Augustus Road

"If you want to subdue the Praetorian Guards, you can only have a more powerful provincial army." - Trajan

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When the envoys returned to Alexandria and reported the bad news to Ptolemy XIII, when the young man heard that Caesar had shamelessly intervened in the internal fight between his siblings, he spread his anger on all the envoys. Ordered them all to be castrated and confiscated as royal slaves.

But now that the facts are before us, Ptolemy XIII could only follow the advice of his staff and seriously prepare for the battle. At this time, 5,000 border guards entered the city of Alexandria, and the new pharaoh The original "Capital Guard Chief" General Sebekhu was appointed as the supreme commander, and General Serapion served as the deputy general. "These personnel plus the Gorta Army are only 10,000 people, which is far from enough." Xie Beikehu said.

So Ptolemy Thirteen gritted his teeth, took out the gold and silver from the royal family's private treasury, and ordered to recruit soldiers from the royal city and surrounding suburbs, whether they were rogue proletarians, veterans, herdsmen and horse bandits, or those who were willing to join the army. All the slaves who had changed their fate had to be recruited to make up the number. In this way, the legion guarding the royal city expanded to 20,000 people in a short period of time, including 2,000 cavalry. But what is ironic is that these cavalry.nsb.om only three people. It was just one horse, so Shebekhu got permission to open the stables in the Pharaoh's palace and allowed the cavalry to freely enter and choose their mounts. About half of the thousands of horses originally raised in the palace were taken away, and the rest were taken away. Half of them were stolen and sold by the soldiers - most of them were bought by horse dealers in Cyrene to help enrich Lepidus' horse administration. Ptolemy XIII had just succeeded to the throne, and half of the limited money in the treasury was used to bribe Caesar, but it was wasted, and the other half was used to reward the army, but the flute player's coffin was still in the palace. Even the myrrh and spices were not available, and there was no way to make a mummy, let alone send it to the Thebes Valley for burial.

When the Gorta Legion's demands could not be fulfilled, the soldiers shouted the slogan "Let us reward ourselves." They threatened the Pharaoh to issue an edict demanding the death of the Ptolemaic royal family, nobles or wealthy merchants, and then held sharp swords. Rushing to the other party's house, openly setting fire, looting, and committing adultery, "doing the work" for the Pharaoh. Then, the Gorta Legion targeted the Jewish Quarter of Alexandria. The ones who monopolized the trading business here were Joseph "Crian" of Adiana and Lepidus. After receiving the authorization from the secret letter, the big businessman immediately surrounded the shops and temples in the Jewish Quarter with fireproof brick walls, and secretly armed warehouses, dock workers, and rowers of merchant ships to guard them day and night. After repelling multiple attacks by the Gorta Legion, a battle of robbery and self-protection began in Alexandria in advance. The situation in the entire city had reached the point of chaos. The chief eunuch Motamenes first suggested that the rebellious centurion Septimius, who had killed two former consuls, be captured, and then tortured to force him to confess that he was influenced by Cleopatra. La's instigation led to this murderous act.

As a result, Septimius, who was imprisoned, had been in the army for many years. This old guy was very shrewd. When the Pharaoh's entourage came to prepare to torture him, he shouted, "If you dare to touch me and With half a finger from my subordinates, I will kill myself immediately. If I die, your chance to retract your confession will be lost forever, and Caesar's invasion of your country will be more unimpeded. After the trouble, Pharaoh not only did not dare to touch this man at will, but also carefully served him every day.

Seeing that this method did not work, Pharaoh and his servants thought of Scipio again. Someone proposed to release Scipio to Caesar, but it was quickly rejected by sober people. "Caesar had two excuses for the invasion." , one is here to question the murder of the former consul, and the other is to mediate the internal fight between the Pharaoh siblings, so even if Scipio is handed over, Caesar still has sufficient reasons to launch an army. "

In the end, it was the veteran Serapion who came up with a relatively reliable plan: Don’t give up on the peace talks yet, treat Caesar very humbly, and let him stop on Pharos Island first, and then take advantage of the fact that his subsequent large forces have not yet followed. At that time, we mobilized the Gorta Legion and citizens to strike first and attack and kill Caesar, who was at a numerical disadvantage. This way we still had a chance to win in danger.

Therefore, Ptolemy Thirteen could only agree to this plan. Then the young man actually begged Caesar to bring the fleet to Alexandria in front of the gods. "If Caesar comes another month later, those rebels will probably The palace has been looted!"

But Caesar arrived in time after all. Even though he encountered headwinds on the ocean, he still took four thousand soldiers of the Tenth Legion and arrived at the port of Ornodos on Pharos Island in the shortest possible time. The day became windy and sunny. The eagle flag of Caesar's legion appeared high on the most eye-catching lighthouse on the island. Then Ptolemy XIII sent an envoy again according to the generals' plan in advance, saying that they could welcome Caesar and the legion into the royal city. , and discuss peace matters in detail.

"My proposal is that the pharaoh and his sister first unify and disband their respective armies, and then they both come to me and openly and honestly clear up the conflicts and estrangements. Then, we will discuss the arrest and punishment of the murderer." The Great Lighthouse In the temporary command post inside, Caesar used a hook pen to carefully describe the map of Alexandria on the table, and said to the envoy.

As a result, the Egyptian envoy took the opportunity to say that because the flute player had just passed away, the new pharaoh could not leave the palace too far without permission, so he asked the dictator to move with the legion to the Nokia Cape, which was very close to the Ibos Palace and convenient for both parties to discuss things.

So Caesar's sharp eyes immediately moved to the so-called Nokia Cape on the map. Pharos Island is located in the northwest of the Pharaoh's Palace. There is a 900-roman-foot breakwater connected to the sea. Following this causeway, you can enter the Royal City of Alexandria and the iconic Great Library. Then Nokia Cape is in the northeast of the palace, with a long and narrow land like tentacles.

"This place is okay. The long and narrow terrain makes it easy for us to guard against unexpected events. In addition, we can communicate with Pharos Island by sea." Caesar's deputy general, the commander of the Tenth Legion, Xerxes, said, "and there is also a water source in this area."