The soldiers under Caesar were strong men who had never known what it was to be defeated.
When they heard that they were going to fight the Greeks again, they showed no fear at all. Their morale was high and they expressed their determination to annihilate the enemy completely!
On the contrary, Caesar himself appeared to be in high spirits on the surface, but was actually a little nervous in his heart.
After giving the order, he did not go to the military parade to give a speech, but hurriedly pulled Octavian back to his cabin and interrogated him.
"Your letter said that you saw Hannibal and Spartacus in the tent of King Stobi. Is this true?" Caesar asked.
"Absolutely true! Not only Hannibal and Spartacus, but also Enomai and Gannicus. I just felt that these two people looked familiar, but I didn't recognize them for a while. I thought about it for a long time after returning to the ship before I remembered! Lord Caesar, this King Stobi is a real character!" Octavian nodded in response.
"In that case, if we attack Sicily by force when the enemy and our army are of similar strength, I'm afraid we will get nothing good!" Caesar pondered.
Spartacus was no stranger to Caesar.
For a period of time, this slave was extremely famous in the city of Rome!
If Spartacus had not led the slave uprising, Caesar might have bought him long ago and trained him to be his personal guard!
It seemed that Pompey and Crassus had not lied. The rebels they were pursuing might have all defected to King Stobi.
So, in the council chamber of Syracuse, Octavian could see the three main leaders of the slave uprising.
With them around, it is impossible for the Greeks to be completely ignorant of Rome!
Even scarier is Hannibal!
This famous Carthaginian general had made Rome pay a heavy price many years ago.
Although the war between Rome and Carthage was caused by the mediocrity of the Carthaginian king, the Romans were the ultimate winners.
But Hannibal was not destroyed, it was just that no one knew where he hid!
Unexpectedly, Hannibal has now joined King Stobi's camp.
With this senior advisor who was well aware of Rome's strategies and tactics, as well as Rome's strengths and weaknesses, Caesar suddenly lost confidence in confronting the Greeks head-on.
In desperation, he could only look for a breakthrough tactically.
After much consideration, he finally formulated a new plan, a plan that did not involve a decisive battle with the Greek expeditionary force stationed in the port of Syracuse.
Another three days passed.
The ships sent by Themistocles to conduct outlying reconnaissance sent back important intelligence.
The Roman fleet of more than 10,000 ships commanded by Caesar did not head towards Sicily.
In the middle of the Ionian Sea, they suddenly turned north, entered the Adriatic Sea, and headed straight for the port of Venice.
This sudden change completely disrupted the Greek expeditionary force's deployment. The subsequent response became a difficult problem facing everyone.
Not daring to waste time, Themistocles hurriedly summoned all the generals to hold a meeting to discuss the matter.
As the supreme leader, Xia Zhe was naturally present.
"Caesar is so cunning! When he realized that our army had blocked his way back, he immediately turned north! If he had successfully landed in Venice and entered the Roman mainland, the defense capacity of the Roman mainland would have been greatly increased! It would have been difficult to attack Rome again!" said Spartacus.
"That's not the case. Rome has withdrawn its main force back to its homeland, even if it took a detour. It is a fait accompli. In this way, their control over overseas will inevitably weaken. Our army can take this opportunity to attack Egypt and the eastern coast of the Mediterranean and seize territories!" said Alexander.
"It is extremely risky to expand rashly without destroying the enemy's active forces! Once Caesar stabilizes the north and attacks again, I am afraid that our army will have to give up everything we have taken!" Hannibal did not approve of Alexander's strategy.
"Caesar has already run away. He doesn't want to fall into this set trap. Instead of attacking Egypt and Canaan, are we going to continue to waste time here? I support Alexander's opinion!" Themistocles said anxiously.
…
Soon, all the generals expressed their attitudes.
Most of the generals from traditional Greek powers supported Alexander's opinion.
They believed that it was obviously inappropriate to attack the Roman mainland when Caesar had already changed his route.
Rather than continue to waste time in Sicily, it would be better to use this army as the main force to march south to harvest Egypt, which has mediocre combat power. Perhaps by the way, it is not impossible to clean up the Roman garrison legions that have already occupied Canaan and even the Mesopotamian region!
But Hannibal and the three slave generals were unwilling to give up attacking the Roman mainland.
Especially Spartacus, who had been holding a grudge and wanting to turn Rome upside down during this Western expedition with Xia Zhe.
Who would have thought that before they even reached the Roman mainland, everyone started to back out.
Spartacus felt very uncomfortable.
However, no matter how painful it is, the facts are before us.
Caesar's military tactics were truly elusive!
His command ability is probably far superior to that of Pompey and Crassus!
If the army had really attacked the city of Rome as planned.
Once Caesar's reinforcements arrive from the north, the Greek expeditionary force fighting away from home is likely to suffer a major defeat!
Given the choice between attacking Egypt to the south and Rome to the north, Spartacus had to admit that attacking Egypt was safer.
Although, as Hannibal said.
Failure to destroy Caesar's main force does not mean that even if Egypt is conquered, it can rule there firmly.
But it's better than wasting time in Sicily.
"I think it's better to do this. Since Caesar is heading north, we should chase him. Try to defeat him at sea! Then our army will go south, bypass Sicily, and attack the city of Rome!" After everyone finished speaking, Xia Zhe firmly put forward his idea.
He felt that Caesar's fame was earned through land battles. Naval battles did not seem to be Caesar's strong point!
Since it has lost its meaning to hold on to Sicily, it is very necessary to first cripple Caesar's main force in order to break into Rome and get the white Heart of the King!
What?
The king did not choose to attack Rome, nor did he choose to go south to Egypt. Instead, he asked us to set sail quickly to pursue Caesar's fleet heading north?
Caesar's fleet has been sailing for three days! If we chase them now, how can we catch up with them before they land in Venice?
Instead of wasting time on meaningless pursuits, it would be better to attack the city of Rome directly!
"My king, please understand! This is not a good idea! Our warships are not faster than the Roman warships. We will never be able to catch up if we chase them now! We might as well seize this favorable opportunity and head south to Egypt. With our military strength, it will not be difficult to capture the Egyptian Queen Cleopatra in one battle..." Thinking of this, Themistocles hurriedly tried to dissuade him.
However, he had only said a few words when Xia Zhe interrupted him with an impatient wave of his hand.
"Don't say anymore, it's settled! Let's get ready to set sail!" Xia Zhe frowned.
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