The person who assumes that convenience is the basis of friendship removes the best link from the chain of friendship anyway. For what makes a man happy is not so much the benefit he receives through his friends as the love of his friends; And it is only when the help of a friend comes from sincere love that the benefit we receive from our friend becomes happiness.

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

Busy with the implementation of reforms, trivial immigration affairs, noisy regimental training, and many other matters have made Oscar's days in Sardinia fly by, and in the blink of an eye, it is already June. At this time, Spartacus's Chengguan Corps had already formed combat effectiveness after half a year of training, and the new weapons and equipment were also equipped by them; And all the weapons and equipment that Oscar promised Adheba have been shipped to Mauritania, and the corresponding war horses and herdsmen Oscar have also received them.

Now, as soon as the 3,000 elite cavalry promised by Adheba arrives, Oscar can order the Chengguan legion to board the ship and set off; In fact, in the rapid development of this half year, the biggest changes are still Tuka and Laka. Oscar's two younger brothers only understood how big the world was, how many good generals there were, and what they lacked; However, they did not become decadent because of this, but worked harder to learn from those battle-hardened generals how to command the army.

After half a year of hard work, Tuka is already the deputy general of the Chengguan Legion, and Raka is the deputy general of the First Eagle Banner Legion; Lucis and Spartak also knew that Oscar wanted Tuka and Raqqa to be able to train the family generals to be able to take charge of themselves, so they were also teaching the two brothers very carefully. During the three-year employment period in North Africa for the Chengguan Corps, Oscar and Spartak originally did not intend to let Tuka go; But he insisted on going, and even said that if he didn't follow General Spartak to North Africa, he would not be worthy of being called a member of the Augustan family, and finally Oscar and Spartak reluctantly agreed to Tuka's request.

At the same time, the family's Guards Cavalry Corps also formally formed its combat effectiveness; After three trades with Doge Alexander, the Augustus family not only obtained the full set of armor forging techniques they wanted for the ironclad cavalry, but also obtained five thousand high-quality warhorses suitable for forming the ironclad cavalry. But with Hannibal's awareness and the Seleucid navy beginning to blockade Ionia, the deal between House Augustus and Doge Alexander officially came to an end.

The end of the deal could not change the fruits that the Augustus family had already obtained, and at this time the Augustan family had successfully assembled an ironclad cavalry of 2,000 men; The rest of the war horses are in addition to the breeds that have been bred. It was also used as a supplementary war horse for the ironclad cavalry. In order to be able to assemble a large number of ironclad cavalry at any time after obtaining high-quality war horses in the future, Oscar even hoarded 10,000 sets of ironclad cavalry in the warehouse; Not only that, Oscar also consciously cultivated nearly 3,000 excellent heavy armored cavalry. Once the Augustus family could obtain enough high-quality horses, Oscar could assemble more than five thousand ironclad cavalry at any time.

Even now the Augustus family does not have enough high-quality war horses. But Licinius's Guards Cavalry Legion has also become the ace legion tied with the Guards Infantry Legion for the first place; Two thousand ironclad cavalry is already a fairly formidable force, and with the upcoming thousand long shield cavalry and two thousand Numidian javelin cavalry, the Augustus family's Guards cavalry corps has been formed. Such a result not only stunned the generals who thought that the Guards Cavalry Regiment was just a utopian formation, but also surprised Oscar himself; But the reality is that sometimes that's how anything is possible by chance.

Other than that. At this time, Crete had also become one of the fiefdoms of the Augustan family; It's just that Oscar can't control it for a while. After Calis and Lucas completed the task given to them by Oscar, Oscar also acquiesced in their capture of Crete; And for the sake of harmony and stability within the family, Oscar also took the initiative to appoint Calis as the governor of Crete and the commander of the Black Death fleet of the Augustan family, and Lucas as the commander of the Cretan Legion.

Using the large number of archers sent from Crete and the large number of cavalry and herdsmen traded by Adheba, all seven auxiliary legions of the Augustan family had been formed in six months; As soon as the Auxiliary Legion was formed, Oscar ordered the Auxiliary Legion to participate in the training of the Legion on a large scale. In Oscar's opinion, instead of letting the recruits of these auxiliary legions train slowly, it is better to send them to the barracks to cooperate with the main battle legion for training; In this way, the auxiliary corps can not only form combat effectiveness, but also complete the combat training with the main battle corps.

Quintus and Tetius and the three generals of Segudus were also sent back by Oscar to command the original legion after completing the formation of the auxiliary legion; Because with the deal with Adheba on the horizon. Oscar had already drawn out 300 centurions and captains from the six legions a month ago, and added 300 of the 800 cadets who had already been loyal to Oscar himself. The remaining five hundred men served as centurions and captains of the Guards Infantry Legion, the Guards Cavalry Legion, the Samonai Legion, the Lion Legion, and the Seven Auxiliary Legions; In short, now all the armies in Sardinia are firmly under Oscar's hands.

While the military aspect is smooth, the work in government affairs is also smooth sailing; With the implementation of the Dulles resettlement plan, the relationship between immigrants and aborigines has been greatly eased, and there are even a large number of typical immigrants and aboriginal families. In view of this good momentum, Oscar asked the Maxentius family to speed up the emigration, and within six months they had sent 100,000 immigrants to Sardinia; Because of the sharp increase in the number of immigrants, the construction of the nine cities has also been completed very quickly, except for the roads that have not yet been completed. The expansion of the nine cities has been successfully completed.

As for the construction of the remaining two ports, the construction of roads, and the expansion of shipyards and weapons and equipment manufacturing areas, they are already under construction at a very rapid pace; What pleased Oscar the most was the reform process in Sardinia. Because of the foreshadowing of the military merit hierarchy recognized by everyone, the follow-up reform plan was implemented very successfully; It took several years for Shang to succeed in the Qin state, and in Sardinia it took only half a year to produce results.

Of course, there is also a lack of people in Sardinia, and the lack of land is related to the lack of old-fashioned aristocracy in Sardinia; None of these reasons matter, though. The important thing is that Sardinia has become a real base for the House of Augustus. Moreover, the base was also very supportive of the rule of the House of Augustus and Oscar himself; If Hannibal wanted to attack Sardinia now, he would not only be confronted with the legions of the House of Augustus, but also with the people of Sardinia, who had organized themselves themselves.

Never underestimate the driving role of interests on people, and it is precisely because of the ten first-class lords who have been set up by Oscar himself to live in harmony with the aborigines that the immigration plan has been smoothly implemented; It is precisely because of the military merit hierarchy system. It was the indigenous people of Sardinia and the Roman immigrants who gave hope to see themselves and their descendants break away from their commoner status and enter the aristocratic class. So, through the military hierarchy, Oscar has firmly tied the people of Sardinia to his battlefield; Once a war or two broke out, the soldiers of the Combined Legion were knighted after establishing a number of meritorious deeds. Then they will all become diehards of Oscar himself.

The role of money is enormous, but it cannot be compared to the value of land; For the people of this era, the land is the cornucopia of productive wealth. The military merit hierarchy of the Augustan family has firmly combined the military exploits of each soldier with the land; Oscar loyalty was allegiance to the House of Augustus, and was the only way to obtain land and nobility after building up his military exploits. Oscar established a whole system, as long as two wars broke out to achieve the goal; At that time. The army of House Augustus will become a mad army that will be inspired by this will to fight, and its combat effectiveness will continue to increase.

Of course, the only consequence of this is that the size of the Augustan army will inevitably increase, which will also put a lot of pressure on the family finances; In order to completely solve this worry, Oscar has decided to start reforming the military pay after the completion of the war against Hannibal, and greatly reduce the salary of military service. However, in order not to provoke mutiny and discontent among the soldiers; Oscar would give more compensation to the soldiers on the land, and would also give the soldiers a higher percentage of the spoils captured.

The affairs of the whole of Sardinia were in constant progress during these six months, and Hannibal was stationed in Sicily for half a year; This is not to say that Hannibal did not want to launch an attack on Sardinia or Rome proper, but that the situation is too serious. The kingdom of Numidia underwent a sea change in the last six months, and General Jugurdah officially led his army to join the confrontation of King Zuguta against Carthage; Plus the elite Ahmed Legion under the command of Tulguta and the five new legions newly recruited. The kingdom of Numidia has amassed an army of 100,000 on the borders of Carthage!

The corresponding Carthaginian army was only 40,000 troops, the most elite of which was the 5,000 army under the command of Vimyna, another Carthaginian general; The remaining 35,000 troops were either weak recruits or militia, and simply did not have the capital to fight against the 100,000 army of the Kingdom of Numidia. Before the outbreak of war, the Carthaginian Senate was reluctant to recall Hannibal to Carthage; So the situation is getting worse day by day.

Unlike the Carthaginian Senate, Hannibal knew that there would be a war between Carthage and Numidia; So he had already begun preparations for war against Numidia. In order to have enough time and energy to deal with the Numidian army, and to avoid that he could rush back to Carthage at any time when the Carthaginian soil fell into the quagmire of war; Hannibal chose to abandon the attack on Sardinia and Rome proper. That's why, after half a year, Oscar is still at peace with Hannibal in Sicily in Sardinia; One can even say this: the Numidians saved Sardinia and the Roman Republic!

However, once the war really broke out, Hannibal himself returned to Carthage with his army; Then the defeat of the Numidian kingdom was basically inevitable. The strength of the Numidian Kingdom was originally inferior to that of the Carthage Kingdom, and what they relied on was only the absolute superiority of the forces gathered in a short period of time; But these things can't scare Hannibal, the god of war. If only that day had come. Oscar believed that Hannibal would teach the kingdom of Numidia how to behave; But the end of the war between Carthage and Numidia must have also been the beginning of the Fourth Punic War, which both Oscar and Hannibal were convinced.

Because Hannibal's return to his homeland will definitely make him the most powerful person in the whole of Carthage, the Carthaginian Senate will be completely reduced to Hannibal's vassals, which is why the Carthaginian Senate is reluctant to recall Hannibal; At that time. Hannibal would then raise a powerful Carthaginian army and go to Sicily to launch another attack on Rome. And Oscar also decided that when Hannibal returned to fight on his homeland, he must strike first and cut off all of Hannibal's overseas wings; When the time comes, who can occupy an advantageous position will depend on personal ability and speed! (To be continued.) )