ancient greece mediterranean ruler

Chapter 713 Disputes in the Roman Senate ([-])

Therefore, Antium was an important target for him to lead the Third Army's landing raid this time.The reason why he attacked the city of Astura first was because he needed a port to safely unload the siege equipment carried on the ship.

Before dawn, Lizaru left only 6000 soldiers to guard the city of Atlas. He led [-] soldiers to the port of Naples, boarded the cargo ship that had been prepared, and was escorted by the Third Fleet commanded by Midorades. , and in the early morning, landed on the coast near the city of Astura.

More than 6000 people attacked the small city of Astura, which was guarded by only 120 Roman soldiers, and captured it easily.

Then, the Third Army marched northward almost non-stop, reaching the city of Antium in just over half an hour.

In the city of Antium, there were only 700 Roman squadrons plus the supply team, but it seemed insufficient to defend this small town.

In front of the city, Lizam fully deployed the siege array composed of 5500 soldiers. When the siege equipment arrived, he immediately asked the soldiers to carry ladders, push siege vehicles, arrow-blocking vehicles... from the south and north , the east three launched a full-scale attack on the city of Antium.

Just as the Roman defenders were struggling to defend, the Third Fleet led by Mirades broke into the port from the south, and 500 soldiers of the Third Legion boarded warships and forcibly landed at the pier.

Lizalu's move was completely beyond the expectations of the Roman defenders. They had never seen such a combination of sea and land tactics, so they didn't deploy defenses at the port at all, and of course they didn't have more manpower to defend.But this is a subject that the legions of the Kingdom of Dionia will train from time to time in the military camps, and they are extremely skillful in their use.

After the Dionian soldiers landed ashore, they quickly rushed south and soon occupied the almost undefended southern city wall connected to the port.

The Roman garrison is gone...

When Quintus and Phrius arrived at dusk with their troops, what was left to them was an empty city.

The sailors of the Dionian Third Army and the Third Fleet moved all the food and baggage stored in the city onto the cargo ships that had been prepared.

At the same time, Camillus and Licinius led the remaining troops to dismantle the camp and began to retreat north...

That night, after hearing the news of the retreat of the Roman army, the people of Polevenum and Setia cheered for victory. The senior leaders of the Volscian League hosted a banquet in the city of Polevenum for Amyntas and Printor. He waited for the senior officers of the First Dionysian Army to thank them for their contribution to rescuing Wolsey.At the same time, they also hope that the Dionian army can continue to help Volsey and regain the territory occupied by the Romans.

Amyntas, who had been criticized by Davos in the letter, learned well this time. He replied cautiously: "Dionia is very willing to assist the Volscians in regaining their lost territory, but if the Romans are heavily stationed If we want to take back the occupied towns, we need more soldiers to attack them. And you all know the situation in the Kingdom of Dionia now. Due to drought and food shortage, we cannot send more troops, so in During this period, we can only do our best for the time being!..."

The Volscians understood this.

Despite such a small episode, the atmosphere of the entire banquet was still very warm and everyone left happily.

.......................................

The next day the troops under Camillus and Licinius reached Antium.

Here, another small dispute occurred between the four military and political officials.

Because from yesterday to today, Quintus and Frius continued to receive news from the port sentries: the Dionysian fleet was cruising in the sea outside the port, blocking cargo ships coming to the port.

This made the two military and political officers who had never had this experience feel helpless and nervous. They stood on the southern city wall and looked out of the port. A huge fleet of hundreds of Dionian warships covered the entire offshore surface. It gave them unprecedented pressure, so they believed that Antium was too far from Rome, and at the same time it was always facing the threat of the Dionian fleet, and it was necessary to always prevent the landing operations of Dionian soldiers. This would It is really unnecessary to contain too many Roman troops!It is better to abandon Antium and concentrate on defending the cities of Vilitre and Satnicum in the east. This will not only get rid of the naval threat of Dionia, but also the city of Rome can provide support at any time...

Licinius clearly opposed this. He believed that the Senate had passed a resolution to regard Antium, Vilitre and Satnicum as Roman colonies and decided to relocate the landless civilians. In these three cities, except for part of the land used as Roman public land, other lands were distributed to these citizens.If they abandoned Antium without authorization, they would probably be criticized and criticized by the Roman citizens.

Camillus also said at this moment: This matter must be approved by the Senate. As a military and political officer, you must not make any arbitrary decisions.

In the end, the matter was shelved, and the four reached an agreement: Licinius led 1 people to guard Antium, and the other three military and political officers led a large force to retreat to the city of Satnicum.

Due to the insufficient strength of the Volscian coalition forces, they were unable to launch an attack on these former Volscian towns that were heavily guarded by Rome. The war between Rome and the Volscians temporarily returned to calm.

But in the city of Rome, things began to become uneasy.

The deaths and injuries of tens of thousands of Roman citizens and allied soldiers shocked the people of the city. The last time there were such large casualties was the battle of the Aria River with the Celts ten years ago.Ten years later, the Roman people who were accustomed to victory almost fell into grief when they saw the cremated remains of the dead citizens being transported back to Rome.

Some relatives of the deceased cursed: The military and political officials who led the army were incompetent, and they actually caused Rome to suffer such a huge defeat despite having an absolute advantage!
Some people who knew some of the inside story complained loudly: They should not provoke the powerful Kingdom of Dionia, otherwise they would not have to pay such a big sacrifice!

Of course, there are also people's arrogant clamor: The Dionian envoy should not have been let go in the first place, otherwise his head could be used to pay tribute to the lost soldiers at this moment!Rome should reorganize a strong army and launch an attack on the Volscian region again, completely annihilating the Volscians and Dionians there, and avenging the dead citizens!
Compared with the citizens of the city who were immersed in anger and grief, the landless civilians were relieved after learning that "Antium was lost and recovered, and the Volscians also stopped attacking."After the Senate announced the resolution "to allocate the conquered Volscian lands to them", they eagerly awaited the implementation of this proposal.

In the Roman Senate, a meeting was going on. Except for Licinius, who was still stationed in Antium, all the other senators appeared in the meeting, and they all listened intently to Cami. Luce, Quintus, and Phrius, three military and political officers who have returned to Rome, tell the story of the entire war.

The first story is about Camillus. He first received the order from the Senate and led the army to Tustron to quell the rebellion. He talked about: He found that Tustron had no intention of rebelling, and he took the initiative to offer the emperor a gift. Hundreds of hostages, and re-signed the alliance agreement with Rome as the main body. On the way back, he once again received the order from the Senate to go south to support Quintus and the others and speed up the conquest of the Volscian region. So he and Phrius led The army marched quickly and successfully raided the city of Antium. Then they quickly attacked southward and reached the city of Setia. Because of the arrival of Volscian reinforcements, they had to stop and camp, waiting for Quintus and his troops. Reunion.However, because he did not know the arrival of the Dionysian army, he did not withdraw the food-raising troops in time. He did not expect that the Dionysians would run for dozens of miles and attack the grain-raising troops, forcing him to lead his team out of camp to respond. Under the attack of the Volscians and the Dionians, they suffered a disastrous defeat...

Quintus told the story: He and Licinius led the army to conquer Vilitre, defeated the Wolsi reinforcements, then conquered the city of Satnicum, and then went south to join Camillus's troops, and then Several times they stormed the city of Setia, but in the end they failed because the Volscians crossed the swamp area, bypassed the detection of the scouts, and suddenly appeared on the battlefield. Just when they were preparing to launch another attack on Setia, Dai However, the Onians took ships, went around to the rear of the army, and captured Antium, which had an empty defense. Due to the threat to the food transportation channel, and the fear that Rome and surrounding allied territories would be attacked by the Dionians, , so he led his army to retreat.

Frius's account was more of a confirmation and supplement to the facts stated by the two previous military and political officers.For example, he mentioned that Camillus had opposed a direct attack on Setia and had another battle plan.At the same time, he also mentioned: Camillus's first suggestion was to withdraw the army...

The three men narrated the entire war process. The elders were initially excited when they heard about the successive victories, but finally felt stunned and depressed due to the sudden reversal of the war situation. Most of them could not remain calm and were whispering to each other. The discussion was non-stop.

At this time, a senator named Apuleius stood up and loudly accused: "The reason why our Rome failed in this war is first of all Camillus's responsibility! If he hadn't led the army out of the camp rashly, Although we had superior strength, we failed to defeat the Dionians in time, resulting in a disastrous defeat. Not only did we lose many heroic citizens, but it also damaged the morale of the remaining soldiers and encouraged the Volscians. Their arrogance gave them the courage to resist our army's attack in the next battle, causing us to suffer another defeat... Therefore, in view of Camillus's command errors, the huge damage caused to Rome in this war I think the Senate should give Camillus a severe punishment, and should also consider whether he still needs to serve as a military and political officer."

(End of this chapter)