Augustus Road

"Is there any bird like it that does not prey on its own kind?" - Ancient Romans praising the eagle

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The brown hillside was covered with stubby pine bushes, and the cautious Apis was on it, monitoring the entire Sixth Army's winding march on the road, although he believed that the final outcome of this war would not be at all possible. There is no optimism at all. Our own officers and soldiers will either die in battle or surrender, but this conscientious legion commander still has to persist until the last moment before accepting his fate.

In the cold wind, the number and actions of the Sixth Army Corps holding the eagle flag had long been detected by Hansk, the vanguard sent by Lepidus. This brave German rider led four hundred Mattian cavalry according to Lepidus' arrangements. The scale of the number is very strange - if you say it is reconnaissance, it is too large, but if you say it is combat, the scale is too small anyway.

Therefore, the mission dictated by Li Bida was "force reconnaissance", which meant that after detecting the movements of the Sixth Army, he would step forward to conduct small-scale combat with them to contain and delay them. "Top\u003ePoint" In the spirit of this novel, Hansk's cavalry whistled out from the hillside and fired arrows fiercely at the vanguard cavalry of the Apis Sixth Army. "There is a battle ahead!" shouted an urgent voice. The sound, mixed with the rapid whistles and trumpets, quickly reached Apis' command position on the hillside. The commander observed it carefully and said angrily, "The other side only has a few hundred cavalry. I The army should not set up camp to resist, just send a few wings of ala cavalry to disperse them!" Then! All the soldiers of the Sixth Army Corps obeyed his military orders. Maintain a tight and orderly column. Continuing to speed up in the direction of Taktun, they believed that this group of Mattia cavalry was indeed just an enemy raiding party.

After the Sixth Army accelerated, Scipio and the Eighth Army behind found it a bit difficult, because Pompey's father-in-law brought quite a lot of baggage from Ephesus, requiring nearly two thousand packhorses and mules to transport it. It contained equipment, food and supplies, but more of it contained soldiers' salaries. For a person of this level, money is the most fundamental driving force for his forward struggle and the strongest shackles to imprison himself.

Gradually, unconsciously, the distance between the two legions was widened, from three Roman miles, to five Roman miles, and finally to ten Roman miles.

Just like that, it was evening. Scipio was almost dead from exhaustion and ordered thousands of soldiers of the Eighth Legion who felt the same way as him. The bloated baggage team went to small wilderness to rest in the wind and snow. "Quickly, send the trumpeter and token officer to find Apis' legion and ask them to slow down and move back." Come closer to us."

At this time, in the dim and biting night, Scipio looked at the soldiers who were scattered everywhere, pulling pack horses, or preparing to set up tents to make fires for cooking, and then looked at the rugged mountains around the wasteland, and instinctively felt something in his heart. This uneasy feeling, and the tragic scene of the previous ambush in the Andabucian Mountains, reappeared before his eyes, so Scipio became very angry and ordered to arrange enough sentries and patrol cavalry to "defend our camp." stand up."

As a result, a shrill bugle sounded, with a dull sound similar to Parthian drums. It continued from all sides of the wasteland, far and near. The packhorses of the Eighth Army began to panic and fear, and they ran around uneasily. They were moving and screaming at each other, and the soldiers could easily tell that the sound they made was completely different from the trumpets of the Roman legions. "Beware of the enemy's attack, beware of the enemy's attack!" After all, the Eighth Army had many veterans. They threw their unloaded luggage and backpacks on the ground with a clatter, and then began to form a battle formation under the team logo.

After a while, the sound of the bronze drum became louder and louder. With the cold night with flying snowflakes, the feeling was simply terrifying, a dull and long sound, like the call of Hades.

I don't know which soldier was the first to exclaim. Now Scipio looked up. On the hillsides in all directions, there were raised pines everywhere, shadows of men and horses shaking like ghosts, weird bone whistles, shouts and The unknown chanting sound surged like a tidal wave.

It was obvious that he and the Eighth Army were surrounded by the enemy's cavalry, and this group of cavalry was interspersed very delicately. It was after careful reconnaissance that it detoured along the gap between him and Apis's troops.

A ray of flame suddenly rose from in front of the forest on the western hillside, and then shot out into countless strands, falling into the middle of the team of packhorses who were screaming and running around. The improved Salmonto cannon pulled by the four packhorses shot them there. All the cork rockets mounted in chutes were fired towards Scipio's legions. This cork rocket has also been improved, with small holes drilled at appropriate positions in the middle, and the formula of the burning agent has been improved. This allows it to emit a whistling sound and flash that scares the enemy when it flies. When it passed over the heads of Scipio's soldiers, it indeed caused great confusion and panic. Those who could still calm down and lined up were rushed to pieces by the running and jumping pack horses.

Then, the whole wilderness was filled with the sound of weapons being exchanged and the thunder of horse hooves, "There are enemies over there too!" At some point, on the hillside to the north, Lepidus' army also erected several samontoga gates, and in the sharp Amidst the roar, the rolling rockets trailed strange spark tails and penetrated into the gaps in Scipio's troops.

But when Scipio's army launched a counterattack, they could not find any way. The enemy had obviously become an expert in chaos and would flexibly use horses and terrain, constantly shooting arrows and throwing spears, forcing the Eighth Legion to constantly reorganize its formation and clumsily move its left and right wings. In the smoke and fire melee, Scipio's two cavalry captains, with more than ten cavalrymen and guides, rushed to the mountain road outside the wilderness, trying to get in touch with Apis's Sixth Legion as soon as possible and ask the other side to come to the rescue as soon as possible.

"Rex, Lius!" Suddenly, a group of people rushed out from the mountain pass and shouted such a command in Latin to the two cavalry captains, making the other side at a loss.

As a result, the group of people saw that the command did not match, and without saying a word, they shot a row of arrows, killing several cavalrymen immediately. The two captains escorted the guides and retreated down the hillside in a panic, and then led a centurion infantry to attack upwards, trying to open the passage as soon as possible. But the archery skills of that team were extremely skilled, and the arrows flew like water. In addition, the Samontoga cannons in various places occasionally shot out shrill whistling fire arrows, which illuminated the target. So they gnawed at this nail. After gnawing for two sentries, one cavalry captain was killed and another was injured. Then they rushed over, and saw a dozen cavalry corpses dressed as barbarians lying on the mountain, still holding bowstrings in their hands, and arrows scattered on the ground.

But at this time, even if they rushed over, it would be meaningless, because the thousands of cavalry sent by Lepid to attack the Eighth Legion retreated one by one before dawn. (To be continued...)