Chapter 29 Sweep (Part 2)

Since the war has spread to the enemy's ruling area, Lepidus saw that the area spanning dozens of Roman miles and nearly a hundred Roman miles had become an uninhabited area, and he couldn't help humming a little song. The looted wheat was enough for our army to fight for four or five consecutive market days. Now it was time to use force.

He called the Ethiopian volunteers and asked: "It is said that the Garamanthes rely most on white gold and purple gold, so where are their mining areas?"

"The purple gold is still in the caves on the border over there, which is very far away from here. In the direction where the Kor wind (left side) blows, there is a fortress formed by white gold and red flames, called Asamangals."

The cognition of this Ethiopian was relatively backward like that of his people. It was probably that there were many salt wells there. The Garamanthes used drilling to extract brine, and then boiled it on the naturally rising and burning natural gas fire column, which attracted Carthage and Greek merchants around, forming a prosperous mineral business fortress.

So, Lepidus set his sights on the city where white gold and red fire meet. He called Serha and Arp and said that the newly formed Serapis Legion would be used in this operation. I will personally lead the Medet Guards and carry most of the siege weapons. The target is Asamangals; while the deputy general Peteneus will lead the 13th Legion to attract the enemy's attention; Anthony and Dusunville will lead the cavalry brigade to wander between our two armies, responsible for vigilance and communication; the river transport guards and the tomb guards, as well as part of the baggage train, will stay in the camp.

After the arrangements were made, the Romans decided to act after offering sacrifices to the gods and divination, but the results were unfavorable. Lepidus immediately asked the priests to change the divination method. In front of more than 10,000 soldiers, he declared that the cow intestines used were not fresh. Therefore, the will of God was false, and another method must be used to please Mars. So the priests sent another group of chickens out of the cage and sprinkled millet on the ground, hoping that the chickens would eat happily. As long as they did so, they could claim that the military operation was blessed by God. But when these damn chickens ran out, a few hens were obviously not interested in the dry millet and began to stir up the insects on the ground. Somehow, a mighty rooster mixed into the chickens. As soon as it came out of the cage, it saw the graceful figure of the hens sticking their butts out to look for food, and then made a low clucking sound, spread its wings diagonally, jumped, stepped on the back of the hen, and then pecked a few times, pecked the hen to the ground, and raised its butt. Let this rooster attack smoothly, and after about a few seconds, both chickens shook like sieves. The rooster jumped down and stood on one foot in the middle of the millet triumphantly, completely ignoring the surroundings, with a sage mode after the event. Seeing this scene, the whole military camp was dead silent. Li Bi Da, who was embarrassed, stepped forward with sweat on his forehead, grabbed the rooster with his hands like iron pliers, strangled its throat, and stuffed a handful of grain into the sharp mouth of the sage, and then threw it to the ground, cheering, "The divine rooster has eaten, the god of war is on our side!"

The Serapis Legion marched quickly and arrived at the city of Asamangal in one day and night. This is a bag-shaped city, surrounded by salt wells and fire wells. Further inside are densely packed houses, warehouses and commercial stations. The fortress is in the core area, built on the mountain, and there are even stone walls. It seems that the people of Garamante are well aware of the economic significance of this city. They spared no expense to buy high-quality stones that can be cut from merchants from afar, hired foreign technicians, and piled them up. Even the water source is drawn from the springs on the cliffs behind the city, which is difficult to cut off.

Under the command of Lepidus, the black army created a strong momentum for the attack. They worked hard to demolish most of the houses under the city, built many simple projectile racks with wood, ground stones into round projectiles, and stuffed sulfur and petroleum water (which were everywhere in the local area) into pottery jars, and threw them together with stones to hit the walls of Asamangal. Then the rockets of the Medger Guards followed one after another. The city was on fire from the top to the bottom. The frightened Garamantes also found that the blacks were also concentrating on laying out the field, doing carpentry work, making harp ladders, and sheep head hammers.

This is simply a miracle. Lepidus' intention to supervise the siege of the Serapis Legion was revealed, that is, to use this method to hone the patience and proficiency of these soldiers.

Over there, thirty Roman miles away, sandwiched between the Ammon River and facing Peteneus, the main force of the Garamanthea Division felt more and more that the situation was strange. When the news of the siege of the Salt Well City came two days later, these brave warriors began to panic. They all liked strength and beauty. Strength naturally relied on honor on the battlefield, and beauty was reflected by various gold and silver ornaments hung on the body and on the car. In this respect, they were no different from the Celts in Gaul. And this kingdom itself did not produce gold and silver, only amethyst and well salt were used for exchange. If the Roman special forces were allowed to ravage this city of wealth, it would not be good for the future of the kingdom!

Immediately, after discussion, the dilemma-ridden Garamanthes chieftains decided to allocate a hundred chariots and three thousand accompanying infantry to rush to the aid of the city of Asamangals. They firmly believed that as long as this army could successfully reach the city wall, they would definitely be able to hold on. Then, the main force, reinforced by the rear, would cross the Amon River soon, defeat the Roman enemies in front, destroy their camps, and then send a shot from the side to annihilate the Serapis Legion that was showing signs of fatigue in the siege.

After crossing the bend of the Amon River, the reinforcements were suddenly attacked by a Roman cavalry team. The Vipicinas, who had regained their strength and health, under the command of Antony and Dusonville, took turns to harass Gala. In Mantesi's convoy, the advantage of cavalry over chariots is highlighted at this time: cavalry can maintain a running state for a long time, but chariots cannot. The riders on them are easily tired, and the rotation formation seems awkward. For For this kind of military service that relies on explosive assault power.

Lepidus and Sabo personally led a dozen slave soldiers and Spanish swordsmen to rush from the siege position to meet Anthony. More than ten furlongs away, the enemy's chariots were still rumbling and lurching, " What's the terrain like here?" The draftsmen under Antony all knew the habit of the commander-in-chief, no, the king of Cyrenaica, so they said that there is another place between the Amon River and the city of Asamangals. The river formed by the mountain spring is called the Ouse River by the locals, which means "River of the Mountains".

Then the commander-in-chief took Anthony and Sabo to the Ouse River and made a quick circle. Then he said to Anthony, "Tell Dusonville to have all the Vipicinas dismount immediately and block the enemy's chariots." , I want to win the time to set up a formation and annihilate them!" (To be continued...)