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- Socrates (famous ancient Greek thinker, philosopher, and educator)

While the defenders of Córdoba were urgently trained by Marcus to defend the walls, the army led by Botricott was not idle; In addition to capturing new cities along the way, Botricott is also thinking about plans to attack Córdoba.

The situation in the province of Betica, Botricot understands better than anyone else, and the strength of the Augustus family in the province of Betica, Botricott is also well aware; The last sneak attack did not completely annihilate the Third Legion of the Augustan family, which made Botricott still angry.

This is not to say that Botrecott valued the remnants of the 3,000 Marcus army in his heart, but the impact of the 3,000 men who escaped on the entire battle situation was immeasurable, and it was not conducive to the Spanish army.

If the Third Legion of House Augustus had been wiped out, the Spanish army would have been able to move south with lightning speed, taking Córdoba before the defenders of Córdoba could react.

Later, Botricott could use Córdoba as a transit point for the Spanish army, first sending troops to reinforce the Exaca Division, and together with them, he launched a flanking attack on the Fifth Legion of the Augustan family and eliminated the Fifth Legion of the Augustan family.

In the end, after gathering superior forces, taking the port of Betica Province in one fell swoop, and completely destroying the Fourth Army of the Augustus family, the entire Betica province will return to the embrace of the Spanish Kingdom, and it is impossible for the Augustus family to fight back even if they want to fight back for a while.

It's a pity that in the battle of the sneak attack on the Third Legion, the sneak attack of the Third Legion broke out with a terrifying and formidable combat effectiveness; And the soldiers of the newly formed legions of the Kingdom of Spain are really poor in combat effectiveness.

The overestimation of the combat effectiveness of one's own army and the underestimation of the combat effectiveness of the enemy army cost Botricott's army extremely heavy price when attacking the Augustus family camp, and also completely bankrupted Botricott's plan of annihilation.

Of course, Botrecott did not know that even if he could succeed in annihilating the entire Third Legion, his planned plan would not succeed; The intelligence of the House of Augustus will still quickly relay information back to the rear and Sicily.

This also means that no matter what the outcome of the sneak attack is, Córdoba will know the news of the outbreak of war in advance, and the Fourth Army stationed in the port will also know the news in advance and quickly reinforce Córdoba.

Even if the reinforcements of the Fourth Army could not keep up with the pace of the attack of the Botricott army, Tetius's Fourth Army could turn east and join forces with the Fifth Army of Longkina to fight the Spanish attack.

With the fully manned Fourth Army Corps, plus the Fifth Army Corps with sufficient food and grass and stable military camps, the 20,000 troops of these two legions have a full 12,000 hoplites, plus the cooperation of a large number of auxiliary troops and equipment troops, it is not a hard bone that the Spanish army can gnaw down at all!

It is no exaggeration to say that the two main armies of the Augustus family joined forces and fought together, and it was not difficult to defeat the 40,000-strong army of the Kingdom of Spain if the tactics were not mistaken.

That is, the intelligence superiority of the House of Augustus determined from the very beginning that this war initiated by the Kingdom of Spain on its own initiative could not be successful; The end of defeat was only a matter of time before the Kingdom of Spain came.

Sadly, Bautracott never really understood the true strength of the House of Augustus, nor did he understand the essence of the strength of the House of Augustus, so he blindly supported Charles VII's plan to start a war, which is the sad place.

The Duke of Denoy, the only one who could see the difference in strength between the two sides, was ******** under the jealousy of Charles VII again; The entire upper class of the Kingdom of Spain, in a state of blind self-confidence and blind belligerence, naturally could no longer think about these questions.

Botricott didn't know how powerful the Augustan family's intelligence organization was, and he didn't even know that the Augustan family had an intelligence organization; However, Botracott is not a fool either, and he will also rely on the information in his hands to judge the situation.

Now that the remnants of the Third Legion have withdrawn to Córdoba, they will certainly organize their forces to defend the city of Córdoba, and they will also quickly send a request for help from the Fourth Legion stationed in the harbor, and pass the news of the outbreak of war back to the House of Augustus.

The occurrence of these things is something that Botricot cannot stop, and it is also something that Botridge can solve; In Botricott's opinion, it would take at least twenty days for the news of the outbreak of war to reach Sicily, the Augustan family.

This is only the astonishing speed that can be achieved under the premise that intelligence can speed up all the way and ride the wind and waves; When this information did arrive in Sicily, the Augustians also needed time to react and prepare for war.

By the time the Augustus reinforcements were ready to arrive, and the transports were slowly arriving in the Iberian Peninsula, it would be at least two months later; At that time, the situation of the war had already been settled, and it was already too late for anything.

Therefore, Botricott never worried about reinforcements from the Augustus family; For the Spanish army, which was the attacking side, it was nothing more than the distant water that the garrison of the Augustus family Betica could not quench their thirst.

What really worried Botricott was the Augustus garrison in the province of Betica, whether it was the Fifth Legion that confronted the Exesca department or the Fourth Legion stationed in the port, which were the key forces affecting the situation in the province of Betica.

Once the Fourth Legion of the House of Augustus arrives at the city of Córdoba before it is broken, the attack on Córdoba by his own army will not be as smooth as he believed; Even, it's not without the possibility of defeat!

In the last sneak attack, the fighting power of the Third Legion of the Augustus family broke out, which was obvious to all the officers and men of the Spanish army; In the entire Third Legion, from the commander to the ordinary soldiers, there was not a single one who was greedy for life and afraid of death!

What kind of fighting will is this? In the era of cold weapons, such a will to fight has almost already determined that an army with this will to fight must be a mighty and powerful army that is invincible in the world and feared by the enemy!

Beautricott would not simply think that the army of the Augustus family only had the third legion to have this kind of fighting will, although Botrecott did not want to admit it in his heart, but he had to admit that the combat effectiveness of the Augustus family army was indeed strong.

Even in the case of a sneak attack, the Spanish army paid a similar price of casualties as the Third Army before finally taking the Third Army's barracks; Even if the military camp was taken, the Third Legion of the Augustus family was only heavily damaged.

From this, it is conceivable that the combat effectiveness of the other two legions of the Augustus family should not be underestimated; Botricott also understood that if he wanted to take the vital city of Córdoba, he must not let the Fourth Legion of the Augustus family reinforce Córdoba!

From the resistance encountered by his superior army when attacking the camp of the Third Legion with all its might, Botracott knew that Córdoba, which was still defended by the remnants of the Third Legion, could not be captured so easily; So, from the beginning, Botricott was ready for a long battle.

While leading his army south, Botricott also gathered some detailed information about the remnants of the Augustusian Third Legion and the defenders of Córdoba; He also knew that the defenders of Córdoba were probably composed of 3,000 remnants of the Third Army and more than 1,000 of the original Cordoba garrison.

From the perspective of the comparison of the forces of the two sides, the Augustus army defending Córdoba was only more than 4,000 when it was fully defeated, while the Spanish army attacking Córdoba had more than 27,000 people; The difference in strength between the two sides is almost seven times!

Although the walls of Córdoba are tall and strong, easy to defend and difficult to attack, in such a disparity in forces, it is not difficult for Botracot to take Córdoba, it is just the length of time.

Moreover, Beautricott had no intention of attacking the Augustus family of Córdoba using the rudimentary ladders that the Spanish kingdom had always used to attack the cities; In Botricott's hand, there is a secret weapon that he has not taken out and can be used in the attack on Cordoba!

In view of this, the key to the victory or defeat of the Botricott army's attack on Córdoba is actually whether the Fourth Army of the Augustus family can reinforce Córdoba in time; If they could, it would be almost impossible for Botricott's army to take Córdoba.

Even if Tetius's Fourth Legion did not fight against Botricott's army, and only the Fourth Army entered Córdoba and defended the city with the remnants of Marcus's Third Army, it would not be something that Botricott's army could take.

In order to avoid this worst-case scenario, and for the Spanish kingdom to achieve the final victory, Botricott decisively sent out the 3,000 shield cavalry that he still had very intact in his hands.

With the remnants of the Augustus' Third Legion all shrinking into the city of Córdoba, his family's Fifth Legion is again locked in a standoff with Exaca's forces; In the entire province of Betika, there was no Augustan army left, except for the Fourth Legion, which was still in action.

And the task given by Botricott to these 3,000 shield cavalry was to quickly move south, avoiding the Augustus family's tightly defended Córdoba, and to the south to block the Augustus family's fourth legion north.

Before the army led by himself did not take Córdoba, even if all the 3,000 shield cavalry were killed, the order must be carried out to the end, otherwise all military law would be engaged!

Such a rare and stern order made all the shield cavalry shudder; Having mustered up the courage to accept the order, they quickly left the main force of Botricott and galloped south. (To be continued.) )