Chapter 10 Pompey's Ambush (Part 2)

"Nonsense, in the name of the tribune, I forbid you from looting the holy treasury!" Aetius was determined to fight to the end, but the slaves around him were so frightened that they hid in the gods when they saw that the soldiers had drawn their swords. Going to both sides of the temple gate pillars, Aetius was left alone, still fighting against the powerful Lepidus.

"You are no longer a tribune, but an illegal provincial treasurer appointed by illegal Dictator, so there are two paths before you. The first one, you hand over the key, and I take the holy treasury "Second, if you refuse to hand over the key, I will chop you down and take away the holy treasury. There are two paths for you to choose. It should be much simpler than a philosophical syllogism." Lepidah also put the sword on E. On Theus's neck, "Of course I understand your responsibilities and passion, but it's better to calm down because you can't change anything."

In the cold wind and smoke of the street, Aetius was pressed tightly by the sword. The tip of the sword slowly penetrated into the skin of his neck until blood dripped out. Finally, Aetius was sweating profusely and stepped aside. , took out the key with his hand, Lepidus took it, and rushed in with his followers pulling mules and oxcarts. The eight hundred talents of savings in the holy library, the national wealth that no one had dared to touch for three hundred years, were It was swept away in an instant. Afterwards, Lepidus was very cautious. He first tacitly informed the remaining specially selected fathers of the Senate to urgently convene a meeting of dissatisfied members. In the name of the Republic's "temporary stay", he gave the order to requisition the holy treasury for the conquest of the national thief Pompey. legitimacy, at least relative legitimacy. He then wrote to Caesar recounting the situation, about a market day later. It was already early spring in February when Caesar's reply arrived.

Caesar first described that the three legions under his command were progressing smoothly. Antony and Curio had already led Ancona and were heading towards Corfinium, the home base held by Dumitius and Gebinus, where the two men had raised ten men. There were many real Romans among the new recruits in the brigade, and many of them had joined the Massi allies to fill the number.

"Corfinium can't hold on for long. The enemies are all Massi who have no interest in the city of Rome. Although they are good at fighting, they are temporarily united. They are full of doubts about the commander. In addition, this city is in the league. During the war, it was the core city of the rebel Republic." Apparently, Caesar took the city within ten days. Have considerable confidence. As for Lepidus. Caesar was flexible in the instructions he gave. "My dear frontline commander, I commend you for your courage and courage to boldly attack the city of Rome. If it were me, you might really hesitate. But now that you have done it, there is no need to waver about the Holy Treasury. If you handle everything properly, you can pursue Pompey on your own. I grant you full command and recruitment rights in southern Italy." Yes, if Lepidus really went south along the Appian Street of Rome, he would be able to do so. Sweeping Naples and Campania, and seizing Capua, the western hub of Pompey's second line of defense, this is also Pompey's lifeblood. Most of his veterans from the Eastern War were settled here, so Pompey By using prestige and the affection of old superiors, you can win over a lot of people.

But Lepidus had no intention of pursuing. He had vaguely learned through careful scouts that Pompey seemed to have set up an ambush at the junction of the dense forests and streets of Campania, composed of the heavy infantry of his most elite First Legion. This was naturally in line with Pompey's style and interests. For this great commander, it was simply unbearable to escape from Italy in disgrace. Even if there was only one legion on hand, he would bite Caesar hard.

However, Lepidus, who occupied the city of Rome, would not give Pompey this chance, especially since he had three thousand elite cavalry on hand. Those were treasures. If he was ambushed and bitten by Pompey on the streets of Appian, he would feel very sorry for him. . Therefore, Lepidus quickly left the Thirteenth Legion to garrison the fortress on the outskirts of Rome, while he took the cavalry with him - not going south, but going east, passing through the swamps and fields between the Via Cassia and the Via Flaminia, After galloping all day and night, he suddenly appeared in the south of Corfinium, cutting off the connection with Brindisi.

At this time, Antony and Curio, who were attacking in the north of Corfinium, had already attacked several cities and expelled the Pompeian army garrisoned. All these people fled into Corfinium. In this way, Gabinus and Dumitius Si's military strength quickly "expanded" to thirty-three brigades, but he was trapped among them, unable to move.

Moreover, more than twenty of these thirty-three brigades were Massi and Penilla, all second-class citizens of Italy. They were not interested in the internal strife between Caesar and Pompey at all, so they behaved in the outpost battle. Extremely bad - Domitius once selected five brigades of soldiers and asked them to resist Caesar's troops at the bridge outside the trench. As a result, Antony and Faobinus jointly commanded three brigades of the Sixteenth Legion. With the assistance of cavalry artillery and archers, a short assault was launched. After a quarter of a day, these five brigades were completely defeated. Some people even crossed the bridge and committed suicide with the soldiers of Dumijius's trusted followers who were preparing to demolish the bridge. Killing each other, more people simply abandoned their military uniforms and fled to the familiar countryside.

This time, Domitius was still Gabinus, his face was livid with anger.

Afterwards, the two discussed it and believed that the city not only had recruits recruited from all of Italy, which was very important, but also many senators and knights who had defected to Pompey's side. Therefore, their current hope was to have Pompey of Capua come to help.

So Gabinus wrote to Capua, saying, "As long as the First Legion, even if only the chief battalion, is sent, we can use the castle to block Caesar, and then use this hub to launch a counterattack against Caesar's army from two places, which can recover Rome and drive back Caesar's main force."

After receiving the letter for help, Pompey was very hesitant, because he had already set up an ambush in Campania. If he went to support Corfinium at this time, it would be equivalent to letting the ambush go to waste. However, if he did not go to rescue, as Domitius threatened: a commander who could not even protect the fleeing senators, his military career would be equal to the end.

Especially after seeing Cato the Younger who had fled to Capua, Pompey's distress became more obvious. Cato the Younger was now walking on the street in mourning clothes. Once he heard the news of the battle in front of him, no matter whether his side won or lost, he would cry and wail, "because whoever wins, the dead are all Roman citizens."

"Damn it, let the chief centurion Vibrius take the first battalion, the other three battalions, and two hundred cavalry to reinforce the city of Corfinium, and the rest of the people will still wait at the ambush site." After Pompey gave this order decisively, he felt deeply annoyed. He felt that he had lost the initiative again.