To understand the performance of the government, it is only necessary to observe the people's feelings. Pen & Fun & Pavilion www.biquge.info

- Lucius Junius Brutus (First Consul of the Roman Republic)

If only in terms of the number of troops, Oscar has only 11,500 people under his command; The garrison of Messina was 12,000 in size. Coupled with the fact that Messina was also the capital of a province with high walls and thick walls, the defenders of the Huskiduba were theoretically superior to Oscar's army.

When this was not the case, among the 12,000 defenders in Messina, except for the 4,000 elite cavalry led by Hasduba himself, the other 8,000 infantry were not worth mentioning at all. You know, these 8,000 infantry add up to less than 1,000 Hannibal veterans; The rest are just new militia recruits.

Although these 8,000 troops all used the weapons and equipment of the Roman legions captured by Hannibal in the last decisive battle, their actual combat effectiveness was very poor; Many officers and men have not even carried out the most basic military training, so how can they talk about combat effectiveness? Comparatively speaking, the army under Oscar is much more elite and more powerful.

If Oscar were to attack Messina directly with his 11,500-strong army, it would be almost impossible to take Messina; After all, the walls of Messina were so tall that even climbing the walls was quite laborious with a simple siege tool like a ladder.

As for the defenders on the city walls, even if the seven thousand militiamen were inferior in combat effectiveness, the weapons in their hands could kill; Coupled with the presence of 1,000 elite veterans of Hannibal, the combat effectiveness that these 8,000 infantry can burst out must not be underestimated. In this way, it is simply impossible for Oscar's army of more than 10,000 people to attack Messina.

And that's without counting another unforeseen factor, which is the four thousand elite cavalry led by the Hushduba himself; If Oscar really led the army to attack the city, and when the battle was in a white-hot state, these 4,000 elite cavalry suddenly came out of the city, and the army of the Augustus family who was attacked on the back would be a real tragedy.

Therefore, it was impossible for Oscar to take the initiative to attack Messina with his existing forces; The defenders of Messina, on the other hand, were even less likely to take the initiative. Although the defenders were slightly outnumbered by the Augustus siege army, it was only a slight numerical advantage, and it was not enough to give the defenders an advantage over the Augustus army.

As long as Huskiduba takes the initiative to attack, then the only people under his command who can fight are the 4,000 elite cavalry; The remaining 8,000 infantry could not fight hard against the army under Oscar in the field. Even if the 4,000 elite cavalry under the command of Huskidulba could have an advantage in their mobility, the 3,600 hoplites under Oscar were not vegetarians.

Between the hoplites and the shield cavalry, it must be the elite shield cavalry that is more powerful; But as long as the shield cavalry loses its combat effectiveness, then when they face the hoplites, they are real lambs to the slaughter. What's more, Oscar had not only hoplites under his command, but also officers and soldiers of the Samonai Legion and other auxiliary troops; In this way, if the defenders take the initiative to attack, they will also kill themselves!

At this time, in Messina, both the defenders inside the city and the army of the House of Augustus outside the city were well aware of the contrast between the strength of the enemy and the enemy, and they also knew where their strengths and weaknesses were; The two sides are thus caught in an eerie balance.

Oscar led a large army stationed three miles outside the city of Messina, busy all day building all kinds of siege equipment, while keeping watch out for the defenders in the city of Messina; The Hush Duba led the defenders to strengthen their training on the city walls while guarding the Augustus army outside the city.

While Oscar was confronting the Hushdouba under the city of Messina, Luquis's army was progressing unusually well; Ever since leaving the landing site that day, Lucis had led his army in the direction of the small city. Except for the time of the march, Luquis took the town with lightning speed; The number of casualties was not even fifty.

After that, Lucis did not leave any garrison in the town, nor did he take anything with him; It also freed all the captured defenders on the spot. As for the veterans under Hannibal's command and those who had helped Hannibal oppress the people of the city, they were all taken out by Luquis and executed in public.

Luquis's move made the people of the entire town applaud; But Luquis didn't have time to delay more. All these things were done by Luquis in half a day; Half a day after taking the city, Luquis left the city with his army in the direction of the harbor amid a chorus of praise.

From the small town to the port, there was no obstacle on the way, and there was no army under Hannibal; As a result, the only enemy Lucquis had to face was Hannibal's garrison at the port. In order to reach the port as quickly as possible, the army led by Luquis advanced even faster than the army led by Oscar.

In less than eight days, Luquis had covered a distance that would have taken him more than ten days to complete; By nightfall on the eighth day, Luquis' army had crept to a place less than five miles from the port.

The garrisons of the port of Upper Sicilia were stationed in a barracks near a port, and were divided into two groups every day, one to guard the barracks and the other to patrol the port; Its overall level of vigilance is still very high, far from being comparable to the defenders of that small city.

This may also have something to do with the fact that the defenders of the inland city almost always considered themselves impossible to be attacked by the enemy; But for the defenders in the harbor, the port they defended must be the first to face the enemy's attack.

Based on these two very different mentalities, the degree of vigilance shown by the two defenders is not quite the same; However, even with the harbor defenders, their vigilance is external, not against their own back. So far, no information has reached the port about the inland being attacked by the Augustan army, and the defenders of the port are naturally unaware of it.

As a battle-hardened general, Lucis would certainly not blindly attack the defenders of the port; Otherwise, what if the defenders of the port, in the face of defeat, jumped over the wall and wreaked havoc or set fire to the port? Only if the port is taken intact will it be valuable; Otherwise, how would the fleet of the House of Augustus land?

In fact, Luquis had already begun to prepare how to attack the port when he took the town; Therefore, before leaving the town, Lucis not only released all the captives on the spot, but also took all the weapons and equipment of the captives. And these Carthaginian standard weapons and equipment will become the main tools for Luquis's surprise victory!

After leading his army close to the port, Luquis did not let his soldiers immediately attack the defenders of the port, but asked all the 1,000 soldiers of a brigade of Samonai's army to change into the weapons and equipment of the Carthaginian defenders. The soldiers of the Samonai Legion did not use Roman weapons and equipment, and they were not so unsuitable for using Carthaginian weapons and equipment.

After arranging the thousand men, Luquis asked the captain to swagger to the port with the changed brigade; When they arrived at the port, they entered the port under the pretext of reinforcing the port. Luquis gave this brigade the task of controlling the situation in the port after entering the port, and not allowing the defenders to destroy any facilities in the port.

In addition, Lucis kept the other two brigades of the Samonai Regiment on standby, and in the event of a battle, their task was to rush to the port to ensure that all the defenders in the harbor were annihilated and that the harbor was protected from destruction. As for Luquis himself, he personally led five battalions of hoplites to annihilate the defenders outside the port.

After negotiating a specific plan of action, Lucis asked the redressed brigade to set off immediately, while the remaining two brigades slowly followed behind the brigade, keeping a distance of about five hundred; On a dark night, five hundred men were far enough for the harbor defenders to spot the two brigades trailing behind.

Luquis, on the other hand, led five brigades of hoplites to the barracks outside the port; After the battle broke out later, Luquis would lead these five brigades of hoplites to directly block the gate of the barracks, and wipe out all the defenders in the barracks who wanted to reinforce the port in the barracks!

After everything was ready, the dressing brigade entered the port smoothly; While the main legions of the harbor defenders were Carthaginian, the Samonai Legion was composed mainly of gladiators, and there were too many of them who could speak Carthaginian. On this basis, their infiltration operation was executed exceptionally smoothly!

After the members of the costume brigade were basically in place, with a sharp roar, the battle began! The soldiers of the redressing brigade launched a fierce attack on the unsuspecting port defenders, and the soldiers of the two subsequent brigades also rushed in the direction of the port immediately after the signal appeared.

The fierce fighting and the rough roar immediately woke up the defenders in the barracks; Just when the defenders in the barracks hurriedly picked up weapons and equipment and opened the barracks gate to prepare for reinforcements, Luquis took the opportunity to lead the army directly into the barracks! The unprepared defenders were directly stunned by such a fierce attack, and retreated one after another, unable to organize an effective defense.

The defenders of the port, under the combined attack of three thousand soldiers of the Samonai legion, soon suffered heavy casualties; With the large-scale death of the backbone forces, the remaining defenders became more and more afraid of the battle, and they could not escape, so they had to choose to disarm and surrender. Not to mention the defenders in the barracks, who were in a hurry to face heavily armed hoplites; Luquis took the port so easily! (To be continued.) )