Loyal friendship is needed in times of happiness, especially in times of trouble.

- Seneca (famous Stoic philosopher of ancient Roman times)

With the delivery of taxes and credentials from the Kingdom of Mauritania, Hannibal has successfully subjugated all the six kingdoms in North Africa except for the Kingdom of Carthage; Whether such a surrender was false or false, Hannibal's purpose was achieved. After all, the current strength of the Carthaginian kingdom is still limited, and it is not so simple to want all these kingdoms to submit sincerely.

Not to mention the powerful and distant kingdom of Mauritania, even the kingdoms of Libya and Gaturia that were close at hand were only temporarily surrendered by fear of the powerful army under Hannibal; However, this result can be regarded as a complete merit, and Hannibal really has no intention of delaying it in North Africa.

With the current state of the Carthaginian kingdom, it is definitely not too much to describe it as full of loopholes; First of all, the biggest problem is the internal struggle for power and corruption, and if these problems are not properly resolved, the Carthaginian kingdom will not be able to regain its life at all. Even if you rely on one or two big wins to regain morale, it is just a last-minute breath; It doesn't help the big picture at all.

However, Hannibal now simply does not have the time or energy to solve these problems; The Augustan family, entrenched in Sardinia, was Hannibal's heart. Not only because the Augustians occupied the Balearic Islands and the provinces of Betica, which belonged to the House of Hannibal, but also because the House of Augustus killed two of Hannibal's younger brothers; Rather, it was the covetousness of the Augustan family for Sicily.

The land in North Africa is not fertile, but it is by no means barren; But compared to the prosperity of the world on the northern shore of the Mediterranean and the affluence of the East, it is still more than a step behind. For the Carthaginian kingdom to truly prosper, the expansion of overseas territories and the expansion of maritime trade were indispensable; Otherwise, the Kingdom of Carthage would always be a remote regional state.

Perhaps, many people think that a quiet corner is not a bad thing; They even thought that the Kingdom of Carthage could give up all its overseas territories. Concentrate on running your own North African territory and expanding your sphere of influence in North Africa. In Hannibal's view, such an idea is simply the most sinister intention for the Carthaginian kingdom, and it is a ploy to completely destroy the Carthaginian kingdom!

Why did Hannibal think that? In Hannibal's eyes, North Africa was never the center of the world; Except for the Kingdom of Carthage, the rest of the regions are semi-civilized regions with backward civilization and backward technology. If the Kingdom of Carthage dealt with these people for a long time. and not to accept the new culture and new technology from outside; Then falling behind other major countries is inevitable.

What if that day comes, even if the Kingdom of Carthage takes all of North Africa under its rule? After losing all its overseas territories, the Carthaginian kingdom's naval power would soon fall to the bottom; The entire kingdom of Carthage would be confined to North Africa and would not be able to break through.

At that time, countries outside North Africa were constantly developing new warships and building new weapons and equipment; And the Kingdom of Carthage is still resting on its laurels and living a life of self-deception. One day, the kingdom of Carthage will surely welcome a new invader; It could be the Romans, who were more powerful, or it could be other peoples and nations that had risen up.

These invaders will easily tear apart the weak naval warships of the Carthage Kingdom on new warships that the Carthage Kingdom has never seen before, and the new weapons and equipment they use will easily harvest the lives of the warriors of the Carthaginian Kingdom. This is still Hannibal's best imagination of the kingdom of Carthage!

You know, the Kingdom of Carthage didn't necessarily have a smooth sail for the whole of North Africa; Even the Kingdom of Carthage completed its conquest of North Africa. A long period of non-contact with the outside world will also plunge the Carthaginian kingdom into fierce internal strife, which is the real tragedy, and even without external forces, the Carthaginian kingdom will die out on its own.

Therefore, in order for the Carthaginian Kingdom to continue to develop and grow, the least point is to ensure that the overseas territory of the Carthage Kingdom is not lost, and that the exchanges between the Carthage Kingdom and overseas countries are not stopped; That's the only way. The kingdom of Carthage could exist forever. This was Hannibal's goal and the main direction of his next struggle.

The situation in North Africa only needs to be stabilized temporarily. Hannibal was not prepared to continue wasting time in North Africa; Because the strength of the Carthaginian kingdom was never determined by the situation in North Africa. The immediate priority was to stabilize the rule of the Kingdom of Carthage over Sicily, and then complete the war against the Romans on this basis.

In Hannibal's view, as long as he could completely bring Sicily under the rule of the Kingdom of Carthage, and gradually cut down the Roman and Greek strongholds in the western Mediterranean; Then, the Kingdom of Carthage will soon return to its former position as the hegemon of the Mediterranean. Only then will Hannibal have his hands free. Slowly clean up the interior of the Carthaginian kingdom and the countries of North Africa.

Until then, Hannibal's focus will still be overseas; As for the internal affairs of Carthage and the control of the situation in North Africa, Hannibal pinned all his hopes on the generals who were willing to follow him that night. Hannibal had decided to arrange all the tasks of the generals before he set out on the expedition; So that they can stabilize the situation in North Africa in their absence.

As for the internal affairs of Carthage, to put it bluntly, it is just the toss of the senators of the Carthaginian Senate; Hannibal never looked down on them. As long as the generals can control the army well. Otherwise, the tentacles of the senators reach into the army; Then it is impossible for them to stir up any storms, and when Hannibal finishes solving overseas problems, he will naturally go back and clean them up.

In fact, since the end of the last battle of the Great Leptis, the senators of the Senate have issued several summons to Hannibal one after another; Hannibal was sent to Sicily in the name of the Augustus navy threatening Sicily and urgently needing the support of Hannibal's army. However, Hannibal could not have led his army until the affairs of North Africa were settled.

Therefore, all the summons of the Senate were thrown aside by Hannibal; It wasn't until Hannibal, tired of the Senate's summons, sent someone to reply to the Senate: Wait for North African affairs. I should lead the army on the march! Such a reply also made the senators of the Senate understand Hannibal's determination, and the summons ended there.

However, the senators were still not worried that Hannibal had been leading a large army to be stationed in the Great Leptis, and even more worried that Hannibal would lead a large army to return to Carthage in the future; Therefore, the senators of the Senate directly sent the naval fleet of the Carthage land, which was under their control, to the port of Baisasion; Nominally, to save time, Hannibal boarded the ship directly from here.

Naturally, the senate's careful thinking could not have been concealed from Hannibal. But Hannibal was reluctant to dwell on this; Moreover, it was indeed beneficial to save time by departing from the port of Baisasion, and Hannibal agreed to this order of the Senate. At the same time, in order to make up for the loophole in the army formed after he led his army to the battle, Hannibal also recruited another 20,000 infantry during the recuperation period!

Originally, Hannibal planned to use the soldiers of the Tripoli rebel army who were willing to stay and serve as the garrison of Great Leptis, but due to the shortage of troops, Hannibal directly incorporated all of them into the regular Carthaginian army under his command; Moreover, of the additional 20,000 recruits, 16,000 were recruited in Africa and Baisasian. The remaining four thousand were recruited in Tripoli.

In this way, the Tripoli region was officially part of the Carthaginian kingdom; Later, when Hannibal and Vermina were discussing the division of forces and the division of generals into garrisons after the war, the Senate sent another order that made Hannibal cry and laugh. It turned out that in order to strengthen the military power of Carthage, the Senate recruited another infantry force of 8,000 men and a cavalry force of 5,000 men.

Of course, there's more to this order than that; More crucially, the Senate also named the army to be placed under the command of Vimina. What kind of military enhancement is this? It was clear that the senators of the Senate wanted to buy Viminina; Let Victoria Secreta become the military sword in the hands of the Senate!

Vimyna, of course, smiled bitterly at this, but Hannibal gladly accepted the order; Whatever the heart of the Senate gave this order. At the very least, this effectively strengthened the military strength of the Carthaginian kingdom, there is no doubt about this. After all these bits and pieces were over, Hannibal began to prepare for his expedition.

One of the most important preparations is naturally to announce to all the generals the new division of troops and the arrangement of the station, in order to make all the generals clear about the composition of the new forces under their command and the purpose of the garrison; Hannibal summoned not only all the generals in the city of Great-Leptis, but even the general Amikas, who was far away in Africa, to Great-Leptis.

After Amikas arrived at the Great Leptis, Hannibal did not give him time to rest. A new military conference was convened directly; At this military meeting, Hannibal did not discuss the matter with the generals, but after all the generals were seated, he directly began to stand up and say:

"Generals, the situation in Sicily has now reached a time of great crisis; If I don't get back to Sicily in the shortest possible time, we in the Kingdom of Carthage may lose the last of our overseas territories. What this means for us in the Kingdom of Carthage. Surely you understand; So, today I will give the order directly.

Before giving orders, it is necessary for me to let you know the whole situation of our army at the present time; After the Numidian War, the total strength we still have is as follows: 10,000 Legions of the Holy Order of Sakarb and 8,000 infantry and 5,000 cavalry recruited by the Senate, and we also have 20,000 elite cavalry and 29,000 elite infantry and 20,000 newly recruited infantry.

So, my military arrangements were as follows: I would take with me 24,000 troops, 12,000 elite infantry, 10,000 newly recruited Iberian infantry, and 2,000 Holy Order infantry. The rest of the army was divided into seven parts, each stationed in the three provinces of the mainland; Cavalry acts as a mobile force.

General Kelimis, General Gisken, the two of you still command 10,000 shield cavalry each; General Kelimis is stationed in the province of Africa, and General Gisken is stationed in the province of Tripoli, and in case of war you are to support the infantry defenders in the province or at the disposal of General Verina.

General Amikas, your task is to command your 10,000 infantry to remain on the western border of the province of Africa; If there is any misbehavior in the Kingdom of Numidia, you can directly get the support of General Kelimis. General Himika, your mission is to garrison Tripoli with 10,000 infantry, because you are likely to face the enemy on three fronts, so there are two sides to support.

General Gisken, also stationed in Tripoli Province, will be your first support, followed by General Abydos; General Abydos, your command will consist of 7,000 infantry and 2,000 cavalry, and your mission is to garrison the province of Baissasien. However, once there is a change in Tripoli, you will directly lead your army south to support General Himika, and there must be no mistake!

General Sakaber, your Legion of the Holy Order will be drawn with five thousand infantry, and the remaining five thousand cavalry will be returned to your original garrison under your command; Unless I look for you personally, or the Kingdom of Carthage encounters another crisis last time, you must not leave with your army! General Vermina, the number of troops under your command is 8,000 infantry and 5,000 cavalry arranged for you by the Senate.

It's just that I need to send 2,000 of your 5,000 cavalry to General Abydos; At the same time, given that your army is full of new recruits, I will reinforce you with three thousand of the most elite Holy Order infantry. And your mission is to lead the army to garrison the city of Carthage, on the one hand, to protect the city of Carthage from the dangers of the mission, and on the other hand, to act as my reinforcements! (To be continued.) )