility of the deputy commander-in-chief, Quintus. The legion commanders, Tetius and Segudus, assisted in the formation; The strength of each auxiliary regiment was two thousand five hundred, of which one thousand were light infantry, one thousand Numidian javelin cavalry, and five hundred Cretan archers. The seven legions were formed in two batches, the first of which was to form four auxiliary regiments by June; The second group formed three auxiliary regiments after June. Each auxiliary legion is concurrently commanded by a legion lieutenant general who is subordinate to the legion, and the annual salary of a standard 3,000 auxiliary legion soldiers is 30,000 gold coins per year.

After determining everything about the auxiliary legion, Oscar deeply felt the existence of the crisis; The original 3 million gold coins have been spent 1.7 million gold coins (1.4 million for government affairs, 400,000 for military expenses, and 100,000 for military schools), which does not include the military expenses of the Fifth Eagle Banner Legion, the Wild Boar Legion, and the Falcon Legion. Now, with the addition of the seven auxiliary legions, which still needs 210,000 gold coins per year, the Augustus family will soon be in danger of making ends meet.

Although Sardinia provides the Augustan family with a large amount of military weapons and supplies every year, it can also provide more than 240,000 gold coins of financial revenue; But the annual investment of up to 600,000 gold coins is also a burden that Oscar can't bear now! Once Oscar had taken all of these legions under his command, the Augustus family would spend at least 1,200,000 gold coins a year; This includes the cost of the naval fleet, but it also counts the military expenses of each main army into 70,000 gold coins. Ignoring the doubling of the military cost of the Eagle Banner Legion.

In short, the Augustan family alone was not enough to feed so many armies; In order to be able to have money to feed these armies a year later, Oscar had to choose to start a new war within a year. Otherwise, Hannibal would not have attacked at all. The vast army of the House of Augustus would also crumble when the funds dried up; Not to mention Oscar's so-called plan to control all the legions in the future, but it is just a castle in the air.

So, time for Oscar and the Augustus family is running out; It is one thing to increase the combat effectiveness of the legions as soon as possible, but it is more important that Carthage should start a war with Numidia before this year. As long as Carthage and Hannibal had no time to take care of them, Oscar had the opportunity to expand westward, bringing all of Carthage's overseas possessions under the rule of the House of Augustus before the war ended.

(To be continued.) )