Friendship is nothing else but a harmony that connects all the gods and mundane things of the world with kindness and love.

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

My name is Hartmann, and I am a native of Rome; When I was a child, my family lived in the city of Messina, in the province of Upper Sicily. Later, however, as I came of age, I joined the Boar Legion of the Republic; Later, because of his outstanding performance, he was selected into the guard of the Scipio family. Then I will be transferred to the more prosperous city of Capua, so as not to be separated from my family; So we moved our family to Capua.

After the decisive battle of Lilibal, my hometown soon became occupied by the demon Hannibal; As a patriotic hot-blooded man, seeing a large area of the country in ruins, he was bent on going out of his house and going to the front line of the fight against Hannibal to dedicate himself to defending his family and country. However, this idea of my own was strongly opposed by my family (I was an only child, no brothers), so I left my hometown without telling my parents; He also left the guards of the house of Scipio.

I was introduced to the militia in Campania from Capua and was assigned to the militia training team in the province of Campania as a ten-man leader. During his work, he always thought about how he could realize his desire to serve the country if he did not go to the front line of the war against Hannibal. Later, when the conscription team of the Senate came to Campania to recruit soldiers, I left the training team without saying goodbye and joined the regular corps of the Republic.

In fact, even after entering the so-called regular regiments, I did not feel any difference between these regiments and the so-called militia; Because the legion was full of peasants who had laid down their farming tools and all sorts of other people who had never been to the battlefield. Because I have been a guard, I have also served as a captain of ten; He also knew how to read, so he was easily appointed as a centurion.

Life in the barracks is boring, everyone just lives in the barracks; No one cares about us, no one trains us, I just know that my legion is numbered Eleventh Legion. But soon this situation changed, and our Eleventh Legion turned out to be a legion belonging to the House of Augustus; We are about to go to the front line against Hannibal - Sardinia!

In the days that followed, I began to work harder to practice my martial arts and learn how to use those new weapons and equipment; Because I want to follow the great Oscar leader in Sardinia and defeat Hannibal to recapture our homeland of Upper Sicilya. But the reality is not always smooth sailing. The rest of the legions were taken to Sardinia by Oscar and General Quintus; Our Eleventh Army was the last to follow General Licinius to Sardinia.

The process of sailing at sea is always boring; But most of the soldiers in my hundred-man squad had never seen the sea. So when I was at sea, I had to take care of the recruits who had never seen the sea, except for the occasional daze; Because they actually broke out a large-scale seasickness phenomenon in addition to the excitement! Alas, as a centurion, I had no choice but to take care of their food and daily life.

Soon, we ended our life adrift at sea; When the outline of a huge island appeared in front of me. I knew Sardinia had arrived. Sure enough, we landed in the port of Sardinia before nightfall to-day; Then we were taken to a huge military camp. In this barracks, not only our Eleventh and Sixth Army Corps were stationed; Four corps of corps that arrived ahead of schedule were also stationed.

Although we were still stationed in the barracks, I felt a distinctly different atmosphere from the barracks outside Rome; Although several corps commanders and adjutant generals were not in the barracks, everyone was still very conscious and active in carrying out routine military training every day. A few days later, our corps commander, General Cassio, and Adjutant General Marcus appeared before us for the first time; It turned out that half of the captains and centurions were to be selected to study at a place called the Augustan Military Academy.

I don't know what kind of learning is useful. But I was still selected as one of the first cadets to enter the military academy; After entering a military academy, they must first go through three days of military training for new cadets, and then change into a military uniform with the words "military academy" and "student" on the collar before they begin to study various military courses at the military academy. Our group of students was the 3rd Brigade of the 1st Phase of the Augustus Military Academy, which consisted of 10 detachments, and I was assigned to the 2nd Brigade of the Infantry Section.

Our school is located in the north campus of the barracks, within the north wall of the barracks, and is the center of the barracks. The rector of the Augustus Military Academy was the Oscar leader, the chief of education, General Luquis, and the director of the political department, General Mary; I remember when we were studying at the North Campus. There were also the 1st and 2nd Corps of the 1st and 2nd Corps of the 1st Phase, while the Cavalry Section and the Armament Section were both studying in other corners of the barracks.

At school, we were very intense about our studies. At that time, Hannibal could invade our Sardinia at any time, and the army against Hannibal was in dire need of military commanders. Therefore, we had to compress the homework that should have been done in a year into less than two months, and cancel all holidays; Concentrate your time, complete your studies in the shortest possible time, and return to the corps as soon as possible to command the war.

In military schools, there is strict organizational discipline and hard living habits; When it started. We can't get used to it yet, so when we get up in the morning, we are required to complete housekeeping such as washing, dressing, and folding quilts within 5 minutes, and then go out to exercise. Meals are limited to 15 minutes. When I entered the school, winter had just arrived, the weather was very cold, and I was still wearing cotton clothes, but I was only allowed to wear straw sandals on my feet; The dormitory has six single beds side by side, and when you sleep, you spread a blanket on the bare bed and cover yourself with a quilt that is not too thick. Cotton pants on the headrest, and cotton jackets should be hung up without covering the body.

At first, we were so cold that we couldn't sleep, but after a long time, we gradually got used to it. In the second month and later in the simulated operation, we were like this all the time, and we didn't feel cold. We take a cold bath in cold water whether it is cold or warm, and this habit has always been adhered to in the military school. The principal said that this would exercise our physique, but I don't know if it's true or not; I did it anyway, because the principal took the lead.

Our studies include: disciplines, techniques and combat coaching (field drills). "Disciplines" are the book knowledge learned in the lecture hall, including tactics, military system, surveying and mapping, and so on. As for the subject content, due to the short time in the lecture hall and the fatigue of studying technical subjects and field training, it is difficult to memorize the knowledge learned in the lecture hall.

At that time, the principal lived in the school every day. He also constantly took General Mary around the school, and always asked some questions to test us when he met students; In particular, the Director of Education, General Luquis, often visited schools for spot checks. When it comes to this, I always have the composure to deal with it. He was praised by the principal and the prefect many times. The study of "technical subjects" is carried out in the school playground and in the field, and the content includes: the use of light and heavy weapons and bows and arrows, communication and communication, how to build bridges and cross rivers, and the practice of horseback riding, splitting stabs, throwing stones, and archery. and the use of "sand tables" to study the use of tactics.

Actual combat drills are generally conducted in the afternoon, and combat training is carried out in the field according to the learned theories, for example, field surveying and mapping, mapping, and visual distance measurement, and the difference between the measured target distance and the actual distance is not more than 3 or 4 meters; If a ballista is used to bombard a target, the first test shot should not be incorrect, and then quickly adjusted, and the second shot must hit the target. When learning surveying and mapping, they work in groups of three, sometimes eating and living outside for several days on end. Climb mountains and ravines, measure and calculate, draw maps.

The exercise was combined with sand table tactics, with the "Red Army" and the "Blue Army" conducting simulated combat attacks and defenses. Learn how to attack, how to defend, how to command a battle in battle, from the beginning of learning the command of a centurion to the final assumption of how to command when you are the commander of a corpsion, for a battle, you must judge the offensive and defensive methods according to the questions raised by the instructor, and so on. I was very tired after a day of intense study and training, and I was so tired that I couldn't get out of bed at night. This intense study and life in the military academy has trained us all into excellent commanders who are not afraid of hardship, have broad wisdom, and are brave and good at fighting.

In military schools. In addition to the study of military courses, there are a number of other activities, and every night there is a lecture by the corps commanders, such as General Luquis, General Quintus, our General Cassiio, and so on. Tell us about the situation in the Republic and Carthage, analyze the disadvantages of Hannibal, talk about the victory of Rome and the defeat of Hannibal, boost morale, build confidence in defeating the enemy, etc. The "Augustan Drama Society" of our military academy also regularly performed some plays against Hannibal. Propaganda of the spirit of victory over Hannibal.

There are two other things worth mentioning: first, during the study period of the military academy, there is often sneak attack training close to actual combat; On several occasions there were fires in the barracks, and each time the students of our military academy were beaten badly by the sneak attack team organized by the principal himself. I remember one time the fire was so big that more than a dozen military tents were on fire, and after the sneak attack, we fought all night to extinguish the fire, and all the students were smoked and black.

Another thing: for a time the atmosphere at the school was very tense, and for several days we went to the walls of Calaris to practice throwing at the wall, when Hannibal was said to have led his army on board and could attack us in Sardinia at any moment. Because now our legions are not in combat effectiveness, if there is an accident, it is up to us inexperienced centurions to command the army, but there are no accidents later.

After nearly two months of study, we successfully completed our studies. When I graduated, I finished second in the team (1,070 students), first in my team, and received a token with the seal of the Augustan family. I remember that my graduation certificate number was "13 steps 2 No. 2", that is, the second place in the graduation results of the second team of the infantry section of the third corps of the first phase of the Augustus Military Academy.

At the graduation ceremony, the president gave us a cordial speech; To teach us how to behave and how to be officials in the army, we must not rely on our connections but rely on ourselves step by step. After listening to it, I felt very kind. It was a great honour for us to be joined by General Lucquith and General Mary at the graduation ceremony. As an outstanding student representative (1 in each team, 10 in total), I had the honor to toast the principal.

At that time, the principal said, "First to General Luquis, first to General Luques." So the 10 of us raised our glasses together and toasted General Luquis, and then to the Headmaster. Subsequently, a sword awarding ceremony was held; First of all, the principal personally awarded the "sword" to the representative of the graduates who won the first place in the corps, and then each of our graduates was personally equipped with a short sword of the same kind, with two lines of words engraved on the two sides of the hilt, namely "the first phase of Augustus Military Academy" and "Presented by the principal Oscar", and the words "success, success" were engraved on the sword.

In the blink of an eye, more than ten days have passed since I graduated from the military academy, and I have officially served as a centurion in the 100th Brigade of the 11th Army Corps; My studies at the military academy taught me how to be a centurion and how to lead my brothers into battle. More importantly, I learned what I was fighting for, and the knowledge I learned every day made me understand the greatness of the Augustan family and the supremacy of the Oscar leader; For me, it is only by training my army and swearing allegiance to the headmaster that we can build our country into a great country! (To be continued.) )