Chapter 852
The horror of the Dionysian Army finally made them realize that once Rome was completely destroyed, then Diónia would be able to completely free up its hands to focus on Carthage! And now the Senate was still in a dispute, wasting precious time!
So they gathered and strongly appealed to the Senate: While the main force of Diónia was still in Latin, they should immediately send an army to land in Sicily, defeat the army of Diónia, completely occupy the whole of Sicily, and gain the upper hand in the overall war situation.
Under the circumstances of the agitated crowd, Hanno did not dare to obstruct, and the Senate finally decided to "recruit no less than 60,000 troops from Carthage and its surrounding areas as soon as possible and hand them over to Margo, the military commander of Carthage."
Margo, who was far away in the south of the Iberian Peninsula, also realized the urgency of the war situation, and also hastened to gather and form new troops.
… …
In fact, there was no need for Tapirus to urge Wolsey and the Helniki, as soon as the army of Rome left the Tullus Valley, they had already begun to take action.
The tribes of Helniki who had fled into the mountains gathered and began to attack the Roman soldiers who occupied the territory. The focus of their attack was the city of Forentirum. The former central town of the Helniki was built in the mountains, which brought great difficulties to the Roman siege. In order to quickly end the war in Helniki, Camillus had to withdraw a large number of young and middle-aged citizens from Rome and its allies, thus leaving the city of Rome and its surrounding areas defenseless. The Devers seized this favorable opportunity to finally reverse the situation in Latin.
The army led by Camillus retreated in a hurry, but considering the difficulty of capturing Forentirum and the importance of its location, he left 2,000 Roman soldiers to guard it.
However, the Roman army had attacked the city many times, and the battles were very fierce, causing the walls of the city to be in ruins. Before the Roman soldiers who stayed behind could repair the city, the attack of the Helniki had already arrived.
Most of them used the cover of the mountains and trees at night and early in the morning to approach the city walls. Some even sneaked into the city and launched a sudden attack. Once the people of Rome gathered their troops and prepared to fight them head-on, they would immediately flee the city. The Roman army, which was not good at fighting in the mountains, would be ambushed by the Helniki if they chased after them.
After suffering a few losses, the Rome could only defend the city, but the Hernici's attacks did not stop. Although they did not cause many casualties to the Rome, they put a lot of psychological pressure on the Roman soldiers, so they could not get enough rest.
After the defense of Rome, the Helniki shifted the focus of their attack to the Roman supply caravan that was transporting supplies to Forentirum. Since the main force of Rome had withdrawn from the area, there were not many troops left to protect the caravan. As a result, the supply caravan was repeatedly attacked by the Helniki and could not be delivered to Forentirum.
The food supply was decreasing day by day, weapons could not be replenished, and the Roman army was constantly attacked by the Helniki. Without reinforcements, the Roman army lost confidence. On the day that the army of Rome was forced to disband, the Roman army also chose to retreat from Forentirum.
After retreating, the Roman soldiers discovered that Forentirum was not the only city that was being attacked by the Helniki. The other Helniki towns were also being attacked to varying degrees, especially the small barracks built along the river. Due to their small number of soldiers and weak defenses, they became the main targets of the Helniki.
The Roman army had already seen several burnt barracks on the way back. Other surviving barracks and the defenders of the neighboring towns joined the retreating army.
The army kept retreating to the north and finally retreated to the city of Signia near the Latin Alliance's Tolerum (Tolerium), giving up most of the Helniki land that they had painstakingly occupied.
… …
The Volsci, on the other hand, began to gather their warriors after the Diónia army attacked Rome and the Roman army stationed in the southwest went to rescue them. They wanted to recapture the territory occupied by the Roman army. However, unlike the Helniki, Rome had already colonized the three Volsci towns of Antium, Saturnicum, and Villette, as well as the surrounding territories. The new residents of Rome naturally resisted with all their might.
The Volsci, who had been severely weakened after many wars, could only muster about 6,000 warriors. They also lacked siege weapons. They attacked Antium several times, but they were all repelled. They were unable to recapture their towns. When they learned that the Roman army was stationed in Saturnicum again, they had no choice but to retreat.
Therefore, when the Volsci leaders met Tapirus, they all asked for the strong support of their ally, Diónia.
Tapirus promised them that as long as the Volsci cooperated fully with His Majesty the King of Devers, Diónia would definitely help the Volsci regain all their territories.
Therefore, the Volsci listened to Tapirus' suggestion and changed their attack strategy. They no longer attacked the territories of Antium and Saturnicum head-on. Instead, they retreated their main force from Astura, which was very close to Antium, to Setia, and waited for an opportunity to strike.
… …
Gabii, the most important city in the eastern part of Latin, was located about 30 miles southeast of Rome, not far from the west bank of the Rio River, a tributary of the Tiber River. It had become an ally of Rome decades ago and had never betrayed Rome, but this time, its loyalty to Rome was tested.
As an emissary of Diónia, Publius came to Gabii, hoping that it could break away from the Latin Alliance of Rome and form an alliance with the Kingdom of Diónia.
The Senate of Gabii debated the matter for a day. In the end, the Gabii nobles were worried about the way Diónia dealt with the nobles of Rome, so they rejected Diónia's request and drove Publius out of the city. At the same time, they sent people to the west to ask Camillus for help.
Sure enough, on the next day, the army of Diónia appeared under the city of Gabii. It was still under Printos's command. It was still the Second Legion, Legio VI, the Lucania Reserve Legion, the Rome Reserve Legion, the First Cavalry Legion, and an engineering team of 500 people, totaling more than 30,000 people.
The Gabii closed the four gates tightly. All the young and strong citizens in the city were armed with spears and went to the top of the city, ready to defend against the attack of the Diónia.
However, Printos did not immediately order an attack. Instead, he ordered the soldiers to start building the camp.
… …
In the early morning of the next day, Camillus, who had received the news, led 12,000 Rome soldiers and rushed to Tustrón.
Tustrón was located to the north of Lake Albalonga, on the edge of Tustrón Mountain, about 40 miles south of the city of Rome. Since Albalonga was destroyed by Rome, it had become the most important city in the central part of the Latin region.
Most of the Latin city-states and tribes in the eastern, central, and western part of the Latin region also responded to Camillus's call and sent their troops to gather in Tustrón. Thus, the number of troops in Camillus's hands soared to 21,000.
In the Rome camp outside Tustrón, the generals of Rome were gathered in a large tent to discuss the current war situation and the next military plan.
At this time, the dictator of Rome, Camillus, was different from the high-spirited image he had when he conquered Ferentinum. His face was sallow, and his skin was loose and drooping. His whole body was leaning against a wooden chair, and there was a servant standing on both sides of the wooden chair, ready to support him at any time.
He closed his eyes and listened to the report about the enemy. "These days, the Dionysian Army has been building the camp and has not attacked Gabi City. However, they are constantly bombarding the walls of Gabi City with ballistae … The Gabii have sent a messenger to ask us for help again …"
"Sir Dictator, the Dionysian army has not attacked the city for the past few days, but they have been building a camp. Furthermore, the camp was built on the west side of Gabi City. They are obviously guarding against us," Mejus said in a deep voice.
"We have led the army to Tustrón, and the momentum is too big. We can't hide it from the people of Diónia. It's normal for them to be on guard. According to the report of the cavalry scouts, the Dionysian Army outside Gabi City has tens of thousands of people, and we also have to pay attention to the army of Diónia in Rome — "
Before Licinius could finish speaking, he heard Quintus shouting angrily, "Just because Diónia has a lot of people, and because they are not attacking the city, we should not attack and even retreat?! Hmm! Licinius, are you afraid?! You should not stay here. You should be like the civilians of Rome and surrender to the people of Diónia — "
"Enough, Quintus, watch your words! Sir Dictator has repeatedly reminded us that we are now in a difficult situation. We must unite to defeat the people of Diónia and retake Rome! "Aulus reminded loudly.
Quintus snorted and stared at Licinius, but he did not speak.
Licinius simply turned around and looked out of the tent.
At this time, Camillus opened his eyes. Compared to his weak voice, his eyes seemed much more spirited, "I sent someone to inform the army that stayed in Signia to come here and meet us. How is it going?"
"… They are already on their way," Lucius said with a trembling voice.
Comments