'The people, who had been given command, ruling and all other rights by the Republic, now do nothing but two things they fervently desire, bread and amusement. —Zhu Weinuo in the imperial era

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"What?" These were the only words that popped up when Li Bida received the Essian delegation in the camp.

The tribute that the Esceans offered to the king of New Cyrenaica was a source of his amazement and amusement: a plate of huge ostrich eggs, a horned python, and a naked fat woman with dark-skinned tattoos.

The envoy below, who was fluent in Greek, hastened to explain to His Excellency the Commander-in-Chief that the ostrich eggs were the most popular gift of the Essioans, and that the long-horned python was the totem of their tribe, and that this kind of snake was rare only in this desert. As for the woman, from the knee down to the ankle, she was full of golden circles, and Li Bida asked the envoy to explain what this reasoning was. As a result, the envoys of Esio returned with great pride that this was the most honorable lady of their kingdom, and that the women of this kingdom put a golden ring on her lap every time she had sex with a man and gave birth to a child, and that this lady was the most numerous, and that she was considered by the whole country to be the most virtuous and most favored of God—and now it was hoped that the commander-in-chief would also laugh at her, and that he might appreciate the goodwill of our nation.

Several centurions next to him, including Adjutant General Peternius and Tribune Antony, couldn't help but laugh, and Sabokemus, who was standing straight on his side, trembled the muscles of his dark face. It looks like he's about to be suffocated into internal injuries.

The Commander-in-Chief had a "defeated" expression on his face. Reluctantly, he accepted the ostrich egg and the python. But politely returned the woman full of gold circles, saying that she was busy with the machine, and she really had no time to suffer such a blessing. The envoy patiently explained to the goddess, who was naked, with her belly covered in grease and stretch marks, and who was ready for a fierce hand-to-hand fight, and the goddess immediately let out a dissatisfied, angry cry like a bat, for she had never been so ridiculed.

After sending off the goddess. Liberty politely said to the Escyan envoys, "What do you have to do for the king except these precious gifts?" and those present noticed that Lypita did not mention the identity of the Roman officers, but directly advertised himself as the king of Cyrene—and the envoy replied very respectfully, The Esceans could choose fifty noble sons to serve as your guides, for there is nothing wet in the whole of southern Libya, and only we can lead your army out of this land of death. Just get to the Atlas Mountain, the place where the saying goes, "Pillars of Heaven". And find the Apollo Spring, so that your entire army can avoid the same catastrophe as the Projans.

"You love me so much, you must need our army to pay a corresponding price in advance, right?" Li Bida didn't believe that these shadowy cavemen would be so sunny and so quick to put the daytime conflict behind them.

"We need to use the strength of your army to sweep away the Garamatantes further west, they are a very strong people, there are as many as 10,000 men who can fight, and they have two hundred four-wheeled chariots, even the Greeks in the region of Culene have learned from them how to control the chariot, you don't know how we were oppressed and abused by this tyrannical tribe hundreds of years ago, and the men of their tribe will automatically form a team during the coming-of-age ceremony, Then he drove a chariot to the Manchurian realm to hunt and kill us, and brought back the head of the contempt clan as a token of adulthood. The envoy said this with an exceedingly indignant expression, and then, in an even more agitated tone, he pleaded with Lybita that the Aesioans would take an eternal oath of allegiance, and that we, by virtue of our familiarity with the whole of Libya and geography, would assist your army in its advance into the city of Cyrene.

"Then take your kingdom vows first, now." Li Bida understood that for these ancient barbarians, the oath before the gods was still extremely binding, so the envoys immediately walked out of the tent, took out hammers from the entourage, smashed their teeth one by one, and then shouted a curse at the bloody teeth, and threw them on the top of the tent.

"We can go and attack the Garamatantes and slaughter this people, which is also good for our back road safety!" At the ensuing secret joint meeting, Peternius scratched a mark on the papyrus map with his finger, "Obviously, after the defeat of Garamantheus, we have removed our worries, and the grateful cavemen of Essio will also ensure that we have considerable logistics." In particular, the Atlas Mountain and the Apollo Spring, as long as we can reach the other place, our army will be able to obtain precious timber and water, so that it can be invincible. ”

The deputy general's plan made Li Bida nod frequently, and then he waved his hand to all the generals, "Our logistics burden is too heavy, we will consume huge amounts of grain, grass and water if we have pack horses, but without pack horses, we can't carry heavy equipment and baggage at all." Therefore, in the battle against the Garamantheus, whether or not they can defeat the chariot is the key to victory. Centurion Hybrida, Chief Brigade of the Thirteenth Legion, out of the ranks! ”

Highbrida, with her chin held high and stood up.

"Your brigade, first fight a skirmish with the Garamane Tis, we are watching the battle from the side, Sabo is the overseer, do you need auxiliary brigades and cavalry artillery?"

Hebrida said very arrogantly that no, Li Bida finally gave him a cavalry wing, that is, one hundred and twenty cavalry to serve as the flank defense, and explained that the chief brigade was mainly engaged in the unnamed hill at the front of the valley, and I had set up three cavalry cannons on the mountain, and two auxiliary archer brigades, in case the situation was unfavorable, I would come to meet him, and bring all the legions to observe.

At the roar of the wheels, a dozen Esioans again let out a bat-like wail, and ran for their lives towards the ochre-colored rocky mountains, and behind them, two Garamanian chariots were about to turn their wheels upside down, but they did not fall apart, this four-wheeled chariot with a woven body of Afrikaner cork and rattan, the advantages were rough and durable, and the speed was very brisk, and each chariot had only two crew members, one was responsible for driving the horses, and the other was holding a pike-dart in the right position of the chariot, and threw it with his left hand, and all the crew members wrapped their heads in white towels, exposing only the eyes to prevent damage from the sand.

At the pass, the Esios in front of them fled, and suddenly out of the caves on both sides came out of the armored hoplites, and after forming a horizontal line, they overlapped the heavy javelins and square shields, and the Garamantheus actually had steering settings on the vehicles! Although they made a big circle, they were able to turn the chariot back smartly to the neighing of the chariot Pegasus without crashing into the Roman shield wall.

At this time, many Nubian soldiers with bows and arrows appeared on the hills on both sides, and they rained arrows at the two chariots, but the speed of the Garamanian chariots was so lightning that the arrows and javelins fell behind their wheels, and did not do much damage. (To be continued......)