"Ask yourself, did this earthly pharaoh care about God's appeals?" On the steps of the temple of Amun, the high priest Phuma Aat roared, "These places of sacrifice to the gods do not require him to spend any money, all the priests live by eating the surplus of the sacrifices (although there is a lot left, but the high priest will not say such things), our treasurer also pays part of the annual surplus to the treasury, when you are in trouble in life, the priest lends you money like a father (although the interest is a little high), and now the city of the gods has suffered such an insult, A stranger with a group of black-skinned untouchables who didn't believe that God's agents could sway the Nile's breath? If this fool had been sent by His Majesty Pharaoh, then I declare that Thebes would henceforth cease to be the spiritual temple of Pharaoh, nor the treasury of the kingdom, unless he bowed his head to me, nay, to the gods of Thebes, and today would be the day of God's punishment! With that, Phummaat shouted and raised his hands tremblingly, as if he were really communicating with the gods of Heaven or Hades, and the tenants became fanatical, carrying rudimentary wooden spears, some carrying knives and saws, and thousands of people, carrying sacred ships and idols, and under the guidance of the priests, rushing in the direction of the new bridge of Lybida.

But these noisy people did not realize at all that within a distance of about five furlongs between the jagged walls of Thebes and the bridge, three thousand Medejie guards had formed a simple semicircular defensive area around the bridgehead by night with shields and simple civil engineering, and what was even more lost was that Li Bida had secretly brought a detachment of artillery from the Thirteenth Legion, and the torches in the night were like fireflies by the Nile. "This is the location of the Pharaoh's legion, and it is responsible for the safety of the god Serapis, and those who dare to invade will be killed!" At this time, Li Bida, who was at the bridgehead, said to Tagus beside him, "Tell everyone, don't be soft, Pharaoh is the perfect god." ”

But the thousands of temple tenants with torches had gone into a state of madness, and they howled. Kill all the avant-garde Madjie soldiers. Rushing towards the bridgehead, "Don't hesitate, shoot me!" "Arp was on the front line, not caring for the timidity of ordinary Egyptians at the sight of the gods and priests. A terrible bone whistle blew in the night sky. The first column of the Madjet Guards stood up behind the shield and wooden fence. Shouting and firing the rockets in his hand, the pitched and brimstone-coated rockets whizzed down on the ranks of the tenant rioters, who screamed and shouted for the dismantled doors and wooden windows to cover their heads. With the flaming armor on his head, he continued to charge.

This just happened to illuminate the archers of the second and third columns, and the ensuing rain of arrows was much more sharp and accurate, and the priests who took the lead were immediately shot through their bodies and foreheads, and fell to the ground, and the Medejie guards over there immediately shouted in Coptic in unison, "What are your priests for, and there are no gods protecting them?" Then he drew his bow and arrows, and fired fiercely continuously, and when the first wave of arrows had not yet landed and killed, the second wave had already fallen in mid-air, the statues of the gods were staggered, and the corpses of the ignorant tenants were scattered, and then the cavalry artillery also suddenly fired, without warning, the stone bullets and javelins caused heavy casualties in the dense crowd, and not only the tenants, but even the priests who pressed the formation behind, were also stunned, they did not expect the Romans to use such vicious methods!

But the stone bullets of the Romans still did not stop relenting, cutting off rows of human limbs and heads, constantly smashing out a slip of dust on the ground, and everywhere there were seriously injured people, crying and crawling around, some people were still moving, and the falling arrow feathers were neatly pierced through the head and neck, planted on the ground and never moved again.

"Pursuit, don't hesitate!" At this time, in the Songming of the camp, Li Bida suddenly appeared at the front of the queue on a white horse, and ordered all the soldiers, "Draw your sword and run after these people, we are Pharaoh's army, and only obey the holy orders of Pharaoh alone." In the midst of the stones, the Medejie guards shouted and leaped out of the city, and opened fire with their swords in hand, and the crowd rushed towards the city gate like a frightened ant colony, littered with trampled corpses.

Inexplicably, a corner of the city of Thebes began to catch fire, the fire became more and more intense, and by the early morning of the next day, a quarter of the block had been reduced to ruins and ashes, and at about noon, more than 2,000 river guards came to the northern part of the city, and joined the tomb guards of more than 3,000 Medeje people who had been here, and set up a camp in a corner of the city of Thebes, with the intention of besieging the city of gods.

For 2,000 years, Thebes had never suffered such an embarrassment, and even the well-informed Penmaat was stunned, and it was as real as the sun shining brightly above—the Pharaoh's army on the opposite side was brazenly besieging and burning the city, killing more than a thousand tenants who had gone to the armed demonstration, and thousands more wounded, lying in temples, gardens, and squares, waiting for medicine and food, and dying every moment.

And at this time, outside the city, the centurion of the army of Liberidaus gathered the tenants who had been brought in before, and openly slandered Thebes, saying that the ancient gods of Thebes were no longer effective, and if you want to see it, our army will be able to set foot on the entire city of gods in three days. In order to show that he was not talking nonsense, Li Bida's army actually asked the craftsmen accompanying the army to come up with a stupid black and thick new siege weapon, which was made of huge cedar wood (originally prepared to be shipped, Li Bida called for ten to be transported), carefully hollowed out in the middle, and then laid iron plates inside, wrapped in layers of animal skins on the outside, made into a blower at the end, and installed a cart and four wheels underneath, under the city wall of Thebes.

What is this, such a stupid and coarse thing, actually used to attack the City of God?

The priests felt that the entire world was about to collapse.

Lybidaeus sent an ultimatum, "If you don't send a messenger of submission in the coming day, half of the city of Thebes will be burned." This tone, like the mysterious weapon, is stupid and rough.

When many priests gathered at Penmaat's place to listen to the high priest's judgment on the future situation, he sat in his chair in a daze and did not say a word, and he really did not know whether it was better to surrender or persist in fighting to the end.

In the end, he just gave an ambiguous order, "Let the northwest corner strengthen the garrison and do a good job of protecting the crossbow cannon of that alien general." "Then the tenant army of Thebes began to repair the collapsed and burned northwestern wall, and erected many linen curtains to defend against the Romans from stone bullets and arrows."

On the other hand, Li Bida under the city saw that the ultimatum was fruitless, so he waved his baton at the soldiers who were lined up in siege formation, and the four stupid big black and thick new weapons were pushed up with a bang. (To be continued......)