Chapter 5 The Third Chair (Part 2)

Later, King Juba and Pompey also mobilized tens of thousands of cavalry from the entire Kingdom of Numidia. Behind Ma Ge, they deliberately delayed the time for a day. Then Pompey sent three more token officers one after another. Riding a fast horse towards the direction of Utica City.

Two of them rushed into Utica, but one lost his way in front of Curio's camp and was caught by a Masi centurion and brought to Curio.

"You mean, Pompey has won the reinforcements from King Juba?" Curio stared at the man up and down with sharp eyes, and then asked.

"Yes, King Juba will have 40,000 elite troops here soon. Your four legions alone will not be able to compete with us!" The token officer shouted very proudly, "It's better to take the boat back to the old camp of Cornelius, or go directly along the promontory and retreat to Leptis to meet up with your cavalry commander's camp."

Curio sneered, and then he said to his followers and messengers, this is the first time I have seen such a talkative token officer. After speaking, he pulled out his dagger and cut open the lining of the captured token officer's clothes. , took out a piece of papyrus from the other party who had a pale face, and said that this is the truth, let me see what is said in it. "It turns out that the Getulians, instigated by the Roman knights, started a rebellion against the King of Juba, and many Phoenicians participated..." Curio put down the dagger. On the desktop, he read along the way, and of course he understood, because he was the one who instigated a lot of wind and fire, and then he felt proud that he had seen through the enemy's strategy. "My friends, Pompey is at his wits end. King Juba's army will not come in large numbers. I estimate there are only a few thousand troops, so we must take down the city of Utica in one go as soon as possible, and then fight with the two troops led by Pompey himself. In a battle between two legions, the two veteran legions are his elite, while the two in Turas are just a meal before the drink. "

Then, Curio was good at seizing the opportunity to mobilize all the soldiers and placed the Fourteenth Legion in a prominent position in the camp. Under the leadership of Quindusi, they monitor the movements of the enemy who come to reinforce them; the 22nd Legion is a new force. Therefore, they were responsible for staying in the camp; while the two Massi legions, under the personal command of Curio, continued to stay behind the blockade wall and installed siege equipment on it. Ready for all battles.

About four days later, Quindusi urgently sent a token officer to tell Curio that King Juba's cavalry was coming! Because it was difficult to ascertain the specific number of cavalry, Curio did not dare to overestimate the number. He hurriedly took all the cavalry to Quindus's position, and then stayed in the camp of the Fourteenth Legion, and sent some capable The centurion went to the outpost to conduct reconnaissance.

It's evening time. The centurions returned safely one after another, and excitedly told Curio that the Numidian cavalry numbered only about two to three thousand. Moreover, they chose to camp in a low-lying land with no safety protection, and the security was very lax. They were about ten Roman miles away from the city of Utica, and they were afraid that they would have to make contact tomorrow.

"Sure enough, as I expected, the King of Juba can only send so many men, and they are by no means an elite force. We will attack tonight and completely defeat them. Then we will bypass their camp and completely trap Utica. ”

That's right, the opponent's leader was General Ma Ge. He did this entirely under the instruction of Lepidus. He was willing to risk his military career to suffer a disgrace. He only led the guards at the edge of the camp, and then at At the second sentry, Curio's cavalry actually shouted, and then poured into Marco's camp. Marco was well prepared and ran away with the guards at once, because he did not give any orders in advance. Strict instructions were given, so the three thousand cavalry subordinates still followed the habits of nomads and set up tents randomly here and there. They were so scattered that they could not organize a defense. As a result, several hundred people were killed by Curio's cavalry. Many prisoners were taken.

When the prisoners were brought to Curio behind, he interrogated them personally. The prisoners all said in unison that behind their camp there were large reinforcements from Pompey and His Majesty.

"How many?" Curio asked with a sneer.

The prisoners said that the entire kingdom was mobilized and there were hundreds of terrifying war elephants.

Curio smiled and said nothing, and the idea in his mind became more and more solid. He immediately ordered Rufus and Quintus to select five brigades from the Fourteenth Army to serve as reception and security tasks at the edge of their own camp. , and he and Reibrus led the rest of the Fourteenth Legion, and called all the Eighteenth Legion of the Masi people to come over, "directly follow the traces of the enemy's defeated troops, intersperse to the west of Utica City, we will Where to build a new blockade, so that the city of Utica can be completely surrounded, and I will create a more glorious victory than Lepidus in Masseria." After saying that, they were not afraid of hardships and used large groups of infantry. As the main lineup, the defeated soldiers chasing Ma Ge went in the designated direction.

Gradually, the sun rose in the desert, but there were still many tributaries of the Baglada River, so some of Curio's men moved forward in large groups, while others stopped to draw water. Marco's cavalry were running in groups in twos and threes, without any structure, and there was blazing wind and sunshine everywhere. Slowly, with the support of enthusiasm, Curio's army actually pursued on foot for a long time, and penetrated deep into Utica. Twelve Roman miles west, there is a wasteland full of hills. It seems to have been the farm fields of Carthage. There are still some traces of ditches, but the water channels have been destroyed and obliterated.

"This location is also good. Let the soldiers dig a ditch to bring water from the river. I will lead everyone to set up camp here and then cut off the internal and external traffic of Utica." Curio licked his dry lips. He leaned on the saddle tiredly and issued an order to reorganize the army. The young general had been very lucky in the previous battles and won continuous victories at the regiment and battalion levels. In particular, the battle to defeat Tulas gave him more confidence. Luck and the goddess of victory are on my side. Curio has a deep belief in this.

Mago ran forward for another six miles, and at the foot of a hill, he saw the large group of people of His Majesty King Juba coming from all over the mountains and fields, covering the entire direction of his sight. Most of them were barefoot lightly armed cavalry and light infantry carrying javelins and daggers, but in the core of the camp was King Juba's ceremonial guard. He wore a majestic lion-head crown and sat on a sedan chair carried by thirty-six slaves. Surrounding him were two thousand Spanish warriors in fine armor and sharp swords, plus a thousand heavily armed Gaul cavalry, and countless flags and totem statues.

"Mago, you incompetent bastard, but it's good this way. Now I will give all my guards to you and Sapp. Go fight with Curio and hold him back. Send out the cavalry to occupy the hills and streets here. I will lead the main force to press on from behind. Remember not to leave Pompey alive, kill them all!" King Juba saw Mago coming in disarmed and said.