Augustus Road

No matter which of the two roads I choose, Caesar's war against Brindisi will not last too long. When the time comes for him to take over the war against Masseria, won't my achievements and benefits be wasted again?

How can the gears of war really stop running for someone, so Lepidus's reply, while giving hope and assurance to poor Portia, was also somewhat ambiguous, "I must act according to orders. I am Caesar's lieutenant general." My identity as governor of Sardinia is now far more prominent than my being your friend. I have never spoken to you in vain. I can only guarantee that Masseria is the most beautiful place in southern Gaul. Prosperous and prosperous, it is also the oldest city; your father is the most glorious and upright citizen of the Republic. Caesar has given me the relevant maximum guarantee, that is, he will never destroy this city, let alone this city. People in the city. But I can't stop this battle, because it is just one of the catastrophes unleashed by the civil strife in the entire republic. What I can do now is try to make the city surrender without resolute resistance. This is my best choice. Good plan.”

Approaching April, when Lepidus led three legions and landed at the port of Liguria, Caesar also officially began the encirclement attack on Brindisi. It is said that Pompey still maintained his fearless courage in desperate situations, probably because he was still unwilling to abandon this coastal fortress at the ankle of Italy, so he only brought twenty troops, most of them new recruits. Then he defended the walls of Brindisi and resisted. Caesar also intended to siege Pompey. He began a massive siege fortifications. Along the pass of the river flowing outside Brindisi into the sea, he used floating rafts to carry soil and began to build two long embankments on the water. The length of three floating rafts. They also used wood to build high-rises for security purposes. The two long embankments progressed rapidly under the rain of arrows from the city. Finally, it was linked to the breakwater outside the Port of Brindisi, forming a circular blockade. But Pompey was not to be outdone. He used his own "circle" to deal with Caesar's circle-he retracted the tall commercial flat-bottomed boats with iron ropes, anchored them around the city wall, and placed soldiers and ballistae on them. , firing violently outwards, and carrying hay and sulfurous pitch in light ships, which were set ablaze and stormed Caesar's causeway. In Brindisi, the battle between blockade and government is going on all the time.

It is worth mentioning that the person who designed the city defense department was Machius, the director of engineering who was previously captured by Lepidus and released by Caesar. He also brought back Caesar's request to Pompey, that is, to hold another meeting between the two giants. , Pompeo was noncommittal, but the letter was swarmed by other senators and burned to ashes: Even if they were finished with Pompeo, they did not want the two giants to join forces to destroy the foundation of the republic. But Caesar kept extending olive branches at the same time. The war undoubtedly intensified throughout the sea and land dominated by the Republic: Caesar's Eighth, Ninth and Tenth Legions, under the leadership of his lieutenant Trureas, were in the mountain passes of Spain. Fighting fiercely with Pompey's front army; Lepidus led the 6th, 15th and 16th legions, and also approached Masseria at the same time, trying to remove the nail in the belly of Caesar's rule; Curio had already begun to march into Sicily, Pompey's army in Africa With the mobilization of Turas and other generals, they are also gathering quickly. It seems that the two sides will fight to the end sooner or later. In the east, Adiana launches a lightning attack and instructs her subordinates to join forces with Galaxia. Invasion of Cilicia to drive out the unprepared governor Cicero. In Syria, Decimus had driven away all Pompey's party, and it was said that Caesar reciprocated the favor. It has been decided that he should succeed the next governor of Gaul; the pirate forces of Cyprus and Crete have resurrected and are extremely active in attacking Pompey's shipping routes. As for the Kingdom of Egypt, it has disappeared and announced that it will not express support for the time being because of rampant piracy. Neither party provided Pompey with a fleet of servants.

The whole world has become a moving piece on the chess game, but what is worrying is that it seems that the two chess players cannot really control it.

While Lepidus was lingering in Liguria, three surprises happened. The first surprise was the arrival of a letter from Adiana, saying that his child Euaget was safe, healthy and lively; the second surprise was that he was in Cyrene. Ni's fleet has already bypassed the Strait of Messina and arrived directly. His engineering director Gable also came with the fleet. In addition, Caesar sent back another engineering talent, Pope. Both of them were The necessary talents to attack the city of Masseria immediately. In addition, Tobias, who stayed in Cyrene and was in charge of horse administration, specially carried two thousand good horses on the ship and sent them to the military camp as a boost for the war (fortunately, , Tobias raised them very well and did not die of the plague during the shipping).

The last surprise was the reaction of the Ligurians, which was beyond Lepidus' expectations. They were extremely generous. Not only did they provide twelve auxiliary infantry brigades and three auxiliary cavalry brigades to Lepidus, but they also unanimously approved it by the Council of Elders. By public discussion, we are willing to bear half of the military expenses required by Lepidus to attack Masseria! Finally, they also sent a full 4,000 mules and pack horses for transporting equipment and baggage.

Later, Cames, a knight from Etrunia, told Lepidus the truth. Since Caesar's expedition to Gaul, the two neighboring city-states of Masseria and Liguria have become incomprehensible enemies. , this time the Ligurians were so generous that they would only be willing to lend his hand to completely level the opponent.

It turns out that before Gaul was conquered, Masseria was the trade hub west of Italy, because at that time, agricultural products from Gaul and Spain had to pass through it as a transit station and be imported into the Roman Republic. As a result, the local Greek immigrant chamber of commerce accumulated huge wealth, and the luxurious temples and buildings in Masseria were the benchmark for half the world. But since Caesar went there, he also tried to reach an agreement with the Masseria Chamber of Commerce at first, hoping that the other party would bear part of the military funds, but the short-sighted Greek merchants simply looked down on this previously unknown governor, so the agreement fell through.

While Caesar was magnanimous, he was also a "grudge-bearing" person, and he would retaliate in his own way - he soon opened up a military and commercial road between Milan and the Alps, so that the trade between Gaul and Italy did not have to rely on Masseria, and correspondingly, Ligurian merchants suddenly became rich because of their proximity to water.

Therefore, after the outbreak of the civil war, the two city-states chose completely different positions, which had nothing to do with ideas, "everything was still for money and profit."