In the palace of the Supreme Consul of Rome.

Scipio was sitting in his seat, holding military intelligence from the front line in his hand, his face looking terrible.

He had already anticipated Hannibal's surprise attack, and sternly warned the Roman army on the front line not to relax their vigilance.

But when it really happened, Scipio was still filled with shock.

He was shocked that Hannibal was so bold. He knew clearly that Rome had been married to the Qin Dynasty, but he dared to disobey the retreat order given to him by the Carthaginian nobles and resolutely attack their Roman garrison. This was undoubtedly a way to provoke the Qin army.

A bold move.

Isn't he afraid that he will suffer revenge from the Qin army in the future? ωωw.

Regarding the combat effectiveness of the Great Qin army, I am afraid no one will question it. It is absolutely the best in the world.

Only tens of thousands of people were able to defeat their 200,000-strong Roman army. Although most of the credit was due to the clever calculations of the Qin generals, it was enough to prove that the Qin army itself had extremely high military quality, and this was a record a few years ago.

With the rapid development speed of Great Qin, now that so much time has passed, I am afraid that its combat effectiveness is far beyond what it could have been before.

For such a powerful army, let alone the current Carthage army, even if their number were doubled, they would definitely only be crushed!

Hannibal's behavior is undoubtedly walking a tightrope on the fire!

Hannibal's desperate approach made Xibi very confused, and he also couldn't figure out what this old rival wanted to do.

While Scipio was thinking, his lieutenant walked in with an ugly expression.

"Your Excellency, Consul, now our frontline defenders have been almost completely wiped out. Hannibal led the Carthaginian army and sacked our Roman border fortress."

"The situation that was originally good suddenly took a turn for the worse. Not only did we lose a fortress that was easy to defend but difficult to attack, we also lost a large area of ​​land.

Even the hinterland of Rome is facing the danger of being invaded by Carthage. In this case, the people are very panicked, fearing that the war will spread."

"In addition, the generals in the army were very angry about Hannibal's invasion. Therefore, each of them wanted to wash away their shame and take revenge, and they all clamored for sending troops to fight Carthage."

After speaking, the adjutant placed a large pile of information in front of Scipio, which described the terrible situation Rome was facing today.

After reading it carefully, Scipio frowned tightly.

The Carthaginian army wiped out all their Roman frontline garrison and occupied all the fortresses on the Roman border. The situation was more serious than he imagined.

Scipio originally thought that Hannibal had taken advantage of the Roman garrison's carelessness and used a surprise attack to seize their Roman defensive positions.

However, the main force of the Roman border army was still there and was not greatly affected. But now it seems that he was too naive and underestimated Hannibal's determination.

He never expected that in just three days, Hannibal would capture eighteen fortresses on the border between Rome and Carthage.

The military fortresses that were painstakingly built to defend against the Carthaginian invasion are now all owned by others.

After the fortress is an endless plain, with no shelter at all and no danger to defend.

If Rome wanted to retake these eighteen fortresses, they could only attack them head-on.

In this case, unless the number of soldiers in the Roman army was more than five times that of Carthage, there would be no way to save the day.

However, for so many years, the Roman people have been oppressed by the Roman nobles, and there are constant conflicts and wars in the country. In such a harsh environment, whether they can survive safely, let alone survive, is a question.

It's a child.

Therefore, the fertility rate in Rome can be said to be pitifully low.

In addition, Rome's population was already small, and it had to be enriched by various industries, as well as the private armies of major nobles.

Under such circumstances, it was impossible for Scipio to find so many young men at once to enrich the army.

The army did not have enough numbers. Rome could not even touch Carthage and could only be a living target for the Carthage army.

The Carthaginian army relied on the Roman fortress and could advance, attack, retreat or defend. It can be said that all the trends of the war were completely controlled by them.

When the Roman army was preparing to attack, they could huddle in the fortress and rely on the city walls to block the Roman army's offensive.

In the current situation, unless a force several times larger than their Carthaginian army suddenly arrived, they would not even be able to get close to the fortress wall. They could only deal with the hidden arrows and stones fired from the wall by the Carthaginians.

It can cause more than half of the Roman casualties, which is more than enough to stop the entire Roman army.

When the Roman army wanted to retreat, the Carthaginian army could open the city gates and send various cavalry to harass them.

The cavalry has always been known for its agility and flexibility, not to mention that on such a flat grassland with no obstacles, the advantages of the cavalry can be said to be fully demonstrated.

Although the Roman army also had cavalry, the Carthaginian cavalry had their backs against the fortress walls. If they could defeat them, they could continue to fight. If they failed, they could run away without any worries.

However, if the cavalry of the Roman army dared to pursue them, they would have to be wary. Not only would they have to worry about whether this was a trap by the Carthaginian army, but they would also be afraid that they would pursue the enemy too deeply, and they would reach Carthage's end if they pursued them.

The chassis is up.

Rome was not as rich as Qin.

Not only does the prairie have the best horse ranch in the world, but there are also special riding and archery courses in official schools at all levels, making every student in Da Qin quite good at riding. Relatively speaking, cavalry is basically useless to Da Qin.

Not surprising.

But Rome was different. Due to regional problems and imperfect education system, whether it was a well-trained military horse or a soldier with proficient horse riding skills, Rome needed to invest a lot of resources to cultivate it individually.

And it’s still very rare.

Therefore, any cavalryman was extremely valuable in the Roman army.

If the cavalry were told to stay here because they were going to pursue the Carthaginian army, wouldn't it be worth the loss?

Therefore, even Rome itself had cavalry, but it could only endure the constant harassment from Carthage until it completely exited the fortress's radiation range.

As a result, the Roman army could only be led by the Carthaginian army, which was undoubtedly very detrimental to the overall situation in Rome.

"Well, if I had known that something like this would happen, I shouldn't have focused all my energy on Rome's internal political affairs."

"If I were on the front line, this kind of thing would never happen."

Scipio shook his head and sighed.

He knew clearly at the beginning that a figure like Hannibal would never retreat immediately just because he heard the news of the marriage between Rome and Qin.

But Scipio ultimately chose common sense instead of trusting his understanding and research on Hannibal over the years.

This allowed Hannibal to capture the border fortress so easily.

When he thought of this, Scipio almost felt his guts turn green with regret.

"Your Majesty the Consul, now that what has happened has happened, I hope you will stop blaming yourself."

"And in the final analysis, this matter has nothing to do with you. Because you have to deal with various new regulations in Rome, you don't have more energy to study the battle situation carefully, let alone go to command and lead it in person."

"Furthermore, you have clearly given numerous warnings before, asking the troops stationed on the front line to be more vigilant. Even if there are traces of Hannibal leading the Carthaginian army to retreat, they cannot take it lightly."

"But those damn noble generals turned a deaf ear to your words. Just the news of the retreat of the Carthaginian army, they celebrated wildly and got drunk every one of them.
Chapter completed!