Yes! I'm unlucky that this happened! No, it should be said, "I am fortunate that I am not hurt, I am not crushed by the status quo, and I have no fear of the future." ”

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

In this way, the battle plan between Jubhar, who had evil intentions, and Abdhim, and Gillen, was decided; Coupled with Hannibal's request to send troops as soon as possible, the three of them set off with their respective armies. Jubal personally led 10,000 javelin cavalry, his Masiwa led the original 5,000 elites, and Abbascantas led 6,000 desert infantry.

The main army of the 21,000 Numidian Western Front slowly set off for the garrison of Carthage; At the same time, Abdeshim and Gillen each set out from the left and right flanks of Juball with their own 7,000 troops. All three armies were nominally part of the large army of the western front of Numidia, but they were each on guard against each other, and the distance between them was getting farther and farther apart.

Upon learning of the news that the Numidian army had finally been dispatched, Hannibal hastily ended the training of the recruit corps; Originally, Hannibal thought that Numidia's 35,000 army would kill his defenders' camp in one go, but he didn't expect that the other side would attack in three ways. What made Hannibal even more unbelievable was that except for the army in the center, the Numidian army on the other two flanks was all light infantry!

This can no longer be explained by strategy, it is definitely a conspiracy; Since the 7,000 lightly armed infantry on the left and right flanks of the Numidian army alone could not stop a round of charge from Carthage's newly formed 20,000 long shield cavalry, why did Jubal adopt such a strategic layout? Could it be that such a distribution of forces is a trap, and he wants to attract himself to attack his flanks?

It is impossible for Hannibal to think that the division of the Numidian army was caused by an internal strife, and the premise of their division of troops is exactly the same two premises: first, the Carthaginian defenders are vulnerable and absolutely unable to stop the middle army, nor can they completely annihilate the two flanks of the army; Second, the Numidian army was strong in combat, and at least it could fight with the Carthaginian defenders.

No matter what the generals of the great army of Numidia thought. Hannibal, however, was about to carry out his own strategy; At this time, there were still five days before the Numidian army entered Carthage, and Hannibal had to complete his strategic layout in these five days. After gathering all the four generals Amikas, Kelimis, Gisken, and Sakarb in their tents, Hannibal ordered:

"The army of the western front in Numidia has finally begun to prepare for the offensive, according to the reports of the scouting cavalry at the front; The 35,000 Numidian troops were not gathered in one place and marched toward us. Instead, the troops attacked us in three directions. The most powerful of these was to concentrate 10,000 javelinmen and 6,000 desert infantry, as well as 5,000 elite defenders of the former province of Numidia.

As for the two Numidian armies on the left and right flanks, the 7,000 army composed entirely of light infantry, I myself do not know what Jubal's layout was for, but I think we can take advantage of their division of forces to deal with the entire Numidian army on the Western Front in one fell swoop. First of all, General Amikas, you are in charge of garrisoning the barracks with fifteen thousand infantry; Ten thousand pairs of bows and arrows from the Senate will be delivered within three days. You're going to keep me in the barracks for ten days!"

General Sakarb, you personally led the Legion of the Holy Order to the left flank to meet the seven thousand light infantry on the right flank of the Numidian army; I don't care how you fight, I don't ask you when you fight, I only want one. Thou shalt set out with thy army to-day, seven days later, the day after the armies of the middle of Numidia will reach our camp; I need you to appear on the left flank of the camp and cooperate with me in launching an attack on the enemy in the center.

Kelimis and Gisken, you two led your cavalry regiment to follow me on the right flank and destroy the seven thousand light infantry on the left flank of Numidia; Since you two are with me, I won't tell you much more. Amikas, if all goes well; In seven days we will be able to annihilate the Numidic army.

However, if something unexpected happens in the middle of the process and does not go according to the original plan; And thou shalt obey my commandment, and stay in the barracks for ten days. Sakarb and I will set out with our army today, and after fifteen days Sakarb will not mention it, and I will surely lead the army back to your aid; Don't wait for me to come back and find that the barracks have already been breached. You must resist, people are in the barracks! ”

"People are in the barracks, and people are dead in the barracks!" Hannibal's solemn order made Amikas stand up and swear in a loud voice. Hannibal looked at Amikas's determined performance and nodded with satisfaction, although these Carthaginian generals did not have any achievements to be proud of, their personal abilities were still good; As long as they can all grow, the future of Carthage will be bright.

In order to let the four generals present also speak their own thoughts, Hannibal said to the four generals: "I was saying just now that you are listening, and the order must be better than changing; But in the specific implementation process, if you have any ideas or puzzles, you can put them forward now, and I will try my best to explain what can be explained, and you will implement them separately if you can't explain them. ”

As soon as Hannibal finished speaking. The commander of the Holy Legion, Sakar, stood up and said: "General, when our Holy Order Legion attacks the right flank army of Numidia, we must limit it to Carthagenian territory, or we can enter Numidian itself to launch an attack; If we can annihilate the enemy's right flank in less than seven days, the next step is to return to the Amikas legion. Or is it on standby outside the barracks? ”

"You Holy Order Legion can annihilate the seven thousand lightly armed infantry on the enemy's right flank wherever you want, but when you annihilate the enemy's right flank, you must ensure that you completely annihilate the enemy's army, and you must not let go of a single enemy; My request was that the main forces of the enemy's center should not be informed of the annihilation of their right flank army. If you accomplish your goal in seven days, you should be on standby outside the barracks; Send a herald to inform me that they will wait outside the barracks for my orders, even if the enemy attacks the barracks defenders. You are not allowed to go to war! ”

"Yes!"

After Sakarb's question was raised, Kelimis also asked: "General, the enemy army on the left flank is only 7,000 light infantry, and we only need to send a cavalry corps of 10,000 men to complete the attack on them; Why not leave another cavalry regiment behind to assist General Amikas in defending the barracks? That way, our chances of winning will be greater! ”

"General Kelimis, I want you to understand one of the most basic things; Cavalry is used to charge in the field, not to defend barracks or cities. You are a cavalry general, and your army is 10,000 shield cavalry; You have to know how cavalry is used and how it is fought, and you can't just rely on the strength of the army, as you do now.

The advantage of cavalry over infantry is its strong mobility and impact power; If the cavalry is used for defense, the cavalry loses mobility and impact. Then the cavalry has become infantry, and what is the value of building cavalry units? In my opinion, every cavalry who dies under the horse is a waste, and the horseback is where the cavalry should be.

And. Don't always limit your gaze to this one battle; We need more than just the army on the Western Front to defeat Numidia, we have the other enemies that continue to defeat the entire kingdom of Numidian and the future. All this requires us to have a strong army, and the twenty thousand shield cavalry we now have are all new recruits; We have to give them more time and experience to hone them.

Not only you and Gisken's cavalry legions, but also Amikas' infantry legions; If the Holy Order can complete the right flank annihilation battle before the enemy's mid-lane army reaches the barracks, we must also let the enemy's mid-lane army launch an attack on the barracks. Because we need war to hone our 20,000 cavalry and 15,000 infantry. Only they were able to gain enough experience on the battlefields of the Western Front to become veterans; Then endure the test of war on the battlefield of the southern front in order to achieve an elite division!

You all understand the significance of an elite army to the whole of Carthage, if only we could raise 50,000 elite divisions in this Numidian War; Not only can we win the entire war, but we can also re-establish our hegemony on the North African continent. The Kingdom of Tripoli will become our third province in North Africa, and the Kingdom of Numidia will once again become our vassal! ”

Hannibal's bold words immediately stirred the hearts of these generals, not to mention their status as generals; Even as an ordinary Carthaginian, he would be thrilled to see the hope that the Carthaginian kingdom could once again stand as one of the world's great powers and regain the hegemony of North Africa. It's not that they don't have enough concentration, it's that their dreams come true too suddenly!

This is like modern China, we have lost our world hegemony for more than 300 years since the Qing Dynasty; If one day, we suddenly see hope. A hope for China to regain its position as world hegemon. You say, will you be excited? Whether you are a general of a republic or an ordinary citizen of the republic; I'm sure you'll be excited.

Looking at the four generals who were excited, Hannibal also nodded in his heart with satisfaction; It doesn't matter whether these generals are loyal to the Senate, to the Order of the Order, or to their own families. At least they all love the country of Carthage, and they still take the glory of Carthage as their own glory; That's enough, so why should the others care so much?

After Hannibal's words, the four generals had no other problems; So Hannibal left Amikas with 15,000 infantry to stay in the barracks. And he watched Sakab take the lead in setting off with the Holy Legion. After the Legion of the Holy Order completely disappeared from view, Hannibal also set out with Kelimis and Gisken and 20,000 shielded cavalry.

Hannibal's idea was to annihilate the enemy's left flank with 7,000 light infantry in the Carthaginian territory, but Sakarb was the opposite; He believed that after entering the territory of Carthage, the Numidian army would become cautious. Once a surprise attack is launched, it is not necessary to achieve the goal of completely destroying the enemy army and not missing a single goal.

It would have been a different attack on the territory of the Numidian kingdom, for in the eyes of the Numidian army it was they who had launched an attack on the Carthaginian defenders; So they must have marched very lightly before entering the territory of Carthage. As for the civilians encountered by the Legion after entering Numidia, in order to prevent them from reporting to the Numidian army, Sakab would not show mercy to their men.

War is never just a matter of the army, once a war breaks out between two countries; The so-called injuring civilians is just a joke. There is no such thing as a war in the history of mankind that does not kill civilians except civil wars. Of course, there is a limit to such in-depth; If you push too deep into Numidia, you risk being discovered and surrounded by the Numidian army.

Sakar's idea was to attack the Numidian right flank a day's distance from the Carthaginian border; This would not expose the whereabouts of his army too deeply, and it would also allow him to attack while the Numidian army was lax. In Sakar's opinion, the annihilation of a 7,000-strong Numidian light infantry by a 10,000-strong Legion of the Holy Order would be a piece of cake!

The only thing to worry about is not letting go of any of them; In this regard, Sakaber's method was to draw 500 cavalry from the 5,000 cavalry of the Holy Order, and they did not need to participate in the annihilation of the main force against the 7,000 enemy troops, but only needed to be on guard around the battlefield. All the remnants of the Numidian army that had escaped from the battlefield were left to them to be solved, and it was impossible for the enemy army to outrun the cavalry on foot. (To be continued.) )