It is the simplest truth that everyone should look after their own interests.

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

Tiberius did not feel ecstatic when he received such information that was extremely favorable to the Brutus family, but felt the slightest doubt about it; After all, the lesson of the last time was so profound that Tiberius did not dare to easily believe any such so-called intelligence and appearances.

However, this disbelief was only the distrust of Tiberius himself; Tiberius pretended to be overjoyed, and received some representatives of the 'patriots' in the newly occupied city, reiterating to them all the demands he had promised them before, and asking them to work hard for the Brutus family.

The nobles of the Kingdom of Epirus, who were personally received by Tiberius, were naturally overjoyed, and expressed their devotion to the Brutus family and His Excellency Tiberius; Tiberius just laughed at the sonorous oaths of these men. A group of people who have no feelings for their own country and their nation can still serve the new Brutus family conscientiously?

After dealing with these so-called 'patriots', Tiberius continued to focus on the attack on the kingdom of Epirus, and in order to wait for the subsequent transportation of supplies and to ensure the safety of the port and the cities near the port, Tiberius left the elite Fifth Army to guard the captured cities and ports, while the rest of the army continued to attack.

Whether or not Pyrrhus actually led his army to the borders of the city-state of Semon, the army of the Brutus family needed to attack, Tiberius was sure; However, with this information, Tiberius could have been a little more daring in arranging his army in order to speed up the pace of the attack.

On the third day after all the armies had assembled to occupy the city, the day after receiving the information, Tiberius began to divide the armies except the Fifth Legion; General Gnaeus of the 1st Army was appointed commander of the Left Army, leading the 1st and 9th Army Corps from the left flank of the Armies and was responsible for occupying all enemy cities on the left flank of the Armies.

General Nero of the 2nd Army was appointed commander of the Right Army, leading the 2nd and 10th Army Corps from the right flank of the army, and was responsible for occupying all enemy cities on the right flank of the army. The main army in the center was naturally the army of Tiberius himself, and it was also the army of Sulla and Pompey who accompanied him, consisting of the Third and Fourth Legions and the Seventh Legion, which was responsible for the frontal attack.

As for the remaining ten auxiliary legions, that is, the archers of 10,000 men, they were divided into three parts; Gnaeus's left army and Nero's right army each had 2,000 archers, and the remaining 6,000 archers were all under the command of the main army in the center. This arrangement was also agreed to by Gnaeus and Nero, and the generals also agreed to this proper arrangement.

The main army of Tiberius was not responsible for conquering the city, but was only set up for a decisive battle with the army of the kingdom of Epirus; The army on the left of Gnaeus and the army on the right of Nero were the real siege armies. The value of their existence is to attack the cities of the Kingdom of Epirus on both flanks of the main army, and after taking them, they will notify the Fifth Army to send troops to take over.

Apollonia, the capital of the Kingdom of Epirus, is a city located in the southeast of the Kingdom of Epirus, and from the port of Epirus to Apollonia it must pass through the military town of Turbo, the Kingdom of Epirus; The entire kingdom of Epirus was also divided into eastern and western parts by Turbo, with the eastern core naturally the capital Apollonia and the western part of the city scattered outside the port.

These twelve cities were naturally the twelve targets that the Brutus family needed to attack, and they were also the targets of the left army of Ganeus and the right army of Nero; The task of the Fifth Army was to send a brigade to take over the cities as soon as the two armies had taken them, and to ensure the stability of the occupied cities.

The Fifth Army consisted of only twelve brigades, just enough to send troops to take over the twelve cities; Among them, the first brigade of the Fifth Legion was ordered by Tiberius to stay in the city closest to the port, so that it could cope with the defense of the port, and it was the cavalry hundred-man team of the Fifth Legion who was really responsible for garrisoning the port.

After all this was arranged, the assembled three-way army began to attack in an orderly manner; Tiberius led his three legions and 6,000 archers, totaling 28,000 men, to march slowly in the direction of Tulbo. In addition to marching during the day, they began to camp and rest in the evening; There is no such thing as the exhausting march of the last battle.

The armies of Gnaeus and Nero on the left and right flanks were also cautious and cautious in maintaining an orderly marching posture, and whenever they came near a city, they first sent cavalry to persuade the officials and defenders in the city to surrender; After the persuasion was fruitless, the army was slowly deployed, and the equipment brigades of the two legions were used to carry out a fierce attack on the enemy's walls, and generally a siege battle was almost over here.

These defenders and officials, who had not experienced war, easily succumbed to the ballistae and catapults of the Brutus legions, and often a city could be captured with only three rounds of catapult attacks and five rounds of ballista attacks; Because three rounds of stone crossbows can shoot seventy-two stone projectiles, which is enough to destroy the walls of the enemy's city a lot, and the defenders will also suffer heavy casualties.

The attack of the five-round ballista was even more spectacular, that is, a full ninety-six ballista guns fired five times in a row; The 480 small stone bullets or thick crossbow arrows fired were enough to collapse the gates of the enemy city and kill and injure a large number of defenders. Of course, there are also those cities that will not surrender, and the armies on the left and right wings of such cities combined only meet three.

The final result was nothing more than the army of the Brutus family using ballistas and stone crossbows to collapse the walls of their city for a while, and then the hoplites of the Brutus family directly entered the city along the gap in the collapsed wall; All those who dared to resist, whether they were the defenders or the young men in the city, were slaughtered by these hoplites without hesitation.

The feeble resistance was of no other value than to add some notoriety to the two armies of the Brutus family; However, during the attack on these cities, it was Gnaeus who made the army on the left discover something. That is, among the slave soldiers of the defending army, there were a large number of Romans; After inquiry, they turned out to be the soldiers who had been captured in the previous Battle of Tulbo!

Although there were not many such Roman slave soldiers, and the total number of cities was less than 500, this proved that in the last Battle of Tulbo, not all the troops of the Brutus family were wiped out, but a considerable number of soldiers of the Brutus family legion were captured, and they are still alive!

This phenomenon was not only discovered by Gnaeus on the left, but also by Nero on the right; It's just that the Roman slave soldiers encountered by the army on the right were less than 200 combined. Both of them reported the situation to Tiberius, and succeeded in attracting Tiberius's attention.

Although Tiberius never admitted it directly, the people of the Brutus family who did not know that the last battle of Tulbo was almost defeated by Tiberius's arrogance; Tiberius naturally did not want to bear this unwashable charge all the time. This reconquest of the kingdom of Epirus was not only an expansion of the Brutus family, but also a battle for Tiberius to wash away his shame.

After receiving the information sent back by Gnaeus and Nero, Tiberius also thought about it; If this war can successfully defeat Pyrus and conquer the kingdom of Epirus, while saving a large number of captured soldiers from the last army, then this war will not only lead to the rise of the Brutus family, but also completely wash away the guilt and shame on their shoulders.

Such an opportunity to completely wash away the guilt and shame he was burdened with, Tiberius could not have missed; Tiberius immediately ordered Gnaeus and Nero to send all the 600 or so Roman prisoners they had rescued to the location of his army, and the officials of the seven cities that had already been captured were also asked by Tiberius to send them all.

More than 600 captives endured months of miserable torture, and it was not easy to see the Brutus family return to the kingdom of Epirus alive; They enjoyed all the heroic treatment in the barracks of Gnaeus and Nero, and rightfully became the object of everyone's courtship. When they arrived at the camp of Tiberius's army, they were still greeted with a grand welcome ceremony and banquet.

However, even with the reckless eating and drinking of the last few days, it is difficult to change the suffering they have suffered for several months; They appeared in front of Tiberius's eyes as skinny and bony figures. Looking at the group of soldiers of the Brutus family in front of him, who were like refugees, Tiberius's heart was not comfortable, and he even had the urge to burst into tears.

In addition to the discomfort, Tiberius felt more guilt in his heart; After all, if there were no arrogance of oneself, there would not be the suffering of these ordinary soldiers. In this respect, Tiberius should indeed be ashamed; However, those ordinary soldiers don't think so, they simply know that their loyal leader has come to save them with a large army!

When the more than 600 soldiers gave another one-kneeled salute to their leader with tears in their eyes, Tiberius did not hold back his tears; But instead of wiping away his tears, he let them run down his face as he walked up to them, lifted them up one by one, and patted them on the shoulders. (To be continued.) )