Those who cannot even control their own destiny have no freedom to enjoy.

- Epictetus (famous Roman philosopher)

Whether Varus and Cecil know Flavies's dilemmaRabinus does not know, but Rabinus understands why Flavis suddenly convened a military conference, and can understand what kind of choice Flavis is facing now. However, these things are not something that you can participate in casually; Otherwise, if it has an adverse impact on the Julius family, it will really be a blessing and a curse.

When the three of them arrived at Flavis' tent, they kept their due silence, and Flavis did not care about the silence of the three captains; Instead, he asked the three army commanders, "Three generals, now our army has reached the vicinity of the northeastern passage of the Alps; At the moment, we have two choices, you all share your opinions, and we can discuss it together. ”

This made the three legion commanders look at each other without knowing what to do; You know, Flavis has always been in the habit of asking questions. Generally speaking, when Flavies makes plans or makes choices, he can do it alone; At most, it's almost like discussing it with one or two confidant generals, how could he ever ask the generals what they mean like this?

However, this is just the thoughts of the three of them; Now that Flavis has spoken, there is still no escaping what should be said. With the experience of the last family military meeting, all three of them knew this; So, the three of them began to think about how the army of the Julius family should be chosen in view of the current situation and the comparison of enemies in different directions.

Under the gaze of Flavis, Varus was the first to end his thoughts, and stood up and said: "Your Excellency, Leader, two generals; I think we're going to have to march to the Salzburg barbarian tribes to the northeast first. It seems to me that the Illyrian kingdoms of the East were far inferior to the Salzburg barbarian tribes, both in military strength and in war potential; So, I think we should attack the barbarians first! ”

Hearing Varus say this, Flavies was curious; He also asked in surprise: "General Varus, I can understand that you think you should first march to the barbarian tribes of Salzburg in the northeast; Only, why do you think that the Kingdom of Illyria is inferior to the Salzburg barbarians in terms of military strength and war potential?

Although the combat effectiveness of the barbarian army is not weak, the army of the Illyrian Kingdom is also stronger than the barbarian army in terms of weapons and equipment; In addition, the population of the Kingdom of Illyria is much larger than that of the Salzburg barbarians, and the army that can be recruited should be no worse than the Salzburg barbarians, why do you despise the Illyrian Kingdom so much and value the Salzburg barbarian tribes? ”

Flavies's question was based on his own previous thinking; In Flavis's opinion, isn't it because the strength of the two enemies is not far apart? Why did the Salzburg barbarians have a better war potential than the Illyrian kingdom in Varus's eyes? This made Flavis particularly curious.

Since Varus had proposed such a plan, and had given his reasons, he had already had a draft in his mind; After Flavies had asked his question, Varus continued: "Your Excellency, we all know that the Kingdom of Illyria was a vassal state founded by the descendants of the Greeks during the time of Alexander the Great; It is also a rare civilization outside the Apennine Peninsula and the Greek Peninsula.

This means that the Kingdom of Illyria not only has the common diseases of civilized nations, but also has the indelible character flaws of the Greek nation; I believe that as long as our army reaches Selgistica, the capital of the Kingdom of Illyria, the vast majority of the people of the Kingdom of Illyria will cowardly choose to surrender instead of resisting life and death like the barbarians.

People in civilized countries will always mix more balance of interests and life and death worries in their own character, and the merchant nature of the Greeks who seek good fortune and avoid misfortune in their bones cannot disappear; Therefore, when our army is really under the city of Ségistica, there will definitely not be many people in the Kingdom of Illyria who will finally stand up and fight against us, and there will even be many Illyrians who will voluntarily surrender to us.

This is still on the premise that we are not coerced or induced, and if we take some more measures, the result may be much easier. After our army entered the kingdom of Illyria, the king of Illyria could not defend against our attack except by recruiting a large army to defend the capital; This is exactly what will give us a rare opportunity.

For the king of Illyria could temporarily recruit tens of thousands of troops to gather in Ségistica, but it was impossible for him to include all of their families in the city of Ségistica; As long as we take advantage of their families a little, I don't think we need to attack yet, and a revolt in Selgystika could break out enough to destroy the kingdom of Illyria! ”

Varus's words were said by several people present who were impressed by him, everyone really didn't expect that Varus, who was usually unknown, would have such a mind and come up with such a damaging solution! Facing the gazes of the others in the tent, Varus did not feel the slightest embarrassment; Instead, after sorting out his thoughts, he continued to analyze:

"In contrast to the situation of the Kingdom of Illyria are the barbarian tribes of Salzburg, who do not have as many gains and losses and balances of interests as civilized people in their thinking; As long as we do attack them, no matter what else we do, they will fight us to the end, which is really not worth it for us!

So, my opinion is that we should immediately move north; Advance north from the northeastern passage of the Alps and defeat the Salzburg barbarian tribes with lightning speed and capture Salzburg, the main settlement of the Salzburg barbarian tribes. In this way, we will be able to take the Norikum area with minimal losses; Then, with the superior army, go south to complete the conquest of the kingdom of Illyria! ”

When Varus had finished speaking, Flavies smiled and nodded; I don't know if I agree with Varus's march or praise Varus's performance. The one who stood up and spoke was Cecil who stood behind Varus, who was also the commander of the legion who was promoted by Flavis at the same time as Varus, and naturally had ability; Here's how he sees it:

"Your Excellency, my opinion is in line with that of General Varus, and I am also in favor of taking the lead in marching northeast and launching a surprise attack on the barbarian tribes of Salzburg. As for the reason, General Varus had just analyzed in detail the reasons for not attacking the Kingdom of Illyria first; I'll add a single reason to attack the Salzburg barbarian tribes first.

As we all know, there were no Salzburg barbarian tribes in the Norikum region, which was nothing more than a deserted no-man's land; Later, with the passage of time, some small Celtic tribes gradually migrated to the Norikum region for survival reasons, and they can be regarded as the first inhabitants of the Norikum region.

At this time, there was no strong enough power in the Norikum region, and no tribe could become superior to other tribes; It wasn't until a powerful tribe of the Germanic barbarians also migrated to the Norikum region that a powerful existence that unified all the barbarian tribes in the entire Norikum region really appeared!

The Salzburg barbarian tribes, which were mainly composed of the Germanic migratory tribes of those years; If we had launched an attack on the kingdom of Illyria first, it would have been possible for the Salzburg barbarian tribes who had reacted to ask for help from the Germanic barbarians north of Norikum while preparing for war themselves. This is absolutely unacceptable to our family!

Therefore, we must destroy the barbarian tribes of Salzburg before they react, and completely conquer the whole Norikum region; Otherwise, if we come into conflict with the Germanic barbarians, the consequences will be unimaginable. You know, the Germanic barbarians are many, much more powerful than the Gallic barbarians! ”

Cecil's line of thought was something that Flavies hadn't thought of before, but it did make a lot of sense; With the analysis of these two people, the balance in Flavis's heart has begun to slowly favor the first attack on the Salzburg barbarians. Before making a formal decision, Flavis turned his attention to the one he valued the most, Rabinus, who had not yet spoken.

Facing Flavis' gaze, Rabinus decided to stand up and speak his mind; Although Rabinus was not going to meddle in this matter, Varus and Cecil had already said so much, so naturally he couldn't say nothing! So Rabinus stood up and said to Flavis:

"Your Excellency, I don't think we need to worry about who to attack first; Why don't we attack the Salzburg barbarians and the Illyrian kingdom at the same time? Our plan for this crusade is, in the final analysis, a sneak attack plan; Before the enemy is even aware of it, launch a deadly attack on the enemy.

The size of the three legions was so large that it would almost certainly be discovered on the march as they advanced into the enemy's territory; Therefore, when we enter the territory of the enemy, it is inevitable that we will speed up the march. In this respect, our marching speed can also be greatly increased after the division of the army; This is extremely beneficial to our offensive.

Moreover, our main offensive plan this time was to take the enemy by surprise; Since the enemy is caught off guard, isn't it enough for us to use more than one legion to destroy their few standing armies? As long as we don't give the enemy a chance to recruit new recruits, we can completely destroy the enemy with the strength of a legion; That's what really avoids serious casualties. ”

Rabinus's words make sense, and although there is a possibility that the tide of battle may change unpredictably, it can also be unprecedentedly successful; War is an adventure, and no matter what you choose, there are risks. Looking at the confident Rabinus, Flavies decided to believe him for once; Let him be the protagonist of this war! (To be continued.) )