A red face is better than a person's life.

- Plautus (the most important comedy writer of ancient Rome)

With the surrender of this 13,000-strong army, the conquest of Tulbo by the Brutus family was a complete success; Although King Pyrus, the spiritual pillar of the Epirus Kingdom, was still there, and the king's most elite hoplite legions and the most powerful ironclad cavalry had not suffered the slightest loss, the capture of Tulbo was also of great significance to the Brutus family.

Not only because the Brutus family rescued a full fourteen thousand captured soldiers outside the city of Thurbo, but also because the name of Tulbo had an extraordinary meaning for the Brutus family; The last battle of Tulbo was the worst defeat ever suffered by the Brutus family, and it was also the one with the most losses.

It is no exaggeration to say that after the defeat at the Battle of Tulbo, the name of Tulbo has become a lingering haze in the hearts of almost all the Brutus family; Some of the Brutus family were not in favor of waging a second Macedonian war against the Epirus kingdom now, the biggest reason being that they feared that the Brutus family would suffer another defeat like the Battle of Tulbo.

Thankfully, this time the Brutus army finally took Turbo in one fell swoop; Not only that, the small half of the Greek legion was annihilated and the surrender of the majority and the capture of Pylos greatly boosted the morale of the Brutus family and dealt a heavy blow to the strength and comprehensive national strength of the Kingdom of Epirus.

In addition to taking Turbo, Tiberius certainly would not be stingy with his rewards; All eight legions that took part in the battle, including the Fifth Legion, which was responsible for capturing the city in the rear, were heavily rewarded by Tiberius. In addition, the 14,000 troops that were rescued also formally formed the Leader Legion, and the commander of the legion was naturally Rex recommended by Ganeus; Next is the three days of the feast!

Since landing in the kingdom of Epirus, the army of the Brutus family has gone through more than a month of continuous fighting without a good rest; With such a rare victory, and the banquet that Tiberius had promised to give to the Legion of Leaders, it was only natural that a grand banquet should be held in Tulbo for all the soldiers.

Of course, the army of the Brutus family cannot be complacent and empty of sight because of a victory; Proper rest is necessary, and adequate vigilance is also indispensable. Thus, the banquet of the soldiers of the eight legions (including the Leader's Legion) in the city of Tulbo was divided into three sessions; It is held once a day, and the participants have a big carnival, and the participants do not stay vigilant and step up their rest.

In fact, the generals of Tiberius and Brutus did not know that while they led a large army to take Turbo in one fell swoop, Pyrus and his army were not idle. Ten days earlier, Pyrrhus had received a letter from Pyrrhus asking for help; However, after careful consideration, Pyrus did not give the order for the army to return to help.

In Pirus's opinion, this time he wanted to defeat the army of the Brutus family with the strength of the Epirus Kingdom; Although the kingdom of Epirus has an army of 20,000 more than last time, the army of the Brutus family is even larger, it is a full army of 70,000 people!

You know, the Brutus army is not the kind of second-rate army with a large number of light infantry; The standard Roman legions were all hoplites, supplemented by some light infantry, to make up the Brutus army. With the army of the Brutus family of eight legions, it is not easy to defeat them with the army of 50,000 Epirus Kingdom.

In the last Battle of Tulbo, the reason why the Kingdom of Epirus was able to achieve an unprecedented victory was nothing more than the tired march and pride of the Brutus family; With the lesson learned from last time, Pyrrhus didn't think that the Brutus family would make the same mistake this time. More crucially, Pyrrhus felt that it might not be too late for him to rush back.

According to Pylos's intelligence, the army of the Brutus family was still about ten days away from Turbo; Pyrrhus's 30,000 hoplites would have to return to Turbo from the Semon border in at least fifteen days, which was enough time for the Brutus army to capture the problematic Turbo.

Even in Pyrrhus's opinion, even the 20,000 Greek legions in the city of Tulbo united in defending Tulbo could hardly withstand the attack of the Brutus family for five days; After all, this time, the army of the Brutus family not only has an extremely large number of hoplites, but also an astonishing number of ballistae and stone catapults, which are all siege weapons!

So, at the very beginning, Pyrrhus had already given up on Tulbo in his heart; Of course, he also knew that he had given up not only Tulbo, but also his own brother Pylos and the 20,000-strong Greek legion. For Pyrrhus, though; The Greek legions are no longer worthy of being their own army, they have chosen to betray themselves, even if they all die in battle!

It was his own brother Pyrrhus, and giving him up still made Pyrus feel a little distressed; After all, Pyrrhus is the younger brother of Pyrrhus with the same father and mother, and he is Pyrrhus's right-hand man in government and military affairs. Unfortunately, it was too late to recruit Pyros from Tulbo; Instead of that, let him buy himself more time in Tulbo!

After the victory at the Battle of Turbo, Pyrus's heart was completely inflated; He is no longer the king of Epirus who was willing to sacrifice everything for the kingdom of Epirus, everything he does now is in the service of his own ambitions and desires, and there is nothing else in his world but himself!

Why would Pyrrhus want Pyrrhus to buy time for himself? This is because Pyrrhus has officially decided to take action against the city-state of Semon! Although the land area of the city-state of Semon was not very large, it was not even as large as that of the kingdom of Epirus; But the victory is that the land is fertile, the sea trade is developed, and the prospects for future development are far greater than those of the Epirus Kingdom!

More crucially, the army of the city-state of Semon was only 14,000 men; Except for the 10,000-strong legion in the border area, it was only guarded by about 4,000 light infantry on its own territory. As long as Pyrus can successfully annihilate the 10,000 Semon army on the opposite side, the Semon city-state will belong to him Pirus; This is a fertile land that is more prosperous and developed than the kingdom of Epirus!

Moreover, the geographical location of Semon is also very superior; As long as he gained a firm foothold in the city-state of Semon, Pyrrhus could attack the more prosperous city-state of Athens to the northwest, extending his tentacles to the true heart of the Greek peninsula. To the northeast, Pyrus could declare war on the decaying kingdom of Macedonia; Seize the rich and fertile land from the Macedonian kingdom, this is the real way to rise!

Since Pyrrhus had decided to abandon the Epirus kingdom and march on the city-state of Semon, the first thing to do was to convince his army to continue to support him; Although the 2,000 hired ironclad cavalry would not have any other ideas, the 30,000 hoplites were an army composed of the people of the Kingdom of Epirus, and their support was crucial.

The fact that Pirus was able to gain the support of the entire people of the Kingdom of Epirus in the position of king of the Kingdom of Epirus is enough to show that his eloquence is extremely extraordinary, at least it is no problem to use it to deceive those simple commoners; These hoplites, who originally admired Pyrrhus, were naturally easily persuaded by Pyrrhus, and they were willing to follow Pyrrhus all the time and fight for Pyrrhus!

With the full support of the army under his command, the allegiance of the generals was naturally a matter of course; The next step is how to use force against the Sermon Legion. Pyrrhus, who has already made his goal clear, will no longer be bound by those worldly eyes; He decisively began to prepare for the war, but the Semon army on the opposite side knew nothing about it!

Before the war began, the outcome was already predictable; With a powerful 30,000 hoplites and an elite 2,000 ironclad cavalry on one side, and only 3,000 newly recruited hoplites and 7,000 light infantry on the other, plus the strong side was prepared and the weaker side did not know it, such a war did not need to be speculated at all to know what the outcome of the war would be.

The date chosen by Pyrrhus for the attack was the day when the army of the Brutus family freed the prisoners of the iron mine camp; As soon as it was dark in the morning, Pyrus ordered his 30,000 hoplites to cross the border and march towards the camp of the Celestial Legion opposite, while the 2,000 ironclad cavalry marched from near the coastline on the right flank under Pyrus's orders.

Because the kingdom of Epirus and the city-state of Semon were half of the land by the sea, and the border between the two countries was also the middle of the mountains and the sea; The Iron Cavalry was sent to march from near the coastline in order to get behind the Semon Legion. After the outbreak of the Great War, the task of the ironclad cavalry is to charge behind the Semon Legion and annihilate this so-called Semon Legion in one fell swoop!

In fact, Pyrrhus's battle plan was an unprecedented success; As soon as the 30,000 hoplites in front of Pyrus crossed the border, the patrol of the Semon Legion blew a piercing trumpet, and the originally silent Semon Legion camp was suddenly awakened. Countless soldiers of the Semeng Legion hurriedly grabbed their weapons and equipment and ran out of the military tent and began to prepare to meet the enemy!

In terms of the speed of assembly and preparation, the soldiers of the Semeng Legion still performed well; When they were ready to fight, the army led by Pyrus himself was still eight hundred meters away from their camp! The army of the Semon Legion did not go out of the barracks, but laid out the battle formations at the gate of the barracks; Behind the closed gates of the camp were two thousand archers and two thousand slingers at the ready! (To be continued.) )