The verdict always acquitted the crow, but found the pigeon guilty.

- Jade Waina (ancient Roman satirical poet)

In this fierce battle, from the very beginning Calabis committed only a fairly small part of his forces; Even with the more than 8,000 infantry and 6,000 cavalry under his command, he only invested in pure infantry units. Even with Grace's troops, the total number of troops invested by Carabis was only 10,000 infantry and more than 2,700 mastiffs.

On the contrary, at the beginning of the war, the Marseille army invested more than 15,000 infantry units, plus the elite warriors who were later reinforced, the direct investment of the Marseille army has exceeded 16,000! However, this also meant that there were not many follow-up troops left of the Marseille army; In addition to the symbolic reserve of 10,000, only 2,000 cavalry, which was directly controlled by its leader, remained.

After this half-hour of fierce fighting, the infantry army under the command of Carabis did not pay a heavy price at all; The only thing that may be regrettable is the loss of all 2,700 mastiffs. But the 16,000 troops of the Marseille army were not so lucky, and they had already paid the price of nearly half of the casualties under the double attack of the forest hunters and the mastiffs!

Calabis believed that if it weren't for the special rituals that the Maasai Order, the Maasai army in front of him would have collapsed long ago; An army that can persist in fighting despite 30% casualties is definitely the top army in the world, and accidents will only occur under special circumstances.

What are special cases? For example, the current Marseille army is a special case, and they maintain their tenacious combat effectiveness under a special religious ceremony, which no longer belongs to the category of ordinary armies. It was also more common to see wars between two mortal enemies, most notably between Hannibal and the Roman Republic.

Hannibal had already led his army into several confrontations with the armies of the Roman Republic, and each time the two sides fought extremely bitter battles to the death; Although each time it ended in the defeat of the army of the Roman Republic, each time the Roman army almost paid the price of total annihilation.

From this point of view, Calabis was still curious about the Deiru Order of the Maasai tribe; Carabes has even had the idea of forming such a force on his own, knowing that this kind of army is simply terrifying to improve the combat effectiveness of his own army, and the role it can play on the battlefield is also extraordinary!

Of course, these are just Karabeth's personal conjectures, and the most important thing at the moment is the life-and-death battle between the two armies; Originally, the combat effectiveness of the Maasai tribe army was not as good as the elite troops under the command of Calabes, and after the first two rounds of setbacks, the elite infantry of Carabes completely suppressed these poorly armed and poorly coordinated Maasai troops on the battlefield.

It wasn't until the battle horns of the Second and Fourth Legions sounded that the situation on the entire battlefield was a foregone conclusion, and even the commanders of the Marseille army on the other side were all changed in the sound of this passionate horn! Unfortunately, all this is difficult to reverse the situation of the battle; The two legions that arrived in a hurry threw themselves into battle directly from both flanks, encircling the Marseille army from three sides!

At this time, the 1st Army of Calabis and the infantry of Grace together had about 8,000 troops, and the two legions encircling from both flanks also had a large army of 7,000 each; The Marseille army, besieged on three sides, had less than 9,000 troops left. Moreover, the Marseille army had fought far longer than all the armies under Calabess, and the soldiers were quite tired.

Surrounded on three sides by the enemy, even a fool can see that the Marseille army has no hope of victory; Even the leaders and elders of the Marseille army did not send any reinforcements to support the remaining Maasai troops. However, the soldiers under the command of Carabis will not show mercy to this subordinate, and know that the enemy's head is their own military merit!

This asymmetrical battle lasted only ten minutes, and the soldiers of the Marseille army completely collapsed; Except for the Maasai soldiers, who had already fallen into a scorching battle with the enemy, the rest of the Maasai soldiers fled to the rear in fear. The wooden bridge over the Rhône is not narrow, but it is not enough for thousands of Maasai soldiers to rush to escape!

Countless soldiers of the Marseille army were squeezed into the water by their comrades on the wooden bridge, and even trampled to death; But no one has time to care about the lives of others, so they can only run away as quickly as possible to save their own lives. But will this really save their lives? In fact, the leaders and elders of the Marseille army hoped that they could save their lives.

After all, these soldiers in front of them are already the last warriors of the Maasai tribe, and once they lose them, the Maasai tribe will lose the last capital they can fight; Even if they chose to flee on the battlefield, it was a sad and helpless move. The enemy's strength and sheer size have made it impossible to sustain the battle; If you don't choose to escape, you can only die.

In order to meet the Maasai soldiers who had fled back, the leader of the Maasai tribe personally ordered his 2,000 cavalry to line up on the east bank 500 meters from the wooden bridge to meet the pursuit of the army of Calabes; The remaining 10,000 reserve troops also began to prepare for battle under the ceremony of hundreds of soldiers of the Deyiru Order who had not crossed the river.

In the eyes of the leaders and elders of the Maasai tribes, even the exchange of all 10,000 reserves for 5,000 front-line troops was worth it; After all, the gap in combat effectiveness between the two is still very huge. After the defeat of this battle, the city of Marseille of the Maasai tribe will face an attack from the enemy; By then, five thousand experienced veterans would be much stronger than ten thousand new recruits.

Unfortunately, the development of the battle was far from being as simple as the Marseille leaders imagined; Upon discovering the defeat of the Marseille army, Calabis immediately ordered Itami to lead his already prepared cavalry units in pursuit of the fleeing enemy from the left and right flanks. The reason why Calabess's army slowly retreated at the beginning, constantly distancing the battle site from the wooden bridge, was for the immediate pursuit.

As soon as Calabes's order was given, the six thousand cavalry, who had already been divided into the left and right flanks, immediately began to move; The speed of the cavalry galloping with all its strength is still very amazing, at least it is not comparable to the fleeing infantry. Moreover, at this time, the place where the two armies fought was nearly 300 meters away from the wooden bridge, which also provided an opportunity for the cavalry to pursue quickly.

The Maasai soldiers who fled had already lost the will to fight and the instinct to cooperate with the counterattack, and they fled back in even more panic under the pursuit of the cavalry, without the slightest hesitation. Itami had planned to chase and fight, but after discovering that the enemy had no intention of resisting; He directly ordered the cavalry under his command to charge indomitable!

The soldiers of the Marseille army, whose weapons and equipment were already extremely rudimentary, used their backs to meet the mass cavalry swarm charge, and the consequences can be imagined; Countless unprepared Maasai soldiers were trampled into mud by the swarms of galloping cavalry, or drowned by the swarming cavalry after a little resistance.

In a short distance of three hundred meters, Itami's cavalry troops completed the massacre of at least 4,000 Maasai soldiers; But more than 3,000 Maasai soldiers managed to escape to the east bank of the Rhône by means of a wooden bridge. Looking at the 2,000 cavalry of the Maasai army waiting for battle on the east bank and the tens of thousands of infantry who had fallen into a state of frenzy, Itami did not hesitate to order his cavalry to continue to pursue across the river!

Six thousand cavalry, led by Itami, quickly and orderly crossed the wooden bridge to the east bank; And launched the most simple and clear charge in the direction of the Maasai cavalry. Of the 2,000 cavalry of the Marseille army, only 1,000 were relatively elite noble cavalry, and the remaining 1,000 were ordinary Gallic cavalry; And the noble cavalry under Itami's command is as high as more than 4,000 in number!

In this way, two cavalry units with great differences in quantity and quality rushed together, and Itami also charged bravely and fearlessly at the forefront of the entire cavalry force; The two elders of the Maasai tribe, who were in charge of commanding the Maasai cavalry, were easily killed by Itami as soon as they fought. The Maasai cavalry, having lost their commander, were even more clumsy under the attack of Itami's cavalry.

At the same time, the three legions under the personal command of Calabes also successfully completed the siege and annihilation of the remaining remnants of the Marseille army on the west bank; There is no longer a single soldier of the Marseille army on the entire east coast. Immediately after the fighting in the West Bank was over, Carabis ordered Cadoradu and Brigo to cross the river with their two legions in turn, in pursuit of the remaining forces of the Maasai tribes.

The chiefs and elders of the Maasai tribes knew that the tide was over, and they would not stay here any longer and die; After welcoming back the 3,000 soldiers who had fled, the leader of the Maasai tribe began to retreat frantically with 10,000 reservists and 3,000 soldiers, as well as 500 soldiers of the Deiru Order, and the 2,000 cavalry with the best mobility were the ones who stayed behind to block the enemy's pursuit.

But how long could the mere 2,000 cavalry delay under the attack of Itami's 6,000 cavalry? After only fifteen minutes of fighting, the remaining Maasai cavalry, which numbered less than 800, completely collapsed under Itami's strong attack. The scattered Maasai cavalry were not a good target for pursuit, and Itami had no intention of pursuing this enemy, whom he did not look down on.

After completely defeating the Maasai cavalry, Itami continued to lead his more than 5,000 cavalry and began a frantic pursuit of the main Maasai army, which was no longer visible. After crossing the Rhône with their respective legions, Cadoradu and Brigo did not blindly pursue the Marseille army, but began to clean up the battlefield in an orderly manner.

The Marseille army that fled only needed Itami's cavalry to pursue, and the infantry of these two legions could not catch up with the enemy's infantry at all, and it was pointless to continue the pursuit, so it was better to clean up the battlefield and join the First Army of Calabis and start marching towards Marseille together! (To be continued.) )