Augustus Road

Mount Vera can see the side of Orcresi City at a glance. Under the surveillance of the barbarian sentinels on the tower, the Thyme Corps climbed the foot of the mountain, marked the combat positions of their respective battalions, and set up four "Wild Donkey" single-arm stone projectile launchers on the flat slope. As for the twelve light "cavalry guns", they were strictly hidden in the woods at the foot of the mountain. The artillery and engineers carefully cut out a passage between the dense trees and laid wooden boards to prevent the wheels from sinking into the soft mud and accumulated leaves. After arranging the contact signal, Lepidus threw the trivial duty affairs to Hortensius the Younger, and asked Sabokemus to take the confidential slaves to map the surrounding terrain on the sentry tower. He lay comfortably in the tent, took off the heavy armor, put on a soft robe, and avoided the scorching sun.

In the afternoon, when the shrill military trumpet sounded over there, Lepidus could not help but grunt and said to Habaluka: "It seems that the reckless man has launched a general attack. Let's go and have a look." After saying that, he got up from the couch, walked onto the terraced passage, and looked towards the city of Orkresi.

But between the castle and the Roman positions, black or flaming javelins were like flocks of migratory birds colliding with each other. Some were thrown by hand, some were shot from crossbows, and some were shot from the slings of the tower. Amid the shouting, the 1,000-man battalion of the Tenth Legion took the lead. The veterans of the twelve centuries were each arranged in a dense tortoise-shell formation, arranged in the shape of fish scales, and slowly moved towards the gate of Orkresi. In the gap between their formations, the three war elephants sent by King Juba passed through proudly. Surrounding them were lightly armed skirmishers carrying ropes and ladders, dodging javelins and hurling stones while approaching the corner of the city wall. Prepare to attract the firepower of the barbarian soldiers when the war elephants attract the firepower of the barbarian soldiers. Taking the opportunity to climb up the battlements of Orcresi.

But it seems that there are too many barbarian soldiers guarding the front wall. They are on the battlements and towers, and the projectiles they throw are like summer rainstorms. In the tortoise-shell formation of the first battalion of the Tenth Legion, everyone has their shields stacked up in all directions, front and back, left and right, and wearing heavy armor made of leather, copper and iron, enduring the heat and sweat. The arrows and javelins falling on the shields are as dense as the green hair on the turtle in the pond. When they were within a furlong of the bottom of the wall, the defenders began to smash the sheep head stone and the iron hoop wheel down. The kinetic energy of the fall was terrifying, but the experienced veterans who had fought in various battlefields still gritted their teeth, kept the posture of holding up their shields, and did not waver in the close formation. They persevered and continued to move forward step by step. They knew that once the formation was scattered. They would suffer more serious casualties.

"Milu, Tagus, don't die!" Seeing this scene, Li Bi Da on Mount Vera couldn't help but sweat and started to worry - Hey, three big guys, it's up to you. As long as you rush up, knock down one or two towers, and disperse the defenders on them, you can open up the whole situation.

But it was obvious that the barbarian soldiers had prepared in advance how to deal with the war elephants. Their trick was to use sharpened stones, put them on the stick throwers, and smash them madly at the huge war elephants. Although the skilled elephant drivers kept guiding the war elephants to evade, their goal was too big. Finally, a stone happened to hit an elephant's eye. It screamed and rushed forward because of the pain. It didn't listen to the elephant driver's scolding at all. It ran sideways and completely broke up the two tortoise shell formations of the friendly army. A centurion jumped up and scolded these giant beasts with wrinkled skin. As a result, he was rolled up by the crazy elephant's trunk and thrown heavily to the ground because he couldn't dodge in time. The dust was thrown (Li Bi Da was nervous when he saw it), and then he was trampled back and forth by the elephant's legs. It is estimated that even his bones and flesh could not be collected.

The madness of the elephants caused the tightly-knit tortoise-shell formation to start to get chaotic. Li Bi Da actually saw Milu and Tagus and the others. These veterans were all monsters. Even if the formation was completely scattered, they could crouch down, hang their shields upside down on their necks and backs, and run towards their own safe area with their backs bent. Their speed made the barbarians astonished. This ensured that most people survived.

In addition, it was surprising that the Tenth Legion still had three tortoise-shell formations of 100 men. They were probably in the fire and smoke, and had no idea of ​​the situation outside. They continued to advance towards the city gate. The javelins could not stop them, and the stones and wheels could not stop them. So they enjoyed the "treatment" of boiling oil pouring from top to bottom at the city gate.

The boiling oil seeped into the gaps between armor and shields, and the smell of burned human flesh and hair was everywhere. Even though the veterans were monsters, they were not metal statues after all. Amid screams, their formation completely collapsed... At this time, the main gate of Orcresi was wide open, and countless barbarian soldiers with daggers appeared. It was meaningless to use spears in this terrain. They drove away the Roman skirmishers who were preparing to set up siege machinery. In this way, the "reckless" Secedius's attack on Orcresi failed.

This result was expected by Lepidus. This ancient city built by the Greeks was too solid. Coupled with the Celts and Iberians who were born to fight, it was impossible to take it down by force in this era without large artillery.

At this time, an emergency horn was sounded at the position of Hortensius the Younger - Lepidus suddenly saw that a large group of barbarian cavalry suddenly appeared under the side wall of the city of Orcresi. It seemed that they had been hiding there in advance and pounced on the retreating First Battalion of the Tenth Legion. Their goal was obvious: to prevent the Romans from having the opportunity to reorganize their formation and to hunt down the enemy's fleeing soldiers!

Before Li Bi Da gave a specific order, the twelve "cavalry guns. modified" in the woods roared out, quickly formed a battle array, approached and half-buried in the semi-sloping trench dug in advance (lowering the firing range, so that it can be fired without untying the copper chain and retreating the gun carriage), and fired two or three waves of bullets at the cavalry group, knocking a group of people and horses to the ground, and then quickly retreated to the position in the dense forest and disappeared. The barbarian cavalry was hit by the Romans on Mount Vera without thinking, and lost the spirit of surprise attack. They dared not go deep into the dense forest to seek revenge, because they saw that there were flashes of spear tips everywhere, which might be a killing array trap, so they could only retreat in panic.

Li Bi Da was very satisfied with the extremely efficient attack of the Cavalry Artillery Division. Of course, it was also due to a small reform he made to the Thyme Corps: that is, simply send out a baggage 100-man team, subordinate to the Cavalry Artillery Division, to be responsible for its logistics and civil engineering work, so that the gunners can concentrate on shooting. The two accompany each other whether marching or fighting, and the soldiers enjoy high food and salary, so they are very motivated.

Not bad, guys, they all cover the artillery fire! Li Bi Da thought if he had a monocular telescope in his hand now, it would be a very cool sight! . )