Augustus Road

"Plato talks about only four ways of flattery, but she has thousands of them." - Plutarch on Cleopatra

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"Aim to win? Is it three years from now, five years from now, or ten years from now?" Li Bida loosened his arms and said sarcastically.

Cassius changed the subject with some embarrassment, saying that I still had two lieutenants whom I had not introduced. Unexpectedly, Lepidus could tell at a glance that one of them was the one who lost the eagle flag in the Mithridatic War. Terry Ali, the commander of the Eighth Army, did not expect that this guy would be so down-trodden that he would serve as Kaxiyue's deputy general, but Lebida still greeted him politely.

Triali changed his arrogance when he saw Lepidah before, or maybe he had simply forgotten about him. He only saw the commander-in-chief of the Restoration Army in front of him. He excitedly held his hand and talked about how he was from the People's Party and how he interacted with the people. Caesar was so close that he hoped to be cared for and cared for by His Excellency the Commander-in-Chief. He said many over-the-top words until Cassius became impatient and said, "Okay, you must know that the one who continues to feed you is Gnaeus Pompey. General and Governor Gebinus."

This was said so directly that Tri Ali seemed to burp all over, so he stood aside and held his head in silence.

Then, Cassius approached the broad-chinned man on the left, a capable man in his early thirties, named Maximus, who was also an old subordinate of Pompey. "When the great Pompey destroyed the pirates in the Mediterranean, Maximus visited him many times. He serves as a naval selector and has rich experience in naval warfare. After this war is over, my dear Maximus will be ready to return to Rome and serve as a tribune." Cassio was particularly enthusiastic about this man. .

Maximus was unsmiling. It was just a military salute to Lepidah.

A brief introductory moment. However, Lepidus quickly made a careful analysis. Regardless of Cassiopeia, Triari was just a faggot. He must have spent a lot of money to follow the path of Pompey and Gebinus and become a naval officer. Lieutenant General, but his stance was still pro-Caesar, and he was also a supporter of the Populist Party back then. He had just become the commander of the legion in the east, but this guy's incompetence had already made people and gods angry. In the end, he was discharged with dignity, but he still persisted in his evil intentions. This kind of person is basically a wallflower, but he can be used as a stir-up stick; Maximus is obviously a lieutenant whom Cassius relies on. It is still unclear whether this man is loyal to Pompey or whether he is bewitched by the republican Cato the Younger. You must know that Cato the Younger uses family training, ancient customs, and honor. His brainwashing ability is quite strong.

The fleet commanded by Casillo was actually a combination of the Ravenna Navy and the Yadeldina Navy. He is also one of the few standing naval forces in the Republic. He is the naval commander of the Illyria Province. Later, Caesar served as the governor of Gaul. Due to the division of political regions, he went to Gaul to join the army. But after the Egyptian war broke out, Pompey claimed through the Senate that Caesar's war did not require a fleet, so Cassius should be sent to Cyprus and Egypt, so he followed Gebinus.

But in terms of command authority, he was still nominally Caesar's subordinate.

Therefore, Lepidus opened the skylight and spoke frankly, "How is the command of your fleet calculated?"

"Belongs to His Excellency Governor Gabinus." Cassio answered quickly.

"No, where did the Roman fleet come from in Cyprus? Your troops are all from the province of Illyria and were temporarily sent here. Therefore, they are the highest superiors of Julius Caesar. In addition, according to Roman military regulations, the navy must Subordinate legion, so according to the current situation, am I the supreme commander of this fleet? Because I am the commander-in-chief of the Thirteenth and Twelfth Illyrian Legions.”

“The ability to add titles to oneself is getting stronger and stronger.” Casio sarcastically said, “But there is no need to argue about this, and it is impossible to command even a Liburna (the Roman name for a single ship, a ship) on the sea. Libourna is a fighting spirit), okay - let's talk about the conditions, and I know that I came all the way here to reinforce, and I must not have good intentions. "

"After the spoils are discounted, you will be three and I will be seven." Lepida calculated quickly.

"Oh, no, no, no, it's too low. It's still a 50-50 split."

"Is Cato the Younger running out of money at all?" Lepidus grinned. "Pompeo's old subordinates are also here. Well, in order to take care of Triali and General Maximus, I can consider a 50-50 split, but Twenty percent must be controlled by these two generals. "This move was very beautiful, and Lepidah could see tears flashing in Terry Ali's eyes.

After the conditions were negotiated, Casio began to joke, saying that he could hardly wait to fight the Egyptian fleet.

The joke came true, and an Egyptian squadron arrived the next day.

This squadron should have investigated the details of Lepidus' army in advance, but its tragedy is that the investigation was clear-Lepidus' fleet only had civilian and commercial ships, and the newly powerful combined fleet of Cassius was excluded. In addition to the intelligence, they were suddenly faced with twenty Roman triremes, fifty twin-row Liburna projectile swords, and nearly a hundred single-row light assault ships. They were immediately dumbfounded.

"Casio and Maximus are indeed masters in commanding naval battles." Lepidus, who was watching the battle from the tower next to the tent, said with great admiration, "Perhaps in commanding naval battles, generals need more skills and skills than on land. Luck, and soldiers also need greater courage and patience."

It is easy to distinguish the Roman navy from the Egyptian navy. The former stipulated that the sails, sailors' clothes and hulls should be painted sea blue to facilitate camouflage. The latter is uniformly white, making it easy to stand out and show off one's power. However, this time the Egyptian navy obviously failed to achieve the same combat effect as the painting - Casillo used a very complex semaphore command system to closely protect the projectile boats with triremes and continuously fired at the Egyptian ships. Rockets and stone bombs set many Egyptian ships in the van on fire and fled. Then Libourna, a single-row oar, formed a long circuitous formation, cut across from the right wing of the side, and surrounded most of the Egyptian fleet. Each of the small Libourna ships is on the open deck, with twenty or thirty soldiers holding sharp swords. After flexibly and fiercely using "crows" to hit the other side's ship, these soldiers braved the smoke and jumped over the boats. Between the two ships, there was a suspension bridge on the sea, and they were engaged in hand-to-hand combat with the enemy on the opposite side. People kept falling into the water. The skill of the Romans in driving the ships was no longer comparable to the youthful clumsiness of the Punic War. Most of the helmsmen (most of them were in The stern of the boat (relying on a pair of shorter round blades to control the direction of the boat) can easily turn, and cooperate with the crow's lowering and collecting. After hunting one boat, it quickly turns to the next one.

About two days later, the Egyptian squadron captured more than ten ships in the "Crow" gang battle, five or six were sunk, and more than ten were damaged by ballistae, because the hulls were lighter. , it never took in water and sank. Instead, it swayed out of control and reached the shore, where it was captured by Lepidus' army or fleet. (To be continued...)