Chapter 30 The Crown Falls to the Ground (Part 2)

By night, the Lepidus Legion, which had brought cavalry guns and bellows guns, had set fire to several camps of Ptolemy XIII at the foot of the mountain. In the light of the fire, Lepidus' cavalry and archers continued to charge back and forth fiercely and fired intensively. Only his direct followers and the court nobles or urban mobs who worshipped him as a god were still willing to fight for the Pharaoh. Many people rushed into the battle with musical instruments, and their bodies were covered by bows and arrows.

By the next day, Ptolemy XIII's camp was split into two parts, one was the core position of the highlands, and the other was the position adjacent to the Nile River. "Don't stop, organize a strong attack!" This was the order issued by the cavalry commander who was commanding on the other side of the river, because Cleopatra would not allow her brother to continue living. The more cruel and thorough this war was, the more it would weaken Egypt's future hostile forces. However, the reports of the next few messenger cavalry would verify that the several charges were not smooth, the troops suffered heavy losses, and were very tired.

Because Septimius required great efforts to prepare the camp on the high ground, the wooden fences and walls on it were dense and winding. Although the Pharaoh's men had very poor field combat skills, they could still throw stones and shoot arrows crazily behind the walls. They were all desperate and would not hesitate to resist. When Lepidus's attack team was in the front line, they were harassed and attacked by the enemy along the river. These people ran to the reed boats on the river, shot arrows from a distance, and rushed ashore from time to time, appearing at the back, killing the unprepared Romans. Amid the crossfire of arrows and stones, Lepidus drove his horse across the simple bridge of tree trunks and rushed to the front line to supervise the battle. The soldiers who were attacking with shields saw the scepter and flag of the cavalry commander. They all shouted excitedly. Urge the centurions under their command to issue orders to charge as soon as possible, and never let themselves be passively beaten in front of the general.

But Lepidus ordered to stop all the reckless behavior. He asked the soldiers to calmly divide into two groups, front and back, and stay behind the shields and stags. "The rewards for this battle should be given to those who protect themselves well. Everyone should wait until the crossbows and equipment arrive. Then launch a flexibly and boldly attack." Then, he found Sabo and the legion commander and began to walk down the mountain. Finally, he found that there was no sign of Egyptian soldiers moving at the highest pass of the high slope. "They should have all abandoned this place and rushed to support the fierce fighting at the foot of the mountain." Sabo also made an inference after observation.

"Is it the enemy's conspiracy?" Lepidus asked.

Sabo shook his head and said with certainty that the resistance personnel around Pharaoh now. Brave and stubborn are enough, but the planning is a mess. The cavalry commander should make up his mind to launch a surprise attack. "Very good, Hebrida, Hebrida!" Lepidus waved his baton, and the chief centurion hurried up through the array of soldiers, "I will hand over the chief battalion of the Sixth Legion to you immediately, go around the back of the high ground, climb up along the cliff, and take the highest mountain pass! And Polo will be responsible for commanding all the battalions in the front. The two armies will attack at the same time and catch the Egyptians off guard. How about it?"

"Then don't hesitate, hand over the legion's eagle flag to me!" Hebrida shouted in a loud voice.

Then, Hebrida took the silver eagle battle flag of the Sixth Legion, carefully covered it with a cloth cover, and then led the chief battalion, shouting encouraging slogans, and began to go around the back of the mountain along the previously destroyed camp. At this moment, in the smoke, Ptolemy XIII also saw that the Romans at the foot of the mountain seemed to have signs of splitting up their forces, so he asked Septimius beside him how to deal with this situation, but the other party looked at it and just said nonchalantly, according to my years of service, the Romans should have only withdrawn part of the troops to rest, we like to give the enemy the illusion that there is a constant supply of reserve troops, so we like to adopt the strategy of "alternating rotation".

At this time, the sound of horns and trumpets at the foot of the mountain shook the earth, and Polo once again commanded six battalions to roll up the hillside and began to crush the few remaining fortifications of the Egyptian army at the foot of the mountain. On the other side, three battalions and the Pontic affiliated legion, under the command of Angondinus, used samontoga and javelins to disperse the Egyptians on the riverside.

So all the officers and soldiers under the Pharaoh picked up their weapons and fought bravely again without thinking too much. The two teams fought in a mess at the foot of the front mountain until a day later, the chief battalion of the Sixth Legion commanded by Hebrida rushed to the highest mountain pass and raised the shining silver eagle flag. "Long live!" The chief battalion of the Sixth Legion used shields and swords in the camp at the mountain pass, knocking the ground and mountains, and then took advantage of the situation like a burst of sparks and attacked the various Egyptian camps below. The only ones standing in front of them were the eunuchs, maids and military slaves under the Pharaoh. These people had no courage to fight and resist, and could only scream and flee everywhere, from one camp to another, disrupting their own formation, and more fatally, the collapse of morale and fighting spirit.

"Brother, I will rush in first. We are going to seize the Pharaoh's flag." Hebridas skillfully rushed into the royal tent of Ptolemy XIII. The eunuchs inside shouted and tried to escape with their things, but were quickly blocked or caught up and killed by him and his men. Hebridas advanced step by step towards the core area of ​​the tent, where he saw golden masks, ivory chessboards, flags embroidered with golden cobra patterns, and stacked boxes. Now all of these will belong to his brother!

"Insolent villain!" In the shadow of the pillar, the eunuch Mortanmenis rushed out with a dagger in a funny gesture, but he didn't expect that Hebrida was used to holding the shield in his right hand. The centurion knocked the distinguished eunuch to the ground with his shield, then stepped on him and used his sword to "puff puff" a few times. The eunuch's throat and eyeballs were all pierced. He scratched the pillar a few times and took his last breath heavily.

At this moment, people were moving around, and the soldiers who followed came in. Hebrida stood up suddenly and shouted to his comrades, "Don't move, the battle outside is still fierce. I have killed this eunuch with a tall hat. I just saw the Pharaoh running out through the door next to him. Hurry up and chase him. You should know that there is a reward of 30,000 dinars for getting the Pharaoh's head." The other soldiers shouted excitedly. Most of them were children of simple farmers who came to join the army from Sardinia and Corsica. They rushed to make merit without thinking too much.

In the end, only Hebrida was left in the tent, and there were corpses and treasures all over the ground. He smiled, wiped the sword with a curtain, and then threw himself on the Pharaoh's throne, muttering, "Okay, let me get close to you first, and then slowly pick out the most valuable treasures from it."