Chapter 898: Forced Crossing
Nothing is more moving than real achievements. For those great nobles, they have no shortage of status and wealth. What they lack is achievements and honors. For them, these things are the foundation of everything.
Moreover, the seven great nobles are not a monolithic group. If some are strong, others will be weak. Vogelgis V started the fight, which was like a signal gun at the starting line.
The seven great nobles are now trying their best to compete for the top spot, which is great news for Vogtgis V.
He didn't care about those people. As long as they came, he had plenty of ways to make them work for his own purposes.
After waiting for this batch of reinforcements to arrive, I, Vogelius V, led everyone to move south. The loophole given by Rome was too tempting, and they had to seize this opportunity.
As for whether it was a trap deliberately designed by Rome, if Rome could use the death of the Thirteen Roses to set it, then Vogelges V would accept it.
After Armenia was plundered, Vogyses V abandoned it. Armenia was important, but definitely not as important as defeating Rome.
As long as Rome can be defeated, any number of Armenias can be defeated. But if Rome cannot be defeated, then everything now is meaningless. No matter how much is gained, it will be lost in the end.
As Vogels V moved south, a bloody battle broke out.
"Kirkuk, Omzada, and Yupal, the three of you will lead your troops as the vanguard, hold shields and go ahead to force your way across the river!"
The demeanor displayed by Fars Sassan was simply terrifying. Perhaps it was because he had reached the end of his life, his desperate momentum was indeed somewhat terrifying.
The three troops that were targeted were all famous Parthian meat shield troops. They all held huge thick shields, lined up in rows, and then a large number of archers mixed in.
The other soldiers began to push the rafts they had made from the wood they had cut earlier into the Tigris River, preparing to use this method to force their way to the other side of the river.
"Are we going to force our way across like this?" Sun Quan was a little surprised.
If we just charge forward like this, even if these guards are all meat shields, I'm afraid thousands of people will die. Is it really crazy?
If the follow-up troops cannot arrive in time, these troops may be wasted.
"If we don't force the crossing, we can only kill time. As for the water attack, even if they have sent people to drive out the defenders at the weakest point, the two rivers are too close. Once the crossing is opened, it will only mean that the entire army will be annihilated instead of severely damaged. There is essentially no difference."
Lu Meng, who was following behind Sun Quan, shook his head and explained that he was quite confused. Sometimes Sun Quan acted like a monarch, but sometimes he really acted like a mentally retarded person.
It seems that Sun Quan is better at politics and strategy, and he doesn't know much about military warfare.
"Although a forced crossing is dangerous, as long as Rome is willing to pay the price, it will not be able to stop Parthia. At that time, if they attack in one go, it may be a major blow to Rome, and it will also boost the morale of our side," Lu Xun added.
That being said, the densely packed dots on the other side of the river have already shown that this river is not so easy to cross.
The Romans had deployed a lot of manpower along the river. There were probably 20,000 to 30,000 archers alone.
Even if the Parthian troops broke through in five directions, it would definitely not be easy to cross the river.
"Should we charge in? I see the other side is full of barbarians!"
Li Jue said, touching his chin.
"Kong Ming, do you think we should go over and catch the enemy off guard? Anyway, the danger of crossing the river is that we are afraid of long-range attacks, and our heavy cavalry is not afraid of this at all."
Zhuge Liang shook his head. If it weren't for the scene where Sun Quan enlightened him, he might have agreed. But now he had no intention of letting Li Jue and the others take this risk.
Even for Li Jue and his men, casualties were inevitable during a beach landing. If they ran into Trajan who was lying in ambush on the opposite side, they might get into big trouble. There was no need for them to take risks.
"Just wait and see, Parthia seems to have other ideas." Zhuge Liang said lightly.
With a roar from Omzada and others, countless Parthian soldiers began to charge, the rafts rushed into the river, and then paddled vigorously.
The Romans relied on the ships that had been confiscated in advance and rushed directly towards Parthia.
The two sides collided in the middle, and arrows began to rain down frantically, both with extremely high firing rates. Both sides suffered little loss, and regardless of the fact that ships were more reliable than rafts after all, Rome quickly gained the upper hand.
Fars Sassan was very calm. He did not expect to rush across so easily. A river can be a real chasm if it is strictly guarded.
The Parthians themselves were not good at naval battles, and it was unknown how long the Mesopotamian region had been lost, so there was no possibility for them to practice naval battles.
"Burn it, and make a louder noise!" Fars Sassan said calmly.
They were just trying to cause trouble. The troops that were actually going to cross the river had already started crossing in circles. Their purpose was to draw all of Rome's attention to this place.
The so-called forced crossing was just a slogan. The Fars Sassanids were well aware of the gap between the two sides in naval warfare, not to mention that they didn't even have a boat now.
His goal is to bring both sides to a unified level first.
"combustion!"
After receiving the order from Fars Sassanid, Babak and other troops began to prepare secret techniques. The only way was to use the power of combustion to ignite the kerosene rafts they had prepared, turning the river surface into a sea of fire in one breath, and then burning all the Roman ships first.
The subsequent development of the situation was just as Fars Sassanid had expected. A huge fire broke out on the river, making the entire river surface as bright as day.
"I didn't expect that we still underestimated Parthia. Parthia is not good at naval warfare because of the geographical environment. But their use of fire attack is quite amazing."
However, for Zhuge Liang, this water and fire was still a bit of a piece of cake. Parthia was well prepared, but it still underestimated the power of water.
"Forget it, let's help Parthia. It's already come to this point, there's no point in just wasting time!" Zhuge Liang waved his mind, and the southeast wind came. The flames were instantly caught by the strong wind and swept towards the direction of the Romans.
Fars Sassan was stunned for a moment, but reacted instantly when he saw Zhuge Liang nod his head. He immediately began to send people while the Romans were blocked by the rising fire.
Taking advantage of the fact that the opposite side was blocked by fire and unable to launch an attack on them, Fars Sassan was overjoyed and ordered the Dog Army to cross the river or build pontoon bridges. This action attracted all the attention of the Roman barbarians.
However, separated by the twisted flames, the Roman barbarians really had no way to deal with it for the time being and could only watch Parthia's actions.
"Idiot, the legion is ready to attack, fire!" Filippo, who rushed over, was almost angry to death. He quickly took over the command and began to command the barbarian legion, while letting Xia Xu's archers join the battle.
The arrival of the Fourth Lucky Legion instantly reversed the situation. The Roman barbarians, who were originally like a group of sick cats, instantly turned into tigers and began to frantically snipe at the Parthian crossing.
"Qi!" Fars Sassan spat, and then turned a blind eye. The forced crossing itself was unexpected, but since the Eagle Flag Legion was attracted, the goal was achieved.
After struggling for most of the day, the main force of Parthia still failed to cross the river successfully, but Fars Sassanid was still very satisfied because Ardashir and others had come to report that they had easily crossed the Tigris River while Rome's attention was diverted.
Having said that, it was also because of problems with the military structure of Rome. Most of the legions were short-legged, and Rome itself was short of troops and had insufficient experience in defensive warfare.
If it were these people from the Han Dynasty, they would have placed a beacon tower not far away, and there would not have been a need to station too many people there, three or five would have been enough. They would then concentrate the cavalry to act as a fire-fighting team and roam around, while the main force would just keep an eye on the large force on the opposite side and that would be it.
Fars Sassanid did not stop and was determined to force the crossing. You should know that since the beginning of the crossing, Parthia had lost nearly two thousand men.
Moreover, Fars Sassan had no intention of stopping. Even after Ardashir and others had already smuggled across the river, Fars Sassan still commanded his troops to force a crossing.
Because of this crazy move, the Romans did not have any doubts at all. After all, they had already kept their eyes on the Parthian army.
Moreover, before that, Parthia was almost able to reach the opposite bank of the river and break through successfully. If the Macedonian infantry of the Sixth Triumphal Legion and the Fourth Legion had not arrived together, Parthia might have succeeded in breaking through.
It was this breakthrough in forced crossing that caused the Roman side to completely ignore the possibility of smuggling, or they did not have the extra strength to defend against it.
Their strength was not enough to begin with, and if they dispersed their forces to the coast, the Parthian crossing would really succeed.
The forced crossing lasted a day before it was finally completed, and Ganasis also arrived near the coast.
"In this way, Parthia should be able to stay quiet for two days. This kind of head-on battle is still disadvantageous for us!"
"Set up camp right here. We must delay here for a while. The longer we delay, the more chances we have of turning defeat into victory!"
Ganasis observed the other side of the river and determined that although the Parthians were still furious, they should not be able to cause any more trouble for the time being.
Crossing the river at night would be courting death. Besides, fighting at night is not a big deal for elite troops. Parthia should not continue to try to break through.
"Pay attention, I see Parthia has been keeping an eye on our negligence!"
Seeing that the Parthian side seemed to be unwilling to give up and continued to stare at the Roman side, as if waiting for them to be careless, Ganasis could not help but remind them.
It would be a laughing stock if we were to lose a war of this magnitude due to negligence.
"At dawn, our army will launch a full-scale attack!" Fars Sassan gave the order calmly.
Whether Rome noticed Ardashir and his men's smuggling or not is no longer important. As long as both sides attack at the same time, Rome will inevitably be unable to take care of both ends.
At dawn the next day, which was also the darkest period, Zhuge Liang and his companions quietly changed the celestial phenomena, making the night even darker than usual.
Ardashir led the Holy Fallen Knights, as well as the Achaemenids and other cavalry, and launched a strong attack on the Roman camp in the dark.
Although they were quickly discovered by the Roman camp, the cavalry was too fast. Coupled with the fighting power of Ardashir and others, Rome was unable to stop them for a while.
"Everyone, follow me and land on the beach!"
The moment Fars Sassanid noticed the fire in the Roman camp, he gave the order. He knew that his grandson was holding back the enemy, so he immediately boarded the raft and started to force a crossing without any hesitation.
This practice of leading by example instantly ignited the morale of the Parthian side, and the army began a crazy crossing.
The Roman camp was definitely not in chaos. Under the arrangement of Ganasis, although it was caught off guard by Ardashir and others, it did not just fall into chaos.
But they were affected after all. Ardashir was very clear about their goal. They were not trying to capture the Roman camp, but to attract Rome's attention.
So Ardashir and his troops were almost stretched into a long line, and the Romans were attacked.
In the darkness, the sounds of Parthian shouting and killing were heard everywhere. The sound was so loud that even Ganasis was a little confused about where the enemy came from.
He instantly thought of the possibility of Parthia sneaking across the river, but he had no way of judging whether there were more Parthian troops sneaking across the river or more Parthian troops forcing their way across the river.
However, Ganasis chose the most correct option in the chaos . He ordered the Eagle Flag Legion as the core to suppress the chaos of the Barbarian Legion, and then integrated the army into a whole.
However, in this case, Rome temporarily had no way to deal with the Parthian troops that were forcing a crossing.
The specially deployed Roman archers launched an attack on Parthia. Some Parthians were covered by the rain of arrows and fell down, but only a moment later, Omzada and others rushed to the other side under the rain of arrows.
Then they began to organize archers to counterattack with the breakthrough point as the center, preparing for more Parthian soldiers to land later.
"Hahaha, destiny is on the side of Parthia after all!" Fars Sassan was overjoyed after seeing this scene. Ganasis' choice was undoubtedly correct, but he eventually let them cross the river.
As more and more Parthian soldiers crossed the river, the Han army also began to leisurely cross the river by boat.
"Everyone, from now on, it's your turn! This kind of directional chaos is the best for you to hone your skills. On such a flat plain, it will be difficult for the Parthians to break through the Roman defenses, so it's time to show your skills."
Li Jue shouted excitedly that what he liked most was the chaotic fighting on the plains. In this situation, their Xiliang Iron Cavalry were gods, and their Heavy Iron Cavalry were gods among gods.
"Xiu'er, bring your people and follow us. This time I want to see if the Second Trajan can still stop us!" Zhang Ji shouted.
The corners of Zhuge Liang's mouth twitched slightly. Bringing so many people over there to seek trouble was really like the people from Xiliang.
