Chapter 6: Disloyalty (Part 2)

Who would have thought that Caesar shrugged his shoulders and said that you only need to ensure that Egypt and Cyprus can provide us with supplies and money, and that Britannia only needs to declare force and let the citizens of the Republic fall into some kind of fanaticism. In fact, that place is so poor, I don't have much interest in it. Maybe I can use it to create imaginary enemies when the Senate questions my war. Poor, I heard that the people in that place mainly drink milk. How dirty and backward!

"Oh, that's it." Lepidus did not expect that the earliest Britannia was in such a state in the eyes of the Romans.

Ignore him, I can just escape and go to Egypt to take back my property. Lepidus, who quickly returned to his home, wrote a handwritten letter to the legion still in Besançon, asking Milou, Pope, and Hortensius to temporarily manage the legion. Tagus, Sabo, and Dusonville led the infantry brigade of a thousand people. He and the attached cavalry brigade went to Russell Village to gather together, and then Casillo also used means to let Quindus become the default commander of the Fourteenth Army Corps (still recruiting troops), while he took the first step and went to A The port of Culea (near present-day Venice) took over the fleet and prepared supplies for the expedition.

Three market days later, Lepidus kissed the servants one by one at the door of Russell Manor, "Thank you for everything!" Then he hugged and kissed Bodie and the children warmly, "Let the children receive an education well, no matter how young they are. Leo or Corinna need to master writing skills quickly, and they can also tell Corinna that she will have a husband in the future, who is now four years old and changing diapers by herself on the Via della Vieira on the Palatine Hill in Rome!"

When he came to Yulia, Lepidus swayed slightly, and the other party turned away, leaving his cheek to his new husband, and then asked: "If we stay here, is it equivalent to becoming Caesar's hostage?" So you will definitely come back when you go to Egypt?”

"Don't you hope...it doesn't matter, Caesar will not do this, and shoulder the responsibility of the hostess." Lepidus kissed both sides of Yulia's cheeks and urged her.

Afterwards, Lepidus, Tagus, Petheneus and others got on horseback and waved goodbye under the cheers of the crowd. The ones behind them who played the bugles were all the thousands-man brigade of the Twelve Legions. As for the Illyrian Ten The three legions, with only one flagbearer and one trumpeter beside Petheneus's horse, were temporarily recruited around Russell, holding up the vermilion embroidered lion flag and walking swayingly.

Lepidus needed to recruit troops in Milan and Aquileia before he could take these people across the sea to Egypt.

In order to complete this matter as quickly as possible, Lepidus immediately informed the new knights of Etrunia (under the wings of Lepidus, Cames quickly accumulated a fortune of nearly one million sesterces, and wore a gold ring on his right hand. Became a knight) Cames, went to the resettlement areas from Etrunia to Campania, and recruited 500 to 1,000 Pompeian veterans. When they were resettled, a reinstatement contract was signed with the committee of Crassus and Lepidus: they had the responsibility to fulfill their obligations if necessary.

There were also a few people who were recruited from idle people around the area. There were probably more than a thousand people together. Lepidus led them to the port of Aquileia, preparing to board the ship.

Because these two thousand men were organized into several infantry brigades, the most important thing left was the auxiliary troops. After the baptism of the war in Lusitania and Gaul, Lepidus believed that the weakness of the Roman legion was the lack of powerful auxiliary troops. Once the powerful ballistae, cavalry and projectiles are coordinated with the legion's solid infantry and fortifications, then the Roman legion will truly be invincible.

But here, there are only dense phalanx soldiers. Whether it is the sword and shield system of the Romans, the early Greek heavy infantry system of the Etruscans, or the rough and large phalanx of the Gauls, there is no Lepidus anyway. He really wanted to get those kind of long-range missile troops. Even the 800 Vibicinas who followed him only used the new method of dismounting to shoot, mounting to pursue, and cooperating with the infantry under his half-forced and half-persuaded approach. tactics. In the classical era, perhaps what was most lacking was not the limitations of technology, but the rejection and numbness of new technologies.

Therefore, when it came to the extra money for recruiting soldiers, Lepidus hid part of it privately and allocated part to the Soldiers Committee. He decided not to continue recruiting in this area for the time being, and he would go to the East to try his luck.

As soon as the military camp was set up in the port of Aquileia, Ptolemy XII arrived with his entire lavish carriage. Julia had said before that her husband's two thousand talents were welded to the pharaoh's body. Sooner or later it melts away like the ice and snow in summer. The pharaoh sat on a giant gilded sedan chair carried by sixteen people. Behind him were his daughter and concubines in a smaller sedan chair. At the front were dozens of black people holding feather fans and portraits and wearing gold-embroidered silk. The slaves were flanked by twenty dead warriors on horseback, each carrying a "golden apple" gun handle, in imitation of the Persian monarch. Behind the team's sedan chair were dozens of small wheeled shrines (full of golden apples). spices, gems and ribbons), dedicated to the Ptolemaic royal gods, as well as numerous indigenous gods from Upper and Lower Egypt, and finally, various palace maids smeared with precious spices...

"It's simply a mobile luxurious palace." Lepidus, who was greeted by ten stadia standing outside the military camp, couldn't help but sigh when he saw this lineup.

"I must remind you, Commander, that you can call an engineering team from the military camp to stop Pharaoh and his concubines here and build a camp for them. Otherwise, this kind of pomp will seriously damage our morale. Our army originally has many new recruits..." Before Sabo finished his suggestion, Peteneus over there made a loud sound of envy, which made the young staff officer very unhappy.

At this time, a big man walked out of Pharaoh's team. He was obviously dressed in a legion, wearing a helmet with colorful horsehair, a bell-shaped breastplate, decent silver ornaments, greaves, and the biggest difference between centurions and soldiers - a strap around the shoulders and armpits, where the fighting sword was hung, while ordinary soldiers tied it on their belts. He ran straight towards the hillside where Lepidus was stationed. This was obviously the relative of the commander of the restoration army, "the forever low-ranking Hebrida".

"Hebrida, the former sergeant left behind in the city fortress, requests to return to the team, Commander." Hebrida, standing straight in front of the horse, saluted with his hand.

"Run ten stadia forward and go to the barracks to wear the badge of the chief centurion, Hebrida!" Lepidus whispered to Peteneus after the other ran away from the hillside in high spirits, "He is also my relative, but don't make concessions because of me." (To be continued.)