Augustus Road

"It was as if he were walking up to an elephant and begging for a copper coin." - Augustus mocking a hesitant petitioner

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Frankly speaking, Sextus, who received this information, was in a hesitant mood - his father-in-law's fleet was defeated miserably in the Balearic Islands, Libo himself was besieged on the island of Saxony, and the Spanish Greeks who were servants of Pompey's party Indo, the barbarian king of the Sparis tribe, quickly retreated with two legions between the cities of Corduba and Ursau. His brother Raus in the north only had three legions and sent back the only regular legion among them.

But even so, he only had three legions and about twenty brigades of barbarian auxiliary troops. Lepidus had at least three or four legions in various strategic directions, so he expected to be able to hold on to the Ursau Fortress (even if it The wish of "very, very strong" is no longer possible. "Relying on the fortress group, implementing mobile attacks and flexible defense" is Sextus' current strategy.

Now this intelligence clearly shows that the legions of High Priest Lepidus are trying to join up with the seven legions of Petheneus who broke through the Balearic Islands, and then follow the direction of Sagantan and break into Ursau head-on.

Even Machius, the engineering director next to him, breathed a sigh of relief. "In that case, our time and the enemy's time will be more generous, but now time may be more precious to us."

However, Sextus was still pondering. This was not the first time that he and Lepidus had fought against each other, and he was well aware of the treachery and weirdness of this character. The other party’s current behavior. It should be said to be the most reasonable - he has absolute military superiority. As long as we can join up with the seven legions coming from the sea and attack Ursau and Korduba head-on, even if we can't win in three months, we will be able to capture all the targets in half a year - but the more difficult it is It was reasonable, which made Sextus dare not take it lightly, but he also felt at a loss as to how he should deal with it if Lepidus really had a conspiracy.

not to mention. The intelligence he deployed in other cities has not yet sent information on the true movements of Lepidus' army. In war, it is always dangerous to trust one-sided information.

Thinking of this, Sextus slowly walked out of the meeting tent with distress. He saw the highest peak of the Sierra Nevada to the north. The white glaciers and snowfields were shining with beautiful light. The snow water flowed down from the mountain streams, giving birth to the mountains and plains. forest with wild flowers. It also brought fertile plains and cultivated fields below the foothills, as well as dots of lush towns. This is the most essential part of the entire Spanish province. "My father fought here for the honor of the family." Sextus looked at the beautiful scroll in front of him attentively, and then saw the pony in front of his tent and the hanging hangings. The weapon on the saddle was the Kalia battle axe. Then he shouted and climbed onto the flexible and docile mount, running around the camp and the entire river outside Ursau City, "Don't worry about so many things. Do your best, maybe a miracle will happen unintentionally, maybe soon Brutus and Cassius will have a miraculous reversal in the Greek theater. Anyway, I will try my best to hold back Lepidus' main force here, the longer it takes The better, preferably three months, four months, or even half a year.”

"Hey, Marcius, you will immediately take four brigades of auxiliary troops and set up camp on the mountain road leading to our army's camp. Build fortresses on both sides and in the center to guard against the enemy's sneak attack." Finally, Sai Ketus still set his sights on the mountain roads of the Sierra Nevada.

At this time, Lepidus' five thousand surprise troops were taking advantage of the night, holding pine torches, meandering along the corridor and beginning to march towards the southern foot. The high priest himself was carrying the same equipment as the soldiers and marching together in the queue. For climbing, each soldier is equipped with a military slave, and two soldiers are equipped with a local Spanish mountain mule. According to the usual Roman standards, a camp team has ten people, eight of whom are combatants, and two are military slaves responsible for logistics. Ten men were equipped with one mule, and the entire surprise attack army was also equipped with 800 additional beasts of burden to transport the remaining supplies and equipment. Now, Lepidus had spent a lot of money on logistics for the surprise attack.

"There can't be any hesitation or lingering. It's too easy to be exposed here. Climb with all your strength. At sunrise in the morning, we have to climb halfway up the mountain before resting." The centurions waved their fists to encourage their soldiers. , this plan was specifically formulated by Korola’s client and the guide.

The soldiers in the front pulled out their knives and saws and chopped thorns and shrubs with all their strength, trying to open up the paths that the goats usually walked on into a path for the team to move forward. The soldiers in the back held on to anything they could get their hands on. Rocks, trees, long grass, etc., you have to climb up with your body hunched over, and you have to hold the mountain mule for dear life. In this case, they may be more precious than human life.

The whole team "climbed higher and higher" until the morning light covered the hillside. They were exhausted and finally rested on a platform halfway up the mountain. However, the team was still not allowed to make a fire to cook, so they could only take out some dry wheat cakes from their backpacks and drink them with cold water. "This is not allowed. You will get dysentery." The guide brought up this topic in time, so the cold water was cancelled, and the sheep cheese stored in advance was very popular. Just as they were about to continue marching in the afternoon, the sun suddenly disappeared without a trace, and dark clouds covered the entire hillside right in front of people's eyes. Soon, it was difficult to see food within ten Roman feet around. The wind was blowing hard, and the grass and trees on the hillside were rolling and swaying in the strong wind. "Dig a pit, dig a pit, we can't set up a tent!" So the soldiers could only grit their teeth and start digging pits on the hard mountain. After digging their own pits, they had to dig the animals' pits. Then they carried their weapons and equipment, pulled the animals together and fell into the pits, and covered them with leather. The high priest set an example - he stayed in a pit with two mules for a whole night.

The next day, after the wind died down, the leather and shields were uncovered. The soldiers looked more relaxed. They climbed out of the shallow pits, gathered in front of the team logo, and continued to march in order. "This is just the beginning. The difficulties are far more than these."

The roots of the glaciers are bare and almost without vegetation. The team felt miserable due to the lack of oxygen in the plateau area. The movement was extremely slow. The slaves and soldiers were wrapped from head to toe in cloaks to resist the cold wind that was completely inconsistent with the season. Thanks to Leo's timely dispatch, the soldiers' survival needs were basically met. When camping at night, the soldiers began to cut the leather into strips with a knife and lit a fire to keep warm. They could directly see the stars above their heads from all directions, as if they could touch them with a hand.

As a result, when they continued to march, they found that they had lost some men. Some died quietly, and some could no longer move forward. Based on the previous experience in Gaul, Lepidus ordered all the sick men to gather in the leeward depression, set up tents, help each other, wait for rescue from the rear, and leave them with sufficient food in case of emergency. (To be continued...)

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