Rome must fall.

Chapter 404: Crossing the River to Attack Boyi

"Yes, Master."

"Tullius, I know you are in a bad situation now. I'm afraid you have spent all your money on these properties." Caesar spoke gently, but with a will that could not be refused: "Do you still have the financial resources to make sophisticated weapons and armor for my soldiers? If my new legion cannot be equipped within the specified time, it will inevitably affect my next plan. Then what's the point of having you here!

You have to be able to do things that satisfy me. This is what I ask of you as your patron. If you do things well, wealth will come naturally. Do you understand? ! "

"Governor, I understand!" Tullius said loudly, holding the gift list in his hand, his face flushed. "Please rest assured, I will definitely urge my subordinate iron workshops to do their utmost to create enough and excellent weapons and armor in the shortest possible time to equip all the new legion soldiers. I will never let you down!"

"If you do this, you will be responsible for providing weapons and equipment for all provincial armies under my jurisdiction in the future." Caesar's next words made Tullius fall into ecstasy.

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Tullius's visit made Caesar more determined to march eastward and conquer the Nyx and Dacia first. To this end, he accelerated the pace of recruiting and training new legions, and also used various channels to investigate the situation of the Nyx tribe.

But because the Nix tribe was tightly controlled, Caesar did not obtain more information about it. He only knew that this tribe was different from other barbarian tribes in the north.

This tribe not only fought like Rome, but also lived like Rome in daily life. They built roads, bridges, dams, and temples that ordinary barbarian tribes did not have...

In addition to paper money, they can also make high-quality pottery, cloth, furniture, wood carvings, ironware...which are quite popular among the surrounding tribes.

This tribe was tough against foreign enemies and had strong military capabilities. It was able to defeat the strong with its weak strength and annex the Pannoni and repel the Boyi. In just over a decade, its territory expanded more than ten times...

All these were enough to attract Caesar's attention, but he was not too worried because he felt that no matter how powerful the Nyx were, as long as he paid attention to them and concentrated the military forces of the three provinces, he could easily crush them.

However, he took into account that an attack to the east would require crossing mountains and the logistical transportation would be difficult. In order to avoid arousing the vigilance of the Nixes and increasing the difficulty of the attack, he never revealed to his subordinates his intention to conquer the barbarians to the east of the Northern Italian province, and also stopped the large-scale operations to inquire about the situation of the Nixes tribe.

Military preparations in the three provinces were in full swing, but they only lasted three months before a piece of news from the north interrupted Caesar's pre-planned plan: a Gallic tribe adjacent to the northwestern border of the northern Italian province, the Helvetii, wanted to migrate as a whole to the west coast of Gaul due to the threat from the northern Germanic peoples, in search of new, vaster and more fertile land to settle down. Their migration route would pass directly through the Roman province of West France, which would pose a threat to the area under Caesar's jurisdiction.

Caesar had gone to great lengths to obtain the position of governor of the three northern provinces. If his jurisdiction was trampled upon by barbarians, he would inevitably be condemned by public opinion. At that time, the conservatives in the Roman Senate would seize the opportunity to demand the withdrawal of his appointment, and all his efforts would be in vain. Therefore, Caesar would never allow such a thing to happen.

He sent envoys to the Helvetic tribe, strongly urging them to stop migrating.

However, in order to ensure the better survival of their tribe, the Helvetii not only ignored the advice, but also started migrating ahead of time.

After the messenger reported back to Caesar, he was angry at the Helvetii’s willful behavior. Although he was also shocked by the huge scale of the Helvetii’s migration (more than 350,000 people in total), he did not feel timid. He resolutely led the three legions stationed in Aquileia and the two newly formed legions to quickly march north (there was another legion in the province of Westphalia), preparing to use force to stop the Helvetii’s migration...

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In the summer of the same year, at the urging of Maximus, the Nix tribe assembled four legions and launched an attack on the Boii.

He first sent two fleets under his command, more than 400 ships carrying 500 soldiers and more than wooden wagons to quickly reach the north bank of the Drao River.

After the soldiers landed, they quickly built an outer circular defense line on the beach using these specially made vans that could be connected end to end and had iron spikes on both sides.

Because the Nyx tribe had an advantage on the water, it was difficult for the Boii to attack the Nyx territory on the south bank of the Drao River. After several failed attacks, the Boii sent envoys to ask for peace from the Nyx, but were rejected by Maximus. Therefore, the Boii were afraid of being retaliated by the Nyx and remained on guard at all times.

It just so happened that the place where the Nyx army landed was exactly the most powerful tribe of Boyi and the territory of the new King Boyi. He had noticed early on that the Nyx were gathering troops, so he also carried out military mobilization accordingly.

Although the landing place of the Nix army was unexpected, the Boyi people reacted quickly, and the troops of various tribes arrived one after another. King Boyi first assembled more than 20,000 warriors and hurried to the battlefield, ordering other troops to arrive later.

He originally planned to have his 3,000 cavalrymen attack the enemy troops that had landed first, disrupt their formation, and then have the entire army move forward to drive the enemy into the river in one fell swoop.

But when they arrived at the river bank, they found that the Knicks had densely arranged countless wooden carts on the beach in a short period of time, forming a simple camp.

So, King Boyi changed his strategy and ordered his infantry to attack from the front while his cavalry patrolled the periphery. Once they found a gap in the enemy's wooden cart defense line, they would immediately rush in and cooperate with the front infantry to kill the enemy.

King Boy also learned from the previous failure in the battle on the south bank, and ordered the warriors to advance with shields and be careful to defend against the enemy's long-range attacks.

It is true that one-third of the 8,000 soldiers who landed on Nix were crossbowmen, but what King Boyi didn't know was that these soldiers not only carried arm crossbows for individual use, but also carried dozens of bed crossbows.

As early as a year ago, Maximus had discussed with the Ministry of War repeatedly and made plans for this attack. He also personally drew the blueprints of the crossbow. After a period of exploration and mastering the craft, the weapons workshop began mass production.

The main body of the bed crossbow designed by Maximus is composed of three large bows (two facing forward and one facing backward) placed side by side, with thick and strong ropes used as bowstrings to connect the three bows together. There is also an auxiliary winch to pull the bowstring. In addition, it is equipped with a wheeled bed frame, so that the bed crossbow can be fired stably and is easy to move.

These crossbows were placed in the gaps between the carriages, with bowstrings drawn and special crossbow arrows like spears placed on them.

When the Boyi shield array approaches to 500 meters, the crossbows are released and fired (the three-bow crossbows made by the Nix tribe have a range of nearly a thousand meters. The reason why they are fired at a distance of 500 meters is to improve accuracy and to prevent the Boyi from being too far away, so that they have enough time to stop the army's attack and reconsider their battle strategy.

Thick crossbow arrows flew out with sharp and loud whistles, making deafening noises when they hit the shields held by the Boyi warriors, instantly breaking the wooden shields into pieces, then piercing through the warriors' bodies, and hitting the warriors behind with the remaining force...

A blood hole the size of a bowl suddenly appeared on the body of the Boyi warrior who was hit by the crossbow arrow. He fell down suddenly without even having time to wail... Such a horrific scene made the surrounding warriors scream uncontrollably.

The round after round of crossbow arrows fired were like the scythe of the god of death, mercilessly reaping the lives of the Boyi warriors.

The terrified Boyi warriors dodged the crossbow arrows as if they were the plague, causing the originally complete and continuous formation to become scattered, with a strange scene of gaps and dense areas. It also forced them to launch a charge early, hoping to get close to the Nyx army as soon as possible to engage in close combat and avoid being shot by arrows again.

At the same time, the Nix crossbowmen placed special wooden ladders on the carriage, climbed to the top, and pulled the trigger towards the Boyi warriors who were rushing towards them like a tide, less than a hundred meters away.

For a moment, arrows flew like locusts.

The Boyi warriors were so eager to run that they could hardly protect themselves with their shields. In addition, in order to avoid the crossbows, the team was too dense, so countless of them were shot and there was a sound of wailing.

Finally approaching the wooden cart defense line of the Nyx people, the Boyi warriors wanted to break in from the gaps in the woodcarving workshop, but they didn't know that one-third of the 8,000 Nyx soldiers who landed were specially trained spearmen. Dense spears stabbed out from the gaps in the woodcarving workshop, blocking the Boyi warriors' advance.

The crossbow has moved to the rear of the spearmen and is still loading arrows. Once ready, it will notify the spearmen in front to make room.

The crossbow can shoot arrows at a very close distance and penetrate several people in succession, clearing a bloody path through the crowded enemy troops. Its power is truly astonishing.

Some Boyi warriors wanted to push away the carriages that were blocking the way, but the dense iron spikes on the walls of the carriages made them hesitant. In addition, the Nyx crossbowmen on the roof of the carriages were shooting from a high position and at close range, with a very high kill rate, which made them very cautious and greatly reduced the impact on the carriages.

Before the Boyi warriors got into a tough fight, the Boyi cavalry roaming around the battlefield had already discovered the loopholes in the defense line of the Nyx army - there were gaps of more than 20 meters away from the river bank on both sides of the defense line. There were no wooden carts as barriers, and the enemy's terrible long-range attack weapons were not found there.

After discussion, the leaders of the Boyi cavalry decided to split their troops into two groups and attack the gaps on both sides of the enemy's defense line along the river bank, cooperating with the infantry attacking from the front to surround and annihilate the enemy.

(End of this chapter)