(The second update has arrived. The heroes have appeared one by one. Please keep up with your monthly tickets, comrades!) The stage for national hegemony. It¡¯s always you who sings and I come on stage. The only difference is the length of time the opera takes. In the 4th century BC, the brilliant Greek civilization declined. The Odyssey heroes in Homer's epic were lost in the long river of history one by one. Carthage suddenly dominated the Mediterranean area. Their merchant ships sailed along the African coastline, and their dhows were loaded with gold, silver and other precious metals, luxury animal skins, wine and olive oil. There is no doubt that the first golden period of the Age of Sail belonged to the Carthaginians. The Greeks¡¯ civilization was limited to the Aegean Sea, while the Carthaginians owned the entire Mediterranean. In the first half of the 3rd century BC, the city of Carthage was dotted with handicraft workshops. In the Bagladas Valley in the interior of Africa, the land was fertile and could provide the Carthaginians with sufficient food. Each slave The emergence of the manor made the Carthaginian civilization a pearl in the history of Western civilization. However, with the rise of the Romans, the Carthaginian civilization also began to decline from prosperity. A skinny camel is bigger than a horse. The Second Punic War has not completely destroyed the foundation of Carthage. They still have a fleet that travels across the Mediterranean. In addition, Carthage could also plunder black slaves from central and southern Africa and sell them to other places to obtain huge profits. There are so many unique conditions. Hannibal, the Carthaginian hero who swore an oath of no compromise with Rome, was of course unwilling to be suppressed by the Romans. He wanted to make a comeback and avoid the humiliation of being defeated by Fabian and Scipio, and to achieve this goal , Hannibal understood that it was obviously impossible to rely on the power of Carthage alone. Not only was there a gap in national strength between Carthage and Rome, but also because the nobles in Carthage were greedy for the little favors given by the Romans. They gave up their national freedom and their ideals. Willing to be a lackey of the Romans. "Go and tell those in the Senate that a powerful enemy of the Romans has appeared, and we must seize this opportunity. To promote an alliance with the Easterners, we should rely on the power of Qin to return the land and wealth that the Romans have robbed of us. There are slaves, take them all back," Hannibal shouted with a ferocious expression. "Subordinate, I will report back immediately." The hunchbacked messenger was so frightened that he stepped back again and again. Repeatedly responded. Who are you looking for as allies? During this period of house arrest, Hannibal had been studying the history of various countries in the world, especially those neighboring countries around the Mediterranean that could pose a threat to the Romans. He once had hope in the Macedonians, but neither Philip IV, Ptolemy V, nor Antiochus III made him feel trustworthy. Just when he was hesitant and disappointed, news about the powerful eastern country Qin suddenly came. The Qin army from the far east traveled more than 3,000 miles from the east coast of Asia to the east coast of the Mediterranean. Along the way, both Parthia and Seleucid had little credit for the Qin army. of a number. If that¡¯s all, Hannibal is just curious at best, but then. The Qin people actually settled down in the western Asia area. Groups of Qin people migrated from the east. They worked hard to open up foreign territories. They set out to rule this vast land for a long time. If the Qin people really want to expand on the east coast of the Mediterranean, they will inevitably conflict with the Romans, and the enemy of the enemy is a friend, Hannibal thought of this. There was a rare expression of joy and excitement on his face. Unite Qin and fight against Rome. This is the only way Hannibal has found to revive Carthage. He must act quickly to provoke the anger of the Qin people and the Romans while Qin is strong. Only by fishing in troubled waters will Carthage have a chance. ¡ª¡ª. On the banks of the Nile River. Li Yuan led his army to fight against the Ptolemaic dynasty's army. He was unaware of the good intentions of Carthage, another country in western Africa. After the Qin army entered Egypt, it made smooth progress at first, and many cities along the way were defeated. The Qin army's rapid movements caused repeated defeats for the unsuspecting Egyptian army, but then Ptolemy V began to concentrate scattered forces in several key cities such as Alexandria, which made the Qin army's attack difficult. The city of Egypt. Unlike northern Europe, the Egyptians liked to use huge stones to pile up pyramids. These pyramids were mainly the burial places of pharaohs in later generations. Many of them gradually disappeared in the long history of history, and when Li Yuan arrived In this era, the various pyramids gave the Egyptians a shelter. In addition to the stone tower, the war elephant troops proposed by Cleopatra were also summoned to the battlefield by the Egyptians.There were nearly 700 war elephants in the Ptolemaic army. On the back of each elephant, there were three or four Ptolemaic soldiers holding spears or arrows. The moving fortress is hard to guard against. The Qin army lacked experience in dealing with this type of force that they had never seen before. Li Yuan hurriedly summoned Li Zhongxiang and other generals and thought of many methods. Among them, tactics such as attacking the enemy with fire and frightening elephants with thunder were also proposed. However, difficulties were encountered in the specific implementation. The frightened Egyptians defended the city. Their war elephants were mainly responsible for intercepting the Qin Army's vanguard when the Qin Army fell into the city. In a narrow area, protected by Egyptian soldiers, the Qin Army's sky thunder could accurately throw The chances of being near an elephant are slim. Under this unfavorable situation, the Qin army could only remove the Egyptians' nails one by one. Fortunately, the generals of the Ptolemaic Kingdom, like their emperor, had average military talents, and none of them could lead troops and fight well. of. Early April. After more than a month of dramatic fighting, the Qin army finally cleared the Egyptian army in the upper and middle reaches of the Nile River. The fighting began to focus on Alexandria in the downstream delta area. At this time, there were still 60,000 Egyptian troops defending Alexander. These soldiers were the elite troops of Ptolemy V. They relied on the favorable conditions of the port for supplies and did not have to worry about being besieged by the Qin army for a long time. On the contrary, the Qin army Because the battle line was too long, even transporting the baggage from the nearest Jerusalem would take more than twenty days, not including the losses on the road. The navy of the Qin Dynasty is still setting up exercises at the port of Troy. Qin soldiers who lack actual combat still need arduous training before they can board the battlefield of naval battles. And if the port cannot be blocked, Ptolemy V can wait for the arrival of Roman reinforcements without any worries. This is a bad result for the Qin army on the expedition. In the city of Cairo. The Qin army was at a loss. At this time, a caravan from Carthage came all the way along the north coast of Africa. They not only brought furs, rum and other items traded with Qin, but also brought an important person - ¡ªHannibal Baca. After receiving the news from Qin, Hannibal could no longer hold back. While under house arrest, he immediately summoned his old troops. It happened that the Carthaginian nobles had recently been resentful of the heavy taxes imposed by Rome. The two forces multiplied into one. Although Hannibal could not immediately restore the power of the administrator, he still had freedom. After successfully lobbying the Carthage Senate, Hannibal volunteered and followed the caravan all the way east, trying to find the Qin army in the Mesopotamia. After arriving in Egypt, Hannibal was overjoyed to find that the Qin army was aggressively attacking the Ptolemaic Kingdom, and the commander of this Qin army was Li Yuan, the divine warrior emperor of Qin. There was nothing more exciting for Hannibal than meeting the leader of the Qin army directly. Along the way, his mind was full of ideas on how to persuade Li Yuan. When he saw the Qin army trapped in Alexandria, Hannibal Nibal's confidence increased even more. The Qin army¡¯s station. Li Yuan met with the man who was said to be the Carthage envoy. "I heard that Carthage and Rome once fought in the Cannae area. It was you Carthaginians who won the victory. I wonder if you can tell me in detail?" Li Yuan asked. The name Hannibal naturally resonated with him, but Li Yuan was not sure whether the thin man in his fifties before him was the legendary Western God of War. When Hannibal heard this, his expression perked up and he smiled proudly: "Your Majesty also knows about the Battle of Cannae? The commander of Carthage is none other than myself. No one knows the details of this battle better than me. " Li Yuan's information about the Battle of Cannae came more from the historical records of later generations, which was only a description of a hundred or so words. However, Hannibal, an eyewitness, explained all aspects of the cause and effect, and the aftermath of the battle. At the beginning, the comparison of the strength of the two sides, the distribution of arms and the selection of terrain, these complex battlefield intelligence were presented one by one, which made Li Yuan couldn't help but praise Hannibal. With the Romans largely dominant, Hannibal unexpectedly crossed the Alps and captured Cannae, the Roman granary. Subsequently, the 50,000 Carthaginian expeditionary force launched a battle with as many as 80,000 Roman troops. Fighting to the death, Hannibal, who had fewer troops than his opponents, formed a leeward formation, using the famous half-moon defensive formation, to defend the weak front, and achieved a breakthrough on both wings of the Romans. Varro's 80,000 Roman troops had 70,000 People died violently, and the Carthaginian side only lost less than 6,000 people. The Battle of Cannae was Hannibal's most proud battle. Hearing Li Yuan's question, Hannibal felt as if he had been scratched. He left no reservations about how to plan, how to lay out and how to design for Rome to command. The process of the official falling into the trap was told one by one. His analysis?, which also convinced Li Yuan that the somewhat downcast man in front of him was Hannibal, the hero of Carthage and the great general in Western military history.