ancient greece mediterranean ruler

Chapter 852 Surrounded On All Sides
Suddenly, the adjutant hurriedly walked into the big tent: "Your Majesty the Dictator, Labicum sent a messenger saying that thousands of Volscians have broken into their territory and hope that we can send reinforcements to drive them away. !”

"How could the Volscians appear there?!" Quintus and Lucius shouted almost in unison.

No wonder they were confused. Labicum was located not far to the east of Tustron, while the Volscians were far southwest of the Latium region, separated by many Latin city-states. How could they suddenly appear? it's here? !
Camillus, who has been fighting in the Latium region for decades and has completely imprinted the topography and landforms of this land in his mind, was also lost in thought. He said with some uncertainty: "Prinister? Is it Pulinister? Linister?!..."

After hearing what Camillus said, Lucius still didn't want to believe it and said: "Father, this is impossible!"

"Even our colonial city can betray us, why is it impossible!" Quintus shouted angrily: "Prinister joined forces with Helnicki and Volsci to launch a rebellion before and was executed by us Many Prinisters participated in the rebellion. Originally, some people in the Senate proposed that "After the Volsci were conquered, we should completely turn Prinister into our colony." And this time, Prinister did not send Reinforcements come join us!"

"That's because there are few people in Pliniste, and we still need it to have enough troops to defend against the Herniki in the Tulerus Valley!" Lucius immediately retorted.

"Stop arguing! The situation is urgent now! Quintus, you immediately lead the army returning from Hygnia to Gabi, assist Titus, and block the Volscians rushing from Rabicum! "At the moment when the two were arguing, Camillus's face changed. He shouted with all his strength: "Guarantee that our army can retreat smoothly!... Cough cough cough..."

Quintus was stunned for a moment, and then answered forcefully: "Yes, Mr. Dictator!"

The moment he heard the news, he was too preoccupied with thinking about how the Volscians could appear there, and even forgot that the reason why the Volscians appeared there was most likely because they were heading towards Titus and his army. , the Dionians want to encircle the Roman coalition that went to rescue Gabi! ...Thinking of this, Quintus walked out of the tent with an anxious look.

Lucius saw Camillus lying on the wooden chair, his face even worse, and his hands shaking constantly. He quickly held down his body and comforted him: "Father, Titus is so shrewd, he will definitely do it." Withdraw the troops smoothly!"

"... This is a conspiracy that Dionysia had long planned! The Volscians did not retreat to Setia at all... They crossed the Lepini Mountains eastward... hiding in the Tulerus Valley... What we have been waiting for is today!... We only paid attention to the city of Rome, and we trusted the allies too much... We neglected to defend against the south... This is all my fault!"

Camillus' muttering of self-blame made Lucius feel equally worried, but he didn't know how to comfort his old father. He just held his arm tightly to express his support and encouragement.

"Lucius... I hope that Jupiter will bless us and let us return to Saturnicum smoothly!..." Camillus's old voice was filled with anticipation, but there was a hint of hope in his eyes Worry: "...I hope the senators and people in Rome can always stick to the Capitoline Hill like they did back then!..."

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Titus was astonished when he received the news that six to seven thousand Volscian and Hernician warriors were attacking from the south.

He did not have time to think about why the enemy was there like Camillus, but immediately issued an order: "Majors, you immediately withdraw the troops attacking the enemy camp!"

"Call this soldier, go and tell our allied troops immediately that more than 2 Dionysian troops have come out of Rome and are attacking us from the north! More than 7000 Volsi and Herniki warriors have come from The south is attacking us! We must retreat west immediately, otherwise we will be surrounded by them!"

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"Commander, the enemy is retreating across the board!" the adjutant standing on the watchtower observing the battle reminded loudly.

"It must be the army led by His Majesty and the Volsi-Herniki reinforcements that have launched an attack on the enemy." Printors nodded and said, "Blow the bugle and ask the soldiers to attack the retreating enemy." Attack!"

"Yes!" the adjutant shouted excitedly toward the tower: "Blow the attack horn! Attack horn!"

"Wow!..."

When the bugle sounded, the Dionian soldiers who had long been unable to hold back rushed out of the camp under the command of the team officers.

Sextus also commanded the Roman reserve troops in pursuit.

Although Printors opened more gates to the west of the camp in advance, it took time for the troops to break out of the camp, and the well-prepared Roman coalition retreated quickly, and in the blink of an eye they were attacked by Dionia. The soldiers kept a distance of more than [-] meters.

However, the Volscian Allied Forces rushing straight from the southwest were faster. Under the vigorous running of these soldiers, most of whom were considered light armored soldiers, although they were still more than four miles away from the Roman army, they had already almost recovered from the original position. The southwest of the Roman army turned to the west, which was likely to block the Roman army's return route.

"Immediately inform Licinius and ask him to lead the allied troops to stop the Volscians and protect the Roman army from retreating!" Titus was a little anxious. Fortunately, when he formed the formation to attack the camp, he sent the allied troops to The army was arranged on the right wing. The original idea was that when the Dionysian army in Rome came out, it would be convenient for the entire coalition to retreat to the south (the Latin city-states are all in the south), but now they can just use them to block the enemy. As for whether it will It would cause heavy losses to the Allied armies, and he couldn't care less.

He shouted in a hoarse voice: "Order the entire army to retreat quickly!"

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Licinius led about [-] Latin Allied soldiers, separated from the large army, and marched rapidly to the southwest.

When he learned from the scouts that "the enemy was still more than a mile away", Licinius began to form his formation.

He placed the heavy infantry of the allies at the front of the battle line, and the light infantry at the rear.Titus hoped that he could block the incoming enemy, but he even hoped to quickly defeat the enemy in front of him and open a way for the entire army to retreat south.

However, he did not have time to wait until the generals of the allied states commanded the soldiers to form a square formation. At this time, the soldiers of the Wolsey-Hernicki coalition army were less than 500 meters apart, and they adopted a very loose formation. , so you can advance and develop your formation smoothly.

Licinius sent messengers to urge them repeatedly, and the Latin Allied soldiers hurriedly put together a formation.

With resentment against the Romans, the Voch coalition soldiers had already charged to the front of the formation, and immediately knocked the Latin Allied troops into uneven formations.

Licinius hurriedly ordered the attack horn to continue to be blown, hoping to inspire the allied soldiers to block the enemy's charge and wait for an opportunity to counterattack.

The two sides clashed with shields and spears, and the sound of killing shook the sky, stirring up dust and sand all over the sky.

Under the desperate and ferocious attacks of Wolsi and Herniki warriors, the ill-prepared coalition soldiers slowly retreated.

Licinius was not in a hurry. He knew that the impact of the enemy coming from a long distance would not last long. Once the front was stabilized, the heavy infantry could exert their power.

However, amidst the fighting, he heard panicked shouts from the right wing of the array: "We are defeated, run away!!!"

"Run for your life, we are about to be surrounded!!!"

……

"What happened?!" Licinius suddenly became nervous and immediately sent guards to the right wing to check.

At this time, the Roman general who was responsible for commanding the right wing had sent a messenger. He shouted in panic: "General Licinius, more than 400 Bonneans suddenly collapsed after engaging the enemy, and they also deliberately shouted and wavered. Military morale, the entire right wing is now in chaos and out of control!"

"What?! Damn Bones!" Licinius was dumbfounded when he heard the bad news.

It turned out that after listening carefully to Publius's detailed introduction to the Latin city-states, Davos secretly had a rough plan in mind. He first sent Publius quietly as an envoy. Both of them thought it was easiest. Pliniste persuaded to surrender, and as expected, Pliniste first reached a secret alliance with Dionia.

Then, Publius turned his target to persuade Bonnet to surrender.

This small Latin city located to the west of Pliniste, less than eight or nine miles away, had already been conquered during the Plinist rebellion and the joint attack of the Volscians, Herniki, and Aequians. Camillus survived by leading his army to rescue him.It stands to reason that it should be grateful and loyal to Rome.

But Publius believed that this was not the case. Since the city was broken and plundered, the Bonne people seemed to be full of fear of the Herniki, Volscian and other races to the south, whether it was Rome attacking the Volscians. , or the attack on Herniki, it actively expressed its support and provided a large amount of materials and personnel.Now, the city of Rome has fallen, and the Romans have retreated to the west of the Latin region. Their power has greatly declined, and the Hernicians have resurrected...

Therefore, when Publius hinted to the Bonnet people that "Prinister has surrendered" and made a guarantee that "Dionia will completely ensure the security of the Bonnet territory", Bonnet became the second person with whom Latin city-states allied with Dionia.

When Gabi City rejected Dionia's persuasion to surrender, the plan that Daves had been brewing in advance took shape, and the Voch coalition was actually quietly stationed between the cities of Pliniste and Bonnet.

(End of this chapter)