No one will remember you because of your secret thoughts. Pen, fun, pavilion www. biquge。 Ask God for strength and wisdom to express them and prove to your friends how important they are to you.

- Marc Aureli (last emperor of the Roman Empire in the era of the Five Wise Emperors)

The meeting between Hannibal and Dionysios lasted only ten minutes, and Hannibal promised to give the ancient city of Syracuse the status of a military ally after the war and to ensure the independence and autonomy of the old city of Syrac. The city-state of Syrac, on the other hand, paid for this by fully supporting Hannibal's side and sending troops to fight against the House of Augustus.

In fact, the only armies that the city-state of Syra can take out now are two, one is a ragtag army from Greece proper, and the other is the archon's guard of the city-state of Syra. Although the consuls of the city-state of Syractic decided to join Hannibal's side, the three thousand Spartan hoplites were impossible for him to take; After all, it was the last line of defense for the ancient city-state of Syra!

Naturally, Hannibal would not be embarrassed by this strongman, and if the ancient city-state of Syracuse really handed over the three thousand Spartan heavy infantry, its existence would be of no value; Dionicios was not a fool, how could he possibly hand over these three thousand elite troops to someone else?

Being able to get the Greek legion of six or seven thousand men under Dionysios was Hannibal's stated goal, and it was also a more realistic thing; From the beginning to the end, Hannibal was not a man who was willing to push others to a dead end, and naturally he would not press too the ancient city-state of Syrac, as long as he achieved the set goal.

After the talks between the two sides were over, Dionisios led his 3,000 Spartan heavy infantry back again, but Hannibal led his 14,000 elite infantry to station on the spot; Because in three days, the Greek legion of the city-state of Syrac will come to join his own battle sequence, and Hannibal will need to receive this legion.

Although this improvised motley Greek legion was very poor in combat effectiveness, and most of its weapons and equipment were backward; However, this does not affect the great role of this legion in the slightest. In Hannibal's view, this legion could not be an elite division with a little training; The previous Greek army was weak in combat, and it was completely because the Greek army commander was too incompetent.

Hannibal is a person who believes that the ability of a general determines the combat effectiveness of the army, and in Hannibal's eyes, there has never been an army in this world that cannot win a battle, only a general who cannot win a battle; As long as there is a qualified general in command, then any army can play a shocking record!

Obviously, Hannibal at this time completely forgot the key to the total collapse of the Roman army at the last decisive battle of Lillipoli; In the last decisive battle of Lililla, when the Roman coalition led by Scipio the Elder fell into a fierce battle with Hannibal's army, it was the unauthorized withdrawal of the Greek army from the battlefield that led to a complete defeat in the battle.

The affairs of Hannibal's army were decided by Hannibal alone, and no general in Hannibal's army would question any of Hannibal's decisions; This is the advantage and disadvantage of Hannibal's army. The advantage is that it can better concentrate its strength to fight; The bad thing is that once Hannibal is wrong, then it is a disaster for the entire Hannibal army!

While waiting for the arrival of the Greek legions, Hannibal also sent heralds, so that the generals who remained in Liliba led all the troops to the place where he was leading; After settling the matter of the ancient city-state of Syra, Hannibal has decided to officially start the war against the House of Augustus!

While Hannibal was actively preparing for war, the army of the House of Augustus in Upper Sicilia was not idle; After the arrival of the second and third armies in Upper Sicilia in the later period, the Augustus family had gathered six legions in Upper Sicilia and a huge army of nearly 50,000 men.

Among them, except for the Samonai Legion and the First Legion, which suffered minor casualties, the other legions were all fully manned legions; The Guards Infantry Legion and the Guards Cavalry Legion, as well as the 2nd and 7th Legions, all 30,000 troops were assembled in the city of Lili.

Together with the First Legion and the Samonai Legion, which were the first to arrive, and the family guard led by Nussis, the army of House Augustus was close to fifty thousand; And Hannibal's knowledge of this is a whole 10,000 less, which is still because the intelligence officers under Hannibal's command actually undercounted the auxiliary legions of the Augustus family's army.

Why such a low-level mistake was committed by Hannibal's intelligence officers, no one knows, and no one needs to know; It's just that the intelligence on the battlefield, a slight deviation, has a real impact on the result!

After all the armies were assembled in Messina, the mountains of food and grass in the city of Messina were quickly depleted; Oscar had to keep Naams' fleet coming to Upper Sicilia with more food and supplies. In this way, the dependence of the Augustan army on the port is extraordinary.

In order to ensure the safety of the port, Oscar not only continued to keep the five brigades of the First Army that originally remained in the port, but also reinstated the port with two brigades and all the equipment brigades from the First Army to ensure the absolute control of the port by the Augustan family.

As a result, half of the forces of the First Army were separated from those left in the port; The remaining half, led by Oscar, was ordered to be led by the lieutenant general of the First Legion, Laka, to take on the heavy responsibility of guarding Messina. In other words, the entire First Legion does not need to participate in the next decisive battle, and their task is to stay in Upper Sicilia and ensure that the army of the Augustus family continues to be behind!

Of the 3,000 troops of the 1st Auxiliary Legion, except for 1,000 Numidian cavalry, Oscar was selected, and the remaining 2,000 infantry Oscar were all left to Raqqa; At this point, the armies that the Augustus family really fought against were the two Guards Legions and the Samonai Legion, as well as the Second Legion and the Seventh Legion.

These five legions, plus Nusis's guards, have a total strength of about 40,000 men; In this respect, Hannibal's actual army of 40,000 was 40,000, not 50,000.

After determining the army to be sent to war, Oscar made arrangements for the specific command of the army; The Guards Infantry Regiment and the Guards Cavalry Regiment, as well as the Samonai Legion, formed the 1st Battle Group of the House of Augustus, commanded by Luquis. The Second and Seventh Legions, which formed the Second Battle Group of the House of Augustus, were commanded by Quintus.

In addition, Oscar transferred all the cavalry brigades of the auxiliary regiments under the first, second, and seventh regiments, and formed a cavalry force of 3,000 men under his direct command; In addition, the equipment brigades of the three legions were also transferred by Oscar to form an equipment unit under the personal command of Oscar.

Add to that the fifteen hundred family guards led by Nussis, and these troops are the troops commanded by Oscar himself; At this point, the preparations for the decisive battle of the Augustan family can be regarded as complete. Before Hannibal's army did not act rashly, the army of the House of Augustus was only training diligently every day; Just waiting for the final battle to come!

After Hannibal had been stationed in place for three days, the Greek legions from the city-state of Syracuse appeared in front of Hannibal; Looking at the uneven, sparse, and loose army in front of him, Hannibal really couldn't believe that this was actually an army!

Hannibal felt that the reason why this army could be called an army was probably because each of the more than 6,000 people had a weapon on his body; Whether these weapons are sharp or not, they are also weapons capable of killing, aren't they? Other than that, these people are a bunch of farmers through and through; Not even a militia!

As soon as the Greek legion entered Hannibal's barracks, Hannibal trained the Greek legion harshly and abnormally; Hannibal's most elite Templar infantry played the role of trainer perfectly, and began to train this tattered army in the direction of the regular army.

The miserable Greek soldiers were naturally unwilling to carry out such hard training, but after seeing the formation of swords and guns around the barracks, they could only choose to insist on hard training under the training of the infantry of the Holy Order.

Only a week later, when Hasduba and other generals arrived at Hannibal's barracks, the Greek legions in the barracks were completely transformed; Although their weapons and equipment are still outdated, and the formation is still uneven, they have begun to become more active mentally, and they are no longer as lifeless as they once were.

After the arrival of the generals, Hannibal again made slight adjustments to his army; The 10,000 Iberian infantry, which had been under the command of Mahabir, was again transferred back to his command by Hannibal, and the Greek legion, which numbered more than 6,000 men, was placed under the command of Mahabir.

Of course, Hannibal didn't hand over the battered Greek legion in front of him to Mahabal; When Mahabal and the others came, Hannibal also asked them to bring a large number of weapons and equipment from the last captured Roman army, which were redressed for the Greek legion in front of them.

After the redress, although the Greek army still can't be compared with the elite division under Hannibal, it still has a momentum and looks quite combative; This Greek legion, plus the more than 5,000 infantry originally commanded by Mahabal, the army commanded by Mahabar also reached 12,000 people.

In this way, Hannibal has a real army of fifty-five thousand! After such a large army had been gathered in one place, Hannibal finally began to march with them towards Upper Sicilia in the north; This time, Hannibal's chosen battlefield is no longer the Galdus River, where the last decisive battle took place, but the Zama Plain, which is farther north of the Kaldus! (To be continued.) )