Rome must fall.

Chapter 272 A victory with heavy casualties

Another round of crossbow arrows was fired, knocking down many Daixi Tiatai warriors and scaring the other warriors into instinctively slowing down their charge.

At this time, Valerius shouted loudly: "Retreat slowly! Retreat slowly!..."

It was impossible not to retreat, because the crossbow troops had no more crossbow arrows left.

Valerius originally hoped that the soldiers would retreat slowly in a shooting posture, thus deterring the enemy from pursuing desperately. Who knew that after the crossbow arrows were fired, some of the crossbowmen who had high morale began to feel weak. Valerius said to retreat, and immediately turned around and ran away, causing the entire team to collapse. The dumbfounded Valerius turned out to be the last person running...

Upon seeing this, the Daixi Tiatai warriors immediately lost all scruples and pursued them with all their might. The cavalrymen in the distance also plucked up the courage and chased after them...

At this moment, a high-pitched brass horn sounded from the front, followed by a roar like rolling thunder.

The cavalry first stopped chasing, then turned and ran away faster than when they came.

The soldiers did not react for a while because their sight was blocked by the enemies in front of them, but soon they saw small phalanxes of fully armed enemies appearing in their field of vision, spread across the entire field, and rushing toward them. …

The First and Third Legions led by Maximus finally arrived on the battlefield.

The Pannoni coalition fought against the Aulus phalanx for a long time in front, and the rear was disrupted by Pequot, and the cavalry was attacked by crossbowmen and suffered heavy casualties... The addition of the Nix reinforcements was like a huge weight, and in an instant Determines the outcome of the entire battle.

Aulus was in the formation. Although he was not directly facing the enemy, he was always shouting loudly to let the soldiers around him know that he was fighting alongside them to maintain their morale. ,

At the same time, the huge noise around him and the constant pushing from all directions made him like a boat sailing on the sea when a storm came, making him feel the dangerous situation facing his team all the time, both for the soldiers and He was worried about whether he could continue to persevere, but at the same time he was also a little relieved, because this showed that his adventurous actions were working. The enemy did not bypass them and enter the stockade, but was doing their best to annihilate them...

I don’t know how long it took, but Aulus’s throat was broken and he couldn’t make a sound. He could even see clearly the silhouette of the enemy in front. This showed that as the soldiers in the front row continued to be injured and the soldiers in the rear row continued to step forward to fill the gap, The array has become relatively weak...

How long can the entire phalanx hold on? ... He was unsure, but he couldn't think too much at this time. He clenched the square shield and dagger in his hands, ready to step forward to fill his position and fight with the enemy at any time.

But at this moment, the continuous pushing from the right side suddenly disappeared, and then he heard a cry of joy from the right side of the phalanx: "Reinforcements are coming!! Our reinforcements are coming!!!... …”

The leader is finally here! ...A great joy of surviving a desperate situation bloomed from the bottom of his heart, dispelling the fatigue in his body and giving birth to new strength. Although Aulus could no longer shout, he raised his dagger high and kept swinging it forward. The square shield pushed hard against the soldiers in front, and used actions to signal the soldiers to launch a counterattack...

After a while, all the enemies in front were defeated, and Aulus' team cooperated with the main force to launch a full-scale counterattack.

Originally, the impatient Temagis finally managed to mobilize more than 400 soldiers from the front attacking team. Before he could form a team, he hurriedly rushed towards Pecot and others who were driving away Segestica's defeated troops. During the battle, Temagis, who was riding a horse, saw an astonishing scene: countless fully armed enemies appeared on the outside of the battlefield, shouting and pounced on the warriors who were fighting...

"How come the enemy's large army appears here?! Shouldn't they rush south to face Brix and the others?!..." Temagis shouted in horror.

No one responded, because the soldiers who followed him all stood on the spot, watching helplessly as the clansmen who had been fighting in front were completely defeated in the blink of an eye, crying and shouting, rushing towards them like a tide... …

"Big boss, let's go! Let's go!" Under the urgent shout of the guard captain, Temakis came to his senses: the enemy in front who originally drove Segestica's troops to retreat (referring to Pecot's team) was turning towards He rushed towards him, and countless fleeing tribesmen from behind also rushed towards him...

The situation was urgent and he could no longer think too much. He quickly turned the horse's head and pinched the horse's belly: "Drive!"

The war horse raised its hooves and carried him towards the fields outside the battlefield. The guard captain led the soldiers to rush forward to block the enemy who tried to intercept him.

Pecot watched the enemy leader wearing a horned helmet and armor riding past the side, but he was unable to capture him due to the obstruction of the enemy soldiers, so he threw out the dagger in his hand eagerly.

Temagis instinctively leaned his upper body on the horse's neck, and heard a "dang" sound, and the conspicuous horn helmet was knocked to the ground.

His head was dizzy and he was frightened into a cold sweat. He could only hug the horse's neck tightly and let it run freely... When Temagis regained consciousness, the battlefield was far behind him. When he crossed the Kupa River and marched towards the Amrotas stronghold, he thought that at that time he was commanding a complete group of 8,000 Desitia Tai warriors, but now he was alone... …

He didn't dare to look back at the battlefield, nor did he dare to listen to any noise coming from behind. He just shook the reins desperately and urged the horse to run quickly.

After running for a while, he saw a group of cavalry by the river ahead. The cavalry also saw him and started shouting: "It's the big leader! The big leader!..."

Temakis recognized that these were the Desitiatai cavalry who had followed him on his expedition to Nyx. He hurried over and asked, "Why are you here?"

The cavalry immediately bowed their heads and did not dare to respond.

Temagis glanced at them and found that more than half of the cavalry had lost their helmets, weapons, and looked quite embarrassed. He immediately understood what was going on. Although he was angry, he himself was not much better. Of course, it was not easy to reprimand him. , then asked: "Where's Telles? Where is he?"

"When we...we charged towards the enemy's reinforcements, Chief Terles was at the forefront, but was shot by the enemy's bow and arrow. He...didn't stand up again..." Someone answered in a low voice with a heavy tone. road.

Temagis felt another wave of heart palpitations. He closed his eyes in pain, opened them again quickly, looked at the cavalry, and asked coldly: "Since you are already here, why don't you stay at the river?"

The cavalry looked at me and I looked at you. Finally, someone said in a serious tone: "Big... big leader... it's not that we don't want to cross the river, but there are enemies on the other side of the river..."

"There are enemies?!" Temakis was startled. He passed through the cavalry and came to the river. He took a closer look: Sure enough, there were hundreds of Knick soldiers on the other side of the river. They were waiting in full formation and blocked the entire stretch of the river. .

Temagis took a breath of cold air: The Knicks are preparing to kill us all!

The previous escape from the battlefield was the closest Temakis had come to death in his life. Although the dagger thrown by Pecot did not knock him off his horse, it knocked away his courage. He really did not have the confidence to lead a group of cavalry who also lost morale. , flowing through the rapid river, to attack the array of these powerful Knick soldiers, and to fight a bloody path for himself and for the subsequent defeat...

Facing the expectant and nervous gazes of the cavalry, Temagis, who had led troops here last year, thought for a moment and said: "We continue to move forward along the river, and there is Segostika's stockade in front of us. Let’s take a rest there and rush to Broch’s territory tomorrow…”

The cavalrymen felt as if they had been granted amnesty, and they all praised Temagis for his good idea...

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

From the moment Temagis fled the battlefield, the battle was over, and all that was left was to chase the defeated troops.

Since Maximus had detached a part of his soldiers to block the access to the stronghold in advance, the Pannonian army was forced to retreat eastward. However, Pequot's team was blocking the way to the east. He had also detached a part of his soldiers in advance. The fordable section of the river was blocked. In the end, except for a small number of defeated soldiers who escaped from the siege and fled along the river bank to the lower reaches of the Kupa River, most of them were either killed or drowned. The number of prisoners reached more than 6000... …

However, the Fourth Army's casualties exceeded 1800, which could be described as a crippling battle.

When Maximus saw Aulus and Pecot, they were so tired that it was difficult to even give a military salute.

Maximus quickly stepped forward and gave the two of them a strong hug, and asked his attendants to support the two legion commanders. Then he praised enthusiastically and loudly: "Aulus, Pecot, the performance of you two It completely exceeded my expectations. Not only did you confuse the enemy very well and ensure the security of the territory, but you also used unexpected tricks to contain this enemy, creating very favorable conditions for the main force to annihilate them. On behalf of the tribe, I would like to thank you! What a great contribution you and the soldiers of the Fourth Army have made!”

Maximus said, solemnly giving a military salute to the two of them.

Aulus responded with a heavy tone: "Chief, in order to intercept the enemy, our Fourth Army made the greatest efforts, but it also suffered heavy casualties..."

"I know..." Maximus' tone became low, but then he said forcefully: "The tribe will not let the soldiers sacrifice in vain. Those who died in battle will be honored and will be remembered by the people forever! The injured People will receive the best treatment in the hospital! The entire Fourth Army will receive second-class merit. I believe that many soldiers will be promoted and receive awards for this! I will also give priority to the Ministry of War to replenish the soldiers of the Fourth Army. I believe it will not be long before the Fourth Army. The legion will be full!..."

(End of this chapter)