Chapter 3554
An Opponent You Can Understand Upon Meeting
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Upon receiving Severus's orders and notification, Alessandro nodded seriously, and then led the soldiers of the First Auxiliary Legion to the second line of defense at the rear.
They were prepared to respond and take over the defenses immediately should the second line of defense collapse, to prevent the Parthians from using such a desperate tactic to forcefully break through the Roman defenses.
Although strength is paramount on the battlefield, and Rome is still stronger than the Parthians, large-scale warfare also involves boosting morale.
When the Parthians showed no fear of death and displayed a willingness to fight to the death, it would severely damage the morale of the Roman barbarian soldiers.
Anyone who knows their opponent is willing to fight to the last soldier, to fight to the last man, will think twice when their strengths are roughly equal.
Whether you weigh things more carefully or think things through more, it will affect each other's state and combat effectiveness, thus creating a chain reaction.
Therefore, the best way to deal with Parthia's desperate act is to use pure power to form the Wailing Wall.
The goal was to make the Parthians understand that even having the awareness to embrace death only meant dying with relative dignity.
When a resolute will to die still brings no help on the battlefield, then death itself becomes meaningless.
When Ardashir once again broke through the opening created by the lancers' charge and faced the Romans' third line of defense, he saw the thick tower shields and the massive Roman First Auxiliary Legion, which had no eagle banners.
Upon seeing this legion, Ardashir realized that the lancers' charge was essentially ineffective.
Every Roman officer was very familiar with the detailed talents of each Parthian legion, and similarly, the Parthians were also collecting detailed information on each Roman legion.
However, due to the disparity in strength between the two sides, Parthia's intelligence gathering on the Roman legions was somewhat crude, unlike the Romans' meticulous approach.
After all, Rome's fourteen legions could, after a very short engagement, use their unique talent structure to replicate and materialize Parthia's talent effects, thus enabling them to conduct targeted research and countermeasures.
Parthia, on the other hand, has absolutely no corresponding visual ability in this regard, nor any corresponding ability to recreate legions.
However, thanks to his intelligence, Ardashir had a fairly clear understanding of the First Auxiliary Legion of Rome.
"The largest and most powerful elite force, a super-elite force that has reached the pinnacle of strength!" Recalling the intelligence information provided by the Han Empire, Ardashir already had a rough estimate in his mind.
The First Auxiliary Legion of Rome was very strong, extremely strong. It could be said to be the strongest opponent Ardashir and his legions had faced in all the wars they had fought.
Faced with such an enemy, and with such a large number of enemies, Ardashir knew very well that his own army was probably no match for them.
But as a Parthian general, Ardashir was well aware of his purpose. "Since you understand, then choosing to retreat is not a bad choice!" Alexandro, who had heard this remark thanks to his personal savvy, calmly replied as he watched the Ardashir legion, having cleared the second line of defense, slowly come to a stop instead of maintaining high speed.
Verbal exchanges, besides blunting the enemy's edge, are often used to demoralize or boost one's own side.
However, Alessandro knew very well that these conventional methods were basically ineffective for both sides in the war.
For the soldiers of the First Auxiliary Legion, their ability to exert their strength is difficult to be affected by external factors.
Decades of rigorous training day after day, striving for a single goal—how many people can understand or compare to the perseverance and tenacity embodied in such training?
"Retreat?" Upon hearing this, Ardashir repeated softly, then his face turned solemn, and his expression became much more serious.
Gently turning his horse, Ardashir rode in front of his soldiers, raising the spear given to him by Ma Chao. He lightly tapped the spears extended by his soldiers with his own spear.
"For Parthia, for His Majesty!" Ardashir, conveying his will through his weapon, turned his horse forward again towards Alessandro after passing the front-line soldiers, and declared with pride and absolute confidence, "Whoever is in front of us, break through them!"
As soon as he finished speaking, the entire Ardashir legion instantly went from stillness to charging, approaching the Roman First Auxiliary Legion at an extremely fast and high speed.
As he approached and made contact with the First Auxiliary Legion of Rome, Ardashir, with his resolve and conviction, unleashed the power accumulated within him, along with the power belonging to the Abyss of the Heart.
The already imposing Ardashir Legion, amplified by this release of momentum and power, had its entire cloud of energy cleaved like a sharp sword, forcefully tearing through the mixed cloud of energy belonging to both armies overhead, directly extending to an area of hundreds of miles in radius, demonstrating the legion's unique might.
At this moment, the limits of power constrained by the world were all making way for this legion.
The magnificent light of its will and the terrifying wave of its aura made every soldier present, whether they saw it or not, feel its presence.
"This is troublesome." Seeing the sudden change in his opponent's aura, Alessandro glanced down at the Roman short sword at his waist and gave up on the idea of drawing it.
Using a short sword to fight this charging opponent would be nothing short of asking for trouble.
The First Auxiliary Legion of Rome, through their tireless efforts day after day, were always waiting for a certain moment.
The predecessor of the First Auxiliary Legion of Rome was the Second Legion of the Eagles. However, after Trajan's legion broke through the Parthian capital and destroyed the Parthian Empire's will, it returned to Italy and lost its eagle banner.
In this process, how much of the Roman First Auxiliary Legion was truly willing to relinquish its own eagle standard?
All those years of relentless effort, was it really just to reclaim the flag that once belonged to us?
"We don't know who our opponent is, we don't know who we'll be facing, but once the opponent appears, we'll know who our opponent is..." Recalling the instructions of the previous legion commander, Alessandro finally understood at this moment who they had been waiting for all these years of hard work. (End of Chapter)