Death is not a strange thing, in fact, it is just the disintegration of the constituent elements of a bunch of living things. ±, since the elements themselves are not damaged in the process of changing things, then why should we worry and worry about the change and decomposition of all these elements that make up the human body?

- Marcus Aurelius (the only philosopher-emperor in Western history)

Half a month after Oscar's return to Calaris, Nepos, who had left the Balearic Islands for Spain a month earlier, finally returned; And it also brought back a result that made Oscar exceptionally satisfied. Originally, Oscar planned to borrow the Spanish port of Iberia for a landing and then launch an attack on Betica.

After this was done, the province of Betica was divided in two, with the eastern territory belonging to Spain and the western territory, including the capital Córdoba, belonging to the Augustan family. But in order to prevent the Kingdom of Spain from being unwilling to offend the Kingdom of Carthage, Oscar also gave the envoy a price of 200,000 gold coins; If Spain were unwilling to join forces, the Augustan family used the 200,000 gold coins to buy a day's use of the Iberian port and the toll of the Iberian province.

In Oscar's view, whether King Charles VII of Spain chose to divide the province of Betica or choose to accept 200,000 gold coins; For the Augustans, it was all a loss-making business. However, in order to give the Hannibal family their nest and base; Even if it costs more, the Oscars will accept it, and this is a strategic gain or loss that cannot be measured by anything else.

As long as Hannibal loses the Betica base that his family has built for two generations, then Hannibal will no longer have any strong support; In the last decisive battle of Lilibal, if Hannibal had not received a large number of troops from the province of Betica before the decisive battle. Hannibal's so-called elite army alone could not defeat the Roman army, which was overwhelmingly superior in numbers.

So. In order to cut off all of Hannibal's wings. In order to deal a devastating blow to Hannibal's forces; A must for the Augustus' attack on Betika. However, to Oscar's surprise, Nepos not only fulfilled the promise of bringing back King Charles VII of Spain, but also won more conditions for the Augustan family.

According to Nepos's report, he landed in the Iberian province of the Kingdom of Spain after his arrival in Spain; Originally, he had planned to travel all the way north from the province of Iberia to Asturiga, the capital of the Kingdom of Spain, in search of Charles VII. Unexpectedly, he arrived just as Charles VII was touring the country; Even more coincidentally, Charles VII's next stop was the city of New Carthage!

Of course, touring the country was nothing more than the official term used by the Spanish bureaucracy; In fact, it is a Charles VII hunting trip, and the lustful Charles VII wants to search for beautiful women all over the country. Whatever his intentions were. Anyway, he was going to arrive in New Carthage the day after Nepos arrived in New Carthage.

Upon learning of this, Nepos immediately asked the governor of the Iberian province of Matuginus, in his capacity as an emissary of the Roman Republic; Matuginus himself was one of the few hard-line powerful figures in the Spanish kingdom to sit on the throne of the governor by virtue of military exploits, otherwise he would not have been sent to be the governor of the Iberian province.

Geographically, the province of Iberia was the most vulnerable to attack by the Kingdom of Carthage; Before Joan of Arc was born, the province of Iberia had already become a colony of Carthage, otherwise how could the capital of the province of Iberia be called New Carthage? Later, Joan of Arc regained the province of Iberia, but did not change the name of New Carthage, as a warning.

Of course, Hannibal's family was not willing to lose the Iberian province, and after the elimination of Joan of Arc, Hannibal was ready to launch a new attack on the Iberian province; However, he was helplessly diverted by the sudden outbreak of the Second Punic War. Even so, the Hannibals were still eyeing the Iberian provinces; The Kingdom of Spain is well aware of this.

So. Nepos, after making his intentions known to Matusinus, was very much in favor of collaborating with the House of Augustus in Rome to eliminate the province of Betica of the House of Hannibal; At this time. Nepos had not yet offered a price, and Matuginus had not said anything on the subject. Because both understood that the decision on this matter was still in the hands of Charles VII.

In order to make a good impression, Nepos took out a full 10,000 gold coins to buy twenty high-class beauties in the city of New Carthage; At the welcome banquet of the nobles the next day, Nepos directly took out a gift of 40,000 gold coins and twenty beautiful women to Charles VII on behalf of the Augustus family, and flattered Charles VII as much as he could at the banquet.

This greatly satisfied the vanity of Charles VII, although Rome was far from Spain, and separated by the Gallic barbarians; But the strength of the Romans is well known. Even if the Romans lost to Hannibal on the battlefield, they were triumphant in other respects; Even the Gallic barbarians, who terrified the Kingdom of Spain, were defeated by the Romans, and lost their cities and territories; From this, you can see the strength of the Romans.

But even Rome, which was so powerful, took the initiative to send envoys to sing praises and deliberately welcome him Charles VII; Do you say this displeased the extremely vain Charles VII? In order to show the wealth of the Kingdom of Spain and the might of Charles VII himself, Charles VII, after accepting the gift from Nepos, returned a large gift of 100,000 gold coins to Nepos.

Nepos had a request for someone to come to the door, so naturally it was impossible to accept this great gift; But refusal also needs a way, at least to the satisfaction of Charles VII. So Nepos accepted this gift very happily, and then turned around and gave the 100,000 gold coins to the Kingdom of Spain free of charge; And declare that these 100,000 gold coins are a testimony to the friendship between the Kingdom of Spain and the House of Augustus!

Now Charles VII's vanity is not only satisfied, he is almost inflated! One can imagine how smoothly the next banquet went, but after the banquet, Nepos did not leave, but followed Matuccinus to meet Charles VII in private.

At this audience, Nepos had not yet spoken. Matuginus simply and clearly informed Charles VII of Nepos' intentions; Charles VII was incompetent. But he also knew that the Kingdom of Carthage was not something to be easily provoked. But. Thinking that the Kingdom of Carthage was at war with the Kingdom of Numidia at this time, the Augustan family must have been fully prepared since they had sent an envoy here.

What's more, Nepos' performance today is really very satisfying to Charles VII; Charles VII even felt that he would be embarrassed to face Nepos if he rejected the Augustan proposal. Therefore, Charles VII finally readily agreed to lend the port and road to the Augustan family; However, Charles VII also made it clear that the Kingdom of Spain was not involved in the war.

After getting the promise of Charles VII. Excited, Nepos continued to pretend to be calm and asked Charles VII what else he needed; And promised that as long as the Augustus family could be satisfied, they would try their best to meet it. Charles VII, though incompetent from the point of view of governing the country, was definitely a friend worthy of friendship.

He was very satisfied with Nepos's attitude, and Nepos's performance today was also very long-faced; Therefore, Charles VII was very generous in stating that the Kingdom of Spain had no conditions for this. Even Charles VII said that it was not easy for the Augustan family to travel long distances to transport soldiers, and the problem of grain and grass was provided by the Kingdom of Spain; Spain can provide a month's military rations for the 50,000 troops of the Augustan family for free!

However, Charles VII also stated that this gratuitous offer was not the attitude of the Kingdom of Spain, but a gift from Charles VII himself to Nepos; Such a decision of Charles VII was for Nepos. It's just that happiness came too suddenly, and I couldn't resist it at all! Nepos was grateful to Charles VII again and advocated flattery. He reluctantly left the residence of Charles VII.

Of course, this generosity of Charles VII certainly did not take into account the feelings of the Spanish aristocracy; It was with a grim face that Matuginus left the residence of Charles VII with Nepos. Although Matuginus strongly agreed with the Kingdom of Spain and the House of Augustus to eradicate the power of the Kingdom of Carthage in the Iberian Peninsula, he still resented Charles VII's generosity and reckless spending.

After listening to Nepos's narration, Oscar really felt that such a strange thing as Charles VII was really rare in ancient and modern times; However, Oscar, like Nepos, felt that this Charles VII was not suitable to be the king of a country, but he was very suitable to be a friend. Although the good news brought back by Nepos greatly contributed to the strategic development of the Augustan family, the bad news came uninvited.

According to the latest information sent by Betica from the Tragic Dead Soldier, the general under the command of Hannibal, who originally led 5,000 mercenaries to garrison Sicily, is also his younger brother; After learning of the fall of the Balearic Islands, he decisively took 5,000 mercenaries and went to the province of Betica under the escort of a huge fleet. Coupled with the original 6,000 elite garrisons in the province of Betica, Betica already has 11,000 elite Hannibal families.

If this were all there was to it, the two Augustan legions plus Licinius's Guards Cavalry Corps would have been able to settle the matter; However, after Margo's return to Betica, she immediately began a massive military expansion. He first expanded the provincial garrison from 6,000 to 8,000, and then recruited 15,000 Spanish mercenaries on the Spanish border; Its final total strength has reached 28,000!

Marco has not only the advantage of troops, but also the advantages of time, place and people; After all, the province of Betica has been under the rule of the Hannibals for decades, and it is almost impossible to change this situation easily. The people of the province of Betica were also staunch supporters of the House of Hannibal, who had completely forgotten their Spanish identity.

However, Marco's frenzied expansion of the army did not bring benefits to the Augustan family; At the very least, the Kingdom of Spain has been overwhelmed by Marco's expansion. After learning of Marco's frenzied expansion, Charles VII directly sent two of the most elite legions of the Spanish Kingdom to the two borders of the province of Betica and the Kingdom of Spain.

Among them, the army commanded by General Botcote, with an elite army of 15,000 Spaniards, was sent to the southern part of the province of Lusitania on the southern border between the province of Betica and Spain; The army commanded by the Duke of Dinoir, with an elite Spanish army of 10,000, was sent to the western part of the province of Iberia, the eastern border between the province of Betica and Spain.

In response to this situation, Oscar also made new military plan adjustments; Oscar ordered Luquis to immediately lead the First Army to the Spanish province of Iberia to join up with the Third Army of Segudus and the Fifth Army of Ronquina and the Cavalry Corps of Licinius, while the Fourth Army of Tetius temporarily served as a garrison of the Balearic Islands.

In this way, the army assembled by the House of Augustus would reach three main battle legions and three auxiliary legions, as well as the most elite cavalry legions, with a total strength of thirty-five thousand men; Coupled with the private support of the Kingdom of Spain, the Augustus family had already gained the upper hand before the war had even begun. The day after Oscar received information from Betica, Luquis boarded the ship with his legion.

Looking at the fleets in the distance, Oscar's heart was also mixed; Oscar is worried not only about the situation of the war at the moment, but also about the future of the Augustus family. After Luquis set off with the legion, Raka, who was the deputy general of the First Legion and the commander of the auxiliary legion, naturally also set off with the army; In this way, in addition to Oscar himself, both Tuka and Raqqa have already gone to the battlefield.

The crux of the matter is that the present House of Augustus is apart from Calis, who is not visible; The real bloodline members are the three Oscars, and if any accident happens, the Augustus family will even be in danger of cutting off their heirs. At this moment, Oscar suddenly felt that he should have a child; Tuka and Raqqa should also be married. (To be continued.) )