Even a wise man cannot abandon the weakness of pursuing fame.

- Tacitus (the greatest historian of ancient Rome)

Pyrrhus's death was too great a blow to his army, not to mention that Pyrrhus was the soul and spiritual pillar of his 25,000 hoplites; Even from the perspective of the Supreme Commander, he is also an indispensable core figure of the army under his command. Pyrrhus's accidental death greatly boosted the morale of the soldiers around Pyrrhus, but it did not help the whole battle.

After losing the command of Pyrrhus, the hoplites under the command of more than 20,000 Pyrrhus immediately fell into great confusion; The Athenian coalition also fought more and more because of this unexpected joy. The scorching battle between the two sides lasted all afternoon, and as the evening approached, the curtain began to fall.

It is a miracle that the army of Pyrrhus, who fought alone, was able to fight on its own for an afternoon without defeat after losing the command of Pyrrhus; But that doesn't mean they can win the battle. By this time, the Athenian coalition had formed an advantage over the army of Pyrrhus in various streets; The 25,000 Pirus army was already less than 8,000 people, and the morale was even more declining and on the verge of collapse.

On the other hand, the Athenian coalition was full of morale and combat effectiveness, and the Athenian coalition was still full of pessimism about the battle; However, with the unexpected death of Pyrrhus, the battle of the Athenian coalition in the city of Athens became like a fish in water! Although Pyrrhus's army was far superior to the Athenian coalition in terms of combat effectiveness and weaponry, the Athenian coalition's familiarity with the city of Athens caught Pyrrhus' army off guard!

So, the whole afternoon of fighting continued; Pyrrhus's army suffered nearly 20,000 casualties, while the Athenian coalition suffered just over 10,000 casualties. There were less than 8,000 invading troops left, and it was impossible to win under the siege of the Athenian coalition of about 20,000; Even escaping is whimsical, and they can only pay the price for their previous ruthless slaughter of the city!

The battle of Athens was no longer in doubt, and King Pyrrhus, who had risen like a comet in the First Macedonian War, once again disappeared like a comet in the long river of history with his full ambition and became a part of history. Of course, Pyrrhus relied solely on the Battle of Tulbo to make history remember him; Because he is worthy of the name of a famous general!

The news of Pirus' death and defeat in the city-state of Athens soon spread throughout the Greek peninsula, and some people felt sorry for him, while others felt that he was not worthy; However, none of this has anything to do with the Brutus family. When Tiberius returned to the province of Epirus with his army, the Brutus family's plans for an attack against the western kingdom of Dalmatia were also on the agenda.

For the Brutus family, as long as the Dalmatian kingdom was settled; The Brutus family was able to take the province of Epirus as the center, and stationed an army in the province of Aeturia (i.e., the city-state of Semon) in the east and the province of Dalmatia in the west, and they could officially start the war against the Macedonian kingdom and start the process of Greek hegemony of the Brutus family!

It's a pity that people are not as good as heaven; The destruction of Pyrrhus and his army was good news for the Brutus family, but Marius' recent actions were nothing short of unusual for the Brutus family. If the Brutus family is unable to cope with this crisis from the Marius and Scipio families, then the Brutus family is likely to face the biggest crisis since the establishment of the family!

Since the Brutus family's army went out, the only ones responsible for the Brutus family were the newly formed Seventh and Eighth Legions; The combat effectiveness of these two legions was more than a little worse than that of Octavian, which Marius arranged on the border between the Scipio and Brutus families.

Although of the combined legions of which Octavian was commander, the Ninth Roman legion was also a newly formed legion; However, the Third Roman Legion under his command was the earliest legion formed, and it was also a legion with quite good combat effectiveness, at least more than the two legions of the Brutus family!

In addition, behind Octavian's two legions, there were also the Fourth Roman Legions and the Fifth Roman Legions of the Scipio family as support; The combat effectiveness of these two legions was in no way inferior to the elite of Octavian's Third Roman legions. This means that Marius's side can be prepared for an invasion of four legions against the Brutus family at any time in the border area!

In fact, Marius received information on the third day of the Brutus family's expedition; However, Marius did not intend to launch a plan to annex the southern two provinces of the Brutus family in such a hurry. After all, the Brutus family now has a huge force of ten legions, once the eight legions that went out to fight are all back to help; Then Maleke couldn't eat and walked away!

Therefore, Marius had to wait for the army of the Brutus family to fully land in the kingdom of Epirus before he could wait and see what certain measures could be taken. According to Marius's estimates, with the military strength of the kingdom of Epirus and the command of Pyrrhus himself; Even if the Brutus family could successfully conquer the kingdom of Epirus, it would have to pay a heavy price.

As for whether the Brutus family will repeat the last Battle of Tulbo again, Marius felt that it was completely impossible; The reason why the Brutus family lost so badly last time was purely because Tiberius, as the leader of the family, attacked lightly, and this time neither the Brutus family nor Tiberius himself would make such a mistake again.

If an army of eight Roman hoplites, plus 10,000 auxiliary light infantry, could not take a single kingdom of Epirus; Marius, then, did not think that the defeated Brutus family could defend himself against his own attack. Based on this idea, Marius is ready to be the third party who will only benefit from the defeat of the Brutus family and the kingdom of Epirus!

However, the development of things is always not subject to human ends; Pyrrhus ran to the border of the city-state of Semon before the invasion of the Brutus army, which was an outcome that no one expected, and one of the last things that Marius wanted to see. When the news of the Brutus' easy capture of the entire Epirus kingdom returned to Rome, Marius hesitated.

Marius really didn't dare to guarantee that his actions would be successful, after all, the current Brutus family was not the Brutus family that had suffered heavy losses as he expected, but the Brutus family with undamaged strength and an increased army! In particular, when the spies arranged by Marius in the Brutus family army reported back that the Brutus family had rescued the captives, Marius was even more hesitant.

With the Brutus family's army growing in this war, Marius knew that the chances of his plan succeeding were not high; Once you use four legions to forcibly occupy the two southern provinces of the Brutus family, then it is very likely that you will face a large-scale counterattack by the Brutus family, and the army under your command and the army of the Scipio family may not be able to win if combined!

You know, the Brutus family now not only has a large army, but also a huge fleet that can transport more than eight legions of troops at once; None of this was accessible to Marius and Scipio. Therefore, Marius really did not dare to take risks easily; Otherwise, once you fail, you may face a catastrophe!

The situation later developed even more unexpectedly for Marius, as Pyrrhus led his army to occupy the city-state of Semon; Then the army of the Brutus family drove out the army of Pyrus and occupied the city-state of Semon. In this way, the Brutus family captured two new provinces on the Greek peninsula at once, and their strength increased greatly!

However, the occurrence of this incident made Marius have a different idea; When the Brutus family only occupied the kingdom of Epirus, Marius did not dare to launch a plan to annex the two southern provinces of the Brutus family, not only because of the strong strength of the Brutus family, but also because Marius knew that the Brutus family would not give up on this!

To put it another way, if you are leading an elite army away from the rich homeland; After conquering a country that is not rich without pressure, only to learn that your rich land has been occupied by someone else, you will definitely lead a large army back to your land to reclaim your own territory. Marlius firmly believes in this; Therefore, after the Brutus family took the kingdom of Epirus, Marius did not make any moves.

However, after the Brutus family took over Ettoria, where the city-state of Semon was located, Marius had a different idea; On the one hand, if we don't take advantage of the two southern provinces of the Brutus family now, it will be impossible to take these two provinces from the increasingly powerful Brutus family from now on.

On the other hand, after the Brutus family acquired the prosperous and wealthy province of Etturia, the focus of the family's development will definitely shift to the Greek peninsula in the future; In this way, the Brutus family may not be willing to conflict too much with their alliance with the Scipio family in local affairs.

After all, compared to the weak Macedonian kingdom and the scattered alliance of Greek city-states, his alliance with Scipio was still stronger; Rather than wasting time on these two provinces in Rome itself, the Brutus family should quickly gather an army and wage war against the Macedonian kingdom in order to obtain a richer and more prosperous province!

Based on this idea, Marius decided to formally march into the two southern provinces of the Brutus family; In addition to Octavian's two legions, Marius persuaded two legions of Scipio to also go to the border with the Brutus. However, Marius did not directly order the four legions to enter the territory of the Brutus, but instead had them confront the Brutus defenders on the border.

Marius was confident that the members of the Brutus family would understand what he meant; After that, the Brutus family can make an informed choice. Marius did not wish to go to war with the Brutus unless necessary; Otherwise, the last cheaper ones will only be the Julius family in the north and the Augustan family overseas! (To be continued.) )