"In our time, we see that those who were once judged to be stingy have done great things, while others who claim to be virtuous have failed." - Machiavelli

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It seemed clear that Caesar was more interested in Antony's plan, perhaps due to the nature of the gambler, and he asked Anthony to go into more detail.

So Antony pressed his hand on the sand table and said, "The five legions of Rabinus, with their auxiliaries, and the barbarian reinforcements of Salada, prince of Thrace, now number as many as sixty thousand men, and all of them are gathered in one regiment, while our legions are free to attack all the places in the north and south, and now Rabinus is running with the main force of four of them towards the city of Kokula in the south of Dixhar, and I expect him to have a decisive battle with me in the plains by the sea overlooking the city of Kokula, if my army goes to war; If we don't fight, he can use Cocula as a base and send a large number of troops to board the ships of Pompey's fleet to attack our harbor cities at sea and then seal us off. ”

Caesar bowed his head again and again, and said, "The situation you are talking about is indeed zài."

Then Antony smiled slightly, and continued: "Rabinus relied on the topography of the city of Cocula, which was a high ground near the sea, on which the castle and the dock were located, and which was built on the hill, and which I bypassed when I swept Aetolia because of its precipitous terrain and the presence of garrisons. Rabinus thought that as soon as his main force reached this place, he could attack and defend as he pleased, but we could also go around the perimeter. And then. Anthony's gesture circled the location of Kocula City on the sand table. "Surround Kokura. Annihilate them! ”

"It can't be!" "Although we outnumbered Pompey's army, ten legions, many legions had less than three thousand men, so that His Excellency Dictus could now use only more than twenty thousand men, and surrounded Rabinus with about fifty thousand." How around! ”

Yes, I have only heard of the more than the less, and I have not heard of the less around the more.

Caesar, however, asked Antony to continue, and asked two questions, hoping that Antony would use his questions to improve his plan, namely: "First, how can we besiege the city of Cocula with such a small army; Second. In case of Pompey's army on the side of Minor Asia, there are at least three legions. If reinforcements come in, will we be caught in a situation of being attacked from front to back? ”

Anthony's reply was: "We can orchestrate an encirclement that will come from various locations and take the enemy by surprise." Then he pointed out that Caesar's legions were different from Rabinus's in that they were scattered in various regions, and that Aetolia also had two legions, the sixteenth and twentieth legions, which were stationed in different towns, and now Dictor could take two legions behind Rabinus to keep an eye on him, and in case Rabinus wanted to turn back to fight you, the sixteenth and twentieth legions would make a gesture of feint attack on the ancient city of Luku, and Rabinus would probably disperse his troops and go to the rescue of the ancient city of Luku, and then our legions from all over the country, Just within the allotted time, try to rush to the city of Kocula at the same time to complete the siege of the fortifications.

As for the three legions that Pompey's father-in-law Scipio may come to at any time, they will be handed over to the chief lieutenant Libidaeus, who also has three legions at hand, which can completely intercept Scipio and prevent the enemy from closing until we encircle and destroy Rabinus on this side.

"This requires extremely accurate calculations and timely and unimpeded communication." Caesar couldn't help but walk to the sand table and look at the signs of the various regions, he naturally knew how difficult it was to divide the army into several groups, in different directions, in different places, and at the same time to encircle and attack Kocula. But after talking to himself for a while, Caesar's eyes began to glow, isn't military supposed to be an adventure? Since there are high returns, it's worth checking out anyway!

Eventually, Caesar overruled Anthony's plan.

A few days later, in the wilderness of one hundred and fifty stadia outside the city of Cocula, the flag bearers of the four legions of Pompey's army, holding various eagle flags, team flags and totem flags, walked at the front of the long queue, "Caesar's team is very annoying, they have eaten all the dust behind our team, just to bite our heels!" The one-eyed Lelias shouted as he rode a horse beside the flag-bearer, and all the soldiers and centurions who heard this laughed—Caesar with the Tenth Legion and the Twelfth Legion, and had been keeping a distance of twenty Roman miles from them for the past few days, and had been following them unhurriedly.

Although it was very leisurely on the surface, Caesar was obviously in poor health during this time, and his head was running at high speed all the time, not only to consider the position changes of the various legions, the distance from Kocula, the errors caused during the communication, etc., but also to take into account the baggage and supplies of the army, "I finally understood why the Greeks had so few cavalry, because it was full of stones, no grazing, and no water source. Caesar wrote in his diary with pain, "Naturally, my body has been exhausted these days, but I must not fall, I must follow Labinus, and I must not lose it." ”

As Antony had expected, the next morning, Rabinus suddenly turned around the four legions and lined up in the plains, and then he sent cavalry to Caesar's camp and asked Caesar to bring his army out, "Fighting like a man, there are five Roman miles in each row, enough to accommodate the two sides." ”

But Caesar ignored it, and let the demands of the lieutenant and centurion be put before him, and he waited in silence in his tent for a day. At dusk, Rabinus called all the soldiers and shouted, "The bald man is the man of all women, and the woman of all men, and since the whole battlefield is now full of men, he naturally becomes a woman, and can only hide in his boudoir." Then they laughed and shouted.

But Caesar remained unmoved, and he only sent swift herald cavalry to the sixteenth and twentieth legions in the Aetolia region.

Sure enough, at noon the next day, Labinus received news that Caesar's two legions in the south had begun to attack our ancient city of Lyku. The ancient city of Lyku was the food transit base of Pompey's army, so Rabinus hurriedly divided two legions before evening to go to reinforcements, and then he took the remaining two legions and headed towards the city of Kokoula.

"When the opportunity comes, give me a notice to all the teams in echelons, all centripetal, avoid the Pompey army in other areas, and quickly surround Kokula!" Caesar, who learned of this movement, was on the tower of the camp, and was very excited because he had caught the warplane.

The first to move were Bugatome's two legions, the Eleventh and the Ninth, and then Etoria's sixteenth and twentieth legions, with a false shot, soon made a detour, and from the predetermined route, they also hurried towards Kokoura. And Caesar's two legions, because they were closest to the city, walked the slower, which was also confusing Rabinus.

With great effort and precise calculation, on the third day, the six legions arrived perfectly in the north, east, and south directions of the city of Kocula, almost simultaneously. (To be continued......)