Augustus Road

The so-called trapezoidal warehouse group was specially created to address the supply weakness of the Roman legion. After commanding many battles, Lepidus always felt that the Roman camp was the best in the world, but it was not yet a transcendent thing. The Roman army was superior to other royal armies in the camp, not in the camp itself (for example, the Gauls could have done a better job in building fortifications and fortresses), but in the iron discipline of the legion's "step by step".

Therefore, after entering the camp, in addition to the inherent advantages of orderly garrison, scientific division of areas, and strict patrol arrangements, there are several weaknesses that Lepidar cannot tolerate. One is that logistical supplies are difficult to dispatch. If the battle lasts for a long time, the soldiers' camp items and weapons are difficult to move with the team, which is the biggest weakness; the second is that the camp itself is square and flat. Every time they go out to fight, the soldiers are used to piling all the luggage in the middle into a small hill. It is said that this can effectively prevent the enemy from raiding and looting. However, Lepidar saw it kindly. If the enemy breaks in decisively, there is no need to rob everywhere, but to set fire to the "luggage hill". Previously, Celeste's small camp was attacked and defeated, which is a typical proof.

Of course, there is a more important reason that makes Lepidar, who is as careful as a hair, dare not put some baggage in the soldiers' camp. Otherwise, a devastating disaster will occur if he is a little careless.

Now, Lepidus has officially separated the military camp and the warehouse. He may be the general who pays the most attention to logistics in that era and that world. Five Roman miles away from the soldiers' camp, a semi-permanent warehouse was built in a trapezoidal and inverted fan shape - the front is two large warehouses facing each other from east to west. The left side stores lead bullets, stone bullets, and arrows. The right side stores weapons, armor, and shields. These two warehouses are on the "top" of the "trapezoidal shape". In front of them, where the road is connected, there are trenches, arrow towers, and breastworks for defense. There are more and more warehouses behind them, and the stored materials are mostly pottery jars, nails, wood, military shoes, clothes, blankets, linen, and other inconspicuous but important things. At the "bottom" of the trapezoid, there are a full sixteen warehouse buildings lined up in a row, and the brick walls are particularly thick. In addition, each room has an extra high wall and asbestos is hung for isolation and protection.

Around the warehouse, facilities such as stables, cranes, wooden fences and reservoirs were built and excavated, and the roads inside were fan-shaped, that is, the further back you go, the more divergent roads there are.

In this way, the trapezoidal warehouse group can not only provide strong support for the army's forward attack, but also when the front-line army retreats, its "upper side" can effectively hold the enemy with fortifications and left-behind troops. The scattered "tree-like" roads inside it can also effectively allow the party to retreat and prevent the enemy's pursuit. It can also allow subsequent reserve reinforcements to quickly gather from all sides, which has a rapid effect of turning the tide of the war.

"All the legions are natural engineers, so I specially selected a battalion from each of the six legions to guide the recruited personnel to build roads and warehouses." Standing on a high hill outside the camp, inspecting the progress of fortifications and warehouses, Lepidus said proudly to those around him, "Labinus believes that if he captures the city of Vaga and controls the mountains and the remnants, our army will not be able to cross the barren land on both sides of the river and pose a threat to him. But his ultimate plan is definitely not this." As he spoke, Lepidus confidently pointed to the west with his baton, and then pointed to the south. "The current geographical situation is fair to both the enemy and us. There is a long desert without water and plants in the middle. The water of the Tumur River is mixed with mud and sand and is extremely turbid, and it is difficult to provide drinking water for people and horses. But we should think like this-it is difficult for us to cross it. On the other hand, even if Labinus After taking down Vaga, it would be difficult for him to cross over and attack our army - so he must have another trump card, and this army is the weight of his victory. Inferring from the fact that our army still has the port of Hippo and the enemy has not besieged it with all their strength, it is difficult for them to detour along the northern coast. Instead, the city of Zama in the south is the most important to pay attention to, because it has rich assets and supplies, and there is a wide and convenient road leading directly to Utica, or it can directly detour to my rear flank. Therefore, I can be sure that Labinus sent a powerful special forces along the desert in the south of Numidia to the city of Zama, but it is uncertain how much Labinus has invested in this decisive direction. "

"Then should we draw out powerful cavalry, join the several legions that came later, and go to the Zama area first to annihilate the special forces that expelled Labinus?" Angondinus asked.

Libida shook his head lightly, "No, what I want is a war of annihilation, against Labienus, no, against the elite of the entire Pompey remnant. All I need to do here is to take advantage of the enemy's arrogance and sophisticated layout to cut off Labienus's front and rear routes. I have handed over the several legions in the rear to Petheneus for overall command, and they will be used for other purposes. As for the direction of Zama, just leave appropriate security forces. Finally, I must save Vaga. If I sit back and let Vaga fall, I will be passive in strategy. I will be controlled by the enemy, and the morale of the soldiers will plummet."

At the second daylight hour of the next morning, while the weather was still cool, all the follow-up troops of the 15th Army, led by General Selha, with Hansk's scout cavalry as the forerunner, formed a formation at any time. Being able to change the frontal warning column, sandwiching a large number of packhorses filled with water bags collected from Africa or Cyrene, they crossed the desert areas on the front, back and left at a leisurely pace. This was very important to the Fifteenth Legion. For the soldiers, they were familiar with the road. In this geographical environment, the power they exerted was no less than that of the desert barbarian mercenaries of Rabinus.

Following closely behind are the Twelve Legions holding the flag of the Mountain Falcon. They are also a brave and accustomed to fighting. In the past, their military reputation under Caesar was no less than that of the Tenth Legion. However, this time in order to adapt to desert warfare, the troops and horses specially prepared Packed lightly.

And Paluma walked at the end with about 3,000 members of the New Cavalry Army. He faithfully implemented his adoptive father's strategy, "Remember, in this forward battle, your role is not a sword, but a shield, not a front line, but a front line." He is always ready to fill the gap and act as a defensive force. That Rabinus will definitely play tricks."

Soon, the leading troops of the 15th Army Corps, which crossed the river, saw the enemy blockade camps lying between their own side and Waqa City. "Don't worry about those camps. If the enemy is huddled inside, we will drive directly to Waqa City to relieve the siege; If the enemy has an ambush outside the camp, there is no need to be afraid. The flags of the two columns are now completely opposite. If there is an enemy situation, we will turn to fight on both sides to prepare for the enemy to attack us from both front and rear. Many of them may be at any time. Everyone must be careful about the Mauritanian barbarians who appear," Selha took the trouble to emphasize. (To be continued...)

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