"We must concentrate our forces to break through! Appis has cut off our water supply, and we won't be in this camp for long! Anthony will not attack head-on, he will wait for us to slowly die due to lack of food and water! ”

Unable to do anything about Appis' cut off of the water for several days, Brutus became anxious and panicked, and he asked Kventus and himself to concentrate their forces and advance upstream, so as to ensure that his soldiers would not lose confidence and fighting spirit because of the lack of water. Pen, fun, pavilion www. biquge。 info

However, Kventus had other plans......

"No, the breakout would only place our legions on a flat plain, unprotected by fortifications, do you think our legions will be able to withstand the siege of Antony and Octavian's veterans? Once they have lost their terrain advantage, in frontal combat, our soldiers are by no means their opponents. You know, Antony brought with him the soldiers of Gaul, who had followed Caesar in his campaign for many years and slaughtered tens of thousands of Celts, while Octavian's men were also Caesar's elite, who were originally Caesar's army that he was preparing to use to conquer Parthia. Against the most powerful army in Rome, you have to face it head-on? We have no chance of winning. So I'm going to slowly withdraw from this barracks over the next five days, and we have to find another place for the decisive battle. ”

Kventus spoke eloquently in front of Brutus, but he did not know that such a rational analysis had ruined Brutus' last hope, and he began to panic.

"Retreat? I have 25,000 soldiers under my command, and these soldiers have to eat and pay every day, and I have not won a single battle until I formed them, and I have not received any return, and now you want me to withdraw my troops? You know, Kventus, that for this war I have borrowed usury! If it drags on like this, I'm going to go bankrupt! ”

Brutus almost broke down, and he yelled and forced Kventus to break through with him once, if only once, to at least make him die, but Kventus would not risk his legion.

"Brutus, you must be calm, anger will not solve anything, Antony and Octavian may be in the camp, waiting for you to lose your mind when you are so mad, you will only let your soldiers die in vain. Even if our hearts are full of despair, we must give hope to the soldiers! Look at the noble senators who have come with you, none of them have borrowed usury, this war will be much more difficult than we expected, and you will have to bear the weight of this. ”

Kventus struggled to control his emotions so that he would no longer be angry with Brutus. After all, Brutus represents the interests of some people, and even if he is weak in many ways, he still has the value and meaning of his existence.

……

While the stalemate between Brutus and Antony and Octavian continued, Lepida's legions had arrived in Rome and launched a "mobilization rally" in Rome. Just as Appis had advised him before, to recruit legions in the name of conquest of the Germans, and then go all the way north to occupy some regional taxes, Octavian and Antony would turn a blind eye to the huge barbarian army and the interests of defeating Brutus.

Through legal public opinion propaganda, Lepida recruited a corps of 15,000 men in just five days. With the addition of the original two legions, there were already four Roman legions in Lepida's hands at this time. After some hasty training, the two legions of recruits joined forces with the original two legions of veterans and headed north into northern Italy.

However, when entering Gaul, the situation was much worse than Lepida had expected, and many of the Gallic chiefs did not seem so friendly. The Germanic invasion was carried out, and the Roman defenders were so weak that many Gauls began to wonder if Rome was worth taking refuge into. Moreover, Caesar was dead, Antony's fame was not enough to convince the public, and Octavian was still just a child. In this context, many of the Gallic patriarchs began to waver in their faith.

However, there were still a few Gallic patriarchs who had sworn allegiance to Caesar, who came to offer friendship to Lepida. And according to tradition, cavalry and weapons were provided.

"My loyal companion, tell me what is going on with the Germanic people."

Lepida met with the Gallic chiefs who had come to take refuge and tried to learn some details about the northern battlefield through them.

"They were numerous, they were crossing the Rhine in a steady stream, and the Belgians had surrendered to the Suebi, and the Sucumbri were attacking the Gallic villages and Roman towns along the banks of the Rhine, where the situation had not been so bad a month before, but now, many of the patriarchs of the Gallic tribes, unable to bear the pressure, had taken refuge in the Germanic peoples from the forest. Moreover, their invasion was simultaneous, not of a single tribal action, but of the whole Germanic tribe, their cavalry was erratic, the suffering villages fell almost defenseless, and, once they fell, the Germans slaughtered the Romans in the light towns, burned the villages, the bazaars, looted all the grain, and continued to invade the next town. ”

Ugolio faithfully shared all he knew about Lepida, as he was one of the first Gauls to be granted Roman citizenship by Caesar, and he was one of the first Gallic patriarchs to enter the Roman Senate. For Caesar, there is an extreme heart, Lepida was a general under Caesar, so for many Celtic tribal chiefs who once swore allegiance to Caesar, helping Lepida resist this Germanic invasion is also a repayment of Caesar's kindness.

"Who is their leader?"

Lepida frowned and pondered for a moment before asking.

"Many, many tribes act together, there seems to be no common chief, but the division of labor is clear, they go only once to each town, and, according to survivors' recollections, there are almost no cases of two or more tribes fighting for a town among the Germanic peoples."

"That is, there is a common leader and a unified assignment of tasks, and this will happen."

Lebida sighed, he knew that what was in front of him was not as easy as Appis had expected, and that Gaul was not a piece of fatty meat, but a very difficult problem. For now, it is necessary to find a decisive battle as soon as possible to defeat the Germanic spirits in order to restore the confidence of these Gallic leaders. Because the legions went on expeditions, they needed food from local tribes in more cases, and if these tribes did not cooperate, the Roman legions would be difficult to deal with, even if the Germans were not strong.