"If our tens of thousands of able-bodied citizens hadn't been transferred, the Daonians would never have been able to attack the city walls. We could have completely…" Pleurinius shouted loudly before Marrucinensis interrupted him: "The matter has already occurred, so don't mention it again. All our energy should now be focused on how to defend the city of Rome! "
Portitus nodded at him approvingly. Although he and Marrucinensis often had disputes and disagreements due to power and interests, when Rome faced danger, the interests of the major clans were consistent.
"At this point, I wonder if our reinforcements have arrived?" After being criticized by Marrucinensis, Pleurinius awkwardly changed the subject.
"Paulus, Medius, and Pantius would never sit idly by and ignore Rome's peril. The same goes for Veii. I'm afraid they have already engaged in battle with the Daonians, we just don't know it yet." Ambrustus said loudly with certainty. His words gave many senators a sense of reassurance, because everyone understood that, given the Daonians' current offensive, reinforcements were the key to defending the city of Rome!
… … … … … … … … … … … … … …
The senators on the square were worried about the safety of the city of Rome, and the Roman people were busy rescuing the wounded soldiers. The blood of the wounded gathered into small streams, flowing into the drains, and then converging into the wide sewers…
If the public official in charge of managing the sewers at this time were to lift the stone slab, enter the sewer, step on the narrow walkways on both sides of the waterway, and walk forward along the direction of the sewage flow, until the sewer's position was above the residential area behind the northern embankment of the city of Rome, he would be surprised to find strong figures crouching in front of him, filling the sewer.
Two hundred soldiers from the Mountain Ridge Reconnaissance Brigade struggled for an entire night and finally all entered the Maxima Sewer.
After wrestling with the water of the Tiber River, and climbing cautiously, squeezing through the iron gate in the sewage, even the elite reconnaissance soldiers who had undergone long-term rigorous training felt exhausted. Some of the soldiers who had entered earlier waited for the people behind, sitting in the dark, damp, and garbage-strewn sewer, enduring the foul odor, and actually fell asleep.
However, Izamus, the commander of this secret operation, could not let them rest immediately. He had people wake them up one by one, ordering them to take off their already soaked linings and wring them dry, then wipe the water off their bodies to avoid catching a cold.
As for those team members who were scratched or bruised along the way, he and the last few soldiers who came in carried a package wrapped in several layers of fur, which contained clean linen and some prepared herbs to clean and wrap the wounds to prevent infection.
Then,
he also had to send someone to re-disguise the sawed-open iron gate to prevent the Roman soldiers on the embankment from accidentally noticing anything unusual the next day.
In addition, he also had to arrange for team members to take turns on guard duty. The main task of the sentry was not to discover the enemy, but to drive away the rats in the sewer, and possibly even snakes, to prevent them from gnawing on sleeping comrades. At the same time, when some teammates fell asleep and made loud snores, they had to be awakened in time. Although the sewer was covered with stone slabs, it was not tightly sealed, and there were still many large and small gaps. They had to be cautious at all times to prevent being discovered.
With the lives of two hundred people on his shoulders, as well as arduous combat missions, Izamus felt a lot of pressure, so in the time that followed, he kept thinking about things in his mind and never fell asleep, until dawn was approaching and he couldn't resist the sleepiness…
I don't know how long it had been, but Izamus was pushed awake. He opened his eyes groggily and was immediately dazzled by a beam of sunlight shining on his face through the cracks in the stone slabs. He held his hand over his head and turned to look around. Pairs of caring eyes were focused on him. These were the soldiers he had personally trained! A trace of warmth rose in Izamus's heart.
I'm getting old, and my body is not as good as it used to be! He sighed in his heart, struggling to squat up, and had the team members report the numbers in a very low voice in turn. The sound of the numbers passed from one side of the sewer and back from the other side, exactly two hundred.
"Is anyone feeling unwell?" Izamus asked again in a low voice, still worried.
Every team member said they were fine.
Of course, Izamus knew that there was some falsehood in these people's answers, but at least it showed that the team members did not have any major injuries or illnesses.
A trace of a smile finally appeared on his face, and he continued to ask: "What's the situation outside now?"
Answering him was the reconnaissance squad leader, Catullus, who came from Campania and could speak Latin. He squeezed to Izamus with difficulty, pointed upwards with his hand, and said in a low voice: "Battalion Commander, the Third Legion has already begun to attack. They first bombarded with ballistae, and as a result, the Romans retreated to above us. Later, after hearing them talking in panic above, we learned that our fleet had built pontoon bridges over the Tiber River with warships, and the soldiers of the Third Legion had launched an attack on the embankment. Those Roman soldiers hurriedly rushed to defend. It's been about… "
Catullus looked around uncertainly. Some of the other team members gestured five, and some made a gesture of six.
"…About an hour or so." He finally said.
Izamus didn't expect the siege to have already begun while he was sleeping. He felt scared just thinking about it. Fortunately, it was not the best time to attack.
He was about to speak when a jumble of footsteps came from above, as well as the voices of Romans. These sounds were amplified in the tunnel and echoed repeatedly, making people feel suffocated. Moreover, dust kept falling from the stone walls, but the team members immediately became like wooden sculptures, no longer making any sound, only looking at each other.
After a while, the sounds above completely disappeared, and the tunnel returned to silence. The team members took a long breath, even the turbid air was better than the maddening sounds.
"What were the Romans saying just now?" Izamus immediately asked Catullus.
Catullus's face was covered with dust, but he smiled silently, looking very funny. He smiled and said in a low voice: "Battalion Commander, I just heard a Roman say, 'I grew up with my master, taking care of his daily life, diet, and serving as his scribe… I have never killed a sheep, or even a chicken, and now you want me to kill people?!'
Another person was mocking him, 'Keep crying, little darling. Don't be so scared that you pee your pants when you face the enemy later.'
Later, someone who might be a squad officer was scolding them, 'Stop talking, hurry up and get to the pile bridge. If we let the enemy break through the embankment blockade, we will all become cattle and sheep that the enemy can slaughter at will!'…
The team members around him understood the meaning of the words, and excitement sparkled in their eyes: "Battalion Commander, it seems that the Third Legion's offensive is fierce, and the enemy is about to lose it. Should we go out too?!"
Before Izamus could speak, a team member in front exclaimed: "Look at this water!"
With the help of the beams of sunlight shining through the cracks in the stone slabs, it could be seen that the originally black and yellow dirty water, with all kinds of filth, was now gradually being dyed red…
"Could it be that our army has already attacked from other places?!" A captain exclaimed.
"Quiet!" Izamus made a gesture of silence. Facing the eager gazes of the team members, he had to make a decision.
He looked down at the bright red blood in the waterway, and listened to the sounds of the streets above. After thinking for a while, he finally said in a low voice: "No matter what the situation is in other places, the mission His Majesty gave us is to assist the Third Legion and the Third Fleet in breaking through the embankment's defenses and entering the city of Rome. Now that the enemy's reinforcements have just passed, and the streets above are still quiet, it can be seen that the Third Legion is still fighting fiercely, so we need to wait a little longer!"
Seeing that the team members next to him wanted to speak unwillingly, he immediately added: "However, since the Romans have sent even slaves who can't fight to the battlefield, it can be seen that they have no extra troops left. We only need to wait a little longer, and when these Roman reinforcements are all engaged in the battle and have no energy to stop us, we will go out and attack their rear fiercely! But now we must first find a good passage to get out!"
"Battalion Commander, we already found a way out in the early hours of the morning." Terentius raised his sheathed short sword and pointed to the top: "As long as we scratch off the grout between the stone slabs with a short sword, we can push the stone slabs open with force and then climb out."
"That's good." Izamus trusted his subordinates' judgment. He said in a deep voice: "Let's fill our stomachs first, and when I give the order, we will start to act immediately!" With that, he opened the small bag on his waist and took out a strip of dried beef.
The team members also took out dry food one after another. The dried beef soaked in river water tasted strange, but the team members chewed hard and ate it very sweetly.
… … … … … … … … … … … … … …
In the middle section of the southern city wall, not far from the old Roman forum, the sounds of killing were deafening, and the soldiers of both sides were engaged in fierce fighting.
Ladders were pushed down by the defending soldiers on the city walls, and the Daonian soldiers on the ladders fell under the city. But after a while, successive soldiers carrying new ladders came from afar, crossed the moat, reached the bottom of the city, and placed them on the vacant sections of the wall.
From time to time, arrow-blocking carts in front of the moat were ignited by rockets, but this did not affect the Daonian light infantry continuing to hide behind the burning flames and continuing to fire arrows at the city walls. Their relatively accurate archery skills posed a considerable threat to the defenders on the city walls. If it weren't for the fact that most of the soldiers fighting in front of the battlements were heavy infantry, and if they couldn't hit areas not covered by armor, they wouldn't be able to cause significant damage. I'm afraid the defenders would have been unable to stop the Daonian soldiers from climbing the city walls.
Compared to the light infantry of Daonia, the siege tower posed a greater threat to the defending soldiers on the city wall.
Each time the belly crossbow fired, the arrow-struck victims died a gruesome death, causing the defending soldiers facing the siege tower to be frightened and retreat, resulting in several small empty spaces appearing on the crowded city wall.
Of course, as the siege tower advanced, the elevation angle between the belly crossbow and the city wall increased, and the belly crossbow could not be raised, making it impossible to accurately shoot at the city wall, which greatly reduced its threat. However, the legion javelin throwers on the top of the tower began to exert their power. Relying on the protection of the wooden fence, they were in a high position and threw heavy javelins at the city wall. These javelins were not comparable to arrows. Even Roman heavy infantry would be injured if hit, forcing them to raise their shields and be careful. Roman archers also shot at the top of the siege tower, attacking these Daonian javelin throwers without armor protection.
The suppression of the city wall by the siege tower caused the defending soldiers on this section of the city wall to weaken their attack on the Daonian soldiers who were scaling the city wall like ants, and they were repeatedly attacked and climbed onto the city wall. Each time they killed or drove the enemy off the city, the Roman soldiers had to pay two or three times the casualties.
And now the greatest danger has come. The siege tower is slowly approaching the city wall. Even though the Roman defenders kept throwing tar jars at it, constantly setting the tower on fire, and even the road in front of it had turned into a sea of fire, nearly a hundred Daonian quartermasters were located at the side and rear of the siege tower. Under the cover of the wooden shed extending out of the tower, they kept pouring sand to extinguish the burning oil on the ground, while pushing the siege tower forward with force. Even if people were injured or even fell from time to time, it did not shake their determination to complete the task.
Finally, this behemoth approached the city wall.
"Retreat from there! Retreat!" Due to the critical situation, Scipio Africanus personally came to command. He was anxious when he saw the soldiers still crowded at the crenellations, and shouted loudly.
Just as the Roman soldiers retreated to both sides, the iron-clad wooden bridge attached to the top of the siege tower crashed down, landing on the crenellations and knocking down the Roman soldiers who were still below.
Scipio Africanus had no time to grieve for the soldiers crushed under the wooden bridge. He shouted loudly: "Oil! Throw oil quickly! ..."
In fact, the Romans did not expect to be besieged by a large army in advance, and there was no large amount of tar stored in the city. In the past two days, almost all the tar used for lighting in the homes of Roman citizens had been scavenged. After fighting until now, it was almost exhausted, and the Roman people had to urgently transport edible olive oil.
"Bang! Bang! ..." Dozens of pottery jars smashed up.
At the same time, the soldiers of the Daonian Second Legion, who had been prepared in the tower, had already rushed onto the wooden bridge from the siege tower, shouting the name of Hades. While rushing forward, they used their long shields to knock down the flying pottery jars.
Of course, some soldiers were splashed with olive oil,
and then unfortunately hit by a flying torch, instantly turning into a fire man. He screamed miserably, but at this moment his comrades would not stop to save him, but turned their vigorous fighting spirit into a belly of anger, Fearlessly facing the densely erected spears in front, holding their long shields in front of their chests, they jumped down from the connecting bridge, one by one like Mount Tai pressing down, resolutely jumping into the dense ranks of Roman soldiers, ignoring the spear wounds on their bodies, waving the short swords in their hands, and stabbing towards the surrounding enemies like lightning.
Although at this point in the battle, the temporarily recruited Roman soldiers had begun to adapt to the atmosphere of the battlefield, and under the encouragement of the belief in defending their homeland, the fear of death was diluted, but they were either too young and lacked combat experience, or they were too old and lacked physical strength, while the soldiers of the Daonian Second Legion were all elites, each like a fierce tiger, stirring up the Roman defenders' formation into a mess, and most of the screams came from the defenders.
Fortunately, Scipio Africanus had anticipated this and deployed most of the 3,000 young Roman soldiers who had stayed in Rome to defend the southern city wall, and used 1,000 of them as mobile forces to deal with emergencies. At this moment, he transferred 400 strong soldiers to form a dense spear formation at both ends of the walkway on the city wall, driving the Roman soldiers in front to squeeze inward together, attempting to annihilate the Daonian soldiers who had rushed to the city wall in one fell swoop through front and rear pincers.
Who knew that the Daonian soldiers, who were rich in combat experience, disregarded their own casualties and relied on crazy attacks to continuously expand the space on the city wall. The subsequent Daonian soldiers, braving the gradually increasing fire, continued to rush to the city wall... While attacking, they were also quickly forming a formation.
When the old, weak, and disabled Roman troops at the front were injured, dead, or retreated, and the elite Roman soldiers faced the enemy directly, the Daonian soldiers had already stood on the city wall with about sixty or so people. They formed a shield formation, defending against attacks from the front and back, like a rock firmly rooted on the city wall.
Although Scipio Africanus was anxious when he saw this situation, he also understood that this was not a battle that could be resolved in a short time. Fortunately, the siege tower had already caught fire, and even the javelin throwers on the top of the tower, who posed a great threat to the defenders, had withdrawn. It was impossible for the enemy to use it to rush to the city wall again, which gave him some comfort.
But soon, his mood fell to the bottom again: "General Scipio! Over there... the siege tower over there is about to approach the city wall!"
Scipio Africanus quickly led 400 elite soldiers over again.
This time, he decided to learn a lesson and directly let these soldiers guard the city wall that the siege tower was about to approach, blocking the enemies rushing out of the tower, and never giving them a chance to gain a foothold on the city wall.
But after going back and forth like this, he found that the defending forces were already somewhat strained.
At this time, the messenger who came finally brought him good news: the Senate had sent more than 1,400 reinforcements.
......................
Matonis, who had been paying attention to the battle situation from a distance under the city, sighed for the burning and collapsing siege tower, and soon he was excited for another siege tower approaching the city wall.
"Quick, send another company up! This time, we must not only rush to the city wall, but also break through the enemy's interception and clear the obstacles for other soldiers to climb the city wall!"
"Legion Commander, we... we have no companies to send." The adjutant reminded him embarrassedly from the side.
"What?! Wasn't there just—" Matonis turned his head in astonishment.
Not far behind him were many people, but more than half of them were engineers and craftsmen, who were still busy making siege equipment; there were also some members of the quartermaster battalion, who were not only responsible for pushing the made siege equipment, but also carrying some wounded soldiers back on the way back; there were also some doctors and nurses from the medical battalion, who were carrying out tense battlefield treatment of the wounded soldiers who were carried back...
Matonis looked again at the bloody battlefield in front.
Many of the dozens of arrow-blocking vehicles in front of the trenches were burned, and bundles of rising thick smoke blocked most of the view; the light infantry fired arrows at the city wall at a slower rate than before, I am afraid they also felt tired.
Under the city, the heavy infantry of the Second Legion were all squatting on the ground, hiding their entire bodies under their long shields. At first glance, it seemed that the land under the city was a black color, with a dark and dim light; only racks of cloud ladders stood up like trees, sticking to the city wall, and then the Daonian soldiers crawling on it stained the gray city wall into strips of black, and soldiers kept falling from above, and soldiers kept replenishing from below; from time to time, a ball of flame rose under the city, mixed with miserable screams, which made Matonis's heart tighten every time.
Three of the five tall siege towers had been burned down, and one was passing through the trench. Because some of the sandbags were not compacted, the siege tower broke the wooden planks and the axles broke and fell into it, unable to move forward, and could only be used as a platform for the belly crossbow and javelin throwers to launch attacks...
In Matonis's sharp eyes, he also saw some wounded soldiers struggling hard under the shield formed by the soldiers under the city. Because of their serious injuries, they could not move to the rear and were successfully picked up by the quartermasters.
Matonis thought again of the dozens of soldiers surrounded on the city wall, and his heart began to worry: if Rome cannot be taken today, the fate of those soldiers on and under the city who cannot retreat smoothly will be very tragic!
Thinking of this, he threw the words said by Davos before the war to "preserve strength, reduce casualties, so as to cope with the next battle" to the back of his mind, and said loudly: "Let the buglers blow the attack bugle for me again, urging the soldiers to step up their attack! Also... hurry back to the camp and tell His Majesty that I request another heavy infantry battalion!"
"Legion Commander." The adjutant reminded: "I received a notice before that four battalions have been sent from the camp to intercept the Roman reinforcements, and there are only two battalions left in the camp, I am afraid—"
"Don't be long-winded, go quickly!" Matonis shouted irritably with red eyes.
.......................
At this time, in the central army tent, Davos had just received a report from the scouts: Report, there is a force of nearly two thousand people ten miles southeast of Rome, and they are marching rapidly north.
Davos immediately looked at the map, and Claunisus, the staff officer responsible for analyzing the enemy's situation, also quickly made a judgment based on the previous intelligence: "Your Majesty, this is still the reinforcements from the Latin city-states of Prinieste, Bone, and Gabi."
He pointed to a place on the map with a red dot and said: "Their target of attack is very likely the Sixth Legion!"
"Most of the soldiers of the Sixth Legion are besieging the city..." Davos pondered for a while and said decisively: "Immediately send the heavy infantry battalion of the Fifth Legion left in the camp to intercept!"
"Your Majesty!" Claunisus reminded: "If this heavy infantry battalion is sent out, there will be only one light infantry battalion of the Second Legion left in the camp!"
"Don't worry!" Davos said with a smile, "The reinforcements from those Latin city-states south of the camp are either fighting the army led by Tolmides in the west, or they are advancing towards the Sixth Legion. It's impossible for them to have more soldiers to attack our camp. The light infantry battalion of the Second Legion can completely defend the main camp on its own."
Although Davos spoke lightly, the staff still felt uneasy. Then, a staff officer hurried out to deliver orders, just as the adjutant of the Second Legion arrived.
"Matonis is requesting reinforcements…" Davos was slightly startled after hearing this. He inquired about the battlefield situation in detail from the adjutant of the Second Legion and sighed softly, "That fellow is getting anxious too!"
To be honest, according to the intelligence Davos had previously obtained, all the young and middle-aged citizens in Rome had been drafted to attack Hernici, leaving only 3,000 soldiers to defend the city. This was why Davos dared to directly lead his army to attack Rome. In his opinion, even if the Romans sent out the elderly and women to defend the city, it would be impossible for them to contend with the more than 50,000 highly skilled and strong Daonian legionnaires with advanced siege equipment and rich combat experience. But he didn't expect the battle to last so long, and the legions hadn't made any significant progress.
Could it be that the Romans are so resilient?! He clenched his fists secretly.
"Your Majesty… Your Majesty…" Hynipolis saw that Davos was somewhat lost in thought and quickly called out softly.
Davos immediately came back to his senses, his face quickly returning to calm. He said to the adjutant, "There are no heavy infantry in the camp anymore. Take 300 light infantry to support them immediately."
"Yes!" The adjutant respectfully saluted and turned to leave the tent.
Davos glanced at the staff, who looked slightly worried, and said confidently, "I still have more than two hundred palace guards. They are no worse than the legion's heavy infantry. Adding the remaining light infantry, that's a full thousand men. There's no need to worry about the safety of the camp."
As he spoke, he pointed forward with confidence, "Besides, even if the camp is destroyed by the enemy, it's not a big deal, because the place where we will camp tonight is Rome!" In fact, he had something else in his heart that he didn't say: If the siege fails today, he will lead the army to retreat to Ostia immediately, so this camp will naturally be useless.
My army will definitely capture Rome today!… Davos cheered himself up in his heart.
At this moment, another battle report came: Report, north of the Roman Sublicius bridge, five miles away, about 4,000 enemy troops are advancing rapidly towards the Third Legion's camp.
"What?!" Someone among the staff exclaimed.
Davos's eyes suddenly narrowed, and his right hand suddenly tightened its grip on the back of the chair.
… … … … … … … … … … … … … …
At this moment,
On the embankment west of the southern bank of the Roman Sublicius bridge, the battle between Roman and Daonian soldiers was not like a slaughter, but more like a contest of strength.
Daonian legionnaires supported their long shields with both hands, resisting the enemy's shields, burying their heads behind their long shields, dodging the stabbing of the enemy's spears in the rear, and using all their strength to push forward, earning a larger foothold for their comrades who climbed up later. For this reason, they roared in a low voice, their faces flushed red, and the veins on their necks bulged. Their expressions were so ferocious and painful because they were all trying their best to use a thin formation to confront the thick Roman military formation. Often, one person had to resist the overlapping strength of five or six enemies. The reason why they could barely support themselves was because their comrades behind them squatted down and continuously stabbed their short swords between their legs, injuring the enemy's legs and feet, weakening the enemy's combat power, and making them unable to push them into the river with all their strength because of their psychological concerns.
Even though the Daonian soldiers fought so hard and inflicted a lot of casualties on the enemy, the battle line between the two sides was still close to the embankment, winding, and intermittent.
Daonian soldiers were constantly pushed off the embankment and fell into the river, while the Roman soldiers who rushed to the shore had to try their best to stop themselves, otherwise they would also fall into the river.
And at this moment, the Daonian soldiers lying on the raven drawbridge protected the tops of their heads with long shields and attacked the enemy's legs with short swords, often effectively forcing the opponent to retreat again and stand on the embankment again.
Therefore, this flat embankment had advantages and disadvantages for both soldiers. The Daonian soldiers could not completely gain a foothold on the embankment and form a solid defense line, while the Roman soldiers could not destroy the drawbridge and cut off the enemy's offensive route.
Since the Roman defenders did not expect the Daonians to build pontoon bridges with warships in advance, they had no fire oil prepared at all. After the fierce battle between the two sides, the fire oil could not be transmitted to the edge of the embankment through the thick formation.
Of course, Roman archers shot rockets into the river by throwing them, but Daonian sailors also cleaned up these rockets in time.
More sailors patrolled the deck. When they saw soldiers falling into the water, they immediately jumped into the river to rescue them. The 20 pontoon bridges were 20 life rafts. Even if some soldiers who fell into the water were unlucky and missed them, there were still a dozen fast boats patrolling the river downstream of these pontoon bridges. Therefore, although many Daonian soldiers fell into the water, most of them were in good condition. After being rescued and resting on the warship for a while, they could quickly rejoin the battle.
The Roman soldiers seemed to have the upper hand, but soldiers were constantly injured in their legs and feet and withdrew from the battle, so the number of soldiers who could fight was slowly decreasing.
… … … … … … … … … … … … … … …
In the direction of the Roman Sublicius bridge, the battle situation was completely different.
At the beginning of the battle, the Roman soldiers blocked the enemy at the bridgehead in time, but they could not rely on the strength of their numbers to push the opponent into the river like their comrades on the embankment. They could only withstand the enemy's impact from the front.
The First Battalion of the Third Daonian Legion crowded the entire Roman Sublicius bridge. The soldiers in the front row used long shields to block and short swords to stab. The soldiers behind used their bodies to push and spears to poke. The soldiers behind pushed forward with all their strength while throwing javelins…
At the beginning of the battle, the two sides were still in a stalemate. Half an hour later, the Roman soldiers, mainly composed of the old and weak, who were supported by the strong belief in defending their homeland, gradually could not resist the impact of these Daonian legionnaires, who were far superior to them in terms of physical strength, skills, and fighting spirit, and began to retreat little by little. Even Cassius, who rushed to supervise the battle in a hurry, could not reverse the decline.
More and more Daonian soldiers rushed across the bridgehead, expanding the First Battalion's attack area and increasing the Roman soldiers' defense difficulty. If it were not for the timely arrival of more than 3,000 reinforcements, the Roman soldiers defending the bridgehead would have been defeated.
But even with so many reinforcements, Cassius's brow still did not relax.
Because Roman citizens, whether old or young, had been receiving regular Roman military training since childhood. Even if their strength was insufficient or their experience was not enough, they could still rely on the whole to resist the Daolian soldiers' attack. But these freedmen and slaves, even if they were wearing Roman-style armor and holding long shields and spears, did not understand Roman tactics at all, especially some slaves who did not even know how to use shields and spears.
Therefore, the most tiring were those squad officers who were temporarily responsible for commanding them. They had to shout loudly, reminding their new recruits how to do it on the battlefield where the sounds of killing were deafening. Soon their voices became hoarse, but the formation of the newly added reinforcements still did not improve much, and was still loose and chaotic.
Cassius was worried and began to blame in his heart: When rebuilding Rome, why didn't the Senate call on the people to build a city wall on this embankment?! Otherwise, with the protection of the city wall, these new recruits could play a greater role even if they had no combat experience.
At this moment, he vaguely heard a familiar military horn sound from the opposite bank, and his spirit suddenly lifted: Are our reinforcements here?!
… … … … … … … … … … … … … …
A few minutes ago, Lizalu, the commander of the Third Legion, who was standing at the bridgehead on the opposite bank and paying close attention to the battle, received the news that Roman reinforcements were coming.
Since he had been prepared for this because the scouts had been reporting the news that "Roman reinforcements were gathering north of their camp", he did not appear flustered.
"Only more than 4,000 enemies. I think our troops guarding the camp can completely defeat them in a field battle!" Lizalu said confidently.
Midolardes, the commander of the Third Fleet's navy, said with some concern, "The soldiers defending the camp have all gone out to meet the enemy. What if more enemies come—"
"Midolardes, you must believe in the ability of the Third Legion's scouts and mountain reconnaissance teams. Apart from this Roman reinforcement that is coming, they have not found any other enemies within ten miles. After our soldiers defeat them, they will have plenty of time to return to defend the camp!" In order to dispel his concerns, Lizalu specially explained seriously, "The reason why I let the troops guarding the camp take the initiative to attack is not because I am warlike, but because the camp we built is too big. If it is just a simple defense, the soldiers will suffer a lot!"
Midolardes understood what he meant: Yesterday, the Third Legion and the Third Fleet built two camps on the north bank of the Tiber River, one at the bridgehead and the other on the riverbank west of the bridgehead. In order to accommodate these more than 40 huge three-row paddle warships, and to allow enough space between the warships to facilitate the warships being dragged, launched, and prevent fires, the camp on the riverbank was long and wide, which led to an increase in the defense area for the soldiers. To completely defend it, the troops were slightly insufficient…
The reason why Midolardes had so many concerns was because the soldiers could run away, reorganize, and fight again if they were defeated, but if the enemy rushed into the riverbank camp, his warships would be tied to the riverbank and connected together, and could be easily burned. At that time, the Third Fleet would be completely finished.
But after all, he had been on the battlefield for a long time, and he knew that there was no room for hesitation at this critical moment, so he decisively said, "I agree with your opinion and will temporarily transfer the command of the fleet infantry to you!"
"Excellent!" Lizalu punched Midolades in the chest with his fist and said sincerely, "Thank you for your trust, Midolades!"
"This is all for Daonia!" Midolades responded solemnly.
"Don't worry, I won't let the marine infantry suffer heavy losses!" Lizalu also made a guarantee, and then said to the adjutant: "Quickly, go and call Urazha!"
He was preparing to let Urazha replace him in commanding the entire Third Legion to attack the southern bank of Rome, while he himself would lead the two infantry battalions and two thousand Third Fleet marines who remained in the camp to meet the Roman reinforcements. After all, as the legion commander, it would be easier for the marine infantry to accept his command.
… … … … … … … … … … … … … … … …
Veii was a town built by the Etruscans, located on the north bank of the middle reaches of the Tiber River, northeast of Rome, about forty miles away. Since the founding of Rome, it has been a major enemy of the Romans. The two sides have fought many wars over the control of the land on both sides of the middle reaches of the Tiber River for a hundred years.
The Romans went from being passively beaten at the beginning, to winning and losing against each other, and then to gaining the upper hand. It can be said that they have gone through many hardships. Finally, more than 20 years ago, after a ten-year siege, Camillus led his army to break through the city of Veii. Based on hatred and interest, the Romans killed all the Veiians who could resist, captured the women and children as slaves, and completely occupied the land of Veii, turning it into a Roman colonial town.
Soon after, due to fierce conflicts between the nobles and commoners in Rome, most of the commoners left Rome in anger and settled in Veii. Then the Celts invaded and Rome was occupied. After Camillus gathered the Romans and Latins to drive away the Celts, the Roman nobles and commoners once again reconciled their differences and rebuilt Rome, and many Roman commoners who had settled in Veii also returned.
In order to prevent Veii from becoming a refuge for Roman commoners and nobles after conflicts again, thereby weakening the strength of Rome itself, the Senate passed a bill to designate the fertile land on the south side of Veii, near the Tiber River, as public land of Rome, thus making this large Etruscan city, whose population was about the same as Rome and whose prosperity was even higher than Rome, into a medium-sized Roman colony.
Because the residents of Veii were all Roman citizens, they responded strongly to Rome's first conscription (that is, following Camillus to attack the Hernici), and after hearing that Rome was under attack, they squeezed out more than 500 people to come to the rescue again.
In addition to Veii sending troops to rescue Rome, there was also Caisra. This was also one of the twelve city-states of the Etruscan League. It was located on a small mountain about fourteen miles from the sea and nearly sixty miles from the north bank of the mouth of the Tiber River. Because it had iron ore and produced high-quality pottery, it enjoyed a high reputation in central and northern Italy, which also made the city very prosperous and wealthy.
Moreover, this city-state was very good at getting along with other forces. When the relationship between most Etruscan city-states and Rome was tense, it maintained a good relationship with Rome. Even when the Celts invaded and its own city was captured, the Caisrans still sheltered many Roman people who had fled from the fall of Rome in the various mountain villages within its territory. Therefore, when Rome's strength recovered and it began to attack Etruscan territory northward, they were grateful for the kindness of the Caisrans and did not invade their territory, but invited Caisra to join the Roman alliance.
At the same time, the Caisrans also had a good relationship with the Greeks. It was one of the few non-Greek cities that had a treasury in Delphi (Delphi generally did not allow non-Greek city-states to have a treasury), which was very surprising.
This time, Caisra also sent more than 500 soldiers to rescue its ally, Rome.
In addition, there were two reinforcements from the Etruscan League city-states, Volch and Tarchna. These were also two city-states close to the coast, but built their cities on mountains, which were very characteristic of Etruria. They both had rich mineral resources and also had large ports and prosperous maritime trade.
Especially Volch, as early as a hundred years ago, it became the center of maritime trade on the west coast of the Italian peninsula. Its pottery, bronzeware, and wine were even sold to the Eastern Mediterranean. It was not only a maritime power, but also controlled many surrounding Etruscan tribes and small towns on land.
Tarchna, like Veii, had a long-standing feud with Rome. As early as a hundred years ago, it supported the overthrown Roman King Tarquin against Rome. However, these two powerful city-states had declined in recent decades due to the continuous southward invasion of the Celts and the harassment of the Romans, and the large-scale invasion of the Celts more than ten years ago caused heavy damage to these two cities, with the cities falling and the people being plundered…
They had not recovered from the war, and Rome, which had driven away the Celts and received strong support from Carthage, once again invaded their territory with a large army. After suffering defeats in successive battles, the people of these two cities had no choice but to submit.
Rome divided part of the land in these two cities to establish two colonial cities—Sutrium and Cosa—as fortresses for Rome to control southern Etruria, and also to monitor the movements of these two cities at any time. Therefore, this time, when Rome sent messengers to ask for help, these two cities also sent reinforcements.
Of course, Sutrium and Cosa also had reinforcements following them, adding up to more than 2,000 people. Adding the soldiers sent by other Etruscan tribes and towns that had surrendered to Rome, there were more than 4,000 people in total.
The reinforcements from Veii, Caisra, Volch, and other towns gathered one after another. Later, there were sporadic warriors arriving, but they received a report from scouts that "the Daonians are attacking Rome urgently." The situation no longer allowed them to wait slowly here, especially the Roman citizens of Veii kept clamoring to rush to rescue. Therefore, the leading generals from the Roman colonial cities and Etruscan city-states quickly reached an agreement and led their respective citizen soldiers, dragging along, towards the Roman Sublicius Bridge.
When they were still two or three miles away from the Daonian camp, they received another report from scouts: about 4,000 Daonian soldiers were marching quickly, heading for their inevitable path!
The generals were shocked when they heard this, just like Paulus' reaction: Aren't the Daonians attacking the city with all their strength?! How can they still have enough soldiers to fight us in the field?!
But time was tight and they couldn't think too much. They hurriedly began to deploy their formation.
These more than 4,000 Roman reinforcements came from multiple Etruscan city-states, tribes, and Roman colonial cities. It took a lot of effort just to determine the affiliation of each unit and arrange the position of the formation. Therefore, before the entire army's formation was deployed, the Daonian army appeared in their sight.
Lizalu led an army of two thousand marine infantry and a light infantry battalion, so their actions were relatively quick. Only one heavy infantry battalion was slightly behind.
After arriving at the battlefield, Lizalu discovered that the Roman reinforcements were just as he had anticipated. They had not expected the Daonian army to attack, so they were not prepared in advance. The entire army was still huddled together. How could he let go of such a great opportunity? Without waiting for the heavy infantry battalion to arrive, he issued an order to attack: the marine infantry attacked the left side of the enemy, the light infantry battalion attacked the right side of the enemy, leaving the front gap to the heavy infantry battalion that arrived later.
Although neither of these two units were heavy infantry, according to the scouts' report: the number of heavy infantry in the Roman reinforcements was far less than half (the elite citizen soldiers had been conscripted to attack the Hernici before). Therefore, Lizalu firmly believed that these two well-trained units could completely suppress the enemy with their attack and hold on until the heavy infantry battalion arrived.
The attack horn sounded, and the two units, which were originally arranged in combat columns, quickly swung the entire long column over in the process of slowing down and moving forward, turning into a horizontal row, and then began to accelerate forward without changing positions.
The weapons and equipment of the marine infantry and the light infantry were actually the same. They were all leather helmets, leather armor, leather shields, and short swords. The biggest difference was the size of the leather shields and the javelins: the light infantry, because they were fighting on land, had larger leather shields, and like the heavy infantry, they carried two javelins; the marine infantry, because they had to fight at sea, had smaller leather shields in order to maintain better balance, and did not carry javelins.
However, this time, because the heavy infantry of the Third Legion had to climb up the embankment with the Corvus warship to attack, it was inconvenient to throw javelins, so they were all left in the camp. Before Lizalu summoned the troops to leave the camp to meet the enemy, he asked the marine infantry to carry the javelins. Although they did not use javelins in naval battles, they were often trained in them during peacetime, because javelin throwing was one of the four enemy-killing skills that Daonian infantry must master (the other three are unarmed combat, shield and sword fighting, and shield and spear stabbing).
The rapid approach of the Daonian army forced the Roman reinforcements to be unable to deploy their formation smoothly. Of course, they could not shrink into a ball and be passively beaten. Therefore, the attack horn was forced to sound, and the generals of each reinforcement unit led their own city-state troops and rushed towards the approaching Daonian army.
The original distance of several hundred meters between the two sides was quickly shortened in a burst of shouts and killings.
"Javelins! Javelins! Javelins!…" In the shouts of the officers, the Daonian marine infantry and light infantry units quickly stopped and quickly threw two rounds of javelins, interrupting the enemy's charging momentum and making the enemy's formation even more chaotic. Then they shouted the name of Hades and charged over…
"The city wall has collapsed!! The walls of Rome have finally collapsed!!!..." Amidst the cheers of the Daunian legionnaires in front of the trench, a small section of the southwestern corner of the Roman wall collapsed with a roar, accompanied by the trembling of the ground and a cloud of dust, as well as the screams of Roman soldiers.
A moment later, when the dust settled, a large gap appeared in the wall before everyone's eyes: it was shaped like an inverted trapezoid, wider at the top and narrower at the bottom, with the lower opening about four meters wide and more than three meters from the ground. Stones and sand fell down, naturally forming a slope on both sides of the gap.
"Charge through! Attack the city of Rome!" The soldiers of the Daunian Fourth Legion near the gap were ecstatic, as if they had been injected with chicken blood, stepping on a ground of bricks and rammed earth, rushing towards the gap, heedless of falling.
The defending soldiers on the city wall, who had just been shocked by the collapse, also came back to their senses at this moment, and ran to the top of the gap, throwing javelins, stones, and wood downwards, trying to inflict heavy casualties on the enemy and prevent them from entering the city.
But this could not stop the soaring morale of the Fourth Legion soldiers. When the soldiers in the front row rushed through the gap one after another, they stopped involuntarily, because not far in front of them was a thick wall of spears. Countless Romans in simple clothes were arranged in a dense formation, with rows of spears pointing towards them, glinting coldly.
"Stop! Stop quickly! Quickly form a square formation!..." The centurion in the front row shouted loudly. However, in this battlefield filled with the din of battle, the extremely excited soldiers were shouting and rushing in madly. The organization and order had long been chaotic. They could not obey the orders, but instead pushed their comrades in front towards the spear wall.
The soldiers in the front row had to hurriedly raise their long shields to protect themselves and crashed into the enemy.
Soon, the open space between the spear wall and the gap was filled with the constantly pouring Daunian soldiers. The dense spear formation, composed of Roman landless poor, was personally commanded by Servius Muscia, the commander of the defending army of the western city wall. This commander came from the Roman poor, but because of his bravery in previous battles, he had been promoted by Camillus several times, from a lowly auxiliary soldier to a renowned Roman centurion. This time, he happened to be among the 3,000 remaining soldiers.
The reason why Scipio Africanus chose Muscia from among dozens of centurions to be responsible for the defense line on the western side of Rome was not because Scipio Africanus, like Camillus, had the vision and broad-mindedness to employ people regardless of their background, but only based on their ability. Rather, it was a helpless measure taken in the critical situation where the army was pressing down and conflicts between Roman nobles and civilians were happening. He hoped that Muscia could use his prestige among the civilians to effectively unite the power of a large number of poor people and slaves concentrated in the western part of Rome, and stop the Daunian attack.
In fact, so far, what Muscia has done has exceeded Scipio Africanus's expectations. He has not only temporarily eliminated the dissatisfaction in the hearts of the civilians and slaves, stimulated their determination to participate in the war, but also effectively organized them, fully defending against the enemy's attack on the city walls and below, which has led to the Daunian Fourth and Fifth Legions, a total of more than 10,000 elite soldiers, attacking this area at the same time.
They have not been able to make significant progress.
Now, Muscia's temporarily formed spear formation has not caused much damage to the Daunian soldiers, but it has not been frightened by the enemy's fierce attack, but has stubbornly blocked the enemy's breakthrough.
The greatest casualties to the Daunian soldiers rushing into the gap were inflicted by the defending soldiers on the city walls. The Daunian soldiers below the city were so densely packed that every javelin and every stone thrown down by the defending soldiers could cause harm, not to mention the pitch. Unfortunate Daunian soldiers who were doused became firemen, posing a great threat to the surrounding comrades.
Fortunately, up to now, tar and olive oil have been used extensively to burn numerous siege engines, and there is very little left now. Otherwise, for the Daunian soldiers rushing into the gap, it would be a disaster.
Olivus, the commander of the Fourth Legion, who had been excited because the city wall was bombarded and collapsed by the siege rams, stamped his feet anxiously after learning about the battle situation in the gap: "Order the light infantry to immediately approach the city and fiercely attack the enemy on the city, to reduce the pressure on the soldiers inside!"
"Let the brothers at the gap quickly retreat backward, to free up space for the soldiers inside, so that they can form a square formation to fight the enemy!"
"Gather the mountain reconnaissance squads and let them try to climb up to the city from the gap and attack the enemy!"
The orderlies accepted the orders and rode away one by one.
"Also… immediately notify Georghiris, the commander of the Fifth Legion, and tell him about our predicament!"
… … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … …
After Georghiris received the news of the unfavorable situation of the Fourth Legion, his expression was solemn. He looked intently at the front: under the city wall a hundred meters away, among the soldiers who were working hard to climb the city, there were burnt siege rams and mantlets, emitting thick black smoke. Among them, there were still three relatively intact siege rams lined up under the city wall, constantly hitting the city wall. The "rumbling" vibrations could be heard even by Georghiris, who was in the rear.
He could even see the increasing cracks in the wall, and the dust and stones that had been falling continuously, almost burying the siege rams.
"Immediately notify the First Battalion, order them to retreat to the trench and form a line in front of the collapsing city wall! After the city wall collapses, don't rush, enter the gap in complete formation, one after another. Be careful of the enemy's spear square formation behind the gap!"
"At the same time, warn the soldiers of other battalions, without orders, it is forbidden to enter the gap without authorization, those who violate the order will be severely punished!"
"Yes, Legion Commander!"
… … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … …
While the Fourth and Fifth Legions were fighting fiercely under the city, not far to the west of them, the army led by Tolmid was in fierce battle.
The Roman army led by Paulus, although smaller in total number than the opponent, had a majority of heavy infantry among his soldiers, whose number was twice that of the heavy infantry led by Tolmid. In the frontal battle, they gradually began to gain the upper hand.
If it were not for the constant attacks of the Daunian First and Second Cavalry Legions from the flanks and rear wings of the Roman army formation, restraining part of the Roman army's forces, then the Roman army would probably have launched a full frontal assault, forcing the Daunian formation to retreat greatly.
But as time passed, Paulus became more and more anxious: he was burdened with the important task of rescuing the city of Rome, but was blocked here, unable to make progress for a long time. If this continued, even if he finally repelled the enemy in front of him, Rome would probably have been captured, and he would become a sinner of Rome.
Therefore, he finally became ruthless and ordered the Roman cohorts in the rear of the formation: leaving only a part of the cohorts to guard against the Daunian cavalry that were cruising around, most of the cohorts should no longer pay attention to the threat of the enemy cavalry, immediately expand to both wings, and then turn to attack the enemy's flanks.
Under his urging, the Roman army formation began to stretch out its arms from the original oval shape, transforming into a "one" shaped formation.
Ledes and Cucius, the two cavalry legion commanders in the flanks and rear of the Roman formation, felt bad when they saw this situation. By this time, the javelins of the two cavalry legions had already been used up. They let the cavalry divide into small teams to gallop back and forth behind the enemy, posing an attacking posture, just to force the Romans not to dare to fully commit to the attack, but now the Romans had become ruthless, and the cavalry legions could not let them achieve their goal.
"It seems that we can only attack…" Ledes sighed. He knew that the effect of cavalry attacking dense heavy infantry, even if the opponent was in motion, would not be very good, especially it would damage the warhorses, leading to a large reduction in cavalry.
On the other hand, the younger Cucius was full of fighting spirit: "Then let the Romans see the power of our Daunian cavalry charge! Legion Commander Ledes, you lead the army to attack the enemy's left flank, and I will attack the right flank!"
As he said that, he turned his horse to gallop south.
"Wait a minute!" Ledes called him to a halt, pointing to the Roman army in the rear of the Roman army formation, which was spreading out in a horizontal line towards them, and said thoughtfully: "…Even if we want to prevent the enemy from expanding their formation on both wings, these Roman soldiers will probably rush to both sides to intercept us."
"That's for sure, but they don't have enough people, they can't stop our charge!" Cucius said confidently.
"Then—their departure will expose that place!" Following the direction of Ledes's finger, Cucius's eyes lit up: because that was the rear of the Roman army's center, where the light infantry, which posed a great threat to the Daunian cavalry, was huddled together, under the protection of these Roman heavy infantry.
Ledes's voice continued to ring in his ears: "We gather cavalry on both sides to attract the enemy's attention, but secretly send part of the cavalry to retreat to a place outside the enemy's sight. Then, your and my cavalry legions launch attacks on the enemy's two wings. These heavy infantry will inevitably rush to both sides to intercept us. The cavalry we hide can take the opportunity to launch a charge against the enemy's light infantry. These light infantry will inevitably be unable to resist and will be thrown into chaos, thereby driving them to disrupt the enemy's front line in the center, creating an opportunity for our infantry in the center to win."
"Good idea! Legion Commander Ledes, I'll listen to you, let's do it this way!" Cucius responded readily: "When we gather the legion's cavalry to form a line, we'll widen the gaps between the cavalry to obscure the enemy's vision, and then each of us will send four companies (the company size of the cavalry legion is 50 cavalry) to run to the rear and wait for an opportunity to act."
Ledes nodded, saluted solemnly, and said in a deep voice: "Time is tight, then let's act, may Hades bless us, so that we can succeed!"
Cucius immediately returned a strong military salute: "Under the blessing of Hades, we will definitely succeed!"
The two cavalry commanders were busy gathering their cavalry, while Tolmides, the commander located behind the Daonian army formation, learned about the changes in the enemy's formation from the reports of the scouts, and he certainly had to respond.
He pondered for a moment and issued an order: to have the light infantry battalions of the Fourth and Fifth Legions, located at the rear of the left and right flanks, quickly move forward and spread out to the flanks to block the enemies attempting to outflank them, while the light infantry battalion of the Second Legion at the rear of the center would be divided into two parts, ready to support the flanks at any time.
After all, it would be very difficult to have light infantry directly confront the enemy's heavy infantry, and Tolmides had no choice but to do this, he just wanted to delay for some time.
As the order was issued and the troops began to move, stirring up dust, Tolmides, who had been in a state of tension, looked ahead and suddenly widened his eyes: "What's going on?!"
Through the hazy dust, he saw Croto Catakes and 40 members of the palace guard, who had been resting quietly in front of him, suddenly moving to the right.
"Lord, no one has issued additional orders to His Highness the Prince!" his subordinate hurriedly explained from the side.
"Quick! ... Send someone to tell His Highness to obey orders and stay where he is!" Tolmides said anxiously.
When Croto Catakes saw the messenger galloping behind the formation and shouting loudly, he immediately realized that the situation had changed, so he took it upon himself to order the palace guard to move to the right flank along with the light infantry battalion of the Fifth Legion. These palace guards initially tried to stop him from going, citing his safety, but after all, he was the temporary commander of this palace guard, and besides, which citizen of Daonia didn't want to go to battle and make contributions? These palace guards had been staying in the city of Turii for a long time, guarding King Davos, and it was not easy to have a chance to go to battle and kill the enemy, so they were inevitably tempted, and Croto Catakes easily persuaded them.
When the messenger rushed over and demanded that "Croto Catakes obey orders and stay where he is," Croto Catakes replied indignantly: "Please tell Lord Tolmides that the army is now facing danger, and other soldiers are fighting bloody battles, but we are asked to hide aside like cowards. Does he want us to become the laughing stock of the entire kingdom?!"
Croto Catakes's words immediately strengthened the resolve of the palace guards who had been somewhat wavering, so they ignored the dissuasion and continued to move forward with Croto Catakes.
After Tolmides received Croto Catakes's reply from the messenger, he, who was good at coordinating and handling various complex relationships, was at a loss for what to do for a moment. On the one hand, it was indeed as the young prince said, if he let him stand idly by, when the war was over and he returned to Turii, the prince would indeed likely be ridiculed by the people, then not only would Croto Catakes hate him, but King Davos and Queen Christoia would also be dissatisfied with him; but if he really let him go to the front to resist the fierce enemy, and he was really injured, he would also be blamed.
If he died in battle, that would be..."
Just as he was hesitating, a scout galloped over: "Report, Lord Epitenes has led his troops to the battlefield!"
"Finally here!" Tolmides breathed a long sigh of relief, and the heart that had been hanging in his throat finally fell. He turned to his subordinate and said, "Immediately extract a company from the light infantry battalion of the Second Legion to accompany His Highness the Prince to the right flank!"
With the reinforcements of Epitenes, the defeat of the Roman reinforcements was imminent, and he no longer had to worry about the safety of Croto Catakes.
..........................
"Leading a large army to land in Latium and attack Rome" was regarded by Davos as the most important strategic plan to date. Knowing the power of Rome in his previous life, he would of course go all out. Therefore, he not only dispatched the First, Second, Third, Fourth, Fifth, and Sixth Infantry Legions, as well as the First and Second Cavalry Legions, but also sent Epitenes, who had just stepped down as chief executive and was idle at home, to Lucania.
Because the Third Legion stayed in Atella at the request of the Campanians, the Ministry of Military Affairs later commissioned Xanthippus to form a new reserve legion in the Lucanian region to replace the Third Legion in defending the entire Lucanian region. The soldiers of the Third Legion not only came from Lucania, but also included Copsa and the coastal Aenona, Poseidonia, Elea, and Laos, so the source of troops was abundant, and Xanthippus quickly formed a complete new legion.
Davos issued an order: Epitenes would lead half of the new legion's forces and sail to Ostia the day after the main army landed in Latium and occupied Ostia.
This was a backhand left by Davos, and he would use this important chess piece depending on the development of the battle situation.
Because the attention of the coastal city-states of Latium was attracted by the major event of "the Daonian army besieging the city of Rome," they did not notice that another small Daonian force was mixed in the huge fleet transporting supplies and entered the port of Ostia.
When Davos learned yesterday evening that "the previously defeated Roman army had regrouped and was marching east, preparing to rescue the city of Rome," he immediately sent a messenger to Ostia, notifying Epitenes to lead his troops east today to assist the main force in defeating the Roman reinforcements and ensure the smooth progress of the siege.
Epitenes, who had been away from the army for several years, was always known for his "flexible use of troops and good at clever battles." After he led his troops out this morning, he did not blindly urge the soldiers to hurry, but marched at a steady pace. At the same time, he sent out many scouts to frequently go to the army camp to understand the entire siege deployment and the enemy situation around the city of Rome, and to keep abreast of the progress of the battle, in order to find opportunities to fight.
When he learned that the friendly army was intercepting a large number of Roman reinforcements on the west side of the city of Rome, he immediately realized that this would be his first target of attack.
At this time, he ordered: the entire army to speed up the march in the direction he specified.
Just as the troops were about to reach the battlefield, Epitenes met the 400 cavalrymen hidden behind by the two cavalry commanders. After learning about the attack plan of Ledes and Kutzius, he immediately said confidently: "Go tell your legion commanders, don't waste your warhorses anymore, leave the next battle to me!"
After speaking, he ordered: the troops to stop advancing, begin to form a formation, and let the soldiers sort out their equipment.
Ledes was relieved to hear the news of the arrival of reinforcements, but he was not prepared to completely abandon his previous attack plan, and quickly reached an agreement with Kutzius: the plan would be carried out as before, but the strong attack on the two wings was changed to a feint, and the raid in the center remained unchanged.
"Woo! ..." The attacking bugle sounded, Ledes clamped his legs on the horse's belly, and the warhorse under his crotch opened its four hooves and began to move forward, it took a long time for the more than 1,000 cavalrymen behind him to go from walking slowly to jogging slowly.
On the other side, the more than 1,000 cavalrymen led by Kutzius also did the same.
This gave the Roman army, which had been wary of the Daonian cavalry, a chance to react. Paulus, who was behind the army formation, saw this situation and of course would not allow the Daonian cavalry to disrupt the attack of the heavy infantry on the two wings, so he immediately ordered: the twelve Roman maniples left behind would immediately rush to the two wings to intercept the enemy's cavalry attack.
Seeing the Roman soldiers rushing to both sides, the Daonian cavalry was still more than 100 meters away, and Paulus breathed a sigh of relief for the time being.
At this time, the Daonian cavalry had changed from jogging slowly to running at medium speed. Thousands of hooves on both sides of the army formation powerfully trampled the ground, dust was flying, and the earth was shaking...
Looking from a distance, I saw two black canopies a mile apart, and two black cavalry units formed two huge arrow shapes, like black tides surging forward quickly, and some bright red colors flashed in the surging black tide, which were the flags of the cavalry regiment. The largest one was held high next to the commander, located at the forefront of the queue. It fluttered high in the wind, indicating the direction of the entire army.
At this moment, the vanguard cavalry was less than seventy meters away from the Roman army waiting in formation. Ledes shouted loudly: "Turn left! Turn left!! ..."
The Pegasus flag, which was held straight up, immediately pointed to the left, and the flag bearers of the battalions and companies, who had been paying attention to the movement of the flag, also changed the direction of the flags in their hands one after another. Ledes and the surrounding cavalry at the forefront led the entire army to start turning... Finally, the entire cavalry team brushed past the Roman army in front of them.
When the Roman soldiers saw the dust raised by the enemy cavalry only twenty or thirty meters away from them, and one horse after another galloped parallel to their formation, although they were still a little nervous, they were relieved in their hearts: the momentum created by countless enemy cavalry rushing towards them just now was too scary!
The Roman soldiers on the two wings relaxed, but the Roman light infantry behind the center became nervous. They pointed to the rear and shouted in horror: "Cavalry! Daonian cavalry!! They are rushing towards us!!! ..."
Yes, a cloud of dust also rose hundreds of meters behind them, gray wrapped in black, rolling towards them.
Paulus, who was behind the light infantry, turned around and saw this terrible scene, and also felt panic: Damn, I was fooled by the Daonians!
"Go! Hurry! Hurry to notify the maniples that were transferred to the two wings to return quickly! Quick!! ..."
Unlike the Daonian cavalry on the two wings, these 400 cavalrymen attacking the center were already running at full speed, and it would not take much time to cover the distance of several hundred meters.
Most of these Roman light infantry were not Roman citizens, but came from the Latin allies. Of course, they would not have the determination of Roman citizens to "defend their homes at the cost of their lives." Watching the rapidly approaching enemy cavalry, in a shout of "Let's run away!", the light infantry scattered and fled.
But it was too late. The Daonian cavalry quickly charged forward. As the extended spears pierced the light infantry, the cavalrymen quickly released their grip, then drew their lengthened Greek swords (Daonian cavalry differed from the infantry in that they were not equipped with short swords, but used Greek swords more than a meter long, which were convenient for slashing enemies on horseback, more conducive to combat, and less likely to fall off their horses). They brandished them in their hands, expertly driving the terrified light infantry towards the center of the Roman formation. Top Point
Meanwhile, Paulus, knowing that the squadrons on the flanks could not arrive in time, was already mobilizing the squadrons located in the rear of the center. Although he knew this would seriously affect the combat effectiveness of the soldiers in the front ranks of the center, his immediate priority was to block these routed soldiers and cavalry, preventing them from disrupting the central formation.
The Roman military system, based on squadrons, demonstrated its flexibility at this moment. Under Paulus's orders, several squadron leaders quickly directed their soldiers to turn around, rush to the rear, and attempt to reform the formation.
However, the hundreds of light infantrymen, driven by the Daonian cavalry and fleeing like headless flies, crowded together with them, even pushing down the Roman soldiers blocking their path in their desperate attempt to escape.
The light infantry and Roman heavy infantry were crammed together, while the Daonian cavalry on the periphery brandished their swords, slashing at them, making the situation even more chaotic.
"Stab down these light infantry! Knock them down!…" Paulus shouted anxiously, taking the lead in waving his spear and stabbing at a light infantryman who had stumbled in front of him.
The Roman heavy infantry had no choice but to follow suit, stabbing down the light infantry who had previously fought alongside them but were now causing them trouble, but the chaotic situation could not be resolved immediately.
While stabbing down the fleeing soldiers, Paulus shouted loudly for the army to reorganize its formation.
Just then, he heard the soldiers shouting in panic: "Enemies! More enemies are coming!!…"
Paulus's heart sank. He quickly retreated a few steps, fixed his gaze forward, and looked through the gaps in the Daonian cavalry. He saw a black line appearing on the distant ground, and it was moving forward rapidly. As it moved, the black line continued to lengthen and widen…
Paulus, who had led troops on expeditions many times, knew that this was a visual illusion caused by a dense infantry phalanx moving in the distance, and that the unified, distinct black color clearly indicated that this force could not possibly be Roman or Latin, completely eliminating any lucky in Paulus's mind.
At that moment, he felt a sense of emptiness in his heart, as if he had lost all support in his hands and feet, and his body might fall at any moment.
Just then, his subordinate beside him said urgently: "General, the enemy's reinforcements have arrived. We are doomed to defeat. We should retreat first!"
"Yes, let's retreat quickly! It will be too late if we don't leave now!…" The guards, composed of his clansmen and retainers, also urged him one after another.
Leave?! Where can we go if Rome is gone?!… A look of pain appeared on Paulus's face. He remembered the miserable years more than a decade ago when the Celts captured Rome and he, as a young man, was displaced and wandering. A force rose from the bottom of his heart, and he firmly replied: "No, I will be like the Fabius family of the past, and fight to the death here with the enemies who invade Rome!"
He raised the stabbing spear in his hand and shouted sternly: "For Rome, fight to the death and do not retreat!"
Having enjoyed the various benefits provided by the clan on weekdays, the successor of the clan chief, having issued a call, according to Roman tradition, these clansmen and retainers would of course follow him to the death, so the guards successively shouted: "For Rome, fight to the death and do not retreat!!…"
Their shouts infected the other heavy infantrymen, and they also shouted: "For Rome, fight to the death and do not retreat!!!…"
For a time, the morale of the Romans was high.
In front of them, the light infantrymen were still running around in panic, while the Daolian cavalry had already begun to retreat to the flanks, giving way to the attack of the Daonian reserve legion soldiers in the rear.
This newly arrived Daonian army quickly and completely appeared before the Roman soldiers. They lined up in dense and orderly phalanxes, heads held high, chests out, stepping forward, obviously still having good physical reserves, and its array was about a mile long, which also showed that its number was not small.
"Woo!…" The bugle sounded, and the Daonian soldiers shouted the name of Hades, accelerating forward.
"Prepare for battle!" Paulus, standing in the front row, clenched the shield and spear in his hand and said in a deep voice. At this point, he had put life and death aside.
But at this moment, some chaos appeared among the soldiers behind him.
It turned out that the Daonian soldiers who were fighting fiercely in the center of Rome also heard this bugle sound and suddenly strengthened their offensive. The center of the Roman line had been weakened before, so the soldiers were forced to retreat, and as a result, they collided with the rear soldiers who were preparing to defend.
At this time, the Daonian reinforcements had approached within 30 meters and quickly threw the javelins in their hands. They took out their stabbing spears and began the final charge.
The Roman army was caught in a pincer attack…
Paulus and his guards, as well as the surrounding soldiers, wanted to fight to the death, but for most of the Roman civilians who had just been allocated land and become heavy infantry a few months ago, their loyalty to Rome was far from being so strong.
When the enemy's attack bugle sounded in the rear, when the Daonian reinforcements rushed like a tide, some Roman soldiers who saw this scene wavered, and their escape quickly triggered the collapse of the entire army formation.
Adoris, who was in the center of the second legion's heavy infantry battalion, suddenly noticed that his comrades in front, who had been almost motionless, began to move forward in large strides.
"Chase! Chase! The enemy is running away!…" The cheers of his comrades made him excited, and he, like the other soldiers, strode forward and sprinted forward.
At this time, on the outer side of the right flank, the rout of the Roman army that had begun in the center had not yet spread here. The Roman heavy infantry were still attacking, and resisting them were the newly arrived Daonian light armor battalion and the palace guards led by Croto Catacs.
Light armor against heavy infantry, the Daonians were of course at a disadvantage, but the battle had just begun, and the gap was not yet apparent.
But for Croto Catacs and the palace guards, the quality of their armor and weapons was stronger than that of the enemy, and coupled with the eagerness of these soldiers to prove themselves, they gained some advantage in the initial fighting.
Influenced by the surrounding guards, Croto Catacs was also actively attacking, small steps, shield top, gun poke, head down, shield block… From childhood to adulthood, he had been training every day at school and at home for more than ten years. The military skills that had been integrated into his body became more and more comfortable to use in the fighting, and the stabbing spears constantly poking from the opposite enemy no longer made him feel flustered, making him feel as if he was often sparring with Martius, although nervous but not dangerous.
While his long shield blocked the enemy's stabbing spear again, he suddenly pushed forward.
The enemy did not have time to pull back the stabbing spear, his body was somewhat unstable, revealing a gap.
Croto Catacs immediately poked forward with the stabbing spear like lightning.
The enemy hurriedly lowered his head, and the sharp spearhead poked directly on the helmet, and the force transmitted by the spear obviously made the enemy dizzy for a moment.
In this moment of stunnedness, Croto Catacs instinctively retracted his right hand slightly and quickly stabbed out the second spear.
It stabbed directly into the enemy's face, and the shrill scream and the tragic state of the enemy's face made Croto Catacs stunned.
"Be careful!" The guard shouted, and there was a "bang", and the stabbing spear poking from the side was blocked by the long shield extended by the guard in time.
"Don't be distracted during combat!" The guard, in his anxiety, did not care about the difference in status and reminded him loudly.
Croto Catacs broke out in a cold sweat, and the shame in his heart made him forget the discomfort of killing someone for the first time, and he made up for his previous mistake with a more violent attack.
However, the resistance in front suddenly weakened.
The enemies in front rioted, and soon they turned around and ran away.
Croto Catacs, who had not yet fought to his heart's content, immediately followed his surrounding comrades and chased forward.
At this time, except for the hundreds of soldiers led by Paulus who were still fighting, the rest of the Roman soldiers had begun to flee.
But this was exactly when the first and second cavalry legions played their role. Thousands of Daonian cavalry galloped across the vast plain, waving spears or swords, chasing the Roman rout soldiers who had thrown away their shields and spears because of their escape. It is believed that few Romans would eventually escape the battlefield.
Before the corpse of Paulus, who was covered in sword wounds and blood, Epithenis stood. His towering red cap had already proved his identity.
"He is a warrior, but unfortunately not smart enough!" Epithenis looked down, turned around, and said nonchalantly to the adjutant: "At least he is a general, bury him, and take off his helmet by the way, and that Roman military flag, these are all our spoils!"
"Yes, General!"
At this time, Tormide rode over.
Epithenis immediately said with a smile: "Tormide, are you here to congratulate me?"
"Immediately lead the army back to the camp and await His Majesty's instructions!" Tormide said sternly.
"So anxious, don't let the brothers catch their breath?!" Epithenis said half-jokingly, half-complainingly.
"When we capture the city of Rome, you can rest to your heart's content, but now the other legions are fully attacking the city, and soldiers are dying and injured at all times. Time is very important to us, and I don't think you are still in the mood to delay here."
Tormide's words made Epithenis's expression serious. He shouted loudly to the adjutant: "Immediately blow the horn and gather the brothers together!"
… … … … … … … … … … … … … … …
Indeed, as Davos expected, some of the Roman reinforcements coming from the south followed Paulus to attack from the southwest of Rome, and some followed Mejus to attack from the southeast, but the scattered reinforcements that arrived later began to attack the Daonian camp from the south.
Although their numbers were less than a thousand, their method of attack caused the light infantry battalion guarding the main camp some trouble.
Because the time left for the Daonian army yesterday was too rushed, the soldiers only built the main camp and trenches, and did not set up deer fences and traps in front of the camp. As a result, the Latin reinforcements were divided into multiple small teams, approaching the camp from multiple directions, standing in front of the trenches, and firing rockets into the camp.
A central army camp that can accommodate three infantry legions and two cavalry legions has a very large area. The light infantry battalion of only seven hundred men cannot achieve comprehensive protection. Therefore, tents were set on fire from time to time, forcing them to send people back and forth to put out the fire, because once the fire grew and part of the camp burned, if the soldiers who were attacking the city saw it, it would inevitably affect their morale.
In this way, the manpower to defend the camp seemed even more insufficient.
Davos urgently transferred hundreds of laborers from the logistics battalion to assist in fighting the fire. At the same time, he also sent a hundred palace guards as mobile forces for the camp's defense, which barely coped with the current situation.
The siege has been going on for nearly four hours now, but there is still no breakthrough progress. Davos sat in the main tent, still calmly watching the staff pointing on the map.
Heni Polis, who was originally recording on the side, seemed a little anxious at the moment, pacing back and forth in the tent.
Davos had to say, "Heni, sit down quickly, don't walk around, it's making me dizzy."
Heni Polis said anxiously: "Your Majesty, there are more and more enemies attacking the camp. Even enemy reinforcements have appeared on the east side of Rome, threatening the First Legion's camp... Now we are surrounded by enemy reinforcements. There are no extra troops in the camp to call upon, and the legions are still blocked under the city. The soldiers have suffered many casualties. If we continue this stalemate, if we can't take Rome before dark, I am worried... I am worried..."
Davos waited for him to vent his worries before slowly saying: "Except for Thurii, Rome can be said to be the largest city on this peninsula. Even if its main force is not here, it will not be easy to capture it.
Our legions have not made progress. You heard just now that the Second Legion has used siege towers to get more than a hundred soldiers onto the city wall and gained a firm foothold; the Third Legion has also occupied the bridgehead on the south bank of the Roman Sublicius Bridge and is expanding its attack range; the Fourth Legion used siege vehicles to break down the city wall, and the soldiers have broken into the gap, but are temporarily blocked under the city…
We are like playing a tug-of-war with the Romans. The Romans have tried their best to barely maintain a stalemate with us, but this kind of explosive power cannot last. We are increasing our strength and pulling the red rope little by little until we completely overwhelm the Romans' strength. Then they will inevitably collapse!"
Davos clenched his right fist and waved it forcefully, saying confidently: "As for those Roman reinforcements—"
"Your Majesty, good news! Lord Epitenes led 4,000 soldiers to the battlefield and, in cooperation with Lord Tolmides, completely defeated the Roman reinforcements in the southwest. The First and Second Cavalry Legions are pursuing the defeated soldiers, and Lord Tolmides and Lord Epitenes are leading their troops here!"
"That's great!" Heni Polis, who had been looking worried, was now overjoyed.
The staff in the tent also applauded to celebrate.
A smile also appeared on Davos' face: "Immediately notify Tolmides and Epitenes to send a heavy infantry battalion to defend the camp, and the other troops to gather behind the Second Legion, waiting for my orders!"
"Yes, Your Majesty!"
Asinarus quickly left the tent to notify the messengers. Soon he hurried back to the tent and said excitedly: "Your Majesty, the scouts report that the Sixth Legion and part of the First Legion have climbed onto the city wall!"
… … … … … … … … … … … … … …
On the surface, both the First Legion and the Sixth Legion adopted conventional siege methods, but Davos had suggested that they try climbing the city with ropes and hooks.
Rope and hook climbing was a siege method that Davos invented earliest. Initially, this method was used to seize Amendolara, allowing the mercenaries to gain a foothold in Magna Graecia. As Daonia became more and more powerful, various siege weapons were manufactured one after another, and the siege methods became more and more perfect. This simple rope and hook, which gave the mercenaries great help, had long been forgotten in the corner.
However, Davos did not forget, because considering that after the army arrived in Latium, there might be many siege battles, he specially sent someone to take out dozens of sets of hooks, which were already covered in dust, from the corner of the armory, re-polish them, and equip them with ropes, so as to be prepared.
Amyntas has always advocated offense and likes adventure, so he accepted Davos's suggestion without hesitation. The Sixth Legion Commander, Trolas, was also a member of the Persian Expeditionary Force mercenary army that year. He came to Thurii with Davos, grew from an ordinary soldier to a legion commander. His combat experience cannot be said to be not rich, and his military achievements cannot be said to be not outstanding. Of course, he would not allow his legion to perform mediocrely in this important siege.
Both of them understood that for "rope and hook climbing" to succeed, they must blind the enemy's vision and carry out a surprise attack. Otherwise, once discovered, it would increase casualties greatly, so both of them agreed to set the rope and hook climbing point at the southeast corner of Rome.
Like the southwest corner, the city wall protruded outward for a section, but unlike the southwest corner, it folded several times, eventually forming a small cusp. It happened to be farther away from several city gates of Rome, and the winding city wall was convenient for shielding the line of sight and was not easy to be discovered.
So, in order to achieve this goal, Trolas ordered the Sixth Legion soldiers to concentrate their attack on the wall section between the Esquiline Gate and the Viminal Gate, which was about 400 meters away from the southeast corner.
Amyntas was even more ruthless, ordering the First Legion soldiers to attack the wall section between Capitoline Hill and Quirinal Hill, which was two miles away from the southeast corner.
Trolas prepared to let his light infantry battalion complete this task, after all, their lighter attire was convenient for climbing. For this reason, he also left two heavy infantry battalions in the main camp.
Although the First Legion's camp was far away from the main camp, Amyntas boldly left only one heavy infantry battalion in the camp and let more than 700 mountain reconnaissance battalion soldiers, who were also staying in the camp, carry out this task.
However, after carefully observing the terrain several times, the meticulous Trolas discovered a problem: although the city wall in the southeast corner was relatively remote, the city wall of Rome was very high, and the soldiers on the city could see far away below the city. If the Daonian soldiers performing this task wanted to approach the city wall, even if they did not carry siege equipment, it would arouse the enemy's suspicion and be on guard. After thinking about it, he decided to let the soldiers do this...
After Davos understood Trolas's idea, he praised it greatly, so the Sixth Legion's rope and hook climbing plan was quickly established.
Originally, there were guards on the city in the southeast corner, but as time went by, the continuous and fierce attacks of the First Legion and the Second Legion made the Roman general in charge of defense feel that the troops were stretched, and had to draw soldiers from other wall sections to strengthen the defense. Of course, the guards who had been doing nothing on the southeast corner were also within the scope of being drawn.
Before long, the guards on the nearby city saw: hundreds of Roman auxiliaries were being chased by Daonian soldiers in the distance in the southeast direction, and were fleeing in panic towards the city of Rome. Although occasionally some soldiers were caught up and stabbed by the enemy, most of the defeated soldiers still struggled to climb over the trenches and came to the southeast corner of the city. Perhaps fearing being attacked by the guards on the city, those hundreds of Daonian light infantry stopped chasing, but unwillingly stopped and stared in the distance.
The defending soldiers who saw this scene were all guessing which Latin city-state these Roman auxiliaries came from (Roman auxiliary soldiers were mostly citizens of the Latin League).
Since the enemy was attacking the city, the defending soldiers certainly could not allow these defeated soldiers to enter the city, and the fierce fighting did not allow them to have more leisure to pay attention to the life and death of these allies. However, the appearance of these defeated soldiers showed that Roman reinforcements were fighting the enemy in a place they could not see, which somewhat inspired the morale of the defending soldiers.
But they did not know that these Roman auxiliaries were disguised by Daonian soldiers. They put on the armor and equipment of Roman soldiers that they had obtained after cleaning the battlefield after the victory of the battle two days ago, thus deceiving the attention of the defending soldiers and successfully arriving at the southeast corner of the city. They avoided the sight of the defending soldiers, picked up the ropes wrapped around their bodies, put on the hook heads, and dozens of ropes and hooks were quickly made.
The battle continued. The Roman soldiers struggled to resist the enemy's attack and gradually forgot about the existence of those defeated soldiers. Occasionally, the corner of their eyes swept over the southeast corner of the city and saw dozens of "Roman soldiers" stationed there, all thinking that they were sent by the adjacent guards and did not attract attention. Even if they saw Daonian light infantry constantly climbing over the trenches and rushing to the southeast corner of the city, they did not arouse much vigilance, after all, they did not carry any siege equipment, and there were still soldiers stationed on the city.
But not long after, they found that the situation was not right: Daonian soldiers began to appear on the city in the southeast corner, and more and more. Those "Roman soldiers" did not fight with the enemy!
Marcus Atilius and Barbus Fabius, the two defending generals, were shocked when they learned of this bad news. The situation was extremely urgent. Although they were short of troops, they urgently pieced together a force, led by the two generals themselves, and rushed to the southeast corner of the city wall from the west and south, vowing to drive the enemy off the city.