Oh, now Li Bida knew where the legion of the "lightning throwers" had gone, it turned out that it had already penetrated the city of Santony, cutting off the way for the Helvetians to take a circuitous path.

Poor 300,000 barbarians are about to be overwhelmed by Julius in the narrow strip between the Ara River, the Seguangni Gap and the Santoni Plain. Caesar was caught, like a flock of desperate birds, caught in a snare.

Half a day later, in the noisy and busy camp, the priesthood of Feccialis from Rome, holding bronze plates and pronouncing the decree of war, stood in a daze in the torrent of soldiers coming and going, bewildered, and the chief elder grabbed a centurion and said, "I need to see the governor, I have come to read the decree of war against Helvetia on behalf of the Senate." ”

"Dear Elder, you are late. We've already fought the Helvetian barbarians in advance. The centurion saluted and hurried away.

The reluctant priesthood could only hand over the edict to the lieutenant general Rabinus who stayed in the camp, and the other party solemnly took the bronze plate, and then instructed the priests in the legion to keep it in a sealed cabinet, and then Rabinus felt that a certain anxiety in the past was dissipated, and slowly sat down, until several weighing officers came to report the inventory of military rations:

"There are 20,000 infantry, 10,000 military slaves in the camp, and pack horses and equipment, and now there are 6,000 barbarian auxiliary cavalry, and the military rations will not last for more than a month."

Rabinus said with a calm face, didn't he resupply the regular legions? The weighing officer replied, but the two auxiliary corps had been delayed for ten days, and I was afraid that they would not be able to drag it out any longer.

"Don't worry too much, send the rest of the food and meat to the auxiliary corps as soon as possible. At least one-half of the quota must be guaranteed. The Aedui tribe is rich in grain. Soon they will allocate a considerable amount to support the Legion. These two auxiliary corps are needed for the current operation. As soon as Rabinus finished speaking, the scale-bearers took the order and left.

In the wilderness beyond the Ara River, the barbarian cavalry assisting Caesar and the Helvetian cavalry of the rearguard were once again engaged in a scuffle, and the smoke and dust were like a storm, and javelins were flying everywhere, and these barbarians fought each other fiercely, and the vain hatred generated by the provocation of the Roman envoys was the root cause of their anger. Completely abandoned the usual maneuver and flank tactics of light cavalry, but directly lined up the cavalry in a dense shock formation, and then launched a rapid attack - after throwing each other with javelins, drawing Celtic swords, without shields at all, violently slamming together, and then in the tumbling heat and dust, one-on-one or horseback, or jumping off the horse, bloody battle.

In makeshift camps farther afield. Li Bida made all kinds of gestures with sweat on his face, and the trumpeters around him kept blowing all kinds of communication horns. And the artillery detachment, under the command of Pop, muttered with complaints about the weather and the commander, digging shallow trenches in the form of slopes for the cavalry artillery.

According to Caesar's arrangement, the four regular legions were still resting and accumulating in the rear, while the 6,000 cavalry of Segoni, Alobrogis, and the Aedui barbarians were responsible for biting the "tail" of the Helvetians in the front, and the 12th Legion of Liebida's auxiliaries acted as a "chain" in the middle.

"I must tell you that the soldiers have a great grudge against food rationing right now!" At this time, Milou ran to take off his helmet, wiped the sweat from the back of his neck, and said to the commander.

"Of course, if you fight with the regular legions, they are all empresses, and we are just maids in the court, and you think you are as happy as you were with me in Lusitania before?" Li Bida laughed dryly, pounded the mud under his feet with his gilded baton, rolled his eyes, and said to Milu, "The situation is also very clear, and when the Helvetians are halfway crossed, Caesar will launch a decisive attack on the barbarians who remain, and the main force is seven, eight, nine, and fourteen legions, and the order we have received is likely to be to hold on to the existing position, and it is not our share." ”

"The loot," Milou asked.

Li Bida squinted his eyes, pretended to browse the scenery around, and said to Milu: "Brother doesn't have the treasure of Sabo in his hand now, you immediately select a hundred-man team from the first brigade of 1,000 people, escort Sabo to draw the terrain of the battlefield as soon as possible, and then we will take a step by step, choose a flat area closest to the crossing point of the Helvetians, and wait for Caesar's general attack order to be issued, we will be the first to rush in and snatch the prisoners of war and the booty." ”

"But what if I accept the order, as you predicted, to hold on to what I have been?"

"What else can be done, then extend the existing position to the enemy, in that case, holding on is attacking, and attacking is holding." Li Bida's words are full of philosophical speculation.

At this moment, a landslide-like sound came from the front, and the observation spearhead of the Twelfth Legion, standing on a hill somewhere, shouted, "Our cavalry team has broken up!" Li Bida and Milou stood up, and looked through the wooden fence and sure enough—the cavalry of the Helvetians was really strong, and the other three Gallic tribes together were no match, or that it was precisely because they were three united, that they fought each other in command, and they were defeated—in the wilderness, the defeated Roman barbarian cavalry, like a swarm of flies flying everywhere, chose the road to escape, "Good fellow, this is not tomorrow, and it will not be able to be collected at all." Push all the cavalry artillery into the trenches and prepare them for shooting. "Eighteen cavalry cannons creaked along the slope into the shallow trenches, and in front of them they were piled up in small rings of leather bags filled with dirt to defend against javelins and slings, and all the gunners were now standing by half-kneeling around the ballistas, calmly standing by their posts.

Fortunately, Li Bida had the foresight to erect two rows of wooden fences in front of the legion, so that the retreating barbarian cavalry did not rush into his camp, but fled from the direction of the two wings, so that the firing range of the cavalry artillery was completely clear, so when the Helveti cavalry shouted the terror trumpet, carrying the enemy's head and flag when rushing towards the camp of the Romans, two waves of ballista knocked them over, and many people lost their sharpness as if they saw Thor's punishment, and could only turn their heads and run back.

"Alright, tell Sabo to run to meet me." Seeing all this, Li Bida ordered very calmly.

But after this day's battle, the Helvetians are still full of pride and self-confidence, and the three tribes fought a cavalry battle with us, and they were still defeated? We could have crossed the Ara and left the Romans behind.

So they overlooked, at a small high point outside the crossing of the Ara River, the garrison of men and horses was attacked by a Roman army with a blazing and tireless attack. (To be continued......)