Rome must fall.

Chapter 174 The Pannoni coalition is coming

"Why didn't you tell me earlier!" Pecot cursed angrily, turned around and shouted: "Stop training! Everyone go back to your tents and have a good rest. No one is allowed to yell, otherwise you will be punished according to military law!"

"Captain...Captain, this place is far away from the enemy. They...can't find us. Don't worry!" the young man comforted carefully.

Young Yadobag is a Skodisci. He was once the male slave of Volris, the leader of Segostika. He herded sheep for him. Therefore, he was very interested in the people around the Segostika village east of Varidosi. The terrain is very familiar.

Yadobagh once lost a few sheep and was afraid of being punished by his owner. He risked being attacked by wild beasts and went deep into the mountains. As a result, he discovered the place where the camp is now. The terrain here is flat, with few trees and grass, and there is water. It was relatively secretive, and there were not many birds inhabiting this area... He finally found the sheep, but because he returned to the village very late, Wallis suspected that he wanted to escape and beat him half to death. If not, With Emmerich's careful treatment, there is no way he would be alive today.

This time the rebels wanted to build a secret camp in the mountains on the east bank of the Kupa River and summoned Skodisci who were familiar with the terrain in this area to provide advice.

As a result, the place mentioned by Yadobag became the first choice, and because he was familiar with this mountain range and could run around in the mountains like flying, he was reused and became the most important sentinel of this army.

Therefore, Pecot's attitude towards him was quite good: "You don't understand, the Segostikas are pressing down on the border. If you want to defeat them, you mainly have to rely on us!"

Pecot recalled what Maximus had repeatedly warned him before setting off, and said with emphasis: "We are a surprise force. Before we play an important role, we must not let the enemy know, otherwise once they are on guard, we will lose It plays a big role, so we must not be careless, understand?"

Adobagh thought for a moment, then nodded heavily and said, "I understand."

The reason why only these three tribes were allowed to send reinforcements was, firstly, because their territories were adjacent to Segestika, so they could send troops quickly and consume less food; secondly, because Daixitiatai had a close relationship with Segestika, and Bu Roach and Maziyi considered the threat to them from the presence of mercenaries, so they were more active in sending troops.

After final discussion, Pecot led more than 300 escort soldiers, plus more than 100 Skodisci recruits, to form a 500-man surprise force, hiding outside, looking for opportunities to break the enemy's food routes and disrupt their rear.

When the Skodisci tribe here was destroyed, some of the remnants fled into the mountains and harassed the Segostika tribe for several years. In the end, he was responsible for annihilating them. He was very experienced in this.

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During this period, reinforcements from the Pannoni Alliance arrived one after another, including 800 Broch warriors, including 5000 heavily armed warriors; 200 Mazii warriors, including 500 heavily armed warriors; There are Thai warriors, including no heavy-armed soldiers, but cavalry.

"Yes, captain!" Adobagh responded with an excited salute.

Originally, the Ministry of War had a dispute over which team to send as the hidden surprise troops. It was Maximus who persuaded several chief officers of the Ministry of War.

Another thing is that a group of Skodisqi thieves suddenly appeared on the edge of the southern territory of Segestica recently. They attacked the villages of Segestika, killed the people, burned down the villages and towns, and rescued the slaves. But when the Segostika army arrived at the scene, they escaped early... As a result, it caused considerable panic among the Segostika tribes on the south bank of the Sava River.

"Just understand. You will stay in the camp for the next few days. After the Segostika army thinks its rear is safe and relaxes its vigilance, I will send you out with a few other spies to seize Segstika." Let me figure out the defense situation of the Stika people's two strongholds, the location of their food reserves, and their rules for transporting food, and then we will give them a hard blow!"

Andres decided to personally conquer the Skodischi bandits.

In mid-October, the reinforcements from the three large tribes met in the Segostika territory. Andres had already gathered 10 warriors from his own tribe and soon led the troops together to set off.

However, Andres did not feel much relieved. He had two major things to do urgently.

This is a huge amount, and it is far from what the tribes directly under Andres can provide. It must be collected from all the tribes in Segestica.

Although most of the Segostika tribes are located in the Sava River plains and have just harvested a good harvest, they have wars every year and each tribe has no extra food reserves. Moreover, the tribes had already been levied once during the last war. If more food was to be levied this time, the tribesmen would definitely be resentful... Andres left this troublesome task to Cabudes.

The first is to collect food. With a 3-strong army going out, the food consumed in one day is not a small amount. Moreover, the failure of the last war proved that this mercenary army is a strong enemy and may not be eliminated in a short time. Therefore, Ander Rice discussed with the elders and decided to prepare at least 10 people food for more than days at one time.

After some reconnaissance and deployment, Andres led his army to attack the plundering Skodisqi bandits. After a battle, the Skodisqi suffered heavy casualties, and the remaining troops fled northwest into the mountains. Peace has temporarily returned to the Segostika territory.

After Yadobagh left, Pecot squeezed his hands, his palms a little wet. The arrival of the Segestika army made him feel a little nervous.

He believed that Pecot was an Illyrian and could better communicate with the Skodisci recruits in the team and make them obey; secondly, most of the escort soldiers under Pecot were Kells. Tribes and Illyrians, they are used to living and fighting in the mountains; the most important thing is that in the last battle, Pecot led the escort and the Skodisci recruits to complete the raid mission well and became The key to defeating Segestica's army deserves to be entrusted to him once again.

After returning to the village, he immediately held a tribal meeting and announced to the elders: The tribal alliance will send reinforcements, led by him, to conquer the foreign mercenaries, eliminate them, and rescue the captured tribesmen!

This news inspired the entire tribe and comforted the people who had lost their loved ones. Many fewer people came to his main house to cry.

Pecot, don't betray the trust of Chief Maximus, this is the time to show your abilities, there is nothing to panic about! ...Pecote said to himself in his heart, clenching his fists.

After attending the tribal alliance meeting, Andres slowly returned to the main village of Segestika.

The army marched through the dense forest, crossed the Kupa River, and marched westward along the south bank.

At the same time, Andres sent out many sentries to carefully search the mountains along the coast... With a large army in hand, he was more cautious than last time.

The scouts found nothing unusual along the way.

However, after crossing the Korana River, they were intercepted by the rebel army, lost some sentries, and failed to detect the situation of the rebel camp. This was expected by Andres, because during the period when he did not send troops, this "mercenary" team even pushed the blockade to the vicinity of Kabudez's original stronghold, allowing Segestica to send out It was difficult for the sentinels to pass through, and even if they took a long detour through the mountain roads, they would never return, leaving Andres completely blind to the situation west of the original Kabdus stockade.

At least this time after the army set off, he knew that nothing unusual was found north of the Korana River, except that the land around Volris Stockade showed signs of being cultivated, and new seedlings grew.

How dare these outsiders farm here! It seems that they really intend to take this land as their own! ...Andres was very angry for a time and wanted the soldiers to shovel all the new seedlings in the fields. Then he thought about it: After the mercenary army is wiped out, won't all the fields they planted be gone again? Have you returned to your tribe?

Andres' anger turned into joy, and at the same time, the large area of ​​cultivated land also relieved his doubts: Why did the mercenaries block this area? It turned out to be to protect the companions who farmed here...

Still the same as last time, the Segostika army used Volris's stockade as its final campsite, and all the food and supplies they brought were stored here.

After a night of adequate rest, Andres led the army to cross the Korana River again early on the second day. Not only did they not be intercepted by the "mercenaries", they did not even see the shadow of the enemy.

Obviously the enemy knew that his army was strong this time and chose to avoid fighting... Andres was disappointed with this.

The army continued to march westward and passed the place where they had suffered a tragic defeat. The battlefield that was once littered with corpses and blood was now just a field of withered and yellow grass. No trace of war could be seen, but it still made Andres feel sad. Tight.

Finally, the Pannoni coalition stopped advancing because the "mercenary" camp was more than 300 meters away.

This time, the general who led the reinforcements of Desitiatai was their great leader Temagis. He personally led the troops to come to the reinforcements not only because of his friendship with Andres, but also because he was warlike and could defeat the enemy with a small amount of money. Andres, who had many defeats and was good at fighting, was curious and wanted to see it with his own eyes.

At this moment, he asked Andres with a surprised look on his face: "Is this the mercenary camp? This is simply a city!"

No wonder he was surprised. In his field of vision, the "mercenary" camp had an earth wall about three meters high. There was also a wooden wall more than two meters high on top of the earth wall. Every other section of the wooden wall was built with wooden walls. There is a wooden building... Even the main village of their tribe does not have such tall walls and so many wooden buildings as this camp.

Andres' face was solemn. He did not respond. Instead, he stared at the enemy camp for a while before he said, "Let's go and take a closer look!"

So, Andres led 50 tribal cavalry, and Temagis led his 500 cavalry out of the team and circled the "mercenary" camp for more than half a circle. There was no luck in their hearts: it was not just the people who faced their team just now. There is a high wall in the direction. Except for the side facing the river, the entire camp is surrounded by long walls and wooden buildings.

Andres gritted his teeth and said, "Let's take a closer look."

With that said, he took the lead and ran straight towards the "mercenary" camp. The cavalry quickly accelerated forward to protect him.

Temagis followed with his own cavalry.

The momentum created by 550 cavalry galloping together can at least prevent the enemy from easily leaving camp to make a surprise attack.

Getting closer and closer to the enemy's camp, Temagis opened his eyes wide, pointed forward and shouted: "Andres, have you seen it?! That row of sharp wooden sticks stuck diagonally on the ground!"

"I saw it! I also saw a deep ditch between the pointed wooden stick and the earth wall!" Andres, who was in the front, responded with a gloomy face.

"What?! There's still a deep ditch?!" Temagis was startled and clamped his horse's belly tightly, trying to rush forward to see more clearly.

At this moment, several shrill screams were heard from the front, and several horses rolled and fell to the ground. The cavalryman who was thrown to the ground struggled to get up, and then fell to the ground again, covering his feet and screaming.

"There are enemy traps on the ground! Be careful!..." the cavalry shouted in panic.

In a hurry, the cavalry in front reined in the horses, and the cavalry behind them had no time to react. They collided with each other, and the horses neighed and people screamed, creating chaos...

Andres reined in his horse in time, and due to the protection of the guards, he was not hit by the cavalry behind him.

Ignoring the guards' obstruction, he jumped off the horse and stepped on the soft grass with his feet. There was nothing strange. He felt relieved and moved his feet forward cautiously. At the same time, he bent down and searched the grass with his eyes...

Suddenly he froze and stepped on a sharp object with his right foot. He squatted down, swept away the loose soil with his hand, and then pulled up hard.

Temagis, who followed later, focused his eyes on Andres' hand: it was a short wooden stick buried deep in the soil by the enemy, and the end facing the ground was sharpened!

"Damn mercenaries!" Andres cursed angrily, handed the wooden stick in his hand to Temagis, and then carefully groped forward, trying to pull up the two injured cavalrymen who fell to the ground... …

Little did he know that Maximus, the leader of the rebel army, was standing on the wooden building near the camp gate dozens of meters away from him.

Maximus looked at everything happening in front of the camp calmly, and said to Quintus beside him: "That man should be Andres, the leader of the Segostica tribe. The armor he is wearing is similar to It’s very similar to what Emmerich described.”

"Furthermore, as soon as the Segestika army arrived, this man led his cavalry to approach the camp to take risks and observe, and even rushed ahead. He was also very similar to the personality of the leader of Segestika described by Emmerich. It should be he.

However, the man behind him also wore a pointed long-feathered helmet. Although the armor he wore was not gold, it looked very sophisticated. According to Emmerich, only the leader of the tribe could wear such armor. Who is he? Quintus asked curiously.

(End of this chapter)