Whoever wants to eat nuts must break open the hard shell.

- Plautus (the most important comedy writer of ancient Rome)

With the support of Sulla and Pompey, it meant that the Brutus family could wage a war on a grand scale; Even if the enemy of this war is Pyrus and his Epirus Kingdom, the generals of the Brutus family are full of confidence, after all, the Brutus family at this time is not the Brutus family of the past, and the growth of the family's strength is the biggest confidence in the hearts of every general.

Since Sulla and Pompey could solve the problem of the Brutus' lack of transportation capacity, the next thing to discuss was the sending of legions and generals; The current Brutus family has a full ten heavy legions and ten auxiliary legions, and most of them will definitely go on the expedition, but some will be left behind.

Tiberius stood up again in the expectant eyes of the generals, and said slowly to meet the generals' gaze: "Generals, our Brutus family, as one of the top families of the Roman Republic, has been one of the protagonists on the stage of the Republic for hundreds of years; This is the glory of our Brutus family, and it is also the criterion that spurs our descendants to fight for the family!

But our glorious Brutus family suffered a humiliating defeat a few months ago; Our enemy, the unknown king of Epirus, Pirus, has wiped out the 30,000-strong army of our Brutus with an army of almost the same number as our Brutus family.

This is the defeat and disgrace that our Brutus family has never suffered since its birth, but we, the members of the Brutus family, can only choose to lie down and taste courage under the great might of the enemy; Now that our brave and fearless Brutus family has once again regained its rightful strength, shouldn't we stand up bravely and defend the glory of our Brutus family? ”

As Tiberius made this formal declaration of war, all the generals of the Brutus family present showed a look of great guilt and excitement; On the contrary, the four commanders appointed by Sulla and Pompey did not feel anything about this, but still sat calmly in their places.

The calmest, of course, were Sulla and Pompey; Although they always had a slight smile on their faces, the Gujing Wubo emanating from their bones could be felt by anyone. Tiberius, of course, could also find the unusually calm of the six people here; However, Tiberius didn't care about any of this, as they weren't pure members of the Brutus family.

In Tiberius's mind, the relationship between the Brutus family and Sulla and Pompey was nothing more than the simplest of partnerships; Sulla and Pompey provided the Brutus family with a great deal of financial and other support, and the Brutus family gave the two men what they wanted in return at the right time, and the two had little other connection.

Sulla and Pompey were well aware of this, so they did not interfere in the internal affairs of the Brutus family, even when Tiberius asked them for their opinions; They are just expressing their opinions on the side, but they don't say anything about the positive opinions.

Of course, Tiberius was not a fool who did not understand anything when he was able to be the leader of the Brutus family for more than twenty years, nor was he a naïve person who casually believed in others; In his heart, his attitude towards Sulla and Pompey was just to take advantage of it and be cautious and vigilant, as for what he promised Sulla and Pompey, as long as the Brutus family could conquer the Greek peninsula, he would naturally not break his word.

Since the generals of the Brutus family were full of excitement and wanted revenge, Tiberius's heart was already satisfied; After successfully mobilizing the enthusiasm of the family generals, Tiberius began to smile again and said:

"Generals, since we, the Brutus family, have officially decided to launch the Second Macedonian War, we also need to determine the scale and specific number of troops to be sent. Personally, I think that this expedition to the Kingdom of Epirus will definitely involve the 1st to 4th legions and 10 auxiliary legions; As for the arrangements of the other legions, you can all share your opinions. ”

As Tiberius said, the First Brutus Legion to the Fourth Brutus Legion were the four most elite legions of the Brutus family, and it was only natural that they would participate in the Second Macedonian War; The so-called ten auxiliary legions were nothing more than archers trained to deal with the war elephants under the command of Pyrus, and it was only natural that the whole army should go on the expedition.

As for the remaining six legions, they will need to be carefully considered; After all, four of these six legions are not purely loyal to the Brutus family's legions, while the fifth and sixth legions are very strong in combat effectiveness, and to some extent, the combat effectiveness of these two legions is not even inferior to the first four legions of the Brutus family.

Tiberius was not particularly sure of what to choose; So, he threw this not difficult question to everyone present, hoping that everyone would express their opinions and discuss the next specific plan for sending troops. After Tiberius said his most basic arrangement, Gnaeus stood up and said:

"Your Excellency, Commanders, Generals; I think that the total number of troops that the family waged the Second Macedonian War this time should not be less than 60,000 men, so as not to be inferior in numbers. The total strength of the 1st to 4th legions of our Brutus family is twenty-eight thousand, plus 10,000 auxiliary legions of archers; The total strength is only 38,000, and there is still a gap of 22,000.

The size of the army of 22,000 requires us to select three more legions to go to the battle; For these three legions, I personally think that the most suitable are the fifth, sixth, and seventh legions. First of all, the Fifth Army Corps and the Sixth Army Corps, the combat effectiveness and weapons and equipment of these two legions are also obvious to all; It would be far more appropriate for these two legions to participate in the expedition than the other legions.

As for the Seventh Legion, after determining the six legions to go out, the remaining Seventh to Tenth Legions are all newly recruited legions by the family; Whether it is in the use of weapons and equipment, or in the completion of training programs, it is far inferior to the other six corps. Therefore, who these four legions send to the expedition is about the same, and the impact is not very much; It's also not very convenient to choose.

And the reason I chose the Seventh Legion is simple; Rather than choosing a legion at random without reason, it is better to choose the army to go out according to the method of the corps number; In this way, the three remaining legions left on the mainland and the legions selected for the expedition should have no objections, after all, this is the fairest way to choose. ”

Gnaeus's expedition was decent, at least it sounded reasonable; However, there are objections to this. Nero, the commander of the Second Legion, stood up and retorted to Gnaeus's suggestion:

"Your Excellency, Commanders, Generals; Personally, I think General Gnieus's plan for the expedition is very good, but I don't agree with it. If we take all six of our most elite legions with us to the kingdom of Epirus, then the legions we remain in the homeland will be new legions; Are they fighting hard enough to shoulder the important responsibility of defending their homeland?

You know, the current Roman Republic is not the Roman Republic when we launched the First Macedonian War; At that time, it would be enough for us to leave a troop of horses to symbolically defend the homeland, because we still have the support of the entire Roman Republic behind us, and the Senate that is ready to support us in defending the homeland.

What now? Behind us are not allies who can support us at any time, but potential enemies who can attack us at any time; It is an undeniable fact that the two legions sent by Marius to the border with the Scipio family and our family, or the two legions of the Scipio family, are likely to become our enemies.

What if Marius and Scipio invade us while our army is on the march? Could it be that the three legions of recruits we have left behind can resist the combined attack of at least four or more legions of the Marius and Scipio families? Generals, I think the family should leave the Fifth and Sixth Legions behind, and send the Eighth and Ninth Legions to the battle! ”

Nero's words are not unreasonable, once Marius and Scipio launched a surprise attack on the Brutus family while the main force of the Brutus family was exhausted; Then the Brutus family is really tragic, the three recruit legions left behind the family are definitely not enough to resist the joint attack of these two forces, do you really need to leave two elite legions?

At this time, the heir of the family, Aulus, who had not yet approved of the expedition, suddenly stood up, met the surprised eyes of his father and everyone present, and said, "Father, generals; I think the family should heed the advice of General Gnieus and send all six of the most elite legions out, leaving only the recruit legions to guard the homeland.

Moreover, I also think that we should not leave three legions of recruits to guard the homeland, only a maximum of two legions will be enough. It seems to me that we will either not go to war and continue to expand our strength; If we decide to start a war, we must do our best, and we must defeat Pyrus in one fell swoop in this war and occupy the entire kingdom of Epirus!

Otherwise, if our army fails again, will our Brutus family still have the capital to turn over? Do we still have the strength to form another ten legions? Therefore, we must do our best to take the kingdom of Epirus in one fell swoop, and start a successful springboard for our Brutus family's plan to conquer the Greek peninsula! (To be continued.) )