Love is human nature, and indulgence is also human nature.

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

Such a touching scene was naturally the hearts of the other soldiers on the sidelines, and all the soldiers of the Brutus family had this feeling at this moment; That is, with such a family and such a leader, even if you die for the family and die for the leader, what's the big deal?

No matter what kind of emotion the onlookers had, and no matter how much they still felt in the hearts of the more than 600 soldiers, Tiberius, after helping up all the kneeling soldiers, turned around and walked silently in front of the 600 soldiers, and then looked at the scrawny soldiers and said in a loud voice:

"Soldiers, you are the heroes of the Brutus family, and the most loyal of my Tiberius; I don't know what compensation to give you. Gold? Field? Promotion? None of that I want to give you, what I want to give you is; Starting today, we, the Brutus family, will form a leader legion that belongs only to the family leader, and you are the first soldiers of this legion! ”

As Tiberius said, neither the gold coins, nor the fields, nor the promotions were given to these people, could compensate for the sacrifices they had made for the Brutus family; Therefore, Tiberius gave them the most special reward and the most glorious compensation. After hearing Tiberius's announcement, the more than 600 soldiers immediately cheered in unison: "Leader of the legion! Legion of Leaders! ”

After the simple welcome ceremony, the next step was a banquet specially set up for these soldiers; However, the more than 600 soldiers refused Tiberius's kindness and banquet. The reason they gave was simple, because they still had about 14,000 brothers who were being used as slaves by the kingdom of Epirus, and they had to rescue the rest of the brothers before they could raise a glass together!

There were still about 14,000 soldiers of the Brutus family who were used as slaves by the kingdom of Epirus, and Tiberius did not know whether he should be happy or sad in the face of this news; But whether they are happy or sad, these people need to be saved, and they will also be an indispensable part of the leadership legion!

Tiberius therefore agreed to the request of the 600-odd soldiers not to hold a banquet; After these soldiers were properly arranged, Tiberius began to interrogate the officials of the kingdom of Epirus. The captives who were used as slaves did not know where the other captives were, but the officials of the kingdom of Epirus must have known; After all, this is their glory!

Over the centuries, the Roman Republic has suffered many defeats and sacrificed countless soldiers on the battlefield; But there has never been a large-scale soldier captured by the enemy, and no country has ever used a large-scale Roman legion as a slave, and the kingdom of Epirus can be considered to have made history in this regard.

However, this history is only the pride of the kingdom of Epirus; For the Roman Republic, and especially for the Brutus, this is a complete disgrace! Seeing the tragic situation of those captured soldiers, the soldiers in the Brutus family camp naturally hated the officials of the Epirus Kingdom.

When Tiberius ordered the soldiers outside the tent to bring in the officials, the soldiers were inevitably more rude; So much so that when those officials entered Tiberius's tent, their faces were blue and purple, and there were some clear footprints on their bodies. However, Tiberius chose to ignore this; Naturally, officials did not dare to file a complaint.

These officials of the Kingdom of Epirus thought that the Kingdom of Epirus had defeated the mighty Roman army under the leadership of King Pyrus; This meant that from now on the Kingdom of Epirus could become a newly rising power, and they themselves were proud and honored to be officials of the Kingdom of Epirus, and they could not help but be proud of the Roman legionary captives who were slaves.

Unexpectedly, all this is just a flower in the moon and water in the mirror; Only a few months later, the Brutus family once again called the kingdom of Epirus. What made the officials present even more frightened was that the army brought by the Brutus family this time was larger and more elite; However, the Kingdom of Epirus is still at war with the Greek city-states, and the future of the Kingdom of Epirus is not optimistic!

Tiberius ignored what was going on in the hearts of these officials of the Epirus Kingdom below, and said directly in an extremely unkind tone: "I came to you for only one purpose, to let you tell me where the soldiers captured by your Epirus Kingdom last time were imprisoned; When you've got it figured, tell me, and then go down. If you can't think of it, I'll kill someone in ten seconds! ”

Tiberius' domineering threat directly shocked these already frightened officials, and before they could react from the shock, ten seconds had passed; When the guards on both sides came up, they dragged one of them away, completely ignoring his shouting and all kinds of explanations for begging for mercy, and dragged him directly outside the military tent and executed him.

After the terrible screams stopped abruptly, the officials in the tent became even more frightened; An official who was aware of the situation quickly stood up tremblingly, knelt in front of Tiberius, and said: "Honorable General, the soldiers of your family who were captured last time were all imprisoned in an iron mine outside the city of Tulbo, and were responsible for digging iron ore in it; I swear I'm telling the truth! ”

After the official had said this, the other officials fell to their knees and repeatedly assured that the official was telling the truth, and begged Tiberius not to kill him and others; Tiberius, having obtained what he wanted, did not talk nonsense with these officials who were greedy for life and feared death, but said to them:

"If what you say is true, after rescuing the soldiers of our Brutus family, you will naturally have a glimmer of life; If what you say is false, you know the consequences. Take them down and keep them watched! ”

Tiberius's words were a warning to these officials, and the orders that followed were addressed to the soldiers who stood on either side; With Tiberius' orders, the soldiers immediately escorted the officials of the kingdom of Epirus down. With the exact information in hand, Tiberius began to prepare for the rescue.

If the current plan is followed, then it will take half a month for the army of the Brutus family to reach Tulbo, that is to say, it will take half a month to rescue the soldiers of the Brutus family who are slaves in the iron mines; Obviously, this was a speed that Tiberius could not accept.

However, if the march is accelerated, there is a risk of repeating the mistakes of the previous time; Tiberius was also caught in a difficult choice. At this time, the commander of the Third Legion, Helenius, gave Tiberius a very feasible proposal; That was to order the left and right armies to speed up their march and march towards Turbo from both flanks.

As soon as there was an unusually large defender in Tulbo, the armies on both flanks immediately withdrew from the battlefield and retreated in the direction of the main army in the center of the rear; If nothing is unusual, they will immediately attack the iron mines near Tulbo, and after releasing the 14,000 or so captives, they will immediately merge and camp in one place, waiting for the arrival of the main army.

The reason why Helenius feared the unusually large defenders in the city of Tulbo was not that he thought it was a trap for the kingdom of Epirus; Rather, it is based on practical considerations. After all, the army of the Brutus family has been attacking the territory of the Epirus Kingdom for more than half a month, and even if Pyrus is pinned down on the border of Semon and cannot leave, Pyrrhus will lead a large army to meet the enemy.

In terms of field combat ability, the most elite hoplites in the Kingdom of Epirus are not necessarily the opponents of the elite hoplites of the Brutus family, not to mention the Greek legions whose combat effectiveness is definitely inferior to the hoplites; Therefore, Helenius thought that Pylos would most likely lead the Greek legions to garrison Tulbo and wait for the arrival of the enemy army.

Tiberius also thought that Herenius's suggestion was very reasonable, and that it was really very feasible; Tiberius immediately sent orders to Gnaeus and Nero on the left and right flanks, telling them to speed up their march in the direction of Tulbo in order to save the Brutus soldiers trapped in the iron mines near Tulbo.

The Chinese army, which Tiberius himself was in command, also accelerated accordingly; Although this acceleration is nothing compared to Gnaeus on the left and Nero on the right, it also greatly increases the speed of the march. After only five days of marching after the acceleration of the central army, Gnaeus on the left flank had already taken the lead in capturing the last city on the left flank, while the right flank was a little slower.

At this time, the army of Gnaeus was only a day's journey from Turbo; Nero's army was still three days away from Turbo, and the last city west of Turbo had not yet been captured. That is, it would take Nero's army three days to reach Turbo at the earliest; If anything happens, it will take even more time.

After some careful consideration, Gnaeus decided to attack the iron mines five miles west of Tulbo; It was a gamble by Gnaeus. If the capture of the Iron Mine was a trap set by Pylos, or if the Iron Mine was attacked and attracted Pylos's army in the city of Tulbo; That would be a terrible blow to the army of Gnaeus.

As it turned out, Gnaeus's luck was still very good; He led his two legions to easily capture the poorly defended iron ore camp. The armed militia of the Kingdom of Epirus, which numbered less than 2,000 people, was all slaughtered by the army of Ganeus, and the 14,000 soldiers of the Brutus family who were enslaved were also liberated! (To be continued.) )