If you do every action in your life as if it were its last, and you will free yourself from all indifference and intense aversion to the dictates of reason, from all hypocrisy, self-love, and dissatisfaction with what is given to you.

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

Information about the total annihilation of the Brutus family in the kingdom of Epirus and the domination of the Julius family south of the Alps was soon sent to Oscar's book by the intelligence officers of the tragic dead man, whether it was the crushing defeat of the Brutus family or the great victory of the Julius family, it was not a good thing for Oscar; After all, the Brutus family is the southern barrier of the republic, and once they really face an existential crisis, it will be a disaster for the entire Roman Republic.

The rapid expansion of the Julius family is even more disturbing, as the Gallic War alone allowed the Julius family to successfully annex three new provinces, which means that the Julius family can use the land of the five provinces to achieve their own rapid development; What's more, the other four great families of Rome now control only five provinces combined. As long as this trend of dominance continues for a while, the four major families, including the Augustan family, will completely lose the ability to compete with the Julius family.

The only thing that reassures Oscar is that Carabess is born; Originally, Oscar just regarded Carabas as a hidden pawn of himself, but he didn't expect him to grow into a dominant general in less than a year. Judging from the information sent back by the tragic dead, the leader of Flavis of the House of Julius still valued Calabes; Not only did he not incorporate Calabes's army into the Roman system, but he also gave Calabes a separate army in command.

This shows that Carabes's identity is unknown, and that he already has a prominent position in the Julius family; As for Calabess's outstanding performance in this Gallic war, some people were geniuses themselves, and Oscar knew about it for a long time. Putting aside the problem of Calabes, regarding the expansion of the Julius family and the fiasco of the Brutus family, Oscar still needs to gather the generals to start the next plan, otherwise the Augustus family will not be able to keep up with the expansion of the Julius family!

The impromptu family meeting, Oscar, did not allow all the family generals to attend. Instead, only five generals were summoned, including Luquis, Quintus, Spartacus, Mary, and Vipsani, to attend the meeting; Before the meeting began, Oscar gave the newly received information to the generals to go through one by one, so that the generals could understand the purpose of today's meeting. The defeat of the Brutus family did not make the generals any better, but the great victory and expansion of the Julius family made the generals present change their colors.

Looking at the faces of the generals. Oscar, of course, understands their minds; So, Oscar had no choice but to say: "Although the expedition of the Brutus family ended miserably, with their family's heritage and the support of the Senate, the reconstruction of several legions is not a difficult task; However, the victory of the Julius family in the north was really unexpected. Once the Julius family has digested the three newly annexed provinces, the continued expansion of the Julius family will cause their family to dominate the Republic.

It really came that day. Sooner or later, the remaining four of our families will become vassals under the strong pressure of the Julius family; After all, the foundation of the equality of the five major families is based on the premise that everyone's strength is equal or not too different. The exponential increase in the power of the Julius family has changed this delicate balance, and I don't know how the other families will respond; But we in the Augustus family can't just sit still, we must come up with a way to expand the family's strength as soon as possible in order to catch up with the development of the Julius family. ”

The generals present naturally understand what Oscar said, but it is not easy to do it; The Augustus family is now trapped in Sardinia and unable to move. Sicily to the east is now invincible to the House of Augustus, and to the north is Rome proper; Although the opponents in North Africa in the south are not strong, the chaotic situation and the threat of Hannibal are also beyond the intervention of the Augustus family. Now the only possible direction of expansion is the West, but what is the situation in the West?

"With the current strength of the family, it is impossible to expand to the south, north and east of Sardinia, and the only thing that can wait for an opportunity to attack is the west; The land to the west of Sardinia is also relatively easy to capture. In addition to the Balearic Islands, which belong to Carthage, and Betica, the southernmost point of the Iberian Peninsula, from north to south, there are two kingdoms, the Gallic barbarians and Spain; Among them, the Gallic barbarian territory has been regarded as forbidden by the Julius family. Our only opponent can only be Spain. Luquis was the first to analyze matter-of-factly.

However, this analysis made the generals in the audience involuntarily turn their attention to Mary, or Joan of Arc; After all, Joan of Arc was once the goddess of war who led the army to fight Carthage for the independence of Spain, and once the Augustan family wanted to start a war against Spain, then how should she deal with herself? Facing the eyes of everyone, including Oscar, Mary smiled calmly and said:

"You don't think I'm going to resist the strategic big picture of the Augustus, do you? My current name is Mary, not Joan of Arc! Besides, even if I were the same Joan of Arc, I did not think that the people of Spain could live in peace under the rule of the Spanish Crown; On the contrary, many of the policies of the Augustan family really gave the common people a peaceful and positive life. Moreover, Joan of Arc's allegiance was never to the Spanish crown. Rather, it is the countless Spanish people.

It would not be a bad thing for me to assist the House of Augustus in attacking Spain and to bring Spain under the rule of the House of Augustus; At least for the ordinary Spanish people, they will live a happier life in the future. Isn't it? If the family really decided to start a war against Spain, then they must take me with them; Although I have ostensibly been executed, I believe that as long as I appear in front of some people, they will still choose to abandon the darkness and turn to the light, which will also reduce the casualties of the family army. ”

Mary's explanation put everyone's hearts at ease, as long as Mary didn't mind the Augustans starting the war with Spain, it would be fine; As for what Mary said, take her. That would be a pure surprise. With Mary's high prestige and strong appeal in the Kingdom of Spain, as long as she was genuinely willing to assist the House of Augustus; Then at least a third of the Spanish army will defect on the battlefield, and the rest will not have much combat effectiveness, and the ordinary Spanish people will not need to say anything at all.

"Everybody thinks too much, it's too early to think about the so-called Spanish strategy; Before the Balearic Islands and Betica of Carthage were settled. We still have to try to keep peace with Spain. Even an attack on the Balearic Islands and Betica would have been almost impossible until the war between Numidia and Carthage broke out; Only when Carthage lost to Numidia and the Carthaginian Senate summoned Hannibal back to his home country could we take advantage of these plans. Vipsani analyzed seriously.

"Not bad. It is true that we cannot wage war against Spain until the Balearic Islands and Betica are settled once and for all; Instead, they should try to have good relations with Spain, and it is best to join forces with Spain to attack the province of Betica in Carthage. Otherwise, it would be difficult for our troops to land on the Iberian Peninsula, let alone any plans to attack Betica; Only after we have firmly captured the Balearic as a transit point in the Western Mediterranean and the Betica, the bridgehead of the Iberian Peninsula, can we consider the feasibility of a war with Spain.

Until then, we have to look at Spain's potential allies; Even we occupied Balearic and Betica. Nor could it be easy to start a war with Spain. For none of us knows what Hannibal will do with the rest of the two Carthaginian overseas provinces after taking possession of them; Once Hannibal dismantles the Numidian threat, then the Fourth Punic War between us and Hannibal comes. At that time, Spanish affairs could only be temporarily suspended; Even in order to have a stable rear, we need to continue to maintain an alliance with Spain. ”

Oscar's round of analysis can be regarded as a temporary end to the so-called Spanish plan, after all, the Augustan family's top priority now is to train the army; Once the war between Numidia and Carthage broke out and Hannibal was called home, it was a good opportunity for the Augustans to expand their territory. At the time of the meeting, the guards in charge of guarding the conference room had brought in a copy of the latest information and orders from the Roman Senate; These things were sent by the Maxentius family!

Why did the Maxentius family send this latest order to Oscar? It's not because the situation in Rome has changed so dramatically lately. The total annihilation of the Brutus Expeditionary Corps, though to some extent dealt a severe blow to the defenses of the southern part of the Republic; But with the dual efforts of the Senate and the Brutus family. The new Third Eagle Banner Legion, the Eighth Legion, and the Thirteenth Army were soon formed again (the army was annihilated, and the Legion Eagle Banner was present).

This time, the Brutus family did not have the courage to form more family legions; Instead, he focused all his energy on the three new legions and the War Horse Legion, and the regathering of the four legions in the south finally stabilized the panicked situation in the south of the republic. However, it was the expansion of the Julius family that really affected the situation in the Republic or upset the balance of the five families; Even if the Maxentius family had transferred Octavian's Ninth Legion back to the Latin provinces immediately after the war, it would have been to no avail.

According to the latest information provided by the Senate, the Julius family began a new round of expansion under the orders of Flavius immediately after the Ninth Legion returned to the Latin provinces; What disturbed the Maxentius family and the Senate was that the Julius family not only did not notify the Senate of this round of expansion, but also completely abolished the republican ** team number established by the Senate. Start using your family's number. This is already an act of completely ignoring the Senate and the Maxentius family behind it, but the Senate has no choice but to pinch its nose and acquiesce in all this.

After renumbering and recruiting troops, the Julius family now had ten legions and an army attached to auxiliary legions; Among them, the numbers of the main battle legions are: the First Julius Legion. The 2nd Julius Legion, the 3rd Julius Legion, the 4th Julius Legion, the 5th Julius Legion, the 6th Julius Legion, the 7th Julius Legion, and the three legions under Calabes. The auxiliary legions, on the other hand, consisted entirely of Gauls. Each auxiliary regiment had 1,000 light infantry and 1,000 archers, as well as 500 cavalry.

With the formation of these ten main battle legions and seven auxiliary legions, the Julius family alone already has an army of ninety thousand; What's more, these 90,000 troops are completely the private army of the Julius family, and have nothing to do with the Roman Republic and the Senate. The original title granted by the Senate officially disappeared into the army of the Julius family, which means that the Senate can no longer hinder the development of the Julius family; The ambitions of the Julius family have swelled! (To be continued.) )