Chapter 12: Tapsus (Part II)
Immediately, Lypita pressed Turinus's shoulder and motioned for him to sit down and watch in peace, and then he walked over to Reginus, who was tied to the Celtic bench, and asked softly, "You're just a knight." β
"Yes, so what?"
"I've checked your resume, you're just a knight, you haven't held any military position in Pompey's army, no tribunes, no adjutant generalsβto put it bluntly, you're just a tax collector he has assigned to Zeta, and you're responsible for collecting money and food from the common people as much as possible, and you say that a person like you would know the location and number of Pompey's legion?" Li Bida squeezed his hands and said slowly.
"I, of course I know, if you don't believe me, I can report it to you." Reginus panicked a little.
"Don't worry, of course I understand, you know everything, because that is what Pompey deliberately told you, and using worthless information to cover up valuable information is the most basic trick in espionage. All right, Lord Reginus, I will ask you a very simple question, what are the names of the six centurions of the chief brigade from the lowest to the highest? Li Bida easily sat down again and asked.
Reginus was silent, and the whole tent was silent, except for Turinus, who rubbed his hands together very excitedly, knowing that the guardian had completely pierced his opponent's soft underbelly with his invisible fighting sword, killing him with one blow.
After a long time, Li Bida said, "Among the things you carry, you found that there is a letter template, which is used to sign letters, right?" It was definitely not a city seal, nor a personal ring, but a seal for Pompey's correspondence. He then slowly escaped from the three separate seals with the ink. Lined up. "Ugh. Isn't this Ganeus. Pompey. Is it an abbreviation for Magnus? No, G.P.M., Magnus, the nickname that Pompey refused to discard, and after the Roman people gave him the title of 'great', he used it in his own correspondence. β
Reginus was still silent, and Li Bida replied in his place, "This means that you have another identity, Your Excellency. That was Pompey's messenger, and yes, this identity Atrius also confessed. Tell me, which city is about to betray Caesar? Now that's all that's left for the puzzle, and I'm angry that the puzzle process is too long. β
Tagus then rested his sword on Reginus's scalp.
When the sand of the water timepiece leaked a finger wide, he cut off his scalp, cut off his ten fingers, and pushed him down Mount Jemal and fell to his death. And a message was sent to the city of Rome. Declared Reginus a public enemy and killed his entire family. Including children and slaves. Li Bida put the water timepiece on the table, and the sound of the sand falling rapidly made Reginus's sweat run down, and three or four choices and thoughts flashed in an instant, originally it was not a big deal for him to die, or he thought it was a big deal after weighing it, but Li Bida said very clearly, the public enemy declared, confiscated property, the whole family was executed, and the mansion was razed.
But soon, he suddenly felt a sharp pain in his scalp, and even if his whole body was tied by ropes, he struggled to curl up, and Li Bida deliberately did not tie him up for this purpose, "so that he has space and time to struggle." β
In fact, after a small piece of scalp with broken hair was cut off, Reginus's resistance was completely over, shouting, "It's Tapsus, it's Tapsus!" Their Council of Elders had sent a secret letter to surrender to Lord Pompey within the agreed time. β
Tapsus, not far from Reptis, but is the largest trading port on the coastline, Caesar's few supplies, and most of them are hoarded there, and this is also the last city in Caesar's defense circle, if what Reginus said is true, then if Tapsus really rebels, in Pompey's eyes, Caesar will be the enemy, and his dozen legions will also be wiped out.
"No wonder Pompey was so calm, but when he learned that Reginus had been captured, he must have been afraid that he would hand over the information, right? I'll have to use a bigger smoke bomb to confuse him. Li Bida pondered in his mind, and then he immediately drew up a paperwork, stamped it with Pompey's seal, and then stamped it with Reginus's ring.
He wanted to push the time of Tapsus's "uprising" forward a little more so that he could fit his schedule.
Over there, on a high ground outside the city of Vaga, the troops of Rabinus and King Juba had taken up the place with murderous violence, and set up camp.
When Caesar saw this, he openly challenged the camp with his mobile group, but Labinus remembered Pompey's teachings and not only strictly ordered the soldiers not to go out, but also persuaded the king of Juba not to act rashly. As a result, at dusk, Caesar, who had no choice but to withdraw his team, surrendered because he could not wait for actual assistance, and Caesar immediately "demanded" the city's provisions, replenished himself, and left for Sasura the next day.
Enraged, King Juba, with his cavalry following Caesar's tail, also rushed into the abandoned Waga, and threw all three hundred nobles into the pyre and burned them alive for supporting the enemy.
Then the cavalry of the king of Juba bit Caesar's tail and captured many of the merchants and mule carts that accompanied the army, and after interrogation, they were told that "Caesar's soldiers were armed to Sasura." β
"Then such weather and environment, when you reach Sasura, Caesar's soldiers' physical strength will be overdrawn." The king of Juba judged this, "Immediately give Caesar a decisive surprise attack on the other side." β
Immediately, he did not heed the cautious advice of Rabinus, and with all his cavalry, he pressed towards Caesar's formation. Then all Caesar's army stopped and turned to line up against King Juba, who was too frightened to engage in battle.
After a day's confrontation, Caesar's advance force captured the city of Sasura in front of King Juba, and the few Pompey veterans and Numidian soldiers who remained in it were all killed by Caesar's order, throwing bloody heads in front of the battle, insulting King Juba, and claiming that soon his country would also perish, as was the treatment of all royal families.
King Juba, who could no longer bear it, thought that Caesar's army was tired after marching and fighting, so he ordered all the cavalry to charge Caesar's army.
But Caesar, who was scheming, had already ordered that during the march, six hundred elite soldiers should be selected not to carry their luggage, and the weight should be shared by others, so this group of men was still fierce, and after the Numidian cavalry rushed in, they cooperated with their own eight hundred Sewver cavalry to launch a brave counter-charge - which soon crushed the cavalry of King Juba.
"No, we have to strike!" Seeing this, Rabinus could only order his cavalry to rush over and reinforce King Juba. (To be continued......)