Augustus Road

"The competition among all cities has ended, and each city now only faces one inescapable problem, which is how to make itself more beautiful and attractive." - Aristides commented on the "thorough development" brought by the Roman Empire in the 2nd century AD Peace"

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"In which direction?" Pompey asked, standing up.

The token officer said, Your Excellency, you'd better go and see for yourself. Pompey did not have time to change clothes, and hurriedly climbed to the camp tower with his followers. Caesar's camp was indeed boiling in the morning light. It was "divided into four parts, one part ran down Mount Gemal, one part came out of the enemy camp, and the other part returned." After climbing the ridge, there is still a part of it that seems to be running towards Ruspina City," Rabinus looked at it and judged.

"Caesar and Lepidus are going to take back Thapsus," Pompey said.

At this time, Rabinus cleared his throat and said to Pompey with a heavy tone, "Your Excellency, no matter how imprudent Sulpicius and {no} wrong {small} say.s. Cruz are, they must not Needless to say, the situation has reached the point of decisive battle.”

"Yes, make up your mind." Pompeo said with enthusiasm, and then he decisively issued the order of battle: the Eighth Army suffered heavy losses in the previous battle, and casually added prisoners of war and foreign cavalry to enter, and continued to drive to the city of Utica to prepare for the liberation. The siege of Zama was commanded by Afranius; the fourth and fifth legions were commanded by Condisius and Sulpicius to block Caesar's army in Ruspina; Turas's The three legions were responsible for containing Caesar's troops who were staying in the position; I, Rabinus, Vibrius, and Peletaus led the most elite first, second, and sixth legions to attack Tapsus. The main force following Caesar. Forcing him to turn around and fight me. Or oppress them below the city and annihilate them; Scipio, King of Juba. With 10,000 cavalry and the Seventh Legion, guerrillas contained Lepidus' group; Cruz was responsible for guarding the entire rear camp, not to act rashly, and protecting the road to Utica. Then, amidst the excitement of the bugles, the soldiers of Pompey's army also began to take action. They silently and quickly completed the order to set off. It's like a grand dance with great tacit understanding. On the ridge position, many soldiers from Caesar's side stood in front of the camp and shouted, but Turas pulled his third legion apart and cut off the passage between their position and the city of Ruspina - and then Pompey , Rabinus's three legions, and the cavalry of Scipio and King Juba, rushed through this narrow passage in less than a moment, like lightning and thunder, Condisi Two legions of Us arrived quickly and surrounded the coastal city of Ruspina. Otherwise, the people inside will get out.

Inside happened to be the two legions to which Antony belonged, the Fourteenth and Fifteenth. Equipped with a lot of slingers and archers, Antony quickly ordered everyone to rely on the city to resist the siege of Condisius.

After breaking through this ridge position, everyone on Pompeii's side understood that it was all-or-nothing below. There were no logistical supplies and no established positions to speak of.

Soon, Lepidus' intercepting team appeared on the horizon. Qingyishui's cavalry, about 4,000 people, and some Agrian auxiliary light troops, and almost made Labienus angry, Lepidus actually did it too A "Camel Flag Command Vehicle" to dispatch his cavalry. "This is the enemy's diversionary force. Don't be reluctant to fight. Just send some cavalry up to fight with him." Pompey shouted while riding on his horse.

"I will come and trap him." Scipio personally brought the same number of Numidian cavalry and nearly seventy war elephants, forming a wide horizontal formation and rushed towards Lepidus. The roar shook the heavens and the earth, shaking the soul.

"We don't want to fight. You two, Hansk and Mindaz, are responsible for guiding us with the flag. We retreat along the established road, and we have to be fast!" Lepidah made a prompt decision and commanded all the cavalry to turn around and retreat like a tide again. The Ruian people also played to their strengths and followed closely behind the cavalry without falling behind at all.

"Raise the flag and ask the King of Juba to take the remaining 6,000 Numidian cavalry and follow Scipio. The purpose is to drive that bastard Lepidus as far away as possible, and do not let him interfere with our attack on Caesar." Fight." Pompey slowed down, and the footsteps of the soldiers and horses around him were flying, but he still issued the preset instructions to the token officer very clearly. Now everything seemed to be going smoothly, and everything was going according to his instructions. Binnus' vision unfolds.

The King of Juba personally sat on a huge war elephant. His shooting tower carried the royal emblem and flag, which was very majestic. After receiving this order, he asked the elephant master to stand up the mount, and then the command sounded, A large number of war elephants stood up one after another, and the cavalry from Numidia and Mauritania flexibly filled the gaps between each elephant. They cooperated with each other in an extremely tacit understanding, forming a huge torrent with oppressive force, and rushed in the direction of Lepidus. .

Lepidus' cavalry was also very fast. They stopped and went, and from time to time they sent out Matias and Agrians to organize rearguard battles. They used long-range firepower to knock down many of the chasing cavalry of the King of Juba. Finally, When the cavalry on the outpost saw an endless salt lake swamp, Lepidus breathed a sigh of relief and said that we had arrived at the lower end of the Mykonin Salt Lake. This salt lake happened to form a huge obstacle, forcing Pompey and Scipio to The men and horses were separated, and they could only enter the city of Thapsus through two narrow coastal corridors at the north and south ends, which is our ideal decisive battle location.

"Long live!" All the cavalrymen under Lepidus turned around and charged hard after hearing the order for a decisive battle. Lepidus, wearing a blue feather and cloak, led the way and fought with the chasing enemy cavalry, killing and wounding them. They retreated one after another, but then King Juba's war elephants rushed over, and Lepidus' cavalrymen retreated alternately, instantly increasing their pace and pulling King Juba and Scipio's troops about three Roman miles away.

Then, on a shallow stream extending from the salt lake, all of Lepidus' 4,000 cavalrymen waded through the water, turned a corner, and came to the so-called "Southern Corridor".

The city of Tapsus is located on a protruding cape, and in front of it there is a huge salt lake called Mikonin, so the land-facing side of Tapsus is divided into the Southern Corridor and the Northern Corridor, like two arms of the city.

Pompey, who was chasing, soon discovered this, but he could not turn back. It was certain that Caesar had already led several legions into the "Northern Corridor", and he had to rush in to fight Caesar.

Along the way, the heavy luggage of Caesar's soldiers was thrown everywhere, and some flags were sandwiched in them. Seeing this, Pompey's army chasing along the north shore of the Salt Lake cheered. It seemed that Caesar's soldiers had been in such a mess.

But all of Caesar's soldiers, weapons and construction tools were always tightly held in their hands and did not discard them.

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