Augustus Road

"Warlords maintain their power through destruction and death. Once they can survive this power, they will gain the eternal courage to fight against it." - Nevak

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This side of the Ouse River is a combination of shallows and forests, and there is also a simple abandoned dam. Lepidar was very satisfied with this terrain, and then he sent Sabo as a military supervisor to rush to the city of Asamangal, carrying his seal of "King of Cyrenaica" and mobilizing the Serapis Legion to rush there - leaving four battalions for Selha to lead to continue besieging and monitoring the castle, and the remaining six battalions arrived at the Ouse River under the command of Alp, ready to annihilate the reinforcements of the Garamantes.

On the other side of the river, Antony, who received Lepidus' death order, asked all the Vipicinus people to jump off their horses and use bows and arrows to continuously block and delay the enemy. The attached cavalry brigade was actually no less than the chief thousand-man brigade, with more than a thousand Gaul cavalry. After entering Egypt, 300 foreign horse archers were specially selected to enhance the combat power. So Antony discussed with Dusongville and asked the Gaul chieftain to lead most of his troops to form a formation to harass the enemy's advance. He led 300 horse archers to continuously counterattack the infantry flank behind the chariot of Garamanthes, using volleys of arrows to kill and interfere with the enemy.

All day and night, the cavalry was fighting with the chariot of Garamanthes, while Lepidus and several slave soldiers on the river bank stood motionless on the river beach, waiting for Alp to bring the main force of the Serapis Legion here. After the second sentry, these black soldiers arrived at their destination in units of a hundred men. "Assholes. You think you are here to rest? That's a big mistake. Remember that you are now a Roman legion, and your skin color is suitable for moving in the dark - build a simple barrier for me, check your bows and spears, and stick your shields in the sand!" Lepidus shouted loudly, using flags and flames to mark the positions of the troops on each wing, and let these people busy themselves. Now the most similar thing between black soldiers and legions is that while carrying the Habaishi sword (a self-defense weapon similar to the Assyrian sword, the blade is curved and easy to block), they also carry pickaxes and shovels in their backpacks, and build frantically.

When the dawn broke, the exhausted Vipicinus cavalry followed the pre-arranged arrangement. Many people held the tails of the horses in front of them, fell on the saddles, waded across the Osai River in rows, and entered the rear positions. Many people fell asleep in the middle of the luggage as soon as they got off the horse. The remaining tasks depended on the six battalions of the Serapis Legion for the time being!

Lepidus divided everyone into three wings. They lined up in an irregular shape along the river bank. The Alp on the right wing was the strongest, with a total of three battalions. The center and left wings each had one battalion - and the Lepidians, with Serapis's chief battalion, the Medet Guards and another infantry battalion, lurked behind the dense forest and the dam, just behind the left wing.

To prevent exposure, Lepidus ordered the lurking soldiers to cover the reflections of their shields and spear tips with linen. The whole forest was filled with fierce murderous aura, like a dark cloud mixed with bronze.

About a day later, the Garamanthes found that the Roman cavalry that had been harassing them had retreated to the other side of the river. For the sake of caution, they let the accompanying infantry go in front, and all the chariots rumbled and lined up on the left wing side by side. This position was more convenient for the driver's vision and for the crew soldiers to throw javelins and stab spears.

Their infantry discovered that yesterday, the Romans had about 3,000 to 4,000 soldiers from nowhere. Unlike the white guys they had fought before, they were all black people of the same race. Half of them were armed with bows and arrows, and the other half were armed with spears. They formed temporary fortifications with shields, wooden boards, and sand piles, and blocked the Osai River.

It seems that they need to continue to break through! At this time, Garamantes keenly observed that the opponent's formation was not regular, and the right wing facing the chariot was obviously much weaker, so the following battle plan was easily finalized: the accompanying infantry would contain the Romans' left wing, while the chariot was mainly responsible for tearing the right wing, and then turn around to attack the middle wing, and then outflank and annihilate the opponent's left wing.

Aren't these black soldiers the Nubians of Egypt! Based on hundreds of years of experience fighting them, there is nothing to be afraid of.

After making up their minds, the elite chariot warriors of the Garamantheis ignored the fatigue of the days of fighting (they were obviously more tired than the Vipicinas, but the other side's adaptability to the environment was not as good as theirs), shouted and drove the chariots, scrambling to wade across the Osai River, splashing water high, like a group of arrogant crocodiles in the Nile.

Over there, the accompanying infantry also formed a team and fought with Alp's left wing in the shallow water. The vanguards of both sides used spears and light leather shields. Compared with the strict Macedonian phalanx, this kind of fight was more free. The soldiers on both sides dodged in the light and shadow of the spear tips piercing each other, and some directly drew their swords to kill, and it was difficult to tell the difference for a while.

The battle situation first broke through on the chariot side. The elite warriors of the Garamantheas charged forward, crushing the light wooden shields set up by the Romans, and dashing past the javelins and arrows shot by the black soldiers, and rushed directly behind the enemy's right wing. The situation was natural. Lepidus' right wing began to collapse, and the soldiers of the Serapis Legion threw away their weapons and fled to a forest on the side.

Quite a few chariots were so excited about killing that they forgot the pre-planned attack on the enemy's center and left wings and began to chase the enemy's defeated soldiers. However, they saw the defeated soldiers jumping into the dark forest, where there was a trench covered with branches. At this time, Garamantesi realized that something was wrong, so he shouted at the horses and stopped in front of the trench. In an instant, a row of flaming javelins and arrows flew out of the dense forest, and several chariots in front were immediately killed. Whistles, bugles and drums sounded, and people were everywhere, startling the chariots behind Garamantesi. They were so scared that they were crowded together and could not turn around in the narrow strip of land. "Charge forward without hesitation!" Commander-in-Chief Lepidus shouted, raised two fingers and stretched them out, riding a white horse out of the forest and across the trench. Soldiers behind him also came out one after another, and then half-knelt and shot arrows. In the "whoosh" sound of breaking wind, arrow feathers flew everywhere, posing a huge threat to the tightly packed chariots. Many drivers were covered with arrows when turning back, and they were dying in the driving seat. The passengers behind them could only jump down, holding spears to fight, but they were easily shot or stabbed to death by the Romans.

All of Lepidus's ambushing troops rushed out, charging forward with their spears held horizontally, or shooting javelins and arrows non-stop. One by one, Garamantheus's chariots were destroyed, captured, or abandoned. They were originally preparing to attack the Romans from both sides, but were ambushed instead. The chariots on the left wing were destroyed in a short time. (To be continued...)