The few survivors of Arianmis's tribe nodded in agreement.
The Roman soldiers led them to the front of the army, some of them armed with bows and serious or indifferent expressions.
It was obvious that if they made any unusual movement, they would soon be riddled with arrows or killed by short swords.
Upon observing the hundreds of Roman legionaries, some of the prisoners with restless intentions immediately fell silent.
On the ground there was a pile of weapons and shields; these were weapons captured by the Roman army.
The Roman officers did not force them to pick up their weapons and shields, but instead ordered them to watch silently.
"Boom!"
At that precise moment, an enormous battering ram broke through the city's wooden gate, causing pieces of wood to fall upon the defenders on the other side.
Half of the gate broke apart, and the other half fell to the ground, crushing 4 unfortunate Armenian soldiers.
Septimus nodded slightly. He did not order his troops to attack, but instead ordered the archers and slingers to continue launching stones or arrows, with the intention of providing cover.
With the city's gate having fallen and the interference of the most elite slingers and archers in the Roman army,
The Armenian defenders were slow to create improvised barricades while gathering a large number of soldiers to protect the opening created by the destruction of the city gate.
The allied soldiers and clone legionaries became engaged in an intense siege along the entire city wall, leaving few Armenian soldiers available to protect the opening created by the destroyed gate.
A trumpet suddenly sounded, beginning the attack.
"Quickly, take a weapon and a shield, and advance to attack the city. Do not take anything more than that, or you will be punished according to military law," roared a clone centurion.
Ariamnis immediately stepped forward and took a scimitar and a shield, his favorite weapons, and his men chose the same.
Encouraged by the Roman officers, they rushed toward the destroyed gate, followed by some Thracians and Galatian troops.
Seeing that a large number of enemy troops were approaching, arrows soon rained down from the city walls.
Many Armenians are expert archers, so these arrows were very accurate.
Many Arabs and Armenians were struck by arrows and cried out in pain.
"Stop! We are Armenians," shouted an Armenian in fear.
But the people on the city wall could not believe him. Did they not notice what they were holding? And a large enemy army was following closely behind them.
Ariamnis carefully protected himself with his shield. The arrows struck the shield, but only one pierced his hand, pinning it to the shield.
Blood gushed from his hands, but Ariamnis felt that he could still endure it.
Compared to the prisoners who were riddled with arrows from both sides, he had undoubtedly been lucky, but the hunger and pain emanating from his body enraged him.
Ariamnis, filled with resentment, shouted: "Kill these people!"
Then he charged at the Armenian army that was building barricades. His men were stunned, but soon understood.
Even the capital has fallen, so how far is Armenia from national annihilation? It is time to choose a side!
The prisoner soldiers clashed with the Armenian army in an intense battle.
At first, they suffered numerous casualties, as their bodies were very weak due to the prolonged lack of food, and the narrow terrain prevented them from making use of their numbers.
But as more and more Thracians and Galatians arrived, the situation changed completely.
Thousands of men pushing forward managed to break through into the city and confront the Armenian soldiers using their numerical superiority.
They soon defeated the royal army and quickly captured the city walls.
A sincere smile appeared on Septimus's face; the royal city had been conquered.
At that precise moment, a Galatian scout arrived on horseback.
"Reporting to the general, we have spotted a large enemy army about 10 Roman miles from here. According to our visual estimate, their number amounts to more than 300,000 men."
Upon hearing the report from the Galatian rider, Septimus's expression changed drastically.
Septimus was slightly angry because the Galatian rider had decided to communicate the information directly to him instead of reporting it to his clone captain, causing valuable reaction time to be lost.
Suppressing his anger, Septimus asked coldly: "How many did you say?"
"The number is almost 300,000 men," replied the Galatian rider.
A clone legionary stepped forward and pulled the Galatian rider from his horse, then stabbed him in the neck.
Septimus could not help but curse. Why did the enemy have to arrive at this crucial moment?
A large part of the army had already entered the capital; it would be too demoralizing for the allied troops and prisoners to ask them to withdraw now.
Only the clone army had the ability to face the new enemy.
Septimus could deploy 25,000 clone legionaries to face the enemy and buy time.
The Roman army had a large amount of supplies outside the city that had to be transported inside to prevent them from being destroyed or looted.
On the other hand, Septimus's confidence in victory did not diminish.
In the original history, when Lucullus entered Armenia, he only had about three legions of soldiers, in addition to the Thracians and Galatians. Now Septimus had eight clone legions and did not consider himself inferior to Lucullus.
---
Not far from the capital, an enormous, seemingly endless army slowly approached the city.
"Hahaha, Nexus, your plan is excellent. This way, we can attack them from both flanks," said Tegranis amid loud laughter.
The unexpected thing was that they had managed to penetrate the royal city. Mithriades knew that the Romans had possibly suffered numerous casualties in their army, and consequently their morale would be severely affected if they withdrew.
Nexus listened to the praise calmly, as he had not expected Septimus to capture the capital so quickly.
This result was the best because Septimus would surely face a great dilemma.
Previously, after receiving Nexus's letter, the astute Mithriades had hesitated, but in the end he gathered all his soldiers to join Tigranes, because Septimus was too strong and this was probably the only opportunity to defeat him.
If this battle failed, both Pontus and Armenia would fall, a reality that Nexus had not thought much about, admitting that, indeed, he had misjudged the situation.
Tigranes was also filled with a persistent fear. Fortunately, he had arrived in time; he could not even imagine the consequences if his queen and prince had fallen into the hands of Septimus and the Romans.