From the foot of the mountain, they encountered layers of resistance from the Han army, and the Han army began to build defensive positions at the foot of the mountain, with trenches and fortresses.

The Romans had only muskets and grenades, while the Han were able to get mortars and hilltop batteries, especially after the Roman navy withdrew from the harbor, and the coastal batteries used all their energy on land.

Marcus was lucky, and he wanted to take advantage of the darkness of the night to cover his soldiers to engage the Han army at close range and reduce the disadvantages on his side.

However, the Han army had flares, a sharp weapon for night warfare, turning night into day, and the advantage of long-range firepower was brought into full play.

Marcus did have the potential to become a great commander, he saw that the Han army had been prepared, and without the help of favorable factors, it was impossible to achieve the original goal.

He did not hesitate, but immediately decided, the whole army retreated, withdrew to the ship, and Alexandria could not be captured at all.

When retreating, he did not retreat in a swarm, but ordered the troops at the front to shoot at the Han army, pretending to continue the attack.

In order to attract the attention of the Han army, he deliberately left a legion of people to stand in the darkness and cheer for the troops at the front.

When Sima Yi realized that something was wrong with the Romans who only shot and did not charge, the Romans, who had already had three legions, retreated to the beach and began to board the transport ships to prepare for retreat.

Sima Yi sent out three green flares, which were the agreed signal to order the Han troops lying in ambush outside Alexandria to immediately move closer to the coast.

Three divisions of the Han army lay in ambush outside the harbor, and they immediately rushed to the beach where the Romans had landed.

Marcus also immediately ordered the troops who remained in front to withdraw to the beach as quickly as possible, and immediately boarded the ship, while the transports that had already boarded the ship immediately set off and left Alexandria.

By the time the Han army had rushed to the coast, most of the Romans had already boarded the ships and evacuated the beach.

In the end, only a small number of Romans were captured by the Han army before they could board the ship, and more than 3,000 Romans were killed or wounded in the battle against Mount Tilp.

Marcus succeeded in bringing most of the Roman soldiers back to the ship from the beach and back to the fleet.

Publius also admired Marcus very much, and sure enough, he was the famous general who commanded the great retreat of Nicaea, and the Romans no longer attacked, but turned around and returned north, and the sneak attack on Alexandria ended in failure.

The losses of the navy were much greater than those of the army, with at least two five-oared warships, five four-oared warships and twelve three-oared warships destroyed by the Han army's batteries, and many ships returned wounded.

As many as 2,000 men were killed or wounded, as well as many marines who accompanied the ship.

The army also lost 5,000 men, of which 2,000 were captured before they had time to retreat.

However, the Romans did not give up, they lost to the Han Chinese, but they did not honestly withdraw to Taranto.

This time, they set their sights on the Persian shipbuilding base, which is also the largest Mediterranean port under Persian control, Sidon.

They sent a number of reconnaissance ships to reconnoiter the Persian ports in detail, especially to see if the Persians had built batteries.

To reassure them, the Persians did not listen to Sima Yi's advice to build coastal forts in Sidon, of course, they did not have many large-caliber naval guns of the Han army, they only had the six-inch field artillery sold to them by the Han army.

Although they raised their guard somewhat, they did not take it very seriously, and the Persians felt that the Romans had suffered a great loss in Alexandria, and that they should be honest for a while.

It's a pity that Publius and Marcus are not ordinary people, they are both excellent Roman commanders, and they still have this bit of courage.

Publius' fleet raided the port of Sidon, and Marcus's Roman legions landed again and captured the unsuspecting city of Sidon from land.

They burned the docks and shipyards of the port of Sidon, destroyed the two galleons under construction in the shipyards, and captured dozens of Persians and Sabbatarian shipbuilders as they wished, as well as a large number of design drawings that had not had time to be destroyed.

On top of that, they captured dozens of Han-made naval guns prepared for these galleons.

Fortunately, several Han shipbuilding technicians sent to guide them escaped the Romans and fled to Alexandria.

The Romans also removed some equipment from the shipyards that they had not seen before, presumably to great use.

The Persians learned the power of the Romans this time, and their crown prince Shapur rushed from Ctesiphon to Caesarea, the only port city on the Mediterranean coast that could be used to build ships under Persian control.

In addition to mobilizing a large number of army units to fortify the coast and around the city, Shapur also spared no expense to purchase several large-caliber naval guns from the Han Chinese, and invited Han engineers and technicians to guide the Persians in building coastal forts.

After several unsuccessful reconnaissance attempts, the Romans decisively abandoned the idea of continuing the attack on Caesarea, and the Grand Fleet returned to Taranto.

The Roman emperors Caracalla and Lucis, as well as the elders of the Senate, personally welcomed the triumph of the Imperial Central Fleet in the port of Taranto.

As Publius' flagship slowly docked, a triumphal military music sounded, and tens of thousands of Roman citizens erupted in loud cheers to welcome the heroes.

Clothius and Marcus were fully dressed and stepped down from their flagships, and Caracalla stood by the side of the ship with the senators, welcoming them in triumph, not saying a word about their defeat in Alexandria.

Publius and Marcus presented to His Majesty the Emperor the blueprints of the galleons they had captured, as well as the naval guns made by the Han Chinese.

Caracalla and the senators praised the bravery of both of them, praised their strategy, and conferred on them the honorary titles of Honorary Consul and Honorary Tribune.

The Romans immediately handed over these design drawings from the East and the captured shipbuilders to the Roman Academy of Sciences and joined the development of the new ships, so that many of the new Roman warships that were finally built were inspired by the design of the Han army.

The actual object of the Han naval guns also allowed the Romans to understand the lethality, penetration, and specific weight of the Han artillery, and these analysis results were added to the Roman artillery.

They soon borrowed the Han army's method of lengthening the cannon body to increase the charge and power of the gun, and once again improved the gunpowder formula.

On the whole, this expedition was of great help to the Romans and benefited a lot, shortening the gap between the Romans and the Han Empire, and also increasing the difficulty of the Han army and the Romans in disguise.

Moreover, the Romans immediately learned from the Han Chinese and began to build coastal forts for several of their major military ports in order to strengthen the defense and prevent possible attacks by the Han in the future.