Augustus Road

Lepidus had quick eyesight and quick hands. He immediately pulled out his dagger and cut off the guy's spear from the middle with a click. Then the owl quickly circled on the spot and rushed over again. Little Hortenhuis followed closely behind and raised Kyle. The extremely long sword sliced ​​off the warrior's head and shoulders in one stroke. At this time, the village was full of Balantians swaying and running around, but most of them were focused on that side and rushed toward the pass impatiently. Lepidus and the others jumped off their horses, pulled out their daggers, and carried long shields on their backs. They crossed a courtyard and saw a howling barbarian warrior who was raising his sword and preparing to chop him down. Lepidah stepped forward and struck him with his sword before he could chop him down. The lower arm was stuck on the eaves pillar, and then he took out the dagger and cut the opponent's throat. The barbarian warrior hung up his arms and died leaning on the eaves pillar with his head tilted. Lepidus walked through the dimly lit house, kicked open the back door, chopped down the barbarian soldiers who were raising slings beside the door, and then rushed to the high ground where the village sentry tower was.

At this time, many Balantians in the village discovered the traces of this small group of Romans. They either ran to the high ground or quickly ran to the roofs of houses, shooting stones and arrows at them. Lepidus bit His teeth were bared, and the rain from his face flowed down his neck and cloak into his underwear. There were sounds on both sides of the arrows and the whizzing sound of thrown stones, and the crackling sound of falling on the wooden beams of the sentry tower around him. He could only carry it on his back. With the shield constantly shaking behind his butt, he and his followers climbed up the wooden ladder of the sentry tower one after another. There were shouts, and Lepidus was the first to climb over the fence of the guard tower. The three flag bearers and trumpeters were hugging their knees there, with panic on their faces, for fear that the barbarians would discover them and see the treasurer climb in. There were expressions of shame and fear. But Lebid didn't say anything. He took the C-shaped bugle from the trumpeter. Then, facing the foggy and rainy pass cliff, he puffed up his cheeks and blew fiercely. The sharp sound of the trumpet conveyed the message, asking the centurions on the other side of the pass to return immediately to fight.

Little Hortensius and several other retinues also stretched out their team flags and waved them vigorously.

Then, Lepidus turned over again, facing Sabo's large army. He also blew the bugle with all his strength.

Soon, echoing bugles were heard on both sides.

In the end, the centurion who got the signal turned back and fought back in order to avoid being cut off and annihilated. They used long Celtic shields to form a simple shield wall, braving the hail of bullets from the Balantians and ignoring the casualties that fell to the ground one after another. , fought hard to get closer; on the other side, Sabokemus' large group of men also scattered the blocking cavalry of the Balantians. gradually. Connecting with the remnants of the security team who were still fighting outside the village, the Balantians began to ride on their horses. Scattered away in the rain. Finally, after these barbarians left, Lepidus asked the scale officer to count the battle losses. Nearly 200 people on his own side were killed at once, more than half of each of the two centurions were lost, and the number of ambushed attackers on the other side was only 300. Multiple cavalrymen only killed more than thirty people on the other side. But if Lepidus hadn't bravely rushed into the high ground of the village and used bugles to contact the isolated teams, the two centurions would have been completely wiped out.

What further hurt morale was that the heads of many fallen soldiers were cut off by these barbarians, hung under the saddles and taken away. Amidst the terrifying screams of the Balantian women who could still be heard clearly in the dense forest, Lepidus, who was somewhat exhausted, kept his brass horn on the watch tower, and then slowly came down. The flag-bearers in the village were holding their flags covered with The blood-stained flag calls out the name of his comrades, not knowing whether they are dead or alive. There were also many people sitting in the mud puddle, wiping their weapons with linen cloth, panting.

Some soldiers removed the wooden boards and windows from the abandoned houses, and then placed the bodies of their fallen comrades on them. The rain had slowly stopped, but the afternoon sky was still the same gray and autumn color, and Boundless cliffs, dark rivers and endless dense forests were mixed together, making it impossible to distinguish, which made people feel a heavy sense of depression. Then someone took the fire and lit the cremation pyre. Many comrades gathered around the fire. It expresses condolences and also warms oneself.

This plain of Complanion seems to be the domain of these barbaric Balantians.

Beside the fire, in front of Lepidus, several servants used ropes to lead the trumpeters and flag bearers who had not fulfilled their duties well, and walked to the back of a high slope to prevent other soldiers from seeing this scene. The three men were covered in blood. Shaking a little, he slowly took off his armor and clothes, and then half-knelt down with his back to the hillside. Little Hortensius executed them one by one with a sword very neatly. The blood mixed with the mud, showing a kind of paint-like color. Lepidus, who was bright and holding his helmet and had been watching from the side, remained silent until the serious young man from Italyga gave him the drawing board, on which was drawn up a plan to cross the pass here and attack the Balantia tribe.

Lepidus exchanged the drawing board back without looking carefully, and just said, "After crossing the pass, you and I will take a cavalry team to survey the terrain of the Complannan plain on the spot."

In the evening, Lepidus's skirmishers climbed up the cliffs on both sides of the pass and carefully searched for any barbarian ambushes. The torches and tree branches swayed like ghosts, reflecting everyone's faces with fear and ferocity. Then the vanguard light column crossed the pass, followed by the baggage train and three elephants. All the soldiers and horses of the Thyme Legion appeared on the Complanian Plain after spending almost the entire second half of the night. When the soldiers in front were tired and staggered to dig trenches in the early morning of the next day, a large number of Balantia cavalry suddenly rushed out from the bottom of a hillside. God knows how they ambushed them. Anyway, after a chaotic battle, the trenches that had just been dug halfway were filled with the bodies of the dead Thyme Legion soldiers. More people were washed away and trampled on when they hurriedly formed a battle array. This time, the legion had no less than 300 dead.

After two battles, Lepidus lost 500 men. Although the camp was established later, many soldiers began to hide in tents in fear, and were full of fear and dissatisfaction when on duty.

In front of the fence of the camp, the Balantians would throw flaming javelins into Lepidus' camp at night, or ambush and kill the lone Roman scouts or baggage trains, and then throw their bloody heads into the camp. The whole camp began to be filled with an atmosphere of fear of war. In the end, even the financial reward from the treasurer did not play a big role - but Lepidus still instilled in the soldiers and military slaves through the "Ten-Man Soldier Committee" of each brigade: "Be patient, you have nowhere to escape here, you will only be killed by the barbarians in the wilderness."

But there were still Iberian native soldiers who began to flee, and dozens of them ran away in one night. . )