ancient greece mediterranean ruler

Chapter 712 Dionia’s counterattack

At the same time that the Romans gave the order to retreat, the trumpet for the Volscian reinforcements to attack also sounded.

When the Sethian people in the city heard the sound of the trumpet, their confidence suddenly increased.

Since the Roman army used squadrons as tactical units, its army was not too disorganized during the siege. However, the Roman soldiers were mostly heavy infantry and did not prepare javelins, arrows, or stones... not to mention that there were many city walls. There is a gap. They stand on the top of the city to defend, and they cannot play a big blocking role.So the Romans hurriedly organized their teams and rushed to the gaps in the city wall. Before they could form a defensive formation, the Volscian reinforcements poured in from the gap in the west wall...

The weak and disorganized Roman army could not hold back for long before the energetic Volscian warriors disrupted their formation. They took advantage of the situation and swarmed into various parts of the city, ferociously attacking the retreating Roman soldiers.

The Romans were defeated and scrambled to escape from the city of Setia.

The Volscian reinforcements pursued him until the Roman soldiers fled into the camp.

Fortunately, Camillus saw the opportunity early and commanded the southern troops to retreat from the camp in an orderly manner. Then when the northern army retreated, he sent troops to intercept the pursuers. Otherwise, the Volscians would probably have rushed into the camp.

In this day's battle, the Roman army failed to attack the city, with more than 4000 casualties.The defenders of Setia also suffered heavy casualties, and nearly [-] Setia residents were killed or injured.

This time, the First Dionysian Army was tasked with containing the Roman camp defenders and suffered almost no casualties. However, the Volscian senior officials in the city of Pollevnum were very concerned about Amyntas and Printors. Expressed their gratitude, because they followed the strategy proposed by the Dionysians and once again defeated the powerful Romans. While celebrating the victory in the battle, they were also confident in the next battle plan proposed by Amyntas.

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The failure of the siege cast a shadow over the entire Roman camp, but Quintus' determination to capture the city of Setia did not waver, and he still insisted on launching another attack on the city of Setia the next day.

Camillus did not object to this, because he knew very well that although the Volscians won again, the strength gap between the two sides had not changed significantly, and after today's fierce battle, Setia was already They suffered heavy losses and were barely alive. Even if they had several thousand more reinforcements, they would be nothing more than a piece of fat in their mouths when faced with the siege of tens of thousands of Roman troops after losing the advantage of city defense, and they could also take the opportunity to reduce Wolsey's power. Number of reinforcements.Therefore, the strategy of continuing the attack without giving the enemy a chance to breathe is correct.

While supporting Quintus's siege plan, Camillus also reminded the three military and political officers: they must strengthen the reconnaissance of the surrounding area, expand the scope of the reconnaissance, and prevent another situation like today where "the enemy's reinforcements were not discovered until they were already in sight." Dangerous situation.

Everyone agreed with this suggestion.But for another suggestion put forward by Camillus, "I hope that military and political officers will go down to each squadron to encourage the soldiers and boost their morale." Both Frius and Licinius agreed. Only Quintu Si did not comment.

The next morning, the trumpet for gathering in the Roman camp sounded, and the neatly dressed Roman soldiers came out of the military tent. The frustration of yesterday's defeat could not be seen on their faces, but they showed the excitement of going to war. Roman citizens The attitude towards fighting is evident.

Just as the soldiers were lining up, the military and political officials who were about to set off in the big tent received bad news at this time.

"Astura was attacked?!" Frius opened his eyes in surprise when he heard the news. He interrupted the messenger angrily: "What are our scouts doing?! Wo The Erxi people bypassed us again and went to raid the rear! We didn’t even know it!——"

"Flius Military Officer." The messenger reminded loudly: "It's not the Volscians, it may be the Dionians! The enemies are all wearing black armor, there are about five or six thousand people, riding a huge ship The team landed on the beach near Astura."

"When I was ordered to report the news, they had already begun to attack the city of Astura! Four military and political officers, please send reinforcements quickly! There is only one squadron in the city of Astura, which cannot resist so many enemies. Attack!" the messenger requested anxiously.

Camillus, Quintus, Licinius, and Phrius looked at each other with extremely solemn expressions.

Sea attacks, landing operations... these Roman generals may have only heard of such tactics, but they have never seen them personally.Although Rome owns the port of Ostia, its warships are few and have never been used in battles. Since Rome was founded, it has always been an inland city-state, always fighting on land and never attacking its enemies. It has carried out landing operations, and no enemy has ever carried out landing operations against it. After all, previous enemies, like Rome, had no navy at all.Even Camillus had no idea of ​​this in his mind.

Therefore, they led their troops to push all the way and drove the Volscians to the south of the Latium area. The occupied Volscian towns in the rear were surrounded by Latin allies. The military and political officials did not leave many soldiers for defense. Because they think the rear is basically safe.

Only then did they realize that the enemy Rome had just provoked not only had a powerful army, but also a powerful navy!The coastline of the Latium region is under the control of the Dionysian fleet.

The messenger's request immediately changed the expressions of Camillus and Licinius, and shouted in unison: "Antium! We must rescue Antium!"

The city of Astura has only one squadron for defense, and it is a small city. It is impossible to withstand the attack of thousands of Dionian soldiers, and even if Astura is lost, it will not have much impact on the Roman army.But Antium, which is less than ten miles north of Astura and was also a Volscian seaside town, was very important to the Roman army because this important town in northwest Volsc has a larger port. , after the Roman army captured it, it was used as a transit point for the transportation of military supplies.The grain and grass collected by Rome were transported through the Tiber River to the port of Ostia at the mouth of the river, then transported by ship to Antium, and then transported by land to the Roman camp, which saved a lot of time and labor. , providing convenience for grain transportation.

Because of the importance of Antium, Camillus left four Roman squadrons here, as well as a baggage transport team.But he did not expect that the enemy would raid from the sea, so this force was too small compared to the incoming enemies. If the Dionysians captured Antium, the food supply of the Roman camp would suffer. difficulty.

There was silence in the big tent for a moment, and Quintus finally said in a dry voice: "We should temporarily stop the siege and send troops to rescue Antium!" Quintus finally made such a decision, feeling quite uncomfortable. Because the inevitable siege was about to begin, but was suddenly interrupted.

But what Camillos said next surprised everyone: "I think we should stop the attack on the Volscians and withdraw our troops to Rome!"

The three military and political officers looked at him in surprise, and Camillus said solemnly: "The Dionian fleet is powerful. They can carry the Dionian land army anywhere with a flat beach on the Latium coastline. Landing at a local place, today we attack Antium, tomorrow we may attack our Latin League Bangadi, and the day after tomorrow it may be our important port Ostia. Even the Dionians are not satisfied with only attacking seaside towns, but It is to rush inland, attack our Latin allies and colonial cities, and destroy our villages and fields! The Dionian army is quite strong, but our main force is here, and the Roman city and surrounding areas are empty of troops!"

"But...but, Dionia is suffering from drought, and they can't send more troops!" Frius said in a voiceless voice.

"Yesterday afternoon, a Dionysian army was fighting with us. Today, a Dionysian army appeared on the coastline dozens of miles away from our rear. They can't be the same army! So with the third With two Dionian armies, there is a possibility of a third Dionian army! And we..." Camillus stared at the three of them and said in a deep voice: "Dare to risk the safety of the Roman territory and the people? Is it dangerous?!”

The three people's hearts tightened and they were silent for a moment.

Among the four military and political officers, Quintus was from a big noble family, Camillus and Phrius were from minor noble families, and Licinius was from a common people. They had different living habits and different political philosophies, but one thing was that The same thing: they all love Rome and don't want to put this home that has already suffered a disaster in danger again!
Therefore, they quickly put aside their own interests and reached an agreement: Quintus and Phrius led 1 people to immediately go to rescue Antium; while Camillus and Licinius After leading nearly 3 soldiers to clean up the camp, he escorted the baggage and wounded soldiers and safely retreated back to Rome.

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After Lizaru received the letter from Daves, he began to pay attention to the Volscian region, not far from Campania.

Soon, he received another letter from Amyntas requesting his assistance.

The news that "cargo ships carrying food are frequent between Antium and the port of Ostia" has long been noticed by Campania businessmen active on the west coast of Italy. Naturally, this news soon reached Liza Lu's ears.

At his request, a piece of information from the intelligence department about the general distribution of enemy and friendly forces in the Volsey region was sent to him.

　Thanks to book friend 20181109200022569 for the reward!Your support is my motivation to write! !

　　
　
(End of this chapter)