Three Kingdoms Eschatology

Shortly after these thunderclaps, a galley warship of the Malor Army rushing to the forefront fell apart as if being slapped by an invisible sea giant, and turned into a pile of broken wood.Some bloody corpses strewn about the pile of wooden ruins, and more fell into the water.They struggled in the water, and they still haven't figured out how their ship was suddenly destroyed after the shocking thunder.

The commander of the Malor army who commanded the squadron felt the entire hull tilt violently after a few loud cracking sounds, almost causing him to fall to the ground, and he was forced to half-kneel on the deck, holding his hands tightly. Grab the gunwale.

The commander immediately understood that these were not projectiles ejected by ordinary ballistas.No matter how powerful the ballista is, after hitting the ship, it will at most cause the deck to feel a shock, and it is absolutely impossible for it to be so powerful that it can tilt the hull at an angle.Kneeling on the deck in shock, he poked his head out of the ship's side and glanced at it.Eventually he was sure that what hit his ship and the sound of the thunder was coming from those galleons a few stories high.

At this time, there was a burst of exclamation and shouts from under the cabin: "The water is leaking, the cabin is leaking, and it can't be blocked!"The commander ignored the situation of his own ship, but shouted hoarsely: "Don't get close to those galleons, choose their space to attack those troop carriers."

However, it is no longer possible for soldiers to pass on his military orders.Because the soldiers have fallen from the broken mast and smashed into meatloaf.The mast was severed by the chain bullets fired by the artillery.Even if his military order is passed on, it will have no effect, because he has no idea how far the opponent's artillery can shoot.

Even though the number of ships in the Second Sicilian Fleet is small, relying on the advantage of the range of the artillery, it is enough to form a cross-fire trajectory within a radius of a hundred battles, preventing Mallore's warships from approaching their fleet.Moreover, the number of these ships is also more than he imagined.He thought that this powerful weapon was only equipped on those galleons.In fact, there are dozens of small ships and small ships each equipped with two or three cannons.

Within a quarter of an hour, nearly [-] of the [-] Mallor warships that besieged the Sicilian troop carrier were sunk one after another.Although the commander in command of the squadron fell into the sea and no one gave an order to retreat, the remaining ships began to flee.

It's just that the range of the cannon guns is two or three hundred battles away, Mallor's ship is slow due to the exhaustion of the oarsmen, and the Sicilian galleys loaded with two or three guns have also galloped out to pursue.Therefore, it is very difficult for these Mallor's warships to escape successfully.

Mallor on the flagship in the distance looked at this scene from ear to ear in surprise, and from time to time there were bursts of thunderous sounds in the distance!

"General, we have to withdraw quickly. The enemy ship has rushed over!" One of his lieutenants hurriedly reminded Mallor to recover from his dazed state.

It was only then that Mallor realized that the battle on the sea not far ahead had begun.There are only more than [-] warships left by our own side, and many of them fled to the rear with injuries.And behind them are more than sixty Sicilian galleys, chasing after them.While chasing and returning, cast ballista cannons.He hurriedly ordered: "Withdraw, quickly withdraw to Crete." Before he finished speaking, the flagship had already started to turn around...

Chapter 1147 Panic retreat

The walls of the castle at the port of Pila on the island of Cyprus have been chipped by giant trebuchets.But the city wall made of the whole rock is still strong, and there is no sign of collapse or damage.The shouts outside the city wall sounded again, but it was much weaker than the previous attack.

Thomas's soldiers put up hundreds of ladders on the city wall again, and undulating figures suddenly appeared on the seemingly dead and empty wall.The rolling wood and rocks poured down like raindrops again.With the screams and wailing, the soldiers climbing up the ladder fell down one after another like dates knocked down by bamboo poles.

More than a dozen newly built siege vehicles also slowly approached the top of the castle.The top floor of the columbine car is nearly a battle away from the top of the city.The crossbowmen and ordinary soldiers above kept using arrows and crossbow guns to suppress the defenders at the top of the city, and the screams of arrows and guns came from the top of the city.With a series of bangs, the springboard and suspension bridge on the columbine fell on the top of the castle wall, and the soldiers who had been prepared in the columbine rushed out.The people at the forefront held up their shields and marched forward, while the soldiers at the rear raised their individual crossbows and shot forward, killing all those who might block their progress.

A red light suddenly flashed in front of these soldiers, and then they felt a fiery heat wave blowing towards them.Then they lost consciousness in the severe burning pain all over their bodies.In the distance, Thomas could clearly see that several fire dragons with a length of more than ten battles swept over these siege vehicles.All the soldiers on the ladder turned into coke in an instant.The upper half of the columbine was also on fire in a short time.

It turned out that it was Little Hatulel who ordered the soldiers to remove the giant flame-breathing tanks from the remaining dozen warships and place them on the city wall.In the end, it played a decisive role in the battle of defending the city.

Thomas had cold sweat as big as soybeans on his forehead, and he had to order again to stop the siege.In just a few days, he ordered troops under the city of Port Pila, lost troops and lost generals, but did not make any progress.And the food and grass that he brought with him in the army is almost bottomed out.At this time, a soldier came to report: "Report to the general, General Mallor has sent someone to send an order, asking our entire army to return to Crete immediately!"

This was exactly what Thomas wished for, but he was still curious that he hadn't told Mallor about the stalemate in Cyprus, why did he suddenly want to withdraw his troops back to Crete?Only when he saw the people sent by Mallor did he know that Mallor's navy was almost wiped out in the sea battle in the western waters of Crete.Whether or not Crete can be defended now depends entirely on Thomas's army.

Just after he issued the military order to evacuate the entire army, another soldier rushed to report that a large number of unknown ships appeared in the southeast sea of ​​Cyprus.Looking at the flags of the sailing ship, it seems that it is not a ship of any faction in Rome at all.It was Liang Guo's Red Sea Fleet with hundreds of ships that came.

Thomas was shocked when he heard this, and hurriedly urged the soldiers to board the ship and evacuate.Thousands of soldiers immediately scrambled and flocked to the warships and warships in a panic.People, horses, and luggage are in a mess.Thomas shouted anxiously: "Don't worry about the luggage, throw away all the cumbersome bottles and cans, and get on the boat quickly. When the boat is full, withdraw, and don't wait for the formation of ships!"

In fact, Thomas didn't need to panic at all. He still had [-] large and small ships. As long as he operated as usual, the formation of the ships would not be chaotic.The hundred and ten Red Sea Fleets from Liang Kingdom did not have much effect on them.However, news of the setback of the siege and the defeat of Mallor had caused Thomas to panic. The morale of his soldiers was already low, so they were naturally easily affected by the general's emotions.Therefore, the whole army became extremely flustered.

The soldiers rushed onto the various ships in an orderly manner, and one after another the warships withdrew to the sea outside the port.When there were only a small number of soldiers left on the shore and did not evacuate, Little Hatulel finally confirmed that the opponent had really withdrawn, and led his troops out of the castle.The two sides used individual crossbows and scorpion crossbows to shoot at each other intensively, and the arrow crossbows shuttled back and forth in the air.These remnants of Thomas who hadn't yet boarded the ship were in such a state of chaos that they could only fight on their own.They soon became a litter of corpses on the beach.Where did the remaining ships in the harbor dare to stay longer, they had already lifted anchor, sailed and rowed to escape to the open sea.

However, not long after they sailed out, they found a large number of masts and sails on the sea level in the southeast.Liang Guo's Red Sea Fleet has arrived.Thomas himself had no experience in commanding a fleet, and in addition to the chaos during the retreat, his huge fleet of [-] warships moved back and forth more than ten miles away, unable to look at each other from head to tail.

After Liang Jun found them, he chased the tail of the team and bit them hard.The heavy ballistas on the ship fired round after round, destroying the enemy ships that fell behind one by one.They have been chasing for hundreds of miles before gathering the fleet and returning to Cyprus.At this time, Thomas had lost nearly a hundred warships.

……

Crete, Minoan Manor Marina Castle.The three multi-masted galleons of the Sicilian fleet were moored on the sea more than a hundred battles away, bombarding the castle's newly built walls mainly made of wood with heavy artillery in turn.

Before Mallor landed on Crete, there were no castles on Crete, including the "capital" Namisi.Even relatively densely populated towns did not have tall walls.Because there were no armed forces around Crete that could pose a threat to the locals.Besides, for such a small island, it is the most economical method to use ships to defend and resist the enemy at sea.But after Mallor landed in Crete, he built many castles.

Because of time constraints and in order to save costs, these castles are almost all wooden castles made from local materials.If these castles resist traditional siege equipment, they can be regarded as strong.Moreover, Mallor also considered the possibility of the opponent using fire to attack, so he deliberately piled up sand and soil on the top of the city wall, and built a reservoir to deal with it.But now, such a castle is as easy to destroy as a child's building blocks in front of Sicilian naval guns.

Sure enough, in just two hours, the Minoan castle was shattered by hundreds of heavy shells, and then collapsed.The three or four hundred soldiers of the Sicilian Legion who had already landed rushed towards the ruins like a whirlwind, holding individual ballistas.Before they could release two rounds of crossbow guns, a white flag rose from the ruins...

Two days later, a large number of ships appeared on the sea outside the slightly restored Minos Castle.But this time it was not the ships from Sicily, but the ships that Thomas had evacuated from Cyprus. There are less than [-] ships left now...

Chapter 1148

Northeastern waters of Crete.Standing on the deck, Thomas looked at Fort Minos, where the Sicilian military flag was planted, and said bitterly, "Damn, they took another step ahead. Why are they even occupying the towns and farms on the eastern coast?"

It turned out that after Thomas fled back to Crete with his fleet in a panic, he did not sail directly to Mysina at the western end of the island. Mallor rendezvous.

One of his lieutenants said at this time: "General, why don't we sail directly to Mysina to meet His Excellency General Mallor instead of marching to meet him by land? Wandering along the coast."

Thomas's face sank and he said, "It's reasonable for me to do this. The Sicilian fleet can destroy my cousin Mallor's huge fleet in one battle. And neither of you and I are as good at naval battles as Mallor. They dealt with my three Wouldn't it be easier to have hundreds of warships? I judge that the main force of their fleet must be waiting near Misina, waiting for us to meet with Mallor, and then wipe us out in one fell swoop. Why should we be fooled by him? ?”

Thomas was right.In fact, it is easy for Feng Yu to capture Misina. At present, Feng Yu deliberately besieged Misina without attacking it, just to let Thomas take the remaining fleet to fight against him in the waters near Misina.And Feng Yu also thought that he might not be fooled, and even speculated that he would abandon the ship and march from the island to the vicinity of Misina.So they dispatched troops and sent ships to capture various castle towns and strongholds near the eastern coast. In short, they did not leave Thomas a place where he could provide supplies.

But with such a division of troops, Misina could not be completely besieged. Feng Yu could only order someone to build a camp on one side of the town to monitor Misina.

The lieutenant was originally Mallore's confidant. Hearing what Thomas said, he feared that he would give up and rescue Mallore, so he hurriedly reminded: "But general... General Mallore ordered us to reach Misina within seven days .It's been four days now, and if we continue to delay..."

Thomas said impatiently: "I know this, but isn't there still three days left?"

However, he continued to think in his mind that if he wandered around the eastern coast, he might not be able to find towns and farms that had not been occupied by Feng Hu.And after such a long period of time, the Sicilian army in those seaside castle strongholds must have discovered such a huge fleet like him.Maybe the main force of Feng Hu's navy is coming now.I really couldn't delay here any longer, so I had to bite the bullet and go directly to Misina by sea.

Thinking of this, he made up his mind and said: "The order is for the entire army to sail straight to Misina. Spread scouting ships along the way, especially to guard against the enemy's sinking ship lying in the sea!"

At nightfall, nearly [-] warships finally reached the sea less than a hundred miles away from Misina, and the oarsmen and sailors in the warships were exhausted.

However, Thomas ordered to continue sailing at the speed, and at the same time ordered the four hundred warships to divide into four groups, and established four landing points on the coast not far from Misina.After each of the four armies landed, they assembled towards Mysina.He thinks this is the safest way.

Immediately, the squadron led by Thomas left the fleet and headed for Crete, which was hidden in the night.Not long after, Thomas heard a rumbling sound like thunder in the night.At first he thought it was thunder, turned his head and looked back, and indeed found bursts of light like lightning.But that was actually the flare from the guns of the Second Sicilian Fleet firing.

Strangely, after these bangs.There were bursts of noisy shouts from the position where the main battleship group was originally located.In addition, there are fireballs that streak across the sky like meteors.

Obviously, his ships that hadn't had time to separate were attacked.Suddenly, Thomas remembered that the commander sent by Mallor had said that the Sicilian Navy had a new type of weapon that could make a thunderous sound and project an iron ball weighing tens of pounds at a very high speed two hundred battles away. .He hastily issued another Yidao military order: "Advance at full speed, leave this place, and ignore any enemy situation."

At the same time, hundreds of warships of the Sicilian Navy had attacked Thomas' fleet from three directions.Cannons and ballistas are fully fired.Solid shells, chain bombs, stone bombs, and kerosene bombs whizzed through the air.

The day before, Feng Yu got the military information that the Thomas fleet was coming.He immediately sent a large number of small fast boats and semi-submersible boats to conduct intensive monitoring and patrols on the possible channel of this fleet.At dusk that day, a semi-submersible boat discovered this huge fleet.Immediately use semaphore relay to send information to Feng Yujun's camp at the western end of Crete.

Feng Yu has been waiting for this opportunity for a long time, and immediately ordered Gan Ning to bring almost all the warships to kill him in the dark...

The hundred warships brought by Thomas were originally going to sail to a coast more than ten miles away from Misina.But when these warships approached their destination, Thomas, who could vaguely hear the sound of rumbling guns from a distance, changed his mind and shouted: "No, going to the island is a death. Pass my military order and set the course Turn north. We're going away from Crete."

His lieutenant quickly asked, "Then where can we go?"

Thomas sighed and said, "At this point, I can only find someone to take refuge in and rely on someone!"

At the same time, in the city of Mysina, Mallor, who was still asleep, also heard the rumble of the cannon.He rushed to the highest watchtower on the city wall and looked towards the place where the sound of the cannon came from.From a distance, I saw clusters of burning flames, which were warships burned into balls by kerosene bombs.He immediately understood that Thomas' fleet had been ambushed by the Sicilian fleet and could not come.

Only then did Mallore realize that the reason for the delay in launching a decent attack on Misina was to annihilate the remaining ships led by Thomas.At this moment, he who had been calm all this time unexpectedly panicked.He forced himself to calm down, thought for a few seconds and then ordered: "Send the order, the personal guards will follow me out of the city at night!"

A quarter of an hour later, a group of more than a hundred people quietly came out of the city of Misina. Without lighting torches or lamps, they groped along the path in the woods in the dark, step by step towards a coast in the northwest. .There is a hidden sea branch that goes deep into the land, and it is a good natural harbor.It's a pity that the area is very small, and only two or three small galleys can be parked.And it was here that Mallor hid two galleys.In the middle of the night, although the sound of the guns on the distant sea became thinner, it continued. The two galleys had already reached the open sea...

Chapter 1149 Mediterranean Overlord

In 233 AD, there was a scene of prosperity on the Mediterranean Sea.Various types of merchant ships and fishing boats shuttled like weaving.Sardinia and Corsica, the two once sparsely populated islands, have gradually become more densely populated towns.

In the Mediterranean Sea, lighthouses and lighthouse keepers have also been erected on small islands that were previously uninhabited.For the busy Mediterranean merchants, time is money, and of course money should not be allowed to pass away in the dark.They are willing to pay more taxes for these lighthouses.

These continuous taxes naturally flowed into the treasury of the Sicilian Governor's Palace.Today, Feng Yu, Governor of Sicily, is a veritable overlord of the Mediterranean Sea.Since the Battle of Crete, there has been no force in the Mediterranean that can rival the Sicilian fleet.Feng Yu directly or indirectly controls all the large islands in the East and West Mediterranean.Moreover, some areas close to the Mediterranean coast have also joined the alliance led by Feng Yu.

In addition to the prosperity of maritime trade, the regional industry controlled by Feng Yu has also grown rapidly.Not only Sicily, but also newly developed Sardinia.The land here is cheap and the fresh water is abundant.Because of Feng Yu's policy of not punishing escaped slaves, human resources are also extremely abundant.Iron foundries, lumber factories, forging factories, leather processing factories and various workshops have sprung up on several islands and beside several freshwater rivers.

On the shores of some deep-water ports in Sicily, there are also many large private shipyards.After several years of technology accumulation, these shipyards are now capable of building Feng Hu galleons.The so-called Feng Hu galleon is a multi-masted ocean-going galleon named after Feng Yu's pseudonym.It's just that at present, the personnel who can control this kind of ship are either in the Sicilian Navy or senior students in the Sicilian Naval Academy.It is almost impossible to find such sailors and captains in dockside taverns.Therefore, the orders for this kind of galleon are all from the Governor's Mansion, and there are almost no orders from private business groups.

In addition to a large number of private workshops, there are also some government-run enterprises of the Governor's Mansion.In addition to the secret cannon foundry in Pozzallo, a secret workshop was built in an almost isolated deep mountain basin near the city of Nicosia in the past two years.In the entire Sicilian government office, very few people knew what this workshop was for.

But on an early summer morning, Feng Yu appeared in an open space in this workshop.An attendant handed him a long strip wrapped in an oilcloth.When the tarpaulin was uncovered, a matchlock gun made of exquisite octagonal copper columns appeared impressively.Feng Yu let this era directly skip the initial stage of firearm guns of hot weapons, and directly entered the relatively mature era of matchlock guns.

It seems that it is as simple as adding a matchstick and an ignition trigger.However, it took a lot of hard work of alchemy researchers at the Sicilian Academy and senior craftsmen of workshops.The result was a matchlock that could sustain a slow burn for up to two hours, but was only two feet long, and a relatively precise ignition spring trigger.The relatively smooth and seamless barrel can also be made by relatively advanced metal technology. The only shortcoming is that the lead pipe and ignition trigger are still manufactured one by one by hand, and the production efficiency is not high.

Feng Yu picked up the matchlock gun and pulled the trigger on a huge target outside Baizhan.After a column of white smoke rose from the barrel of the gun, there was a roar.The target made of huge wooden boards did not move at all, but the bark of several big cypress and poplar trees nearby had been shaken off, revealing a few glistening cores.Obviously, this arquebus can hardly aim at the target, and can only be used as an individual artillery to scatter aimlessly in a certain direction.

If it is used as the main battle weapon of the infantry, it must be inferior to the current individual ballista. The matchlock gun will be completely crushed by the latter in terms of rate of fire, ease of operation, and recoil. .In terms of shooting accuracy, the individual ballista is not very high if it is operated by a new soldier, but it is more than ten times stronger than this arquebus. If it is replaced by a veteran, the individual ballista can be compared to ordinary soldiers within [-] battles. Crossbow shooting accuracy.The only advantage of the matchlock gun is that it is extremely powerful, and the shotguns fired have a wide range of damage within a short distance of twenty battles.

So Feng Yu didn't mean to replace the individual ballista with a matchlock gun.However, he intends to equip a small amount of this weapon in the troops, and in some specific occasions, it will exert effects that individual ballistas cannot achieve.

Feng Yu put down the arquebus after the test firing, and said, "Try another new thing." The attendant brought him a brand new individual ballista, which was exactly the same as the soldiers of the Sicilian army. , nothing special about it.

Feng Yu pulled the lever twice, and with the help of the ratchet, pulled the rubber band with roughly braided fingers into a tight state that was only as thick as the front end of chopsticks, and a crossbow gun was automatically loaded into the gun slot with a click.When he pulled the trigger to hang the knife, the crossbow gun was shot out.John and Dian Qing who were beside him both found it strange that there was nothing unusual about this thing, it was exactly the same as the individual ballistas and crossbow guns used by soldiers.But when the crossbow spear fell to the ground, there was a crisp explosion.The ejected crossbow gun unexpectedly exploded.Then another crossbow shot out, this time the sound of the explosion was slightly smaller after landing, but a small piece of flame several feet square rose up.This crossbow gun can detonate like a kerosene bomb.

John was surprised: "How did you do it?" Feng Yu took out a crossbow from the gun case and said: "The secret is all in the head of the gun. When it is hit violently, it will ignite the hollow gun head. charged black powder, and then detonated the black powder or Greek kerosene in the barrel of the gun."

But Dian Qing exclaimed as if he had discovered a big secret: "With such a magical weapon, we can also use it on ballista projectiles or even artillery shells."

Feng Yu shook his head and said, "The ballista is fine. In fact, the prototype has already been trial-produced. In the future, it is no longer necessary to set up a brazier in front of the ballista's mouth to launch kerosene bombs. But the artillery is not good. The vibration of the artillery bombardment is too great, and it will be extremely difficult to operate." Dangerous. Even with ballista ballista, the current security protection is difficult to use in actual combat, and it needs to be greatly improved."

After all, he said to the craftsman leader of the management workshop beside him: "This gun needs to be equipped with a safety plug. Only when it is pulled out can the internal parts contact and collide. In addition, a new individual ballista should be designed to be suitable for single-shot shooting. This kind of special crossbow requires that this kind of crossbow can be manually lifted up at a certain moment, instead of being mixed with ordinary crossbows in the gun lock."

The leader of the craftsman quickly realized, patted his chest and said: "My lord governor, this is simple, no problem, we'll just do it in a few days!"

Chapter 1150 Aurelian's Northern Expedition

Feng Yu nodded in satisfaction after listening to the words of the craftsman leader: "After the trial production is completed, it will be produced in large quantities. This matchlock gun will be built in a thousand pieces first. Such special crossbow guns and ballista shells Build as many as possible. I will be able to equip the entire army in three months."

The craftsman leader was embarrassed when he heard this.Feng Yu immediately understood his intentions, and said: "Such a large amount, it is of course unrealistic for your workshop to produce it alone. You can use non-core components, such as the ignition trigger on the matchlock gun, the hollow crossbow gun Heads and gun barrels are outsourced to private workshop owners. The Governor’s Office will allocate funds to you.”

Feng Yu originally thought that his plan would solve the problem, but the craftsman leader said: "My lord governor, but... but now those private workshops can't spare manpower and time to catch up with the work. Their business is also full now."

"Oh? Can their business be so good?" Feng Yu questioned.

"To tell you the truth, Governor. This is the case with several workshops that have cooperated with us. Now they have received a large number of orders for crossbow guns and arrows. They are everywhere, some from Egyptian caravans, some There are even orders from the Roman City Merchant Group, Thrace, Achaia, far and near Spain, and Transgaul. They are rushing to work all day and all night. There is no time to take our orders unless the governor orders An edict to force them to take our order."

Feng Yu nodded and pondered for a while, then said to himself: "I see, it seems that the princes have rested and recuperated for a few years, and some people are going to send troops to conquer again. Could it be that force..."

……

In the midsummer of 233 AD, Feng Yu received several letters in succession.One is a handwritten letter from Aurelian, the governor of Egypt, claiming that the time has come to "raise troops to fight against thieves".He is also ready.But he did not have a navy, so he could only attack Syria, Asia Minor, Thrace, Achaia, near and far Spain, Transgaul and other places where the rebels were entrenched. meet.But in this way, you need to pass through the Suez Canal area under Feng Yu's jurisdiction.I hope Feng Yu can give you convenience.Although the content of the text is pleading, but between the lines is an inevitable trend.

The second letter came from Alexander himself, but Feng Yu knew it was written by Alexander's mother Amias when he saw the style of writing.The letter also said that the time had come to restore Rome's order and law, and asked Feng Yu to assist Alexander's actions as much as possible, the most important of which was to support Aurelian's Northern Expedition in various ways.

The remaining few letters were letters from some small "princes" who formed an alliance with Feng Yu.Their common feature is the several provinces that are adjacent or similar to Egypt.Including Judea Province, Carthage Province, etc., they all faced the situation that Aurelian's army would pass through their jurisdiction.Because Aurelian sent troops to the north from Egypt, and did not take the sea route, there were nothing more than two marching routes.One is along the east coast of the Mediterranean Sea all the way northward, crossing the canal and successively passing through the provinces of Judea, Syria, Asia Minor, Thrace, Panhino, etc., and finally arrived at Germania in the northern part of the Alps.The other is to go westward along the northern coast of the Mediterranean Sea to the province of Mauritius, then cross the Strait of Gibraltar, land in the province of Far Spain, pass through the provinces near Spain, Transgaul and other provinces to the near Germanic province.Both routes will pass through many "vassal" territories that have formed alliances with Feng Yu.

Although these "princes" who have formed an alliance with Feng Yu are cautiously maintaining a neutral state, they still recognize Alexander formally.So they couldn't refuse Aurelian's entry, but they were worried that Aurelian would play "false roads" and collapsed their "independence".For a while, he was in a dilemma, helpless, and sent letters to Feng Yu asking for advice.

Feng Yu thought about it for several hours before writing to them one by one.The reply to Alexander promised to follow Alexander's instructions and cooperate with Aurelian's "Northern Expedition".

He wrote back to Aurelian offering to open the canal area to his army.In addition, the provincial administrators along the way will be united to provide food, supplements and various assistance to his army.The province of Sicily will also assist Aurelian's Northern Expedition with its unique maritime advantages.In fact, Feng Yu planted a foreshadowing here - to assist Aurelian along the way, it will involve him sending troops to the provinces allied with him along the way to help Aurelian ensure the rear supplies and escort food and grass .Regardless of whether this move is necessary or not, it will at least reassure allies like Feng Yu.

In the end, he replied to these allies and boldly let Aurelian pass. He guaranteed that the "independence" of these allies would not be undermined by Aurelian.He even sent a small number of troops to each province just in case.

In fact, Feng Yu knew that this eventuality did not exist at all, and Aurelian would never be able to move these provinces.Because in recent years, although Aurelian has continuously recruited troops and expanded his army several times, reaching nearly 8 people, so many soldiers and horses have to stay in Egypt, and the troops have to be divided into two groups to attack the "rebels" along the way. ".He still has extra soldiers and horses to attack these neutral provinces and seize these neutral provinces. He has to send trusted soldiers and horses to guard them to ensure the safety of the future. He needs soldiers and horses to guard him. If he goes all the way, when he reaches Germany, there are not many soldiers and horses left.Therefore, Feng Yu concluded that Aurelian would pass through these jurisdictions of his allies peacefully.This is the confidence in his guarantee, and besides giving these allies psychological comfort and improving his prestige in the alliance, he sent troops to these jurisdictions, and he really wanted to help Aurelian.

At the end of summer and early autumn, Aurelian finally started his Northern Expedition.The two large legions totaled [-] soldiers and horses, and the troops marched along the north and east coasts of the Mediterranean Sea in two ways.Along the way, the "princes" from all walks of life, in addition to supporting each other with logistical support, also sent troops and horses to follow the two large armies of Aurelian directly into the war.

Aurelian's army was already elite with almost the same sophisticated equipment as the Sicilian army, and with the help of other forces, it was invincible.The eastern front successively captured the entire province of Syria and the eastern region of Asia Minor, broke through Ankara, the capital of Asia Minor, and directed their troops at Byzantium.The Aurelian army on the western front drove straight in, as if entering no one's land.In just one month, Mauritania was recovered and the former governor who claimed to be the king of Mauritia was beheaded.Two months later, Chen Bing was on the border between Spain and Transgaul near Spain...

Chapter 1151 Suspended Byzantium

Byzantine city at the western end of Asia Minor.On one side of the city are blue-black turbulent waves under the high cliff.On the other side, there is a sea of ​​people with red and copper-yellow metallic luster, which is the color of Roman soldiers' red war robes and ring armor mixed together.Behind the human navy is a white tent like a sea of ​​clouds.

Aurelian's 3-odd army Chen Bing was in the east of Byzantium.In addition to his own 90.00 troops, there are also support troops sent by provinces that still recognize Alexander in name when passing through the provinces along the way.Now the entire province of Asia Minor has been recovered by [-]%.Only the northwest coast, that is, some areas on the south coast of the Sea of ​​Marmara and Thrace on the north coast across the sea, are still in the hands of Aurelian.Among them, the Byzantine city is the core fulcrum of this area.

After Aurelian's army formation was lined up, he was not in a hurry to launch an attack, but he boarded a siege chariot himself, set up a pergola with his hands, and looked at the city of Byzantium in the distance.Byzantium was originally a fortified city, and when Alexander and Liang's allied forces marched to Thrace from here, they were also blocked for a long time.And now, Augustus has been in business for a long time, consolidating the city like a golden soup.

A large castle in the early years has also been expanded into a large city.Even if the tall and solid city walls of the outer city are broken, there are still one main, two auxiliary and three castles in the city, all of which are built of whole huge stones. to reinforce.The height of the top of the main castle wall is one or two distances higher than standing on the top floor of the columbine cart.

Seeing this, Aurelian frowned slightly, but waved his hand and said, "Send the order, attack the city!".Hundreds of giant trebuchets parked in front of the military formation threw boulders towards the city wall.The bang bang bang continued.The bombardment lasted for two or three hours. Dust was billowing around the city wall, and debris of masonry was flying everywhere.But the city wall seemed to be motionless, except for the pits and pits on the edge of the wall and the wall hit by bricks and stones, there was not a single crack.

"General, I think it's impossible to blow away the city wall no matter how long the bombardment continues like this!" A trusted lieutenant general of Aurelian reminded.

Aurelian said with a deadpan expression, "Stop the bombardment! The whole army is attacking!"

The lieutenant let out an "ah" in surprise.Such a strong city, if the city wall is not breached, a storm will face huge losses of soldiers.But the military order was like a mountain, and he didn't dare to dissuade him.In an instant, the army formation like a sea of ​​people turned into a crowd rushing towards the tall city wall of Byzantium.Numerous ladders were erected along the city wall, and hundreds of siege vehicles were attached to the city wall.Countless people popped up from the originally empty city in an instant, rolling wood, stirring stones and boiling soup, falling down one after another.The soldiers on the ladder rolled down from the ladder at the top of the city screaming.

Hundreds of ladders were lowered one after another, but hundreds of two or three fire dragons were already flying towards these ladders at the top of the city.The soldiers who were about to rush out of the chariot were immediately burned to death by the blazing flames, screaming and jumping directly to the bottom of the city.The soldiers in the rear dodged backward one after another, so a large group of people were squeezed down.At this time, several fireballs were thrown down in front of each columbine, and these were clay pots filled with Greek kerosene.After the fragmentation, the fire ball shot up into the sky, and the columbine car was immediately shrouded in a sea of ​​flames.After a few minutes of miserable wailing in the couch, only the crackling and crackling of the wood remained.

Only then did Aurelian shout coldly: "Retreat!" His army immediately receded like a tide, leaving countless corpses and charred corpses under the city wall.Of course, there are still piles of burning wreckage.Most of these soldiers who failed to die were not Aurelian's own troops. He asked those "vassals" to support his troops as the vanguard.

It was late at night, five feet underground between the camp of Aurelian and the city of Byzantium.Some heavy soldiers are sweating profusely digging the tunnel.It turned out that Aurelian had already broken through the Byzantine city's defenses in various ways.In addition to the onslaught on the ground, the underground work started from the day the camp was set up, almost simultaneously with the building of the giant catapult.

At this time, in the city of Byzantium, some people turned their ceramic bowls upside down on the ground, put their ears on the bottom of the bowl, and carefully listened to the sound from the ground.The general of Augustus naturally knew how Alexander and Liang's allied forces broke Byzantium back then, and it was impossible for him to let history repeat itself.These listeners are not randomly found, but specially trained.They not only have keen hearing, but can even judge the approximate depth and location of underground sound sources.

Suddenly, one of them's eyes widened, and he pressed his ear to the bowl even tighter.Immediately he reported to their leader: "Boss, there is movement here." The leader sitting on the chair heard this, and quickly put it on the bowl to listen to it himself, and then shouted: "Come here! Come here! Everyone! Come here to listen! Then report the situation to me individually!" Seven or eight people under him immediately came from other places carrying bowls, knocked the bowls on the ground and listened.

Within a few minutes, they all reported to their boss. "Boss, they are fifty battles ahead, about three meters underground.", "I heard that they should be sixty battles away, to the right of the front, a little more than two meters underground.", " Mine is forty to fifty battles, nearly three meters underground."

After a hasty estimate, the boss ran to report to Shangfeng as if flying.

Two days later, Aurelian's underground engineers had dug to a place less than twenty battles away from the city wall, and the soldiers were still sweating profusely in the narrow and stuffy tunnel.The two people in front stood side by side, constantly swinging picks and digging on the cave wall.Suddenly, a person felt a sticky feeling from the cold feet, and when he understood what was going on, the hairs on his back stood on end.

"It's bad! It's flooded! Get out! Get out!", the panicked voice was recalled in the tunnel, and before others could react, he threw away the pickaxe and went out desperately in the narrow tunnel.When the rest of the people saw the white water jet gushing out from a hole that was getting bigger and bigger, they also ran away.But before it was too late, the jet of water burst through the hole of a washbasin in a short while, and the turbulent water flow filled the tunnel in a short time.Everyone in the tunnel failed to escape...

Early the next morning Aurelian arrived on the scene.His normally expressionless face also frowns tightly.He was now helpless in front of the fortified city of Byzantium, and he couldn't even break through the outer city, let alone the three stronger and taller castles inside the city walls.

Chapter 1152 Bronze Giant Cannon

"General, let me see if we can ask Feng Hu, the governor of Sicily, for help. I remember that it was Liang Guo's idea that His Majesty Alexander and the Liang Guo allied forces broke through Byzantium at that time. In addition to digging tunnels, they also used gunpowder. It was theirs. It is used for the unique artillery on the ship. I heard that it is a kind of powder, but it can release amazing power when exposed to fire..." Aurelian's confidant lieutenant advised him.