Chapter 714
Just as the Rome soldiers gave the order to retreat, the bugle sounded for the Wolsey reinforcements to attack.
When the Satian citizens heard the bugle, their confidence was boosted.
Since the Roman army used the platoon as a tactical unit, the organization of the army was not too disorganized during the siege. However, most of the Roman soldiers were heavy infantry. They did not prepare javelins, arrows, and stones. Moreover, there were many gaps in the wall. They stood on the top of the wall to defend, and they could not do much to stop the Roman army. So, the Rome soldiers hurriedly organized their troops and rushed to the gaps in the city wall. Before they could form a defensive formation, the Wolsey reinforcements poured in through the gap in the west wall.
The physically weak and disorganized Roman army did not manage to hold on for long before they were disrupted by the energetic Wolsey warriors. They took advantage of the situation and swarmed into the city, attacking the retreating Roman soldiers fiercely.
The Rome soldiers were defeated and scrambled to escape from Satia.
The Wolsey reinforcements chased after them until the Rome soldiers fled into the barracks.
Fortunately, Camillus saw the opportunity in time and ordered the troops in the south to retreat to the barracks in an orderly manner. When the northern troops retreated, he sent out another army to stop the pursuers. Otherwise, the Wolsey soldiers would have rushed into the barracks.
On this day, the Rome army failed to besiege the city. They suffered more than 4,000 casualties. On the other hand, Setia's defenders had also suffered heavy casualties. Close to ten thousand Setia citizens had died.
The First Legion of Diónia was tasked with the task of restraining the defenders of the Rome barracks. They did not suffer any casualties, but the Wolsey officials in Polevernam thanked Amyntas and Printos. They had followed the strategy proposed by the Diónia and defeated the powerful Rome soldiers. While they were celebrating the victory, they were also confident in the next step of the battle plan proposed by Amyntas.
… …
The failure of the siege had cast a shadow over the entire Rome barracks, but Quintus' determination to take over Satia did not waver. He insisted on launching another attack on Satia the next day.
Camillus did not object to this, because he knew very well that although the Vorsi had won again, the gap in strength between the two sides had not changed much. Moreover, after today's fierce battle, Satia had already suffered heavy losses and was struggling at death's door. Even if there were a few thousand more reinforcements, they would only be a piece of fat meat in the mouth of the tens of thousands of Roman soldiers who had lost the advantage of the city defense. Moreover, they could also take the opportunity to reduce the number of Vorsi's reinforcements. Therefore, continuing to attack and not giving the enemy a chance to breathe was the right strategy.
While supporting Quintus's plan to attack the city, Camillus also reminded the three military governors to strengthen the reconnaissance of the surroundings and expand the scope of the reconnaissance to prevent dangerous situations like today where the enemy's reinforcements were already in front of them before they were discovered.
Everyone agreed with Quintus' suggestion. However, Frius and Licinius were in favor of Camillus' other suggestion, which was to "hope that the military and political officers would go down to the various squadrons to encourage the soldiers and boost their morale." Only Quintus did not express his opinion.
The next morning, the horn to assemble in the Rome barracks was blown. The neatly dressed Roman soldiers came out of their tents. There was no sign of the frustration of yesterday's defeat on their faces. Instead, they showed the excitement of going to war. The attitude of the citizens of Rome towards battle was evident.
Just as the soldiers were lining up, the military officials in the tent who were about to set off received a piece of bad news.
"Astura is under attack?!" Frius' eyes widened in surprise when he heard the news. He angrily interrupted the messenger, "What are our scouts doing?! The Wolsey soldiers have bypassed us again to attack the rear! We didn't even know! — "
"Military Officer Frius," the messenger reminded him loudly, "They are not Wolsey soldiers. They might be from Diónia! The enemies are all wearing black armor. There are about five or six thousand of them in a huge fleet. They have landed on the beach near Astura. "
"When I was ordered to come here to report, they had already begun to attack Astura! Four governors, please send reinforcements as soon as possible! There is only one platoon in Astura. It is impossible to resist the attack of so many enemies! "The messenger anxiously pleaded.
Camillus, Quintus, Licinius, and Frius looked at each other with grave expressions.
Naval attacks, landing operations … These Rome generals may have only heard of such tactics, but they had never seen them in person. Although Rome had the port of Ostia, it had few warships and had never used them in battle. Since the founding of Rome, it had always been a landlocked city-state. It had always fought on land and had never carried out a landing operation against its enemies. After all, the enemies in the past were the same as Rome. They did not have a navy at all. Even Camillus did not have this concept in his mind.
Therefore, they led their army and pushed the Wolsey soldiers to the south of the Latin region. The occupied Wolsey towns were surrounded by the Latin Alliance. The military officials did not leave too many soldiers to defend because they thought the rear was basically safe.
Only then did they realize that the enemy Rome had just provoked not only had a strong army, but also a strong navy! The coastline of the Latin region was under the control of the Dionysian fleet.
The messenger's request immediately made Camillus and Licinius' expression change. They shouted in unison, "Antium! We must rescue Antium! "
Astura was only defended by a squadron, and it was a small city. It was impossible to resist the attack of thousands of Diónia soldiers. Even if Astura was lost, the impact on the Roman army would not be too great. However, Antium, which was also a Wolsey coastal town less than ten miles to the north of Astura, was very important to the Roman army. This important town in the northwest of Cornwall had a large port. After the Roman army captured it, it was used as a transit station for military supplies. The rations collected by the Romans were transported through the Tiber River to the port of Ostia, which was located at the mouth of the river. Then, they were transported by ship to Antium, and finally, they were transported by land to the Roman camp. This method saved a lot of time and labor, and facilitated the transportation of rations.
Because of the importance of Antium, Camillus had left four Rome squadrons here, as well as a transport team. However, he did not expect the enemy to launch a surprise attack from the sea. Hence, the number of troops he had was too little compared to the number of enemies. If the Dionians captured Antium, the Roman camp would suffer from a shortage of food supplies.
There was a moment of silence in the tent. Quintus finally said in a dry voice, "We should temporarily stop the siege and send troops to rescue Antium!" Quintus finally made such a decision. He was in a very bad mood because the siege was about to begin, but it was suddenly interrupted.
But what Camillus said next shocked everyone. "I think we should stop the attack on the Wolsey and withdraw our troops back to Rome!"
The three military officials looked at him in surprise. Camillus said with a solemn expression, "The Dionysian fleet is very powerful. They can carry the land troops of Diónia to land on any flat beach along the coastline of Latin. Today they attack Antium, tomorrow they may attack our Latin ally, Adi, the day after tomorrow they may attack our important port of Ostia. Even if the Diónia are not satisfied with only attacking the coastal towns, they will advance inland and attack our Latin allies and colonial cities, destroying our villages and fields! The Dionysian Army is very strong, but our main force is here. The city of Rome and the surrounding areas are empty! "
"But … but, Diónia is suffering from a drought. They can't send more troops!" Frius said hoarsely.
"Yesterday afternoon, a Diónia army was fighting with us. Today, a Diónia army appeared on the coastline dozens of miles behind us. They can't be the same army! Then, with a second Dionysian Army, there may be a third Dionysian Army! And we … "Camillus stared at the three of them and said in a deep voice," Do you dare to take this risk with the safety of Rome and the people?! "
The three of them were nervous and fell silent for a moment.
Among the four military and political officials, Quintus was born a great noble, Camillus and Frius were born a small noble, and Licinius was born a commoner. They had different living habits and political ideals, but they had one thing in common: they all loved Rome and did not want to put their home, which had already experienced a disaster, in danger again!
Therefore, they quickly put aside their own interests and reached an agreement: Quintus and Frius would lead 12,000 people to rescue Antium immediately, while Camillus and Licinius would lead nearly 30,000 soldiers to clean up the camp, escort the supplies and wounded soldiers, and retreat safely back to Rome.
… …
After Lizaru received the letter from the Devers, he began to pay attention to the Volsci region, which was not far from the Campania region.
Soon, he received a letter from Amyntas asking for his help.
The news that there were frequent cargo ships carrying food between Antium and the port of Ostia had long been seen by the Campanian merchants active on the west coast of Italy. Naturally, the news soon reached Lizaru's ears.
At his request, a report from the intelligence department about the general distribution of enemy forces in the Volsci region was sent to him.
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