I rode and slashed unparalleled in the Three Kingdoms

Chapter 1151 Conquering Alexander
"Kill!"

boom--!
Like giant waves crashing against the shore, the deafening roar of the impact was deafening! This time, the shield wall of the Roman heavy infantry could no longer withstand it.

The heavy lances, enhanced by speed and the weight of the riders and horses, pierced through the front shields the moment they made contact, and then pierced through the Roman soldiers behind them, shield and all! The enormous impact of the warhorses caused the entire shield formation to cave in, deform, and shatter!
Guan Yu charged ahead, his Green Dragon Crescent Blade transforming into a blue whirlwind. Wherever it passed, Roman soldiers' helmets, shields, and limbs shattered and flew into the air, leaving almost no one in a match! The Han cavalry behind him followed closely, tearing a huge gap in the thickest part of the Roman central army like a hot knife through butter!

"Hold on! For Rome! Hold on!" a senior Roman centurion roared hoarsely, trying to organize a new defensive line.

But soon the surging iron cavalry from behind shattered all their efforts.

Three thousand iron cavalrymen surged wave after wave, instantly widening the gaps in the Roman legion's formation to an almost irreparable extent.

What was even more disheartening was that just as the Romans were urgently conscripting reserves to desperately plug the gap and attempt to take advantage of the cavalry's fatigue after the charge to retake the position, the thousand or so armored Han cavalrymen at the forefront made a move that terrified all the Roman soldiers.

Suddenly, they pulled a dark, iron lump from the leather bag beside their saddles, bit the fuse with their teeth, and hurled it with all their might at the dense formation of the Romans trying to regroup and the reserves rushing from behind!

Boom! Boom boom! Boom boom boom!

Thunderclaps exploded one after another deep within the Roman ranks! Shrapnel flew everywhere, flames soared into the sky, and thick smoke billowed! This sudden, close-range explosion completely shattered the last remaining will to resist of the Roman soldiers. They had never experienced such a terrible, so unreasonable attack—after a cavalry charge, they could still hurle such explosive weapons?!
"Devils! They are the real devils!"

"Run! Run now!"

The collapse finally turned into an irreversible rout. Roman soldiers dropped their weapons, turned and fled in a frenzy, trampling each other, just to get as far away from those terrifying Eastern cavalry as possible. The officers' reprimands and even the execution of deserters were of no use; panic spread like a plague throughout the legion.

The once impregnable phalanx had become a hell of mutual trampling. Soldiers abandoned their heavy shields and javelins, hoping to outrun their comrades and escape the seemingly invincible Han cavalry and their deafening, fiery weapons.

"No retreat! For Rome! Hold on!" Governor Flavius, surrounded by his personal guard, shouted hoarsely in an attempt to stop the rout, even personally beheading two deserters. But it was all in vain. The fleeing crowd surged forth like a burst dam, scattering him and his command team.

"Your Excellency! Let's go! The situation is hopeless!" A centurion covered in blood grabbed Flavius's reins tightly and pointed ahead—there, Guan Yu's banner, like a death knell, was steadily advancing towards their core position, unstoppable.

Flavius ​​gazed at the utterly collapsed battlefield before him, listening to the deafening shouts of the Han army and the desperate cries of the Roman soldiers. His face turned ashen, and he finally let out a long sigh. He abruptly turned his horse around and, under the desperate protection of his guards, fled in disarray toward Alexandria.

The defection of their commander became the final straw. The Roman troops, still putting up sporadic resistance, completely gave up hope, and the entire Roman army on the shores of Lake Mariotis collapsed.

"Chase! Don't let the traitor escape!" Zhang Fei roared, taking the lead and setting off with his light cavalry in a frenzied pursuit.

The routed Roman soldiers either surrendered on their knees or were mercilessly cut down. The pursuit stretched from the lakeshore all the way to the edge of the Nile Delta.

Guan Yu remained on the battlefield, calmly directing his troops to clear the battlefield, gather prisoners, extinguish remaining fires, and tally the spoils. In this battle, the main forces of two elite Roman legions were almost completely annihilated, with over 20,000 killed or captured, and abandoned weapons and supplies piled up like mountains. The Han army won its most crucial field victory since landing in North Africa at a relatively small cost.

The news spread like wildfire throughout Egypt, even faster than the routed Roman remnants.

Inside Alexandria, the situation, which had been temporarily suppressed due to the bloody crackdown, suddenly exploded.

The Coptics could no longer contain themselves; their long-suppressed resentment at Roman oppression erupted like a volcano. They took up makeshift weapons and stormed Roman warehouses and government offices. Wealthy Jewish merchants, meanwhile, kept their doors tightly shut and secretly sent messengers to contact the Han Chinese army outside the city, offering to act as inside agents. The Roman citizens and garrison inside the city were plunged into unprecedented panic. When Governor Flavius, having fled back to Alexandria in disarray with only a hundred or so followers, saw the black smoke rising everywhere and the deafening shouts of battle, he was utterly devastated.

“It’s over… Egypt… it’s over…” he muttered to himself, his former authority as governor completely gone.

The remaining Roman defenders attempted a final resistance, relying on the fortified walls of Alexandria. But they soon discovered that the Han army was not giving them that opportunity.

Under Guan Yu's command, the siege weapons captured from the Roman legions and the "whirlwind cannons" and tiger crouching cannons brought by the Han army were quickly pushed to the city walls.

Even more critically, a large-scale uprising broke out in the city as soon as the siege began.

Because the Roman citizen-soldiers suffered heavy losses, they had to deploy a large number of militiamen to defend the walls, which gave the Egyptians an excellent opportunity.

The conscripted Coptic militia suddenly defected on the city walls, frantically killing the Roman overseers around them and seizing the city gates. Under the combined attack from inside and outside, the walls of Alexandria quickly fell.

At this critical moment, Legion Commander Lucius displayed the indomitable spirit of a Roman soldier. He led the few hundred remaining adult Roman soldiers in a fierce street battle against the Han army, even forcing the Han vanguard back two streets at one point.

But soon, after Zhang Fei made his move, the legion commander's life came to an end.

"Hey! Roman barbarians, prepare to die!"

Zhang Fei, riding a tall horse, eyes wide with rage, thrust his eighteen-foot spear forward and roared as he led his elite cavalry into the streets.

The two sides engaged in a chaotic and deadly battle on the narrow streets.

The Roman legions used the narrow streets to build a strong defense, quickly erecting makeshift barricades with furniture, carts, and even corpses dragged from the ruins. The surviving crossbowmen and javelin throwers occupied the rooftops on both sides, unleashing their final fury on the charging Han army.

If it were an ordinary army, they would surely be smashed to pieces in front of this iron wall.

However, Zhang Fei's elite cavalry were armored cavalry specializing in charge of the enemy's advance. Both men and horses were fully armored, and even their warhorses were covered in heavy scale or lamellar armor, making it difficult for ordinary arrows and javelins to cause fatal damage.

"Raise shields! Charge!" Zhang Fei roared, and the heavy cavalry behind him quickly raised their shields in front of them. Braving the sporadic ranged fire from the Romans, they crashed into the temporary barricades like a moving iron wall!
boom!
Wood chips flew everywhere, and the barriers made of furniture and carts crumbled like paper under the charge of the heavily armored cavalry! The Roman soldiers behind the barricades were smashed to pieces by the enormous impact, screaming as they were sent flying backward, and the solid defensive line was instantly shattered.

In despair, Lucius grabbed his short sword and led his personal guards to block them.

But he was quickly defeated by Zhang Fei's attack. In less than ten rounds, Zhang Fei pierced his neck with a spear and he died on the spot, suffering a complete defeat.

As for Flavius, the Egyptian governor, he was far less resolute than in his previous letter to the emperor. Instead, upon realizing the situation was not going well, he quickly fled to the port and, taking advantage of Lucius's fierce struggle to stop him, boarded a fast ship and went into exile in Cyrenaica (present-day eastern Libya).

Alexandria, the Mediterranean pearl that embodied the glory of the Ptolemaic dynasty and the ambitions of the Roman Empire, thus fell.

(End of this chapter)