"War is never simply a confrontation of military power, it involves all aspects of nations, politics, economics, race and beliefs, all of which have a direct or indirect impact on them. No matter how advanced the weapons are, no matter how capable the soldiers are, they also need a good leader. —This is Cicero's exclamation after Appis led his army on an expedition. This old man witnessed how the powerful General Mark Anthony was played to death by Apis step by step in a dominant game, and got to this day.

It was as if it was a repetition of the civil war between Caesar and Pompey.

Now, Apis led his army again, using the grain, grass and supplies of Egypt, Antony's stronghold, and most of the soldiers were Roman regular troops organized by Crassus the Younger. And what did Appis do? He just waved his arms and told the world that he was going on an expedition, to resist the invasion of the Parthians, which seemed great, but in fact did not consume any of his strength......

From Brindisi, the legion crossed the Adriatic Sea and followed the Greek coastline before making a detour to Egypt.

Antony was undoubtedly in a good mood when he heard that Apis himself had set out with his army to fight the Parthians. The Parthians had originally come to attack Syria and invade Asia Minor north, but now, Apis had led his army in the way of the Parthians in advance, so that his vital strength could be preserved and he could attack his legions from behind while Apis was fighting with the Parthians. Take advantage of the situation to recapture all of Syria and approach Egypt. Antony was even thinking about how Cleopatra would cry and kneel before him in repentance. Yes, Antony hated Cleopatra too much, because of love and hate, how much he loved at the beginning, how much he hates now.

However, all resentment and revenge must wait until the end of this war before it can be settled.

…………

The battle between the Roman legions and the Parthian army unfolded in such a complicated stake, Apis led 50,000 soldiers, six hoplite legions and four auxiliary legions to garrison the Syrian border, and the dry desert wind blew in the summer of the Mesopotamian plains, which made many European soldiers very uncomfortable, but fortunately Apis did not let them go on the expedition, but stayed in the camp honestly, built high barriers, dug fortifications and trenches. Waiting for the enemy to attack.

On the fifth day, the Parthian army could not wait any longer and forced their way to attack.

Thousands of Parthian archers gathered outside the camp, shouting like a sea of black archers. They had to use traditional cover tactics, using long-range strikes as a means to suppress the defenders on the towers, and then let their siege troops destroy the enemy's walls with siege weapons, and of course, in the field, the Roman legions' fortifications.

With a loud trumpet, the sea of black cavalry began to approach the Roman legion's fortifications.

The rain of arrows fell like goose feathers and snow, and the soldiers of the Gallic legion skillfully held the shield, half-squatted down, raised the shield above their heads, and made defensive movements, countless arrows fell on the big shield of the Roman legionnaires, the bow and arrow technology of this era was not developed, even the Parthian archers who were good at using compound bows could not really shoot through the big shields of the Roman infantry. What's more, the situation today is that the Roman legions are on the heights, while the Parthians are on the lows, and the arrows fly above the towers, and the power has been greatly reduced.

And the blow of the rain of arrows is not costless, if these arrows cannot effectively kill and injure the enemy after shooting, they will become the enemy's trophies and reflect back.

The two Romans fired back and forth, exhausting the Parthian archers, and their siege team could not shake the high walls built by the Romans.

Appis emulated the tactics Antony had used against the Parthians and suppressed the archers with a large number of slingers.

Now, while the panting Parthian archers were taking turns to come up again to harass them, Apis ordered all the heavy infantry at the head of the city to withdraw and the slingers to go up, and in a moment countless stones and small lead balls were thrown from above the camp like a raging storm.

A dense "rain of bullets" obscured the sky.

Standing on the towers of the camp, one could see the black Parthian archers running around like a herd of prey being chased by lions, running around in an orderly manner, fleeing in all directions, or huddled together, and then being shot by the slingers of the legion above the fortifications.

…………

"Damn Appis! Why should he get along with us? Three hundred archers have been killed, and if this continues, my cavalry will be shot by his peasant soldiers! ”

The defeat of the battle, the captain of Sulena's archers, Freira, was angry, and the damage of 300 archers was equivalent to the loss of 3,000 infantry, and not only him, but even his soldiers were impatient, and they begged for another battle, vowing that this time they would completely crush the Roman fortifications. But Sulena directly refused the soldiers' request.

"Don't worry, Freira, you are the best archer I have under my command and the commander of this team. Don't be impatient, the defeat of each battle is actually a lesson, so that you can see your opponent clearly, yes, our opponents - the Romans, are not simple, their engineering skills are more developed than ours, and their ability to defend cities is higher than ours, this is the Roman legions, this is Apis, our opponent, not Crassus thirteen years ago, he is a real Roman general, good at playing to his strengths and avoiding his weaknesses. It will not take risks easily, and it is more worthy of awe than Anthony. ”

In front of Fureira, Sulena said unceremoniously.

"Sort of, but what do we do next? Can't you wait like this forever, consume him, or cut off Appis's supplies? ”

Fureira then asked.

"No, it's difficult, Appis's supplies are mainly by sea, we don't have a navy to stop the Queen of Egypt from transporting grain and grass to the front line, and the distance on land is too short, and the soldiers of Egypt and Rome are closely guarded, cutting off grain and grass, which is not realistic. I'm going to bypass this fortress and attack Antioch directly. Forcing Appis out of the camp. ”

Staring at the map drawn by the cartographer before his expedition, Sulena said with a frown. His plan was very simple, he used all means to force Appis out of the camp, as long as the Roman legions came out of the fortifications, everything would be easy, there was not much mountainous terrain in the Mesopotarian plain, and the cavalry could play a good role in mobility under the terrain of a horse and a flat river.