Laguerraèlamigliore scuolachirurgo (War is the best school for surgeons)

- Hippocrates (ancient Greek physician, revered as the "father of medicine")

On August 25, 270 BC, Oscar, who had been in the barracks for nearly a month, finally returned to the Star of Casa; At this time, the weapons and equipment of the First Legion had been distributed, the basic training of the entire Legion had almost been completed, the Cretan elite troops had reached the Tyrrhenian Sea, and everything else had been arranged.

Now, all Oscar has to do is prepare for his engagement to Prisca in five days; To be honest, Oscar doesn't think this engagement is a big deal. However, the superficial procedure still has to go; Of course these are small things, and there is a big thing to do tonight. Because there is a top-secret piece of information from Carabes Jr. that is about to be delivered to the Casa Star tonight, Oscar is back.

Oscar, who returned to the mansion, saw the old butler who was already standing at the door to greet him, looked at the gray hairs on the head of old Carabes, and thought that he had just sent his old son out on an adventure; Suddenly, Oscar's heart was a little sad, and he felt a little sorry for this old man who had dedicated his life to the family.

So, Oscar, who jumped off the war horse, supported him without waiting for the old butler to bend down; Then he commanded to the other servants and butlers beside him: "From now on, old Carabes is a member of the family; Treat all of you as you would like to treat your master. After speaking, ignoring the old butler's struggle, he pulled the old butler into the mansion. No one noticed that there was a hateful look in the mansion staring at the old butler......

As soon as he entered the study, old Carabes broke free of Oscar's right hand, knelt on the ground with tears in his eyes, and choked up to Oscar: "How can the old slave He De let the master of the family treat the old slave like this?!" Ask the head of the family to take back his fate, how dare the old slave become a member of the Augustus family. “

Looking at the excited old Carabes, Oscar held him up hard, looked into his eyes and said seriously: "Old Carabes, your Carabess family has been loyal to the Augustan family for generations, and has served the Augustus family conscientiously for hundreds of years. You have long been a member of the House of Augustus, and all you lack is a name; When little Carabis comes back in the future, he will be a member of the family. From now on, your family of Calabes will be part of the House of Augustus for generations to come. “

Hearing Oscar's words, old Carabes was even more excited, and said with tears in his eyes: "O master of the house! You're tormenting our Carabes......" Before old Carabes could continue, Oscar interrupted him, "Don't shirk any more, I've made up my mind." Even if you don't think about yourself, think about little Carabes; He was born and died for the family outside, how could I not give him a stable rear?! Do you want little Carabis to be a housekeeper for the rest of his life? “

As soon as these words came out, the old butler who loved his son stopped talking, but wiped his tears while silently taking out the secret letter sent back by little Carabes. Oscar, who took the secret letter, took a look at it, and the seal of the secret letter was still intact, which showed that even if it was a secret letter sent by his own son, the old housekeeper did not open it without permission; This made Oscar's heart very satisfied, and his good impression of the old butler was one more point.

After opening the letter and looking at it, Oscar Boran changed color, and his face was very ugly and he continued to read it; After reading it quickly, Oscar gave a serious order to the old butler: "You quickly send someone to the Wolf Legion and the First Legion to gather eleven generals and others including Luquis, and go and bring all the previous information about the clan to me to see, hurry up." “

I don't know what his son said to the head of the house, but the old housekeeper who is aware of the seriousness of the problem didn't dare to ask more, and immediately did what Oscar ordered.

After Oscar looked at the information in the study alone for about half an hour, Luquis and the others came one after another, and even Tuka and Raka also came to the study; Seeing that everyone looked at him in confusion, Oscar didn't say anything, but continued to order the old butler: "Old butler, you go to Carters' Mansion and Richard's Mansion in person at once, and let the two families come to me secretly with you at once; Go ahead. “

After the old butler hurried out, Oscar handed the letter from little Carabis to Luquis, who was closest to him, and said, "After reading it, pass it on, and everyone will discuss it after reading it." After speaking, he stopped talking, and in the silent study only the sound of the secret message and the sound of Oscar turning over the information. Soon, MeSign was seen by everyone. Oscar said to the crowd:

"You don't need to know the source of this secret letter, but I can assure you that it is absolutely true; Now, the whole battle plan has not yet begun, and the red fleet of the Julius family has gone in the direction of Sardinia five days ago with half of the main forces of the most elite bull legions. Do you understand what that means? ”

"This means that the Julius family wants to land on Sardinia before us, as long as they occupy Calaris before us; Then, all the family's future plans will be frustrated. At that time, the family would have to go to Lower Sicilia without backup and preparation to fight Hannibal's legions; At that time, even if the family wins, it will be greatly damaged, and once it fails, the family will be completely reduced to a third-rate family. ”

Hearing Luquis say this, Tuka immediately shouted indignantly, "Why do we want to let the Julius family?!" Even if they defeat Callaris first, we can still annihilate them as if they were enemies! Tuka's words made the cunning Vipsani's eyes light up, and he also said to Oscar: "When the time comes, we will say that it is a ploy to be injured by mistake." ”

Oscar thought for a while and refused: "No, the republican ** regiment is all standard equipment, and it is impossible to be injured by mistake, and it is impossible for the four major families and the Senate to believe this kind of statement." If we can't think of an emergency response for a while, let's take a look at the latest information. ”

After speaking, Oscar took out the information, came to the map in the study with everyone, and began to analyze: "The latest intelligence shows that the Gallic barbarians have 2,000 Gallic infantry and 1,000 barbarian cavalry in the Gallic province of Shannei; The province of Veneto had an army of the same size, all under the command of the Gaul governor of the hill, Epredolix.

Although the training level of these 6,000 Gallic troops is not high, its commander Epredolix is a rare general in Gaul, and there are 2,000 cavalry in these 6,000 troops, which is indeed not easy to win for the republican ** regiment, which has always lacked cavalry. Moreover, recently Gaul has sent an expeditionary regiment to the border with the House of Julius.

The commander of the expeditionary legion was the famous Gallic general Lugotorix, who commanded the elite legions that had followed Lugotorix for a long time, with a total of 2,000 infantry, 1,000 javelin warriors, and 1,000 cavalry; Its combat effectiveness is no less than that of the Bull Legion of the Julius family. These factors may have led to the fact that the Julius family did not dare to amass too many troops on the Gallic border, and had to defend passively. It is highly likely that the Julius family wanted to make a detour to attack the city-state of Marseille in order to cut off the rear route of the Gallic army and flank the Gallic expeditionary army on both sides. ”

"But we can't pin our hopes on the possibility of the Julius family, this is a matter of life and death for the family, and there must be no luck." Luquis on the side said in a deep voice.

Oscar nodded and said, "Yes, we would rather believe this kind of thing than believe it." Because the defense of Sardinia at this time was extremely weak, with a total of only 1,000 militia and 1,500 temporary farmers, fighting under the command of Hamaca. And this Hamaka was only a centurion three months ago, so the opportunity is rare.

As for the present Lower Sicily, it is simply impregnable, although the governor of Lower Sicilia has only 1,000 javelinmen and 2,000 militiamen under his command; But Hannibal's corps was strengthened after the last battle. The current Hannibal legion has 2,000 Iberian infantry, 1,000 Numidian mercenary cavalry, 1,000 round shield cavalry, and 1,000 Balearic slingers; Not only that, but he also owns a full 24 war elephants!

Moreover, the Greek city-state province of Greater Sicily has recently strengthened its power; The new governor of the province was Dionysios of Sparta, and the entire provincial legion had been strengthened to 2,000 Greek infantry, 1,000 javelinmen, 1,000 archers, and 2,000 Greek militia. Therefore, the original plan to take advantage of the defeat of Hannibal's army after the occupation of the province of Greater Sicily by the Scipio family was basically hopeless. ”

Luquis frowned and said, "From the information we have, we have only one way out of the occupation of Sardinia; Otherwise, it would be absolutely impossible for us to complete the operation against Lower Sicilia without backup. Even if we succeed in the battle, we will suffer heavy losses; At that time, they would face the dual threat of the House of Scipio and the Greek city-states. ”

Having said that, the family's current predicament has basically been determined, and only by taking Sardinia ahead of the Julius family can we have a chance; Otherwise, the future is really too difficult. At this moment, the study room is particularly quiet, everyone is silent, desperately thinking of various feasible strategies in their brains.