What a liar gets is that no one believes him even if he tells the truth. Pen, fun, pavilion www. biquge。 info

- Aesop (Greek fabler, Phrygian)

The Egyptian fleet led by Nams had thirty triremes and eighty duplexes, as well as sixty transports, and such a large fleet sailing on the sea could be described as obscuring the sky; The naval fleet of the Kingdom of Carthage, which was cruising the waters off its harbor, fled without even having the courage to ask for its identity when it discovered the fleet of Nams.

It wasn't until this chilling fleet arrived on the periphery of the port of Carthage that the Carthaginian naval fleet inside reluctantly chose to surrender; After Nams sent some naval officers to control all the battleships of the Carthaginian navy, he began to let the transports full of Augustus's imperial army officers and soldiers slowly dock.

When all the soldiers of the four legions had landed in the port, the fleet of Nams began to evacuate the port of Carthage with the captured naval warships of the Kingdom of Carthage, and the new direction of Naams's march was the port of Numidia in the Kingdom of Numidia; This time, there were three missions for the Namus fleet, and in addition to transporting the officers and men of the four legions, it was also his task to completely destroy the Carthaginian and Numidian navies.

With the departure of the Namus fleet, the four Augustus Emperor** regiments who had landed in the harbor were about to begin their new mission; Before these four legions set out for the expedition this time, Oscar also appointed a clear commander for them, that is, the commander of the First Legion, Laka.

Until he joined forces with the armies of Spartak and Quintus, Raqqa was the rightful commander of the four legions; After rendezvous with Spartak or Quintus, Spartak and Quintus automatically became the supreme commanders of these legions, which was also a clear order given by Oscar, and Raqa was only the acting commander before Spartak and Quintus.

Whether acting commander or not, until the men of these four legions joined up with Spartak and Quintus, Raqqa was the undisputed sole commander of these four legions; Therefore, after the soldiers had landed at the port, Raqqa led the soldiers of the four legions to march in the direction of the city of Carthage, which was the first goal of Raqqa's army to land on the Kingdom of Carthage.

By the time the mighty four legions reached the city of Carthage, the senate of the Kingdom of Carthage had already received news of the port; Knowing that the army of Augustus had arrived, the senators of the Carthaginian Senate hurriedly organized the young men in the city to defend the city on the one hand, and sent dozens of cavalry to Vimina on the front line and the Hanno family in the south to ask for help.

Even if the Hanno family has the ambition to rule the Carthage Kingdom, it is just a struggle between the magnates within the Carthage Kingdom, and the invasion of the Augustan Empire is the real threat to the foundation of the Carthaginian Kingdom, and the elders of the Carthaginian Senate can still distinguish between them in this regard, and they can also make compromises.

Originally, the senators of the Carthaginian Senate thought that the army of the Augustan Empire would attack outside Carthage, but in fact, Raqqa had no intention of leading a large army to attack Carthage; Carthage City is the most prosperous city on the entire North African continent, and it will also be the core of Augustus' Empire in North Africa in the future.

In fact, there was no need for Raqqa's army to attack the city of Carthage, and under Raqqa's orders, Mahabal's Hannibal legion first came within two hundred meters of the Carthaginian wall; After that, Theophanes, the lieutenant of Hannibal's army, rode to a distance of fifty meters outside Carthage and told the temporary militiamen on the city walls about Hannibal's defeat of Sicily.

There were no walls on which the senators of Carthage sit, and no one would attack Theophanes, who was telling everything; After all, Theophanes is the younger brother of Hannibal, the Carthaginian god of war, and a warrior who once shed his blood for the Carthaginian kingdom.

It took Theophanes half an hour to open the gates of Carthage, with the young men who had been improvised on the city walls; After seeing the gates of Carthage slowly opened, Rakka and his legion lieutenant Primo also looked at each other and smiled, and then Rakka gave the order to the soldiers of the four legions to enter the city.

When the senators of the Carthaginian Senate were 'invited' out of the Senate by the soldiers of the Augustan Empire, the stunned expressions on their faces seemed to be in disbelief that the defenders of Carthage had surrendered without a fight!

Before the fall of Carthage, these elders of the Carthaginian Senate may have tried every means to prevent the Augustan army from occupying the city of Carthage; After all, only if the Kingdom of Carthage exists for one day, these elders of the Kingdom of Carthage can enjoy the supreme power for one day without impunity, and it is impossible for them to sit idly by and watch the Kingdom of Carthage be destroyed by the Augustan Empire.

Now that the city of Carthage has been captured by the troops of the Augustan Empire, the elders of the Carthaginian Kingdom have no further fighting**; Before Raqqa's words of surrender could be uttered, the once most honorable senators of the Carthaginian kingdom rushed to the feet of Raqqa, expressing their loyalty and admiration to the Augustan Empire and His Majesty the Oscar Emperor.

The last thing that the young Rakka wanted to see was such a spineless person, but his brother's admonition was still echoing in his ears before the expedition, and he could only pretend to be happy to help the elders of the Carthaginian kingdom, and promised them that they would also take their fortunes and become nobles of the Augustan Empire.

However, for the stability of the entire North African region and the absence of any turmoil in the future, Oscar had already formulated a policy to deal with these aristocratic and wealthy merchants who were willing to surrender; All nobles and wealthy merchants who are willing to surrender, as long as they are nobles or wealthy merchants with a fortune of more than 5,000 gold coins, their entire family will be emigrated to Sicily, this is a compulsory measure, it is an order!

Of course, there is no need for Raqqa to do these things now, and these things can be put on hold until the kingdoms of Carthage and Numidia are formally destroyed; Raqqa's first task was to completely wipe out the Carthaginian kingdom.

After the city of Carthage had become occupied by the Augustan Empire, Raqqa left Cassillo's Seventh Army to continue to defend the city of Carthage, and he himself led the remaining three legions to continue the march to Baissasien, south of Africa.

Without the Seventh Legion, the 30,000 troops of the three legions under the command of Raqqa were naturally not enough to conquer the Hanno family, which had 33,000 elite divisions; However, with the presence of Tahiti and the arrangement of the previous six years of the Augustan Empire, the conquest of the Baisasson region by the Augustan Empire was only a nominal conquest.

While Raqqa marched south with three legions, the Hanno family was also caught up in a fierce dispute; With the news of the Augustan Empire's invasion of the Kingdom of Carthage, the Hanno family was also divided into two factions.

The former felt that the Hannos should immediately expand their armaments in the Baisasine region in response to the invasion of the Augustan Empire, while the latter believed that the Hannos did not need to be used as a chariot; Moreover, the Oscar Emperor of the Augustan Empire was not a cruel and unkind monarch, as long as the Hanno family was willing to surrender, the Augustan Empire would definitely not do anything to the Hanno family.

While the former's supporters were fighting for the Kingdom of Carthage and the House of Hanno, the latter cited the examples of the ancient city-state of Syracuse and the Kingdom of Spain to demonstrate the benefits of surrender; Little Hanno himself also understands that the Hanno family does not have the strength to confront the Augustan Empire head-on, if it were not for the strong support of the Augustan Empire, where would there be today's Hanno family?

More importantly, little Hanno still has a good impression of the Augustan Empire in his heart; Whether it was the courtesy that little Hanno received on his trip to Sardinia, or the selfless assistance that the Augustan Empire had to the Hanno family, little Hanno was full of good feelings for the Augustan Empire, and little Hanno thought that being a grand duke of the Augustan Empire was not an unacceptable thing.

Although there is no concept of grand duke in the division of titles in the Augustan Empire, those who do good things still call the grand duke title of the grand duke above the first duke of the Augustan Empire the grand duke; Charles VII of the Kingdom of Spain was the Grand Duke of Spain of the Augustan Empire, and the Augustan Empire did not treat him badly, and he still lived a life of paper gold.

Little Hanno himself was a man without ambition, and before the Hanno family ruled the Baissasien region, little Hanno may have really had great ambitions to restore the family's glory; However, after really doing all this with the help of the Augustan Empire, little Hanno didn't like that kind of high-minded life, and he still wanted to live the old days of calling friends and drinking wine.

So, after getting everything he wanted, little Hanno gave all the power to Tahiti, and he himself went back to his old life; Now that the army of the Augustan Empire is overwhelmed, little Hanno doesn't think so much.

Ignoring the quarrel between the two factions, and without further consultation with Tahiti, Hanno the Younger abruptly announced at the Hanno Family Supreme Council that the Hanno family would surrender to the Augustan Empire; As for the conditions of surrender, little Hanno also casually said two, first, he himself must obtain the title of Grand Duke, and second, the Augustan Empire cannot harm anyone in the Hanno family.

In fact, even if little Hanno decided to resist to the end, it would be meaningless; Because before convening this Hanno supreme meeting, Tahiti had already consulted with the four main generals of the Hanno family, and they had all agreed to surrender to the Augustan Empire.

That is to say, even if these people of the Hanno family decide to resist to the end, they will not be able to mobilize a single soldier who nominally belongs to the Hanno family, which is the reality; Five days later, Raqqa led an army of three legions to the outside of Tapsus, and Hanno the Younger, with the high-ranking members of the Hanno family, opened the city gate and surrendered, and the Kingdom of Carthage was destroyed! (To be continued.) )