"When harmony is not effective, violence can be used." - Gao Naiyi

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When Li Bida had resupplied his army in the city of Corduba and rapidly advanced towards the Eporo River further north, Aphranius on the battlefield of Ilelder was also experiencing extremely fierce hesitation, and his concern was the same as that of Varro and everyone else, that is, there was no hope of victory: after all, no one could replace Pompey, five legions, dozens of teams of allied leather shields, and five thousand cavalry, a total of about 60,000 men, who had already won a brilliant victory in annihilating Caesar's three legions, but Caesar on the other side did not panic, but to fight with him to the letter, fighting with nature, he seems to be a man who enjoys the fun of this kind of struggle, and he actually reopened the supply route, and the ability to replenish blood is terrifying, and the follow-up legions are endless, which is the most unbelievable to Afranius, "Why, why did Caesar conquer Gaul, but he was able to get so much support while fighting." And we have been running Spain for so many years, and the tribes have rebelled one after another? ”

But there was not much time left for Afranius to consider, especially when he learned that Caesar's special army had also appeared in the rear, which had swept through the province of Lusitania and began to approach his rear, he vaguely felt that it was wrong to think that the idea that "the five legions run by Pompey" was "invincible in the world", not to mention that the enemy attacking in the rear was Caesar, who was facing him across the river and shallows, and who knew where three or five legions would emerge immediately. Come and join Caesar's side. Oppress yourself?

Meantime. Caesar's gentle tactics also began to suddenly become violent, and the other side comforted the captives in the previous battles, and successively distributed the passage money and released them back to their own barracks, mixed with a lot of fine work in between, and then the conspiracy and instability spread like a virus, and the barbarian allies had begun to flee, and many centurions of the regular army were also shaken. "We have a family in Spain, whoever can give us a retirement gold and field property can do it, and it is not Pompey's private team."

Therefore, when several senior centurions approached him personally, Aphranius understood what he meant, "You mean, that I should negotiate with Caesar?" ”

"It's natural, after all, you have previously served as an archon, and you have seniority and prestige. to ensure the safety of our troops, and now Caesar's cavalry has cut off the road between our camp and the city of Elelda. So Your Excellency. We have only three choices left, one is to sit in place and wait for Caesar's men to advance north and south, and finally annihilate our army; Instead, he broke through Caesar's blockade and went to Elierda, holding on to the city's defenses, which was only a little more delay; The last is to follow the Eporo to Talaco, which is a long and rough road, but if we act decisively and buy time, we can safely take the ships of the provincial fleet to Afrika to meet Pompey, so it is the best way. A chief centurion said.

"But Caesar will send strong cavalry to pursue us, and maybe we will collapse halfway through."

"That's what we've come to ask you to make peace with him, to keep him in check, to deceive him, and to give us plenty of time to organize the rearguard cover."

Aphranius laughed, and he retorted, "Do you think Caesar is so stupid as to be so naïve?" "What I fear, the fake peace talks, will also become true, under the manipulation of a figure like Caesar."

Seeing the commander-in-chief's reaction, the centurions showed a fierce look of dissatisfaction, and then handed over the block board to Afranius, he took it and looked at it, it was simply shocked, this is the signature seal of the officers and soldiers in the battalion, including the military tribune and the centurion, asking the army to surrender to Caesar as a last resort, and there is even the name of his own son with the army, this young man was probably inspired by the warm atmosphere, not only echoed it, but also volunteered to act as a secret envoy to contact Caesar's army, Even being a hostage is not hesitating.

"Who else knows about this?" Aphranius asked in a deep voice, flipping through the boards.

The centurion who took the lead deliberately said generously, "There is only one signed wordboard, and if the general thinks that his reputation has been harmed, he can burn it in front of us, and only the gods can know what happened tonight." ”

"No, don't act rashly for a while. This kind of thing is too heavy, you have to think about it in the long run, do you know what I mean? Of course, Aphranius would not be naïve enough to think that the centurion's words were sincere, and he returned the word board, but only to mean that the real power of the army was still in the hands of Pompey's confidant Peletaeus, and his problem had to be solved first.

The centurions would agree, and nodded and went out.

In the following days, Caesar's side began a fierce offensive, and a large number of his subordinate cavalry began to attack Aphranius's route of drawing water, often fighting Séctus, but because Caesar was the attacker, he always had more options on the route than the defender, so under his elusive blow, the soldiers began to shout and complain, "If you get a jar of water, you may have to sacrifice a human life." ”

At this moment, Pompey's youngest son, Sexetus, nicknamed "Little Thor", was angry, he was a red-skinned, curly-haired, acne-prone man, and when he was angry, he was straight to the tip of his nose, and he fused with the small Carthaginian red horse under his crotch, although he was now only a cavalry captain and a military tribune, but because of his father, neither commander could ignore his anger.

Therefore, Aphranius and Peletaeus, who were known for their light and brave, led the Spanish barbarian leather shields, about four brigades, to observe the situation of the entire battlefield, and finally consulted with Szectus's father-in-law, Lipo, and came up with a solution: immediately let the soldiers of the two legions become engineers, build a wall along the river and the camp, so that it happens to be a safe passage with the parallel river, and set up sentry posts and wooden towers, so that there is no need to worry about Caesar's cavalry attack.

Just as the two commanders went to supervise the work, the most unstable legions and auxiliaries who remained in the camp began to join forces, and they began to consciously take up arms and rebel under the instigation of Caesar's spies, and the crazy words were passed from one camp to another, and finally the intentional and blind rushed out, imprisoned the centurion who had come to enforce discipline, and then imitated the Roman political tradition, and elected ten delegates to negotiate with the commanders to discuss the matter of ending the war and negotiating peace. Or immediately take them out of this hellish place and go to Tarraco, or New Carthage.

Sexetus, who was directing his soldiers to build a barracks, and his naked upper body, suddenly turned red like a torch on the Clown Festival in Rome, and he thrust his pickaxe into the ground, shouting to the two commanders standing by the fortifications, "How did you two lead the army, why did there such an unhonorable act as a mutiny!" (To be continued......)