In the cool autumn weather, Apis began to march into Far Spain and Corbardo in the south with his Seventh and Eighth Legions, as well as the newly formed Janissaries, under the slogan of liberating the suffering people and exterminating the barbarian rebels. Although the Pen & Fun & Pavilion www.biquge.info Praetorian Guard is one in a hundred, it still needs the experience of war to meet the requirements of Appis.

Of course, the gorgeous equipment and high salary still made everyone jealous, and they were proud to be able to enter the Praetorian Guard in Appis.

Soon, some towns in southern Spain were subjugated by Appis's army, Octavian had few defenders here, and his troops were loaded onto ships for naval battles on Creek, or, on the Roman border. In Spain, there were only a few standing garrisons left, which, of course, were absolutely loyal to Octavian.

"Appis, you are openly starting a new round of civil war, Caesar has signed a three-year peace treaty with you, and now, before the time has been a year, you have swept in again with the legions, this is an act of rebellion, the most scornful behavior of the Romans!"

In Appis' barracks, Manutus, the commander of the city's defense, questioned aggressively.

Of course, Appis still admired the courage of the remote commander to go to the meeting alone. It's just that what needs to be done still has to be done.

"No, it's not a civil war, Your Excellency Commander Manutus. This is to maintain the stability and peace of Spain, the barbarians wantonly ravaged the towns and villages of the Romans in your territory, resulting in a steady stream of tens of thousands of refugees pouring into my cities, putting great pressure on the security and economy of these cities, for which I had to vacate my houses to house these refugees, to give them the minimum rations, and to find jobs for them, but you know that it is impossible for any city to accommodate such a large number of people in a short period of time. I'm here to exterminate the troublemakers, and if you have the means to hand them over, then I won't have to go out of your way to find them, but can you do it? ”

Sitting on a large bearskin chair, Apis said with a calm face. It's an absurd excuse, but it does sound plausible. Matunus gritted his teeth and retorted further, "This is our business, we will take care of it, and we will destroy those rebels, and we don't need you to meddle in the affairs here, General Appis." ”

"It's been two months, Your Excellency Matunus, and I don't think you understand that Octavian didn't bother with what was happening here, he was planning his big things. The rebellion here can only be resolved by me, do you want me to make it so clear? ”

Appis spread out his hands and said helplessly, and in fact, everyone present understood and knew this. Apis was saying that Octavian was too busy dealing with the war with Antony to bother with the western provinces, and Apis suggested that Matunus was more sensible and surrendered on his own initiative, as it was impossible for him to have reinforcements.

But Matunus was also "a tendon", and Apis did not know how he had benefited from Octavian, so he did not give an inch in the talks.

"No matter how things change, the affairs here must be handled by Caesar himself, General, you better withdraw your army, there are no troublesome barbarians in this city you want."

"That's not what you're saying, according to the feedback from the refugees, the troublesome barbarians are lurking in the city, and I need to find them and kill them to quell the influx of refugees. If, after a while, there is a riot in your city, and there is an influx of refugees across the border, I am afraid that I will not be able to cope with the situation at that time, so for safety, I can only go into the city and look for the rebels I want. ”

Seeing that the defenders of the city did not give an inch and were not interested, Appis could only breathe a tough tone, and the first battle since the march may be just around the corner.

"Listen, Lord Matunus, let my men into the city, or the Romans will shed their blood again for this strife, and I don't want to see that picture."

Before Matunus could refute, Apis continued to press in a domineering manner.

"Then, we can only use our swords to face each other."

Matunus replied firmly.

……

"Hurry up and bring his *mother* wild ass cannon, you guys, go quickly, let the archers come over, and go to the high ground to cover."

A few days later, Appis' Seventh Legion began the "vigorous" siege of Tarbania. However, this is actually a battle without difficulty. Because the defenders of the city numbered less than a thousand, it was also a small town of about 20,000 men, and Appis's two legions, plus auxiliary troops and logisticians, were already close to that number. Therefore, it is more of a battle than an opportunity for Appis's recruits to practice their skills.

Several slaves, reprimanded by the centurion's long whip, pulled the heavy field cannon to the position designated by the centurion of the regiment. Then, the mules carrying the stones were pulled to the field artillery, and the military slaves carried the heavy stones with all hands and feet, and piled them up. While the slaves were carrying, the Roman infantry had already loaded the scattered artillery stones into the slots of the field guns, turned the winch, and charged the launchers.

Then, with a loud roar, a solid cannon was ejected, and the huge friction even caused sparks to spark the dispenser's card slot. Several cowardly slaves, who had never seen such a scene before, covered their ears and looked at the scene in horror.

The first round of artillery stones roared and poured onto the city wall, and more than a dozen unlucky Talbanian soldiers who defended the city were suddenly bloodied on the spot, some were hit in the body, and even people fell off the city wall with stones, some were killed and injured by the fragments of the cannon stone, covered in blood, and some were directly cut off their heads by the high-speed flying stone bullets, and the scene was bloody and miserable.

However, the ballista bombardment was followed by a storm of arrows.

The Romans did not pay attention to the configuration of archers in the army, but Apis attached great importance to it, and in a few years of barbarian warfare, Apis absorbed a large number of archers from Gaul and Germania, including the Creek archers recruited in Italy before, and the Seventh Legion can be said to have the most powerful long-range troops of this era.

Matunus had planned to wait for Appis's siege force to arrive at the city before launching a counterattack, but now, there was no such opportunity. Before the madman could send out the heavy infantry, Apis used long-range weapons to shoot the defenders on the city wall in rounds, causing many of the defenders to flee frantically and no longer obey the commander's orders.