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- Gaius Pliny Cecilius Secondulu (Roman Patriarch and Writer)

Since the first armies to land were the 1st Army and the Samonai Army, it did not take long to get all the infantry of both corps ashore; However, the 1,000 Numidian cavalry of the auxiliary corps of the 1st Army was extremely difficult to land. Because small boats could not transport war horses at all, and transport ships could not get close to the landing site.

In addition to this, the equipment brigade to which the First Army belonged was also a problem; Even small boats that could not transport war horses could not transport ballistae and stone crossbows ashore. In addition, there were still a large number of grain and grass materials in the transport fleet that could not be transported ashore in a short time, so Oscar had to lead the landing army to take the port of Upper Sicily as soon as possible in order to successfully complete the landing.

In fact, the port of Upper Sicilia at this time was not very far from the landing point of the army of the House of Augustus, and it took less than ten days to arrive; This is still a land speed, and if it is at sea, it will only take three days to reach it. However, it is not so easy to really take this port.

First of all, there is the question of the defense of this port; In order to ensure the security of Sicily, Hannibal himself had a sizable army stationed in each of Sicily's three ports. Even if these armies are just newly recruited militiamen, they are commanded by elite veterans of Hannibal's battle, and their combat effectiveness should not be particularly bad.

Coupled with the fact that the task of these militiamen was only to defend the port, with their familiarity with the port, even if the Augustus fleet could successfully capture the port, the price to pay would not be small. If it's just a matter of paying the price, then Oscar might have put up with it; After all, what the House of Augustus lacked now was time.

However, things are far from that simple; You must know that in addition to Hannibal's defenders, Sicily also has a combined fleet formed by Hannibal and the Greek city-states. Whether or not there was a real disagreement between Hannibal and the Greek city-states, the existence of this fleet was beyond doubt.

This huge fleet, consisting of four triremes, twelve twins, and twenty-eight transports under the command of Hannibal and two five-riremes, four triremes, ten twins, and twenty transports under the command of Hannibal, was still very strong; In addition, the famous Greek admiral Pallas was in charge of the fleet, and its combat effectiveness was not inferior to the expeditionary fleet of the Augustan family.

Although the naval strength of the House of Augustus could have assembled a more powerful fleet to fight this fleet, Oscar was not willing to do so; This decisive battle against Sicily is a life-and-death battle between the Augustan family and Hannibal, and it is also a decisive battle with all his might, and it is also a decisive battle that cannot be affected by any external factors!

Prior to this, the reason why Oscar was so bold to hand over the Augustan family's navy to Namus was so that the Augustan family's navy could defeat the navy of the Roman native forces as quickly as possible, in preparation for the next decisive battle in Sicily.

Naams's ability proves that Oscar made the right choice, but Oscar is not going to risk a decisive battle with Hannibal's fleet; If something happened in the decisive battle of the fleet, what would happen to the army of House Augustus? Is it possible to fly directly from Sardinia to Sicily?

In fact, the commander of Pallas, who came from the Greek city-states, also understood that he would not take the initiative to fight the Augustus navy for the benefit of Hannibal unless he had to, after all, it was the blood of the Greeks; However, if the fleet of the Augustians approached the port of Sicily, Pallas would have no choice but to make a hard choice.

Based on this common tacit understanding, Oscar decisively chose to land hundreds of miles away from the port of Upper Sicily; In this way, the Augustus family could force back the fleet under the command of Pallas by taking the port from land, and then let their fleet land in the port of Upper Sicilia without any problems.

In other words, as long as the landing army of the Augustus family can successfully take the port of Upper Sicilya, then the landing speed of subsequent reinforcements will be greatly improved, and the cavalry units and equipment units of each legion can also successfully land.

The day's landing finally ended at nightfall; Fifteen hundred family guards led by Nusis and 6,000 hoplites of the First Legion and 8,000 soldiers of the Samonai Legion had successfully ascended to Upper Sicilya. Even the auxiliary legion of the First Legion, in addition to the 1,000 cavalry, landed 1,000 light infantry, 500 archers, and 500 slingers.

After ascending to Upper Sicilya, Oscar did not immediately let the soldiers start the march, but ordered all the soldiers to camp on the spot and rest; After all, everyone has been adrift at sea for several days, and if they don't take a good rest, the combat effectiveness of the entire army will still decline.

In addition, tonight, Oscar still has to negotiate the specific battle plan with Mary, Luquis, Antio, Nussis, Raqqa and others; You know, there is still a city between the landing site and the port. The city was not large, but it was garrisoned by thousands of town defenders; This small city must be taken in time to successfully capture the port.

After giving the order to camp and recuperate, Luquis and other commanders began to command their soldiers to set up camp; Oscar, on the other hand, watched with Mary as the busy soldiers discussed the next battle plan that should be implemented in advance. Because Oscar's own camp was guarded by the guards, Oscar and Mary were also discussing near the guards.

Oscar's intention to land here was known to Mary for a long time; But after landing, Mary questioned the original plan. I saw Mary take the lead in suggesting to Oscar: "Oscar, after careful thinking along the way, I think it's better for us not to act according to the original plan." ”

Oscar didn't expect Mary to say such a thing as soon as she opened her mouth, so she frowned and asked, "Why?" You must know that the original plan has been negotiated by us a long time ago, if we don't immediately take the port with all our strength according to the original plan, then how will our follow-up reinforcements land, and how will the cavalry troops and equipment troops on those transport ships land? ”

Hearing Oscar's series of questions, Mary shook her head thoughtfully and said, "Oscar, my meaning is not to give up the attack on the port; It's about changing the way we attack. The main garrison of Upper Sicilia was no more than four thousand elite cavalry of the Huskidubas, but they were only stationed in the city of Messina, and it was impossible to reach the port for a while.

In the other cities and ports, Hannibal's garrisons were nothing more than a mixture of large militias and a small number of veterans; Such an army is very weak in combat effectiveness, and as long as we strike with a thunderbolt, we can easily defeat them. The crux of the matter is that we must complete the occupation of Upper Sicilia in the shortest possible time.

If we had continued to take a small city and a port with all our forces as originally planned, our victory would have been assured, but it would not have been easy to dare to take all of Upper Sicilia before Hannibal's return; After all, the distance from the port to the city of Messina is real, and it is simply impossible for us to take Messina within half a month after taking the port! ”

Mary's explanation made Oscar suddenly realize that Mary's idea was to change the original plan and take Upper Sicilia as soon as possible; Thinking of this, Oscar confidently said to Mary:

"Then what you mean is that we will no longer attack the port with all our forces, but divide the army in two; One of the armies immediately rushed to the port and took the port according to the original route. The other army, not taking part in the war against the port, marched directly from here to Messina; Is it? ”

Oscar's talent in military affairs is still good, just a little bit of Mary, Oscar immediately understood what Mary meant; Thinking about it, Oscar still thinks that Mary's suggestion makes a lot of sense. The above garrison of Sicily does not need to waste military strength in vain at all, it is better to divide the troops and fight and speed up the occupation of Upper Sicilya!

The negotiation between Oscar and Mary was only a preliminary discussion, and after nightfall, Oscar negotiated the matter in detail with Lucis and other generals in his military tent; Luquis strongly agreed with this, after all, the number of defenders in Upper Sicilia was there, and the army of the Augustus family still had an absolute advantage after the division of troops.

Since everyone agrees with this suggestion, Oscar also adjusted the original battle plan; After the adjustment, the army of the Augustus family was officially divided into two, with the strength of the five brigades of Luquis's First Army (480*5=2400) and the strength of the three brigades of the Samonai Army (3000) to form a partial division, led by Luquis himself, to seize the port.

The remaining seven brigades of the 1st Legion (480 * 6 + 720 = 3600) and the two thousand men of its auxiliary legions, as well as the five brigades of the Samonai Legion, plus the guards, will form the main army, led by Oscar himself, directly from the landing point in the direction of the city of Messina.

In fact, the distance from the landing point to the city of Messina was also very long, a journey of almost twenty days; There were seven cities in Upper Sicilya. In addition to the six ordinary cities, the seventh was the only military fortress in Upper Sicilia, the southern barrier of Messina, with five thousand troops stationed inside! (To be continued.) )