The cries of losing money are louder than the wails of the dead.

- Jade Waina (ancient Roman satirical poet)

It doesn't matter whether the Maasai tribe is preparing for war or increasing its army; Calabes was immovable, preparing for the coming big battle in the barracks. The Second Legion of Cadoradu and the Third Legion of Brigo had also been in the rear in the Terma camp, except for the Mastiff troops hidden in the jungle which had been nearly discovered by the Maasai on several occasions; Thankfully, the roars of a large number of horses overshadowed everything.

Even so, it is common to see that the Marseille army is wary of their own side; The 10,000 infantry and 7,000 cavalry under the command of Calabes, after more than 10 days of tentative attacks, also paid more than 2,000 casualties, and now only more than 8,000 infantry and 6,000 cavalry can still maintain their combat effectiveness.

However, the temptations of these days have also proved one thing: that is, the Gallic barbarian army of Gaul outside the mountains is indeed much stronger in combat than the Gallic barbarian army of Gaul in the mountains; It's just that this kind of strength is based on personal bravery, and it is not strong in other aspects at all. In terms of armament, the army of Gaul outside the mountains was inferior to the army of Gaul inside the mountains!

This meant that the armies of the Gallic Extraterrestrial Gallic relied more on individual bravery than on overall coordination and tactics. In other words, as long as the army under the command of Calabis can withstand the stormy attack of the Marseille army in the war with the Gallic army outside the mountains, then the later war can be fought with ease, and the follow-up combat effectiveness of the Marseille army is still very poor.

In the middle of this, Carabes also thought about another issue that had to be carefully considered, that is, the use of war mastiff troops. According to Grace's report, when the Grace tribe uses mastiff troops, they generally lead the mastiff troops to attack the enemy with a small squad of tamers; In short, the mastiffs are simply enemies in battle!

This is not a trivial problem, if the mastiff troops that you have painstakingly cultivated attack your infantry on the battlefield, it will not only be a problem of accidental injury, but may even cause a complete rout of your own army! How to solve this problem has become a big problem for Karabes; For this reason, Karabes also convened the generals to discuss countermeasures, but there was nothing to be done!

The inability to control the targets of the mastiffs means that they cannot be used during the period when the two armies are fighting; In this case, the use of mastiff units will be limited to before or after the war. If it is after the outbreak of the battle, then the role and significance of using the war mastiff force is not great; Karabeth had originally intended to use the Mastiff to reduce casualties.

If it was before the outbreak of the battle, then the use of the mastiff force would still have the effect, but it would never have been possible to play the huge role imagined; The Marseille army, having experienced a large-scale mastiff attack, will certainly have experience in defense in this area. Moreover, 2,700 war mastiffs could not have caused so many heavy casualties to the Marseille army, and their significance in the battle situation was not very great.

After much thought, Carabes decided to use the mastiff force before the war; In Carabes's opinion, even if the mastiff troops cannot inflict heavy casualties on the enemy, they can at least disrupt the enemy's formation, give the enemy a great psychological deterrent, and win an excellent opportunity for their own attacking army!

After deciding to attack with the mastiff unit first, there is no point in continuing to hide the mastiff unit in the jungle; So, in the middle of the night when it was dark and windy, Carabes asked Grace to lead all his mastiff troops back to the barracks. In order to cover up the mastiff's movements, Carabis even asked Grace to stuff something in the mouth of his mastiff to avoid being detected by enemy troops on the other side.

On the morning of the third day after the Marseille army received reinforcements, the Marseille army finally sounded a different trumpet in the barracks; Karabes knew that this military horn meant that the great battle between the two armies was just around the corner today. Immediately afterwards, the earth-shattering horn sounded in the barracks of Calabes, and the infantry and cavalry also hurriedly ran up to prepare for battle.

As soon as the soldiers of the Marseille army left the barracks, they began to line up in a more orderly queue than usual; Their formation is also four large squares. The first block is the 4,000 Gallic warriors who are quite formidable, and the second block is the Gallic infantry troops, which have a total of 11,000.

In the core area of these two forces, there are also two hundred soldiers of the Deiru Order; In this way, both the Gallic warriors and the Gallic infantry can exert a stronger combat effectiveness. The third square is the elite troops of the Marseille chieftain himself, consisting of 1,000 Gallic cavalry and 1,000 cavalry of the Gallic nobles, as well as 1,000 elite Gallic warriors.

The last block is the 10,000 temporary army of new reinforcements, the largest block of 10,000 people, and it is also the battlefield reserve army of the Marseille army; Although their combat effectiveness and weaponry are more than a cut below that of the Gallic infantry, they are superior in size and appear to be very deterrent and combative.

Compared to the simple formations of the Marseille army, the formations listed by Calabes's army were much more complicated; Itami's 6,000 cavalry were placed on the left and right flanks of the infantry cluster, serving as a guard for both flanks and a sweep for the main force. The main infantry cluster also listed four distinct phalanxes, ready to attack at any time.

The infantry cluster phalanx personally arranged by Carabis was naturally good, the first phalanx was the forest hunter unit with an extremely powerful long-range attack, and the second phalanx immediately after the first phalanx was the two thousand fanatics under the command of Grace, and the two thousand seven hundred mastiffs hidden among the fanatical warriors!

Behind these two closely connected phalanxes, a clearing about 100 meters long and 50 meters wide was vacated; After that, there were less than 3,000 hoplites, and the final phalanx was made up of light infantry. These are just a rough division of the phalanx, and in each large phalanx, the soldiers are lined up in a neat formation and a standard combat posture, waiting for the outbreak of battle.

After the preparations for battle on both sides have been made, there is no need to delay any further; The soldiers of the Deyiru Order in the first two phalanxes of the Marseille army also began to toss and stir their encouragement rituals. Calabes, however, ordered Falkus and Grace to advance their army fifty meters from the wooden bridge to meet the attack of the Marseille army.

After some encouragement from the Deiru Order, the four thousand Gallic warriors of the Marseille army finally began to attack in a state of frenzy; 4,000 Gallic warriors frantically slaughtered the wooden bridge from the east bank like a tide, and the more than 10,000 Gallic infantry who followed followed also launched a fierce and fearless charge after being encouraged!

As the Gallic warriors entered less than fifty meters from the wooden bridge, the first rain of arrows from the forest hunters was fired; The rain of arrows, composed of 3,000 arrows, is an attack that covers the sky and the sun. How could a Gallic warrior who lacked sufficient armor withstand such a covering attack with a small round shield?

The dense array of Gallic warriors suffered heavy casualties under such a rain of arrows, but this did not affect the pace of the Gallic warriors' attack at all, and they still frantically rushed towards the west bank of the wooden bridge. After four consecutive rounds of arrows, there were less than 2,000 Gallic warriors out there, and the Gallic warriors had successfully crossed the wooden bridge and reached the west bank of their dreams!

Seeing that the Gallic warriors were about to be killed, Falkus immediately led his three thousand forest hunters and quickly withdrew from the flanks of the fanatic warriors behind him; After the forest hunters left, Grace did not command his fanatical warriors to meet them, but decisively ordered the tamers to release all the mastiffs and attack the oncoming Gallic warriors!

More than 2,700 mastiffs with good fighting power, and less than 2,000 Gallic warriors who fell into madness; The battle between the two sides can be regarded as a real battle of blood and fire. The brave Gallic warriors attacked the mastiffs without any regard for casualties, and the mastiffs fought with the Gallic warriors fearlessly.

The Marseille chieftain who was sitting in the Marseille army also changed his face greatly the moment he saw the appearance of the war mastiff troops; He didn't expect that the fleeing Grace tribe would be mixed up with the invading Roman army! However, it is simply whimsical to change the situation of the war with more than 2,000 war mastiffs!

The calm Marseille leader not only did not give the order to suspend the attack, but also sent a thousand elite Gallic warriors around him to support the Gallic warriors in front. Facts have proved that the combat effectiveness of these hastily trained war mastiffs is really not very amazing; Under the combined attack of the Gallic warriors and the Gallic infantry, the mastiff troops were completely lost after only half an hour.

However, such a victory was also not easy to achieve, and the Marseille army paid at least more than 3,000 casualties; What's more, the Gallic infantry and Gallic warriors have already passed the time limit of fanaticism! Seeing that the mastiff troops were about to be wiped out, the forest hunters who retreated to the rear once again launched a covering arrow rain attack!

After six rounds of arrow rain, the mastiff army has also been completely wiped out; At this point, the infantry of the Marseille army could free their hands to attack the infantry of Calabes. At this time, Falkus also withdrew from the battlefield completely with his forest hunters, and it was the hoplites of Tursus and the light infantry of Allah who came up in turn!

By the time the battle had progressed, the attacking Marseille army had already paid the price of more than 7,000 casualties; If it weren't for the encouragement of the Deiru Order, they would have collapsed long ago. Even so, they showed considerable weakness after the combined attack of Tursus's hoplites and Allah's light infantry!

The battle is still going on, and the 1,000-strong elite warriors of the Marseille army and the hundreds of Deiru orders have become the pillars that support the Marseille army to continue fighting; At that moment, a loud horn sound was heard behind Karabes. Immediately, 14,000 soldiers of the Second and Fourth Legions shouted slogans and slaughtered the Marseille army! (To be continued.) )