Chapter 557: Unprepared

When the sails of the last warship of the Second Fleet disappeared at the end of the west, Luka was not idle. He ran down the high ground and ran all the way to the military camp without stopping.

There was a tent of medium size, but there was a whole team guarding it. Others would be confused, as it was a general's array, but there was no general inside.

This tent is located at the easternmost part of the military camp, belonging to the marginal area, and the closest one is Dyrrachium.

When Luca arrived in front of the tent, the soldiers in charge of guarding immediately stood up and saluted.

At this time, a dusty man came out. His loose clothes were already wet with sweat, and his arms and neck exposed outside the clothes were covered with sweat beads.

The man lowered his head, with a horned helmet hanging on his right arm. He complained to the centurion behind him with a resentful look: "Oh my God, it's too hot and smelly. I'm almost suffocating in here."

After complaining a few words, he ran into Luga as soon as he walked out of the tent. The officer took a closer look and found that it was the captain of the soldiers. He was so frightened that he stood still like a wooden stake.

His lips were trembling, and he didn't say a word after seeing Luga for such a long time, which made the soldiers behind him who were unaware of the situation look confused and think that this guy was possessed by evil spirits.

"How is the tunnel preparation going?" Luca asked slowly, "It took nearly a month to prepare, and we worked day and night."

"Sir," the trembling officer finally spoke, "We are almost through. We have set up a ladder in the tunnel leading upwards."

"Then we can open the final passage tonight!"

"Yes, my lord, we are only a stone's throw away from the streets of Dyrrachium."

"Okay, then, let's see what to do tonight." Luca nodded continuously and was about to turn around and leave, but hesitated again. He turned back and asked the centurion: "Then, can you guarantee that the defenders in the city have not heard any unusual movements?"

"I can't guarantee that, my lord. But I saw the water pipes of Dyrrachium, maybe it can be used."

Seeing that his centurion shrugged and indicated that he couldn't guarantee anything, Luca just shook his head slightly. This was like gambling and he couldn't know the enemy's moves.

Compared to blocking the enemy's water source and directly opening the enemy's city gate, Luga wanted to defeat Marcian fairly, so he had very high expectations for the tunnel.

In the evening, seeing that the military camp was almost packed up, Luca gave the defenders of Dyrrachium an illusion that the Western Roman army was ready to leave.

But the secret operations are still proceeding step by step. After all, Luca is counting on all this.

Just as night fell, all the soldiers fastened their armor and held their weapons. None of them held torches, but hid in the bushes more than 200 meters outside the walls of Dyrrachium.

The fields outside the city of Dyrrachium had long been abandoned because no one in the city dared to come out to take care of them, and the weeds provided cover for the soldiers.

They were all waiting for the moment when the city gate would open, and the ones who would open the city gate were the soldiers who came out of the tunnel.

At first, everything seemed quiet as usual, as if the Eastern Roman soldiers did not notice these small actions of the Luga army.

In an inconspicuous corner of the street in Dyrrachium, loose stone bricks were silently lifted up by a pair of hands that stretched out from underneath, and an iron helmet appeared, with a pair of alert eyes underneath looking around.

It is curfew time now and the streets are very quiet. Only two patrolling soldiers are hiding in a corner and talking with torches in their hands.

They were afraid that they would be discovered and punished by the patrolling officers, so they were extremely cautious and even spoke with care.

Taking advantage of the protection of the night, in complete darkness, the soldier carefully put the board aside and quietly climbed up.

Then, hiding in the darkness, he called upon his companions to climb up one by one.

"We have to get rid of these two bastards!"

One of them pointed at two people holding torches and talking in a low voice not far away.

Seeing that more than ten people had come up and filled up this small space, they had to take action to ensure the safety of the hundreds of people behind them!

Just as they tiptoed carefully to the back of the two soldiers talking, suddenly, they heard a roar "Stop!"

This frightened the men so much that they froze in place. They quickly raised their heads to look for the direction from which the sound came. At this moment, a row of torches appeared outside the fence across the street, and a row of soldiers stood opposite them.

Looking ahead, the two men had already dropped their torches and ran to the other side. The Greeks in front of them drew their bows and arrows, and shot sharp arrows straight at the dozen or so Roman soldiers in front of them.

"Defense! Defense!"

The officer who saw that something was wrong hurriedly called upon his soldiers, but they had come from the narrow tunnel without shields, and now they were completely exposed to arrows without any defense.

"Surrender, your plan has already been exposed!"

The officer led by the Greeks was now pointing at the Roman soldiers at the front and said, as he said this, he waved to the soldiers behind him, and saw more than 20 soldiers holding shields and spears formed a shield wall and prepared to advance towards them.

"Sir, we've been exposed!"

"They want to capture us so they can get us to tell them our next plan!"

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"We can't be captured!"

As he said this, the officer raised his iron sword high and shouted to the Greeks in front of him: "Long live Rome!"

The soldiers behind him responded one after another, raising their iron swords high and roaring as they rushed towards the Eastern Romans across the street.

“Kill them!”

At the command of the Eastern Roman officer, the archers who had locked onto the target through the firelight immediately released the bowstrings. Deadly arrows flew out of their hands and instantly pierced the already fragile chain mail on the Western Roman soldiers who were charging at them.

In an instant, the roars of the dozen people stopped abruptly, and a dozen warm corpses appeared on the empty street.

"Quick, block them, block them!"

The Eastern Roman officer, who was furious at the resistance, loudly ordered the soldiers around him, and the soldiers took action. At this time, the empty streets were crowded with people, each holding a torch, and nailed the soldiers who climbed up from the narrow space and tried to resist to the wall with sharp spears.

It turned out that they were well prepared. They only saw the Eastern Roman soldiers who followed them carrying buckets of burning kerosene and pouring them into the tunnel, scalding the soldiers inside who had no way to escape and screaming in pain.

Next, the Eastern Roman officer held a torch and shouted to the soldiers behind him: "Now, the enemies of the Western Roman Empire are still trying to fight against us. They want to become our Augustus, and we must give them an answer today!"

“Hoo! Hoo! Hoo!”

The morale of the Eastern Roman soldiers was boosted by the officer's encouragement. They raised their arms and shouted, and everyone glared at the officer as he casually threw the torch into the tunnel that had already been filled with kerosene.

"boom!"

The intense burning caused a huge explosion, and the fierce flames engulfed all the Roman soldiers inside.

"My Lord! My Lord!"

A soldier hurried to the command area where Luga was, "The tunnel, the tunnel is finished."

(End of this chapter)