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- Aesop (Greek fabler, Phrygian)

The 50,000 chariot troops under the command of Cleopatra and the three cavalry legions and two infantry corps of the Augustan Empire were responsible for blocking the northward and destroying the 70,000 southbound army of the Okchivian as much as possible.

However, among the 70,000 troops of Okchivian, there were 30,000 of the most elite chariot troops of the Kingdom of Egypt, which could not help but give Li Lias a headache; Whether it was the army that once belonged to North Africa or the elite division of the Augustan Empire, all of them had no experience in fighting chariot troops, which was unique to the Eastern continent, and there were no chariot troops in the North African continent and the Western continent.

However, this is not absolute, the British barbarians on the island of Britain have a unique chariot unit, which can be regarded as a unique chariot unit on the Western continent; It is indeed extremely ironic that no one could have imagined that the only chariot unit on the Western continent could be formed by a barbarian race.

Regardless of whether there were chariot troops on the Western continent for the time being, at least the armies of the Augustan Empire had no experience in fighting chariot troops; Fortunately, their allies are the chariot troops, and it is better for the soldiers of the Augustan Empire to observe the friendly chariot units on the way north, so as to find a way to deal with these chariot troops.

After careful observation and active exploration along the way, Li Lias and other generals soon discovered that the most threatening thing about the chariot unit was its unparalleled impact; This means that as long as the impact speed of the enemy's tank units is limited, the enemy's 30,000 tank troops can be easily wiped out.

As long as the most threatening 30,000 chariot troops were completely annihilated, would the infantry of the Kingdom of Egypt still be able to escape under the attack of 50,000 elite divisions of the Augustan Empire? What's more, Lirias also had 5,000 chariot troops under Cleopatra at his disposal, which was a good weapon to use against the Egyptian infantry.

When Lilias proposed not to use 5,000 chariot troops against the chariot troops under the command of Okchivian for the time being, the generals of the chariot troops under the command of Cleopatra did not object; After all, they and the army under the command of Okchivian were once the army of the Kingdom of Egypt, so how could they be willing to go to the step of fighting on the battlefield.

However, when Lilias expressed the hope that the chariot unit could play an important role in dealing with the 40,000 infantry led by Okechivian himself after the annihilation of the enemy chariot unit, the general of the chariot unit objected.

It turned out that there had always been a huge number of pikemen in the army of the Kingdom of Egypt; From the weakest Nubian pikemen, to the mainstay Nile pikemen, to the most elite of the Pharaohs' Praetorian Guard, these pikemen armies were outnumbered and formidable in the Egyptian kingdom's armies.

In the face of the Okchivian army, which consisted of numerous pikemen, the attack of the chariot troops was undoubtedly suicidal, as was the attack of the cavalry; Lilias had no idea that the army under the command of Okchivian would have such a large pikeman force, considering that the Kingdom of Egypt did not have such a large pikeman force in the army of the province of Cyprus and Alexandria.

In this regard, the general also gave a very reasonable explanation; Because the armies of the Kingdom of Egypt stationed in the provinces of Phoenicia and Judea existed to defend against the Seleucid Empire, the most deterrent army of the Seleucid Empire was naturally the ironclad cavalry troops that dominated the world, and in order to deal with these invincible ironclad cavalry, the Egyptian kingdom could only use large-scale pikemen to deal with it.

Li Lias reluctantly admitted that the general's statement was reasonable, and when attacking the main force of 40,000 troops of Okchivian, not only the general's 5,000 chariot troops could not be easily put into battle, but even the three cavalry armies of the Augustan Empire also needed to be cautious into battle; Otherwise, the pikemen of the Kingdom of Egypt would have become the terminators of the cavalry of the Augustan Empire.

Of course, the cavalry of the Augustan Empire had a much superior advantage in this respect over the chariot troops of the Kingdom of Egypt; Another major disadvantage of the chariot troops of the Kingdom of Egypt was that it was difficult to turn around once they had started to charge with all their might, while the cavalry was much better in this regard.

At that time, as long as the arrangement is reasonable and the tactics are flexible, with 20,000 Augustan infantry and 30,000 Augustan cavalry, it may not be possible to completely annihilate 40,000 Egyptian infantry mainly pikemen; Before that, Lilias still had to deal with the 30,000 chariot troops in front of the Okchivian infantry first.

From Judea, where Octvian was headed, to Central Egypt, where Memphis was located, the desert terrain was so flat that the Augustan army could not find a place to ambush or hold off the enemy's chariot troops.

It was only after entering the province of Central Egypt that the chariot forces of Okchivian had to cross the Nile River running through Central Egypt and the Nile Delta in the southeastern part of Central Egypt to reinforce Memphis; This place to cross the Nile was the most suitable place for Lilias to launch an attack on the enemy's 30,000 chariot troops.

Because the Nile was too wide, the army had to use bridges instead of ferries to cross the Nile quickly, and it was impossible for chariots to transport by ferry, and the bridges that could accommodate chariots were extremely limited; The only bridge that could accommodate 30,000 chariot troops in the entire territory of Central Egypt was a large stone bridge in the southeast.

Needless to say, the place where this bridge was located was naturally the decisive battle site chosen by the armies of the Augustan Empire; After crossing the Nile with his army eastward in the province of the Nile Delta, Lilias quickly marched south toward Central Egypt.

After seven days of rapid marching, the cavalry of the three legions led by Lilias himself finally rushed to the southeast of Central Egypt, and occupied the only bridge in the whole of Central Egypt that could pass through the chariot troops; As for the remaining two infantry corps and 5,000 chariot troops, they were still marching under the leadership of the deputy commander-in-chief, General Sinrida.

After crossing the large stone bridge across the Nile, there is a vast crop-growing area in Central Egypt; Unlike the desert terrain of other regions, the banks of the Nile River are covered with lush vegetation and lush crops, and it is also a great place for your cavalry to hide.

After arriving here with three cavalry legions, Lilias led his Fourth Cavalry Regiment and Gisken's Fifth Cavalry Corps across the bridge over the Nile, and found an ambush on the west bank of the Nile about three miles from the bridge; The Third Cavalry Corps, led by Bashirek, was in ambush on the east bank of the Nile about five miles from the bridge.

After less than a day had passed, the rumbling army of 30,000 chariots came in a mighty and wild manner, bringing up dust that covered the sky and the sun; There is such a power from a distance, you can imagine how heavy casualties this will bring to your own army if it is a head-to-head duel, and I am afraid it is still unknown whether it can win or not!

When the 30,000 chariot troops were only three miles away from the Nile Bridge, they began to slowly slow down the speed of their wild gallop, and all the way down the speed of the horses dragging the chariots; By the time these chariots were only more than three hundred meters away from the bridge, their speed had completely slowed down, and they were only slowly moving forward at the speed of a walk.

In order to better and faster cross the stone bridge over the Nile, the enemy's chariot troops lined up in order, walked up the stone bridge one by one and slowly drove forward; After about half of the enemy's 30,000 chariot troops had passed, and the bridges of the Nile were still densely packed with chariots, Lilias let the trumpeters beside him blow the horn of attack.

The shield cavalry of the two cavalry regiments led by Lilias himself immediately launched a charge against the slow-moving chariot troops in front, and the auxiliary javelin cavalry also threw javelins at those enemy troops from the flanks; As the offensive on the west bank began, Bashirek also led his cavalry on the east bank to launch a timely attack.

The attack of 30,000 cavalry on 30,000 chariot troops, the 30,000 chariot troops were still almost stationary, and there was no chance or time to accelerate at all; Even if there is a chariot that barely accelerates, it will immediately collide with other chariots around it, and it will not be able to pose a threat to the cavalry of the Augustan Empire, and they will be completely reduced to the lambs to the slaughter of the cavalry.

The weakest part of the army of the Kingdom of Egypt is that its will to fight is too weak, if their will to fight is strong enough, coupled with the wealth and sophisticated weapons and equipment of the Kingdom of Egypt, the Kingdom of Egypt would have unified the Eastern Continent long ago; After Li Lias's 30,000 cavalry only wiped out about 10,000 enemy troops, the remaining enemy troops who could not escape decisively chose to surrender.

After receiving all the nearly 20,000 enemy prisoners, Lilias took them all to a clearing on the west bank, and the chariots were placed intact on the east bank of the Nile; When Sinrida and his army arrived, Lilias handed over the task of guarding the prisoners to Cleopatra's chariot troops and wounded cavalry, and he continued his army north.

With 25,000 cavalry and 20,000 infantry from the Augustan Empire facing 40,000 infantry from Okchivian, a fierce battle ensued in a flat desert area; The hoplites of the 13th and 15th legions held back the enemy pikemen and desert axemen, while the cavalry of the three legions took the opportunity to launch a timely assault on the enemy from both flanks.

Five hours later, Okechivian's 40,000-strong army was completely annihilated, more than 20,000 were killed on the battlefield, and more than 15,000 were captured; Okchivian himself was killed on the spot by the shield cavalry of the Augustan Empire, and his death directly led to the collapse of the entire army under his command. (To be continued.) )