Chapter 20: Medjet Guards (Part 2)

Although the weather is still scorching hot, the countryside they pass through has regained its vitality. Farmers herd their flocks into the fields, eat weeds, and trample the land to prevent the fruits or seeds they planted from being eaten by birds. After eating, the aroma of onions, garlic and fennel seeds wafts everywhere in the farmyard. This is because they are worshiping the family god Peters, which means that the entire area has been truly reconstructed after the war.

The family members of the Nubian soldiers stood on both sides of the road where Lepidus passed, holding steaming meals. They half-knelt and begged the commander, "Please let me have a taste first." Sabo next to him was about to reach for it. As a result, he was whipped by Lepidus. Then he saluted everyone on the horse according to Egyptian etiquette, and then happily took the food. After eating it without any grudge, he praised the delicious taste and respectfully thanked everyone for their kindness. , and wished their fathers, husbands and sons good luck in serving in the new regiment.

Then they inspected the blacksmithing workshops further away, where most of the Nubian soldiers and their families worked. Nubian blacks were best at three things, hunting, mining and forging. They went to Nubian The land is actually very fertile, but because they do not know how to farm, they are still at the primitive level of hunting to obtain food. Therefore, the Egyptians slowly penetrated into their land and established river fortresses and farmland, while the Nubians were not incorporated into it. The Pharaoh's army served as archers, working in the mines and selling large amounts of gold and pure copper at low prices in exchange for food grown by the Egyptians. The blacksmithing workshop is operating very well and is producing hundreds of sets of copper armor, as well as a large number of arrow clusters, daggers and helmets.

Then, Lepidus brought several followers without wearing any armor. He entered the camp of the "Serapis Legion" on the island.

"Perhaps we should go in with the Spanish sword guard." Sabo was two furlongs in front of the main gate of the camp. Awake.

"What. When I inspect other troops, I don't need to bring the swordsman guard with me." Lepida replied.

"But this is a newly surrendered team, and Commander, if you organize them into a separate team and go on patrol with such a small number of people, you will be in danger."

Lepidus smiled and said nothing, then rode his eye-catching white horse and walked directly into the camp gate of the Serapis Legion. The two Nubian sentries standing above were surprised and did not even have time to blow the bugle. Throughout the camp, some black soldiers were twisting the hemp rope used for camping, some were carrying wood to the construction site on Sepi Island, and some were practicing in formation. They saw the Commander-in-Chief coming in on foot with a smile on his face, leading a white horse. Finally, they all hurriedly abandoned what they were doing and stood at attention to salute.

At this time, Arp, who was training his men in front of the small square, turned around and saw the commander-in-chief who was slowly walking towards this side. All the surrounding Medjet people gathered around and whispered to Alp in low voices. Arp's eyes flashed fiercely, he closed his thick lips, touched the bell of his right ear, then took the bow and arrow, and walked towards Lepidus head-on. Behind him were about a hundred Medjet warriors. They all followed with swords and bows.

"Your Excellency, Commander, I'm standing in front of you, get on your horse and leave!" Seeing the menacing Medjet people, Sabo nervously protected the commander behind him, then pulled out his fighting sword, preparing to sacrifice his life for charity.

Then Arp suddenly knelt down ten Roman feet away, pulled out the dagger, carved a blood mark on his face, then stained the blood on the bow and arrow, and kneeled in front of Liepida, "Madejie." Human bows and arrows are willing to be dedicated to the Lord Commander. We are eager to fight by your side. We swear to God Amun that we will no longer care about our lives and blood. I hope that the Commander-in-Chief will take over my bow and arrows. "

Lepidus took Alp's bow with a serious expression, and then hung it on the owl's horn saddle.

Finally, three hundred Medjeans lined up in a column of four, carrying sophisticated bows and arrows, wearing sickle-shaped swords named "Habais", and wearing light leather and copper plate armor, following Lepidus out of the camp. ——From now on, Lepidus announced that his guard had forty Spanish swordsmen, plus this "Medger Guard". The captain was Arp. He and his guard would not accept the command of anyone, not even the chief lieutenant. , chief centurion, or military tribune, he only obeyed orders from Lepidus. Even if Lepidus asked him to kill the Pharaoh, he would take the order.

When the bridge on Sepi was completed, the Pharaoh's royal ships arrived unharmed at the half-collapsed naval fortress and anchored. Lepidus was ready to use it - he only took with him the Medje guard and important generals (at this time Petnaeus also pulled out the camp of Ito and led his troops to join them.) lined up on the spacious platform of the fortress, the flute player and all the royal entourage climbed up the stairs, and then hugged Lepidus intimately, "I still come from The island is coming, because I don’t want to see the face of that guy Gabinus, but I still like to stay with you, my comrade! How about, those rebel generals and despicable black mercenaries have all died under your sword. Come on, it must be like this.”

Then the flute player and Little Queen saw three hundred neatly organized black soldiers behind each other, with their heads raised and beating the snare drum and fork bells. Their expressions could not change slightly, but Lepidah gave the first explanation: "Your Majesty, we The army was short of resources, and Pelusim was just the first step. I was about to fight the Hormashi Legion. The military strength I had on hand was not enough. Therefore, I collected prisoners of war, who were all the subjects and slaves of the Pharaoh. , also has superb bow and arrow shooting skills, which will be of great use on the battlefield. "

"Of course, my comrade, you have the final say on the battlefield!" The flute player was a smart man and didn't want to give too much advice to this capable general. Then he stroked Lepidus' back and began to inspect the bridge that Lepidus wanted to show off to him, and prepared to go to the fortress, where four warriors were awarded "bravery gold".

"By the way, where is that bastard Otto Aarons?"

"Oh, that's right. After surrendering, this guy disappeared in a prisoner rebellion. I don't know whether he died or escaped." Lepidus answered calmly.

Fortunately, the flute player was not particularly interested in the survival of this guy, so he shrugged his shoulders, and the team walked out of the small fortress on Sepi Island and began to go to Pelusium along the temporary bridge.

"I will take out 200 talents to repair the fortifications on this island. The docks and dormitories have been decayed. We can build a naval base here to attack Alexandria. We can build a simple lighthouse and store food. This will be our strongest support for crossing the Shul Desert." Lepidus suggested to Pharaoh when crossing the bridge. The flute player smiled and nodded, indicating his full agreement. (To be continued...)