Augustus Road

"If you laugh like a donkey, try to laugh less!" - Ovid's advice to ancient Roman women

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Faced with Angantinus's question, Lepidus was very confident. He said in front of many soldiers and officers that if they abandoned these high hills and mountain walls and rushed to the swamp to rescue the governor, they would just be trapped in the open plains and be surrounded by the Parthian cavalry as before. If we go to Ikne City first, we will get a strong city defense and proper supplies, and then compete with the enemy cavalry.

As expected, most of the officers and soldiers, including the four battalions of Angantinus, agreed with Lepidus' plan, because everyone's spirit was really dragged down by the battles of the previous few days. They were not willing to take risks again. Now they followed Lepidus's battalion of infantry and cavalry, and had sufficient supplies. They felt very safe. It was absolutely impossible for them to rush back to the desert dunes.

This vote was almost one-sided. Even Angondinus himself quickly joined Lepidus's camp and expressed his willingness to wait for orders. After the whole army rested for a while on Gaofu, they returned with the female knight in silver-plated horse armor, saying that the fifty stadia ahead were full of dead bodies of Romans, and they had not seen the flags and figures of Cassius's troops who served as the rear guard.

"Did they all get killed? Not really." Lepidus thought to himself.

In fact, last night, Cassius also secretly left the rear guard line with his troops. He was uneasy at the beginning. He was not prepared to be buried with Crassus. But he deliberately wanted to bring out the most elite First Legion. But after breaking out of Carrhae. Crassus made personnel adjustments and asked him to command the third legion, which was the second to last in combat power, to be responsible for the rear guard. It was clear that he was going to sacrifice him because Octavius ​​was Pompey's trusted general, but in Crassus' eyes, he was a man of Cato the Younger and had no practical value for use and promotion.

Since he could not lead a legion and could not go with the third legion, he could only take care of himself. When the Parthian cavalry chased up and started the battle, Cassius asked the Arab guide beside him. The guide told him to wait until the moon sank and then retreat to the direction of Ikne City. But Cassius was unwilling to stay in this damn desert for even a second. He gathered 500 cavalry and deceived the centurion of the infantry, saying that you should hold the front line here first and delay the enemy as much as possible. I will lead the cavalry to explore the way ahead 20 furlongs. At that time, I will use the bugle to contact you.

But after gaining the trust of the infantry, Cassius fled. According to his own explanation, he was disgusted with the stupid behavior of the Syrian governor. No longer swore to obey him, so this was not "escape" but "leaving the battle line", not to mention that the Romans had no battle line and clear orders at that time, and everyone was looking for their own way out. No one could be blamed, and there was no need to blame themselves for such behavior. Cassius took the Arabs as guides and led the 500 cavalrymen. Instead of heading north to Ikne, he chose a more dangerous and desolate road. Although it was unknown and there was no water source or supplies, as long as he rode fast, he could reach Sinaca in a short time and then go to Jukma.

The eight battalions of the Third Legion soldiers he abandoned were almost all slaughtered by the Parthians and Arabs who came. Most of the dead bodies that Heleptina and Elcapa saw just now were left by these soldiers.

Since the organized resistance had all collapsed, there was no need for Lepidus to go there to collect the bodies. He urgently ordered several legions to use the cavalry as flank guards and the entire army quickly advanced towards Ikne.

On the vast plains of the Sinaka Mountains, the Parthian light cavalry, who were galloping with bows and arrows on their backs, were surprised to find that a huge Roman legion appeared along the mountains, marching westward in a direction parallel to them. All their cavalry stood on the outermost line, holding a huge shield on the left side of the body with a leather buckle on the arm. This shield was different from those of the Celts, Macedonians and even the Romans themselves. It was a long and narrow teardrop shape, and the part extending downwards just covered the cavalry's most vulnerable ankles. The infantry on the outer line did the same, forming a very long moving shield wall, trapping the rest of the soldiers and pack horses and baggage between the shield wall and the mountain wall. This really made it difficult for the Parthian light cavalry. When they shot arrows from the side, the Roman infantry on the outermost line slowed down their pace, squatted slightly and raised their huge shields, and then the arrows pierced up with a crackling sound, but there was no obvious penetration and lethality like the previous Gallic cavalry. The shields of Lepidus' troops were obviously prepared. After seeing the power of the Parthian recurve bows, he instructed Gabe and Sabo and others to supervise the work and modify the soldiers' shields. In fact, the content of the modification was very simple: copper and iron bars were used to simply reinforce the edges and core positions. Although the weight increased, the protection jumped by more than one level. The actual results now show that in this game of "spear Ming" and "bow and arrow Ming", or shield and arrow, Surena surpassed Crassus, but now he encountered Lepidus who was well prepared, and the situation was reversed.

In this way, after a whistle, Lepidus' shield wall was defending in place, and after the Parthians shot arrows, it stood up again, slowly and steadily stuck to the mountains, and moved forward unswervingly towards the goal.

When the intelligence of this "Cheng Yaojin" who showed up halfway reached Surena's ears, he was surprised and panicked. This was very rare for this nobleman, because if this team broke in and disrupted the battle, it would inevitably delay his desire to capture Crassus. So when Serhis went to him exhausted to ask for instructions, he discussed with his guide Akbarus and learned that there was a ridge between Ikni and Lepidus's route, like a "branch" next to the Sinaca Mountains, but even this "branch" was nearly ten stadia thick, separating the entire swamp from the plain, and there were many passes and canyons in between.

"Drive Crassus to Ikni as soon as possible, and block the uninvited guest from the remaining vein. I will lead the team to implement the former, and the latter will be handed over to you, General." Surena's arrangement actually made Serhis extremely dissatisfied. This was obviously a tough job for him to do, and the pursuit and great credit were given to Surena. Why? I am also a noble from the Great Rong Clan. Originally, you transferred me from Seluriah City without authorization, which made me lose a credit for no reason. Now I am following you and eating sand and drinking wind, and you treat me like this. Are you the only one among the seven great Rong clans "Pahlavi"?

But Serhis did not get angry in front of him, but nodded his head and rode away. (To be continued...)