Chapter 795
"That's great!" Lizaru hammered his fist on Midolades' chest and said sincerely, "Thank you for your trust, Midolades!"
"This is all for Diónia!" Midolades replied with a straight face.
"Don't worry, I won't let the infantrymen of the fleet suffer great losses!" Lizaru also made a promise, then said to the adjutant, "Quick, get Uraza here!"
He planned to let Uraza take his place to command the entire Legio III to attack the south coast of Rome, while he himself would lead the two infantry battalions that stayed behind to guard the camp and two thousand infantrymen of the Third Fleet to fight against the reinforcements from Rome. After all, with his identity as the commander of the legion, it would be easier for the infantrymen of the fleet to accept his command.
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Wei 'ai, a town built by the Etruscans, was located on the north coast of the middle reaches of the Tiber River, about forty miles northeast of the city of Rome. It was one of the twelve allied cities of Etruria. Ever since the city of Rome was built, it had been a great enemy of the people of Rome. Both sides fought for the control of the land on both sides of the middle reaches of the Tiber River, and there had been many wars in the past hundred years.
The people of Rome went from being passive in the beginning to winning and losing, to gaining the upper hand. Finally, more than twenty years ago, after a ten-year siege, the army led by Camillus broke through the city of Wei 'ai. Due to hatred and interests, the people of Rome killed all the people of Wei' ai who could resist, captured the women and children as slaves, and completely occupied the land of Wei 'ai, turning it into a colonial town of Rome.
Not long after, due to the fierce conflict between the nobles of Rome and the civilians, most of the civilians left Rome in anger and settled in Wei 'ai. Then, the Celts invaded and occupied the city of Rome. Camillus gathered the Romans and the Latins to drive out the Celts. After that, the nobles and commoners of Rome reconciled and rebuilt the city of Rome. Many commoners of Rome who had settled in Venus also returned.
In order to prevent Venus from once again becoming a refuge for the commoners of Rome and the nobles, thereby weakening the strength of Rome itself, the Senate passed a bill to designate the fertile land to the south of Venus near the Tiber River as the public land of Rome. Thus, this large Etruscan city, which had a population similar to that of Rome and was even more prosperous than Rome, became a medium-sized colonial city of Rome.
Since the residents of Venus were all citizens of Rome, after they vigorously responded to the first call of enlistment from Rome (which was to follow Camillus in attacking the Hernici), they once again squeezed out more than five hundred people to come to the rescue when they heard that the city of Rome was under attack.
In addition to Venus sending troops to the rescue of Rome, there was also Caisra, which was also one of the twelve Etruscan city-states. It was located on a hill about fourteen miles from the sea, nearly sixty miles from the north bank of the Tiber River. Because of its iron mines and the production of high-quality pottery, it enjoyed a good reputation in central northern Italy, which made the city prosperous and wealthy.
Moreover, this city-state was very good at getting along with other forces. When most of the Etruscan city-states had a tense relationship with Rome, it maintained a good relationship with Rome. When the Celts invaded and their own city was destroyed, the Caisra people sheltered many of the people of Rome who fled from the fall of Rome in various mountain villages in the territory. Therefore, when Rome recovered its strength and began to attack the Etruscan territories in the north, they were grateful for the kindness of the Caisra people and did not invade their territory. Instead, they invited Caisra to join the Rome Alliance.
At the same time, the relationship between the Caisra people and the Greeks was also very good. It was one of the few non-Greek cities that had a Sacred Treasury in Delphi (Delphi generally did not allow non-Greek city-states to have a Sacred Treasury), which was very surprising.
This time, in order to rescue their leader, Rome, Caisra had also sent more than 500 soldiers.
In addition, there were two reinforcements from the Etruscan Alliance. They were Volch and Tarchna. They were also two city-states that were close to the coast but built their cities on the mountains. They had very Etruscan characteristics. They were rich in mineral resources and also had a large port and prosperous sea trade.
Volch, in particular, had become the sea trade center of the entire west coast of the Italian peninsula as early as a hundred years ago. Its pottery, bronze, and wine were even exported as far as the eastern Mediterranean Sea. Not only was it once a maritime power, but it also controlled many Etruscan tribes and small towns around it on land.
Tarchna, on the other hand, had a feud with Rome, just like Vei. As early as a hundred years ago, it had supported the overthrown King of Rome, Tarchna, against Rome. However, these two powerful city-states had declined in the past few decades because of the continuous southern invasion of the Celts and the harassment of Rome. More than a decade ago, the Celts had invaded these two cities, causing them to suffer heavy losses. The city fell, and the people were plundered.
Before they could recover from the war, Rome, who had driven away the Celts and received strong support from Carthage, once again invaded their territory. After suffering successive defeats in the battle, the people of these two cities had no choice but to surrender.
Rome divided part of the territory of these two cities and established two colonial cities, Sutrium and Cosa, as strongholds for Rome to control the southern part of Etruria. At the same time, Rome also monitored the movements of these two cities. So this time, when Rome sent messengers to ask for help, the two cities also sent reinforcements.
Of course, there were also reinforcements from Sutrium and Cosa, totaling more than 2,000 people. Including the soldiers sent by other Etruscan tribes and towns that had surrendered to Rome, there were more than 4,000 people in total.
The reinforcements from Vei, Caesrella, Volci, and other towns gathered one after another. There were still a few soldiers arriving later, but they received a report from their spies that Diónia was attacking Rome in a hurry. The situation did not allow them to wait here, especially when the citizens of Rome in Vei kept clamoring to rush to the rescue. So the leading generals from the colonial city of Rome and the city-state of Etruria quickly reached an agreement. They led their respective public militias and dragged their feet towards the bridge of Rome.
When they were two to three miles away from the Diónia camp, they received another report from their spies: about 4,000 Diónia soldiers were marching quickly towards them!
When the generals heard this, their reaction was the same as Paulus's. They were all taken aback. Weren't the people of Diónia attacking the city with all their might? Why are there still enough soldiers left to fight us in the field?
But time was running out, and they did not have much time to think. They hurriedly began to set up the formation.
More than 4,000 Rome reinforcements came from many Etruscan city-states, tribes, and the colonial city of Rome. It took a lot of effort just to determine the affiliation of each troop and arrange the positions of the formation. So before the entire formation of the army was spread out, the Dionysian Army appeared in their sight.
The army led by Lizaru had 2,000 fleet infantrymen and a light armor brigade, so they moved relatively quickly. Only a heavy infantry brigade was slightly behind.
When they arrived at the battlefield, Lizaru found that the Rome reinforcements did not expect the Dionysian Army to attack, so they were not prepared in advance. The whole army was still in a mess. How could he let go of such a good opportunity? Before the heavy infantry brigade arrived, he gave the order to attack: the fleet infantrymen would attack the left side of the enemy, and the light armor brigade would attack the right side of the enemy, leaving the front open for the heavy infantry brigade who arrived later.
Although these two troops were not heavy infantry, according to the report from the cavalry scouts, the number of heavy infantry in the Roman reinforcements was far less than half of the Roman reinforcements (the elite militia had been recruited to attack the Helniki). Therefore, Lizaru firmly believed that these two well-trained troops could completely suppress the enemy with their attacks and hold on until the heavy infantry brigade arrived.
The bugle for the attack was blown. The two troops that were originally arranged in a battle column, in the process of advancing at a slower speed, quickly left the long column behind and became a horizontal line. After that, they did not need to change their positions anymore and began to advance at a faster speed.
The weapons and equipment of the fleet infantrymen and the light armor brigade were actually the same. They all had leather helmets, leather armor, leather shields, and short swords. The biggest difference was the size of the leather shields and the javelins. As the light armor brigade was fighting on land, the leather shields were larger, and they also carried two javelins like the heavy infantry brigade. As the fleet infantrymen were fighting on the sea, in order to better maintain their balance, the leather shields were smaller, and they did not carry javelins.
However, this time, as the heavy infantry of Legio III had to climb up the embankment through the Raven Warship to attack, it was not convenient for them to throw the javelins. Therefore, they had to stay in the camp. Before Lizaru gathered the troops to go out of the camp to face the enemy, he asked the fleet infantrymen to carry the javelins. Although they did not use the javelins in the battle on the sea, they were often trained to use them during their daily training. This was because the javelin throwing was one of the four killing skills that the Diónia infantry had to master. The other three were Hand-to-Hand Combat, Shield-wielding and Shield-wielding.
The rapid approach of the Dionysian Army forced the Rome reinforcements to be unable to smoothly spread out their formation. Of course, they could not shrink into a group and be attacked passively. Therefore, the bugle for the attack was blown, and the generals of the various reinforcements led the troops of their respective cities to rush towards the approaching Dionysian Army.
The distance between the two sides, which was originally a few hundred meters, was quickly closed in amidst the battle cries.
"Javelins! Javelins! Javelins! " Amidst the shouts of the commanders, the Diónia fleet infantrymen and light armor brigade quickly stopped in their tracks. They quickly threw two rounds of javelins, interrupting the momentum of the enemy's charge, causing the enemy's formation to become more chaotic. Then, they shouted the name of Hades and rushed towards the enemy …
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