Augustus Road

“Ask yourself, has this secular pharaoh ever cared about the demands of the gods!” The high priest Penmaat roared on the steps of the Temple of Amun. “These places for offering sacrifices to the gods do not require him to spend any money. All the priests live on the surplus of the sacrifices (although there is a lot of surplus, but the high priest will not say such words). Our treasurer also pays part of the surplus every year to the treasury. When you encounter difficulties in life, the priests lend you money like a father (although the interest rate is a bit high). Now the City of God has suffered such an insult. A foreigner brought a group of black-skinned untouchable soldiers, He actually doesn't believe that the agent of God can control the breathing of the Nile? If this fool was sent by His Majesty the Pharaoh, then I declare that from now on Thebes is no longer the spiritual temple of the Pharaoh, nor the reserve of the kingdom, unless he bows his head to me, no, to apologize to the gods of Thebes, today is the day of God's punishment! "After saying this, Penmaat shouted and raised his trembling hands, as if he was really communicating with the gods of heaven or the underworld. The tenants became fanatical. They held simple wooden spears, and some carried knives and saws. Thousands of people carried the sacred boats and statues, and under the guidance of the priests, they rushed towards the new bridge of Lepidus.

But these noisy people did not notice that within the distance of about five furlongs between the jagged walls of Thebes and the bridge, 3,000 Medjet guards had used shields and simple earthworks to form a simple semicircular defense area around the bridgehead at night. What was even more disappointing was that Lepidus secretly brought the artillery detachment of the 13th Legion. In the dark night, the torches were like fireflies by the Nile River. "This is the location of the Pharaoh's legion, responsible for protecting the safety of the god Serapis. Anyone who dares to invade will be killed without mercy!" At this time, Lepidus at the bridgehead said to Tagus beside him, "Tell everyone not to be soft-hearted, the Pharaoh is the perfect god."

But the thousands of temple tenants with torches had entered a frenzy, howling. Kill all the vanguard Medjet scouts. Swarming towards the bridgehead, "Don't hesitate, shoot!" Arp was on the front line, not caring about the timidity of ordinary Egyptians when they saw the statues and priests. A shrill bone whistle sounded in the night sky. The first row of Medger Guards stood up behind the shields and wooden fences. They shouted and fired the rockets in their hands. These arrows wrapped in asphalt and sulfur whizzed into the ranks of the tenant riot army. These people shouted and asked the dismantled door panels and wooden windows to cover their heads. With burning protective gear, they continued to charge forward one after another. This just happened to illuminate the archers in the second and third rows. The rain of arrows that followed was much more fierce and accurate. The leading priests were shot through the body and forehead and fell down. The Medjet guards immediately shouted in Coptic, "Why don't your priests have gods to protect them?" Then they drew their bows and arrows and fired continuously. When the first wave of arrows had not yet landed and killed people, the second wave had already whizzed down in the air. The statues fell to the ground, and the bodies of the ignorant tenants were lying on the ground. Then the cavalry cannons suddenly fired, without any warning. The stone bullets and javelins caused heavy casualties in the dense crowd. Not only the tenants, but even the priests who were holding the line were stunned. They did not expect the Romans to use such a vicious method!

But the Roman stone bullets showed no sign of stopping and slashing off rows of people's limbs and heads, creating a trail of dust on the ground. There were seriously injured people everywhere, crying and crawling around. Some people were still moving, but were pierced through the head and neck by the falling arrows, and fell to the ground and could not move anymore.

"Chase, don't hesitate!" At this time, in the camp's pine torch, Lepidus rode a white horse and suddenly appeared at the front of the queue, ordering all the soldiers, "Draw your swords and run to chase these people. We are Pharaoh's army and only obey the sacred orders of Pharaoh." During the stone throwing, the Medger Guards shouted and jumped out, holding the Habaishi sword and killing people. The crowd rushed back to the city gate like a panicked swarm of ants, and there were trampled and dead bodies everywhere.

Inexplicably, a corner of Thebes started to catch fire, and the fire became more and more fierce. By the next morning, a quarter of the city had been reduced to ruins and ashes. Around noon, more than 2,000 river transport guards arrived at the northern river of the city and joined the more than 3,000 Medjiet Tomb Guards who were originally here. They set up a camp in a corner of Thebes, intending to besiege the city of gods.

In the past two thousand years, Thebes had never encountered such an embarrassing situation. Even the knowledgeable Penmaat was stunned. All this was like the bright sun in the sky, which was real. The Pharaoh's army on the opposite side was blatantly besieging and burning the city, and killing more than a thousand tenants who went to the armed demonstration. Thousands of people were injured and were lying in various temples, gardens, and squares, waiting for medicine and food. People died every moment.

At this time, outside the city, the centurion of Lepidus' army gathered the people and tenants who had been taken away before, and openly slandered Thebes to them, saying that the ancient roots of Thebes' gods were no longer effective. If you want to watch, our army will be able to flatten the entire city of gods in three days. In order to show that he was not talking nonsense, the Lepidus army actually asked the craftsmen accompanying the army to tinker with a stupid, big, black and rough new siege weapon. This weapon was made of huge cedar wood (originally prepared for shipbuilding, Lepidus asked to transport ten pieces), which was carefully hollowed out in the middle, and then iron plates were laid inside, and layers of animal skins were wrapped outside. At the end, a blower was made, and a cart and four wheels were installed below, lying under the wall of Thebes.

What is this thing? Such a stupid, big, black and rough thing was actually used to attack the city of gods?

The priests felt that the whole world was about to collapse.

Lepidus sent an ultimatum, "If you don't send a surrender envoy tomorrow, burn half of Thebes." This tone, like the mysterious weapon, is stupid, big, black, and hard.

When many priests gathered at Penmaat to listen to the high priest's judgment on the future situation, the respected him actually sat in a chair without saying a word, really not knowing whether to surrender or persist in the fight.

In the end, he just issued an ambiguous order, "Let the northwest corner of the city strengthen the defense and protect the crossbow of the foreign general. Wait for a market day for the time being," then the tenant army in Thebes began to repair the collapsed and burned northwest wall, and erected many linen curtains to defend against the Romans' stone bullets and arrows.

On the other side, Li Bi Da, who was standing in the city, saw that the ultimatum had no effect, so he waved his baton at the soldiers who were lined up in the siege formation, and the four big, black, rough and hard new weapons were pushed up with a rumble. (To be continued...)