Augustus Road

The 300-member Council of Presbyterians in Thapsus never understood that in agreeing to betray Caesar, they could be said to have done everything perfectly: the emissaries were sent in batches, the letters were secretly written, and judging from the facts, they The goal was achieved, but why did Caesar seem to know about it earlier than Pompey? Originally, according to the prediction of the Council of Elders of Thapsus, Caesar, who was "unprepared", would first panic for a few days when he was attacked from both sides. Then Pompey sent an elite legion, or even six brigades, which was enough to break through Caesar's camp and come to His own city assisted in the defense, and the three thousand volunteers mobilized in conjunction with the city struck a blow from Caesar's back, encircling and annihilating Caesar's troops who had lost their food supplies in the area between Ruspina and Leptis. .

But Caesar was like a ghost. When Thapsus's envoys had just arrived at Pompey's camp and the city had just raised its flag, Caesar actually took out the fuel from the bottom of the cauldron, abandoned his existing position, led three legions, and went straight to his own camp. The city is down! The fleet on Kerki Island seemed to have a tacit understanding in advance, and there was not even a day difference with Caesar's land forces.

In the end, it was not Caesar who was caught off guard, but Pompey and the rebellious city!

This was the trick of Lepidus. After he obtained the information from Reginus, he immediately made a time lag. Before Thapsus learned that Reginus had been captured, he forged Pompey's document and asked Thapsus to advance. Rebellion, without giving Pompey the time to review and consider, and then carried the three legions on the fleet at sea in advance as a reserve in Caesar's hands. Evening time. After the 12th, 5th and 15th legions came ashore, Caesar hurriedly ordered, "Only our own side will not rest. The other side will not be able to rest. Pompey's party has exhausted its physical strength in fighting, building forts and marching during the day, and You have just disembarked. Although you are tired, seasick and vomiting, you can't care so much - so come to me and fight, immediately!" Then, Caesar divided the five legions into two parts. A "Theban slash" deployment was adopted, with the three newly arrived legions placed on the right flank. The two legions were arranged on the left wing, the former protruding and the latter behind, leaving the Thirteenth Legion and the fleet to surround Thapsus.

In other words, Caesar chose to fight immediately.

Pompey panicked.

At this moment. Under the city of Ruspina, when watching Condisius commanding the soldiers to build the siege wall, Antony sneered a few times, and then asked the ballistae and centurions on duty not to relax, and then he walked down the tower of the city wall to inspect After entering the busy warehouse, I saw many soldiers from the two legions sitting around under the colonnade of the market, begging the clerk to write letters home for them. To Anthony's surprise, Leo was also sitting there quietly behind the small table. Working for the big soldiers, gradually more and more soldiers gathered around him because he could write quickly and clearly. Leo before writing. He would first listen carefully to everything the soldier had to say, and then write it down in the most concise language before summoning the next one. Under the setting sun, his hair was dyed a light amber color, as if he was hearing something extremely sacred. .

"It's strange that Turinus went to live with your father and lived in the same tent as his own soldier. And yet you come here and work as a clerk. You know I have two legions here. But for the weaker ones, if we all fail on the battlefield, we won't be able to go back." Anthony walked up to Leo and said in a threatening tone.

But Leo looked up at him, just smiled shyly, and said that people should obey the destiny, and then lowered his head and was busy with his own affairs. After a while, he had finished the letters home for all the soldiers, and then he stood up and leaned on the pillar. He sat down, took out another papyrus roll from the box, and wrote carefully on it, which seemed to be his own letter.

"For whom?" Anthony was still curious.

"This is for the two mamas, and Turinus's sister, because she asked me to accompany Turinus, but now it seems that I didn't do this well, so I have to write a letter to apologize." Leo wrote quickly for a while, then put down his pen and said to Anthony, "You don't have to worry about me. You should take care of your own position. Only by performing their duties can we achieve final success."

The young man choked at this, but Anthony was not angry at all. He felt that there seemed to be nothing irritating about Leo in front of him, so he just shrugged and turned around and left.

Leo wrote on the papyrus scroll, "Octavia, I must apologize to you. Turinus is in the military camp now. The place we are in is a desert, boundless, and the soldiers said that even As the crow flies over here, you have to bring your own rations. I feel that anyone who participates in or starts a war is dangerous, and those who join the war are honorable. I help the soldiers write letters home because I feel like Turinus. It does not help these people, but it is more meaningful to let their families across the ocean feel the pulse of their loved ones. Best wishes, Leo, and I send you my regards for Turinus. "After writing, Leo rubbed his tired eyes for a moment, then placed the letter neatly in the box, and carefully arranged the pen and other tools inside. Then he stood up and heard the roar from far away. Sounds and trumpets.

Under the city of Thapsus, the fleets of Aquila and Aidangis took the lead in shooting blazing flint shells towards the city docks and breakwater, signaling the beginning of the decisive battle.

Amid the sound of trumpets, the oarsmen and boatmen under Aidangis took small boats to occupy the semicircular breakwater of the city of Tapsus, and then laid round logs on both sides. Then, the single-row oared boats were pulled into the inner bay along the logs, and then these boats pulled the larger oared boats with decks together. Aquila and Aidangis added higher towers to each ship, so that the ballista could be thrown farther. After occupying the inner bay, due to the shortened shooting distance, the volley of stone bullets and lead bullets was very powerful, and the towers of the city of Tapsus were collapsed one after another.

At this moment, Caesar's main coach's tent also raised his red cloak, and the front-line soldiers of all the legions were shouting, especially the Fifth Skylark Legion, whose exaggerated feathers were shaking and hitting their shields violently like Celts. Pompey's side was in a panic. Labienus ran out of the camp, trying to urgently switch the state of fortification construction to the battle mode, but this led to chaos among the soldiers. Some of them went in and out of the camp gate, some ran around, and some stayed where they were, at a loss.

At this moment, a trumpeter in the front row of the 15th Legion on Caesar's right wing, urged by the chief centurion Polo, "Blow quickly, it will be dark if you don't blow it!" He blew a "beep", and then thousands of soldiers, howling and rushing forward before receiving Caesar's order!