Augustus Road

"A woman can go out when she reaches middle age, because then people will not ask her whose wife she is, but only whose mother she is." - Greek orator Cybyreids

——————————————————————————————————

Sabo, who was hugged tightly by Lepidus, swayed with his thin body and a little embarrassed on his face. When the other party asked, he replied that the cavalry and artillery were transported to Aguilera by ships and mules. He came, and he was in Spain. He also used the spare funds of the Soldiers Committee to buy six more on credit. Now the entire legion has eighteen cavalry cannons.

"Well, the remaining problem is to build the military road as soon as possible and head to Milan. With so many cavalry artillery, our army will soon be able to get rewards and sweetness in the war in the Gallic province, whether formal or informal, Support or not, it still depends on the battlefield performance, I will still snatch the role of the regular army," Li Bida encouraged his subordinates.

But within two days, Caesar's lieutenant Rabinus sent a token officer and found Lepidus in the camp. He said that Caesar had abandoned the other three legions and only brought the tenth legion. He had crossed the huge mountain and arrived at Leman. We camped between the lake and the Rhone River to confront the Helvetii alone. We generals immediately gathered in the city of Milan, taking the legions with us. We put aside the construction of military roads for the time being, and were ready to follow at any time. Support Governor Caesar.

It seemed that with Caesar's warmongering surname, he was about to start a war with the Helvetic people. At that time, Lepidus spit out the bread he was eating, took the token and gave it to Milu, telling him to fight with Tagus. After giving the order, all the soldiers in the camp immediately checked their equipment, mules, horses, and weapons, and marched toward the city of Milan along the newly built temporary military road.

Under the city of Milan, Sekdelius and Caesar were chased to the outside of Lake Leman. The other commanders and generals stood in the camp made of red curtains, staring at the sand table intently. They waited until the two auxiliary army commanders : After Apis and Lepidus arrived, the chief lieutenant Rabinus sighed. He pointed at the sand table with his baton and said:

"Three hundred thousand Helvetic people have begun to migrate on their own, regardless of the warnings of the Republic. They have brought a large amount of food, weapons, carriages and horses, and they also claim that their tribe can migrate in two to three years. Here, defeat any other tribes that dare to stand in their way and become the overlord of all Gaul."

"Your Excellency the Governor is now leading the Tenth Legion alone across the giant mountain range. What is the policy adopted by the Helvetic people there? We need the power to know." Apis asked.

Rabinus just replied, because the Senate has not yet sent an envoy to declare that the Republic is at war with this tribe, so the Governor seems to still want to limit the situation to a diplomatic framework. During this period, our five legions, Temporarily on standby in Milan, the commanders must not slacken in their combat preparations.

"I don't think we need to be on standby. There will definitely be a war with the Helvetic people soon. We should take all the legions out today and go to Lake Leman to reinforce the governor." Suddenly, Lepidus made a surprising statement, which made the other legion commanders There was a lot of discussion among the officials - you must know that Lepidus's words seemed to be extremely rash no matter what. The power to decide to declare war and make peace lies with the Senate. In the absence of precise orders, such rash remarks will be regarded as "opening the door". The origin of "illegal war".

But Lepidus had no intention of being cautious about his words and deeds again. He knew Caesar too well. If the governor really wanted peace, how could he spend so much effort to obtain the position of governor of Gaul? ? Like Lusitania before him, this Caesar just needed a bigger war to gain money, fame, and the allegiance of his army.

However, Lepidus' explanation below was not so open-minded. He mainly wanted to give others the impression of being prepared for a rainy day. He began to point at the sand table with a gold-plated baton: The Helvetic people cannot go further east. They want to reach Britannia. There are probably only two ways to achieve the stated goal. One is to cross from Geneva on the Rhone River (Rodonas River), where there is a valuable bridge of medium and small size, and this is also Caesar's first destination. The Tenth Legion controls the surveillance area, and the legion's garrison is also there; and the other road is along the Seguni Gap, crossing the plateau area in central Gaul and heading to the west coast, where it passes through the Aedui and Seguan. The territory of the Neanderthals, and these two tribes are the closest to the Roman Republic, and the Governor will not allow them to let the Helvetic people pass.

"So, gentlemen, the final result can only be war." This was Li Bida's conclusion.

When the other commanders were about to express their concerns, Rabinus stood up and said that Lepidus' analysis of the Twelve Legions was very reasonable. We should arrange it this way, leaving half of the legion, or five corps, to stay in Milan, and the remaining four Half of the legions followed me to Lake Leman to reinforce the Governor, "After all, there are 300,000 Helvetii, and it is too dangerous for the Governor alone to lead ten legions of less than 5,000 men to confront them. "

After speaking, Rabinus nodded kindly to Lepidus and asked him if he would be willing to take the chief thousand-man group of his legion to serve as the vanguard of the entire team.

"I am honored, Your Excellency, Chief Deputy General." Lepida did not refuse at all.

In March, the Alps were still covered in white above the mountainside. In the gorge between the towering peaks on both sides, a gilded Balantian falcon was standing with its wings drooping in anger. As the emblem of the "Illyrian 12th Legion", it was held in the hands of the flag bearer along with the flag of the "Catiline Iron Hands" battalion. It walked to the front of the long queue, shining with gold and silver light in the grass-green and pale valley. At this time, the air currents blowing from the Alps from the gorge gate from time to time were still extremely cold, so I led my mount " "Owl" Lepidus, who was walking, told all the soldiers to wear double-eared leather hats like him and hide their helmets underneath. Whenever the shadows of clouds were blown up by the wind and quickly covered the entire mountain, the soldiers of the 12th Legion turned collectively, facing away from the wind, leading goats or mules and horses, and stood still until the knife-like wind swept over without any cover. They automatically sat down one after another, trying their best to avoid the raging wind and snow. When the shadows of clouds flew to the other side of the valley, the soldiers stood up one after another, shook off the snow on their bodies, and continued to move forward in an orderly manner.

But the whole march was still full of suffering. More and more soldiers were missing, sprained, and fell ill because they could not drink hot water, but they could not be transported back to Milan. Helpless Lepidus had to put them in groups of three or five, put them down on the spot, gave them blankets, tents, meat and charcoal, and asked them to wait for the help of the follow-up troops, or set up a small camp on the spot and wait for their physical strength to recover before deciding to stay or go.

Finally, only about 700 people were left in the 1,000-man battalion of the 12th Legion that walked out of the valley, and the remaining 300 people were all casualties. However, the "veteran regiment" led by Lepidus, which was mainly composed of freed slaves from Sardinia, maintained a high level of determination and will, and walked out almost intact.

As a result, when he just arrived at Lake Leman, Lepidus saw Caesar's 10th Legion digging trenches and building fortifications. (To be continued.)