"The competition between all cities is over, and every city now faces only one problem that they can't get rid of, and that is how to dress up more beautifully." - Aristide on the "complete peace" brought about by the Roman Empire in the second century A.D.

――――――――――――――――――――――――――

"In what direction?" Pompey asked, getting up.

The token officer said, Your Excellency, you better go and see for yourself. Pompey had no time to change his clothes, and hurriedly climbed the tower of the camp with his followers, and Caesar's camp was indeed boiling in the morning light, "divided into four parts, some running down from the Jemal Hill, some coming out of the enemy camp, some climbing the ridge, and some of them seemed to be running in the direction of the city of Ruspina." Rabinus looked at him and judged.

"Caesar and Lybidaeus are going to retake Tapsus with a backhand." Pompeo said.

At this time, Rabinus cleared his throat and said to Pompey in a heavy tone, "Your Excellency, no matter how careless Sulpitius and Cruise may be, I have to say that the shape has developed to the point of a decisive battle. ”

"Yes, make up your mind." Pompey said with indignation, and then he resolutely ordered the battle sequence: the Eighth Legion, having suffered heavy losses in the previous battle, entered with the replenishment of prisoners of war and foreign cavalry, and continued to the city of Utica, to prepare for the relief of the siege of Zama, under the command of Aphranios; The Fourth and Fifth Legions, under the command of Condisius and Sulpitius, went to block Caesar's army in the city of Ruspina; Turas's Third Army, which was responsible for pinning down Caesar's troops who remained in position; I, Rabinus, Vibrius, and Peletaeus commanded the most elite 1st, 2nd, and 6th legions, and attacked Tapsus, following Caesar's main force. I forced him to turn around and fight me. or oppress it to annihilate under the city; Scipio and King Juba. With 10,000 cavalry and the Seventh Army Corps, guerrilla pinned down Li Bida's group; Cruise was responsible for guarding the entire rear camp, not acting rashly, and securing the road to Utica.

Then, at the sound of agitated military trumpets, the soldiers of Pompey's army also began to move, and they silently but quickly completed the order to set off. It's like a grand dance with tacit understanding. On the ridge, many Caesar's soldiers stood in front of the camp and shouted, but Turas pulled his third legion apart, cutting off the passage between their position and the city of Ruspina - and then the three legions of Pompey and Rabinus, with the cavalry of Scipio and King Juba, rushed through this narrow passage in less than an hour with lightning and thunder, and the two legions of Condisius rushed to the seaside city of Ruspina. Otherwise, the people inside will go out.

Inside happened to be the two legions to which Anthony belonged, the Fourteenth and Fifteenth Legions. Armed with a large number of slingers and archers, Antony soon ordered everyone to defend themselves against the siege of Condisius.

Breaking through this ridge position, everyone on Pompey's side understood that it was a desperate gamble below, there was no logistical supply here, and there was no established position to speak of.

Soon, Li Bida's interception team appeared on the horizon, Qing Yishui's cavalry, about 4,000 people, with some Agrion auxiliary light troops, and almost made Rabinus angry, Li Bida actually made a "camel bunting command vehicle" to dispatch his cavalry.

"This is the enemy's containment force, don't fall in love with the battle, just send some cavalry up to fight him." Pompey said as he rode his horse and shouted.

"I'm going to trap him." Scipio himself took the same number of Numidian cavalry, and nearly seventy war elephants, formed a wide horizontal formation, and rushed towards Libida, and the roar of the war elephants shook the heavens and the earth, and the hearts of the people were shaken.

"Let's not fight either, Hanske and Mindaz are responsible for guiding with the flag, and we will retreat along the established path, and we must be fast!" Li Bida immediately made a decision, commanded all the cavalry, and once again turned around and retreated like a tide, and the Agrarians also gave full play to their strengths, closely following behind the cavalry, and did not fall behind in the slightest.

"Raise the banner and ask the king of Juba to take the rest of the six thousand Numidian cavalry and press over with Scipio, with the aim of driving the bastard of Lipidan as far away as possible, and not to let him interfere with our war against Caesar." Pompey slowed down, the soldiers and horses beside him fluttering, but he still gave the preset instructions to the token officer very clearly, and now it seemed that everything was going smoothly, and they were all unfolding according to his and Rabinus's vision.

King Juba himself sat on a huge war elephant, his shooting tower was with the royal coat of arms and flags, very magnificent, after receiving this order, he asked the elephant master to stand up on the mount, and then in the sound of the command, a large number of war elephants were erected one after another, and the cavalry of Numidia and Mauritania flexibly filled the gap between each elephant, with an unusually tacit understanding, forming a huge torrent with oppressive force, rushing in the direction of Li Bida.

Li Bida's cavalry was also very fast, they stopped and stopped, from time to time sent out Mattians and Agrarians to organize rearguard battles, with long-range firepower, many of the pursuing King Juba cavalry shot down the horse, and finally the cavalry at the outpost, when they saw a salt lake swamp that could not be seen, Li Bida breathed a sigh of relief, and said that we have reached the lower end of the Mykning salt lake, and this salt lake happens to form a huge obstacle, forcing Pompey and Scipio's men and horses to separate, and they can only from the north and south ends of the two narrow coastal corridors, Enter the city of Tapsus, where we would like to see the final battle.

"Hooray!" All the cavalry under Li Bida heard the order of the decisive battle, so they turned around and fought hard, Li Bida took the lead with a blue feather and cloak, and the chasing enemy cavalry melee together, killed them to death, wounded and scattered, and retreated, but then the war elephants of the king of Juba rushed over, and Li Bida's cavalry retreated alternately, and instantly increased the pace, pulling the team of the king of Juba and Scipio away about three Roman miles.

Then, on a shallow stream jutting out of the salt lake, all four thousand cavalry of Li Bida waded through the water, turned a corner, and came to the so-called "southern end corridor".

The city of Tapsus, located on a protruding promontory, has a large salt lake called Myknin in front of it, so that the land-facing side of Tapsus is divided into the southern corridor and the northern corridor, like two outstretched arms of the city.

Pompey soon realized this, but he could not turn back, for it was certain that Caesar had entered the "North End Corridor" with several legions, and he himself had to rush in to fight Caesar.

Along the way, Caesar's soldiers' heavy luggage was thrown everywhere, and there were some flags sandwiched inside, and Pompey's army, which was pursuing along the north shore of the Salt Lake, cheered when they saw this, and it seemed that Caesar's soldiers had reached such a journey.

But all Caesar's soldiers, weapons, and building tools were always held tightly in their hands and were not discarded. (To be continued......)