Augustus Road

“When we meet our enemies, we usually give advice rather than take advice, knowing that we can bring inevitable destruction as well as give peace and freedom.” - Belisarius

————————————————————

Lepidus led the attached cavalry brigade at an angle, and according to the route map provided by Sabo, they rushed towards the nostrils of the evil god Taiphon - Seponia and the Akrigma swamp. The first brigade of the Twelve Legions followed the general The commander had lived and died in Lusitania, Gaul and other places. They advanced rapidly with the cavalry at a speed of fifteen Roman miles per hour and with terrifying endurance.

Hebrida in the rear team promptly set up a supply relay point with a simple wooden fence at the intersection of the two groups' marching routes, and set up relevant flags to facilitate Petheneus' packhorse and camel team to follow. "It all depends on the efficiency and hard work of the guy staying in Edong!" Hebrida spat on the ground and watched helplessly as the spit instantly turned invisible, and the rising sun in the desert was unobstructed. When the ground rose, they were about to set up a siege camp in an area five Roman miles away from Pelusium. Many military slaves wore short shirts, carried wood for siege equipment, and wore sun-shading cloaks on their heads. Running with sweat on his back, not only for Commander Lepidus' "Break the City of Alexandria, everyone will be liberated as free people, and the land in Egypt will be distributed by the Pharaoh. In addition, the legion will reward each person with 250 deeds at a time." With such a promise like "Lakma" (but he had not been fighting with General Lepidus for more than a year or two, and this man had never broken his promise), he was even more afraid of this damn battlefield - behind was the weird Jewish country, and in front was the deserted sea of ​​sand. There are also cruel Egyptian enemies. Even if you want to desert, you will be dead!

About eight miles away from Perusium, the Thirteenth Legion encountered the defenders' attack force, a wandering army composed of archers and light cavalry. "The always low-level Hybrida, this irony The nickname of this surname was imposed on me by fate. Since I have such a good opportunity today, let me prove that I can not only command a centurion, but also be like a tribune of noble origin. , leading a brigade or even a legion to fight!"

"General Petheneus is not on the front line, and the command belongs to my chief centurion. Following my order, all centurions immediately returned to the front of their respective centurions. Three infantry brigades covered the two archer brigades to stop the enemy. Rangers, two infantry brigades to protect the cavalry artillery, left in reserve - I personally led a 1,000-man battalion to insert into the corner of the Perusium fortress and seize the enemy's outer eye fort, "Highbury!" In front of the formation with rolling yellow sand, Dalai took a brief look at the fortress figure in the distance and the troops shouting at the enemy. He summoned all the centurions and gave the order clearly. Helmet, slash the dagger forward.

"Uterius, Arminius, you are in the Hall of Valor in the Temple of War, just covet my brother's glory. The one who finally made a name for the three regiments is my brother Hybrida! "

"The enemy is attacking with a diagonal thrust, the enemy is attacking with a diagonal thrust!" Perusim's light cavalry was the first to discover the dragon-like 1,000-man brigade of the Thirteenth Legion, and the slightly dirty lion flag. This was not like the Romans at all. Such a style, they actually did not set up camp first, but charged directly into the contact battle. When the Egyptian light cavalry discovered the opponent's intention, they turned collectively and prepared to pursue Hebrida in parallel.

At this time, from the smoke and dust on the opposite side, three groups of Roman infantry rushed out with shouts. Some were covered with Celtic colorful cloth cloaks, some were wearing the Egyptian native Knuth light armor, and some were regular Wearing the Roman legion's curtains and bowl-shaped helmets, they rushed out from behind the figure, flying out countless arrows from the ashes and sand smoke, and immediately shot down many light cavalry and the infantry following them. This is the archer brigade attached to the Thirteenth Legion. Soon they and the light archers of the Egyptian side, each relying on their own infantry, were flying with arrows in mid-air. The entire battlefield was full of melees from all sides. Murderous aura and sand storm.

When Hybrida's thousand-man team tried their best to attack the outer fortifications of the Pelusium Fortress, some workers were still resting by the "semi-finished" ditch, drinking beer provided by the defenders, and the Romans howled. , quickened their pace and rushed in within a distance of 500 Roman feet. They used thrown javelins to knock down many people in the ditch, and then dispersed them all. Then they drew their swords and moved up like ants along the fortress of the Eye Fort. Climb - Hebrida ordered there to be no hesitation.

According to the results of yesterday's reconnaissance, although the Perusim Fortress has a very complete defense, the walls of the fortress are very special. Compared with those in Italy and Greece, the Egyptian masonry is softer and cannot be built into a vertical wall. The body would collapse helplessly when exposed to rain. Therefore, the Egyptian army used a mixture of plywood, masonry and soil to build a thick slope similar to a pyramid, with a smaller angle, so the Romans were desperate. A direct "ant colony climbing the wall attack" immediately frightened the Nubian mercenaries stationed in various small eye forts. The first elite soldiers to rush up stabbed the enemy archers above to death and threw them like rain. After removing their corpses, they threw the ropes downwards. The subsequent soldiers directly pulled the ropes and climbed up the sloping wall. They quickly captured three or four eye forts on the outside and began to confront the defenders on the inner core battlements. Cum.

About two quarters later, the Pelusium guerrillas also retreated under the rain of Roman arrows. They had never expected that the Roman legions would be equipped with so many slingers and archers. They were deployed on both wings of the front line, holding the centipede flag, and cooperated very well with the infantry under the golden fly flag. The powerful projectiles and the short assault of the infantry made it impossible for the Egyptian army with little or no armor to stand.

In the evening, amid the sound of trumpets, arrows and torches were flying everywhere from both sides. The eight-door cavalry cannons also arrived at the newly captured eye forts of Hybrida. Four doors were unloaded along the battle line. The slaves drove dozens of fully loaded camels to run. The cannonmen took out stone bullets from the kneeling camel's saddlebags and started to shoot. The defenders clamored and moved the focus of bow and crossbow shooting to that place. However, since the Gallic War, according to Sabokemus's improvement plan, all cavalry cannons have been equipped with bronze shields in front. So even if they were filled with arrow feathers made of reed stalks by the Egyptians (lighter, longer range, but limited lethality), the shooting was still fierce and never fell. Even with only four doors, the big tower of the gate of Pelusium was shaken.

The other four gates were dismantled and hoisted up one by one using the simple pulleys that the soldiers had temporarily built at the Eye Fort. They were then assembled and fired at the walls and towers of Pelusium from a high position. (To be continued.)