Rome must fall.

Chapter 344 Water War
When Pricas's troops were annihilated, Iberus's troops participating in the harassment had not yet set out.

Of course, Iberus had selfish motives. He wanted to achieve greater results to overwhelm Pricas and win greater prestige for himself, and he also wanted to reduce the casualties of his own people. But the reason why the team had not set out yet was because he was waiting for the wind to come.

Iberus and Pricas had agreed in advance that he would lead his troops to attack the villages on the east bank, while Pricas would attack the villages on the west bank.

Iberus's tribe is very close to the core area of ​​Segestica, and the Nix military camp is not far from his tribe, which means that it is easy for his team to invade the area controlled by the Nix, but it is also easy to be intercepted and attacked by the Nix army.

After discussing with other tribal leaders of Lake Gomi, Iberus decided to attack by water, bypassing the Nix camp and going deep into the heartland controlled by the Nix. Before the other side could react, they would quickly go ashore, attack the riverside villages, and then quickly return by boat...

They believed that the Nixes had occupied the territory of Segestica for just over two months, and it was impossible for them to build a fleet capable of fighting on the Sava River in such a short period of time. After all, even in the past, other tribes in Segestica were not good at fighting on the river, which was why they had no way to deal with the tribe on Lake Gomi... Since the Nix army could not compete with them on the river, traveling by water was undoubtedly the safest option.

In order to increase the success of their raid, they consulted with Pricas and finally set the time of attack on this day, relying on the weather patterns they had figured out over generations of living here.

In the morning, the sky was still gloomy, but the clouds began to move and the south wind finally came!

More than 100 ships gathered by the tribes of Lake Gonamay had already been anchored near the northern mouth of the lake waiting. After Iberus gave the order to set off, the ships hoisted their sails one after another. The south wind filled the sails and pushed the ships upstream.

The ship where Iberus was located was at the front of the fleet. It was a single-masted shuttle-shaped speedboat commonly seen in Lake Gonami. It was about seven meters long and could usually carry eight people. There was a helmsman at the stern, a sailor in the middle, an oarsman at the bow, and rowers on both sides. There were also ten spears placed in the boat... Although the boat was small, it was quite fully equipped.

Iberus personally served as the helmsman, skillfully controlling the ship, sailing upstream in a zigzag route while maintaining a relatively fast speed.

Soon, he saw the Nix camp on the shore. The Nix soldiers patrolling on the wooden wall pointed in his direction and shouted something loudly. Then more soldiers gathered on the wooden wall...

The sailors on the ships saw this and began to loudly taunt the Nix soldiers: "Hey, Nix men, stop yelling! If you can, come to the river and catch me!"

"Don't look at how powerful you are on the shore. I can take care of both of you on the water by myself!"

"Come, come, try the rice water that Grandpa made for you. It's very sweet!"

……

There was even a sailor who took off his pants and urinated into the river, while his companions laughed beside him.

Compared with the wanton arrogance of his fellow tribesmen, Iberus began to feel nervous. He knew that from the moment the soldiers of the Nix camp discovered their fleet, time was of the essence for them!

Fortunately, the south wind was getting stronger and stronger, allowing the ship to sail faster and faster.

This is the gods blessing us! ... Iberus looked at the rapidly receding river bank, and his confidence soared.

However, when the fleet moved away from the Nix Camp, the crew members did not notice that a thick smoke was rising from the Nix Camp and into the sky.

After a while, Iberus, who had been staring at the river bank ahead, suddenly said, "Attention, everyone! Start to furl the sails and prepare to dock!"

Upon hearing the order, the sailor did not fold the sails all at once, but folded them in slowly. This was to allow the ship to slow down and eventually dock smoothly without damaging the hull. It also gave a signal to the ships behind, allowing them to have enough time to make corresponding preparations, thus avoiding chaos in the fleet during the docking process.

As the boat slowly slowed down, it entered a U-shaped bay.

During the rainy season when the water level rises, the river width here can exceed 500 meters, and sometimes the river water will even overflow the riverbed and rush into the fields on the east bank. But in the winter when the water level is low, the river surface shrinks by half, revealing a large river beach on the east bank, which is large enough to accommodate the landing of this fleet of 1,000 people.

Moreover, the river bank here is flat, so the tribesmen can reach the ground without much effort, and then launch a surprise attack on a tribe less than a mile away from the river beach...

This was a carefully selected target after consultation between Iberus and other leaders. It was located right between the main fortress of Segestica and the Nix camp. It would take Nix's reinforcements quite a while to get here, which was enough time for them to complete the attack, rush back to the riverbank, and return by boat...

The boat landed steadily on the northernmost beach, and the poleman immediately passed one end of the pole through the iron ring on the bow and plunged it deeply into the muddy sand of the beach, thus firmly fixing the boat. Iberus jumped off the boat and directed the boats behind to dock one after another, while constantly urging: "Everyone, hurry up!... Hurry up and get off the boat!... Don't dawdle, hurry up!..."

More than 100 ships were docked on the river beach. Except for the helmsman who stayed behind to guard the ships, more than 900 people followed Iberus with spears in their hands and rushed ashore, rushing towards the village ahead.

At this time, it was almost noon. Some villagers were working in the fields around the village. They saw a group of ferocious people rushing towards them in the distance, and they ran into the village in panic. This further stimulated the bloodthirsty impulse of the Gonammi Lake warriors.

Just as they were approaching the village, Iberus saw a thick smoke rising from the village and heading straight into the sky. Although the Pannoni had never had experience with burning smoke to warn, Iberus, who had been highly vigilant since the start, felt extremely uneasy about such an anomaly, forcing him to stop and give loud orders to the soldiers following him to stop advancing.

However, only the 300-odd people from his own tribe obeyed his orders. The warriors from other tribes rushed into the village ahead as if they did not hear him.

This is good, let them explore the way first... Iberus changed his mind and did not try to stop them.

But his tribesmen began to be unhappy: "Chief, we finally got here, why are you asking us to stop?!"

"Chief, people from other tribes have rushed in, and we are still standing here stupidly. All the good things in this village will be taken away by them!"

"That's right, we can't just wait here. If you don't let us in, we will--"

The tribesmen were shouting at the same time, and their emotions were getting more and more excited. Iberus felt that he was about to lose control. Just when he was about to nod and agree for everyone to enter the village to plunder, someone suddenly shouted: "Enemy! Enemies are coming!"

Then the whole team panicked, because they soon saw a fully armed Nix team coming from the back of the village. After discovering them, they immediately pounced on them at an even faster speed.

At this point, how could Iberus not understand that the enemy was well prepared? How could the simple weapons and equipment used by the team he led be a match for the regular Nix troops? The situation was urgent and he could not think any more: "Retreat! Retreat quickly! Go back to our ship!..."

As he gave the order, the tribesmen had already turned around and ran back, forgetting their previous arrogance on the boat. They fled in a hurry, completely abandoning their companions who had already entered the village. After discovering that the enemy was chasing them closely, they even began to throw away the wooden shields and spears that had become a burden.

It should be said that their reaction was very timely, and they all ran away with light equipment, while the Knicks soldiers were chasing them with heavy equipment, and after a while they left the Knicks soldiers far behind.

Iberus and his people ran back to the riverbank in one breath, and they all jumped onto the boat. Only then did their tense mood calm down a little.

"Chief, are we going to set sail?!" the oarsman asked loudly.

Sitting on the deck, Iberus saw that the Nyx soldiers did not catch up with him and there was no trace of them in his sight. He thought that the enemy must have given up the pursuit. He let out a long breath and tried his best to calm himself down.

He stood up, carefully glanced at the people on the other boats, and then said, "Let's not leave yet. Let's wait a little longer. Maybe some of our tribesmen will escape back."

Iberus made this risky decision because he found that those who escaped back to the ship were all from his tribe. As the organizer of this raid, he could not explain to other tribes when he returned. He also found that although the poorly equipped warriors could not fight against the Nix soldiers, if they really wanted to escape, the Nix people might not be able to catch up. Maybe some warriors would escape and rescue some of them, which would make it easier for him to talk when he returned.

Iberus gave this order to his people, and no one objected. Returning to the ship was like returning home, and their courage returned.

However, during the waiting process, Iberus asked the tribesmen to disperse into all the ships to avoid leaving the ships of other tribes to the Nyx people when they left.

As Iberus had expected, some of the tribesmen escaped the encirclement of the Nixes and desperately fled to the riverbank, but just as they were about to reach the shore, they were stabbed down by the Nixes cavalry who caught up with them with spears...

Iberus and his people watched helplessly as their fellow countrymen screamed and tumbled down the shore...

The Knicks cavalry stared coldly at them on the boat, and after a moment turned their horses around and left.

(End of this chapter)