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Chapter 715

Therefore, Antium was an important target for him to lead Legio III to land and raid. The reason why he attacked Astura first was that he needed a port to safely unload the siege equipment on the ships.

Before dawn, Lizaru left only two thousand soldiers to guard Atlas City and led six thousand soldiers to the port of Naples City. They boarded the cargo ships that had been prepared in advance, and under the protection of the Third Fleet commanded by Mithrades, they landed on the coast near Astura City at dawn.

More than 6,000 soldiers attacked the small city of Astura, which was guarded by only 120 Rome soldiers, and easily occupied it.

Then, Legio III marched north almost without stopping and arrived at Antium in just over half an hour.

In Antium, there were four Rome platoons and a supply team, which only amounted to 700 soldiers. But they had to defend this not-so-small town, and it seemed like they did not have enough soldiers.

In front of the city, Lizaru completely spread out the siege formation composed of 5,500 soldiers. When the siege equipment arrived, he immediately let the soldiers carry ladders, push the siege vehicles, and shield carriages … From the south, north, and east, they launched an all-out attack on Antium.

Just as the defenders of Rome were doing their best to defend, the Third Fleet led by Millades broke into the port from the south. 500 Legio III soldiers boarded warships and forcefully landed at the port.

Lizaru's move was completely out of the expectations of the defenders of Rome. They had never seen such a tactical combination of land and sea, so they did not set up defenses at the port at all. Of course, they did not have more manpower to defend. But this was a subject that the legions of the Kingdom of Diónia would train from time to time in the barracks, and they were very familiar with it.

After the soldiers of Diónia went ashore, they quickly rushed south and quickly occupied the almost undefended southern city wall that was connected to the port.

The defenders of Rome were defeated …

At dusk, when Quintus and Frius arrived with their troops, they left behind an empty city.

The sailors of the Diónia Legio III and the Third Fleet moved all the food and supplies stored in the city onto the cargo ships that were already prepared.

At the same time, Camillus and Lysinius had already led the remaining troops to dismantle the camp and began to retreat north.

That night, after learning that the Roman army had retreated, the people of Polevernham and Setia cheered for their victory. The higher-ups of the Wolsey Alliance hosted a banquet in Polevernham for Amyntas, Printos, and other senior officers of the First Legion of Diónia to thank them for their contribution in rescuing Wolsey. At the same time, they also hoped that the Dionysian Army could continue to help Wolsey recapture the territory occupied by Rome.

Amyntas, who had been criticized by the Devers in the letter, had learned his lesson this time. He answered cautiously, "Diónia is very willing to help the Volsci to regain their lost territory. However, if the Romans are heavily garrisoned in the cities that they have occupied, we will need more soldiers to attack the cities if we want to take them back. I'm sure you're aware of the current situation in the Kingdom of Diónia. Due to the drought and food shortage, we can't send out more troops. So, for the time being, we can only try our best! … "

The Volsci expressed their understanding.

Despite this small interlude, the atmosphere of the banquet was still very warm, and everyone returned home with a good time.

… …

The next day, the troops led by Camillus and Lysinius arrived in Antium.

Here, the four military and political officials had another small dispute.

Since yesterday, Quintus and Frius had received news from the port sentries that the Dionysian fleet was cruising the sea outside the port, blocking the cargo ships that came to the port.

This made the two military officials, who had never experienced this before, feel helpless and nervous. They stood on the southern wall and looked out of the port. The huge fleet formed by hundreds of Diónia warships covered the entire sea, giving them unprecedented pressure. Therefore, the two of them believed that Antium was too far from Rome, and at the same time, it was constantly facing the threat of the Dionysian fleet. They also had to prevent the landing of the Diónia soldiers. This would tie up too many of Rome's forces, and it was really unnecessary! It was better to give up Antium and focus on defending the cities of Villeti and Saturnicum in the east. This way, they could get rid of the threat of Diónia's navy, and Rome could provide support at any time.

Lysinius clearly expressed his opposition. He believed that the Senate had already passed a resolution to make Antium, Villeti, and Saturnicum as colonies of Rome. It was decided that the landless civilians would be moved to these three cities. Except for a part of the land that would be used as public land in Rome, the rest of the land would be distributed to the citizens. If they gave up Antium without permission, they would probably be criticized and attacked by the citizens of Rome.

At this moment, Camillus also said that this matter must be approved by the Senate. As a military official, he could not make decisions on his own.

In the end, the matter was put on hold. The four reached an agreement: Lysinius would lead 10,000 soldiers to guard Antium, and the other three military officials would lead the main force to retreat to Saturnicum.

As the Wolsey coalition was not strong enough to launch an attack on the former Wolsey towns that were heavily guarded by Rome, the war between Rome and Wolsey returned to peace for the time being.

But in Rome, it began to become restless.

The deaths and injuries of tens of thousands of Rome's militia and allied soldiers shocked the people of the city. The last time such a large number of casualties occurred was during the battle with the Celts on the Aria River ten years ago. Ten years had passed. When the people of Rome, who were used to victory, saw the cremated remains of the dead citizens being transported back to Rome, almost all of them fell into grief.

Some of the relatives of the dead scolded: The military officials who led the army were incompetent. How could they let Rome suffer such a huge defeat when they had the absolute advantage?!

Some people who knew the inside story complained loudly: They should not have provoked the powerful Kingdom of Diónia. Otherwise, they would not have paid such a huge sacrifice!

Of course, there were also arrogant people who clamored: They should not have let the Diónia emissary go. Otherwise, they could have used his head as a sacrifice for the soldiers who lost their lives! Rome should reorganize a powerful army and launch another attack on the Wolsey region. They should completely wipe out the Wolsey and Diónia people there to avenge their dead citizens!

Compared to the citizens in the city who were filled with anger and grief, the landless civilians were relieved when they heard that Antium had been recovered and that the Woersi had stopped their attacks. After the Senate announced the resolution to distribute the conquered Wolsey land to them, they eagerly waited for the proposal to be implemented.

In the Senate of Rome, a meeting was being held. Except for Licinius, who was still stationed in Antium, all the other senators were present. They listened attentively to Camillus, Quintus, and Frius, the three military officials who had returned to Rome, narrating the whole process of the war.

Camillus was the first to narrate. He first received the order from the Senate and led his army to Tustrom to quell the rebellion. He talked about how he found out that Tustrom had no intention of rebelling. They even offered hundreds of hostages and re-signed the alliance agreement with Rome. On the way back, he received another order from the Senate to go south to support Quintus and speed up the conquest of the Wolsey region. So he and Frius led a rapid march and successfully raided the city of Antium. Then they quickly attacked south and arrived at the city of Setia. Because of the arrival of the Wolsey reinforcements, they had to stop and set up camp to wait for Quintus's troops. But because he did not know the arrival of the Dionysian Army, he did not withdraw his army in time. He did not expect the Diónia to attack the army dozens of miles away, forcing him to lead his troops out of camp to provide support. In the end, under the pincer attack of the Wolsey and the Diónia, they suffered a crushing defeat …

Quintus recounted that he and Licinius led the army to capture Villetree and defeated the Wolsey reinforcements. They then went south to rendezvous with Camillus's troops. After that, they attacked Setia several times. Finally, because the Wolsey crossed the swamp area and bypassed the scouts, they suddenly appeared on the battlefield and suffered a defeat. Just as they were about to launch another attack on Setia, the Diónia took their ships and went around the rear of the army to capture the defenseless Antium. Because the food supply route was threatened, and they were worried that Rome and the surrounding territories would be attacked by the Diónia, they led their troops to retreat.

Frius's narration was more of a confirmation and supplement of the facts that the two military officials had told him before. For example, he mentioned that Camillus had opposed the direct attack on Setia and had another battle plan. At the same time, he also mentioned that the retreat of the army was Camillus's first proposal …

The three of them finished narrating the course of the war. At the beginning, the elders were excited because of the continuous victories, but at the end, they were shocked and depressed because of the sudden reversal of the situation. Most of them could not remain calm and were whispering to each other, discussing non-stop.

At this time, a senator named Apuleius stood up and loudly criticized, "In this war, the first reason why we, Rome, lost is because of Camillus! If he had not rashly led his army out of the camp, he could not defeat the Diónia in time even though he had the advantage in numbers, causing us to suffer a crushing defeat in the end. Not only did we lose many brave citizens, but it also affected the morale of the remaining soldiers and encouraged the arrogance of the Wolsey, giving them the courage to resist the attack of our army in the next battle, causing us to suffer another defeat … So, in view of Camillus's mistakes in command and the huge losses caused to Rome in this war, I think the Senate should give Camillus a severe punishment, and should also consider whether he still needs to serve as a military official. "