Augustus Road

"When kindness fails, violence can be used..." - Corneille

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When Lepidus had replenished his army in the city of Corduba and was rapidly advancing towards the Epollo River further north, Afranius on the battlefield of Ilerda was also experiencing extremely intense hesitation, and his worries Like Varro and everyone else, there is no hope of victory: after all, no one can replace Pompey. Five legions, dozens of alliances of leather shield soldiers, and 5,000 cavalry, a total of about About 60,000 people had previously won a glorious victory in annihilating Caesar's three legions. However, Caesar on the opposite side did not panic, but fought with him relentlessly, fighting with nature. He seemed to be enjoying this. A man who had such a joy in fighting actually reopened the supply route, and his ability to replenish blood was terrifying. The legions that followed were endless. This was the most incredible thing for Afranius, "Why, why did Caesar conquer Gaul? While fighting a war, we are able to obtain such great support, and yet our tribes have been rebelling one after another while we have been running Spain for so many years?”

But Afranius didn't have much time to think about it, especially when he learned that a Caesar's mobile army had appeared in the rear and had swept across the province of Lusitania and began to approach his rear. He vaguely felt that , it was wrong to think that the "five legions run by Pompey" would mean "invincible". Don't say that the enemy coming from behind was Caesar, who was confronting him across the ford of the river. Who knew what would happen soon? From where will three or five legions appear to join Caesar's camp and oppress him? Therefore, when several senior centurions came to him personally as representatives. Afranius also understood what the intention meant, "What do you mean. You want me to negotiate with Caesar?"

"This is natural. After all, you have served as a consul before and have the qualifications and prestige to ensure the safety of our team. Now Caesar's cavalry has cut off the road between our military camp and the city of Ilerda. So Your Excellency, we only have The next three options are to sit back and wait for Caesar's troops to advance from the north to the south and finally annihilate our army; but to break through Caesar's blockade and go to Ilerda, which will only delay it for a while; The last one is to go to Talaco along the Ebro River. Although this road is long and rugged, as long as we act decisively and gain time, we can take the ships of the provincial fleet and safely go to Africa to meet Pangolin. Therefore, it is the best way to do so," a chief centurion suggested. "This is the purpose of us coming to ask you to negotiate with him, to suppress him and deceive him, so that we have plenty of time to organize defenders to cover."

Afranius laughed, and he sneered, "Do you think Caesar is so stupid that he would be fooled by such a childish person?" "What I'm afraid of, the fake peace talks will become real, under the manipulation of people like Caesar."

Seeing the commander-in-chief's reaction, the centurions looked dissatisfied, and then handed Afranius a tablet. He took it and saw that he was simply horrified. These were the officers and soldiers of the camp, including The signature seal of the military tribune and centurion required the army to surrender to Caesar as a last resort. It even had the name of his own son who was accompanying the army. This young man was probably inspired by the warm atmosphere. Not only did he The superiors agreed, and even volunteered to act as secret envoys to contact Caesar's army, even as hostages.

"Who else knows about this?" Afranius asked in a deep voice while flipping the tablet.

The centurion who took the lead said deliberately and generously, "There is only one signature board. If the general thinks it will harm his reputation, he can burn it in front of us. Only the gods can clarify what will happen tonight." "

"No, don't act rashly for the time being. This kind of matter is too important and needs to be considered in the long run. Do you understand what I mean?" Of course Afranius was not naive enough to think that the centurion's words were sincere. The board was returned, but it only meant that the real power of the army was still in the hands of Pompey's crony Peletaus, and his problem had to be solved first.

The centurions agreed and nodded and went out.

In the following days, Caesar began a fierce offensive. A large number of his subordinates' cavalry began to attack Afranius's water-drawing route. They often fought against Sextus, but because Caesar was the attacker, he was always better than the defender. Fang gained more choices on the route, so under its mysterious attack, the soldiers began to shout and complain, "To get a can of water, a life may be sacrificed."

At this time, Pompey's youngest son Sextus, nicknamed "Little Thunder God", got angry. He was a man with red skin, curly hair, and a lot of acne on his face. The small red Carthage horse blended into one. Although he was now only a cavalry captain and a military tribune, because of his father, neither commander could take his anger lightly.

Therefore, Afranius and Peleitaus led about four large groups of Spanish barbarian leather shield soldiers known for their nimbleness and bravery to observe the situation of the entire battlefield. Finally, they met with Sextus' father-in-law. After consultation, Libo came up with a solution to the problem: immediately let the soldiers of the two legions become engineers, and build a wall along the river and the camp, so that it would form a safe corridor with the parallel river, and Set up sentries and wooden towers so you never have to worry about Caesar's cavalry attacks.

Just when the two commanders went to supervise the work, the most unstable legions and auxiliary troops left behind in the camp began to join forces. Instigated by Caesar's spies, they began to consciously take up arms to rebel. Crazy words started from one The news spread from one camp to another, and finally both those who were intentional and those who acted blindly rushed out and imprisoned the centurions who came to enforce discipline. Then they imitated the Roman political tradition and elected ten representatives to negotiate with the commanders and discuss a strike. Talk about peace, or take them to evacuate this ghost place immediately and go to Talaco or New Carthage.

Sextus, who was directing the soldiers to build the fort, with his muscular upper body naked, suddenly became as red as the torches at the clown festival in Rome. He thrust the pickaxe into the ground and yelled at the two men standing beside the fortification. The commander shouted, "How did you two lead the army? Why did such a dishonorable act as mutiny occur!")