The strong do what they can, and the weak endure what they must suffer. Pen & Fun & Pavilion www.biquge.info

- Thucydides (ancient Greek historian, philosopher and general, known as the father of the "science of history")

Due to their limited strength, it was impossible for the Essini tribe under Queen Boudicca's rule to build more landing ships on their own, and the only ships that could cross the river for their landing army were the ships that Plasus had left here eight years earlier.

But eight years can change so much, many of these wooden boats that have been immersed in the Cangluo River have rotted and sunk, and even those that have not sunk are almost all dilapidated, and few are still functional.

Fortunately, Eggers had already sent patrolling cavalry to patrol during the day, and then secretly repaired these dilapidated ships at night, and after a period of dismantling and repairing, about one-third of the boats were repaired and could be used to cross the river.

When Eggers and Queen Boudicca led their army to the east bank of the Cangluo River, they could clearly see the flags of the Tiger Legion and the Cheetah Legion on the west bank of the Cangluo River across the wide Cangluo River, as well as the military formation of the Roman army waiting for them.

Although the Roman army on the other side of the river was only 12,300 men, the situation of their own side was not much better than that of the other side, and who made the ships that could be put into use under the command of Eggers only transport 10,000 soldiers at most at a time to cross the river.

However, the crossing of the river here is only a feint attack by Eggers after all, and the 10,000 elite cavalry fifteen miles north of this place is the killer move of Eggers's attack; as long as the 10,000 elite cavalry can arrive at the battlefield in time, then the landing operation under the personal command of Eggers will be much simpler, and this war will be won by the Esini tribe.

After making eye contact with Queen Boudicca, who was in charge of the army, Eggers finally began to give the order to attack, and after Eggers' attack was given, the 10,000 Acenian warriors who were ready immediately began to board the boat and cross the river!

Compared to the ambitious Queen Boudicca and General Eggers on the east bank of the Cangluo River, the White Peak on the west bank was much calmer, and after Bazel led his Tiger Legion to the riverbank, he lined up in a neat battle formation three hundred meters to the left of the White Peak.

Nearly 4,000 of the Tigers' most elite veterans were concentrated at the front of the riverbank, followed by the other 6,000 or so soldiers of the Tigers.

Bai Feng, who was wholeheartedly devoted to facing the enemy, did not have time to care about Bazel and his Tiger Legion, and even when Licinius led the First Legion and the Cheetah Legion of 4,000 pikemen to the north, Bai Feng did not take a second look, his attention was on the enemy troops on the other side.

More than 50,000 enemy troops gathered on the east bank of the Cangluo River, which made Bai Feng's spirit tense to a certain extent, and it was not until the enemy troops on the east bank officially began to board the boat to cross the river that Bai Feng's nervous spirit gradually calmed down.

This is not to say that Bai Feng really had a good state of mind when the battle was about to break out, but the first batch of enemy troops to land was only about 10,000 people, which made Bai Feng's hanging heart relax, and a mere 10,000 enemy troops were not enough to shake his own battle formation!

After seeing the first batch of small wooden boats of the enemy army begin to row away from the east bank, Bai Feng immediately ordered Gatus beside him:

"Gatus, you immediately lead a thousand archers and prepare to meet the enemy, and when the enemy fleet enters the range of two hundred meters, let the Cretan archers shoot first, and after the Cretan archers rain three rounds of arrows, the whole army will start firing a volley!"

"Yes!"

With Bai Feng's order, Gatus led all his archers to continue to advance to the edge of the river bank before stopping, and at this time, the Roman army on the west bank was waiting for the enemy army to cross the river on the east bank slowly approaching the west bank.

At this time, the wind on the surface of the Cangluo River was blowing from west to east, which was not conducive to the crossing of the Aesini army, but it was the most favorable for the Roman army on the west bank who used archers to defend it.

Because under the force of the tailwind, the range of the archers will be increased to a certain extent, and the headwind will slow down the rowing speed of the enemy troops crossing the river, which creates conditions for the archers to shoot a few more rounds of arrows, so the time and place belong to the side of the city of Rome.

The width of the Cangluo River in this section of the river is not the widest in the whole river, and it is not even the widest river in the eastern part of the wilderness, and even so, the width of the river here is still more than 1,000 meters, and it is difficult to cross the high winds and waves.

Less than 300 meters from the east bank, at least three wooden boats full of warriors from the Essini tribe capsized and sank on the spot.

The Essini tribe's army had no choice but to continue to row to the west bank in order to get rid of the threat of the storms of the Cangluo River as soon as possible, but unfortunately, one after another, the big waves continued to crash against the Aceni tribe fleet crossing the river, causing more and more small wooden boats full of Essini warriors to capsize on the Cangluo River.

By the time the Essini fleet was less than three hundred meters away from the west bank, they had already sunk on their side, at least twenty wooden boats full of warriors, that is, four hundred Essini warriors had been swallowed up by the Cangluo River before the battle had even begun.

When the struggling Acenian fleet finally came within two hundred meters of the windy west coast, the Cretan archers under the command of Gatus began to wield their might, and the first round of arrows covered the five advancing wooden ships with precision, inflicting heavy casualties on them.

There was even a soldier on a wooden boat who was dodging the rain of arrows on one side, causing their wooden boat to overturn on its side, and the twenty soldiers on the entire wooden boat were buried in the Cangluo River again, so that the other wooden boats crossing the river did not dare to run greatly in the face of the rain of arrows.

The rain of arrows of the three rounds of Cretan archers caused quite heavy casualties to the army of the Essini tribe who crossed the river, and the results of at least 500 warriors of the Essini tribe were killed or wounded, which made Bai Feng quite satisfied; after the three rounds of arrow rain passed, it was a salvo of 1,000 archers.

The archers under the command of Gatus were certainly inferior to the Cretan archers in terms of combat effectiveness, but they were certainly not weak, after all, the warriors of the barbarian tribes always had to use hunting to make a living, and the use of bows and arrows was a necessary skill in the hunting process.

The 1,000 archers of the Cheetah Legion were barbarian warriors who were adept at hunting with bows and arrows, and their salvos caused far more casualties to the army crossing the river than the salvos of the Cretan archers, who made them as many as a thousand!