"Two legions took the initiative to attack more than 100,000 rebels? You must be crazy, Appis, although I have heard of your deeds, all of them are classic battles, but those battles are all when there are sufficient reinforcements, and now, Lepida's legions do not know when they will arrive, the two legions in your hands are only less than 10,000 people, and Pharnasis in three months, I don't know how many more soldiers have been expanded, I have erected high walls on the border, dug deep trenches, barely able to hold back his small force, and now, you are going to take the ninth and tenth legions deep into the tiger's den? ”

Domitius scoffed at Apis's self-confidence, believing that even if Lepida came to the huge rebel army, it would not necessarily solve the problem, not to mention that Apis now only had to lead two legions deep into the territory of the rebels, which in Domitius's opinion was simply suicidal. Pen | fun | pavilion www. ｂｉｑｕｇｅ。 ｉｎｆｏ

"Have you heard of Luculus? In the Mithridates War, he used 30,000 heavy infantry as the main force against the 120,000 army of Mithridates, and finally crushed the arrogant king of the East to pieces and squeezed out of Roman territory, and later, Mithridates allied with his son-in-law, the Armenian king Tigran II, Luculus once again led the Roman legions of only 12,000 against the massive Armenian army, as a result, the Roman legions defeated the Armenian army of 120,000 with only five killed. You may say that I am arrogant, General Domitius, but the current situation is that Pharnacisus does not have such a large number of troops, I have estimated that the area he occupies is only two large towns, and the surrounding grain and financial revenues are not enough to support his so-called army of 100,000, he is just bluffing, he thinks that his bluff can lure Caesar to come and negotiate peace with him, but he is wrong, Caesar not only has no intention of negotiating with him, but orders me to plunder everywhere I go, For the enemy who took advantage of the chaos to raise troops to fight against Rome, he must not show mercy. The nomadic cavalry of Pharnassis from the desert is perhaps our greatest threat, but other than that, the militia groups are completely ineffective. If you wish, together we will enter the territory of the rebels and destroy them there. I can have my lieutenant, Sekras, take over in Syria. ”

In the face of Domitius' ridicule and disdain, Appis explained his judgment gently, and dared to lead an army of 10,000 men to fight deep into the rebels' territory. This explanation seemed unsubstantiated to Domitius, who had been fighting the army of Pharnasis for the past three months, and the number of legions had plummeted from 6,000 to 1,000 now. It can be said that the entire legion was almost completely killed and wounded, and when it returned to Syria, it still temporarily recruited the local militia as a garrison defense force. In other words, Domitius was frightened by Pharnaciss.

"Then, you are so confident, you go by yourself, I am here, waiting for your triumph, in addition, the garrison of Syria is still left to me, the soldiers of the Sixth Army need to rest, they do not want to fight in the barbaric continent anymore."

In the end, Domitius did not choose to fight with Apis in the rebels' territory, so as to save Apis from unnecessary troubles and conflicts because of his different combat concepts, after all, in terms of position, Domitius is also a legion commander.

A few days later, in the Cappadocia region of northern Syria, Apis's army was besieged by the army of Pharnacis. At first, the battle was only harassed by a small group of barbarian soldiers, and then, on the evening of the day when the Ninth Legion was preparing to set up camp, the number of enemies increased, and they were like ant colonies pouring out of the anthill, but they were only harassment, and did not confront the Roman legions, and once the legions were lined up in a phalanx to rush forward, these eastern soldiers withdrew, and because they were lightly armed, they were faster than the Roman legionnaires, and many of the soldiers of the Ninth Legion had to chase some distance and give up, waiting until it was darkThe foundation and excavation of the camp had not even been built, and at this time, Apis suddenly realized that his daytime march should have been exposed to the surveillance of the Farnasis reconnaissance infantry, and the scouts reported this information to Farnacisse or his generals, and then, according to the characteristics of the Roman march, the enemy specially formulated the harassment tactics at night, so that the Roman legions could not build the camp smoothly, once there was no protection of the fortifications, the scarce Roman legions would be wiped out by a large number of eastern infantry and barbarian cavalry.

However, by the time Appis reacted, it was already dark. At this time, the Ninth and Tenth Legions were still tirelessly pursuing, retreating, pursuing, retreating to the small heights that had been prepared to set up camp during the day.

A small group of Colchis's cavalry rushed into the line of the Ninth Legion, causing a Roman centurion to be scrapped in an instant, and the formation of those soldiers was ruthlessly charged by the barbarian cavalry, and then the scattered Roman infantry was trampled by these nomadic cavalry, and they fought as fiercely and bravely as the Celtic cavalry, and the barbarian cavalry in the Gallic forest.

Apis personally ran to the forward position of the Ninth Legion, which was the most attacked, and shouted for Klein and Seklas to come to help, and the three hundred-man legionnaires erected a shield wall under the personal command of Appis. They leaned close to each other through their shields, and the shields were stacked on top of each other, so that the spears and bows thrown from the periphery could not shoot and injure their comrades inside. And then there's the wall of people. More people gathered together under the shouts of Appis, and put on top of the backs of the infantry of the outer legions, they were layered, and what Apis wanted was to let the shield wall be followed by a human wall, and the entire perimeter would be fixed and stabilized first, whether the enemy was shot with long-range weapons or the cavalry charged, it could not shake the overall defense line of the Roman legions, and only then did he start to build fortifications.

Soon, more and more Roman heavy infantry came together according to the arrangement of the legion commander, and looked down from the air, like a highly populated circular defensive formation. The outermost legionnaires used their shields and bodies as cover, covering the innermost legionnaires and began to dig fortifications.

Seeing that the Roman position could not be shaken, the soldiers of Pharnacissus began to be anxious, and they gathered in groups of three or five, gathered, and constantly attacked the impregnable shield wall of the Roman hoplites in the boundless night. (To be continued.) )