Augustus Road

On the second day, Agrippa handed over the defense of the camp behind to his brother, and he led two legions to form a position in the open area between the river and the camp rampart, and challenged Brutus' army.

"There is no need to use Aetolian cavalry this time, because the enemy is backed by fortifications. Our army uses heavy infantry to form a decisive battle!" This was Brutus's judgment, so the engineers in front quickly set up on the Apsus River. Several broad boat bridges were built, and military camps were set up. Then Brutus arranged the four legions into six columns that could alternately respond back and forth. Relying on the Apsus River, they pressed towards Agrippa's camp. .

Soon, on the battlefield, shields were overlapping, swords and spears were stabbing each other, helmets and helmets were shaking, and casualties were everywhere. All the soldiers, whether enemy or friend, were lined up in a dense and strict fighting formation, leaving only those who were slashing at each other with swords. In the whirling space, wind and snow fell from the sky again. The breaths from the soldiers' shouts and gasps turned into hot mist one after another, mixed with the wind and snow, making it impossible to distinguish the men and horses in front of them.

Finally, two days later, Agrippa took advantage of the gap in the battle to quickly withdraw his troops, while Brutus's four legions cheered loudly and advanced a long distance, shouting victory slogans. But they were blocked by Agrippa's winter camp across the road and flat ground. This was previously specially heightened and reinforced by Agrippa. Many new spectacled forts were set up to strengthen the support both internally and externally. At this time, Following the command, Lucius led the two legions on standby to the high platform and tower, using stick throwers and bows and arrows, "Feel the plague of Apollo, feel this overwhelming shooting!" Like raindrops, a large number of the light-armored auxiliary soldiers at the front of Brutus' queue were knocked down. The rest of the hoplites. Quickly raise the shield high. After dragging the wounded away, the tide receded quite a bit.

Then, Agrippa guarded the camp and defended it firmly. There was no flaw in the fortification defense. Brutus made no progress for several days.

At this time, Brutus became a little anxious, and he gathered all the generals to discuss the matter. Sibalas and others almost all persuaded him to withdraw his troops in time, return to Athens, and then have long-term discussions with Cassius to adopt the military plan previously promised by the Parthian prince. However, Brutus rejected it and said, "Immediately start from Athens and Euripides." The supplies from Si are about to arrive, and then we will compete with Agrippa!"

So the entire army faced off on both sides of the Apsus River and built permanent camps. After a market day, there was no large-scale fighting between the two sides during this period. They were all recovering, and it turned out just as Brutus had promised. Taxes and grain from cities in eastern Greece were delivered in time, and the morale of the entire army was once again high.

As a result, at this time, Agrippa's second letter arrived, "Today's winter is extremely cold, and the hardships are unbearable for your soldiers and mine. Cloaks, leather and wood are also very poor. I didn't want to To fight you, the high priest has sent many army inspectors. It seems that he wants me and these seven inexperienced legions to act as cannon fodder that consumes your strength. Therefore, I once again recommend the following, that the two armies withdraw to their respective starting points. , As long as I can keep Epirus until the following spring, the high priest has no reason to punish me, but my private thoughts should resonate with you."

Brutus received this letter, smiled slightly, and was noncommittal. At this time, many generals suggested: Judging from the content of the letter, after this supply, our advantage over Agrippa has been established, and they cannot get it. The trust and support of Lepidus and his son, and our food is safe, so you should seize the opportunity, reply to the letter to confuse Agrippa, and then select the leading soldiers to raid their winter camp.

"Do you all think so? But I once said that force needs to be supported by faith and reputation, otherwise it will only turn into worthless abuse of violence." Brutus pondered for a moment, "Maybe you will laugh at I am broad-minded, but if I use the right path, whether in politics or conquest, I will eventually defeat my enemy opponents, because they will only play tricks and tricks to convey my orders. The entire army is not allowed to move around randomly, let alone launch attacks without permission! "

At this time, most of the centurions and tribunes were dissatisfied with Brutus's treatment for the first time. They had previously admired his integrity and selflessness, but this time "Brutus was really wrong." Such pedantic tactics Strategy cannot lead us to victory.

It was not until two or three days later that the 4,000 lightly-armed soldiers that Agrippa had ambushed at the foothills of the valley were discovered by Brutus's scouts and filed out of their hiding places. Did everyone understand Brutus' painstaking efforts? If we At that time, Li Ling was really out of his wits. If he launched an attack rashly, he would definitely be ambushed and suffer heavy casualties.

Because Agrippa's letter was a trick in itself - Leo kept his word and quickly provided his troops with sufficient and generous financial supplies by sea. That's why Agrippa hoped to use this letter to He provoked Brutus to attack the winter camp and used an ambush strategy to severely injure the enemy. However, who thought that Brutus would stick to his integrity, he was helpless.

In the following days, Agrippa changed his tactics. He ordered his soldiers to build small fortifications in units of 100 men within the range of the winter camp. Scorpion crossbows and military slaves were installed in each fortification, gradually eroding the area previously occupied by Brutus' army. In addition, Agrippa gathered all the ala cavalry of the seven legions and divided them into small groups. They either took the opportunity to rush out from the foothills to plunder and kill Brutus' military slaves and scattered herders, or attacked the rear line of the enemy army when Brutus advanced and attacked.

Brutus found the Aetolian cavalry to discuss, hoping that they could also be divided into small groups to resist the invasion of Agrippa's side, but they were sternly rejected by the alliance cavalry from Synesis to ordinary people. They were all proud of the glory of the alliance that dominated Achaia and Delphi more than 300 years ago, indicating that the cavalry was used to form an iron wall to advance and trample on the enemy, and would never do the work of these nomads.

In this case, Brutus had no choice but to personally select patrol teams from all the legions to fight Agrippa in sporadic and rat battles, which were not very deadly but exhausting.

The days passed like this, and Agrippa still looked very patient, and his winter camp remained unmoved. But Brutus didn't seem to have anything to worry about. He had a clear determination to die before going to the battle, so he just waited - when the craftsmen and soldiers finished building the heavy siege equipment, he began to ravage the enemy's winter camp again, and adopted new formations and tactics. (To be continued...)