Chapter 29 Sweep (Part 2)
Under the guidance of the extremely excited Ethiopians, the Cyrenaica King's army, which was very cautious and stopped, arrived at the border of the Kingdom of Garamantes ten days later. All the passes in the crimson mountain range of Tadia were built into fortresses.
The first thing Lepidus and his party saw was the flames shooting out fiercely between the sand and the valley. Rows of them formed a wall of fire that was ten or twenty Roman feet high. Many soldiers were very surprised and also aroused a lot of fear. .
"This is a surface oil fire, brought in natural gas, etc., and it's all ignited now." Of course Lepidah understood in his heart, but he really couldn't figure out what shortcuts there were to conquering this barbaric kingdom. He could only I was secretly glad that most of the Vipicinas cavalry had suffered from heat stroke before. Otherwise, they might have been blocked in front of this pass and the whole army would be annihilated. In that case, I would have lost an arm.
Later, Hebrida, the chief centurion of the Thirteenth Legion, came to inquire about setting up a camp. Lepidus immediately said that there were pillars of fire in front and back, and there was no clean water source within dozens of miles, so why should we set up a camp? Your 1,000-man brigade will serve as the main force and give me all the strength to seize the small fortress in the mountain pass. Only by breaking through can we gain hope.
The chief brigade immediately put down their equipment, sat down at the pass and started eating. After drinking the goat's milk and eating the bread (they hadn't eaten fresh vegetables for a long time), they started to move forward in formation. This Gala in the mountain pass fortress The Mantesians were frightened. This was just a fight without saying hello, so they began to throw various weapons, including bricks and other weapons, at the Roman soldiers forming a turtle formation below. Torches. And the javelin. It hit hard. But it still can't stop the opponent's progress.
When they got closer, Hebrida was delighted to find that the Garamantes' chariot-fighting skills were first-class, but their civil engineering was inferior to that of the Romans. Their fortresses were simply clay slabs. Wall, with a lead-covered wooden door in the middle. Probably due to the lack of wood in the natural environment, it was so backward that there was no urn behind the city gate. After receiving the information, Lepidus immediately sent the archer group and the small bellows cannon up. Facts have proved that he had the foresight to create this miniaturized thing. Otherwise, the big black tube bellows cannon would not have been able to perform in such a narrow terrain. Open.
The tortoise shell formation now spread out into a horizontal formation, which was the covering formation of the Roman legionnaires. Under the cover of the front and oblique upper shields, the siege equipment could reach the nearby fortress relatively calmly. The oval shields were carried on the back. Bellows gunner, dragging the small round can. Braving the pouring stones and bricks, he struggled to lean against the lead door of Garamantes. They are not allowed to shout loudly, damn it, the spray distance of this thing is only fifteen to twenty Roman feet!
Since the number of guards was too small, and the people of Garamanthes rushed out, they were destined to be no match for this thousand-man brigade in hand-to-hand combat. Therefore, when the four small bellows guns were lined up, there was no counterattack or counterattack. The "water dragons" quickly flew towards the lead-clad door, which was covered with white and sticky mysterious liquid. Then Arp in the rear formation blew the bone whistle, and the Medjet archers would wrap the linen strips and burning asphalt. The arrows concentrated like red raindrops and shot into the door of the fortress. The fire soon burst out. The Roman soldiers nearby could not bear the heat wave and retreated one after another. Even the gunners threw away the small round cans in fear. Open and run backwards.
Several waves of fire burst out one after another, and the entire pass was burning. Not only were the enemies screaming and running away with the flames, but the Romans themselves were also the same. Some soldiers and gunners were burned alive because they were unable to dodge. Lepidus saw the tumbling fire. Honglian Yehuo was also surprised and regretful. It seemed that he thought the use of firearms was too simple. These gadgets often do more harm to one's own personnel.
But no matter what, after two moments, the lead-clad wooden door at the pass was completely burned, and the wall was dark, twisted and collapsed. The charred corpses of both the enemy and ourselves were scattered in the ruins, and then Tus. Polo led The pioneer centurion quickly crossed the pass holding the team logo, and there was a vast wheat field below. Sure enough, this mountain range was a natural barrier for the Garamantes, blocking the hot wind in the desert, and the temperature in the inner kingdom was pleasant ( Of course compared to the desert), there are simple water channels running across it, dotted with rows of date palm trees, swaying in the wind.
Due to the decisive battle of the Romans, they only lost less than fifty men and broke through the pass. When about fifty Garamante chariots and two to three thousand infantry arrived, they were three meters away from Lepidus' army. When Furlong was at a distance, the opponent's chief observed for a moment, then turned around and fled with the convoy. As for the infantry, they seemed to disperse and evacuate, probably to garrison the nearby fortress to contain the Romans from further advancing!
What followed was a sweeping locust tactic: the Romans demolished and filled up a village in the middle of a wheat field, opened up canals to drain water, and dug independent channels to bring fresh water into the camp to prevent the Garamantes. Poison in between. Then Lepidus ordered the erection of three forts arranged in a "pin" shape, stipulating that the soldiers should be built strictly in accordance with the solid winter camp method. Each fort was stationed with a standing infantry brigade and an auxiliary archer brigade. Then the river guards and the gods Tomb Guards, with external baggage personnel stationed in the lower left camp, the Serapis Legion and four infantry brigades of the 13th Legion stationed in the lower right camp under the leadership of Selha, the chief thousand-man battalion and the five most solid infantry The brigade, plus the attached cavalry brigade, were stationed in the front camp, and a side door was opened in this camp for the cavalry to attack.
Lepidus required that two battalions (one battalion when on duty) be drawn from the front camp every day in turn, and under the protection of an auxiliary archer battalion, they would go around the axis of the camp to plunder and harvest winter wheat and horse feed.
Every time they went to collect autumn wind, either the commander-in-chief Lepidus or the deputy general Peteneus would lead the team personally. Because they were very afraid of being attacked by the chariots of Garamanthei, the soldiers on the scene formed a square hollow quadrilateral, surrounded the wheat field in the middle, and extended their shields and weapons to the outside. The archer battalion would carry bows and sickles to harvest. After the task was completed, they would send a messenger to the camp, and wait until 300 Vipicinus people came on horseback to meet them, and then change the marching column and return to the camp with the harvest.
Lepidus was not confident in entrusting this task to the Nubian blacks, and only the most disciplined 13th Legion could do it.
On the other hand, the Garamantes lacked the courage to attack strong fortresses. They relied too much on their chariots and did not trust infantry who were good at attacking cities and strongholds. They could only harvest all their own wheat fields on the other side of the border, burn down villages, fill up reservoirs, clear the fields, and retreat to a farther place to defend. (To be continued...)