In August 214, Lü Kang led an Egyptian expeditionary force from Damascus and first conquered the provinces of Palestine in the south, capturing Caesarea and Jerosolima.

There were no more Roman armies to defend here, and they all withdrew into Egypt.

Further south, he conquered the Arab provinces, known as the Sinai Peninsula.

Here, Lü Kang can see the Mediterranean Sea to the north and the Red Sea to the south, which are only separated by more than 100 miles.

It was from here that the expeditionary forces of the Han Empire began to encounter resistance from the Romans and Egyptians.

The Romans portrayed the Han Chinese as demons from hell, and if they conquered Egypt, they would kill all the Egyptians, rob all the Egyptians of their wealth, and destroy all the ancient civilizations of the Egyptians.

Therefore, it led to the extreme hatred of the Egyptians towards the Han Chinese, and when fighting, the Egyptians were not afraid of death, and would rather die with the Han people.

Although the main force of the Roman legions retreated to the mainland, the provinces of Egypt were still valued by the empire as an important grain producing area of the Roman Empire.

It has been more than 200 years since Octavian defeated Antony, conquered Egypt, ended the 300-year rule of the Ptolemaic dynasty, and established the province of Egypt.

Although there were uprisings, religious purges, usurpation and self-reliance, etc., the main body was a fusion of Roman culture and Greek culture, and it is impossible to say who influenced whom.

However, the Egyptians had already accepted Roman rule, especially after Caracalla succeeded to the throne as Roman emperor, and gave the inhabitants of the eastern provinces such as Egypt the treatment of Roman citizens.

Although Caracalla's main purpose was not to improve the status of the Egyptians, but to collect more taxes, it was to improve the status of the Egyptians in the Roman Empire.

The Egyptians also regarded themselves as members of the Roman Empire, so when the Han attacked, they naturally fought back.

Egypt was historically a difficult land to conquer, and the Romans were the second people to conquer and appoint this land after the Greeks.

The main reason is that the civilization of ancient Egypt was too advanced and splendid, so that the Egyptians had a high cultural foundation and their own religious beliefs, which were difficult to tame.

When the Ptolemaic dynasty ruled, it was integrated into the Egyptian civilization, not only retaining the essence of Greek civilization, but also retaining the temples of ancient Egypt, and also regarded itself as a pharaoh, and was recognized by the Egyptians.

After the arrival of the Romans, they also attached great importance to this land, and there were several governors, who started from here and finally became the emperor of the Roman Empire.

Egypt was an important grain producer in the Roman Empire and was rich in grains.

Therefore, the Roman Empire had garrisons in the provinces of Egypt and its subordinate counties and cities, and the provinces of Egypt had three Roman legions and three auxiliary legions.

The governor of the province of Egypt was also one of the most powerful feudal officials of the Roman Empire, and the current governor of the province of Egypt was called Musius. Emilianus.

Musius responded positively to the call of the Roman Emperor Caracalla and sent provincial legions at the Battle of Dhamgan and the Battle of Mosul.

In the Battle of Mosul, the Romans suffered heavy casualties, and one auxiliary legion in the Egyptian province was canceled, and the other three participating legions were all severely damaged.

Instead of following the main forces of the Romans, they retreated to the European continent, but returned directly to Egypt from Mosul.

Musius was very distressed when he saw the troops who had suffered heavy casualties and abandoned their armor.

After all, the money for equipping the provincial armies is all saved by their respective banks, and the empire is only responsible for a very small part of the expenses, even the muskets are ordered from the imperial arsenal at the expense of the provinces.

However, in order to prevent a possible war in the future, Musius still spent a lot of money to re-recruit soldiers, buy equipment, and reorganize the six legions into a complete one.

Fortunately, the Mediterranean Sea at this time was firmly in the hands of the Romans, and sea transportation was unimpeded.

As the most prosperous and largest port on the southern shore of the Mediterranean, Alexandria could dock countless ships of all sizes at the same time, and it was very convenient to obtain supplies and equipment from the empire mainland, and a large number of ships traveled between the empire mainland and the Egyptian provinces every day.

Therefore, after the Han army entered Egypt, the first city to be captured was Alexandria.

All the people in the staff of the expeditionary force agreed that as long as the capture of Alexandria was the equivalent of the occupation of Egypt.

Along the way, the Han army was amazed by the advanced and exquisite ancient Egyptian civilization, and the towering pyramids were magnificent.

It is said that these pyramids are the tombs of ancient Egyptian pharaohs, which are equivalent to the imperial tombs of China.

The generals of the Han army are still amazed, in China, I am afraid that only the Mausoleum of Qin Shi Huang outside Xi'an has such a scale and courage, and the Liu Emperor's Mausoleum of the two Han Dynasty is also slightly less coquettish.

Musius had long received news that the Han army had sent an expeditionary force to attack Egypt, and he heard that this expeditionary force numbered as many as 200,000 men.

In addition to urgently recruiting a large number of Egyptian men into the army, Musius also sent letters asking for help to the neighboring provinces of Cyrenaica, Africa, and Numidia.

After the Han Dynasty did not occupy Egypt, it stopped conquering the Mediterranean coast.

The Han expeditionary force entered Egypt with 50,000 Persian troops from the Persian Empire, led by Shapur, the eldest son of Ardashir I.

The Palestine and Arab provinces occupied by the expeditionary force were given to the Persians, and the Han army was targeting Alexandria and the Lower Nile, and the rest of the territory was to be placed under Persian administration.

Therefore, the Persians happily sent troops to pick up the fruits of victory, and the Han army was naturally responsible for the contribution.

The expeditionary force's advance was stopped by the Nile, because unfortunately, mid-August was the Nile's flooding season.

The East African plateau was affected by the monsoon, and the banks of the Nile began to flow down the river, and the banks of the Nile were flooded.

The expeditionary force did not count the flood of the Nile, and the 200,000 army could only helplessly stay at Heliopolis, one of the ancient capitals of Egypt and the origin of the totem of the sun god Ra.

There is a mysterious obelisk here, and its purpose has long been lost over the years, and only the tall building remains for posterity to remember.

According to an investigation report by the Ministry of Guidance and Intelligence, the Nile's flooding season will last until October, before which it will be difficult to overcome.

Because the current of the flood is so large, it is difficult to control even if a pontoon bridge is built, and it seems that the only way to do it is to wait for the flood water to subside.

This will inevitably give the Egyptians more time to prepare, and perhaps their reinforcements will arrive in time, and the difficulties of future wars will increase.