Chapter 1: Robbery (Part 2)

In fact, after Curio seized the supplies from the cavalry commander, he was impressed by his own boldness, but also a little afraid, because he did not expect that Lepidus would rise so fast in the past two years. You know, when Caesar crossed the Rubicon River, he made a crucial counterattack, which made him a hot figure in Caesar's camp, so he became the extremely important Governor of Sicily, leaving Lepidus behind, which also made him feel very satisfied for a time.

But in a short time, he was overtaken by this foreign general. Lepidus actually became the deputy of the dictator, and now he also came to Africa with several legions. Curio was terrified. Maybe Caesar was disappointed with his lack of progress in these years. If he continued like this, let alone running for consul in the future, he was afraid that in another year, he would not even be able to keep his position as governor, and become Lepidus's deputy general? No, don't even think about it!

Now the opportunity has come. Eight out of ten elite legions of Pompey have been killed. After all, Curio has four legions in his hands, right? The base was the 14th Legion, whose commander was Cicero's younger brother Quintusi, who was also a good friend of Curio. The Cicero brothers liked to curry favor with the nobles. Then Curio recruited another legion in Sicily, the 22nd Legion, which had no combat experience yet. But the strongest of the four legions were the 17th and 18th Legions, which were mainly composed of the surrendered Massi people reorganized in Corfinium. Although they were trained by Curio, they were still not in harmony with the governor. !万!书!吧! .nsb. The Massi people have always been known as the most courageous state in Italy. There is a saying that "there is only a triumph of the victory of the Massi people, but no triumph of defeating the Massi people". However, the Massi people have never been submissive to Rome for hundreds of years. They were still the main force of rebellion during the war of resistance. Therefore, the war of resistance is also called the "Massi War", and Lepidus Pidulucuras even wrote a special war history to narrate this matter. As a result, Curio is reluctant to dismiss them, but he can never win their loyalty.

However, when the dust settled in the Greek battle of Corcula, Curio had no time to continue the coordination work. The speed of Pompey's collapse was beyond his imagination. If he didn't take action, it would be too late, so he hurriedly took the four legions to land in Anquilarea.

Anquilarea is located in the eastern part of the Gulf of Carthage. The Gulf of Carthage. That is what we now call the Gulf of Tunis. It is also a huge concave bay. The huge cape in the west is called Cape Apollo and the eastern Cape Mercury. The city of Carthage is located in the center of the hinterland of the concave, and Utica is separated from the city by a large river called Bagrada. The distance between the two is only ten to twenty Roman miles.

After landing, Curio defeated several small-scale enemy cavalry attacks in succession, killing and capturing hundreds of people. The initial victory greatly boosted the morale of everyone. Let Curio's prestige significantly enhance-so the Governor of Sicily quickly sent a notice to the 300-member Chamber of Commerce in Utica, ordering them to receive this document. All merchant ships were sent to help him, otherwise he would be charged with treason. The Utica Chamber of Commerce panicked and indeed sent 200 ships, but at this time, Pompey's governor of Africa, Tullus, also arrived with two legions, and Pompey with the remaining two legions refused to follow.

When the four legions just crossed the Bagrada River, Curio, who was a step ahead, suddenly sent his lieutenant Rufus with the 14th legion from the sea to suddenly occupy the "Old Camp of Cornelius" between Utica and the old city of Carthage. This camp is located on a high ridge that extends straight into the ocean. The steep cliff on one side overlooks the wide Bagrada River, and the gentler slope on the other side faces the city of Utica. There is only three Roman miles between them, but there is a swamp filled with sea water in between, which doubles the detour.

Now that the old camp was occupied by Curio's men, Pompey and Tulas, who had crossed the Bagrada River, were in danger of being attacked from both sides. When Pompey learned that Curio's other three legions were rushing along the coast, he avoided the danger, went around the upper bank of the river, and quickly retreated to Utica. Then Pompey left only two legions of Tulas here, and he himself disappeared - intelligence showed that he might go to Massascia to discuss military affairs with King Juba.

Therefore, Curio took the "Old Camp of Cornelius" with a unique geographical location after a small trial, and stared at Utica, ready to seize it at any time.

On the opposite side, Tulas set up a fort at the theater between the Acropolis of Utica and the market town, so that his army was only separated from Curio by a valley, and also controlled the only passage between the two armies.

The following was a stalemate, accompanied by a small-scale cavalry battle, but late one night, two Massi centurions from the 17th and 18th legions defected to the Utica camp together and told Tullas all the inside information, subordinates and camp duty system of Curio's four legions.

Now, Curio's troops began to explode. In fact, the most dangerous thing was not that the military intelligence was betrayed, but that this sudden incident deepened the rift between the Sicilian governor's army. Representatives of the 14th and 22nd legions ran to Curio and said that they were unwilling to ask the centurions or soldiers of the 17th and 18th legions to keep watch at night because they were afraid that they would be betrayed while sleeping. These Massi were originally in Pompey's camp and surrendered to us in Corfinium. Their intentions and loyalty were very questionable. They were just temporarily subservient to the magnanimity and generosity of the dictator Caesar.

At the same time, representatives of the two legions of the Massi also came to meet Curio, and they were very excited. They said that they were now suspected, which was more painful than being defeated and killed in battle. They said that the 17th and 18th legions were willing to rush to the front, and immediately asked Curio to let them take the initiative to attack and prove themselves with sacrifice and victory.

In this way, the whole camp was boiling with anxiety, and the army was divided into two opposing factions. Caesar's old troops and the new recruits wanted to retreat to Cornelius' old camp to defend and wait for help, while the two legions of the Massi insisted on going to war. Curio was caught in the middle and could not suppress the dispute, so he appealed to the dictator who was still in Egypt.

But now Caesar threw the ball to Lepidus, which was also what Curio did not want to see. "What can Lepidus do? Isn't it just to rob my merits?" Therefore, Curio took the initiative to intercept the supplies from Sardinia and Cisalpine Gaul.

However, Lepidus was not a pushover. Although he did not protest against the impeachment to Caesar, he soon asked Marco Antony, who was staying in Rome at the moment, in the name of the cavalry commander, to mobilize the Eighth, Ninth, Tenth and Eleventh Legions that were on vacation in Campania and Etruria, as well as the Fifth Legion newly recruited in the Gallic colonies, "to march immediately to Utica to reinforce Curio."