Genius should never despise hard work. Pen @ fun @ pavilion wWw. ｂｉｑUｇE。 ｉｎｆｏ

- Gaius Pliny Cecilius Secondulu (Roman Patriarch and Writer)

The last parting was the first parting between Oscar and Prisca after their marriage, and it was also the longest parting; If it weren't for the series of changes between Marius and the Maxentius family, Oscar might not even have reunited with Prisca until now.

In fact, even now that they are reunited, Oscar knows that he still cares too little about Prisca; The complicated government and military affairs of the Augustan family occupied too much of Oscar's time. Aside from sleeping at night, Oscar couldn't find any other time to spend with Prisca.

Even with that little sleep, Oscar doesn't go back to his bedroom every night to sleep; Many times, when it is too busy late at night, Oscar may inadvertently fall asleep in the study. Sometimes, when Oscar returns to his bedroom, he sees Prisca waiting for him to fall asleep.

All of this made Oscar's heart full of guilt for Prisca; Especially after Prisca lost her father and eldest brother, she even has to shoulder the heavy responsibility of taking care of her mother, sister-in-law, and nephew on her weak shoulders, which will undoubtedly make Prisca even harder.

Helplessly, no matter how much Oscar tried to comfort Prisca, she was unwilling to leave these trivial matters to her subordinates to deal with, she just chose to bear all this on her own shoulders. Since arriving in Sardinia, Prisca has officially changed from a rude lady to a well-managed, virtuous lady; How could Oscar not know the bitterness contained in this?

However, Oscar did not have more time to spend with Prisca, let alone have the extra mind to do something for Prisca; If only from the husband's point of view, then Oscar may really be a failure. How can a man be considered a successful husband if he can't give his wife care and attention?

Oscar looked at Prisca staring at him with a smile, and he didn't know whether he was distressed or guilty, and the uncomfortable Oscar didn't know what to say. Oscar looked at Prisca so stupidly, but after Prisca smiled, he walked up to Oscar, grabbed Oscar's arm, and then walked forward with Oscar.

In the face of Prisca's tenderness, Oscar just quietly enjoyed the warmth of the moment, and did not speak; After walking some distance, Prisca suddenly asked softly, "Oscar, you discussed all night last night, are you going to fight?" This time, are you going to lead the army yourself? There are so many generals in the family, can you not go? ”

Prisca's question, leaving Oscar speechless; The retention of the wife is always something that the husband who is about to go on the expedition cannot face, and it cannot be answered. The silent Oscar just stopped in his tracks, then sighed and said nothing else; Prisca also stopped, turned to look at Oscar in a daze, and tears wet her eyes for a moment.

Oscar took his wife in his arms and hugged him tightly, as if he was going to lose her in the next second; Prisca didn't resist such force, but wanted to integrate his body into Oscar's body, and desperately hugged Oscar's back, not letting go of his hand.

After hugging each other for a long time, Oscar finally let go of Prisca's delicate body again; As she left Oscar's embrace, Prisca's body trembled visibly. Oscar just stretched out his hands, gently cupped Prisca's face, wiped the tears from her face, and said softly:

"Prisca, I promise you that you will come back as soon as possible! Regardless of whether the battle ahead is won or lost; I will come back to you safe and sound. This is my promise, and I will never break my word; Prisca, wait for me to come back! ”

The tears wiped from Oscar's face on Prisca flowed out again with Oscar's words; This time, it was still silent tears, and the Oscar who watched it was distressed, but helpless......

After spending the whole morning with Prisca in the garden, and having breakfast with Prisca, Oscar officially left Calaris with Mary and set off in the direction of the port! Nine days later, it will be the day when the first army will officially set out; Countless military affairs need to be handled by Oscar himself, and the place to deal with it can only be in the military camp near the port.

The First Legion and the Samonai Legion, which were the first to depart, were at this time in the barracks outside the city of Calaris; So, after leaving the conference room this morning, Luquis and Antio returned to their respective barracks and began to prepare to lead their troops to the barracks near the port.

It would take only half a day to get from Calaris to the port, but it would take at least a whole night for a heavy legion like the First Legion to march; After all, the First Army not only had 6,000 hoplites, but also a lot of equipment, which was still relatively slow to move.

Of course, this is relatively slow; Instruments can be moved much faster than before. This is mainly due to the dragging method commonly used now, not only the Augustan family, but also the armies of other major Roman families, when using equipment, almost all of them use war horses to drag equipment; Unless the number of war horses is insufficient, then there is no other way but to drag it by manpower.

Upon arriving at the barracks near the port, Oscar and Mary immediately threw themselves into the myriad of military tasks that needed to be dealt with; Although Mary is now the chief of the General Staff with an empty head, she actually wields a great deal of power. In other words, Mary was almost Oscar's agent for military affairs; A lot of military affairs were handled directly by Mary for Oscar.

I have to admit that there is a certain reason why Mary was able to become the goddess of war of the Spanish kingdom when she was only a teenager; Her talent in military affairs is definitely beyond that of ordinary people, and even Luquis, the pillar of the Augustus family's army, can hardly be compared to Mary.

If Mary could go into battle with an army, it would definitely be a battle-fighting existence; Unfortunately, Oscar's machismo cut off such a possibility. Of course, there is more to Mary than that; Two other reasons are also very important.

First, Mary's true identity is a trump card that the Augustus family must have in the future implementation of the strategy of the Kingdom of Spain; Until then, Oscar still has to absolutely protect Mary's true identity. Second, Mary is a girl after all, does she really like to go to the battlefield and live that kind of life of fighting and killing all day long?

In fact, Oscar had talked to Mary at length about it; Mary herself made it clear that she did not want to go to war again. That's why Oscar officially decided to keep Mary by his side and give advice to himself; This is also the reason why Oscar promoted Luculus exceptionally, Oscar needs Luculus to provoke the Guards Infantry Corps in the future!

Nine days passed very quickly, Oscar and Mary got up before dawn every morning to deal with military affairs, and could barely lie down and sleep until the middle of the night, and in less than three days, their eyes were covered with dark circles. Of course, the changes within the barracks as a whole are also very large; It is not only about the rapid increase in the number of troops, but also about the changes in all aspects.

As time passed, the grain and grass materials that were constantly mobilized from all directions were transported to the barracks, and the spare weapons needed by each regiment were also transported from carriage to carriage; The entire barracks have been turned into huge warehouses, and in addition to the huge number of troops, there are all kinds of materials on a larger scale.

At the same time, the fleet of Nams was ready; In order to ensure a successful landing in Sicily, Nams decided to dispatch two five-column battleships, sixteen three-column battleships, thirty-eight double-column battleships, and forty transports. A fleet of this size was enough to form an absolute advantage over the combined fleet of Hannibal and Greece, without worrying about affecting the rest of the Augustusian family.

You must know that although the fleet dispatched by Nams is huge, it is only more than half of the ships of the Augustus family; There are many more ships left in Sardinia. In terms of admirals, Nams also only brought Kidd, Roberts, and Gatsea; The other naval commanders were responsible for blockading the waters off Rome and defending the waters off Sardinia, as well as for the protection of several other later shipping routes.

On the day of the expedition, tens of thousands of soldiers of the First Army and 8,000 soldiers of the Samonai Army boarded the transport ships docked on the shore in an orderly manner; Oscar and Mary also boarded the flagship of Nams, the battleship Oscar Five! The five-column battleship was named the Oscar, and the other was the Augustus; It is also a symbol of the naval strength of the House of Augustus!

From Sardinia to the sea off Upper Sicily, this voyage was nothing new to Oscar, and Oscar naturally did not set his mind on the sea; During the voyage, Oscar spent his days in the cabins of the tall and spacious five-column battleships discussing battle plans with Marie, Luquis, and other generals, and only occasionally stepped onto the deck to relax.

The multi-day voyage soon came to an end, and when the outline of the coast of Sicily appeared again in Oscar's field of vision, Oscar understood that Sicily had finally arrived! This time, the Augustan army landed in a far different location than the last time, this time it was in the north of Sicily, off the coast of Upper Sicily!

After the fleet successfully arrived at the landing site, Naams personally led the main fleet to begin cruising and patrolling around the perimeter, and the forty transport ships began to send out landing boats in turn, allowing the officers on board to row to the shore in turn. Oscar, Luquis, and other generals also took small boats from the five battleships and landed on the shore quickly! (To be continued.) )