My XX deal with Sister Nero

Chapter 457: The Expedition is Coming

Just as Tony said, the Parthian Empire assembled an army of 200,000 on the front line, including 150,000 cavalry, but it was impossible for all of these 200,000 troops to be concentrated in the Mesopotamian region.

After confirming the deployment of the Roman Empire's border, Tiridates deployed about 80,000 troops in Armenia, including 30,000 infantry and 50,000 horse archers, and 50,000 troops in Osroene, including 30,000 horse archers and 20,000 infantry. As for the Mesopotamian region... Tiridates personally led 70,000 cavalry to garrison, intending to capture the prince of the Roman Empire alive.

Although 70,000 cavalrymen seem to be 30,000 fewer than the Roman Empire's army, if they really were to fight on the plains, then... the Roman Empire might not necessarily be able to defeat the Parthian Empire.

And the most crucial thing is that the Roman Empire is the attacker, not the defender, which means that the Roman Empire cannot always hide in the city. They need to attack and attack Parthia.

"General Tiridates, we are His Majesty's last aid. After reading your decision, His Majesty ordered us to come to support you and capture Prince Odeni. General, you... are the last hope of the Parthian Empire. His Majesty means that if you lose this time, there is no need for you to return to Isfahan, because by then, my Parthian Empire, I am afraid... will also be destroyed."

In front of Tiridates, those so-called court magicians in black robes and hoods just stood there quietly. The leading court magician looked at Tiridates calmly and said silently.

"You even gave me the job of court magician..." Tiridati smiled bitterly. It seemed that he had a heavy burden on his shoulders...

Tiridates had a heavy burden on his shoulders.

Vologases I knew that the easiest way to quickly shut up these nobles was to win a beautiful victory, use the power of victory to shut up these nobles, and then find ways to resolve the increasingly intensified conflicts, such as diverting attention and attacking the Sulen family.

That's right, Vologases I now placed almost all his bets on Tiridates. That is why he would allow Tiridates to follow his own strategic layout, even if it meant giving up the interests of the northwest of the empire.

Tiridates lived up to everyone's expectations and knew how to strike the snake at its weakest point, and the weakest point of the Roman army was Prince Odenis!

In mid-September, with almost no declaration of war from either side, war suddenly broke out!

"Your Highness, our army has lost nearly a hundred scouts in the past few days. Although the enemy has suffered similar losses, it is not a solution to drag it on like this." In the residence of the Chief Executive of Samosata City, Bruce frowned and said, "The Senate at home is already dissatisfied with you bringing a maid to the battlefield. Now you have been here for half a month and still haven't taken any action. The Senate..."

"If they are not convinced, just let them go to the front line to command in person. I have 100,000 infantrymen and the other side has 70,000 cavalrymen. If we are not careful in our planning, these 100,000 men will be buried in the Mesopotamian region. Who can be held responsible for these bullshit?" Tony sneered and said nonchalantly.

But having said that, Tony also knew that he couldn't just stay here forever. If he kept doing nothing, not only would the Senate in the rear have objections, he was afraid that the Royal Guards would also be dissatisfied.

The Roman Guards were a double-edged sword. When it came to killing enemies, the Guards were good at it and were the most powerful legion in the Roman Empire. But if you brought them out but didn't use them, what would that mean? Other legions could get merits, so why did you suppress our Guards and not let us get merits?

There had been conflicts between the Royal Guards and Tony before. If Tony allowed them to continue to be dissatisfied, then Tony's life... would be in danger!

After all...Jero is not by his side!

In the previous conflict with Christianity, Tony realized that he needed a secret army to support him and do some of the "dirty work" for him, and this army... Tony gave it to Zero, so Zero is now secretly recruiting people in Rome, and did not follow Tony to the front line of the war with Parthia.

In other words, Tony couldn't continue to stay in the city. He had to take the initiative and enter the territory of the Parthian Empire.

"General Bruce, I'm not as good as you in terms of how to march, so now the command will be handed over to you. Please lead the army to attack the city of Edessa. Well, one thing we need to pay attention to is, General, there are basically very few trees along the way, so we need to set up chevaux de frise around the camp. In addition... how are the stones that I asked people to collect going?" After taking a close look at the map, Tony suddenly looked up and asked Bruce.

"Your Highness, we have collected more than a hundred carts of stones, which should be enough." Bruce replied with his head lowered.

In fact, Tony's idea was very simple. Because the Roman Empire had few cavalrymen and these horses were nailed with horseshoes, they were not afraid of stones hurting their feet. However, the Parthian war horses did not have horseshoes. Their war horses were afraid of hurting their feet. Even if the Parthian Empire did not like night battles, what if? What if they sneaked up in the middle of the night to attack? So Tony planned to send troops to scatter stones around the camp hundreds of meters away when setting up camp at night, and then dig a half-meter deep pit on the ground, and then insert a wooden board around it and draw a skull mark. If you, the Parthian Empire, don't mind the trouble, come on, fill the pit and come back!

After all, Parthia couldn't send a large army to attack the camp, so they could only send a small force. Do you expect them to clear a suitable road for attacking the camp overnight? Well, maybe, but if they have time to spare, they might as well go home and sleep.

Well, anyway, Tony is now worried about one thing, that is, what if the other party uses cavalry to cut off his supply line? If such a situation occurs, the consequences... are unimaginable!

Thinking of this, Tony suddenly had an idea and said to Bruce with a serious face: "General Bruce, go and gather all the cavalry. At present, each legion of the Roman Empire has expanded by 100 cavalry. Now we should have 8,000 cavalry. These 8,000 cavalry will be divided into two groups. One group will be responsible for patrolling our supply line, and the other group will be responsible for clearing the way ahead. We don't ask for much military merit in the Mesopotamian region, but at least we can't lose the supply line. Once we lose the supply line, the situation we face will be very serious, and it is very likely to lead to the total defeat of the Roman Empire!"

Chapter 458: Battle on the Plains (Part 1)

There is actually nothing wrong with Tony's idea. In the Eastern Han Empire, there has always been a saying that "food must be sent before troops move out." From this sentence, it is not difficult to judge the importance of supplies to an army. As long as the supply line is still there, the Roman Empire can continue to fight. If the supply line is cut off, then what awaits the Roman Empire is either withdrawal or annihilation.

Of course, if it is a small-scale harassment, you can implement the tactic of local supply and directly let the soldiers rob food. But for an army of 100,000, where can you rob the rations of 100,000 troops?

So from this perspective, there is nothing wrong with Tony leaving 4,000 troops to guard the supply lines.

Moreover, according to Tony's plan, these 4,000 cavalrymen were not used entirely to guard the supply lines. According to Tony's idea, the roles of these 4,000 troops were divided into two. The first was that if the enemy had few troops, they would directly kill the invading enemy. If the force exceeded the range that the 4,000 cavalrymen of the Roman Empire could repel, then part of the troops would be left behind to maneuver, and the rest would go to get reinforcements.

However, Tony still underestimated Parthia, or Tony never thought that the Parthian Empire would actually get reinforcements from Angora Mainyu.

Even though he is the weakest Heroic Spirit, Angora Mainyu has strength beyond that of ordinary people, not to mention that he is a Heroic Spirit who specializes in attacks against humans, so if Angora Mainyu attacks the supply line, then... Tony will be in trouble.

However, Tony didn't know all this now. After Tony completed the deployment, in mid-September, the 100,000-strong army in Samosata gathered and set out to attack the important border town of Edessa in the southeast of the Parthian Empire!

Because they were going deep into the territory of the Roman Empire, this time Tony left his maids in Samosata and followed the army towards Edessa.

Tony knew his shortcomings, so this time, he handed over full authority to Bruce, who was responsible for the arrangements of the march.

As mentioned before, although Bruce was not a famous general, he was still somewhat decent, so even when he was marching... he was doing it in a decent manner.

The army of one hundred thousand strong, the infantry were divided into several columns and marched on the road. At least one thousand cavalry were organized as scouts in the front and dispersed to explore whether there were ambushes in the front and the surroundings. Among the remaining three thousand cavalry, two thousand were divided into patrolling around the infantry to prevent small enemy forces from infiltrating. As for the last one thousand cavalry, they were responsible for guarding the center army and protecting Tony's carriage and Bruce.

"General, it looks like the Romans are planning to attack our city of Edessa. What should we do?" Inside the central military tent, Tiridates stared at the map in his hand when he heard the voice of a young lieutenant general.

"Although Bruce is not a famous general, he is a cautious person, and he is also very cautious in employing troops. So we have to think of a way... set up a plan, a plan that only a child can see through, to make His Royal Highness the Prince more arrogant and stop listening to Bruce's command..." Tiridati touched his chin and muttered to himself.

But this is easier said than done, but it is very difficult.

How can we make Tony arrogant?

Tiridati frowned and thought about it. The easiest way to make the other party arrogant is to make a few mistakes, especially low-level mistakes. In this way, maybe the other party will look down on him.

But... can it be hidden from Bruce? Or even if it can be hidden from Bruce, will Bruce's use of troops be relatively more drastic?

Tiridati doesn’t know, but... you can try it!

"Pass the order down, the cavalry will attack and force the Roman Empire's army to fight a decisive battle with us on this plain!" Tiridates raised his eyebrows and pointed to an area on the map.

"Yes, General!" The young deputy general beside Tiridates bowed his head and responded, then left the central military tent.

Soon, under Tiridates' order, 70,000 cavalrymen set out from the camp and rode towards Tony.

A war is about to break out.

"Your Highness, the scouts ahead reported that an unknown number of Parthian cavalry appeared about ten miles away and are currently moving towards us at high speed."

One day later at noon, Tony, who was dozing off in the carriage, suddenly heard Bruce's voice coming from outside the window of his carriage.

"Huh? Are they coming?!" Upon hearing the news, Tony was shocked and sat up straight subconsciously.

In fact, this was his second time experiencing large-scale group combat.

The last time was the Battle of Apamea, when Tony commanded the Roman army to defeat the Pontic rebels. Of course, that Pontic rebels was more of a mob than an army, and there was basically nothing to say about them. But now, Tony will face the Parthian cavalry, a truly elite army!

"Send the order, the army stops advancing. Except for the scouts, the cavalry will move to a distance and wait for orders. The infantry will gather and form a tortoise shell formation. Also, send people to set up obstacles. Since the other side is taking the initiative to attack and kill us on the plain, we have to teach them a lesson and let them know that the Roman Empire is not to be trifled with!" After taking a deep breath, Tony asked the coachman to stop the carriage and stood on the shaft, shouting orders to the people around him.

"Yes! Your Highness." Bruce nodded, and then ordered the deputy general beside him to carry out the order.

Tony's decision was correct. When encountering cavalry in the plains, the only thing the infantry can do is to retreat and defend. You can run, but your two legs cannot outrun the enemy's four legs. So no matter whether you are escaping or actively attacking, you are no match for them. Therefore, there is no other way except passive defense.

And the most amazing thing is that Tony’s defense is not just ordinary defense, his defense... is basically equivalent to anti-armor.

According to Tony's deployment, the Roman Empire's heavy infantry formed four huge tortoise shell formations in units of 50,000. At the same time, they scattered stones around the tortoise shell formations and dug pits of varying depths, quietly waiting for the arrival of the Parthian cavalry.

"The weather is nice today, not too hot." Tony looked up at the sky, glanced at Mary standing next to him, and then... reached out and touched the back of her hand.

"Ah!" Mary was holding a dagger in one hand, standing beside Tony with a vigilant look on her face to protect him. Tony suddenly touched her hand. Mary, who was already in a tense state, almost slashed with a sword in her backhand.

"Hmm, my hands are quite dry and not sweaty. Looks like everyone should be able to endure it." Tony, who hadn't realized he had been to the gates of hell, nodded. While muttering to himself, he turned his head to glance at the guards standing around him.

No one seemed to be sweating.

In other words, without the scorching sun, can everyone hold on for a while... Then the next step is to wait for the Parthians to approach!

Chapter 459: Battle on the Plains (Part 2)

In field combat, in addition to the geographical environment, weather and climate are also very critical factors in the success of a war.

For example, suppose it is a scorching sun now, and the heavy infantry of the Roman Empire are standing in the sun wearing armor and holding weapons. Then after an hour or two, the Parthian cavalry may not arrive yet, but two Romans are already sunburned. Do you think this is a fake?

And today, the temperature is just right, suitable for... fighting.

Tony subconsciously clenched his fists and took a deep breath. The feeling of this war was completely different from the last battle with the Pontic rebels. When fighting against the Pontic rebels, his opponents were just a group of armed mobs, but this time, the opponents were a very elite regular army. If he was not careful, he might lose his life here.

It's near, it's near!

After an unknown amount of time, Tony suddenly realized that the ground beneath his feet seemed to be shaking.

"Here it comes!" At this moment, Bruce, who was standing next to Tony, had a gleam in his eyes and whispered.

About five minutes later, through the gaps in the Roman heavy shield, Tony finally saw a large amount of smoke and dust suddenly appearing on the horizon in front of him.

"Cavalry is attacking! Everyone be on alert!" With the order from the centurions, all the Roman heavy infantry took off the javelins from their backs and held them in their hands. As long as the enemy dared to enter their shooting range, the Roman heavy infantry would throw the javelins in their hands without hesitation and kill as many enemies as possible.

However, the Parthians would not give the Romans such an opportunity. Before they got close to the Roman troops, a Parthian general who was in the front suddenly whistled, and then the entire cavalry unit, led by him, turned their horses and rushed to the side of the Roman legion.

"It's the Parthian circle!" Tony was stunned at first when he saw the enemy cavalry rushing towards the side of the Roman legion, and then he blurted out subconsciously.

The Parthian circle, or the Parthian return fire, to put it simply, is to circle around the enemy while shooting arrows at the enemies within the circle. After disrupting the enemy's defense, use armored cavalry to charge and cut the enemy's defense line, repeating this until the enemy is finally defeated.

However...if the Roman general was a little stupider, he would have to break out by force at this time, and then leave some soldiers behind to cover the retreat, and try to preserve the main force as much as possible. Or if he was a more conventional commander like Bruce, they would arrange an ambush in advance, and then the ambush would rush out after the Parthians approached. On the one hand, they could support their heavy infantry, and on the other hand, they could take the opportunity to cause certain casualties to the Parthians.

However...what the Parthians were facing was not a stupid general or a conventional general, but His Royal Highness Prince Odeni, whose mind was full of crazy ideas.

As early as the night before, the Parthian scouts noticed that the Romans were scattering something around their camp that night, and also noticed that they seemed to be digging some pits. However, because the distance was quite far, the scouts could not see clearly, so they subconsciously thought it was some kind of pre-war prayer ceremony of the Roman army. Who would have thought that they were scattering stones and digging pits in order to stop the cavalry?

Similarly, the Parthian cavalry did not know at this moment that while the Romans were forming a tortoise shell formation, they had already scattered a large number of sharp stones around them, waiting for the Parthian horses to step on them.

As Tony expected, the Parthians fell into the trap.

“Slurp~”

Under the urging of the cavalry, the Parthian war horses stepped on the sharp stones thrown on the ground by the Romans. The horses felt the pain and raised their front hooves high and stood up.

However, the warhorse in front suddenly stopped because of the pain, but the warhorse behind did not know this. Under the urging of the cavalry, the warhorse behind could only quickly crash into the stopped warhorse in front, and then... both the horse and the rider were knocked away.

"Stop!" Seeing the archers in front of him being knocked away, a general quickly gave an order, asking the archers to retreat quickly, intending to increase the distance and charge again from a different angle.

But will Bruce let them go easily?

As mentioned before, Bruce is a very conventional general. Although he has nothing outstanding in command, he is very qualified as a general, such as now.

"Prepare your javelins! Throw!" With the centurions' orders, the Roman soldiers took out the javelins from their backs and threw them fiercely through the gaps in their shields!

For a moment, it was as if a rainstorm was falling in the direction of the Parthian cavalry. In this rain of javelins, the cavalrymen screamed and fell off their horses, with countless casualties.

"..." Looking at the bloody scene in front of him through the gap in the shield, Tony subconsciously pursed his lips.

This is the cruelty of war!

"Not enough, not enough..." Bruce muttered to himself as he looked at the Parthian lying on the ground through the gap in the shield.

Generally speaking, a Roman soldier would only carry two javelins, one in his hand and one on his back. When fighting, he would first shoot two rounds of javelins and then engage in close combat.

Of course, in the previous round of javelin rain, it was impossible for the 100,000-strong Roman army to shoot all the javelins in their hands. After all, the javelins in the hands of the people standing at the back could not hit the Parthians at all. Instead of shooting them and wasting them, it would be better to keep them in their hands and wait for the next round.

It is precisely because of this that, in this round of attack, although it seemed tragic, the Parthians only paid the price of less than a thousand casualties. Compared with the total number of enemy troops, this casualty... is not enough!

"Are the manpowered catapults and crossbows ready?" Tony suddenly asked, his eyes fixed on the group of Parthian cavalry in front of him who had retreated and were preparing to launch a charge.

"Your Highness, everything is almost ready, but... because it is a skirmish, we haven't prepared too many stones and wood." Standing next to Tony, Mary answered with her head down.

Considering the problem of transporting the torque trebuchet, Tony only brought the materials for the human-powered trebuchet. After all, the human-powered trebuchet is just a few thick pieces of wood and hemp ropes when disassembled. Although its range and accuracy are not as good as the torque trebuchet, it should be enough to harass and scare the enemy.

After all...Tony doesn't want to reveal his cards too early.

The human-powered catapult, the giant crossbow and the army-breaking crossbow are the "heavy weapons" that Tony can currently equip. They are also the important props that Tony intends to use to kill the Parthian cavalry this time!

Chapter 460: Battle on the Plains (Part 2)

"It seems that we have underestimated His Royal Highness the Prince." Riding his horse to a nearby hillside with his personal guards, Tiridati looked down at the entire battlefield and suddenly said to a deputy general beside him.

"Perhaps... we have underestimated Bruce, General." The young lieutenant beside Tiridates looked at the retreating Parthian archers and said calmly.

"No, no, no. Bruce's use of troops is mediocre, while Prince Odney's thinking is erratic. Did you notice? When the cavalry was performing the Parthian Turn, the hundred or so cavalrymen in front seemed to be blocked by something, and the horses were unwilling to move forward, causing the cavalry formation behind to become chaotic. Bruce found an opportunity and killed and wounded nearly a thousand of my warriors... So, Your Highness, we should have underestimated the other party." Tiridates said, gently pulling the reins.

"So... what did the other side use to stop the cavalry?" Tiridates touched his chin. Because he arrived late and the stones were too small, Tiridates standing in the distance had no idea what the Roman Empire used to stop its cavalry... Well, wouldn't it be easy to find out after the battle by asking the soldiers in the front?

But no matter what, His Royal Highness the Prince does have some skills to use some small things to stop the cavalry's advance.

After the Parthian horse archers had opened up a certain distance from the Roman army, they quickly turned their horses' heads, and then sent more than ten riders to gallop around the Roman army as close as possible to the range of the Roman soldiers' javelins, and then returned to their camp. After whispering to the general in charge, the general sent a personal guard to Tiridates and gave a brief report on the situation on the front line.

"Sharp stones?... Your Highness, this is interesting." Tiridati nodded. According to his idea, he must lose this war, and he must lose it in the form of a rout. Only in this way can he make the little Prince feel proud, and then... No matter how cautious Bruce is, His Highness is the commander-in-chief. If he really insists on going deep into the enemy's territory alone, then that will be the time for His Highness to die!

But now it's a bit awkward.

Because of the problem of stones, the cavalry of the Parthian Empire could not effectively kill the Roman legion. If the archers adopted a projectile attack, then... they could indeed stand outside the stones and shoot arrows into the Roman legion, but the power of the projectile arrows was far less than that of the flat shot.

"It seems that we have no choice but to retreat now." Tiridates shook his head. The current situation of the battle was that neither side could do anything to the other, unless he had a light infantry in his hands. With this light infantry, he could clear the stones on the battlefield and allow his cavalry to continue moving forward.

Of course, Tiridates could also force the cavalry to charge. After all, the horseshoe is a layer of protection on the horse's feet, and it is no big deal to wear it out once or twice, but... is it worth it?

"Order the cavalry... to harass the Roman Empire's flank cavalry and drive their cavalry into the stones laid by the Romans!" After taking a deep breath and looking at a cavalry unit in the distance that was flying the Roman flag but had not moved for a long time, Tiridates suddenly came up with an idea and gave the order.

As mentioned earlier, considering the subsequent tactics, the Roman Empire moved the cavalry away from the main camp and placed them behind a distant hillside when the Parthian army attacked. Tiridates was not blind either. After the Parthians found this cavalry unit, he did not do anything at first. After all, his main opponent was the 100,000 Roman heavy infantry, not the 4,000 Roman cavalry.