Augustus Road

"I have sung the praises of pastures and villages, and also of leaders. See the latest and most complete novel" - Virgil's epitaph, referring to his three representative works "Pastoral", "Farming Poems" and "Aeneas"

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The tribunes and centurions of the two legions persuaded the general to shrink the defense line in time before the opponent's four legions came over, give up the attack on the city of Isa, and retreat to the south to meet General Gebinus and make further calculations.

"What, can he still be called a qualified general? I am not a young man under the age of forty who was brought in temporarily by Caesar and has never seen the world. My mission is to suppress the cities of Dalmatia. "You can't just run away when the wind blows." Lelias yelled, and then he pointed at his subordinates and said: Before knowing the actual situation of the enemy, unnecessary commotion and arbitrary judgment are the most irrational behaviors. No matter what, the Macedonian First Army will be defeated. The chief brigade was sent out to conduct military reconnaissance and engage in contact combat with the enemy, which was more effective than anything else. "Don't hate the gods for playing with your fate, but complain about whether you have prepared sufficient sacrifices."

At this time, the daring Lepidus waited for the second wave of troops, two infantry brigades and two archer brigades of the 16th Army, about 2,000 people. He then ordered the crew to ferry again in three days. Because the positions of the troops are now exposed, if the Byblos fleet notices it, the gain outweighs the loss - "We, the four thousand people, will go ahead and attack along the Olikum City towards the Issa City. Anyway, the enemy will not touch it." We don't know our true military strength. As long as we enter the city of Issa, we can obtain the largest border fortress between Illyria and Epirus - this front can be stabilized by attacking Delphi southward. Threaten the Macedonian province."

Later, Lepidus ordered each brigade to wear the logos of other legions: the centaur flag of the sixteenth legion, the Amon sheep skull flag of the fifteenth legion, and the double bull flag of the sixth legion, creating the illusion of bustling ——In fact, there were still four thousand people, including fifteen hundred heavy infantry, five hundred light-armored auxiliaries, and one thousand Mattian cavalry. There are also a thousand archers and slingers, as well as 400 directly subordinate Medici Guards, a cavalry artillery detachment, six cavalry cannons, and a disassembled "Maseria Dame Cannon" . As for the city of Olikum, Lepidus could not trust the local Presbyterian Church, so he asked for thirty hostages to accompany the army, and five hundred mules, horses and donkeys, and marched towards the city of Isa in a mighty manner.

Along the way Illyria and the large and small market towns of Epirus. Everyone heard that this general had the strength of three legions, so they all withdrew their defenses and surrendered. Originally, according to the straight-line distance, it should only take a day and a half to reach the destination along the Iacumbini River. However, the further inland, the terrain and roads become more complicated and winding. At this time, the Roman army's advantage lies here. It cannot be seen in this kind of terrain. Fortunately, many of Phaobinas's troops are Macedonians and mountain people, so they can deal with this kind of road conditions with ease.

So when we withdrew the camp and set off again the next day, we might have only walked one-third of the way to Issa City, and heavy fog came in the middle of the night. The soldiers' armors and helmets were covered with white fluffy powder. Within the range of sight, closely follow the comrades in front and slowly advance side by side on the mountain road. This is a weather phenomenon that is rare to see in the Apennines, but it is common in the mountainous areas here. Lepidus became a little anxious. According to his prior understanding, the opponent's General Lelias had nothing more than two behaviors. One was to misbelieve his false information, give up attacking the city of Isa, and retreat to join the other Pompeian troops; the second was to misbelieve his false information. He ignored it and continued to besiege the city. If so, it would be troublesome, but he also had a plan, which was to avoid Lelias's troops in time and retreat to Salona, ​​the last stronghold.

"In the plains of the two hills ahead, we found traces of the enemy!" Cletus, the chief centurion of the Sixteenth Legion, was wearing a Thracian helmet with a curved top and was running from there. According to common sense, The scout cavalry in front should have reported the enemy situation in time when they were twenty to forty Roman miles away, but the fog was thick and the mountain road was winding and obstructed the view. Both sides encountered each other without knowing it. The front troops were only four furlongs apart. distance, and then there was confusion on both sides. Under the cover of cavalry and archers, they hurriedly retreated towards the hillside where they originally stopped.

"Sound the Parthian drums, let the two brigades occupy the hillsides on both sides of the road, and put up legion flags to intimidate them." Lepidus hurriedly commanded, and then he asked Cleitas about the number of opponents, but the answer he received was The fog was so thick that it was impossible to tell clearly.

Next, both sides lined up and faced off in silence in the fog. After a day and a half, the sunlight gradually became stronger and the fog dispersed. The chief group sent by Lelias saw three legion flags with different shapes erected on the three high towers opposite, and began to wonder if there were really three legions arrayed in front of them? If this is the case, we will be outnumbered. Over there, Cleitas and several veterans squinted their eyes, trying to judge the enemy's situation, and finally reported to Lepidus, "The enemy's formation is well arranged, but the number should not exceed two thousand people."

"How about, do you want to go over and defeat the other side's enemy?" Sabo pulled the reins and asked the commander-in-chief next to him for instructions.

"Since Laelius sent these troops, judging from their size, they are more like a military reconnaissance to find out the strength of our army. It can be seen that this guy is not so easy to be fooled. Maybe we can't go to Issa anymore. Sabo, go ask the hostages about this location. We are ready to go to Salona after proper contact." Lepidus instructed. Then Sabo went to ask clearly, and then he took a hundred cavalrymen along the line of confrontation and prepared to cross the narrow river valley between the two mountains to explore the way ahead.

Over there, the First Legion of the Macedonian Province, the "Laloconia" Legion, got its name from the battle where Sulla decisively defeated Mithridates VI at this location in Greece. This legion won the honor in this battle. Seeing Sabo's cavalry team passing by the open space in the middle of the line of confrontation in a show of force, they couldn't help but shoot arrows first.

The long-range battle started. Most of the archers of the Laloconian Legion were from Thrace and Scythian mercenaries. They used the "Lydian bow" made of wild goat horns. The range was not as good as the imitation Parthian recurve bows of Lepidus's subordinates, but the hillside they occupied was in the east, just behind the sun, and Lepidus' Nubian archers were affected by the dazzling fog and sunlight, and the accuracy of their shooting was greatly reduced. Therefore, the former's range and power were not enough to cause great damage to the latter's heavy troops, and the latter's power was not displayed because they could not hit the target.

Around noon, the chief battalion of the Laloconian Legion saw something strange: where did the enemy on the opposite side come from? Three legions! There were only more than 800 people in their own battalion, and the other side did not have the confidence to launch a strong attack or detour. It was estimated that the number was only two or three thousand people, and they also carried three legion flags. It was clearly a swindle. (To be continued...)