Augustus Road

"As long as a donkey carrying gold can get around to the back door, there is no castle that cannot be conquered." Alexander's father, the one-eyed King Philip of Macedonia

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On a rare green hillside in Garamantes, the old royal city is located here. Now it has been renovated and serves as a temporary palace for Lepidus. The Cyrenaica king is happily moving his family's A blue toga was draped over his shoulders, and he was sitting on an armchair with a laurel leaf crown on his head, looking intently into the distance.

On his front and side, several Cretan sculptors who came to Kiel Island are carefully observing the models and making prototypes of the king's bust. In the future, these will be enlarged ten times or even larger and placed in the temple. In front of the door. Lepidus's rule was to demolish all military fortresses in the kingdom, and all nobles and people must live in the three newly built temples in an undefended and walled city. However, he came from Serapis Two large groups of men and horses were taken out of the legion to stay. One was stationed in the small and strong acropolis of the old royal city (this was the only remaining fortress), and the other was stationed in the military camp next to the Temple of the Hunting Goddess.

At this time, Sabo held a stack of writing boards and said with some worry: "Your Majesty, Commander-in-Chief, you have been lingering here for too long! Even Basatus in Sicily sent questions because of Cyrene's The city-state army is on the verge of collapse. If we don't take action, there are only two options before them: die in battle or hand over the fortress and surrender."

Unexpectedly, Li Bida's expression was full of indifference. "If the city-state of Cyrene is not completely destroyed, how will I, the newly crowned king, handle my position?" It seems that this man is determined to sit on the mountain and watch the fight between tigers and tigers. So now he makes any pre-war preparations carefully and meticulously, so that his mission to Cyrenaica is foolproof.

He had previously given three thousand talents of private property in Cyprus and Egypt. Except for giving five hundred to Julia, the rest were all awarded to legion generals, centurions and soldiers, and there were also a large number of gifts to Esio nobles - originally, the nobles of this tribe only had some privileges when distributing lizard meat, but now it is different. Lepidus asked the Egyptian and Greek orchestras, jewelers, and hoop makers to come in. The Ethiopian nobles quickly understood the beauty of those round coins made of gold and silver. Like other nobles in the world, they began to drink Wine, play with pigeons and other pets, wear expensive jewelry that symbolizes status and wealth, carefully carve the chariot left by the Garamantes people, and sit on it to patrol his own land.

When these people's ambitions are all about how to eat, drink and have fun, they will become more and more afraid of losing this kind of life, and their fighting spirit will become weaker and weaker.

After a while. The order came in, saying that it was transformed by an Egyptian mechanic named Gable. The range problem of small bellows guns has been effectively improved. On the campus of the Royal City, Lepidus stood under a parasol and saw the improved bellows cannon. If he looked carefully, he saw that it was actually a double-headed bronze pressure pump. Gabe, who had slightly dark skin and a linen skirt around his lower body, came over respectfully. He bowed to Lepidus and said that his invention was entirely dedicated to the war effort of His Excellency the Commander-in-Chief, and hoped that it would be of some use.

Lepidus waved and smiled at him, and asked the technician to demonstrate the use process of this improved bellows gun.

"The filling in this pressure pump is improved fuel, mainly sulfur, salt, rice oil, fig juice and a small amount of asphalt, which has been carefully ground and mixed. There is a fuel-coated fuel in front of the nozzle. To use the heat-resistant iron ring, a skilled gunner needs to use a red-hot iron to light it." At the same time as Gable said, the gunners next to him began to follow his instructions, "Left and right. Each has a pullable piston that can be automatically reset, which can greatly increase the pressure and enhance the range of this bellows gun." As he spoke, the gunner in front stretched out the red soldering iron towards the nozzle with a somewhat fearful expression. The iron ring immediately caught fire, and the gunner immediately retreated to a safe distance. The two gunners kept twitching the pistons on both sides with sweat on their faces. The fire made a loud noise and sprayed out to the ground thirty or forty Roman feet away. place, attached to a target made of wood, and burned to ashes.

"Bah bang bang!" Lepidus clapped happily. What Gable did was exactly what he wanted. Then the commander-in-chief asked with concern about Gable's life experience. The man replied with sincerity. , he was a carpenter in Memphis, and later came to Alexandria to work as a shipbuilding technician. Later, the fleet was destroyed, and all the remaining ships were divided between Cassius and Lepidus. He entered the army system of Lepidus, and then heard that The commander-in-chief wanted to improve the bellows cannon, so he boldly submitted his name to the Soldiers Committee.

"Very good. You have been appointed as the engineering chief of the Serapis Legion, responsible for overseeing and operating the newly built bellows cannon. In addition, you will be rewarded with a talent of silver."

Ten days later, the well-prepared Lepidus army left the Kingdom of Caramantheas and began to march towards the cape area in the northwest of Libya. Under the guidance of the guide Ethyo, they found a small trade route and encountered some oases and water sources along the way, which was a great help. Because the military season was late autumn, they did not encounter the damage of the south wind from the desert. At this time, the soldiers of the Cyrenaica king, no matter where they came from before, all had dark faces, wore loose short shirts and skirts, and their strong and thin legs moved flexibly and rhythmically on the sand. Thirteen days later, they finally saw green. After crossing the southern slope of Mount Atlas, there were suddenly a large number of trees and springs in the north. At the source of the Tostung River, they also found the Apollo Spring mentioned by the Ethiopians. Legend has it that after the Greek immigrants arrived there, the sky split open and rain fell for forty days, which accumulated into this spring (actually a large inland lake). The Tostung River originated there.

The Romans hurriedly cut wood and set up fences by the lake to measure the circumference and size of the camp. At this time, it was obvious that the Hashidi riot army on the other side of the Tost River Valley also discovered the sudden appearance of Lepidus. They became alert. After sending out scouts for reconnaissance, they found that the flags of the Egyptians and the Romans appeared in this army at the same time, and they confirmed each other's identities.

In the evening, several cavalrymen galloped on the grass and were stopped by soldiers at the main gate of the camp. Then they introduced themselves as believers of the Hashidi sect and hoped to meet General Lepidus. (To be continued...)