The only thing that is real is the present, nothing happens by chance, make good use of our perception, only the real thing is the present.

- Boethius (a rare encyclopedic thinker in Europe)

Tonight's grand celebration banquet is indeed a rare enjoyment for the admirals of the navy; Even the generals of the legions who attended the banquet were very happy, after all, such a banquet was too scarce in the Augustan family. It's not that Oscar deliberately created a simple family atmosphere, it's just that these mundane things are really unintentional in the eventful season!

Although this time, because of the birth of Namus, the naval fleet of the Augustus family successfully annihilated the naval fleet of the Marius forces and forced back the fleet of the Brutus family; But the situation is far from the ideal state in Oscar's mind, and the crisis faced by the Augustus family is still very serious.

However, this so-called severity is also relative; After the threat to Rome proper, the Augustians would only have to face the challenges of Hannibal and Carthage for some time. Although the naval battle did not hit the fleet of the Brutus family, it was enough to prevent it from influencing the Augustus family for a short time.

You must know that the forces represented by Marius are not only their own forces; In Oscar's opinion, the strength of the Scipio family is also part of Marius's power, after all, they are an alliance. However, the power of the Brutus family is fundamentally different from the first two; At the very least, Oscar doesn't have to worry about these three so-called alliances.

The people of the Brutus family are not fools, they were forced by Marius to hand over the two most fundamental provinces of their family, how could they sincerely ally ally with Marius? Coupled with the outbreak of this naval battle, the fleet of the Brutus family, which left alone, could not be regarded as a death for the Scipio family fleet; This alone is enough to create a gap between them.

Therefore, for a long time to come, the relationship between Marius, Scipio, and Brutus will still be very tense; Especially the contradiction between the Scipio family and the Brutus family can definitely make this alliance of three families who do not agree with each other restless!

Even with the mediation of an ambitious and cunning man like Marius, the relationship between the two families could not be eased; This meant that Marius's forces would not be able to assemble a powerful fleet to threaten the House of Augustus within a few years. This is still thanks to Oscar, the previous move to burn the Latin port is still very important to restrain Marius's forces from building warships.

As for the Scipio and Brutus, the former's territory simply did not have the ability to build warships on a large scale, nor could it pose a threat to the Augustus; Although the latter's territory has the ability to build warships on a large scale, it is impossible to build a large fleet in a short period of time.

The reason for this is the sordid affair between the three great families, with Marius and Scipio joining forces to force the Brutus family to surrender their two provinces in the southern part of Rome proper; However, they were unwilling to completely tear their faces with the Brutus family, so in the end, they tossed out a so-called alliance of three families.

As a result of this alliance, Marius and Scipio gave the Brutus family ample time to relocate all of their estates to the newly occupied Greek peninsula; With such an opportunity, the Brutus family could not have left a single bit of wealth to the Marius and Scipio families, and they would move their belongings in the southern provinces and hand them over to the Marius and Scipio families.

Other industries aside, just shipyards that build warships, it takes more than a year to dismantle and rebuild them. As a direct result, the Brutus family's fleet was unable to add ships for a year, let alone help Marius and Scipio build ships.

In this way, this so-called alliance of three families will not be able to pose a threat to the House of Augustus at sea for several years; This gave the Augustans plenty of time to take on Hannibal. In fact, the war between the House of Augustus and Hannibal was already imminent; This is also the reason why Oscar is in a hurry to send Naams.

Ever since Hannibal had fully seized the initiative on the battlefield in North Africa, the situation of the war had become clear; Whether in terms of the number of troops or the quality of the army, it was only a matter of time before the army of Hannibal, which had an absolute advantage, completely defeated the army of the Kingdom of Numidia.

This situation is not a good thing for the Augustus, after all, the more and more troops under Hannibal's command, the more difficult the war the Augustus family will face; Although Oscar is confident in defeating Hannibal, who can really predict the outcome of the war before it begins?

If the victory or defeat of the war had been imagined only in terms of the balance of forces between the two sides, then Hannibal would not have been able to get to where he is today; At the time of the last decisive battle of Lilipa, the Roman army under the leadership of Scipio the Elder had already won a great victory. In the same way, the Brutus family would not have lost the first Macedonian war, and the second Macedonian war would not have won so much.

Of course, at the time of Hannibal's victory, it was definitely not only the Augustus family who were nervous; Even more nervous than the Augustians were the senators of the Carthaginian kingdom, who were most afraid of Hannibal's victory in the war. So, after Hannibal's great victories one after another, their envoys came to Sardinia as a matter of course.

This time, the Senate of the Kingdom of Carthage sent not a little-known character, but the eldest son of Hanno, the former consul of the Kingdom of Carthage, and the current Senate of the Kingdom of Carthage. When Oscar learned that this son of Hanno had come to envoy him, he also specially asked the people of Jinyiwei to investigate this little Hanno.

Soon, Jin Yiwei gave specific information about this little Hanno; Although his father Hanno was also one of the most powerful characters in the Kingdom of Carthage (otherwise how could he become an archon of Carthage?). But he didn't have the skills of his father. Even his status in the Senate was only dependent on his family and father.

More importantly, this little Hanno was not a staunch anti-Romanist, but a staunch anti-Hannibal! Especially after his father died in battle in Sicily, his hatred for Hannibal reached the point where everyone knew it; Because in his opinion, Hannibal could defeat the eight legions of the Romans, why didn't he save his father first?

After the Battle of Lili, Hannibal once again became the great hero of the Carthaginian kingdom and the invincible god of war; And his father, the Carthaginian consul Hanno, who died on the battlefield, has become a forgotten existence in the world, which undoubtedly makes little Hanno, who was already disgusted with Hannibal, even more hated Hannibal!

Even, in the opinion of little Hanno; The reason why his father died on the battlefield was completely Hannibal's conspiracy! It must have been Hannibal's jealousy that his father had taken his place as consul, so he deliberately killed his father on the battlefield; In this way, there is an additional layer of so-called father-killing feud between Hanno Jr. and Hannibal!

Since this father-killing vendetta was recorded on Hannibal, it naturally had nothing to do with the Roman Republic and the Augustan family; In fact, it was precisely this way, otherwise the Carthaginian senate would not have been able to send Hanno the Younger to the Augustan family, a matter that only the Carthaginian senators who really hated Hannibal and did not reject the Romans could do.

After carefully understanding the background and ideological bias of this little Hanno, Oscar is ready how to deal with this ambitious and talented guy; For the sake of the future development of the Augustan family, as well as possible measures against the Carthaginian kingdom in the future, Oscar decided to work this little Hanno.

Every ambitious and talented person will have some common faults, such as they like to be pretentious and are happy to enjoy luxury; And this little Hanno is naturally no exception. According to Jin Yiwei's intelligence analysis, this little Hanno is a man of extreme vanity; Coupled with the fact that this envoy was not just him, but also some Carthaginian magnates, Oscar was ready for everything.

While Hanno the Younger was still adrift in the Mediterranean, Oscar first informed Nams to send a fleet of twenty double and ten triremes to escort Hanno the Younger's ship a day's journey to Sardinia; In addition, Oscar also specially told Nams to be sure to display the flag to express the importance of the Augustus family to His Excellency Little Hanno!

Of course, this is far from an Oscar arrangement; In order to completely swell up the ambitions of this little Hanno, Oscar also sent Licinius personally led the 1,000-round shield cavalry of the Guards Cavalry Corps, and Luculus personally led the 1,000 Spartan heavy infantry of the Guards Infantry Corps to the port to meet this Lord Hanno the Younger from Carthage!

A thousand well-armored cavalry and a thousand mighty heavy infantry, such a welcoming ceremony was enough to move the pretentious little Hanno, who was not particularly valued in the kingdom of Carthage; Again, this was enough to make the Augustus family leave an unusually deep impression on little Hanno's heart, and the subsequent negotiations would naturally go much smoother.

In order to be able to discuss countermeasures with the members of the Augustan family immediately after reaching an agreement with Little Hanno, Oscar also sent someone to greet Little Hanno and ordered someone to recall all the family members who were in Sardinia at this time. After temporarily solving the worries of Rome itself, the focus of the Augustan family must return to the war with Hannibal! (To be continued.) )