Chapter 14: Little Cato Appears (Part 1)

"The problem is obscure, and life is short." - Protagoras, an ancient Greek philosopher, whose other famous saying is "Man is the measure of all things"

"What the hell." Vercingetorix, eager to join the war, stood with his cavalry at a high slope outside Masseria, watching the Albyssian army, which was covered in smoke and dust at the lower reaches of the Rhenus River not far away, entering the city to assist in defense with great momentum. "Are we going to let so many elite cavalrymen watch the other side slip away? Didn't Lepidus withdraw all the cavalry to serve as the front line, and brought two thousand good horses from Cyrenaica to supplement the cavalry of the Sixth Legion? Now all the warriors are here, but they don't rush down to stop the enemy!"

Vercingetorix kept nagging, but Hansk and Dusunville next to him were very calm, because the military supervisor Sabo, holding the flag of King Numa, stood behind him immediately. He represented the commander-in-chief's disposal, so if he said he couldn't move, then no one should move.

These days, after Vercingetorix and them seized the commanding heights, they watched like fools and cowards as batches of Albisi, holding Celtic shields and spears, riding horses and dragging canoes with wheels, joined the fighting force of Masseria. Finally, after all the Albisi entered the city, Lepidus began to take action. He divided all the cavalry into squadrons. They scattered and attacked all the villages and markets around Masseria. Surprisingly, Lepidus was full of "kindness" this time. He did not rob the villagers as traditionally did, but let them hold all the food and property and drove them to Masseria, causing a flood of refugees at the city gate all day long, and Dumigius had no choice but to open the door. Tens of thousands of refugees were let in.

"Very good." Then Lepidus officially started the siege plan. He once again pulled out all the cavalry teams from the four legions and occupied all the high ground and important roads ten stadia away from the city. He showed off his power back and forth to prevent Dumijus from attacking his engineering team, which was composed of infantry and divided into three parts to take turns. Along the wall of Masseria facing the land, a blockade line consisting of trenches and wooden fences was built. At first, there was one line, and then there was an open space of two stadia. A second line was built. The crossbows and archers in the inner line were facing Masseria, while the outer line targeted the vast plains outside the Renus River. In the middle of the two blockade lines, Lepidus began to build a large number of shield carts, battering piles, siege towers and other facilities, which made Dumijus confirm that after the project was completed, Lepidus would definitely start to attack Masseria. But Domitius made a wrong judgment. After the blockade was completed, Lepidus immediately gathered all the cavalry, about no less than 5,000 people from various nationalities. At the exit of the second blockade, he gave everyone a speech: "This siege is bound to be a competition of perseverance and courage, but I think it is more of a competition of logistics. For the city, their advantage is that they have abundant material storage and will not be lost during transportation; for our army, the advantage is that we have a coastal supply route, and the Ligurian state is now fully supporting us. After careful analysis, I found that the trick to victory is to maintain our own advantages and crush the opponent's advantages - Du Mithus fully believed that I would attack his tightly guarded city walls, and then return in defeat. Then he would use the fleet in the city to go out to sea and attack my traffic lines, forcing me to withdraw the siege. In this way, Pompey's five legions in Spain would have a local advantage, either nibbling away at Gaul or crossing the sea to attack Italy. In this way, the advantage of His Excellency Caesar would be offset or even reversed. Comrades, generals, therefore, Masseria must be destroyed in three to six months, and the key to the war in the world lies in our hands. Today, everyone gathered here, and you should understand my intention, that is, the purpose of my previous restraint of your desire for war was to allow tens of thousands of Albisi barbarians to enter first. The city, and then drive more than 30,000 surrounding villagers into it. In this way, the food reserves of Masseria will be consumed at a double and triple rate. All we need to do is to tighten the siege and let them perish in hunger and hardship. If you ask me what we should do now, then you will be happy. We will use cavalry to sweep the villages of the Albisi people on the outer line, destroy and burn them all to punish this ignorant barbarian. Then, I will give the more terrible tasks to my most reliable knights and merchant groups! "

"So destroy as much as you can!" More than 5,000 cavalrymen, under the guidance of various flags, took action. With a mighty shout, they went upstream along the Rhenus River like a pack of wolves, burning, killing and looting the markets and villages of the Albyssi. Because all the strong men went to help defend Masseria, and now they were completely isolated by the blockade, only the old, weak, women and children were left in this tribe. A large number of slave traders were like sharks following ships on the ocean. They used fifty to one hundred sestis, and even the Governor of Sardinia allowed them to use real goods, whether meat, grain or wine, to sell the captured tens of thousands of Albyssi tribesmen into slavery and send them to Liguria, providing them with a large amount of cheap or even priceless labor, so that Liguria could help more vigorously.

"All the fields of the Albyssi now belong to your Alverni tribe." This is what Lepidus said to Vercingetorix next to him at the cliff of Mount Axing, looking at the last stronghold of the Albyssi, the mountain fort.