Agile people tend to be overconfident, and sluggish and persistent people often win. Pen, fun, and www.biquge.info

- Aesop (Greek fabler, Phrygian)

Cleopatra listened to Oscar's suggestion and used Alexandria's abundant food and grass supplies and funds provided by the Augustan Empire to massively expand the number of Egyptian kingdoms under his command; In order to win over the governor of Ochchivian in the province of Judea and the governor of Bethinus in the province of Phoenicia, Cleopatra also sent emissaries to Sidon and Jerusalem on favorable terms.

With the current military strength of the Kingdom of Egypt, the Governor of the Phoenician Province, Berdinus, who is in charge of 30,000 infantry and 10,000 chariot troops, and the Governor of the Jewish Province, Okchivian, who is in charge of 50,000 infantry and 20,000 chariot troops, are definitely the most influential local power factions in the entire Egyptian Kingdom, and they are also the objects that the new Pharaoh of the Egyptian Kingdom must woo.

Even Ptolemy XIII, the most elite army under his command, had only 30,000 infantry and 30,000 elite Pharaonic legions, as well as 10,000 chariot troops; Quantitatively, Ptolemy XIII and the Phoenician governor Bertinus were the strongest men in the Egyptian kingdom, followed by Cleopatra and the governor of Judea, Okchivian.

Compared with the governor of the Jewish province of Okchivian, who commanded an army of 40,000, the army under Cleopatra was also about 40,000; However, Cleopatra is supported by the army of the Augustan Empire, and Cleopatra is now recruiting, and the strongest military force in the entire Egyptian kingdom is undoubtedly Cleopatra.

Had the Governor of Phoenicia, Berdinus, and the Governor of Judea, Ochchivian, been willing to remain neutral, the army under Cleopatra and the army of Augustus would have easily defeated the army of Ptolemy XIII; If they were willing to side with Cleopatra, Cleopatra wouldn't need them to fight, but they wouldn't have to worry about it.

Even if they insisted on the side of Ptolemy XIII, it would only increase the scale of the war, and it would not be possible to change the final outcome of the battle for the pharaohs; Because the Augustan Empire would never allow this war that would bring a stable supply of food and grass to the Augustan Empire, and any situation that would not be under the control of the Augustan Empire.

Oscar himself hoped that Cleopatra would be able to compete for the position of pharaoh of the Kingdom of Egypt with her own strength, and he also hoped that the armies of the Augustan Empire would participate as little as possible in the decisive battle between Cleopatra and Ptolemy XIII; All this was just to make Cleopatra's position as pharaoh of the Kingdom of Egypt more justified.

Of course, the premise of this is that Cleopatra's army must have a complete chance of victory; Otherwise, the armies of the Augustan Empire would not sit idly by and watch the situation in the Kingdom of Egypt go beyond the control of the Augustan Empire, and Oscar would not mind having the armies of the Augustan Empire intervene to deal with all the armies of the Kingdom of Egypt that were unwilling to accept Cleopatra's succession as pharaoh.

As for whether the people of the Kingdom of Egypt will have a sense of distrust of Cleopatra and question the legitimacy of Cleopatra's rule; Do you think that Oscar, as Emperor of the Augustan Empire, would care about what was going on in the hearts of the people of the Kingdom of Egypt?

If that day comes, the Augustan Empire will send a large army to garrison the Kingdom of Egypt itself; As long as the Kingdom of Egypt can be firmly controlled by the Augustan Empire, it is worth the cost, and it is acceptable to Oscar and the Augustan Empire.

At that time, with the continuous supply of grain and grass from the Kingdom of Egypt, the entire Augustan Empire will be completely free from the constraints of the food problem in the process of development; Even, the army of the Augustan Empire can carry out a new round of large-scale expansion after having inexhaustible food and grass materials, which is the foundation for the hegemony of the Augustan Empire.

In order to get the food resources of the Kingdom of Egypt, Oscar would not mind pointing the butcher's knife in his hand at anyone; Even if all the people of the Kingdom of Egypt were on the side of Ptolemy XIII, Oscar would have the confidence to kill all Egyptians until they submitted to the rule of Cleopatra, which was the determination of Oscar and the Augustan Empire!

By the time Cleopatra sent emissaries to Bethinus, governor of Phoenicia, and to Octivian, governor of Judea, Ptolemy XIII's emissaries were already on their way to Sidon and Jerusalem; Ptolemy XIII, after receiving a report from the lord of Alexandria, immediately began to ask for help from the two most important local governors of the Kingdom of Egypt.

The reason why Ptolemy XIII was able to successfully seize the position of pharaoh of the Kingdom of Egypt was that in addition to the loyal support of Bosinius, the support of Bertinus and Octvian also played an extremely important role; It is important to know that the Kingdom of Egypt is not limited to the provinces of Central Egypt, where the capital is located, and the provinces of the Nile Delta, which have no governors.

Whether it is the newly occupied provinces of Mount Sinai and Nabataean by the Kingdom of Egypt, or the original provinces of Thebes and Cyprus, they are all the most powerful provinces of Phoenicia and Judea. The attitude of these two provinces almost determined the attitude of the other four provinces towards Ptolemy XIII.

Ptolemy XIII also knew the appeal of the governors of Bertinos and Ochchivian, so after defeating the war initiated by Cleopatra, he immediately sent emissaries to Sidon and Jerusalem, and offered the two powerful governors very favorable terms in exchange for their support.

Although Bedinos and Okchivian had the most elite 110,000 troops in the Kingdom of Egypt, they were only the governors of the Kingdom of Egypt after all; In the face of the strife and fighting within the royal family, they wisely chose to protect themselves.

What's more, at that time, Cleopatra had already left the Kingdom of Egypt with the fleet of Oles, and Ptolemy XIII was also the pharaoh of the Kingdom of Egypt; Still, Bedinos and Octvian expressed their allegiance to Ptolemy XIII, and called on all other provinces of the Kingdom of Egypt to pledge their allegiance to Ptolemy XIII.

With the support of the most powerful Bertinus and Octvian, Ptolemy XIII naturally sat firmly on the throne of pharaoh of the Kingdom of Egypt; In return, Bertinos and Octvian were also recognized by Ptolemy XIII.

Ptolemy XIII, following the appointment of General Bohynius as commander-in-chief of all the armies of Central Egypt, appointed the eldest son of the governor of Bertinos as commander of the Phoenician fleet of the Kingdom of Egypt, and the eldest son of the governor of Okchivian as commander of the chariot regiment of the garrison of the Jewish province of the Kingdom of Egypt.

The power of the governor of the kingdom of Egypt was extremely limited, and who let the founder of the kingdom of Egypt, Ptolemy I, himself rise from the position of governor; Even though Bedinos and Okchivian were governors and commanders of the garrison, they could not directly appoint their sons as high officials in the army, which was a measure taken by successive pharaohs of the Kingdom of Egypt to avoid the monopoly of local governors and army commanders.

This directly led to the two appointments of Ptolemy XIII to be grateful to Bertinus and Octvian, and if Ptolemy XIII had not allowed their sons to rightfully hold high positions, it would have taken at least ten years for their sons to climb to the position appointed by Ptolemy XIII.

Based on such a relationship, Ptolemy XIII believed that his request for help would be supported by Bertinus and Octvian; Therefore, Ptolemy XIII also brought detailed requirements for the number of reinforcements to his emissaries.

Ptolemy XIII hoped that the Phoenician province with 70,000 troops could send 50,000 troops to reinforce the rear, and the Jewish province with 40,000 troops, Ptolemy XIII hoped that they could send 20,000 troops to reinforce the rear; As for the Seleucid Empire, they have been fighting to the death with the northern kingdoms recently, so how can they have the time and army to interfere in the affairs of the Kingdom of Egypt.

Upon receiving the emissaries of Ptolemy XIII, the governor of the province of Phoenicia in Sidon, Bertinus, led 30,000 infantry and 20,000 chariot troops to Jerusalem, where the governor of Okchivian was located. At this time, Okchivian had also assembled 10,000 infantry and 10,000 chariot troops, and was waiting for the arrival of Burdinus's army.

After the two armies were united, Bertinos proposed that the 40,000 infantry and 30,000 chariot troops led by Okchivian return to Central Egypt to reinforce Ptolemy XIII; He stayed behind to lead the remaining 40,000 troops in the provinces of Phoenicia and Judea to prevent any invasion by the forces of the Seleucid Empire.

Bertinus's suggestion was not unreasonable, after all, the Seleucid Empire still had a large number of troops stationed in the border areas; If the Seleucid Empire had taken the opportunity to launch an attack on the Kingdom of Egypt, how could the leaderless defenders of Phoenicia and Judea resist the attack of the Seleucid Empire?

Based on this practical consideration, Octivian agreed to Burdinos' suggestion; Just as the two were preparing to go their separate ways, Cleopatra's messenger hurried to Jerusalem and brought with them the favorable terms offered by Cleopatra.

Helplessly, their arrival was still a step too late, and neither Burdinus nor Octivian had any intention of accepting Cleopatra's terms, and nothing that they had hesitated to do for this happened; In their opinion, if Cleopatra chooses to compete with Ptolemy XIII in a decent manner, they may also consider whether to support Ptolemy XIII or Cleopatra.

It's a pity that Cleopatra actually chose to cooperate with the wolf-ambitious Augustan Empire to counterattack the Kingdom of Egypt, which is something that Bertinus and Octvian could not accept, and they still decided to send troops to reinforce Ptolemy XIII! (To be continued.) )