Chapter 27: Hashidi Riots (Part 2)

Oh, no, respected Lepidus, you are actively self-exiled. My impeachment against you has been successful. The Republic will exile you for two years, and your destination is Gaul where Caesar is. But I think you must have stayed in exile for two years to reflect on yourself, because Caesar will take care of everything for you. As for me, Triari, although Cassius looks down on my ability, I will never waste the money of my supporters. The position of tribune seems to have been decided for me, because I am well versed in the dark rules of Roman politics. So I followed your request and spent a full three hundred talents through the Jewish slave under Pompey to gain Pompey's trust and let him recognize me as a person worthy of reliance.

This is where I am better than Maximus, because the latter has nothing left except fighting or his head full of stubborn and outdated republican ideas like porphyry, because Pompey deprived him of the right to "eat"!

Very good, it seems that the play is being performed according to the pre-arranged arrangements. Libida lay on the couch on the terrace and admired the green in front of him. He remembered that there was a proverb in my dynasty before, "One cannon shot is worth a thousand taels of gold." This saying is still applicable in this era. Since the expedition to Cyprus and Egypt, my private wealth has expanded to more than 2,000 talents, and there are 5,000 talents used in the funds for operating the legion and fleet. Just from several mines in Upper Nubia, there are 80 talents of surplus invested in the fleet fund every year. Ships are manufactured in the docks of Alexandria, and naval fortresses are built on Sepi Island. Egypt's customs taxes are intercepted and managed by me. I have a commission on various businesses in the Jewish district. I have also attracted many close knights in Rome (all of whom were willing to lend to me before. They have vision) to come and serve as tax farmers and administrators. Take care of everything.

The Serapis Legion and the Thirteenth Legion have already brought full equipment and luggage. After the assembly was completed in the suburbs of Alexandria, Lepidus selected some soldiers from the river transport guards, border guards and tomb guards to form three separate auxiliary battalions to accompany the battle. In this way, a total of 15,000 troops were assembled. After that, Lepidus discussed with the generals and officers and reorganized the organization. The archer battalion and cavalry artillery of the 13th Legion were separated to form another auxiliary battalion. The rest of the soldiers followed the Roman custom and fought in a unified posture of heavy infantry. The Serapis Legion did the same, but instead of using fighting swords, they used Egyptianized Habaishi swords and light leather shields adapted to desert combat, with five light javelins inserted in the grooves of the shield plate.

In April, Crassus, who had assumed the office of consul, finally sent a declaration of war and a token, ordering "the legions closest to Cyrenaica. Whether regular or auxiliary, rush to the Barca Castle. Suppress the uprising of the Hassids. The army is directly under the control of the consul and is not subject to the jurisdiction of any provincial governor."

In addition, because the commander-in-chief was still an exile, Crassus played a trick through Triari, who had been elected as a tribune. That is, through the meeting of the Centuriate, Caesar's confidant Basatus was appointed as the commander of the 13th Legion of Illyria to command the Cyrene War. In fact, Basatus stopped when he reached Sicily and became a "rubber map". In Sicily, he received a luxurious villa purchased and gifted by Lepidus' wife Julia, and lived a comfortable life of meditation philosophy. Therefore, the actual command of the expedition was naturally in the hands of the Roman exile and King of Cyrenaica in Egypt.

In addition, there was a dangerous episode in the middle. The great Pompey also wanted to intervene in the Cyrene War and was ready to send Gabinus there, but Lepidus obviously had a trick up his sleeve: the horse bandits Compano, who had been entrenched in Lusitania, suddenly crossed several rivers in the early spring, broke through the fragile interception of the garrison, and ravaged the mountainous areas in the northeast of Spain. Together with the local Celts, they plundered everywhere. Pompey had no choice but to give up Cyrene and put his spare auxiliary legion into the cleanup activities.

"This time, we will march from the Samones area, where there are still some oases scattered around, and it is not difficult to obtain supplies." Obviously, Lepidus did not have much confidence in his new fleet. Although the number of ships was sufficient, the quality of the oarsmen and combatants was insufficient. Many of them were from the fleet that was temporarily recruited before. These people only had experience in sailing stable merchant ships (in that era, merchant ships and flat-bottomed river boats were much easier and more comfortable than rowing warships). To form combat effectiveness, at least half a year to a year of training time is needed.

This is the root cause of the expeditionary army taking the land route. Lepidus did not wear the clothes of a Roman general this time, but wore the blue feather crown of the King of Cyrenaica, carried a mobile tent that was comparable to that of the Pharaoh, left the royal city garrison to the first battalion of the 12th Legion, and then marched towards the settlement area of ​​the Samones tribe.

For this expedition, Lepidus put a lot of effort into logistics. He bought many pack horses and camels, and carried a considerable amount of wine, goat cheese and grain, which were transported on two-wheeled light vehicles. This type of vehicle is very suitable for traveling in desert wastelands. In order to have sufficient psychological expectations for the siege of Cyrene, he also carried a lot of new or old siege equipment, which were disassembled and shipped on the vehicles, and cavalry were sent to accompany the team for close protection.

There are four main ethnic groups in Libya, among which the Samones live on the eastern edge of the desert. When Lepidus' army crossed the border of this black kingdom, they were rushing to catch locusts. All the villages were catching these green insects. They believed that these terrifying flying insects flew out from a deep abyss in the distant desert. Then every household put the locusts under the scorching sun to dry, then crushed them and mixed them with goat milk and cow milk for consumption. When Lepidus' soldiers passed through the village, many residents also took out these "locust milkshakes" to offer to those passing by. Lepidus threw them away after seeing them, and Alp and Hebrida, who were guarding the flag beside him, took a look at the green milk and drank it up happily. Then several soldiers who were supposed to be in the marching column were chased out with sticks by the equally half-naked local women. As a result, they were caught by the discipline officer and were to be put in solitary confinement.

Finally, the local elders came out to plead for mercy, because the women of Samone were "hybrids", and as long as they put a stick at the door, any man could go in and have fun, but they had to leave gifts. The soldiers just went to have fun but did not bring gifts, and were chased and beaten by the women with sticks. (To be continued...)