Augustus Road

But once the plan was implemented, Herod understood that the tactic of luring the enemy deep was not as simple as imagined, because of the problem of mobility - Lepidus's forward thousands of cavalry were no more maneuverable than him. The rearguard was poor, and the Parthian king also brought a lot of baggage and property with him when he rushed out from the city of Aegira. Now he was bitten by the opponent's cavalry, and fierce and small-scale raids and counter-raids continued to break out. , on the entire road between Aegila and the Maxinu Plain, the cavalry battle was like fire, rapid and cruel.

In particular, the performance of the thousand Mattian cavalry was particularly outstanding. If Lepidus's cavalry from Gaul and Libya are all excellent cavalry, then the Mattians can be described as "chosen cavalry". All The people tied long ribbons on their helmets, so that when they were galloping, the ribbons were like flying eagle feathers. Under their crotches were all the most selected Mede horses. In terms of weapons, they were not like Gaul. The cavalry likes to hold a shield, but uses the ring of the left hand to tie a slender and soft spear with spear points at both ends. It can stab enemies on all sides under the horse from any direction. There are fifty arrows in the quiver under the saddle, which can be used with a bow and arrows - even the Parthian cavalry, which dominates places such as Syria, is no match for these Mattians.

When Herod was retreating towards the plains of Maximus, he was horrified to find that his rear cavalry was collapsing. Baggage was being lost every moment, the fighting spirit of the soldiers began to lose, and the servants of the tribe were killed. , that is, to escape secretly again.

Finally, in the pocket terrain of the Maxinu Plain, Herod exhaled deeply. alright. Arrived at the ideal battlefield! Then the Parthian king turned thousands of oven cavalry into a dense formation. Then the light cavalry on both wings rushed into the canyon one after another, preparing to capture Lepidus' main force here and annihilate it with the tactics of setting up an ambush and flanking attack.

But the wind was noisy all the time, and the Parthian army, which had been waiting for half a day, did not see any Roman soldiers. The puzzled Herod stupidly continued to wait until sunset before letting Mentis He went back to search with his scouts, but the information he brought back horrified Herod. "Lepidus' army suddenly crossed the Tigris River in the middle and turned to the right bank of the river!"

"What, it's impossible! How did they cross the river?" Herod's howl almost sounded like crying.

"They should have surveyed the hydrology long ago, and used horse-drawn carriages to carry many small wooden boats, and laid simple pontoons on the slow currents." Mentis said with panic, "It is useless to attack now. They have a regiment of troops guarding them in front of the pontoon bridge."

Cold sweat dripped down Herod's forehead. Once Lepidus' cavalry wreaked havoc on the right bank of the Tigris River, it wouldn't take long to reach Ctesiphon. If Ctesiphon was lost and fell, all the Parthian nobles and senators would be in danger. Not to mention defeating the Romans by then, his throne will definitely be in doubt. He asked Mentis involuntarily, what should I do in the current situation? I don't want to be defeated by that man again, otherwise Surena will make a mockery of my authority. Mentis was also anxious. He was also from the army. He was single-handedly promoted by Assasis and had no royal background. Now that the king asked him for advice, he obviously regarded him as a confidant. If he couldn't answer, That's a capital crime.

"We rushed downstairs, and finally to the city of Seleucia, to meet up with Vaghisis' men, cross the pontoon bridge previously set up there, and turn to the north of Ctesiphon to intercept the enemy's assault." This is Menti. Si's last resort, "As for Seleucia, let's give up for the time being..."

Behind the battlements of Seleucia, scattered wood and stones were densely covered, and the noose ballistas under the cladding were most likely smashed. On the blood-stained ground, bodies of people were dragged away from time to time, so when When a Greek mercenary noticed that the besieging troops under the city began to leave the position on horseback, Herod's brother Mindaz could hardly believe his ears. When he held on to the wall of the tower, he actually saw Vagisis's men and horses. As he walked towards the other side of the river in accordance with the order, he couldn't help but cheer and claimed that the city was protected by his father's heroic spirit, so a grand festival that would last for fifteen days was about to be held, and all soldiers and citizens could enjoy the glory. and leisure time, even the slaves could each be rewarded with five silver coins. Just as he said this, he ordered his treasurer to open the treasury in the city.

Now, as long as he takes a short rest, pushes the mercenaries out of the city, and joins forces with Crassus' eastward marching legion, then his brother will be finished!

However, Lord Crassus's 40,000 troops are still trudging in the desert, and his vanguard scouts are still exploring in vain, in order to find Surena's main force, and especially to find this desert as soon as possible. The edge of the sea.

Finally, when several scouts and cavalry were about to give up, they actually saw a very small and inconspicuous river on the back of the dusty sand dunes. The leading captain even jumped off his horse and stumbled to the river. In front of the river, he knelt down, picked up a handful with trembling hands, and drank heavily. The soldiers on horseback behind him all had expressions of tears of joy on their faces.

With a "pop" sound, the captain who was drinking water suddenly fell to the edge of the river. Dark yellow sand rose up. The mounts of the soldiers behind him immediately started to stir. One of the sharp-eyed ones saw that on the neck of the captain, Without a small arrow feather, the flying arrow simply exceeded the speed of sight and sound. After a dull thunderous sound of horse hooves, they faced the dazzling sunlight and saw countless cavalrymen wearing animal skins and putting their dirty hair on their foreheads slowly appearing on the sand dunes across the river.

"Drink, drink!" The frustrated Roman scouts hurriedly turned around and ran for their lives. Thousands of arrows whizzed behind them. In the end, only one escaped and quickly ran to the main force of Crassus who was advancing behind. He said to the officer, "Ahead, at the river in front, thousands of enemy cavalry appeared, carrying snake flags!"

"There are two kinds of snakes, one is the horned viper and the other is the viper. The former is the symbol of the Parthian forward light cavalry. The bows and arrows in their hands are like the venom of the horned viper, which can kill people silently. The latter is the symbol of the Parthian noble cavalry. The spears they hold in their hands are like vipers that destroy formations and morale," a centurion of the Sixth Legion murmured. Having fought against the opponent in Syria before, I know the power of these two "venomous snakes".

"It can be judged that the place ahead is a place called Barisus River. There is water there and there are Parthian light cavalry. You lead the cavalry to drive them away, and then camp by the river. The city of Kalai is Nearby." Crassus on the shoulder shouted, his son and Megabe saluted on horseback, and then led a large number of strong cavalry through the infantry groups that also began to whistle and rush forward with weapons on their backs. , rush towards that river! (To be continued...)