Chapter 165: The Spice War 2
< 165. The Spice War 2 >
As Marcus predicted, the Southern Kingdoms’ coalition army did not avoid a battle with the Roman army.
There might have been various reasons, but the biggest factor was that they only knew Rome from superficial knowledge.
The coalition army’s knowledge of Rome was at best this much:
The most powerful nation in the western world.
A great power with overwhelming military strength and vast territory.
But even if they had a vast land, only a few people knew exactly how wide it was, and they had never experienced the powerful military force firsthand.
There were many countries that Rome had subdued, but the Southern Kingdoms had never confronted them.
Of course, they also knew well that Rome was much more powerful than them.
But it was not all of Rome’s soldiers who came, and the number of enemies was less than theirs.
The distance between Rome and the southern Arabian Peninsula was also not something that could be called a little far.
The generals of the coalition were confident that if they pushed back the enemy with all their might, they would not be able to launch another expedition easily.
That judgment was not wrong.
Indeed, if Marcus lost, he would have to scrap the plan to put the eastern coast of the Red Sea under Rome’s control.
The southern Arabian Peninsula was not an indispensable area like Egypt or Mesopotamia.
There was no need to put it in their hands at the cost of enormous sacrifices.
But this was only the case when Marcus lost to the coalition army.
The coalition army’s mistake was that they failed to objectify the difference in strength between them and the enemy.
In fact, it was more correct to say that it was impossible from the beginning rather than failing.
The Southern Kingdoms had been fighting each other in their own world for a long time.
They would feel more confident when they united against a common enemy, which they had always opposed.
It was strange that their morale did not rise if you put it nicely, or if you put it badly, it was like a frog in a well who did not know how scary it was.
The result would prove which perspective was right.
Asad, the commander-in-chief of the coalition army, sent his army to the northwest of the Saba Kingdom after receiving information about the movement of the Roman army.
The place where the battle would take place was decided as a plain near the coast.
The coalition side chose this place as the battlefield, and Marcus had already expected that it would be here if a battle broke out.
The armies of both countries narrowed their distance slowly and identified each other’s presence.
The coalition army, which took its place on the plain first, built a camp and waited for the Roman army.
Meanwhile, the generals of the coalition exchanged unexpected opinions.
“But what if the Roman army pretends to come here and turns to the western highlands? We want to fight them head-on, but they might not want to fight us.”
“Ha ha, they are the ones who claim to be the strongest nation in the western world. Do you think they will use such dishonorable tactics?”
It was something that anyone who had ever fought with Rome would doubt their sanity.
That’s how confident the coalition army was right now.
Asad, who was in charge of command, did not scold other generals either.
He judged that it was not a bad thing for morale to rise before a battle as long as they did not become too arrogant.
Fortunately or unfortunately, Marcus relieved them of their worries neatly.
The eight Roman legions he led did not make them wait.
The Roman army, which marched south straight to the coastal plain, could see with their naked eyes the coalition army’s formation that was waiting for them.
An army of over 80,000 soldiers was itself an enormous intimidation.
The costumes and flags of the coalition army that filled up the plain were five types in total.
According to information, five kingdoms had mobilized most of their forces for this battle.
They looked definitely more than Rome and Nabataea’s armies combined at a glance, but no one was scared.
Marcus looked at the wave of enemies filling his eyes and smiled instead.
“Thank you. You came out like this on your own.”
Surenas shook his head incredulously as if he could not believe it.
“I wonder what they were thinking when they made this choice. I want to ask their commander what their basis is if they really think they have a chance…”
“Well, even Parthia, who had more information about Rome than them, eventually fought us.”
“I told you again and again that I opposed it.”
Marcus smiled lightly at Surenas’ protest and looked over the coalition army’s formation.
He did not completely let go of his mind and fall into complacency, even though he looked very likely to win.
Variables always occur, and accidents can happen.
His eyes stopped at Spartacus, who was encouraging his soldiers in the center.
‘Well, it won’t be a big problem anyway.’
Spartacus had been noticed for his personal combat skills so far, but he was not without talent as a commander.
In the original history, he was a general who led tens of thousands of slave armies and defeated the Roman army several times.
Of course, this was also because the Roman army dug their own graves with arrogance and complacency, but it was not something that could be underestimated to lead tens of thousands of people.
Moreover, he had ordered Surenas in advance to keep an eye on the legion led by Spartacus.
If there was any confusion in the command system, Surenas would take over the command of the 12th legion.
He had taken enough insurance for this, so he would be able to cope with any problem.
Shaking off his anxiety, Marcus immediately finished his formation and ordered an attack.
“O proud warriors of Rome, trample and ravage the enemies thoroughly. Make them unable to think of opposing Rome again by planting fear in their minds!”
As the trumpet sound announcing the attack echoed, the Roman army, which was widely spread out, rushed forward.
“For the Imperator!”
A thunderous roar shook the coastal plain.
The Southern Kingdoms’ coalition army did not sit still either.
Asad pointed his sword at the approaching Roman army and shouted.
“Let us strike God’s hammer on the wicked invaders! Fight back, soldiers! Show those Romans that this land is not a place to be trifled with!”
“Uwaaaaa!”
The cavalry stationed on both wings ran their camels at once.
The infantry also ran while maintaining a wide horizontal formation.
The coalition army, which had formed a perfect formation and waited for this moment, was full of confidence.
They ran and ran with their shields covering their front and their sharp spearheads aimed at the Roman army.
The camel cavalry of the Himyar Kingdom, which they were proud of, also had confidence in their victory.
The general of the Himyar Kingdom who was worried that the Roman army would avoid a head-on confrontation did not say that for nothing.
The Himyar’s camel cavalry had a powerful force against ordinary horses.
Horses that were not familiar with camels tended to be frightened by the strange-looking camels as soon as they saw them.
In fact, Cyrus the Great of Persia used a camel cavalry unit to easily neutralize Lydia’s excellent cavalry when he conquered Lydia.
Moreover, camels, which were basically bad-tempered, did not hesitate to attack animals smaller than themselves.
The Himyar Kingdom army believed that Rome’s cavalry would not be much different.
There were also excellent warhorses in the Arabian Peninsula, but the Himyar Kingdom took advantage of this point and mobilized a large-scale camel cavalry for this battle.
However, this was a huge mistake.
Marcus, who hated the occurrence of variables more than anything else, had already finished training his horses.
The current Roman cavalry did not get overly excited or scared when they faced camels.
Rather, it was the Himyar Kingdom army that ran with enthusiasm that was confused.
They were shocked to see Rome’s heavy armor that they had never seen before.
“What is that? How can we stab them with spears if they wear iron plates like that?”
“Don’t panic! If they wear iron like that, they must be slow.”
Someone from the cavalry side shouted.
Of course, the reality was the opposite.
The Roman cavalry armed with plate armor and supported by archery units attacked the Himyar’s camel cavalry fiercely.
The destructive power of Rome’s cavalry combined with saddle and plate armor and couched lance was comparable to an armored car in this era.
“Kraak!”
With a single scream, the front line of the camel cavalry collapsed unbelievably.
They tried to fight back with arrows, but the performance of the bow itself was overwhelmingly better for Rome’s army, so they did not see any effect.
“Their cavalry power is stronger than we imagined! Don’t fight recklessly and adjust your formation. If we collapse, the central forces will be surrounded. Hold on and don’t collapse!”
The commander of the Himyar Kingdom was stunned by Rome’s equipment that surpassed common sense.
Who would have imagined that there would be armor that would bounce off weapons no matter how hard they swung?
This made it rather disadvantageous to bring camels along.
Camels had a similar maximum speed to horses, but their explosive power was far behind.
If they could not do anything with weapons, they had to use the speed of their mounts to deliver kinetic energy, but camels did not do this easily.
It was impossible to give a proper blow like this.
The Himyar cavalry tried to stab them with spears as hard as they could, but they bounced off, while Rome’s spears pierced through them without mercy.
“Aaargh!”
“Monsters! They are monsters!”
The cavalry could only do so much as to deflect the Roman spears with their weapons.
There was a limit to defending like that. When several soldiers attacked with spears at the same time, it was over.
The Himyar cavalry, who had confidently taken the lead, were annihilated in no time.
They could only hope that the center and the opposite wing would do well while being slaughtered by the enemy.
Marcus, who was watching from afar, was satisfied with the situation on the left wing, which was going as expected.
The strategy he and Surenas had devised was simple.
The Roman army in the center would help the Nabataeans on the right wing not to collapse and strengthen their defense.
Meanwhile, the left wing, which concentrated on cavalry power, would crush the enemy’s cavalry and strike their rear.
It was a conventional method, but there was no need to use a clever trick when the allies had an absolute advantage in the situation.
“Good. Now, while the center and left wing hold on, let’s rotate the cavalry on the right wing and surround the enemy…”
But as Marcus turned his eyes to look over the overall situation again, he saw an unexpected sight.
“…What is this? How did this happen?”
He thought that the key to this battle was the left wing, which was the core of the attack.
He judged that there was no way that the center and right wing would collapse easily, so he had been focusing on the left wing for a while.
While he was doing that, the situation in the center changed drastically.
The starting point was the 12th legion led by Spartacus.
Spartacus did not just command from behind even after becoming a legionnaire.
There were also commanders in ancient times who led their cavalry from the front and charged at the enemy like Alexander the Great.
It was a dangerous act, but it also raised the morale of their allies who were directly commanded by them.
The 12th legion was no exception.
Spartacus armed himself with plate armor and a longsword and faced the enemy who rushed in at the forefront.
The 12th legion just followed their brave legionnaire’s back.
“Haah!”
Every time Spartacus breathed out, his sword flashed like lightning.
It was hardly visible to ordinary soldiers’ eyes.
Only the faint traces of his sword shining in the sun were seen.
Slash!
The effect was dramatic.
Every time he swung his sword, exactly one person.
Sometimes he showed a miracle of cutting two people’s necks with one horizontal slash.
The front line of Saba’s army collapsed where Spartacus passed by.
There were no soldiers who could withstand his sword even once.
If they entered Spartacus’ sight, it was over.
He did not care whether they were soldiers or commanders.
Anyone became a ghost with one stroke.
It was an unbelievable sight.
It was not just because of the superiority of his equipment.
Spartacus maximized his equipment’s superiority.
He ignored attacks that were not dangerous and relied on his armor’s defense.
He focused on maximizing his longsword’s lethality.
He had honed his skills from when he first received his equipment in Gaul to perfection now.
He showed off his skills as if Mars himself had descended into this world.
“Uaaaah! He’s a monster!”
“Ru-run! Get out of my way! We’ll die if we go forward!”
The Saba soldiers who had completely lost their morale retreated hesitantly.
The soldiers who were in Spartacus’ sight tried to run away desperately and even pushed down their own allies.
A general of Ma’in Kingdom ran towards Spartacus with a huge axe to stop him.
No matter how strong his armor was, if he slammed down his axe with all his weight, he had to take a hit.
That was his judgment.
“Enom! I’ll deal with you myself!”
The sight of a giant man running with an axe was itself a considerable threat.
The general shouted his name in a loud voice to boost his allies’ morale in front of Spartacus.
“I’ll take your life with this axe. Come on! Show me your tricks in front of me…”
Spartacus did not wait for the enemy general who was spouting words he could not understand.
This was not a duel, but a battlefield.
He closed the distance in an instant and thrust his sword at the giant of Saba.
Clang!
With one stroke, he broke the enemy’s axe handle and cut off his head with the next attack.
The general of Saba, who tried to change the atmosphere with his bravery, became a cold corpse in just two moves.
The only thing that made him better than ordinary soldiers was that he made Spartacus swing his sword one more time.
Spartacus roared fiercely at his allies after cutting off the enemy general’s head.
“I’ve killed their general! O warriors of Rome. Follow this momentum and ravage the enemies!”
When Marcus turned his head to check the situation, Spartacus had already torn apart the enemy’s center.
The coalition army was on the verge of being split in half by the 12th legion that Spartacus led.
And even at this moment, Spartacus was slaughtering the enemy soldiers as if he was possessed.
With this, the strategy of striking the enemy’s rear while the center held on was already useless.
In fact, the soldiers who followed Spartacus were also surprised.
“Where is our legionnaire going?”
“I don’t know. Maybe he’s going to kill their commander-in-chief or something.”
The soldiers at the very back of the legion shouted to the soldiers in front of them.
“Hey! Where is our legionnaire?”
“…Can’t you see? He’s right there in front.”
The senior centurion who took over the command instead of Spartacus followed him hastily.
“Damn it, which legionnaire runs ahead alone and rampages at the front?”
“Look, isn’t that him who just cut off the enemy general’s head?”
The centurions ran forward while cutting down the enemy soldiers, trying not to fall behind their legionnaire.
Marcus changed his plan to make the most of this unexpected situation.
He did not show any signs of confusion and calmly sent an attack signal to his legionnaires.
“All troops! Follow the brave 12th legion! The enemy has already lost their formation. Surround and annihilate them!”
Surenas, who was quick-witted, also called back the troops he had sent to support the right wing and switched to offense as if this had been planned all along.
“As planned! The 12th legion has broken through the enemy line! Follow them, soldiers!”
< 165. The Spice War 2 > End
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