Augustus Road

Apis, who heard the trumpet, waved his hand at the foot of Mount Vera, and the trumpeter beside him also blew the trumpet for attack and communication. Not long after, the Tenth Legion of Sekterius, who was at the front position under the city of Orkresi, also shouted loudly and launched the most fierce attack on the front of the castle.

Now, at night, the enemy attacked the three sides of the city of Orkresi without distinguishing the main and the secondary, which immediately made these barbarian defenders at a loss. Li Bi Da held that section of the battlement and shouted to the soldiers, "Don't just stand there, run and seize more towers and temples. Only by holding these places can we have a chance to survive!" Then he lit a haystack under the city and shouted, "Rush through this open space under the city and go to the temple opposite!" When he saw the soldiers hesitantly hiding behind the battlement to avoid the javelins thrown by the barbarians below, Li Bi Da knew that he must not hesitate at this time, because if they stayed in this place and were counterattacked by the barbarians, they would either be killed or drowned in the lake. Only by continuing to rush into the city could they win a chance to survive and create opportunities for the other two legions to seize the city.

There was no other way. It was not feasible to ask the soldiers to do this or that at this time. The only thing left was for the leaders of the legion to set an example. Libida jumped from the battlement and jumped off the burning haystack. He rolled twice, his cloak still on fire, and then he struggled to get up and limped towards the temple, shouting back: "Soldiers of the Thyme Legion, if you want your commander to die alone in this place tonight, then don't follow my steps!" In fact, while he was running in pain, he was scared to death. What if the soldiers really didn't dare to rush with him, and the barbarian warriors from the temple rushed over again? That would be a masterpiece, but also a stinky and posthumous work.

"The treasurer is in danger. Are you willing to suffer the shame of abandoning him!?" Then Sabo jumped down.

Hortensius the Younger was the third one. Before he jumped, he threw the flags of Catiline's Iron Hand and Ballantia's Falcon off the battlement one by one, and shouted to the soldiers behind him: "Look, the flags that symbolize the glory of my legion have been thrown down. I am willing to jump down and protect them until death." At this moment, out of a mixture of some kind of excitement and instinctive emotions, the soldiers followed the quaestor and the flags and jumped down from the battlement. At this time, the Lusitanians who counterattacked appeared on both ends of the wall.

Some of the soldiers of the Thyme Legion were injured and supported each other. Some fell to the ground and were on fire but did not bother to put out the fire. Many people howled and followed Lepidus' steps with flames on their bodies, and lined up to cross the open space in front of the temple. This was a temple dedicated to Mercury, and the style was the balanced Tascan style. Lepidus jumped onto the steps and ordered everyone to build a shield wall in front of the three bronze doors in the left, middle and back of the front hall. Other soldiers rushed in, piled all the furniture and sundries in the narrow side windows, and covered them with soaked leather and animal skins to prevent the barbarian enemy's rocket attacks. Some soldiers even climbed up to the top of the temple along the courtyard pillars. They shouted loudly on top to boost the morale of their comrades, and threw hunting spears and heavy bricks and tiles to attack the barbarian warriors rushing from the street.

In front of the temple gate, the barbarian soldiers' rockets and stones came flying like heavy rain, hitting the Romans' shield wall and making a dense sound like horses' hooves trampling the ground. "Low down, everyone of you, stay at your posts, if you move you will die!" Behind the shield wall, Hortensius the Younger, holding up a flag glittering in the firelight, shouted encouragement to his subordinates in front of the three doors. Some of the barbarian warriors wore bronze helmets with horns, and some were covered with whole animal skins. All kinds of hideous and terrifying totems were tattooed on their bodies and faces. They howled and surged up the steps of the temple like waves, crashing into the shield wall of Lepidus's troops. All the people of the Thyme Legion followed the centurion's instructions and crouched under their shields, while the tall barbarians continued to hack at them. Once the opponent exposed weak parts such as the abdomen, armpits or calves, they would seize the opportunity and stab them hard with the long sword or dagger in their hands. After a while, the barbarians retreated, leaving behind a layer of corpses. At this time, all kinds of sounds of killing were heard from several sides of the city of Orcresi: the roar of elephants, the whistling of stone bullets, the screaming of bows and arrows, and the collision of shields. This made the many Lusitanian barbarians in the city at a loss. Many people did not know where to go, and ran around with weapons or ladders in their hands. Emergency horns sounded everywhere.

After the first wave of attacks on the temple failed, the Lusitanians no longer cared about Lepidus's small force. Only a few scattered barbarians threw flaming javelins into the temple, but they were picked up and thrown back by the clever soldiers. They fought randomly for half a night. At dawn, when the tide of the Twin Lakes receded and the water level was at its lowest, exposing the land under the city wall, the harsh military trumpets sounded again fiercely - this was the reserve team that Apis had ambushed in the grass by the lake in advance. They pushed a siege weapon called "harp", waded through the shallow cement ground after the tide receded, and quickly approached the city wall near the lake again. , then the reserve team stood in groups of five at one end of the harp, similar to the manned device of the ladder, and then the craftsmen quickly filled a large amount of stones in the leather bag hanging at the other end. Then, according to the "lever principle", the manned ladder at the other end rose rapidly, and the soldiers on it quickly reached the height of the city wall, and quickly jumped onto the battlement without climbing at all. They didn't know if there were any survivors of the Lepidus who broke in in the middle of the night, but it was obvious that these brave people occupied this section of the city wall (in fact, the barbarians were busy with other things and neglected to re-deploy here), so they blew the liaison bugle.

Soon, the bugle was responded to - in the Temple of Mercury under the city wall, under the bronze door with scattered arrows and fireworks everywhere, there were several teams of Roman soldiers who maintained a strict shield wall. Most of these people were still alive, and they also blew the bugle to respond - everyone on the battlement shouted the slogan of long live, and then filed down.

Around the afternoon, the city of Orcresi fell. Most of the barbarian warriors who resisted were killed. Those who refused to surrender climbed up a steep wall and jumped down to escape. The bodies of people who fell to death or were crushed to death piled up at the foot of the wall. Many chieftains, nobles and druid priests set fire to themselves on the highest altar in the city and cursed the greedy and cruel Romans in the flames.

In front of the temple, Lepidus asked his men to raise their flags and line up. Apis and Psychedelius rode side by side and came to the Temple of Mercury surrounded by a group of generals and followers. "I heard that the Great Temple of Mercury at the Pillar of Hercules is much more magnificent than this one." Psychedelius shouted.

"But we won the victory here, so we should worship in this temple. This is the will of God." Apis got off the horse and patted Lepidus on the shoulder happily. "You are the one who led the whole army to victory. You can build your clan temple next to this temple." (To be continued.)