Habits have actually become part of nature.

- Jade Waina (Roman satirical poet)

After another defeat, the twelve elders of the Maasai tribe were left with only the last Grand Elder; The only ones who can continue to defend Marseille City are the 20,000 newly recruited young people. Among the 20,000 young men, only about 3,000 people possessed a suitable weapon, and the remaining nearly 17,000 people were just chatting with sharpened sticks to masturbate.

In the face of such a defeat, the leaders and elders of the Maasai tribe did not discuss any more countermeasures, but quietly watched the darkness outside the city and the silence inside the city from the city walls, silent. They also knew in their hearts that the defeat of the Maasai tribe was inevitable; Even the bargaining qualifications with the enemy were lost in tonight's sneak attack.

Opening the gates and surrendering to the enemy had become the only option for the Maasai tribes; However, it was impossible for the leaders and elders of the Maasai tribes to surrender. Because they not only have the power handed down by their ancestors, but also shoulder the glory of their ancestors and the glory of the Maasai tribe; Even if they lose everything, they will not be able to surrender to the enemy and disgrace their ancestors!

However, the two also knew that there was no point in holding on any longer; Therefore, after giving the last order to the soldiers defending the city, the two went in the direction of their homes. The once high-spirited Maasai tribal leader and respected elder looked so lonely at the moment, and the pace of returning home was so faltering, which made everyone feel desolate.

Of course, compared to the loneliness of these two people, the young men who still stuck to the city wall felt that the hearts that had been hanging at that moment were finally relaxed. Just now, the order given to them by the two of them was to ask them to take the initiative to open the city gate early tomorrow morning and surrender to the enemy troops outside the city; Such a decision can be regarded as the best order for these ordinary Marseille young men at the moment.

Whether it was the previous defeat on the Rhône, or the defeat of the sneak attack tonight, the young men of the Maasai tribe could no longer raise the determination to resist; Coupled with the fact that the food and grass in the city had been exhausted, everyone on the city wall thought that there was no point in continuing to hold on, and that it was only to increase their own casualties.

After all, for ordinary Maasai people, even if the Maasai tribe does not fail, they and their families do not have a special social status, they are just the lowest social level in the Maasai tribe; The reason why they are willing to stand up against a strong enemy is simply to protect their families from becoming slaves or being slaughtered by the enemy.

Now, even without the slaughter of the enemy, one's own family will be killed by hunger, so what's the point of continuing to hold on? Rather than persist at all costs, it is better to take the initiative to sneak attack the enemy outside the city; Even if you become a slave to the enemy, at least you can save your own life and your family's life, is there anything more important than that?

The gloomy atmosphere in Marseille is in stark contrast to the warm atmosphere of the Carabes barracks at this time; Originally, Karabes decided to withdraw all troops from the barracks tonight, but he was questioned by his generals. Especially Brig and Maglow, who had recently surrendered, they hadn't really followed Carabes, so they naturally didn't understand Carabes's power.

In this regard, Karabes did not talk much nonsense, and directly announced this decision to them in the form of an order; Therefore, whether the generals liked it or not, they had no choice but to carry out Karabeth's plan. However, the generals Itami and Allah, who followed Karabes first, and the generals Kadoradu and Falkus, who later surrendered to Karabes, all obeyed Karabes's orders without question.

The first half of the night, when there was no movement, made Brigo and Margelow, who already disagreed, even more suspicious in their hearts; However, with the advent of the Maasai army and the subsequent successful annihilation of the last new force of the Maasai tribe, Brig and Maglo, who were not convinced, were completely convinced of Calabess, and they became one of Carabess's most loyal subordinates.

When the annihilation of this enemy army was over, Carabis ordered the generals to lead the soldiers of the various legions to clean up the battlefield, and then return to the camp to rest, while he himself returned to his tent first. After these trivial matters were completed, the generals also gathered in the military tent of Calabes, and discussed the gains and losses of the battle tonight with great joy.

After this battle, the resistance of the Maasai tribes was devastated, and the price paid by Calabes's army was only a few hundred dead and more than 2,000 wounded. All the generals believed that they only needed to launch another siege battle against Marseille during the day tomorrow to take Marseille in one fell swoop and end the war.

Such a view was also endorsed by Carabes; Karabes, however, began to think about something more long-term. The purpose of this war with the Maasai tribes was that Calabes wanted to gain control of Gaul beyond the mountains and manage this land that did not belong to the Julius family as his own domain, all of which needed to be carefully considered by Calabes!

According to Calabes's current preliminary idea, after taking the city of Marseille and the whole of Gallic beyond the mountain, he would immediately pass the news back to the Julius family, and took the initiative to ask the people of the Julius family to take over the Gallic beyond the mountain. Of course, all this is just Karabes's superficial behavior, and he will secretly deploy more means to usurp power in Gaul beyond the mountains.

Carabis felt that he had three advantages over control of Gallic outside the mountains; First of all, the geographical advantage is that the main territory of the Julius family is separated from the Alps by the Extraterrestrial Gaul. This meant that it was impossible for the Julius family to devote more energy and resources to the governance of Gallic beyond the mountains, and that alone was enough for Calabis to take advantage of.

In addition, the entire territory of Gaul outside the mountains was taken by Calabis himself, and these arrogant and savage Gallic barbarian tribes, who were still in the concept of the strong being respected, were they willing to obey the orders of those officials sent by the Julius family? Calabis believed that only he and his army could have enough deterrent power to suppress them, and no one else could.

Finally, and most crucially, of course, there is the army under the command of Calabes. Although Calabes's army also paid a considerable price in casualties in this war, the real combat effectiveness increased. You must know that a strong army can never be cultivated from training, and can only be sublimated through fighting on the battlefield.

Before the war, Calabes's command had an army of 31,000 men in four legions; As the war drew to a close, Calabes's army still had four legions, but the total strength had dropped to more than 23,000, including a large number of wounded. But the enemies they annihilated had exceeded 30,000, nearly 40,000; Such a record is enough to make every fighter go through the battle.

From 31,000 to 23,000, Calabes's army decreased in number, but its quality increased by more than a notch, and its combat effectiveness was far superior to before. Carabis is completely confident that his army can exert a stronger combat force than before, which is also where Carabes's confidence lies; It is impossible for the Julius family to turn a blind eye to such a powerful force!

After the discussion with the generals, Carabes gave his generals specific orders to fight; The army responsible for the attack on the city of Marseille early tomorrow morning, Calabis chose the Second and Fourth Legions, which were the most well preserved in combat. The forest hunters of the 1st Legion were responsible for covering the attack, while the cavalry of the 3rd Legion was tasked with besieging the city of Marseille.

After arranging these specific operational arrangements, Karabes ordered the generals to go down and rest; Looking at the departing figures of the generals, Karabes knew that he was getting closer and closer to the day of independence. With this group of generals and troops loyal to him, plus a stable territory; Isn't your own independence enough?

After a night of silence, the next morning, after breakfast in the barracks of Calabes, preparations were made for an attack on the city of Marseille. The soldiers of the Second Legion, under the leadership of Cadoradu, had already obtained the ladders and siege cones they had built earlier, and were ready to launch the sharpest attack on the city of Marseille not far away; At the same time, Brigo's Fourth Legion and three thousand forest hunters were ready.

With the sound of a rousing military trumpet, the Cadorado immediately gave the order to his army to attack the city of Marseille; The menacing soldiers began to attack with ladders and siege cones! However, before the soldiers could advance to within two hundred meters of the city of Marseille, a white flag was raised on the walls of the city of Marseille; Immediately afterwards, the gates of the city of Marseille were opened!

The soldiers of the Second Army, who were in charge of the first round of the attack, were also a little overwhelmed when they saw this situation, and they did not know whether they should continue the attack or abandon the attack; However, this situation can be regarded as expected by Calabess. So, he immediately gave the order to stop the offensive and sent Tursus's hoplites into the city of Marseille to collect the weapons and equipment of the surrendered defenders!

In this way, Calabes successfully took the long-besieged city of Marseille; After taking the city of Marseille, Carabis asked the soldiers of the Fourth Legion to escort the 20,000 young men defending the city to the barracks outside the city to guard them, and on the other hand, he let the soldiers of the Second Legion and the First Legion enter the city to control the situation. At the same time, Karabes also sent soldiers to inform the fleet of the news using captured boats.

Afterwards, Calabis was guided by the army to the mansion of the chief of Marseille and the Grand Elder; It's a pity that these two people have already chosen to commit suicide last night. For their trembling family members, Karabes not only did not cut down the grass and eradicate them, but ordered his soldiers to protect them and not allow anyone to harm them!

Just after this order was given by Calabes, the soldiers who had sent the fleet to inform the fleet had returned, along with the cavalry that Calabes had sent to the House of Julius; Their return also brought a new appointment to Calabes, that is, the Julius family had officially appointed Calabes as the governor of Gaul in the newly occupied Gallic Mountains! (To be continued.) )