However, the Han people did not know anything, and yesterday's reconnaissance ship had already been seen through by the Han people, not that it had exposed anything, but that the Han army had paid attention to all the Roman ships according to Sima Yi's instructions.

Therefore, when it was discovered that the reconnaissance ship was disguised as a Roman merchant ship, there was a small boat of the Han army disguised as a fishing boat and quietly followed it.

Its strange whereabouts were recorded by the Han army one by one, and when it finally returned to Crete, it was followed by a Han intelligence ship disguised as a Thracian merchant ship, and naturally easily discovered the huge Roman fleet.

So Sima Yi soon got the news that the Roman fleet had arrived off Alexandria, in fact, since the Romans set out from Taranto, Sima Yi had been waiting for their appearance.

The enemies hidden in the shadows were the most terrifying, and the Romans who knew the direction were not so terrifying, and Sima Yi had prepared a "welcome ceremony" for them.

However, the Romans were not stupid, and they chose to attack in the middle of the night.

Although the view at night is poor, Alexandria is guided by the ever-bright Alexandria Lighthouse, and you can't go wrong.

As the forward ten four-oared warships and twenty triremes of the three-oared warships were sneaking close to the entrance to the main channel of Alexandria, a dense banging sound suddenly came from the island of Pharos, where the lighthouse of Alexandria was located.

Almost as soon as these bangs sounded, suddenly bright fireballs appeared above the heads of the Roman vanguard fleet, and they did not fall quickly, but slowly floated in the air.

This is the flare fired by the Han army with mortars, and the Romans never dreamed that the Han army would have such a magical thing, which directly turned night into day.

At this time, a series of red fires suddenly appeared on the cliff on the coast, and it was fleeting, followed by muffled thunder, from far and near.

Then something suddenly fell into the sea close to the Roman warship, splashing several meters high, followed by a continuous stream of water, some so close to the ship, that the water splashed onto the deck.

Publius reacted quickly, and he ordered the forward fleet to rush to the shore instead of staying where it was like a fool.

He then ordered the transports to anchor at a beach far from the harbor and unload all the land forces on board to destroy the enemies who were attacking the Roman navy.

Although Marcus was extremely reluctant, he could not refuse Publius's orders, firstly because he was not as high as the others, and secondly, this was originally given to him by Caracalla to recapture Alexandria from land.

The Romans were accompanied by the sound of war drums, which were slowly speeding up, and the sound of war drums was a signal to encourage the oarsmen and command the frequency of the rows.

All the oarsmen on the Roman warships, except for the squad leader and centurion, were slaves, slaves of all races.

After the order to attack was launched, all the slaves had to paddle with all their might, and anyone who dared to slack off and laze would be fed the Centurion's Leather Whip.

For these slaves, serving for twenty-five years in a row, if they are lucky enough to survive, they can be relieved of their slave status and become a free man, which is the motivation for them to live.

The Han army had ten-inch guns, eight-inch guns, and more six-inch guns on the batteries, especially these six-inch guns, which were lighter in weight and could maneuver between many gun emplacements on the batteries.

The gunners of the ten-inch and eight-inch guns were borrowed from the Navy, while the gunners of the six-inch guns were artillery units from various divisions of the army.

The artillery units of the Han army often conduct live-fire drills in peacetime, so only the wealthy Han Empire could train its own artillery in such luxury.

The level of these naval gunners is even higher than that of their army counterparts, and they usually shoot enemy ships on rocking battleships, but today they can finally shoot with their feet on the ground and steadily, and the hit rate is not high and scary?

From the second wave of salvos, there were Roman warships concentrated by Han artillery shells, and the Han army used solid shells in the initial stage, as long as they hit, they were sure to smash a big hole.

The large-caliber naval guns on the Imperial-class sail battleships are the most advanced breech-loading guns, which can already fire grenades with separate cartridges and warheads, and use bump fuses to ensure lethality.

However, against the Romans, which were relatively primitive warships in the eyes of the Han army, solid bullets were enough to cause huge damage, and as for the more expensive grenades, they could be saved.

Seeing that the situation of the forward troops was unfavorable, Publius ordered the five-roree and four-roree warships of the Central Fleet to go into the attack, because they were equipped with ballistas, and as long as they entered the range of the ballistas, they could show the color of the Han army.

Unfortunately, Publius underestimated the power of the artillery and overestimated his subordinates, and the range of the ballista could not even catch up with the mortar, let alone fight the artillery.

The target was obvious, and the slow-moving five-oar-rommed and four-rore-oared battleships were the best moving targets in the eyes of the Han artillery, and round after round of salvos covered the past.

Because of the larger size of the five-pled battleships, it was difficult for solid shells to pose much of a threat, and the large-caliber naval guns of the Han army began to be replaced with howitzer shotguns, although they could not smash a large hole like solid bullets, but they could ignite a fire.

Fragments of shells flying everywhere could also inflict great damage on densely populated Roman ships, especially those that exploded after penetrating the horizontal deck and entering the paddle room, and could harvest a full cabin of human life.

Purbrius was also shocked by this scene, and immediately ordered all the ships to retreat beyond the range of the coastal batteries.

Now, he could only pin all his hopes on Marcus, hoping that the army would take those damn batteries from land and remove the navy from the greatest threat.

The beaches outside Alexandria are endless stretches of sand, after all, the lower reaches of the Nile Delta, an alluvial plain landform.

Therefore, it was impossible to judge where the Romans had landed from, and there was no way to talk about targeted defense, but only to guard the position of the battery and wait for the enemy to attack.

One hundred Roman transports docked without interference, and the Romans of six legions successfully landed on the Bund of Alexandria.

Marcus quickly reorganized the various legions, allowing them to find their own places without any problems, and thanks to many drills in Taranto, the landing process was a success.

The Roman legions quickly advanced to Tilp's Hill, the commanding heights of Alexandria, where the guns were roaring, and the coastal batteries were built on top of the hill.

Alexandria is divided into two bays, East and West, with the shallow Middle East Port being a good place for fishing boats and leisure vacations, and the West Port being a deep-water port where merchant ships and shipyards come and go.

The Romans landed from the Bund in the East Port, and they had to capture Tilp Hill, a commanding point between the East and West Ports, before they could attack the West Port.