When many people are hesitating on a road, they have to get out of the way of a big road and let the man who cherishes time rush ahead of them. Pen % fun % Pavilion www.biquge.info

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

Two flowers bloomed, one on each branch, just as the two major intelligence organizations passed the information of the province of Betica and the Kingdom of Spain back to the House of Augustus; The fighting in the province of Betica has finally entered a new phase.

The remnants of the 3,000 troops led by Marcus, after several days of hasty retreat, finally returned to Córdoba before the Fourth Army reached Córdoba; At this time, the army of Botricott was still four days away from Córdoba!

Although Botrecott also understands the truth of the speed of soldiers, how can the army of the Kingdom of Spain not be angry! In that sneak attack, the Third Legion of the House of Augustus was nearly annihilated, and the army of Botricott also paid a heavy price.

After the battle, Marcus led the remnants of the army and galloped all the way back to Córdoba; After cleaning up the battlefield, Botrikot's army hastened to rest and treat the wounded, as well as to interrogate prisoners.

Yes, it is the interrogation of prisoners! None of the soldiers of the Third Army surrendered voluntarily, and they fought bravely until the last moment; However, there were still some soldiers who were too wounded to fight and were finally captured in a coma.

In fact, before the Botricott's army cleared the battlefield, they themselves thought that the army of House Augustus had all been killed; It was only when they were cleaning up the corpses that they occasionally found a dozen or so Augustus soldiers who were seriously injured and unconscious.

Among the dozen or so captured soldiers, naturally included Ba'ans, who swore to fight to the death; As the chief captain of the Third Legion, and the figure of the Third Legion after the Legion Commander and the Legion Adjutant General, Baans naturally did not say a word more about Botrecott's interrogation.

With the exception of Baans, the other captives remained silent and silent; Unable to do anything, it was only after using considerable means that he learned from a captive that the commander of the Third Legion had been killed in battle.

And in order to obtain this information, the prisoners of the Third Legion in the hands of Botrecott also changed from a dozen to seven; The rest of the people had already died in the botryot's methods, and as for the man who confided the information, he committed suicide after saying that.

After getting the information he wanted, out of admiration for the Augustus army, Botricott did not embarrass the last seven captives, but imprisoned them all in a barracks of the Spanish army.

Knowing that the commander of the Third Legion of the House of Augustus had died in battle, Botrecott was not so concerned about the pursuit of the remnants of the Third Legion; How much combat effectiveness can a legion with more than seventy percent of casualties and the main general die in battle?

Such an army, if it had been in the Kingdom of Spain, would have collapsed on the battlefield long ago; Even, it only takes more than thirty percent of the casualties, plus the death of the main general, to completely collapse the Spanish army of 10,000 people.

Therefore, Botracott was not worried about what big waves the remnants of the Third Army could turn over, and he still focused on treating the wounded of his own army first; After two days of rest and treatment, more than 2,000 of the 5,000 wounded of Botrakot had already recovered their combat effectiveness, while the remaining 2,000 or so had difficulty recovering their combat effectiveness for a while and were left in the barracks.

After settling the more than 2,000 wounded men who had remained in the barracks, Botricott set out with the rest of his 27,000 soldiers on a journey deep into the province of Betica; Along the way, the cities of the province of Betica were surrendered to the huge army of Botrikot, and there was almost no resistance.

The province of Betica, a province on the Iberian Peninsula, was once part of the Kingdom of Spain and was later ruled by the House of Hannibal from the Kingdom of Carthage. Now, it is ruled by the House of Augustus from the Roman Republic.

After several changes of hands, the cities and the people of the province of Betica had learned how to deal with the new ruler; They will not resist in the face of the new ruler, nor will they foolishly swear allegiance to the previous ruler, they will just accept the reality with peace of mind and resignation.

Nor did Botrecott care about the numbness of those who surrendered, much less whether they had ever been ruled by a foreigner; For Botricott, it would not be a blessing to be able to recover the lost territory of the Kingdom of Spain in his lifetime!

As a true patriot, Bautracot may not be completely selfless, nor can he be wholeheartedly devoted to the country; However, this is not a reason to deny his patriotism, and he is still full of affection for the Kingdom of Spain.

The siege of the city along the way did not bring any casualties to the Botricott's army, but it delayed a lot of valuable time for the Botricott's army; However, Bautricott was still happy about it.

When Marcus led the remnants of the Third Legion against Córdoba, the exhausted officers and men of the Third Legion were immediately properly arranged by Marcus; In fact, as early as three days before Marcus arrived in Córdoba, Marcus was already preparing.

Plenty of food and supplies, temporary barracks, all these things Marcus had prepared for the remnants of Marcus's Third Legion; Even, even the remnants of Marcus's Third Legion needed to participate in the defense of the city needed to replenish the weapons and equipment, Marcus had arranged.

After entering Cordoba, Marcus accepted all of Marcus' arrangements without being polite to Marcus, and began an urgent rest; However, it is only ordinary soldiers who can rest, and Marcus's busyness has only just begun.

The current situation in Betica is still very critical for the Augustus family; The Fifth Legion was still confronting the armies of the Kingdom of Spain in the east of Betica, and the Fourth Legion was also on its way north, and the only ones who could really shoulder the heavy responsibility of defending Córdoba were the remnants of the Provincial Guard of Betica and the Third Legion in front of them.

Marcus, as the lieutenant general of the Third Legion, is currently the only person in Córdoba who is most qualified to be the supreme commander of the military front; Naturally, Marcus used his wartime governorship authority to appoint Marcus as the supreme commander of the city's garrison.

In other words, Marcus would command the remnants of the 3,000 remnants of the 3rd Legion and the 1,500 or so provincial guards in the city of Córdoba to defend Córdoba against the attack of Botricott's army of nearly 30,000.

Of course, the actual situation is not as bad as it seems; There are two other reasons for this, which will make Cordoba's defense easier, and can even be described as easy.

The first is that the Kingdom of Spain did not have any decent siege equipment at all, and the more normal use was only some light siege equipment such as ladders; Cordoba was a city fortified by the Hannibal and Augustan families, and its tall and solid walls would be an excellent advantage for Marcus's defense.

second, the Fourth Army, which was already on its way north; The fully manned Fourth Army needed only six more days to reach Córdoba, and Botracott's army had four days to reach Córdoba.

This meant that Marcus only needed to lead 4,500 men to hold on to Cordoba for two days before he would be reinforced by the Fourth Legion; As long as the 4th Army arrives, it is not certain who will attack at that time.

The regular legions of the House of Augustus, however, had a full six thousand hoplites; The combat effectiveness that these 6,000 hoplites alone can exert in field battles is not comparable to that of 10,000 or 20,000 Spanish light infantry.

Combined with light infantry and equipment, a fully equipped Fourth Army of 10,000 men would be enough to defeat the Spanish army of 20,000 in a head-to-head engagement; Even Bautracott's army of nearly 30,000 is not necessarily an opponent.

The reason is also very simple, the army under the command of Botricott is not only inferior to the army of the Augustus family in terms of weapons and equipment and will to fight, but also far from the level of training.

In particular, the two newly formed legions, the training of their soldiers and soldiers is seriously insufficient, and the combat effectiveness is only a virtual appearance, and it cannot be compared with the real Spanish elite under the command of Botracott, and the gap is very large.

Then the problem arises, the elite division under the command of Botracott is only comparable to the training of the regular army of the House of Augustus; If you take into account factors such as weapons and equipment and the will to fight, etc., it simply cannot be compared with the Augustus family legions.

One can imagine how different the combat effectiveness of those recruits of the Spanish Kingdom and the legions of the Augustus family was; So, as long as Marcus can hold out until the arrival of the Fourth Legion, the garrison in the province of Betica can even win the war!

However, the war will not go according to Botricht's vision, and naturally it will not go according to Marcus's vision; The existence of war contains an element of luck, and it is not yet known who will have the last laugh!

In short, two reasons made Marcus's confidence very sufficient, and it also made him inevitably a little lax when reorganizing the defenders; In Marcus's view, the Spanish army did not have heavy siege equipment, so naturally there was no need to be prepared for this.

With this in mind, Marcus focused his defense on how to train his soldiers to repel the enemy's wall battle; The officers and men of the Third Army are okay, and a lot of offensive and defensive training has been trained during the training of recruits.

The soldiers of the Guards in the province of Betica were only taught by some of the soldiers of the Third Legion the simple methods of countering the siege ladders, and other methods of dealing with heavy siege equipment were not taught at all. (To be continued.) )