The world is a book, not to be abundant from travel, but to rest for the soul.

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

The dinner party at the Maxentius family was not rich, but it was lively; A large family gathered to eat and drink together, and the atmosphere was particularly warm. After the dinner in the evening, the three Oscars lingered for a long time before returning to the House of Augustus; Even Mingyue was very cordial to the daughters of the Maxentius family, so you can imagine how happy everyone was getting along today.

Back at the family mansion, Mingyue actually offered to sleep with Prisca tonight, which made Oscar once again reluctant to choose to stay alone in the empty room; However, this also happens to be convenient for the Oscars. Because the latest information on the Greek Peninsula will arrive tonight, Oscar still needs to deal with these matters, and he doesn't have much time to spend with Prisca.

After sending Prisca and Mingyue back to the bedroom, Oscar goes to the study; At this time, several parchment scrolls were already placed on the desk, which should be the latest information sent back this time. So, Oscar picked up a parchment roll and began to look at it; The information on this parchment scroll is about Pyrus of the Kingdom of Epirus, and it is not very related to the Augustus family, but it is enough to make Oscar's scalp tingle.

A small kingdom of Epirus was supposed to be the weakest in the eyes of all; Even in the military plans of the Roman Republic, their country was simply the site of battle between the Roman army and the Macedonian army. As a result, the situation has now changed so dramatically, and this small country, which originally had only a few thousand troops, has become the most powerful military power in Greece!

Although nearly half of its army was hired, the army totaling nearly sixty thousand was still a formidable force; This is already equivalent to the total strength of nine Roman legions, and they are all super armies with far superior weapons and equipment to the Roman legions. This change had completely changed the balance of power in Greece, and even the mighty kingdom of Macedonia had to retreat from the forces of the kingdom of Epirus.

Of course, this does not mean that the Kingdom of Epirus can really dominate the Greek region, after all, neither the Macedonian Kingdom nor the Greek city-states are vegetarians; They are just unwilling to go toe-to-toe with the Kingdom of Epirus, and they are afraid that they and the Kingdom of Epirus will be taken advantage of by a third party after both defeats. However, this did not mean that they were afraid of the tens of thousands of troops of the kingdom of Epirus; If Pyrrhus of the Kingdom of Epirus wanted to take the initiative to attack the Kingdom of Macedonia or the Greek city-states, then these two countries would definitely destroy the Kingdom of Epirus as quickly as possible.

Never underestimate the heritage of any country that has survived for hundreds of years. Even the weak kingdom of Epirus can pull out an army of 60,000 in an instant under the accumulation of hundreds of years, do you think that the Greek city-states, the Kingdom of Macedonia and other countries that are far more powerful than the Kingdom of Epirus will be inferior to him? In the case of the Roman Republic, Hannibal annihilated the Roman army three times; And the results are more brilliant each time, and the annihilation of the army is more numerous than the last. The result?

As a result, the Roman army fought more and more. From the first five legions were wiped out by Hannibal, and then the Roman Republic formed ten more legions; Now that the ten legions have been exhausted, the Roman Republic has formed another fifteen legions, not counting the family legions of the five great families. Even if this time the Roman Republic was defeated again, and the fifteen legions were again gone; As long as the foundations of the Latin provinces do not move. The Roman Republic could also pull out more legions, and that's the bottom.

Needless to say, this was not only the Roman Republic, but also the Greek city-states and the Macedonian kingdom, and even the Kingdom of Carthage. However, these are mainly reflected in civilized countries, such as Gaul, Germanic and other barbarian peoples, which are far inferior to civilized countries in this respect. Even so, do not blindly think that any country or nation is weak; Because their ability to exist speaks for itself.

Therefore, with the wisdom of the brothers Pyrrhus and Pylos, they would not easily start a war against anyone; Because both the Romans. Neither the Macedonians nor the Greeks were anything to be matched by the kingdom of Epirus. However, if anyone wants to be the first to attack the kingdom of Epirus, then he will have to weigh whether he can afford the loss; After all, the current kingdom of Epirus is a militarily powerful country.

After reading this first piece of information, Oscar picked up the second piece of information; This information is still from the Greek region. However, this time it is closely related to the Augustan family; Hannibal did not attack the Greek city-state of Greater Sicily, as expected, and renewed his alliance with the Greeks. What is even more terrifying is that the Greek city-states have already drawn warships from their homeland to form a powerful fleet to Sicily; The fleet even transported a brand-new Greek legion to Sicily.

In fact, Oscar doesn't care much about the so-called Greek Legion, it is true that the combat effectiveness of the Greek Elite Legion is indeed very strong. Otherwise, the Greek city-states would not have coexisted peacefully with the mighty Macedonian kingdom to this day; But because the Macedonian kingdom had put so much pressure on the Greek city-states, it was impossible for Greece to transfer its elite legions from the mainland to the province of Greater Sicily.

The average third-rate Greek legion was an army of peasants, and its combat effectiveness was simply miserable; Moreover, the weapons and equipment are still very poor, and they are simply vulnerable on the battlefield. In the last Lilibal decisive battle. The performance of the Greek team has made Oscar deeply experienced, and it is definitely the best choice for pit teammates; But what upset Oscar was the expeditionary fleet sent by the Greeks this time.

As a peninsular country like Rome, the Greek city-state also had a very strong navy; At least in the entire Aegean Sea there is no country whose navy can be compared with the Greek Navy. Even the mighty Seleucid Empire and the Macedonian kingdom did not dare to compete with the Greeks in terms of navy, plus the island of Rhodes, the main maritime communication route in the Aegean Sea, was also the territory of the Greeks; This made the Greek Navy even more invincible.

Moreover, the strategic advantage of the Greek navy has always dominated the Aegean Sea, and it has also trained a large number of excellent naval generals for the Greek city-states; Pallas, who led the expeditionary fleet to Sicily, was one of them. But. Oscar, though apprehensive; But it is also far from the level of anxiety. In Oscar's view, the union of the Greek city-states with Hannibal was nothing more than a stopgap measure for both sides.

The Greek city-states wanted to keep their province of Greater Sicily under Hannibal's iron footage, and Hannibal wanted to obtain from the Greeks a Greek fleet strong enough to defeat the Roman navy; But will the two sides really work together? Definitely not! Moreover, the Greeks would do everything they could to thwart Hannibal's decisive battle with the Roman navy; This is not to say that the Greeks are holding their allies back professionally, but that everyone has their own interests.

The core interest of the Greek city-states was to keep Greater Sicily, while Hannibal's need was to attack Rome proper; On the surface, the interests of the two countries do not conflict, but they are directly related at the root. Previously, the Greek city-states had been staunch allies of Hannibal. Because the continued strength of the Roman Republic had made the countries of the Greek Peninsula feel a strong pressure; So they chose to support Carthage to fight Rome.

Unexpectedly, Hannibal was more powerful than everyone imagined, he not only succeeded in stopping the development momentum of the Romans, but also defeated the Romans one after another; It has even developed to the point that as long as Hannibal can land on Rome proper, then the Romans may be in danger of being destroyed by the country that Hannibal has beaten. Is this a good thing for the countries of the Greek peninsula? Of course not!

Although the Romans made the Greek regional states feel threatened. But it didn't attack the Greek region after all; Hannibal's aggressiveness was so strong that his success became more and more threatening to the Greeks. This led directly to the Greeks reneging on their alliance with Hannibal and turning to attack Hannibal with the Romans; However, the huge numerical superiority did not work at all, and Hannibal still won the victory.

So. With this victory, the Greeks would do everything they could to thwart Hannibal's attack on Rome itself; Otherwise, the lips and teeth will be cold! With Hannibal's belligerent nature and the strong combat effectiveness of his army, sooner or later the mainland of the Greek city-states would face Hannibal's attack; Even, Hannibal's excellent battlefield command ability and brilliant victories have reminded countless people of another man who is also almost invincible on the battlefield, that is Alexander the Great!

With these factors in mind, as long as the Greeks were not in their brains, they could not have really assisted Hannibal in his battle against the Roman fleet; On the other hand, if the Greeks were genuinely cooperating with Hannibal, there would be no need for them to send Pallas to command the fleet. To know. Theopodides, the commander of Hannibal's fleet, was also one of Carthage's rare admirals; With his talent, he could command the combined fleet of Greece and Hannibal, so why did the Greek city-state send Pallas? It's not about dragging Hannibal back by relying on Pallas's abilities.

Taken together, Oscar's concerns about the Greek expeditionary fleet are not very great; But it was the Kingdom of Epirus that worried Oscar. Once the Brutus family failed in their attack on the Kingdom of Epirus, the southern part of the republic would become an undefended region; Needless to say, the Kingdom of Epirus will definitely not give up such a good opportunity, and they will definitely take advantage of their superior navy to attack the south of the republic.

Don't think that the unwillingness of the Greek city-states to help Hannibal against the republic means that the Greeks have no ambitions for Rome, and there are still many accounts between the Greeks and the Romans! The origin of the Romans was only the city of Rome, and the northern Etrusa and Ubria were obtained during the kingdom during the war with the barbarians; So how did Apria and Brution in the south come from? Could it be that he went to the Universe Federation to charge the phone bill?

Of course not, it was all part of the former Greek city-states; It's just that the Greek city-states at that time were still very loose alliances of city-states, and wars often broke out between themselves. Each city-state is centered on its own city, and does not care about anything outside of its own city-state. It just so happened that the Romans took advantage of the situation and annexed all the Greek city-states in the southern part of the Apennine Peninsula by various breakthroughs; This is the current territory of the Republic.

Therefore, there was a deep grudge between the Greek city-states and Rome; But. In a way, the Greek city-states owe it to the Romans. If it weren't for the Romans' annexation of countless small Greek cities in the Apennines, would the Greek city-states have been able to unite to form the Greek city-states today? It is also worth mentioning that the present Greek city-state was an alliance of Greek states led by the city-state of Sparta; This does not include the prestigious city-state of Athens, which remained a separate state from the Greek city-states and the Macedonian kingdom.

(To be continued.) )

PS: Roman life is coming to an official end, and these chapters are the foreshadowing of the next developments; It's not exciting. But it's not boring either. After returning to Sardinia, the pace will become faster, I hope that book friends can continue to support Chasing the Wind and continue to support "Empire", thank you!