Laziness is the son of cowardice, whereas negligence is the son of laziness. Pen & Fun & Pavilion www.biquge.info

- Plato (one of the greatest philosophers and thinkers of Western culture)

After Oscar and Hannibal each inspired their soldiers, the battle began. At first, light infantry and small groups of cavalry on both sides came and went, throwing waves of throwing spears at each other. Suddenly, a loud trumpet sounded from Hannibal's formation, and the earth trembled violently, and the war elephants in the front row heard the sound, and raised a cloud of sand and dust to rush towards the Roman formation.

The earth roared and trembled under the kicking of the war elephants; The soldiers above the war elephants condescended and fired countless throwing spears at the Roman light-armed soldiers. With the sound of the air piercing, the Roman soldiers fell one after another, and in an instant, the whole line fled, and those who were slow with legs and feet could not help but die under the trampling of elephant feet. Wherever the war elephants passed, there were wails and corpses all over the field.

Amid the smoke and roar, the war elephants soon approached the battle formation of the Roman army, and the fleeing lightly armed soldiers rushed from the passage in the formation to the rear of the formation according to the advance instructions, and the slower ones hid between the arrays.

At this moment, under the banner of Quintus, the trumpeter gave the order. Immediately the trumpets of the Roman formation rang out, and all the soldiers struck their shields with their spears and swords, and at the same time, all of them let out the loudest roars.

A huge wave erupted violently from the middle of the Augustus army, and Hannibal's war elephant troops were immediately panicked by this sudden start. Many war elephants wanted to avoid the noise, and turned around in a panic. Before they had time to turn, they frantically rushed into the passage of the Roman army.

The war elephants that entered the passage were immediately attacked from all sides, and spears and short swords were stabbed from both sides, and most of the war elephants could not stand on their feet, and they slipped through the passage of Quintus's military formation, and fled to the rear, leaving the battlefield. There were also some war elephants that went berserk and inflicted some losses on the Roman hoplites.

The war elephants that turned around and ran wildly towards the few wings, and no matter how much the riders shouted and whipped and struck with clubs, the frightened war elephants just did not listen. As a result, these behemoths, which were supposed to rush the Roman army, frightened Hannibal's cavalry on both flanks.

The horses neighed in panic, trying to dodge the rushing elephants. The cavalrymen shouted loudly, using all their might to control the panicked horses; There was a rare confusion in Hannibal's cavalry formation!

Assault! As soon as Licinius saw this, he immediately seized the fighter. Without waiting for instructions, he took the lead and led 5,000 javelinmen on the outside of his right flank to charge towards Hannibal's left flank.

Under his pursuit, the fleeing war elephants completely lost their minds, and they desperately ran in the direction of their cavalry units, leaving Hannibal's cavalry units in great confusion.

Seeing this, the commander of the cavalry on the left flank, Cocleus, immediately understood that there was an opportunity to take advantage of it, and also ordered the whole line to attack. As a result, Hannibal's right-flank cavalry was similarly thrown into disarray.

When the frenzied war elephants had passed, before Hannibal's cavalry could regain formation, the cavalry of Licinius and Cocleus attacked one after another, and Hannibal's cavalry could barely put up any resistance before they got into a fight. Licinius and Cocles drove Hannibal's cavalry out of the battlefield in one fell swoop; Thus, the wings of Hannibal's army were completely bare!

Under the unyielding shouts and attacks of the Roman army, the frontal war elephants also retreated. Where the smoke and dust dissipated, a phalanx of Hannibal's elite infantry appeared, which was advancing on all fronts. The Roman hoplite soldiers hastily arranged their armor and regrouped, and began to march slowly towards the enemy formation, and in the process, the rear hundred-man squad moved forward, filling the gap between the ranks, and gradually forming a dense attack formation.

The Quintus army outnumbered the enemy's first battle column and the battle line was wider than the enemy's line, which allowed the Romans to attack the enemy not only from the front, but also from both sides. Hannibal's army, deprived of the protection of the cavalry, was clearly at a disadvantage.

The well-trained mercenaries had both courage and skill, and the Roman army had already withstood a round of war elephants, and the fatigue of the soldiers had not yet fully recovered, so they won the advantage in the early stages of the war, and several parts of the Roman front began to be chaotic.

However, without waiting for the front line to be breached, Quintus quickly mobilized the troops of the second array to the emergency to reinforce the emergency, and the other soldiers who did not fight also loudly supported and encouraged their comrades at the front. With superior forces and support from the rear, the front was finally maintained.

In contrast to the Roman army of Augustus, who were united in their hearts, Hannibal's second column stood quietly behind without any sound. Even when the mercenaries began to lose ground under the stubborn onslaught of superior Roman hoplites, there was no sign of reinforcements from the troops behind.

After a long battle, the old Marco army under the command of Theophanes began to retreat; Looking at the ruthless troops behind, many mercenaries felt that they had been used and betrayed by the Carthaginians, and they turned around and rushed towards the second battle column in a rage.

The hoplites of House Augustus were stunned, they could not believe what they saw: the enemy, who had been fighting desperately just a moment ago, suddenly turned around and killed their own camp. The unmistakable Hannibal Second Array suddenly laid its upright spears flat and aimed them at the mercenary troops who were biting back.

The Augustus hoplites, who had come to their senses, quickly covered and killed from behind, but the poor mercenaries quickly collapsed under the front and rear of Mahabal's army and the Augustus army, leaving countless corpses on the battlefield.

With the disappearance of the first column, the hoplites of the House of Augustus came into battle with Hannibal's second column. Although the hoplites of the Augustus family had fought hard for a round, their morale was still high with the continuous assistance of the rear ranks.

The dagger that Oscar ordered to be reforged was also incredibly powerful, especially in hand-to-hand combat, which made it impossible for Hannibal's spear-wielding army to last. As a result, Hannibal's second column, after a bitter battle, also began to flee, hoping to be protected by friendly forces.

Hannibal, seeing their retreat from the far rear, ordered again to raise his guns, and not to let one enter the array, lest he disturb the formation. Seeing that there was no way to retreat, the rout had no choice but to flee from both sides, but those who did not know the time and wanted to force their way into the battle formation were all killed by Hannibal's army.

After this round of fierce fighting, the soldiers of the Augustus family were all out of breath, blood and sweat stuck to the armor and shields, and the guns and swords were sticky and slippery, and the front of the battle was littered with the corpses of the dead soldiers on both sides and the discarded weapons.

The Roman army, which was chasing the rout, had lost its formation, and if it continued to advance, the reserves that had not yet entered the battle would have to spare the corpses and obstacles, resulting in a disorganized formation of the whole army. Hannibal waited nervously from two hundred meters away, the course of the battle before him was almost entirely predictable, and as soon as the Augustan army advanced and the formation was disorganized, he immediately ordered a surprise attack on all fronts.

Quintus also saw the danger at hand, and he was prepared for it, and immediately ordered the pursuit to be stopped. He had the hoplites regroup at the forefront of the area of operations. Protected by this array, Quintus had the light infantry in the rear clear the battlefield and carry the wounded to the rear of the formation.

Then, bypassing the corpse barrier, they relined in turn behind the hoplite formation. In the blink of an eye, Quintus boldly regrouped in front of the enemy, much to Hannibal's admiration.

At this time, after two bloody battles, the Augustus hoplites were reduced due to casualties, and the total number was only about 8,000. They were confronted with 24,000 men of Hannibal's elite army, and for the first time Hannibal's frontal width was wider than that of the Romans, making it possible for him to attack the Romans from both sides. The Chinese army of the House of Augustus was in a triple disadvantageous position in numbers, physical strength, and formation.

Hannibal looked back at the battle, the sun shining on the endless plains, his retreating cavalry and the pursuing Roman cavalry were gone, and the progress of the battle was still in his calculations.

He turned around and gave the order to march. Scipio then ordered an army. So the armies of both sides kept this formation and cautiously and slowly marched towards each other. The final decisive moment has finally arrived!

Just as Hannibal was beginning to feel a little relieved, a wonderful sight appeared before his eyes. The Augustan army was on the march, and a gap began to create between the second and third rows. This made him incomprehensible for a while, because in this case, the frontal defense capability of the army in the Augustan family would be significantly reduced.

Suddenly, the last two columns of the Augustan army began to move rapidly to the sides, until they reached the outside of the left and right flanks, and then successively entered the position of the first column. In this way, Quintus will evolve the original three-row standard battle formation into a long snake formation in the process of marching, and the frontal width will be doubled!

Not only that, but Luquis's department, which had been on standby on the right flank, also took the opportunity to join Quintus's Chinese army; The entire Chinese army, which consisted of hoplites, had been turned into a huge melting pot of arms.

Its frontal troops, which changed from hoplites to four thousand men of the Guards Infantry Corps commanded by Luculus; On the flanks were the hoplites of the 2nd and 7th Legions. Interspersed among these main battle soldiers were thousands of light infantry.

In addition to this long snake formation with a huge frontal width, Oscar also advanced all the stone crossbows in the equipment troops under his command to the rear of the Chinese army battle formation at this time; As for the more numerous ballistas, they were all pushed to the right flank, less than three hundred meters from Hannibal's army, and were guarded by the fifteen hundred family guards of Nussis!

When Hannibal saw this, he couldn't help but gasp; It was too late to change the formation, and there was no preparation in advance, and forcibly changing it would only cause confusion in the formation.

Looking at the current situation, I have to pin all my hopes on the central breakthrough. Fortunately, while the Chinese army of the Augustus family widened its formation, it also lost its depth, which made their ability to prevent a frontal breakthrough relatively weakened, which was obviously not conducive to a protracted battle. Both sides have their own advantages and disadvantages, and the outcome is still unpredictable. (To be continued.) )