Augustus Road

"Hurry up, faster!" Hortensius Jr. ordered the sweaty gunners in front of the crossbow in a fierce manner on the camp ground. Two gunners quickly pulled the torque handle to pull the string of the double-arm lever back. The other gunners half-knelt on both sides and hurriedly put heavy javelins into the barrel chute. The spring barrel made a clattering sound, and then with a "bang", the javelin flew out quickly and slid for a long time before stopping.

Lepidus and Sabokaimus next to them calculated the time with a water clock and were satisfied with the entire operation. Sabo suggested: "In order to shorten the firing time of the ballista, you can add skilled personnel to each one and divide the work and cooperate. But Mr. Treasurer, I am curious why you are so persistent about this." Lepidus said, "Shortening the firing time can continuously weaken the enemy's formation, and the successors can more easily break through the enemy's defense line. Our team's sword fighting skills are not ideal, so we can only rely more on firepower-speaking of this, I plan to recruit people in Osir and add more ballistas. The first step is to add twelve ballistas to the entire team." This request also surprised Sabo, which is almost two to three times the number of standard ballistas.

Finally, when the four Celtic chariots ordered in advance were able to move freely in the flat and open area with rumbling sounds under the control of Lepidus's subordinates, Lepidus decided to lead the troops to leave the Chimera camp and head towards the Vituni area!

It was winter, and the first battalion (and only this battalion) of the "Thyme" (tentative) Legion, with soldiers wearing thick sheepskin and stepping on the snow, crossed a pass under the guidance of Sabokemus and suddenly appeared in front of several towns on the border between Vituni and Osir.

"These are the three towns and tribes of Elisana, Asa and Oktrabo. The attitude of these barbarians in this war is similar to that of most Vituni people, which is ambiguous. Please pay attention." Seeing Lepidar breathing, wearing armor, and sitting on a small table, Sabo, who was very serious next to him, reminded him.

The mountains and plains in the distance were all covered in white. Towns and villages stood under the blue velvet-like winter sky. The 700 soldiers under Lepidus formed a strict battle formation: the skirmishers with slings and clubs were the first horizontal column, the Ala cavalry was on the right side of the dense forest, and the rest of the infantry, who were Celticized from head to toe, held long swords and narrow oval shields, formed three loose squares on the left wing, the center and the reserve, all standing on the snow. Lepidus stood on the high slope surrounded by the column with his flag escort and trumpeter. He asked all the escorts to take off their sheepskin cloaks, revealing their elite and shining breastplates and helmets in the sun.

Finally, the three towns sent out envoys holding olive branches and wearing wolf skins. These envoys walked through the army, looking around with terrified eyes, then walked up the high slope and knelt in front of Lepidus. They opened their mouths and claimed that they did not violate the Roman "Old Gracchus Law", but Lepidus' tone was very severe. He said that after their towns received the documents of the governor's collection of blood tax, they did not offer any tribute at all, nor did they send vassal troops to follow. In addition, Lepidus pointed to their town settlements and said that they surrounded the towering wooden walls as fortifications. This was a threat to colonial cities such as Osir by force and must be demolished immediately.

The envoy argued that the "Old Gracchus Law" did not prohibit tribes from building walls to protect themselves. There were mostly green forest bandits in the Vituni Mountains, and they were protecting themselves.

"Then go back and tell your elders that we can sign a new treaty. Your three towns and tribes must immediately hand over 600 strong men and 30 children of nobles as hostages to the city of Osir. I can forgive the past!" Lepidus threatened.

This condition, even the envoy holding the olive branch could not hold back. He loudly argued that this was a trick of you Romans to force us to go to war. Lepidus immediately ordered his followers to kill the envoy who argued, and expelled the others, saying that I would now declare the beginning of the war.

The first to bear the brunt was the town of Asa, which was close to a small lake. Lepidus's people quickly crossed the plains and fields, thanks to the effect of their training in the Chimera camp in the previous two months, and blocked the passage to the outside of Asa, while the cavalry roamed farther away, scouting the movements of the other two towns.

In front of the wall of the Assa fortress, twelve crossbows were lined up, each with six gunners responsible for firing stone bullets at a certain point on the wall. Soon, the wooden wall was in pieces and was about to collapse. Lepidus's men imitated the Celts, waving their swords and making terrifying cries.

The warning beacon lit in the town of Assa did not make the other two towns share the same hatred of the enemy. Lepidus' sudden attack caught them off guard. In panic, they gave up the hope of confrontation (Octlabo and Elisana thought that Lepidus's troops were just an advance team), opened the city gates, carried women, children and baggage, and fled to the Vetuni Mountains, ready to rely on the fierce and powerful Sinclairs to fight against the Romans.

Within a quarter of an hour, the walls of the city of Asa were blown down by concentrated fire. The strong men in the fortress held weapons and shouted to fight out of the gap to prevent the Romans from pouring in, but Lepidus's skirmishers stepped forward and swung slings and clubs at a distance of one furlong, throwing sharp stones at the gap like rain. The strong men in the city couldn't get out at all, so they crowded together at the gap, and the bodies and wounded were piled up into a small mountain by the stones and javelins. Sharp trumpets sounded, and Lepidus's infantry reserve took over the battle, shouting and holding long swords (it took a long time for Hortensius the Younger to teach them to use the blade to face the front, instead of swinging it left and right, which would only hurt friendly forces), holding shields and stepping on the bodies of the Asa people, and rushed into the fortress.

Perhaps after being on the battlefield for a long time, Lepidus' heart became cold and hard. He suddenly launched this small-scale battle to massacre several fence-sitting tribal strongholds to intimidate the Vituni region. He seemed unwilling to remember what ugly crimes were committed inside when the Roman Centuriae captured the Calabi Palace when he crossed over. But now in Lepidus's eyes: war is slaughter. Since the soldiers are willing to kill your enemies with swords instead of you and achieve your goals, you must compensate them. This is an eternal law in any era.

The city of Asa was quickly occupied, burned, and killed by the victors. All the noble men and women in the warehouse were killed. Thirty percent of the food and money in the warehouse were divided on the spot, thirty percent went into the treasury of the Ten-Man Committee, thirty percent was transported back to Chimera, and one tenth was put into Lepidus's personal pocket. There were also hundreds of surviving men and women, all of whom were sent to the city of Osir and sold as slaves.

But for the other two towns that escaped, the nightmare was not over. (To be continued.)