Those who wrote books saying that fame was like dung did not forget to put their names on the title page.

- Marcus Tulius Cicero (Roman statesman, orator, orator, jurist, and philosopher)

After dealing with the administrative affairs of Sardinia, it is a matter of military affairs, and Sardinia now has an army of more than 60,000 troops with eight legions; Although Oscar was nominally the supreme commander of the Combined Sardinian Legion, he could only command five legions: the First Eagle Banner Legion, the Sixth Legion, the Eleventh Legion, the Lion Legion, and the Guards Infantry Legion. The remaining three legions were under the control of their respective corps commanders, keeping enough distance from Oscar.

The previous cadet program only had a subtle influence on all centurions and captains to a certain extent, and it was still quite difficult to achieve Oscar's complete control of these legions. For this reason, Oscar decided to take other measures to separate the commanders of the three legions from their legions; Loyal generals were then appointed to serve as their temporary commanders, thus expanding Oscar's influence over the three legions.

After the first batch of Oscar cadets graduated, the eight hundred graduates were arranged into various legions; At that point, Oscar will be able to truly control these legions. Otherwise, Oscar would not be sincere in making wedding dresses for others. However, the current Oscar really can't think of any excuse to separate the captains of these three legions from their legions; Therefore, we can only talk about other military issues first.

In fact, there is nothing to report on military affairs, and the situation of the eight legions is clear to everyone at a glance; Moreover, other matters related to the training of the legion were also planned for a long time. However, Oscar still has some issues to discuss with the generals in this regard; Because Oscar still has some things to discuss with you that the generals don't know. So, Oscar said to the generals with a solemn face: "I believe you already knew the information that the Greeks sent an expeditionary fleet to Hannibal's command two months ago; Now, the fleet has completed basic run-in training with Hannibal's fleet in two months. According to the latest intelligence, Hannibal could lead this fleet to a decisive battle with ours at any moment; Judging from the current balance of power between the two sides, our advantage is not obvious.

And the envoy to Numidia has been to Numidia for more than a month and has not returned, and we cannot pin all our hopes on the Numidians; Therefore, in order to deal with the possibility of Hannibal's attack at any time, we must prepare for war in advance. Suppose our navy fails. Then we will face the crisis of being trapped in Sardinia; At that time, it would be really possible for Hannibal to land in Sardinia at any time. “

Oscar's words made the atmosphere of the conference room suddenly solemn, and Hannibal's presence was always like a sharp sword hanging over everyone's heads; The slightest mistake could have stabbed the sword. But. These naval fleet problems are not something that can be solved by the generals of the legions here; Everyone rightfully turned their attention to the three admirals of the navy, Shi Xiu, Anne, and Gatsi.

In the face of everyone's burning eyes, Anne and Gatsi both showed a helpless wry smile, and they didn't have a problem with this; On the contrary, Shi Xiu said confidently under the gaze of everyone: "Actually, you don't have to worry too much, although the fleet under Hannibal has formed combat effectiveness; But the total number of warships is still far from our fleet. Even if there is a battle, the superior side between friend and foe is still us; On such a premise. Hannibal would not have started a war easily. After all, Hannibal was also only a brilliant master of land warfare; And not a good general in the ocean. “

Shi Xiu's words calmed the worries in the hearts of the generals, and even Oscar let go of the uneasiness in his heart about Hannibal's fleet after listening to Shi Xiu's words. After the Hannibal question, it was time to discuss the improvement of the combat effectiveness of the legions; In addition to the daily training between the corps and the training of talents in military academies, the establishment of auxiliary legions has also been put on the agenda of discussion. Here, Luquis and Quintus also negotiated a plan for the formation of auxiliary legions.

The specific establishment plan is as follows: the full strength of the auxiliary corps will be three thousand men; Among them are 1,000 light infantry, 1,000 ranged soldiers, 1,000 cavalry. The light infantry consisted mainly of people other than the Romans, who were responsible for throwing javelins and tangling with enemy light infantry on the battlefield; It is armed with leather armor, javelins, short swords, and small round shields. The ranged troops, on the other hand, consisted of Cretan archers and Balearic slingers, were responsible for providing fire support to the main army on the battlefield.

As for the formation of a thousand cavalry, it was only an idea, if one day the Augustus family could obtain a province of horsehorses or a successful alliance with Numidia; Then it would be possible to implement such a preparation. Otherwise, it has no practical value. Also, in order to distinguish the main legion from the auxiliary legion; Luquis also suggested that the auxiliary legions use uniform green uniforms and flags (the Romans did not have the concept of a green hat).

Oscar felt very good about the auxiliary regiment establishment and the use of military uniforms and flags negotiated by the two deputy commanders; I chose to agree. Moreover, this incident also gave Oscar a perfect way to separate the three Legion Commanders from their Legions. After thinking of this method, Oscar held back the ecstasy in his heart and said to Quintus: "General Quintus, after the establishment of the auxiliary legions, the combat effectiveness of each legion will be greatly improved; But at the moment we don't have enough ranged soldiers and cavalry. Therefore, we can only adopt the method of building light infantry first, and as for the ranged soldiers and cavalry, we will have to wait until we have a place to supply troops in the future. Now in Sardinia, in addition to the six legions, there are also lion legions, which also adopt the standard Roman legion formation; Our next step, after implementing the reforms, is to recruit an auxiliary legion of 7,000 men on Sardinia.

However, these 7,000 were Sardinian peasants with no foundation; Not only did they not have the training base of the Roman citizens. I don't even understand even the most basic military common sense. In order to be able to train them and form them into combat strength as soon as possible, I hope that the establishment of the auxiliary legions will be completed by you and General Segudus and General Tetius; What do you think of the three generals? “

Oscar did not use the form of an order to give military orders to the three Quintus, but only tested the attitude of the three in an inquiring tone; Naturally, the three of them could not have thought that this was a means used by Oscar to covet their military power, so they happily agreed to Oscar's request. After solving this problem. Oscar also thoughtfully ordered the three lieutenant generals of the Legion, Narsi, Scorry, and Marcus to go to the three legions to assist their lieutenant generals in presiding over the legion training.

After discussing the problems of both the army and the navy, Oscar also gave Lucquiz 400,000 gold coins; Of these, 280,000 gold coins were used to pay for the three legions of the Augustus family for one year, and the remaining 120,000 gold coins were used to pay for the military expenses of the Lion Legion and the Guards Infantry Legion. As for the creation of auxiliary infantry, it is not necessary to spend gold; Because after the reform, the Augustan family would implement a military merit hierarchy, and military service was the obligation of every Augustusian citizen.

Of course. They can get everything they want by virtue of their exploits, and they can also get enough loot after defeating the enemy; And the House of Augustus will also provide them with high-quality weapons and equipment. However, the House of Augustus would not pay these soldiers any remuneration; Only a one-time subsidy of 10 gold coins will be given when recruiting. The money would be paid by the Governor's Palace, and had nothing to do with the generals in charge of the Legion.

After the negotiation has resolved these issues. Oscar announced the beginning of the discussion of the generals' knighthood; Because all the legions were newly formed, there was no military merit at all. The so-called knighthood is just a knighthood for the generals present; It's just that there is a more troublesome question now, that is, the three generals of Quintus are not from the Augustus family at all, should they be knighted? Will their armies be included in the merit hierarchy in the future?

It's clear that Oscar isn't the only one thinking about these issues. Quintus also thought about this problem; So Quintus said directly to Oscar: "Oscar, since you have decided to build the military merit system into the promotion standard of your Augustus family's army; Then you will also include the three of us and the three legions under our command in your Augustus family military merit system. After all, our armies are meant to fight together, and you should do the same in order to better manage your armies; Moreover, your military merit system is really good, and it is fair to the soldiers who shed their blood on the battlefield. “

What Oscar wants is Quintus's words! Once the Oscars officially incorporated those three legions into the military merit system of the House of Augustus; Then with the passage of time and the outbreak of war, the soldiers of these three legions will be firmly tied to the chariots of the Augustan family because of the military awards given to them by the Augustan family. From this moment on, these three legions basically can't escape Oscar's palm!

The awarding of the entire military merit title is actually just a very simple process, and it only needs Oscar to announce the rank of the generals; For the rest, the generals will soon know the difference that the title brings. The specific titles were awarded as follows: Luquis was awarded the title of Marquis of the First Class, and Quintus and Shixiu were awarded the Marquis of the Third Class. Vepsani, Gumos, Cassillo, Longkina, Spartacus, Licinius, Tetius, and Segudus were awarded the first count, and Narsi, Marcus, Scorry, Ulles, Gabriel, Anne, and Gatsius were awarded the second count.

At the same time, in order to recognize and motivate morale; All the 1,346 cadets of the first class of cadets graduating from the military academy and the 1,000 cadets graduating from the Academy of the Family of Augustus will be uniformly awarded the rank of First Order. The titles of the others will have to be won by themselves, and the graduates of the two schools will no longer enjoy this treatment; This was just Oscar's privilege as the headmaster and leader of the House of Augustus, and it was also Oscar's reward for their dedication to the House of Augustus in times of crisis.

After the knighthood, Oscar repeatedly reaffirmed an iron rule that the armies of the House of Augustus must follow; That is, the low-ranking knights of the same level of army on the battlefield must obey the higher-ranking titles, otherwise they will be severely punished. This is also what the Oscars prepared for a rainy day; If the Roman army had had had such a hierarchical system at the time of the last decisive battle of Lilic, it would not have suffered such a terrible defeat.

For Oscar's strict order that is conducive to the unified command of the battlefield, all the generals have clearly expressed their obedience; Even Quintus, who was two levels lower in title than Luquis, did not question this strict order in any way. After all the items to be discussed in today's family meeting, Oscar adjourned; At this time. It's nightfall, and it's the night of the full moon on fifteenth. Oscar simply invited the generals to stay together tonight to enjoy the moon and drink.

Before the generals could answer, there was a hurried knock on the door outside the conference room; At this time, everyone in the Governor's Mansion knew that Oscar was holding a family meeting with the generals of the family, who would disturb everyone in the conference room at this time? Could it be that something urgent is happening? A trace of gloom inevitably welled up in everyone's hearts.

(To be continued.) )