Chapter 17: A Miserable Breakout (Part 2)
Under the bloody setting sun, the Parthian cavalry pierced the head of little Crassus with their spears. They arrived in front of the Roman square formation, which was still in fear. They shook their spears and faced Crassus who was watching this scene blankly. Jeering loudly, the commander who knew Greek shouted, "Please, anyone, please come and claim this head. He belongs to a noble young warrior. Unlike you people, he fought to the last breath. And unwilling to abandon his friends."
Immediately, many centurions and tribunes of the Roman army recognized that it was the head of the governor. Suddenly the whole army burst into mourning. Crassus' eyes almost burst out of his sockets. What he saw before him was different from the past. The incident was like a nightmare. Could it be that the virgin of the Temple of Vesta deceived him? Isn't it Lisilia, who personally told him according to the Sibyl prophecy that he would achieve great victory in the expedition, and from then on a great king would rise in eastern Syria, and this opportunity came just as his son arrived in Syria this year to join his father. It's accurate! But now what the old man saw was his bloody head that stopped breathing!
Crassus's heart twisted. The soldiers around him were still crying and howling. The Parthian commander was still chattering proudly. In fact, he had already learned the identity of little Crassus from the captives. But Surena said that he wanted to use this demonstration to attack the remaining main force that provoked the Romans. "We know from others that this seems to be the son of the governor of your army, but General Surena still expressed doubts. He said a Warrior, how can you have such a cowardly father, if the Governor desires revenge, our great General Surena is always at your side.”
At this time, a row of heavy arrows came. Ejected from the Roman phalanx, with the roar of Crassus, the first few Parthian cavalry were immediately penetrated and killed, but the commander holding a spear was much more alert, turned his horse back, and led him The son's head ran away wildly.
Casillo ordered the arrows to be fired. He was unwilling to let Krenner blatantly destroy the fighting spirit of his men, and then watched the sunset quickly sink. Together with Eugutavis, he found Crassus, who was distracted after the funeral. He stroked the old man's back and cheered him up, saying: "Now is not the time to be discouraged and desperate, because Qiu Yu, here now." Tens of thousands of citizens of the Republic, all your sons, are eager to reach Kalai alive and then avenge Crassus."
"Yes, yes." Crassus gradually woke up from the madness. This was a complete scam, and he calmed down. He grabbed the corner of Casillo's cloak and asked in a low voice, "Where is that damn liar, the cave rat Akbarus in the desert?" The two people on the other side looked at each other, and then Casillo said that after the war started, he quietly slip. And he gathered many Arab nobles to join Surena's side. Killed quite a few of our people.
Crassus clenched his fists, arched his back, like a manic and bloodthirsty old tiger, and shouted, "I swear in front of the goddess of revenge that I will cut off the heads of Surena and Akbarus to use their blood." Return blood. "But we have to get out first, Cassio, my friend Eugutavis, everything depends on it."
"We must break out of the siege at night and go to Kalai City to defend it - and then wait for Lepidus' reinforcements." Eugutavis said.
At this time, seeing Crassus with a hint of hesitation on his face, Casillo said in a very cold but determined tone, "Yes, that's right, we will set off tonight, discarding the heavy baggage and the seriously injured ones." Soldier."
Abandoning the wounded, this is simply too terrible. Crassus's head is simply more chaotic than the one he saw just now. If this thing comes true, it will be more terrifying than the annihilation of the entire army here. He Marcus. Licinius Crassus will be remembered in the history of the Republic for generations to come, but the two generals were openly honest: Either abandon the wounded and travel lightly, or everyone will die here. And they also asked Crassus to give a speech to the entire army before setting off at night to boost everyone's morale.
So when night fell, the Roman legions who were still standing on the same spot in a fighting posture did not dare to set up tents, dig trenches (it would be a waste of effort to dig here), let alone light bonfires, because the light of the fire would To guide the arrows of the Parthians. All the soldiers just stood quietly, holding weapons. They were waiting, waiting to tell from the governor's own mouth how cruel the fate that the entire army was about to face would be.
Fortunately, even though they suffered such a serious blow during the day, although the five legions under Crassus were incompletely organized and eight brigades were annihilated, the basic order was still maintained, and the soldiers were still willing to obey the orders of their superiors. There has been no escaping or cannibalism, and morale has not collapsed.
No matter how much they had resented the governor before, at this juncture, everyone was still eager to see him and hear him say a few inspiring words, not for any other reason than because he was the leader.
Finally, surrounded by his generals, Crassus stood out with a black coarse cloth cloak and bloodshot eyes. Cassius lit a few torches beside him so that the soldiers could see his position and hear his voice more easily. When the soldiers saw that the governor was wearing mourning clothes, many of them began to complain, but more people expressed sympathy and indignation at the cruel Parthians. Crassus calmed down and then spoke in a hoarse voice: "Everyone, today I lost my son. He grew up by the stove in my house, and I watched him grow up, but this is nothing. Thousands of citizens or allied soldiers lost their precious lives with him. Instead of sympathizing with my grief, it is better to inspire hatred for the enemy and confidence in avenging the blood debt. We must break out and take revenge on the enemy, and for this we must We must be determined to make sacrifices. The Republic once lost a thousand ships in the waters of Sicily in one day. It also lost 80,000 soldiers and nearly a thousand excellent centurions in one day in the Punic Wars. But the Republic still came to this day. Is it luck that made it so successful? No, it relied on perseverance under bad luck. Don't worry, as long as most of our main forces can rush to Carrhae, we can join General Lepidus's detachment and make a comeback against the enemy. Everyone's good honor can still be intact, so the time to make sacrifices in advance has come. "After saying that, he didn't want to give more specific orders, so he turned his eyes to the lieutenants, meaning to let them speak, and then hurried away. Many wounded soldiers seemed to understand the upcoming fate from the governor's words, and they groaned and cursed.