Chapter 196 Final Round
A large cloud of dust appeared not far to the right side of the Roman army formation, which not only attracted the attention of the Roman army, but also attracted the attention of the opposing Sassanid army.
"Reinforcements?"
The smug smile on Izedai's face disappeared without a trace, replaced by solemnity and doubt. "I didn't expect Theodosius to have reinforcements! Order the army to retreat and regroup to meet the enemy!"
"Woo! Woo! Woo!"
A few short and powerful trumpet sounds stopped the Sassanid army from attacking in front! "Retreat, retreat!"
Led by their front-line commander, they re-formed into a shield wall and slowly retreated step by step, which gave the second array of the Roman Legion precious breathing time.
"Back off! Back off!"
Everyone was exhausted, holding their weapons, trembling constantly, and even their iron swords were no longer stable. Sweat and blood had melted into one, and everyone was no longer able to fight.
"Caesar, they are coming!" The officers remained calm. They whispered to Theodosius II and stood up straight, as if they all knew that their Augustus was waiting for this moment. Theodosius II slowly stood up and asked without turning his head, "How many people did they bring?"
"It's too far, I don't know!"
One of the officers answered truthfully.
"Then take a closer look!"
For a moment, Andrew felt that Theodosius II seemed to have regained his original calmness and courage. He turned around, took two steps forward and jumped off the carriage. The officer closest to him hurriedly stepped back and respectfully handed over the baton! "How much did we lose?" Theodosius II took the baton. Except for his red eyes, he was really no different from before.
"The first array, with two thousand men, was defeated. The second array, with four thousand men, lost more than half of their men and are unable to fight again." As expected of an experienced officer, he only turned his head to glance at the battlefield and roughly understood the current situation.
"Move the third formation to the position of the second formation, and let the boys in the second formation take a break!" Theodosius II, holding his scepter, slowly came to a high ground, where he could have a panoramic view of the entire battlefield. What Theodosius saw was that the Sassanid army had to adopt a conservative formation because of fear of that power. They kept retreating under the rain of arrows from the Roman archers, and finally stopped outside the archers' range and began to confront the reorganized First Constantine Legion.
"Hurry, faster!" Luga urged the armored cavalry brigade behind him from time to time, and stretched his neck to look from time to time. He felt that there was a brief truce on the battlefield ahead, which must be because of their arrival.
"Oh, Luca, don't rush us. You know how heavy our horses are. If we keep moving at this speed, we will be exhausted before we even reach the battlefield!" Arminius complained in dissatisfaction from behind: "I think I still have to remind you, guest of the Western Empire, that I am the real leader of this team. You are just my parallel, or in other words, my deputy. Do you think you should urge your superior with this attitude when you serve in the Western Empire's legion?"
"Oh, God, you should be thankful!" Luca turned around and said to Arminius, "I have advised many people before, but they didn't listen. As a result, few of them survived the battlefield now."
"You!" Arminius was so angry that his face turned red, but when he wanted to refute, Luca turned around and hurried on his way without paying any attention to him, leaving him embarrassed and not knowing what to do.
"Stop! Stop!"
The armored cavalry stopped on a slope on the north side of the battlefield. As Arminius said, the horses covered in chain mail were already out of breath after running only one or two kilometers, so stopping here was a last resort. If they were on the road, they could dismount and move forward, but now it was a battlefield and the situation was changing rapidly, so they could not relax for a moment.
"Hey! Caesar!" Luca rode to the front and shouted to the Roman army: "I have brought the army you have been dreaming of! Let us go together and defeat the enemy!"
"Long live!"
The Romans in the army raised their weapons and cheered for Luca. The timely arrival of reinforcements during the war was more exciting than any encouragement! "Hey, guest from the Western Empire, are you showing off too much?" Luca stole the show like this, which of course caused dissatisfaction among Arminius in the army. He was extremely disgusted with Luca now, because Luca's existence seriously threatened his command of the army. His right hand could not help but clench the hilt of the sword, his eyes fixed on Luca who was enjoying the cheers of the legion in front of him, and he wanted to cut him into pieces!
"What? Only 500 people." Yizdei saw the cavalry behind Luga from a distance, but this made him confused, because the Roman cavalry on the hillside was too similar to the cavalry of his own Imperial Guard Cavalry Corps. They carried four-meter-long lances, composite bows from the Huns, and their bodies and horses were covered with solid armor. Unlike the Sassanids, the Sassanid cavalry were half-armored, that is, they protected the front half of their bodies, while this army, whether soldiers or horses, were armed to the teeth. Because of such tight protection, they didn't even need to be equipped with shields, because the armor on their bodies was the best protection!
"Okay! Here it comes, here it comes!"
Theodosius II spoke with excitement. He tightly grasped the scepter in his hand, turned his head and ordered all the officers behind him: "Okay, everyone, return to your posts. We will defeat Sassanid and Yazdegerd under the witness of God!"
"Loyal to Caesar, loyal to Rome!"
All the officers stood still and performed a military salute similar to **, which was probably adapted from the salute of the Roman legions.
Soon, the officers returned to their posts. They used their loud voices to encourage the soldiers, like key parts, driving this huge war machine to slowly start operating.
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"Have the archers count the remaining arrows and go forward to consume them first."
Theodosius II commanded calmly, and the reorganized legion slowly regained its fighting power. All the wavering soldiers calmed down, waiting for Augustus's arrangements for them.
"Our mission is simple!" Orius Luca watched the Roman legions regrouping below him and understood that Theodosius II had decided to take the offensive strategy. He turned around and looked at the cavalry behind him and said in a deep voice: "Just charge, retreat, and charge again, until the Sassanid infantry is completely defeated!"
"You seem to have forgotten that I am the real commander when you deploy like this!" Arminius glanced at the cavalrymen behind him. Because they were wrapped in heavy armor, they could not see any expression. But it didn't matter, as long as they recognized the scepter in Arminius' hand! "As the commander of this army, I command you, Orius Luca." Arminius pointed the scepter at Luca and said fiercely: "This is a war between our Eastern Empire. You are from the Western Empire, get out!"
"Ha!" Luca had expected this. He took out the ring given to him by Theodosius II from his bosom slowly and showed it to Arminius, saying, "Do you recognize this ring?"
"What?" Arminius' eyes widened, his face full of surprise. He recognized it, and was very familiar with it. Wasn't this the ring that Augustus often wore on his hand? "From your expression, I think you recognize it!"
Luca played with the ring in front of Arminius and continued, "There is a line of words engraved on this ring. Power belongs to Caesar! Of course, there was an Augustus Caracalla in the past who said: The emperor's order is the highest law! Augustus Theodosius II handed the ring to me personally, so you also understand that although you are the highest commander of this army, I represent Augustus and have the right to exercise your power on your behalf, Arminius!"
"hateful!"
Arminius gritted his teeth, but what could he do? He had never expected that Luca actually had Augustus' ring. He had to bow his head and accept his fate, because in front of the ring, his scepter was meaningless!
(End of this chapter)