"Soldiers, put a shield on top of your heads, it will be the key to protecting your body and life!"

In the afternoon, Caesar, as Pompey had anticipated, attacked Pompey's defenders on the other side of the Croix and attempted to erect a makeshift pontoon bridge in the center of the river. Pen & Fun & Pavilion www.biquge.info Centurion Naris, in the highest voice, ordered the first centurion to attack.

The legionnaires of the Fourth Legion, under the orders of the centurion, erected a wall of shields and, protected by thick shields, marched towards the river.

The enemy's arrows continued to rain like meteors, flying through the air at high speed, making a whooshing sound that caused panic among the Roman soldiers under their shields. Pompey didn't know where to hire archers, who were so skilled in archery that they could shoot arrows into the shield walls of Caesar's Roman legions at high speed, even from a distance of a river.

The iron-framed wooden shield made a clattering sound under the continuous blows of arrows, and from time to time soldiers fell in sporadic blows, and a veteran of the legion, who rushed to the front to drive a stake in the river, was hit in the throat by two arrows. The sharpened arrow pierced the veteran's neck and exited the back of the neck. Naris saw the veteran endure severe pain, but two seconds later, he still fell like a collapsing statue. There was a splash in the river, and then the blood stained the place where the warrior fell.

More soldiers, protected by the shield wall, worked hard to build the makeshift bridge. Pompey's defenders, seeing that the archers were not obvious to the enemy, began to use the large weapons of war.

Many of the sappers of Pompey's regiment began to operate large catapults and catapults under the orders of their respective commanders. They were immensely powerful and could penetrate the shields of any Roman soldier. Although not as accurate as a single archer, once these stone projectiles hit the legionary infantry on the other side of the river, it would undoubtedly be fatal to Caesar's plan to cross the river.

In his imagination, Apis imagined that the civil war should be a magnificent and large-scale war, but along the way, he found that this was not the case, many times, the civil war was fought in this small battle, and the head-to-head duel was extremely rare, and more often, it was the Roman soldiers who fought with various engineering fortifications. The big scenes in those movies are not common.

The battle to cross the river has begun, and Apis can only lie in the tent of the camp to recuperate from his wounds, and Marcus Crassus is in the tent, transmitting the battle situation ahead to Apis in real time. Let Appis learn more about the details of this battle.

"The Fourth Army was trying to cross the river, however, their tactics did not seem to be working, and the enemy's long-range strikes were fierce, at first harassment by archers, and later into catapult strikes. Many soldiers died in the river, and the blood stained the entire Croix River. ”

According to the cavalry's report, Crassus the Younger described the battle situation at the front to Appis in 1510. And Appis was lying in the tent, sighing helplessly-

Caesar may have fallen for Pompey's conspiracy, but there was nothing he could do. Only by forcibly crossing the river can a new situation of civil war be opened. Pompey was a scheming legion commander, he did not confront Caesar head-on, he probably knew that he might not be able to defeat us head-on, so he used the changeable terrain, mountains, and rivers of Greece to block our attack. And his food, money guarantees, must be much richer than ours. ”

"I guess so. But Caesar couldn't open the situation. According to the news from the cavalry, until now the Fourth Army had reduced its strength by 500 soldiers, and it was still impossible to build a beam bridge over the river, not even a pier. If this continues, Caesar will have to change his plans, or tactics. ”

Little Crassus lamented. He had followed Caesar for many years, and he also did not want to see Caesar down, even if he was punished by him, but little Crassus knew that Caesar would one day reactivate himself, and the punishment was only temporary.

……

"Let the soldiers cut down some trees, and here I am, build twenty siege slingers and break down the towers on the other side! No, thirty! ”

Caesar finally got too tired of the losses and ordered the Fourth Legion to stop the attack, stop building bridges, and instead let the other legions go to the woods to cut logs and build siege weapons on the banks of the river. The width of the Croix River is not long, and the stone projectiles emitted by the giant catapults are enough to be projected on the opposite bank. This is the most bizarre scene in the war of the Romans, they often do not rely on this long-range weapon to win, but at this moment, under special circumstances, Caesar and Pompey, on both sides of the river, played a game of long-range weapons thrown at each other.

The soldiers rarely saw Caesar angry on the battlefield, and they all honestly did what the commander ordered.

Only Anthony kindly reminded -

"It can take two or three days to shoot down the sentry posts and towers on the other side with these catapults, because they are very cumbersome and inaccurate. Caesar. ”

"I know that I don't expect these catapults to really crush the towers and sentry posts on the other side, my purpose is only to use them to confuse the defenders on the other side of the river, and to confuse Pompey."

Caesar's answer made Anthony mouth suddenly, and he knew that Caesar had a new plan at this time, not blindly attacking and crossing the river, but having a new tactic.

"Fool them into thinking that we will continue to cross the river from here, but that is not our real purpose. So how will we cross the river? Build a ship from downstream, cross it? ”

Anthony asked with concern.

"Quite the opposite, Anthony. I intend to cross the river from upstream. ”

Caesar turned to Anthony.

"But the water upstream is more turbulent, which is more unfavorable for the legion to cross the river."

For Caesar's plan, Anthony put a big question mark in his mind.

"Yes, yes. However, if you think so, Pompey will think so. And, even if Pompey didn't think so, so would those rice buckets in the Senate. And I, on the other hand, was to cross the river in what they thought was the most improbable. It will be the weakest point in their defense. ”

Caesar's bold and bold approach once again resonated with Anthony. Although the two of them are very different in age, they have something in common in terms of strategy and tactics, that is, the radical and adventurous spirit of young people.

"I thought of the small assault boats we saw in the British War, used by the barbarians."

Anthony was quick to respond.

"Clever Anthony, your thoughts and I have come to mind. While you and I are chatting here, the Ninth Legion has quietly set out its camp and is heading upstream, and I think that by this time a few improvised British assault boats have been built. I ordered them to cross the river quietly when it was dark, without armor and with the tools for digging fortifications, and to build a fortress on the other side of the river before the enemy knew it, and then to cover the crossing of the other legionnaires. ”

Caesar narrowed his eyes and said confidently...... (To be continued.) )