Never guess what other people are thinking, because people who think about other people's thoughts are never happy people. Everyone should pay attention to what is going on in their hearts, and it would be sad to not be able to do that.

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

The fierce battle was a one-sided blow to the Roman legionnaires by the ranged soldiers on the walls of Tulbo, but as the remaining hundreds of the Eighth Legion soldiers reached the city of Tulbo, the situation was reversed dramatically; The ladders were mounted on the walls of Turbo by the heavy infantry of the Roman legions, and more heavy infantry held the ladders tightly under the walls, while the archers and slingers on the walls were unable to push these ladders down, so they could only choose to continue to shoot arrows and stones at the Third Eagle Banner Legion, which had already entered the range of 200 meters.

In order to be able to resist the attack of the Roman legions, Pylos ordered the trumpeters on the city walls to blow the horn to summon reinforcements; With the sound of the trumpet, the three thousand hoplites who had been lying in ambush inside the city wall began to walk towards the city wall. At the same time, after seeing the soldiers of the Eighth Legion set up the ladder to the walls of Turbo; Gnaeus immediately sent two auxiliary legions to Tiberius to assist the Eighth Legion and the Third Eagle Legion in battle.

Because the soldiers of the Roman main battle army used heavy heavy weapons and equipment, although this kind of heavy equipment can greatly reduce the risk and casualty rate of the legion soldiers in battle; But it was very unsuitable for the soldiers of the Legion to carry out such a rapid battle to climb the city wall. And this is the purpose of the establishment of the auxiliary legion, the light infantry of the auxiliary legion is to provide the main battle corps with bow and arrow support and wall combat at this time. Accordingly, the officers and men of the two auxiliary legions and the remaining half of the Eighth Legion marched towards Turbo under the order.

At this time, the frontal army attacking Tulbo was already two main battle corps and their auxiliary corps, with a total strength of more than 15,000; And after Pylos committed 3,000 hoplites, the defenders on the city walls also exceeded 5,000. The crisis situation caused by the Roman legions putting the ladder on the wall was also greatly alleviated, and the 3,000 hoplites easily pushed the ladder away from the wall; The Roman hoplites who tried to climb the city wall by ladder also fell off the ladder and died.

This stalemate lasted until the arrival of the Third Eagle Banner Regiment and the two auxiliary legions; With the continuous firing, the Cretan archers and slingers on the walls had fired more than thirty rounds of arrows and stones, which also meant that their arms had reached a limit, and they could no longer shoot more bows and arrows. Pylos after seeing that the archers and slingers were powerless to attack. He ordered them to withdraw from the city wall and retreat to the barracks of Tulbonne for rest; There were now only 3,000 hoplites left on the walls.

The addition of reinforcements from the remaining six brigades of the Eighth Legion and the entire Third Eagle Banner Regiment allowed more ladders to be erected on the walls of Turbo once again; And the 2,000 Roman archers of the two auxiliary legions also began to shoot a rain of Roman arrows on the walls at a distance of 80 meters from the walls. This time, it was no longer the slow legionnaires who were responsible for climbing the ladder to the wall, but the light infantry of the auxiliary legions; I saw two thousand lightly armed infantry after they came under the city wall. Very quickly began to climb up the ladder to the city wall.

The three thousand hoplites of the Kingdom of Epirus on the city walls had long since prepared shields and other armor, plus the cover of the city walls; The losses inflicted on them by the archers of the Roman auxiliary legions were extremely limited, but hundreds of unfortunate infantry were still shot by the arrows of the Roman archers and lay on the walls wailing. Great patriotic feelings may make a person abandon everything and die for the country, but it cannot make anyone forget the existence of pain; The 3,000 heavy infantry had long since chosen to put their lives on the line. But he still wailed in pain under the arrows of the Roman archers.

The wail of the heavy infantry of the Kingdom of Epirus on the city wall also greatly inspired the Roman legions under the city wall, and seeing that the defenders of Turbo, who had always dominated the city wall, finally suffered casualties, the Roman soldiers seemed to feel that Turbo was close at hand. The Roman light infantry who successfully climbed the city walls were not faced with the poorly equipped archers and slingers as they imagined, but with hoplites who were better equipped than the Roman legions. An unexpectedly fierce battle for the walls broke out.

More than 2,000 Roman light infantry climbed the city walls, but they had to engage the well-armed heavy infantry of the kingdom of Epirus; One side is for victory and glory, and the other side is for survival and future, and the battle between the two sides is particularly fierce. A centurion of the Epirus heavy infantry had killed three Roman light infantry in succession with a shield in his left hand and a sword in his right, his shield covered with cracks from being chopped; It was finally torn apart by the chopping of the fourth Roman infantryman.

The centurion did not dwell on the destruction of the shield, but rolled on the ground to avoid the Roman soldier's attack, and then he picked up a short sword from the ground with his left hand to hold the Roman soldier's short sword. He used the short sword he held in his right hand to kill the Roman soldier. The blood sprayed out of the centurion's body and armor was a blur of blood, and the centurion did not know if it was all the enemy's, or if he had his own blood; But he knew that in order to protect his family from the enslavement of the Romans, he had to choose to fight to the death.

Two thousand lightly armed infantry did not change the balance of power on the walls, and Tiberius and others also discovered anomalies on the walls; Soon, a stirring trumpet sounded again in the Roman barracks. At the sound of the trumpet, the Roman hoplites under the walls began to climb the walls; Because the heavy infantry on the city wall were fighting with the Roman light infantry, this time the hoplites climbed the wall very smoothly and succeeded. When the Roman hoplites ascended the walls of Tulbo, the situation on the walls was once again tilted in favor of the Romans.

Centurion after killing the sixth light infantryman. But because of his weakness, he took several steps back and leaned against the stone battlements of the wall; When the centurion habitually glanced down, he saw countless Roman hoplites climbing up the ladder to the city wall. The centurion immediately pushed the ladder next to him down, but unfortunately the bottom of the ladder was firmly held in place by a dozen Roman hoplites. He simply couldn't push; In desperation, the centurion continued to use his sword to slash at the Roman hoplites who had climbed to the edge of the city walls.

The centurion's efforts alone could not change the balance of power on the entire wall, and when the centurion cut down the first Roman heavy infantry to climb up the ladder, the heavy infantry who climbed up the wall from another ladder pierced the centurion from behind with a sword from behind the centurion; Then he kicked the centurion against the wall. At the time of the fall from the wall, the centurion did not feel pain; At this moment, the centurion thought of his elderly parents. A beautiful wife who has just been married for three years. A child who can't call a dad yet......

With a thud, the centurion fell under the walls; There was blood everywhere on his face, but his eyes were still looking at the world with nostalgia. With the death of the centurion, the situation on the entire city wall became more and more unfavorable to the kingdom of Epirus; The three thousand hoplite defenders on the walls of Turbo were already less than a thousand. And the Roman legions were more and more soldiers. It seems that the fall of Tulbo has become an inescapable fate; However, Pylos was not on the city wall at this time.

Woo~Woo~Woo~Woo~...... A trumpet sounded louder than the Roman trumpet from the city of Tulbo, but Gnaeus knew that it was not the trumpet of the kingdom of Epirus; Immediately afterwards, the gates of Turbo were opened. Could it be that there was a mutiny in Tulbo? It is not only the soldiers who are fighting, but also the generals of the Roman expeditionary corps outside the city; But Tiberius held on to the idea that the opportunity would not be lost. Six hundred light cavalry belonging to five legions were immediately ordered to rush towards the open gates.

And the soldiers of the legion, who were originally responsible for fixing the ladder under the city wall, also seized the opportunity to rush towards the city gate; At this moment, a shaking sensation came from the shaking of the mountains. Everyone felt like they couldn't even stand on their feet, let alone run; Both sides of the battle on the city wall also suspended the fight and began to look for support to stand firm, could it be that there was an earthquake? "It's not good, it's the ironclad cavalry and war elephants hired by the Kingdom of Epirus!" Gnaeus, who reacted, lost his voice.

Ironclad cavalry? War elephants? Before Tiberius and the others could react, they saw the horrifying scene in front of them. I saw that thousands of galloping cavalry, led by nineteen war elephants, were rushing from the inside of Turbo to the outside of the city, and the heavy infantry who had no time to dodge and the light cavalry who could not hold back their pace were trampled into a puddle of mud on the ground under the impact of this sudden cavalry cluster; And these did not stop the onslaught of the cavalry at all, and they continued to rush towards the main formation of the Roman legions with an indomitable attitude.

Tiberius, who had never faced such a scene before, was frightened by this formidable array of cavalry; Thankfully, the excellent captains of the Brutus family are all battle-hardened veterans. When Tiberius didn't know why, Gnaeus decisively ordered, "Nero." You lead the Thirteenth Legion, the Brutus Legion, and the Amrius Legion to immediately stop the onslaught of the enemy's cavalry clusters; I'll escort the leader back to the rear! ”

Nero's order was approved by Nero, and it was not the time to divide who was in charge and who was secondary, and it was imperative to hold back the enemy's attack; So Gnaeus rode up to Tiberius, took Tiberius' horse, and escorted him to the rear, while Nero rushed to the rear with the remaining three legions to meet the onslaught of war elephants and ironclad cavalry. At this moment, the two thousand archers of the auxiliary legion who saw the war elephants galloping forward also dropped their bows and arrows in panic and ran back.

Pylos himself, with a cavalry group of nineteen war elephants and three thousand ironclad cavalry, rushed out of the gates of Turbo very quickly, and the light cavalry and heavy infantry of the Roman legions crowded near the gate were reduced to flesh and blood at the feet of the war elephants and horses before they could make a sound; Looking at the scattered Roman archers in front of him, Pylos kept urging his war elephants and ironclad cavalry to accelerate forward. The two-legged archers soon followed in the footsteps of the light cavalry and heavy infantry, their backs once again merging with the earth at the feet of the war elephants.

The three Roman legions in front were already in a solid enough formation that Pylos did not intend to consume the precious war elephants and ironclad cavalry on them; So at a distance of two hundred meters from the positions of the Roman legions. The entire cavalry group turned around and galloped to the right at the command of Pylos. Looking at the cavalry cluster that had given up the onslaught, Nero felt a little baffled; If the cavalry group wants to achieve enough results, it must go through a certain distance acceleration phase, and it is easiest to attack while the enemy is taken by surprise.

With the combination of these 3,000 ironclad cavalry and war elephants, thousands of Roman troops have become the ghosts of their iron hooves. Why did you choose to give up the attack when there was such a good opportunity to attack in front of you? Although the formation that he hastily arranged could greatly offset the impact of the cavalry with the cooperation of the tortoiseshell formation, he would still pay an extremely heavy price; There is no need for the opposing generals to give up the opportunity to severely damage the main formation of the Roman legions at this time? Why is all this going on? (To be continued.) )