Rome must fall.

Chapter 58 Defeat Furius
  The two wings of the rebel army advance the fastest and have a more chaotic formation. Because they are mostly soldiers who joined the rebel army later, they wear less armor and have shorter training time. The middle of the rebel army was filled with fully armed soldiers. After two months of hard training, they were able to better control their forward speed and maintain a good formation... Therefore, when the rebel army was approaching the Roman formation, they The entire front, which was more than three times longer than the Roman army, turned into a winding semi-circle. The rebel army faced the Roman army in the middle, and the two wings were like outstretched arms, trying to surround the Roman army...

The Roman soldiers, who had been encouraged by Forius to build up their morale and prepare to face the enemy's attack, looked at the long enemy formation that was getting closer and closer, listened to the thunderous roar coming from the opposite side, and especially saw the heavily armed soldiers approaching from the front. The enemies, their ferocious faces, and their angry eyes... the Roman soldiers were terrified. After all, they had only been trained for two months and were still new recruits.

But before they could fully appreciate the battle that was coming for the first time in their lives, the two wings of the rebel army had quickly approached within thirty meters of the flanks of the Roman formation.

Is the javelin thrown? Still not investing? ...Forius was hesitant, because if he threw it, the enemy attacking from the front would be able to charge without any scruples.

In fact, before he could give the order, the soldiers threw the heavy javelins one after another. Although the targets of the throws were too scattered, the rebel soldiers on both wings suffered certain casualties due to their poor equipment, which played a considerable deterrent effect. .

But then the soldiers in the middle of the rebel army, led by Spartacus, launched a charge. They raised their square shields at an angle, held short swords in their hands, took long steps, and rushed forward... This ferocious momentum was so frightening that they still had some fear. The Roman soldiers threw the heavy javelins in a hurry, but they were like stones thrown into the rapids, without causing any waves.

This time Spartacus concentrated the more than 1000 gladiators he had liberated in Capua at the forefront of the center. They were strong and fierce like tigers descending from the mountain. They hit the ground with their shields and stabbed the gaps quickly with their swords. Their fighting movements were skillful and smooth. As soon as the two armies came into contact, the screams of the Roman soldiers started one after another.

Then, they pushed forward under the joint force of the soldiers from behind. Some gaps soon appeared in the tight military formation in front of the Roman army. The rebel soldiers squeezed in like flowing water to widen these gaps...

Forrius never expected that the offensive of these rebellious slaves, who were not in his eyes, would be so fierce, disrupting his army as soon as they entered the battle.

But what frightened him even more was that the enemy's two wings also quickly circled back from the flanks and from the rear, with the momentum of encircling and eating the entire Roman army. Although they were poorly equipped and weak in combat effectiveness, the Roman recruits, whose military morale was uncertain, faced a siege. Do they still have the courage to continue fighting?
  Thinking of this, he shouted anxiously: "Soldiers, hold on! Hold on! The reinforcements led by Cassinius are coming soon! The reinforcements are coming soon!..."

However, his shouts did not have much effect on the noisy battlefield. On the contrary, another voice quickly spread throughout the Roman army: "We are surrounded!!!... Run away!!!..."

The Roman army collapsed, and the soldiers abandoned their shields and armor and scrambled to escape to the gap where the rebels had not yet closed...

Furius was helplessly wrapped up by the defeated troops and fled backwards. Suddenly someone grabbed him and pulled him off his horse. Before he could get up, he was trampled by countless pairs of feet...

In just half an hour, the entire battle was over. Except for a few fleeing Roman soldiers who were still being chased by rebel soldiers, most of them were either killed in battle or captured.

Spartacus thought he would win, but he didn't expect the battle to end so quickly, so when several leaders gathered to discuss what to do next, he said without hesitation: "As we have done in advance, The plan is to continue heading north and look for opportunities to deal with the main force of Rome."

"I agree!" Cross immediately loudly agreed: "We suffered few casualties in this battle and won the victory with almost no effort. The combat effectiveness of this Roman army is not very good. We are fully capable of winning another battle!"

"It's not that the Roman army's combat effectiveness is not good, but that we have become stronger!" Altonix smiled, and he became more confident because of the victory.

"We must continue to march north to find the main force of the Romans for a decisive battle, otherwise they will know the news of our victory and will probably retreat back to Rome. In that case, we will miss a good opportunity!" Attumus reminded.

Upon hearing this, Enomui hurriedly urged: "We must hurry up and not let them escape!"

Seeing that everyone agreed to fight again, Spartacus continued: "Attumus, separate four hundred soldiers from your army and temporarily hand them over to Hamilcar to lead them to clean the battlefield and take care of the wounded brothers. . The others quickly gathered their own soldiers and marched north along the avenue."

"Okay!" Attumus responded simply.

"Spartacus, don't forget there are still those Roman prisoners!" Altonix reminded. "Kill them all, we don't have extra manpower to take care of these guys now." Cross said first.

"That's it." Spartacus said calmly, deciding the fate of these Roman prisoners in one sentence. Then he turned and walked to the other side of the battlefield: "Okmar! Oakmar!"

The cavalry captain Oakmar was leading his horse to eat wheat in the field. When he heard the shouting, he hurriedly came up to meet him: "Chief Spartacus, what's the matter?"

"Where are your cavalry on guard?"

"As far as Capua, we haven't received any news of another Roman army arriving for reinforcements. Now that the battle is over, can I let them come back?"

"No, let your cavalry continue to explore north. Once you find traces of the Roman army, return quickly and let us know!"

Oakmar's spirit suddenly perked up: "Are we preparing to attack another Roman army?!"

"Whether you can eat them or not depends on whether you can find them in time!"

"Don't worry, leave this matter to us!" Oakmar replied confidently, turned around and ran towards his horse, but when he jumped on the horse, the horse was eating happily and did not want to leave. He raised his arms, He slapped the horse's butt hard, causing the horse to neigh and rush out.

Okmar was already on guard. He clamped his legs on the horse's belly, held the horse's reins tightly with both hands, controlled the direction, led the horse to leap onto the road, and then blew a sharp whistle.

After a while, a dozen cavalrymen gathered together and galloped north together.

Although the rebel soldiers were a little tired after the battle, they were very excited about a brilliant victory, and they were used to hard work when they were slaves, so when the leaders gave the order to "continue to advance north", they did not Regardless of any complaints, he continued to march under the scorching sun, but at a slower pace than before.

In the afternoon, the team arrived outside Capua.

The Capua people hid in the city and trembled.

Vibius stood on the city, silently looking at the long queue of rebel troops outside the city. The defeat a few months ago came to mind again, and it took him a long time to hold back a sentence: "Give Batiatus to I'll take you up and give you a severe beating!"

During this march, Spartacus led the first group at the front of the team. His consideration was that once he encountered a larger Roman main force, the soldiers of the first group with the highest armor rate would not be the first to attack. It will be easily defeated, thus buying time for subsequent troops to deploy.

Spartacus led the team around the city of Capua and continued to move forward. However, he saw Oakmar rushing towards the front. He shouted excitedly: "Chief Spartacus, we have discovered traces of the Roman army." !”

"Where?!"

“By the river Volturno, where the Romans rested and drank water!”

(End of this chapter)