"I've sung about pastures and villages, and I've sung about leaders." —Virgil's epitaph, referring to his three representative works, "Pastoral", "Pastoral Poems" and "Aeneas"

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The tribunes and centurions of both legions persuaded the general to shrink the line in time before the four legions of the opposing army pressed over, abandon the attack on Issa, and retreat to the south to join General Gabinus before they could take advantage of the opposition.

"What, can this still be called a qualified general? I am not one of Caesar's temporary young men who have never seen the world and are not even forty years old, my task is to suppress the cities of Dalmatia, and I cannot just look at the wind. Lylius shouted, and then he pointed to his men and said: "Before knowing the reality of the enemy, needless commotion and judgment are the most irrational acts, and in any case, it is more effective than anything else to send out the chief brigade of the First Macedonian Army to serve as a military reconnaissance and engage the enemy in a contact battle, "Do not hate that it is the gods who play with your fate, but complain about whether you have prepared sufficient sacrifices." ”

At this time, the bold Li Bida waited for the second wave of troops, two infantry brigades and two archery brigades of the Sixteenth Army Corps, about 2,000 people, and then he instructed the crew to ferry again in three days, because now the position of the troops has been exposed, if it is noticed by Byblos's fleet, it will be more than worth the loss - "Our 4,000 people will go first, and attack and advance in the direction of Ollicum City, and attack in the direction of Issa City, anyway, the enemy can't figure out our real military strength, as long as we enter Isa City." The largest border fortress between Illyria and Epirus can be obtained, and this front will be secured. It can be attacked by going south to attack Delphi. It can also advance eastward to threaten the province of Macedonia. ”

Subsequently, Li Bida ordered each brigade to carry the emblems of the other legions: the centaur flag of the sixteenth legion, the Amun sheep skull flag of the fifteenth legion, and the double bull flag of the sixth legion, to make the illusion of bustle—in fact, there were still 4,000 men, of which 1,500 hoplites, 500 light auxiliaries, and 1,000 Matthia cavalry. There were also a thousand archers, slingers, and four hundred Meadjie guards directly under him, and a cavalry artillery detachment, six cavalry guns, and a disassembled "Marcelian Lady Cannon". As for the city of Olicum, Li Bida could not trust the local council of elders, so he asked for thirty hostages and five hundred mules, horses and donkeys, and marched towards Isa City.

Along the way Illyria, and the large and small market towns of Epirus. They all heard that the general had the strength of three legions, so they withdrew to the defense and surrendered. Originally, according to the straight-line distance, along the Yacumbini River, it should only be a day and a half to reach the destination, but the further inland, the more complex the terrain and roads, winding and winding, at this time the advantage of the Roman army, in this kind of terrain can not be seen, fortunately, many of Faobinas' troops are Macedonians, mountain people, and they are still comfortable dealing with this road condition.

Therefore, when the camp was withdrawn the next day and set out again, it was probably only a third of the way through the city of Issa, and it was foggy in the middle of the night, and the armor and hats of the soldiers were covered with white velvet powder, and as far as the eye could see, they followed closely the comrades in front of them, and slowly advanced on the mountain road, which is a weather phenomenon that is difficult to see in the Apennine country, but it is common in the mountains here. Li Bida became a little agitated, as far as he knew in advance, the other party's General Lelias was nothing more than two behaviors, one was to mistakenly believe his false information, give up attacking Isa City, and retreat to join up with other Pompey troops; The second is to ignore it and continue to besiege the city, if this is the case, it will be troublesome, but he also has a record, and that is to avoid the front of Lylias's troops in time and retreat to the last stronghold, Salona.

"In the plains of the two hills ahead, the traces of the enemy have been discovered!" The chief centurion of the Sixteenth Legion, Chretus, wore a Thracian helmet with a curved top, and came on foot from that side, and according to common sense, the scout cavalry in front should have detected the enemy twenty to forty miles away and reported back in time, but the fog was thick, and the mountain road was tortuous and obstructed the view, and both sides were unknowingly encountered, and the troops in front were only four furlongs apart, and then they were in confusion on both sides, and hurriedly retreated towards the slope of the hill where they had been stationed, under the cover of cavalry and archers.

"Beat the Parthian drums, let the two battalions occupy the hillsides on either side of the road, and erect the regimental flags to intimidate them." Li Bida hurriedly commanded, and then he asked Kretas about the number of opponents, but the answer he received was that the fog was too great to discern.

Then, both sides lined up in silence in the fog to confront each other, and after a day and a half, the sun gradually became stronger and the fog dissipated. The chief brigade sent by Rilias saw that there were three legion flags erected on the three high monches on the opposite side, and they were of different shapes, so they began to mutter, is there really three legions lined up in front of them? If that's the case, we'll be outnumbered. Over there, Kretas and a few veterans were squinting, trying to judge the enemy's situation, and finally reported to Li Bida that "the enemy's position is well arranged, but the number should not exceed two thousand." ”

"How, do you want to go over and defeat the opponent's enemy?" Sabo pulled the reins and asked the commander-in-chief next to him for instructions.

"Since Rilias sent these troops, from the scale of the point of view, it is more like they came to reconnoiter by force, to find out the reality of our army, it can be seen that this guy is not so easy to be fooled, maybe Isa City can not go again, Sabo, you go and ask the hostages about this location, we are ready to make proper contact, and then transfer to Salona City." Li Bida instructed, and then Sabo went to inquire clearly, and then along the opposing line, he prepared to cross the narrow valley between the two mountains with a hundred cavalry, and explored the way in front.

On the other side, the First Legion of the Macedonian Province, the Legion of "La Loconia", whose name derives from the decisive victory of Sulla over Mithridates VI at this place in Greece, was the result of the victory of this legion in that battle, and saw Sabo's small cavalry, proudly passing through the open space in the center of the line, and could not hold back, and was the first to shoot bows and arrows.

The long-range battle began, and most of the archers of La Loconia's legion came from Thracian and Scythian mercenaries, using the "Lydian bow" made of wild goat horns, which was not as long as the imitation Parthian recurve bow of Lypida's subordinates, but the hillside they occupied was in the east, which happened to be backed by the sun, while Lypida's Nubian archers were greatly reduced in accuracy due to the dazzling fog and sunlight - so on both sides, the range and strength of the former were not enough to cause great damage to the latter's hoplite formation, And the latter did not show its power because it missed the target.

Around the middle of the day, the chief brigade of the La Loconia Legion could see that something was wrong: where did the enemy on the opposite side come from? There are only more than 800 people in his own brigade, and the other party has no confidence to launch a strong attack or a detour, and the estimated number is only two or three thousand, and he also carries three regimental flags, which are obviously here to deceive. (To be continued......)