Chapter 14 Lentils (Medium)
In the winter camp of Zukoma, Casillo, who was the last to set out, walked around nervously in the rain in the camp of the first legion, shouting loudly, and for a while asked the tribune to "take care of all the horses and horses." "Mules, don't let them get sick easily. When we cross the river in the future, no matter how bad the environment is, we can't abandon the precious animals." After a while, he asked the soldiers to pack their luggage and military shoes, but after arriving at Sinaka City, It is necessary to store valuable items, "Don't bring them with you in your equipment, otherwise they will all become trophies of the Parthians." After saying this, even Cassius realized that he was doing the same stupid thing as Crassus. It hurt the confidence of the soldiers, but he really couldn't bear it. After his men died in the desert, they couldn't even send half a silver coin back to their families. This was the most miserable situation.
At this time, in front of the main gate of the camp, I saw that other regiments had already moved towards the pontoon bridge. The flag officer of the first regiment carried the eagle flag and prepared to guide all the officers and soldiers out of the camp along the established route, but the dark sky Orange-red thunder and lightning fell, not in the shape of spider legs, but in the shape of extremely terrifying balls. It seemed to be rolling around on everyone's heads, making a terrifying explosion sound, and heavy rain mixed with it. The strong wind actually caused the flag officer of the first legion to lose his mind for a short time. He turned the eagle's head upside down and turned it in the direction of the camp without paying attention. This was also the most unlucky omen in the Roman army, because the eagle Both the thunder and lightning are the incarnations of Jupiter, which are extremely powerful but also dangerous things. Now that they are falling towards one's own camp, it can be said that it means that one's own army will suffer great disasters.
But Casillo had calmed down now, and he understood that continuing to be in a trance would do no good to anyone. He quickly and harshly replaced the new flag officer. All officers and soldiers were then asked to refrain from discussing topics about divine prophecies. Violators will be executed immediately on the spot. The body was thrown into the Euphrates River.
In the raindrops, Crassus's several legions were meandering from beginning to end. Under the terrifying thunder and lightning, most of the soldiers shrank their heads under their cloaks in fear, and followed their comrades in front of them blankly, stepping on the ground. On the pontoon, suddenly the biggest lightning strike was like colorful rocks. Rapidly falling into the water on both sides of the pontoon bridge, and then the water waves surged wildly. The boat serving as a pier under the middle of the pontoon bridge was suddenly swept away, and the bridge deck was also torn apart. Quite a few soldiers immediately fell into the water and were swept away. As a result, several military escorts Thanks to the brave persistence of the civilian officials, it was finally able to be re-closed in the evening.
In the afternoon of the next day, when Cassius was among the last legion and crossed to the other side of the Euphrates River, the thunderstorm continued to fall. "I heard that when we set up camp last night, we buried idol pillars as symbols. They were destroyed by lightning twice." A tribune who pulled up the long fence with the soldiers said to Casillo.
While many people were still worried, another shocking incident occurred during dinner time. Many centurions and soldiers yelled and cursed loudly in the camp because they had received the grain rations from the scale officer and brought them back to open the bags and prepare to light a fire. When I was cooking, I realized that the bag was not the common foods such as chickpeas, garlic, flour, and fatty pork, but actually lentils and salt. Anyway, that’s how the centurion who first encountered this unfortunate incident described them. The Eastern and Western Romans used it to honor the dead.
In the end, Crassus and his staff used the all-purpose excuse of Parthian trouble to deal with the food rationing incident. The scale officer on duty was also ordered by Crassus to beat him with a stick, and then beheaded him with fascists. Show punishment. In this way, a team of nearly 40,000 people expressed their willingness to continue moving towards Sinaka City.
When they arrived at the city of Sinaka, the thunder and lightning and heavy rain miraculously stopped. The Roman legions, at least Crassus himself, looked at the May weather in Syria and saw that the water and mud disappeared without a trace in just one day. After the scene, he quickly regained his confidence, "This is nothing but a boring curse of that despicable tribune Aetius. Now it has disappeared, and our army should move on. Because urgent intelligence has arrived, Mindaz in the city of Seleucia has been unable to hold on for a long time due to lack of supplies. "Then, out of caution, he temporarily stationed the army in the city of Sinaka, and then sent several groups of cavalry. One team went to Coponius, the temporary governor of the city of Calle in the front, asking him to report on the situation of the Parthians; the other team went to Lepidus of the city of Cinodosia in the northeast, inviting him to fight on the flank to contain Herod. troops and horses, and try to get our army assistance from various kingdoms in Asia Minor.
One market day later, the news of Lepidus had not been returned, but Coponius replied that he and the chief group of the Sixth Legion still did not dare to move in the city of Calle, because there were many people everywhere in the surrounding hills and wilderness. They are all Parthian men and horses. They have assembled a huge army, with no less than 10,000 cavalry. They are crossing here and moving in the direction of Sinaka. Please first ask the Governor to prepare for the battle.
Sure enough, two days later, the Roman camp had an encounter with the incoming Parthian cavalry. Crassus put on his military uniform and looked from a distance from the tower of Sinaka City. There were cavalry from the other side running back and forth everywhere. The figure said, "Don't worry, our camp is relying on a solid city wall and has a large number of stick throwers and ballistae. The other party is just humiliating themselves." Deputy General Eugutavis said with confidence. Sure enough, Parthia continued Several waves of attacks were thwarted, and the bodies of many men and horses were left in front of the Roman camp.
As a result, in the early morning of the third day, tens of thousands of Parthian cavalry suddenly disappeared like a breeze in the desert. The Roman scouts wearing wolf skins did not find any living Parthians within a distance of twenty furlongs in front of Sinaca City. There were only messy horse hoof prints all over the mountains, and the direction was towards the east.
"The Parthian cavalry has retreated!" Crassus confirmed excitedly, and then he received a letter from Lepidus, who claimed that the army had been reorganized and could break into the area between the source of the two rivers at any time to defeat Herod again and completely defeat him!
Seeing Lepidus's statement, Crassus was also excited. He immediately decided that the soldiers did not need to rest anymore, but immediately broke camp. Except for leaving a small number of garrison troops, the entire army rushed to Carrhae, caught up with Surena, and chased him out!
As a result, this plan was met with the most fierce resistance from Cassius at the joint meeting. "We cannot easily walk into the desert in front of us. No one knows how big it is. Your Excellency should send elite scouts to survey it, and then the main force will move along the right bank of the Euphrates River to suppress the many city-states along the river. After obtaining sufficient strength, we will build a permanent fort every fifteen Roman miles and advance step by step to Carrhae. This is the perfect plan." (To be continued...)