75. Inside the camp

Ten days later, Labinus and Levi pulled their legions to the Bibs Hill Forest, thirty leagues outside Lugdunum. Pen, fun, pavilion www. biquge。 info Here, Flamini's legion and Appis's thirteenth legion met.

However, the two armies did not fight directly, but instead faced each other and set up camps. Some of the troops sent by Flamini to stop the Thirteenth Legion, some of whom were originally Apis' men, asked them to draw their swords with their former comrades, and these people were obviously unwilling. They just tried to drag on all the orders of the commander. Flamini's other men, the Gallic army he had temporarily recruited in Lugdunum, had no military discipline, but apparently they were more subordinate to Flamini's generals than the veterans of the Roman legions. Because they joined the legion only for money, and they had no old friendship and affection for these legionnaires on the other side.

This legion, made up of men of three religions and nine ranks, built a fortified and towered opposite the thirteenth legion of Labinus. And Flamini himself was not in this expedition, he knew that his seat in Lugdunum was more important than any war outside, many people in the city were Apis's sworn friends, once he left Lugdunum, the forces of Apis in the city would soon encourage the people to seize power, such a thing was absolutely not allowed by Flamini, he would rather die 20,000 more soldiers on the front line than allow any resistance and questioning in the city.

Labinus set up camp opposite Flamini's legion, and the experienced veteran chose a unique piece of terrain as a place to set up camp. It was a small and inconspicuous hill, but the terrain around it was very favorable to the legions, the whole hill was in the form of a low front and high back, a gentle slope in front, a very steep slope behind the ridge, and on both sides of the hill were bare rocks, steep and steep, and Rabinus set up camp on a gentle slope, built a watchtower at the highest point of the hill, and then placed his long-range weapons on the rocky piles on either side of the hill, so that in front of the ballista and catapults, there were no trees to obstruct the view, and he could shoot from a high position. What's more, the hoplites only had to hold the gentle slope of the front, and no amount of enemy could rush up, because the rocky side slopes were almost impossible to find, and the Gallic army of Flamini wanted to come up from here unless they were as good at climbing as monkeys...... The baggage troops were placed on the ridgeline, and they were tightly protected. In other words, this hill was equivalent to a narrow passage, and if it wanted to attack the Roman army on the hillside, Flamini's Gallic army had only one way to go, braving the dense artillery of the Roman legions, rushing up the gentle slope, killing the heavy infantry, and then grabbing the high ground, but this was not easy to say.

Thus, the day after Rabinus set up camp, all the experienced Roman veterans on the opposite side lost the desire to attack. It was the Gallic barbarians who were still digging their camps in high spirits. Sharpening his sword.

And Labinus actually didn't want to attack Flamini's army, after all, there were still many Romans in the army, former comrades-in-arms and colleagues. According to Appis's meaning, Labinus only needs to defend in place and wait for work, the main purpose of the Thirteenth Legion is to drag Flamini's large army, as for how to eradicate this rebel leader, Apis has his own plan in mind. This was the confession that Apis gave to Rabinus and Levi before leaving in the Germanic camp.

……

"We shouldn't be wrong again and again, Apis is not dead, otherwise the Thirteenth Legion would not have returned, the Thirteenth Legion must have been brought back by Appis, and Flamini deceived us. We should go to the XIII Legion, where our comrades, brothers and fathers are located! ”

After nightfall, several veterans of the Ninth Regiment whispered in their tents. The leading veteran became more and more excited, and decided on the spot to take his luggage tonight and defect to the Thirteenth Legion opposite. Because his younger brother was in the Thirteenth Legion...... Several legionnaires who participated in the discussion also expressed their willingness to go straight to the camp of the Thirteenth Legion tonight and join Appis.

……

"Soldiers. Your loyalty is commendable, and Flamini's filthy rhetoric has not blinded you to the side of justice tonight. Come, sit down and talk slowly. The guards, bring two plates of barbecue, and wine, these soldiers need to rest. ”

In the camp, Labinus warmly received eight veterans of the Legion who had defected to him. And have the guards bring hot and baked food to entertain these loyal soldiers. For Labienus, harvesting one or two Roman legionnaires was far more valuable than killing ten Gallic barbarians. They can be a good propaganda tool, and they can also be used to find out about the situation in the military camp opposite, or even in the city of Lugdunum.

……

"Brothers, I know that the road ahead is tortuous, you are all tired, and we haven't had a hot meal or a sip of warm water in a week. But we must persevere, that traitor of Flamini is now in the city, announcing our death sentence, declaring that we have died in battle, and yet, we are still alive, and we must go back with the sword, with the flames of vengeance, to judge the demon of Flamini. Brothers, persevere, otherwise, all our efforts in the past few years will be in vain, and our wives and children are still waiting in Rome for news of our triumph! ”

Unlike Labienus's majestic return journey, Abyss took the hidden commandos and a small number of elite Roman knights for a week, shuttling through the dense forests of Germania and Gaul, at the turn of spring and summer, it was all rainy and rainy, and the Roman cavalry who followed Abys's secret journey south were exhausted after seven days of concealed trekking, and the road was far more difficult than imagined. But their usefulness was not trivial, and at this moment, when Abyss was leading a group of the most elite knights and warriors of the Roman army through the mountains and rivers, the soldiers realized that sometimes the way forward was almost none, and that the road of last year had once again been overgrown with bushes and thorns. They will go on, and they will cut off all the weeds and dead branches in their path with their sword. Such physical exertion is far greater than that of a rapid march.

There are many mosquitoes in spring, and at night, there is no campfire, it is like living in a mosquito nest. My ears were filled with the lingering cries of the men.

But, in any case, everyone persisted, and Abyss told every knight who followed him that it would take only ten days to reach Lugdurum, the heart of Gaul, by the way south. Now, seven days have passed, they have crossed the Rhine, and the dense forest is about to disappear, and once they have left the forest, the war horses can gallop quickly over the plains, so that they are close to their destination.