In the middle of February 48 BC, Chen Tang launched an attack and captured the port of Berenice on the fortieth day after the seizure.After the attack that night, Theodotus, the adviser to the pharaohs, had already returned.Behind him were five thousand Ptolemaic soldiers from Upper Egypt, most recruited from among the Egyptians, not as well armored as the Greeks, dressed in linen armor and carrying a medium-sized oval shield.Theodotus was still very embarrassed, and in order to escape in the chaos that night, he cut off his precious beard, abandoned the robes of the Greeks, put on a lowly Egyptian linen, rode a camel and hurried away with his cronies, with shouts of murder and flames behind him, and before he fled, Diodotus ordered the burning of the port and the warehouse, and it is not known whether the people below carried it out.It was only when he fled down the wadi valley to the city of Thebes in the middle reaches of the Nile that he came to his senses and pondered why the Han envoys were so unreasonable to seize the port.It seems that Pothinus, the eunuch and chancellor of the exchequer next to Pharaoh, was right: "The vice-king of the kingdom of Seris must have a secret pact with the queen!"
”Apparently there was almost no contact in the far east, but he suddenly sent an envoy to congratulate the queen on his accession to the throne, and the queen also sent an envoy to pay a return visit, and invited the vice-king to visit Egypt, saying that he would personally take him on the Nile.However, Diodotus believed that he should not be at odds with the powerful and wealthy Seris, and believed that neither the queen nor the pharaoh would care as long as the silk trade continued to be guaranteed.This, Vice King Ren still cares a little bit.As a result, Theodotus kindly greeted him, hoping to deliver an olive branch, but the Seris did not say a word, and stabbed him back.The people who fled from the port to Thebes one after another confirmed the matter, and the Han people who occupied the port actually claimed that the queen of Egypt, Cleopatra VII, was in the port of Berenice!
For example, the eunuchs framed Zhongliang, held the pharaoh hostage, and blasphemed the gods to expel the queen, and Wu Zaihan and Chen Tang, who had obtained the true transmission of the hussar generals, came as soon as they opened their mouths."
It's a lie!"
Theodotus, of course, knew that this was a lie, and before he went south from Alexandria, the queen had already been expelled and fled to the borders of Syria, not at all in the south!
Speaking of which, Cleopatra VII became a co-ruler long before the piper was alive, and her brother Ptolemy XIII came to the throne even later.But that woman, with ambitions that would be difficult for the three ministers to navigate, could not be their puppet at all.The queen obviously has many lovers, but she has always shirked sleeping with Ptolemy XIII.She looked at Pharaoh with contempt in her eyes, as if her brother was not worthy of her at all.Relying on the rhetoric of Theodotus and the slander of Portinius, it was not difficult to make Ptolemy XIII disgusted with his sister.General Achillas took control of Alexandria's army, and in the face of absolute power, the queen's brains and powers were useless, and she fled hastily eastward under the escort of her cronies, and now gathered a small group of mercenaries on the Syrian border, hoping to regain power.But Achillas had been ordered by Pharaoh to take a large army to the East, presumably to defeat the queen soon.But most of the people in Upper Egypt did not know about it.Although the Ptolemys inherited the ancient Egyptian tradition of proclaiming themselves gods, the Egyptians remained unassimilated after centuries of rule.For ordinary people, it makes no difference at all whether the pharaoh is in power or the queen is on the throne, anyway, they are all low-level people who have been trampled under the feet of the Greeks.But for the officials of Upper Egypt, it may be more inclined to the queen, and it is funny to say that although the self-proclaimed Pharaoh was passed down for almost three hundred years, Ptolemy XIII did not even speak Egyptian.The queen, who was only in her early twenties, was a linguistic genius, native Greek, Egyptian, Roman, and even took an interest in receiving a gift from the vice-king of Seris, and learned some Chinese from a merchant who had been to India.Then the queen said that it was the hardest language she had ever learned.Theodotus made himself forget about the distant queen, because an even greater threat was at hand.The Seris captured the port and tricked some Egyptians who did not know the truth to help defend the city, and Theodotus sent people to negotiate and wanted to know what the Seris wanted.Gold?
Slave?
Papyrus?
Or is this group of people counterfeited by pirates?
Theodotus didn't understand that the reason for the war was not only him, but Chen Tang, Wu Zaihan, and Chu Shaosun didn't understand why the hussar generals went on an expedition across the ocean.The envoy on the opposite side, Wu Jaehan, showed great sincerity, received his men, and kept saying that it was a tragic misunderstanding, caused by the recklessness of a captain, and the two sides talked like this for three whole days, and Diopotus realized that the real intention of the Seris was delaying.This frightened Pharaoh's teacher, what were the Seris waiting for?
Queen?
Or more reinforcements from the East!
Diodotus ran out of patience, so the negotiations broke down and the siege began.In order to guard against pirate attacks on the Red Sea, the port was protected by the city walls, and the port named after the wife of "Savior" Ptolemy I was very strong, and even two ballistas were installed on it.It's good that they don't know how to use it, and the accuracy is touching, but it's enough to stop the fragile Egyptian soldiers far away.Causing problems for the attackers was another weapon: the large yellow and stumbling crossbows held by the soldiers, which the Egyptians and Greeks called the "great belly bow".On the other hand, on the side of Theodotus, the roads in the wadi valley were not good, and the ballistas and elephants did not arrive on time, so they could only surround the city in a hurry, but the supplies in the port were enough for the Seris to eat for half a year.If not on land, then you can only count on the sea, and the Seris seized the harbor that night, but a few small boats escaped.Egypt has more than one port on the Red Sea, and two ports from the north have learned the news and have assembled a fleet of more than 20 ships to go south.Theodotus sent his army to continue the siege of the port, forcing the Seris to stay on the walls and watch the battle on a nearby hill.He saw that there were four three-oared warships on the Egyptian side, and the others were merchant shipsPtolemaic Egypt had a strong fleet, but concentrated in the Mediterranean, and only hated that the canal that once connected the Red Sea and the Nile River had been silted up forever with the change of course, and the Ptolemaic royal family, which was in financial difficulties, could not dredge the canal and had no money to expand the fleet on the Red Sea.After all, for more than two hundred years, Ptolemaic Egypt was the only maritime power in the Red Sea and the Indian Ocean, and there was no need to expand its navy, but it did not include the Cyris, who came from the East.The Seris, perhaps having forced the Egyptian sailors, went into battle with the Great Wing and two captured triolic ships, and a dozen or so merchant ships went out of the harbor to engage the battle bravely.An Egyptian three-oared warship relied on the ballista and torsion catapult on the ship, and fought far away with the Lelang, the Lelang also had a torsion catapult, and the winch and crossbow against the ballista, the range was slightly inferior, but the accuracy and rate of fire were slightly better, and the two ships were inseparable for a while.There are also ships engaged in close combat, and the most prominent place of the triremes is the huge ramming angle at the bow, which is inlaid with a bronze shell, and when the ship's more than a hundred oars begin to slide and sprint at full speed, it will suddenly turn into a muscle-driven battering ram!
Or in a very close situation, passing over the side of the Han merchant ship, the sharp bow of the ship shaves off all the oars on the opponent's side like a razor, without the oars, no matter how unfavorable the wind direction is, it can only spin in place.The other ship came from the side, riding the wind and waves, and hit Chen Tang's flagship, the left chord of the Lelang!
The Le Lang opened a large hole, and the sea water kept pouring in, and the rowing boat's poisonous oarsmen desperately climbed up."
Leap over!
Meet at close quarters!
”However, taking advantage of the brief moment when the triremes failed to withdraw after the contact, on the deck of the Lelang, a group of Han soldiers armed with ring knives and wearing only leather armor were under the command of Chen Tang, dragging the rope and jumping into the gang to fight.They were veterans who followed Chen Tang in three battles and three victories on the ocean, and they were extremely brave in close combat, and finally when the Liaodong had not completely sunk, the Han had already captured the enemy's ship.The Red Sea was full of fighting ships, and the Han people were invincible along the coast, but now it was the first time that they encountered a fleet that could fight with them, and the ships of Ptolemaic Egypt had also encountered difficult opponents, but today they fell into a bitter battle, and gradually became a little unable to hold on.While the two sides were decided, small black dots gradually appeared on the southern sea, and when they got closer, they could see a fleet of ships slowly approaching the port against the north wind, relying on the oars.The fleet was huge, at least forty or fifty ships, and the first one had a huge white tiger beast head painted on the bow, baring its teeth and grinning.From the south, it was clear that it would not be a friendly force of the Egyptians, while the Han Chinese gave a burst of cheers.Reinforcements they had been waiting for for more than a month had finally arrived!
The Ptolemaic fleet, which was still struggling, began to want to escape, but was blocked by the north wind, which was originally in their favor, and could only be stopped by the Han ships, or collided violently, or jumped into gangs to fight.By the time the huge fleet arrived outside the harbor, the battle at sea was over."
It's an army of Seris."
Theodotus closed his eyes in despair, knowing that the port could no longer be recaptured.Frequent in and out of the Great Library, and even able to read the characters of the Middle Kingdom, he knew that Egypt had a long history and had been invaded countless times by foreign enemies: the Hisoks, Assyrians, Nubians, Libyans, Persians, and finally the Greeks, who established many dynasties in Egypt, and the Romans exerted constant influence on Egypt.But those enemies are at least familiar to Egypt, but this new invasion is from the mysterious East!
He must warn Pharaoh that a new invader has arrived."
What the vice-king of Seris wants may be the water and land of Upper and Lower Egypt!"
When Theodotus retreated with the Ptolemaic army, Chen Tang was standing on the captured enemy ships, while letting people row a small boat to rescue the fallen soldiers, while watching the Lelang fill the sea water and slowly sink, his mood was extremely complicated.This is a ship that has accompanied him for several years, and has made countless feats in the body, but it sank on the first voyage, and it seems that the ship of the Greeks really has merit.But this is not a sad time, Chen Tang asked people to hoist the white tiger flag on the scarred triremes battleship, waiting for the "Hussar General", which is twice the size of the Lelang, to approach, which is the flagship of the West Sea Fleet!
Because the ship was a bit big, it was affectionately called the "Fat Tiger" by the hussar generals.When the two ships slowed down and staggered at sea, the sailors tied the two ships together with chains and ropes, and the wide wooden bridge was lowered.In the greeting of Chen Tang and the others kneeling down on one knee, a general wearing white tiger stripe Mingguang armor and taking off his helmet walked to the side of the boat, but looked at the wet and slippery wooden bridge and hesitated.He muttered to himself in his heart: "This is going to fall, I am generally watery, and A is so heavy, I don't know if I can save it, if I drown, but it will go down in history, we have been down-to-earth for most of our lives, and it is better to be stable." ”So, the general smiled and beckoned to Chen Tang, but Chen Tang walked over with a brisk stride, and bowed his head: "Houlang Captain Tang, I have seen the hussar general, and I dare to ask the general to forgive Tang for his private move!"
”I haven't seen him for ten years, Ren Hussar is not fat, he is really not fat, at least his belly is not bigger.It's just that the sideburns have a little more white, and the forehead lines are deeper, and the handsome little offspring who followed Fu Jiezi back then is now a front wave that has taken overseas Han people out of historical inertia."
Zigong has already made a great contribution, hurry up."
Xi'an Hou helped Chen Tang up."
Gentlemen, what did I say on the way here?"
Ren Hong pointed at Chen Tang and laughed at the lieutenants behind him: "Give Chen Tang a song, he dares to plow Xuancheng Alexandria!"
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