Chapter 662
In the Latin region of central Italy, Camillus, whom the Devers were concerned about, received an order from the Senate of Rome to lead the troops stationed in Rome to repel the Volsci's coalition army.
Although he repeatedly declined, saying that he was old and weak, and that he was not suited to lead troops, hoping that the task would be given to a more suitable candidate, the people of Rome strongly urged him to take up the position. In reality, they did not expect him to lead the troops and charge into the enemy's ranks. Instead, they strongly believed in his combat experience and ability to command troops. They believed that he would bring a glorious victory to Rome.
Camillus had no choice but to accept.
Considering that Camillus was unable to go into battle, the Senate also assigned him a young military governor named Lucius Florius to be his partner.
The two of them led the remaining two legions in the city, a total of 12,000 soldiers from the Roman Duchy, and joined up with a few thousand soldiers from their allies. They then led the army to the southeast and quickly arrived at the borders of Prenister.
Just as they were about to encounter the Volsci coalition army, Camillus ordered the army to stop and set up camp. He wanted to delay the battle with the enemy. On the one hand, he did not want to engage the enemy's morale at this moment. He wanted to wait for the enemy to slack off, or force the enemy to take the initiative to attack their camp. On the other hand, one of the reasons he had delayed his appointment to the Senate was that he had caught a cold and was still feverish. His body was weak, and he wanted to wait for his body to recover before fighting the enemy.
Who knew that the other young military governor, Florius, was eager to gain merit and was eager to engage the enemy in battle. Camillus could not go to battle because he was sick, so he could monopolize the battle.
Thus, he privately encouraged the officers in the army to unanimously request for battle from Camillus. Seeing that it was difficult to go against the will of the people, Camillus did not want others to think that he was being jealous and did not want to let the young people win merit and glory. Thus, he reluctantly agreed to let Lucius Florius lead the army into battle, while he led a small number of soldiers to guard the camp.
Out of concern for the battle, he sent people to monitor the progress of the battle and report back to him. Lying on the sickbed, he tossed and turned, unable to sleep.
When Frius learned that the Roman army's formation wasn't complete yet, he had rashly launched an attack. As a result, they were defeated by the enemy and the routed soldiers were fleeing to the camp. He forgot about his illness and leaped out of bed to organize the remaining soldiers to quickly prepare for defense.
He personally ran to the gate of the camp and loudly urged the soldiers who had retreated from the battlefield to pick up their weapons and fight back the enemies who had followed them.
The routed soldiers saw this highly prestigious, white-haired old general nailed like a boulder in front of the gate, not retreating a single step, they couldn't help but feel ashamed. One after another, they turned around to fight, cooperating with the defending troops in the camp, and finally driving away the enemy.
After this ordeal, Camillus broke out in a cold sweat, and his cold was more than half healed. He couldn't help but thank Minerva for her protection.
The dejected and guilt-ridden military official, Frius, came to Camillus to ask for forgiveness.
Camillus didn't harshly criticize this young general who fought recklessly. Instead, he patiently asked him about the whole process of the battle.
After some thought, he said to Frius, "Tomorrow, we will lead the army out of the camp and fight the enemy!"
Frius thought he heard wrong, "We just experienced a defeat in the battle …"
"It is because of this defeat that the honorable citizens of Rome urgently need a victory to wash away this shame!" Camillus said firmly.
Motivated, Frius nodded in agreement.
Soon, the news of the "battle tomorrow morning" spread throughout the camp.
The soldiers heard that the highly respected general, Camillus, would lead them out of the camp for a decisive battle to wash away the shame of this defeat. Immediately, all of them were no longer dejected. Instead, they rubbed their palms together and swore to God that they would take revenge.
The next day, after Camillus led the army out of the camp for a mile, they stopped and quickly began to get into formation.
When the Volsci Coalition heard that the defeated Rome had walked out of the camp, they were overjoyed and hurried over with their troops.
Before they could fully get into formation, Camillus ordered the whole army to attack!
The Roman soldiers, eager for revenge, launched a fierce attack on the Volsci Coalition, and Camillus focused the attack on the weaker Helnici.
After a fierce battle, the disorganized Volsci Coalition was at a complete disadvantage. The Helnici were the first to be defeated, and then the whole army was routed.
Camillus ordered the whole army to continue the chase and not let up!
The Roman army took the opportunity to occupy the enemy's camp. Most of the Volsci Coalition soldiers were either killed or captured, and the Roman soldiers celebrated their victory.
But after a day of rest, news came that another Latin ally in Rome, Boe, had been captured by the Helnici.
Camillus immediately made the decision to send the heavy infantry back to Rome, and then led the light infantry to rush to Boe and launch an assault on the Helnici.
The Helnici, who had just occupied the town, were caught off guard and were quickly defeated. Most of the soldiers were killed.
Camillus returned to Rome with a large number of spoils of war and captives.
The people of Rome cheered for him.
The Senate of Rome, under his suggestion, ordered the Roman army that had returned from the north to attack the Etruscans to attack the Eacqui, Helnici, and other forces in the east.
Two months later, the Eacqui, Helnici, and Marsi, who had suffered heavy losses in the previous war, could no longer resist and chose to surrender.
After the Romans sorted out their main enemies in the east and southeast, they began to set their sights on the Volsci in the south.
The Volsci were an ancient race in Italy. Hundreds of years ago, they lived in the upper valley of the Ligus River in the northeast of Italy. But as the Celts continued to invade the south, the Volsci were forced to migrate to the southwest of Italy. Finally, they settled on the fertile land south of Latin and lived there peacefully for hundreds of years. But because of the rise and expansion of Rome, the Volsci had no choice but to engage in constant armed conflicts with the power that had become their neighbor in the north.
In the past hundred years, the two sides fought many times. In the beginning, the Volsci still had the upper hand. But as Rome conquered the surrounding Latin city-states and established the Latin Alliance, its power increased greatly, and the Volsci gradually found it difficult to attack Rome.
And in the 358th year of the founding of Rome (396 BC), the Roman general Camillus led his army to conquer the powerful Etruscan state in the northern region of the Tiber River, Veia. This conquest not only completely occupied the surrounding land of the Tiber River, but also intimidated the surrounding races and forces.
So, the Volsci and Rome signed a peace treaty.
But four years later, the Celts captured the city of Rome, and Rome's power declined, leading to the dissolution of the Latin Alliance. The Volsci took the opportunity to tear up the treaty and joined forces with the forces around Rome to continuously invade Rome's territory and allies. Until this time, they were completely defeated by the army led by Camillus.
The Volsci had suffered heavy losses, but before they could catch their breath, the army of Rome invaded Volsci's territory and surrounded the powerful state in the northwest of Volsci, Velitrae.
While the Volsci gathered their troops to help, they also considered asking for reinforcements from other forces. In the past few years, after the military reform of Rome, they became more and more powerful. Volsci had lost several wars with Rome, so they were afraid of the people of Rome.
In fact, the Samonai were the closest and more powerful force to Volsci. Unfortunately, this powerful mountain race had always been very aggressive toward the forces around them. In the past, Volsci and the Samonai had fought many times. Several Volsci towns near the Samonai mountains, such as Sora and Ceeatae, were still occupied by the Samonai. How could the Volsci dare to ask for help from this violent hostile force?
Therefore, after some discussion, the Volsci Alliance agreed that the strongest kingdom in the south, Diónia, was the most suitable place to ask for help. However, Volsci did not have any formal diplomatic contact with Diónia, and they were afraid that they would be rejected. So, the Volsci came up with a solution.
The Volsci Alliance sent an emissary south to the Campania region. In the Campania region, there was a Campania Alliance that the Volsci thought was relatively powerful. It had a good relationship with Volsci, and they often traded with each other.
At first, the Campania Alliance was just an alliance formed by the Greek colonial city-states in the area. Its purpose was to protect the city-states and defend against foreign enemies. The main enemy was the Samonai in the mountains to the east. Later, some Etruscan city-states in the eastern part of the Campania Plain that were also invaded by the Samonai joined the alliance.
The Etruscans used to be the most powerful force in Italy, occupying the northern and most of the central part of Italy. Later, due to the invasion of the Celts, their power was greatly weakened. Many of their territories were occupied by other races, and their power began to retreat to the north. However, in the eastern part of the Campania Plain, there were still a few Etruscan city-states led by Caua and Cesara.
After joining the Campania Alliance, Capua had once fought with Naples for the leadership of the alliance. However, 20 years ago, after the Samonians captured Capua, the alliance had always been dominated by Naples.
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