People are looking for a way to retreat for themselves, looking for a life of seclusion in the countryside, seaside or mountains, no matter where one retreats, it is better to get more peace and get rid of all troubles than to retreat into the depths of one's own inner soul.

- Marcus Aurelius (the only philosopher-emperor in Western history)

The Numidian army, which was marching on Leptis the Great, was not moving very quickly, or rather, slowly; Although the cavalry can be very fast, the large troops, which are mostly ordinary infantry, can only advance slowly. Coupled with the slow pace of the war elephants, the march of the entire Numidian army was slowed down; However, Tulguta didn't care about this, who made Tulguta's mood better now.

The previous surprise attack was not at all in the style of Turguta, it was just a confused order from Turguta's momentary anger; But I didn't expect that the ** team of the King of Tripoli who played by mistake was caught off guard. The 25,000 troops of the King of Tripoli were wiped out, and the price paid by Tulguta was only the death of hundreds of cavalry; Compared to the results reaped, the losses of the Numidian army themselves were almost negligible.

What made Zuguta even happier was the change in the Great Leptis; According to the latest spy report, just yesterday there were 5,000 troops escorting the king of Tripoli and the entire royal family of the Tripoli kingdom to Carthage. Tulguta didn't have to think about it, he knew that this was Carthage's army, and when he saw that the situation was not good, he fled back to Carthage with the king who asked for help; In other words, the remaining army of the Great Leptis now has 10,000 recruits from the Kingdom of Tripoli.

Can these 10,000 recruits still make any waves? Tsuguta estimated that as long as his army lined up outside the city of Celestis, the 10,000 recruits would simply abandon their weapons and surrender. Looking at the triumphant Turguta and the endless wheat fields, Ahmed always felt a little uneasy; Ahmed then drove his horse to Tsuguta and suggested:

"Your Majesty, the wheat fields here are so numerous that it is very easy to hide an ambushed army; Our troops moved slowly and congested on the roads, which was very unfavorable for defense. If the enemy arranges for an army to attack us, we will probably be caught off guard; Shouldn't some scout cavalry be arranged to go into the wheat field to reconnoitre? ”

As soon as Ahmet's words were finished, before Tsuguta could reply, Niptasan, the commander of the recruit regiment on the side, interjected: "General Ahmet is too cautious; The previous battle at the border. 25,000 enemy troops were wiped out in the blink of an eye under the wise command of His Majesty the King, and what about a sneak attack on the army? Besides, even the armies of the kingdom of Carthage are now afraid of the prestige of our king and flee back to Carthage; And who else dares to lead an army to come and attack? ”

"Yes, the reinforcements sent by the Carthaginian kingdom before were the famous Carthaginian general Vimyna; The result? Even in the face of our King His Majesty, the King of Tripoli fled with him like a lost dog. Who would dare to offend the might of our King? It seems to me that General Ahmed is not too cautious, but underestimating the prestige of our King and His Majesty. Gaia, who belonged to the same henchmen and recruit corps commander as Niptasan, was also outspoken.

These two legion commanders who rose to power by nepotism were not liked by Ahmed, and now they dare to make irresponsible remarks in front of Ahmed; Ahmed directly said angrily: "Am I cautious? You know what! Marching and fighting is a major event of the country, so how can it be child's play? When I was the commander of the Ahmet Legion, I fought for the kingdom of Numidia. You don't know where it is? When will it be your turn for me to speak to His Majesty the King? ”

"Ahmet, calling you a general is to give you face; Don't be embarrassed! If it weren't for the kindness of His Majesty and his unwillingness to break the hearts of the heroes, you would have been expelled from the Numidian army long ago with your arrogance! You are not grateful, and you dare to slander His Majesty that he does not know how to march and fight; If His Majesty did not understand military affairs, how could he completely annihilate the 25,000 army of the Kingdom of Tripoli? If you have the ability, you can also go and annihilate the 25,000 army and show me! Gaia immediately jumped up and attacked Ahmed with a flushed face.

"You ......" Gaia's strong rhetoric and Ahmed, who secretly changed his conceptual tone, was speechless; Looking at the quarrel among the generals under his command, Zuguta said helplessly: "General Gaia, General Ahmet is our king's general after all, and he is also your senior; You are not allowed to be disrespectful to the general in the future! General Ahmed, a general like Gaia is young and vigorous, and you are always an elder, so don't be like them; You can arrange the affairs of the scout cavalry, and you don't have to report to me. ”

Now that Tulguta has spoken. Gaia reluctantly apologized to Ahmet; Ahmed, on the other hand, looked at the three legion commanders who relied on whiskers and nepotism to get to the top of the ranks, snorted coldly, and went directly to arrange for the scout cavalry. Ahmed's disdain once again angered the chick-bellied Gaia, and after Ahmet left, Gaia spoke to Zuguta:

"Your Majesty, you have seen it too; We don't want to embarrass you, and we want to maintain a friendly relationship with General Ahmed. However, General Ahmed thinks very highly of himself, and has always looked down on us, ordinary generals who followed you back then; Even though we're all the same Legion Commanders as him now, he still looks down on us. Of course, he looks down on us, even if he looks down on you; You heard what he said today, and he questioned your orders! ”

"yes. His Majesty, it's not just that Gaia can't stand the arrogance of General Ahmet; Who of us ordinary generals can stand it? It seems to me that we are all loyal to His Majesty, so why should we have to share anything with each other? Pity. General Ahmed has always taken us seriously, and often lectured us with the qualifications of a kingdom veteran; We dare not speak out! Egclos, who had been silent before, looked at the gloomy face of Tsuguta and said with added vinegar.

"His Majesty ...... King"

"Enough! Do you want to let me kill Ahmet? If it weren't for General Ahmed's unwavering support, would you think I would have been able to defeat Adheba and succeed to the throne? Even if we don't look at the previous merits, we have the ability to march and fight; Which of the three of you is like Ahmed? Don't attack each other like this in front of me in the future, just do your best; Hum! Niptasan was about to say something, but was interrupted by Tulguta's rude and direct voice.

After this frustration, Tulguta rode forward on his own under the protection of his guards; Look at the distant Turguta. Gaia said to Niptassan and Egclus, "Hehe, although His Majesty says so, we all know that he has begun to dislike that old fellow Ahmet; If we do a little harder, soon His Majesty will personally drive this old fellow away. At that time, the Numidian army will be the world of our brothers! ”

After speaking. The three of them looked at each other tacitly and smiled, and they dispersed; Juguda, who had been walking a short distance nearby with his army, smiled and shook his head at the farce in front of him, and then continued to ride his horse forward. It should have been three hours away from the place where the Vimina ambush had been found, and the cavalry sent out by Ahmet to reconnoiter naturally returned to the advancing army without finding anything; However, Ahmed's unease is getting worse.

Three hours is not a long journey. After sending three waves of cavalry to no avail, Ahmet also felt that he might be too cautious, so he canceled the order to continue sending scout cavalry. The march of the entire Numidian army was arranged in such a way that the Ahmad army was at the front, followed by the Jugurdah army. In the middle are the infantry of the three regiments of recruits; The infantry was followed by war elephants, and at the end were massive cavalry units.

The reason for this formation is also to prevent the infantry in the middle from falling behind and the absolute trust in their own army and the disdain of the enemy; In short, this formation is indeed a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for Vimyna. Looking at the Numidian army that slowly appeared in front of Vimyna, he knew that a sneak attack was about to break out; Vimina hurriedly ordered his 3,000 infantry to take out their bows and arrows coated with black oil, ready to attack at any time!

The first to come was Ahmet's elite legions, lined up in neat formations of infantry and cavalry, which made Vermyna's brow furrow; Then came the legion under the command of Juguda, which was also an elite division, and Victoria's Secret frowned more and more when he saw it. However, the army after these two legions was not very good; Seeing that an army with a crooked formation finally appeared, Vermyna's brows also stretched.

Suddenly, a familiar elephant roar came from afar. Viminina knew her chance had come! On the orders of Vimina, three thousand Iberian infantry, temporarily acting as archers, had already set the fire on fire; Once the enemy's war elephants were within range of their bows and arrows, and 3,000 arrows rained down, the sneak attack was officially launched. Time passed little by little, and the Numidian army was also marching forward without hurry or slow according to the previous speed; Finally, a queue of hundreds of war elephants has arrived!

"Shoot!" At Victoria's Secret's order, 3,000 rockets were fired into the herd of war elephants; This sudden blow not only stunned the Numidian army in front and behind, but also caused the war elephants who were afraid of the flames to fall into panic. However, Vimini would not give the Numidians a chance to regain control of the war elephants; Soon, the second and third rounds of rocket rain were shot out by the soldiers one after another. In just three rounds of rocket rain, the soldiers in charge of controlling the war elephants were already dead and wounded; The unquenchable flames also made the war elephant herd completely panic!

Do you know what a war elephant symbolizing when it loses control and goes berserk? That is death. Only death! It was as if a group of out-of-control heavy tanks had rushed into the crowd, and the frenzied war elephants were scurrying around frantically; Countless ordinary soldiers of Numidia were reduced to ants at the feet of war elephants, and were easily trampled to death by war elephants. Juguda, who hurried back to command, immediately ordered the nearby troops to launch a decisive attack on these mad war elephants; After seeing that the rear army was secretly attacked, Zuguta also hurriedly ordered the army around him to attack the small hill where Vermina was located! After the infantry had finished shooting five rounds of arrows, Vermila ordered the infantry to throw away their bows and arrows. Desperately retreated to the rear.

At the same time, the five rounds of arrows were also a signal, and the two thousand cavalry, who had been lying in ambush in the wheat field for a long time, also took advantage of the chaos to launch a surprise attack on the panicked light infantry; Hundreds of frenzied war elephants and countless lightly armed infantry frightened by the cavalry charge directly plunged the entire Numidian army array into an extremely chaotic situation. The army that wanted to pursue Vermila was completely disrupted by the chaotic formation, the new soldiers who cried and fled for their lives, the war elephants that roared and went crazy, the elites who fought desperately, the war horses that were frightened by the war elephants, and the cavalry that were led down by the war horses......

Zuguta looked at the chaotic army in front of him with a pale face, but he was helpless; At this time, Ahmed, who led the front army back to chaos, immediately organized his legion to control the scurrying recruits and launched an attack on the mad war elephants. Under the offensive of Ahmed regardless of losses. The mad war elephants were soon slaughtered; And those panicked recruits also honestly quieted down after being killed.

With all the war elephants killed, the horses gradually regained their peace under the pacification of the cavalry; The whole chaotic situation was finally restored under Ahmad's strong suppression. By this time, Vimyna had already led 3,000 unscathed Iberian infantry to join less than 1,000 cavalry and withdraw in the direction of Carthage; Only the pale-faced Turguta and his generals were still cleaning up the mess. (To be continued.) )