"They will die in battle, in this mountain forest, this is our territory, the territory of our people, and these foreign Romans are about to be punished!"

In the dark mountain forest, the leaders of a dozen tribes of North Britain gathered together to make final deliberations and preparations for the upcoming battle. It's like a dozen wolves coming together, figuring out how to kill a large prey in the next big hunt. And this great prey was Apis and his three Roman legions.

Torles, the ghost wolf, stood up, looking thoughtfully at the bits of sunlight streaming through the trees.

"Let the warriors be fed, and then launch a surprise attack after dark. Remember, everyone obeys my orders and waits for the moment when the fire comes out before rushing to kill. The soldiers of the Roman legions could unite in the event of an attack during the day, but at night, the dwarfs would flee in fear. ”

This was the first time that the tribal leader, Torles, had gathered his tribe and launched a large-scale raid. Not only was Torles himself full of confidence, but all the tribal leaders and elders who were preparing for the battle were equally confident, and they gathered a large tribal army, five times the number of Roman legions, and fought in the forest and mountains, which was very unfavorable for the Roman legions to form formations, but it was conducive to the free charge and slaughter of the tribesmen.

The sky over the vast Black Forest in Britain was shrouded in a thick layer of fog.

……

“****”

"What are they talking about? Captain of Ten. ”

A few Scotti hunters were chattering in the grass not far away, as if they had found some special information, while the dozen or so legionnaires standing nearby did not understand what the Sketty hunters were talking about. He could only ask the few officers in the legion who knew the barbarian language.

"It seems that the prey has been found."

The Ten-Commander replied with a speculative look. He saw the Skites gathered together, sniffing and touching the pile......

In a few moments, several Scotti hunters, covered in strange dyes, emerged from the grass, holding a few burnt sticks of dry firewood.

The situation is self-evident, and not so long ago, there were traces of the activities of the tribesmen. And according to the hunters of Sketi, there should be quite a few tribes here.

Later, farther away, the Celtic hunters, recruited by Appis, found freshly dried droppings, unknown human or animal, beside the stream. Compared to the Roman soldiers, these local barbarian hunters had a much keener sense of smell, and hunted in the forests and meadows all year round, allowing them to better spot the dangers of the dark grass, which is why Apis proposed favorable conditions to recruit them. Now, as the legions marched, these Scotti hunters came into play.

Due to the severity of the situation, the hunters found traces of the tribe's gatherings along the way, so the information was reported directly to Apis by the scout leader.

"You're saying that the Scotti hunters have discovered a large army of North Britons?"

Appis received the reconnaissance information and ordered the large army to stop the pace of advance, and at the same time repaired in place, sitting with Maxim, Crane, and the scout team to discuss the sudden information.

"Yes, it can be seen from the physical evidence they handed over, it's just ......"

The cavalry captain of the reconnaissance team stopped talking.

"After that, Captain Gugais."

"My idea is, for the information from these barbarians, should we screen and take precautions?"

"Why?"

Appis asked, staring at the leader of the reconnaissance team.

"They're barbarians......"

"Do the Romans have to be loyal to us? Some Romans were not as loyal as the barbarians. In the far east, there is a proverb - not afraid of ten thousand, only in case. This means that even if there is an impossibility, don't miss that possibility. Since we have chosen the Sketti as our guides and scouting hunters, trust them. It is better to slow down the pace of the march than to keep yourself prepared. These Skritians have no reason to deceive us, their homeland is right under our noses, the Senadians use the children of the nobility as a guarantee, and the cost of betrayal by the Skritians is too great. ”

Faced with the scouting leader's suspicion of the tribal hunter, Apis replied in a slightly didactic tone. And some of the Romans in the commander's mouth have long been tacitly understood in everyone's hearts. Ever since Apis left Gaul, bad news had been pouring out of the country, and reforms had been hampered, with the help of some orthodox Roman aristocracy......

"Understood, General. So what do we do next? ”

Gu Yusi asked loyally.

"Let the Sketti hunters continue to scout on the periphery of the legion, and report any information immediately."

"And, Maximus, you go back to your ranks now, slow down the pace of the cavalry, and distance yourself from the main army. At the very back of the line, keep marching. In the event of an ambush by a large tribal army in this area, as the Sketti hunters say, your cavalry force will not be besieged and incapacitated once the battle begins. At that time, the corps needed the assistance of cavalry on the periphery. ”

Appis finished arranging the task of the reconnaissance team, and turned to Maximus to explain.

"Klein, now you pass my order, and the baggage of each brigade will be moved to the center of the line, and the light infantry will be mixed and matched. Don't be too obvious, be casual, just make sure that the heavy infantry can support the baggage convoy at any time. If there really is a large number of barbarian armies in ambush, don't let them find out about our movements. It's just a routine change of teams. ”

Then, Appis explained the most important deployment to Klein. This marching strategy is actually similar to the one used by Caesar in Gaul, when the Roman legions routinely marched, the main army walked in front, followed by the grain caravan, that is, the baggage team. During Caesar's conquest of Gaul, he often mixed the baggage corps with the heavy infantry corps, and after one corps passed, it was followed by the baggage and supplies of the corps. The advantage of this is that in the event of an emergency, the heavy infantry only needs to turn around to protect their baggage from being plundered by the barbarians. Appis continued this practice. Alternate between different teams on different terrains. Such deployments are often used when crossing rivers, canyons, and forests.

All that remains is to wait for the barbarians to come in a surprise attack at some unknown time......