When Alexander saw clearly that the person coming was a commander of the Guards, he couldn't help but feel a little shocked. He knew that at this time, the commander would come here to report the news instead of guarding the mansion and waiting for his return, which must be extremely urgent.

Sure enough, the order soldier said: "Report to your Majesty, our front-line scouts came from an urgent report. The rebels from the Gaul province in Shannan dispatched about 20,000 troops and began to advance south. At present, they should be crossing the hills in the central Apennines."

Before Alexander could speak, Quentus, who was beside him, said confidently: "They were not here to attack Rome, but to seize the pass of the Apennines central mountain range in Florence."

Alexander asked back, "How come you are so sure of their purpose?"

Kuntus said: "They only have more than 10,000 troops. In the southwest of the mountains, there is only a large rebel army of about 20,000 people stationed here in Perugia. They only have 30,000 troops. It is like daydreaming to break through the Roman city with 20,000 elite guards and strong walls! No, they are not daydreaming, but moths to the flames. In addition, the governor of Shannan is only independent and does not support another Roman emperor. He did not even dare to establish a country and become king by himself. So he had no reason to come to capture the Roman city. They came just for..."

Speaking of this, Quintus found that he could not explain clearly based on his own empty words, so he gave a few instructions to his side. The guard then unfolded a map on the lawn on the side of the road. Not only Alexander, but also Douglas, all of them poked their heads over. Quintus pointed to the map and continued:

"The entire Apennine Peninsula is roughly divided into two plains by the central Apennines from northwest to southwest. If their army wants to attack Roman City, or if our army wants to attack Shannan Gaul, they must cross the central Apennines. And the most convenient passage among them is the road connecting Florence and Bologna. This road passes almost the entire journey through the bottom of a certain valley, which is flat and wide. So they occupy Florence, which can effectively hinder our army from attack Shannan Gaul, and on the other hand, they can attack Rome when the time is ripe in the future."

Someone immediately shouted, "Then what are we waiting for? Hurry up and send troops to take over Florence first, and then strike the invading enemy head-on."

Alexander snorted coldly: "It's not that easy. Don't forget that Perugia, which is less than 200 miles away from Florence, still has about 20,000 rebels. As soon as we send troops to Florence, they have many choices, such as attacking us from behind to send troops to Florence, or taking advantage of the opportunity to attack Rome."

Quintus took over the conversation and said, "I have a plan. Our guards' army will use two legions and an affiliated auxiliary legion to fight the enemy. Don't General Douglas's more than 4,000 troops have more than one large legion's combat power? You can go to the vicinity of Perugia to monitor the rebels there. Once they take action and leave their camp nests, they will immediately intercept them and force them to retreat to Perugia. After we defeat the Florence army, we will come to meet with General Douglas and annihilate the rebels of Perugia together. In addition, we have an auxiliary legion left. Let them stay in Rome in case of an accident."

After saying that, he turned his gaze to Douglas and asked with a smile: "General Douglas, do you think this plan is feasible? If you think the troops are insufficient, we will draw another auxiliary legion from the troops to reinforce Florence."

Everyone looked at Douglas like Quentus. They were all waiting to see Douglas' jokes, but they still didn't believe that Douglas could really intercept the army of more than 20,000 Perugia's army with more than 4,000 troops, including the auxiliary legion.

Douglas said, "This plan is good, but it will be better if it is slightly modified..." When everyone heard this, they thought Douglas was asking him to allocate troops, but he next pointed to the map on the grass and said:

"It would be better if our troops arrived in Perugia, if the enemy's troops retreated to the camp and did not leave, follow the plan of His Excellency Kuntus. If they left the camp, our troops would completely defeat the rebels. Then our troops attacked Bologna as quickly as possible from the mountain road in the central mountain range, cut off the retreat of the rebels attacking Florence, and wiped them out!"

Everyone heard the slightest doubts, and Alexander shook his head and said suspiciously: "Douglas, do you want to use more than 4,000 troops to use more than 4,000 troops?"

Douglas said confidently: "Please rest assured that as long as they leave the camp, our troops will definitely defeat them in a short time. Then they will follow the mountain road northwest of Perugia to Bologna and detour to the rear of the Gaul enemy in the south of the mountain."

Quentus took the conversation again and said, "Perugia's rebels will definitely go out of the camp, I can guarantee this. But according to your plan, we will deliberately slow down the time to repel the enemy in Florence and buy you time. If you fail to do what you say, you will break the overall plan..."

Douglas immediately understood what he meant to come to Quentus, and he said solemnly: "Your Majesty, and Quentus, don't worry. I can make a military order. If I cannot complete what I said, I am willing to execute according to military law. Moreover, you do not need to deliberately delay the time in Florence. My troops ride ostrichs and march very fast."

Then Douglas introduced to the puzzled people the concept of "Military Order" from the Liang army.

After listening, Alexander said, "If you can really look at your plan, it will enable me to stabilize the situation in the entire Apennine Peninsula at least half a year ahead of schedule. Perugia's rebels only have Perugia's base, and once they are defeated, it will not be possible to gather again. Shannan Gaul is afraid that most of the troops will participate in the attack on Florence. Once they are completely wiped out, they will fall into a situation where there are no soldiers available. We can drive straight into its capital, Turin, and then occupy the entire territory of Shannan Gaul. In this way, there will be no trace of rebels in the entire Apennine Peninsula. We can rely on the northern Alps and the oceans on three sides, and of course Sicily, which is our southern barrier, to firmly defend against all possible rebels. In this environment, we can rest for a while and take the initiative to reunify the entire Rome after strengthening our military power."

Speaking of this, Alexander looked at Douglas again and said meaningfully: "And the key to all this lies in you, General Douglas!"

Douglas said calmly and confidently: "Please rest assured by your Majesty. If you can't do it, I will let my head meet you."
Chapter completed!