A truly wise person is one who is able to draw on the wisdom of others to keep himself from being blinded. Pen | fun | pavilion www. ｂｉｑｕｇｅ。 ｉｎｆｏ

- Socrates (famous ancient Greek thinker, philosopher, and educator)

It is impossible for the Augustians to conceal the signing of an armistice with the Kingdom of Carthage; And the Augustus family did not hide the meaning of the Numidian Kingdom at all, and even Quintus took the initiative to mention this matter to Adheba.

In fact, as early as Adheba learned that the Augustan family Zama had defeated Hannibal and his army in the battle, he understood that the war between the Augustan family and the Carthaginian kingdom was over, and the Numidian kingdom would soon lose the support of the Augustan family.

This is where the interests of the state lie between the states, the kingdom of Carthage, which has Hannibal, is the common enemy of the kingdom of Numidia and the family of Augustus; As a result, the House of Augustus and the Kingdom of Numidia were closely linked.

Now that Hannibal has been defeated and killed, will the Carthage kingdom that lost Hannibal still be the common enemy of the Numidian kingdom and the Augustan family? The answer is naturally no, the Kingdom of Carthage, which lost Hannibal, is not an enemy of the House of Augustus, at best it is just an obstacle for the House of Augustus.

And for the kingdom of Numidia, the kingdom of Carthage, with Hannibal, is an invincible existence; And the kingdom of Carthage, which lost Hannibal, is also a behemoth that should not be underestimated, and it will not be easy to defeat!

The question is, did the Augustus family choose not to intervene in North African affairs, or did they decide to intervene and increase tensions in North Africa? Adheba did not dare to make a presumptuous assertion about this, and just waited to wait and see how the situation changed.

After the two legions of Quintus joined up with the combined legions of Spartak, Quintus began to consult with Spartak on how to deal with the next development; Quintus felt that once the situation developed to the point where Adheba showed enough hostility to the Augustan family, his own army should strike first and start a war against the kingdom of Numidia!

Spartacus, on the other hand, rejected Quintus's suggestion, and in Spartakus's view, the two main states on the North African continent were the kingdoms of Numidia and Carthage; The struggle between the two is also at the heart of the changing situation in North Africa.

Whether it is the ambitious kingdom of Numidia or the rich kingdom of Carthage, it is impossible for them to have the strength to surpass each other in the short term, and it is impossible for them to completely defeat each other under the premise that the other party is prepared.

Therefore, as long as the two countries did not distinguish between the winners and losers, there was no need for the Augustus family to substantially intervene in the North African war; Otherwise, it will only consume the strength of the Augustus family and cheapen the other party.

Rather than getting involved in this war, it is better to get out of the way; After all, the powerful strength of the Augustan family was there, and the Numidian Kingdom and the Carthaginian Kingdom did not dare to take the initiative to be enemies of the Augustan family.

Compared with the newcomer Quintus, Spartak was more familiar with the situation in North Africa; It's just that Quintus still thinks that Spartakus's ideas are too conservative, and with the strength of the Augustan family, there is no need to have so many scruples at all!

However, before Quintus led the army to set off, Oscar had already explained to Quintus in advance; Quintus had to obtain Spartacus' consent for all operations on the North African continent, and at the very least, he had to inform Spartak that he was not allowed to act on his own.

Out of trust in Quintus, Oscar entrusted the Second and Sixth Legions to him; Quintus was not an impulsive man, and how could a general who could grow up under the teachings of old Scipio be a dull man?

The disagreement between Quintus and Spartak was only a difference in military philosophy, which did not affect their judgment of the situation or the close cooperation between them; Before there was no obvious change in the situation in North Africa, the military camps of the two were still tightly set up together, and everything was discussed and done by the two together.

This stability did not last long, and when the Numidian Kingdom sent spies in the Kingdom of Carthage to report on the large-scale expansion of the garrison of the Carthaginian province of Afrika and the garrison of Baissasien, Adheba could not sit still.

So far, Adheba has only the Ahmet and Salah legions, as well as the combined legions commanded by Spartak; The total strength of these three legions is only 50,000.

The Kingdom of Carthage, which originally had an army of nearly 70,000, had an advantage in terms of military strength; Now, the Kingdom of Carthage has begun a large-scale expansion of its army, with 30,000 new troops in the province of Africa alone, and the expansion of the province of Baissasien is not small.

In this way, the military strength of the Carthaginian Kingdom will soon usher in explosive growth, and if the Numidian Kingdom wants to continue to maintain its current strategic advantage, the corresponding military expansion is also indispensable.

However, expanding the army was not an easy task, and it was not difficult for Adheba's Numidian kingdom to recruit enough soldiers; However, it is not so easy to build enough weapons and equipment for these new recruits.

The kingdom of Numidia was not the kingdom of Carthage, and the Carthaginian kingdom itself had hardly been devastated by war; Even after Tulguta led his army into the Carthaginian kingdom itself, he did not enter the Afrika province of the Carthaginian kingdom.

In fact, the Afrika province of the Kingdom of Carthage not only had a huge population and vast wealth, but also countless workshops for the production of weapons and equipment and shipyards for building warships; And these are all things that the kingdom of Numidia does not have.

What made Adheba even more helpless was that the 30,000 troops newly formed by the Carthage Kingdom in the Afrika Province were not the weapons and equipment of the Carthage Kingdom at all, but the traditional Roman weapons and equipment!

With the current situation in the Western Mediterranean, in the entire Western Mediterranean, except for the House of Augustus, there is no other Roman power that can send weapons and equipment to the Kingdom of Carthage; Do you still need to wonder how these Roman weapons and equipment used by the Carthaginian kingdom came from?

Adheba was not a fool, and naturally he would not question the Augustus family for these things; In the face of the absolute disparity in strength, the questioning of the weak is just self-inflicted humiliation, and Adheba would never do such a stupid thing.

In Adheba's view, the reason why the Augustan family provided weapons and equipment to the Carthaginian kingdom was nothing more than because the Carthaginian kingdom was now in a weak position, and the Carthaginian kingdom offered a price that was enough to make the Augustan family happy; That's why the Augustan family will give so many weapons and equipment to the Carthaginian kingdom.

Now, the kingdom of Carthage, which was originally weak, is growing rapidly; If the Kingdom of Numidia is unable to increase its strength correspondingly quickly, then the Kingdom of Carthage will soon have the power to surpass the Kingdom of Numidia.

Such a situation is definitely not what the Augustan family wants to see, so Adheba decided to pay enough for himself in exchange for the support of the Augustus family in terms of weapons and equipment; As long as the advantages of the Numidian Kingdom over the Carthaginian Kingdom can be guaranteed, it is not impossible for the Augustan family to gain some benefits.

Adheba, who was resolute, immediately consulted with the Augustus diplomats in Numidia on the matter, who said that such matters must be reported to the head of the family before they could be answered; Instead of wasting time waiting, Adheba directly prescribed the conditions of the Numidian kingdom to this diplomat.

Adheba did not know what price the Kingdom of Carthage offered, but Adheba offered what he thought was the most favorable terms; The conditions of the Kingdom of Numidia were as follows:

As long as the Augustan family provides 10,000 weapons and equipment for the Numidian Kingdom, the Numidian Kingdom will correspondingly give back to the Augustan family 5,000 war horses and grain and grass materials worth 50,000 gold coins, as well as 50,000 gold coins of gold and silver treasures!

I have to say that the confrontation between the two kingdoms of North Africa did make the Augustan family, who reaped the benefits of the fishermen, make a lot of money; Last time, in the Kingdom of Carthage, the House of Augustus exchanged 30,000 people with old-fashioned weapons and equipment for 50,000 war horses from the Kingdom of Carthage.

Any idea what kind of business this is? It's a more lucrative deal than a robbery! The cost price of 30,000 old Roman weapons and equipment is only less than 100,000 gold coins, especially since these weapons and equipment were obtained by the Augustan family for free.

And how much is 50,000 war horses worth? In Rome, where there is an extreme shortage of war horses, the price of a war horse is at least about ten gold coins, which is still an ordinary war horse; Even in other places where there is no shortage of war horses, the price of a war horse will not be less than five gold coins, and fifty thousand war horses are conservatively estimated to be worth three hundred thousand gold coins!

As for the conditions offered by the Kingdom of Numidia, the Augustan family naturally would not refuse; With a cost of about 30,000 gold coins, why wouldn't the Augustan family be happy to exchange it for 50,000 gold coins of gold and silver treasures, 50,000 gold coins of grain and grass materials, and war horses worth tens of thousands of gold coins? This kind of business is something that the Augustus family can't ask for!

So, after the diplomat conveyed Adheba's meaning back to the Augustan family, Oscar personally ordered the Augustan family to provide 50,000 weapons and equipment to the Kingdom of Numidia at one time, and the Augustus family's profit was as high as more than 500,000 gold coins, which was simply a robbery-like exchange!

With a large number of weapons and equipment provided by the Augustus family, the Numidian kingdom of Adheba also began a new round of expansion; Salah's legion and Ahmet's legion have been expanded to 30,000 men, the combined legion's desert legion and cavalry legion have also been expanded to 10,000 men, and Adheba has created a new 20,000-strong Guards legion! (To be continued.) )