Chapter 33: Calmness (Part 2)

After sitting at the table and praying, Ankit touched the heads of his children who were bent over eating, and then tore open the flesh of a wild fruit and chewed it. His wife seemed to realize something. After all, women's minds are sensitive, but she always After being silent for a long time, Ankit spoke on his own, "I'm going to direct the war in the entire Yazda Fortress soon."

"Are there many Romans?"

"About 20,000 people, and their commander is cunning."

The woman was silent, then wiped her hands and went to the stove in the courtyard to get the baked bread.

After the family finished eating, they sat on the tables and chairs in the shade of the trees in the courtyard. Finally, Ankit told his wife, "Take care of the children, and don't neglect your lessons to God." After saying that, he stood up, hung up his sword, and tucked it away. Good Cloak nodded slightly to his wife and left.

By the time Ankit returned to Yazda, the water wall had been built, but he made a mistake and failed to bring back the stones that the entire fortress desperately needed, so there was no section of the wall stack on the north side of the fortress, just like A man's mouth had a gaping incisor. Ankit, who was standing on a donkey at the foot of the city, stared at it for a while, and then ordered, "Temporarily, take out the soil from the mountains behind Yazda, compact it, fill it up, and set up a camouflage outside." , after all, it’s difficult for the enemy to get back here.”

In the winter camp, General Lepidus worked hard, and finally cobbled together some prostitutes and hawkers who were willing to risk their money, and finally set up a camp market to comfort the soldiers who were stationed here and were suffering too much. He wanted to arrest them. The conduct of soldiers requires more attention to their emotions, especially after the previous defeat. Everyone was suffocated and needed some venting. Such as wine. For example, women**.

When Gable and the shipwrights pushed the first large, flat-bottomed, armed riverboat into the water. Lepidus finally experienced an unexpected and amazing feeling: this ship was indeed much larger than ordinary sea ships, and because of its hydrological characteristics, it was made into a rectangle like a golden cut, with a length of about 120 Roman feet. , very majestic, and according to combat requirements, its side is very high, and the "crow" is no longer located at the bow. Instead, it was miniaturized and rolled up on both sides of the ship. There were four "crows" on the left and right sides of the ship, and two light catapults. Considering the safety of the soldiers on the deck, the raised part was also made into a " "Wall Stack", the most outstanding part is Gable's bellows cannon with a fire pipe hidden under the Poseidon statue on the bow, and Gable has improved it for use on the water - the piston is driven by a pedal. As long as the paddlers on the deck step up and down on the pedals, the Poseidon statue can spit out deadly flames!

But General Lepidah seems to have a small place. Feeling that Gable failed to achieve perfection, he hoped that the ship would not only have the combat capabilities of shooting and spitting fire, but also have strong survivability in front of the Yazda Fortress held by Hasidic believers. There would be a total of eight to ten ships. The production has been exhausted (in order to support this thing, Lepidus exempted the Garamantes from all taxes for the coming year, recruited many people to work in the camp, and spent a lot of money), there can be no mistakes.

When he made this request, Gable smiled, but he was so cautious that he was immediately afraid that his smile was rude, so he immediately said in an apology tone that even ships fighting at sea would not be damaged or burned when they were damaged or burned. , as long as it is repaired calmly, it is generally difficult to sink, because the wood used to build ships is relatively light, such as fir, oak, beech, etc. As long as it is not a tragic storm, most of them can survive the fire of war and can also capture the enemy. The ships replenish themselves.

"No, you have to know Gable, the object of our battle this time is not the ocean, but a fortress. The river sandwiched between it is relatively narrow, so my request is not to turn this ship into a flexible fighter. , but to use it as a solid fortress. It is a blockade camp floating on the water. It has a large number of fierce heavy infantry, ballistas, trebuchets, bellows cannons. These are all good, but I need to solidify this even more. Vocabulary, do you understand? "How can a boat not sink?" After Li Bida finished speaking, he touched his nose, and then snapped his fingers at Gable. It's true that he has also been on a river boat since he came to this world. Why didn't you notice that there are no life-saving compartments at the bottom of the ships here? This thing is the most practical. He gave the idea to the engineering leader Gable, who is good at carpentry (Pope is better at it) The masonry guy understood it. He was amazed at the commander-in-chief's wisdom. As long as the bottom of the ship below the oarsman level was made into a room and sealed with cork, even if the ship received fatal damage in one or two places, Water will only enter one or two compartments, and the ship can still float on the water for combat, or be evacuated for repairs.

It can only be said that in this era, people did not pay special attention to the "rejuvenation" of damaged ships during naval battles. Many ships were discarded directly after being damaged. However, when encountering our prudent General Lepidus, everything changed.

When spring came, which was not particularly obvious in the Tostone Valley, Lepidus held a second joint meeting with all the centurions in the camp. At the meeting, Lepidus strictly prohibited anyone from speaking. He only spoke to Sabokem. With a wink, Sabo directly issued a new combat plan after the beginning of spring:

Advance together, step by step.

Except for an auxiliary brigade of armed military slaves left to guard the winter camp, the rest were all mobilized.

The two legions, the Thirteenth legion took the land route west of the river bank, and the Cyrenaic legion and all auxiliary groups took boats. It was strictly forbidden for the two to be disconnected. The chief centurion of any legion appeared to abandon the other five miles. Severe punishment will not be given. The two armies were united under the command of General Petheneus.

Commander-in-Chief Lepidus led the Medger Guards and Anthony's affiliated cavalry brigade as the second formation, serving as the center of communication and sweeping.

Several brigades of the River Transport Guards and the Tomb of the Gods Guards, carrying spears and bows and arrows, escorted the baggage and pack horses and walked at the end.

All soldiers marched with all combat equipment, advancing at the first and slowest speed in the drill manual, marching densely in units of 100 men, and destroying every cliff fortress they advanced to, and then setting up camp. All the passes were built with camps and forts, and a single 100-man team or brigade was sent to guard them to prevent ambushes and sneak attacks by Hashidi believers.

When the Hashidi attacked on the way, all the heavy infantry lined up to defend, and then the auxiliary archers concentrated forward to shoot. When the fleet encountered the enemy ships coming out of Yazdat, they fought and annihilated them without mercy. When they encountered the strongholds still held by the Hashidi, they used five to ten times the military force to eliminate them one by one, never making detours, clearing one place and stationing there, and then moving on to the next step, until they arrived at the fleet base on the west mountain of Yazdat, using the fleet to block the connection between the east and west fortresses, and concentrating military forces to besiege the west.

Then, Libida stood up with a gilded baton and said slowly: "This battle is a decisive one. Anyone who dares to slack off and disobey orders will be punished with one out of ten, whether officers or soldiers, and will be stoned to death in public."

Anthony, who was sitting below, whistled slightly and said nothing. (To be continued...)