Rome Must Fall

"I will convey all your suggestions to the Archon, and I believe he will adopt your opinions. However, you also have to-"

"Don't worry, I will win this battle for the consul!" Antonius threw away the branch in his hand, looked at the battlefield ahead, and said confidently.

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Aulus stood on the hillside, behind him were the soldiers of the Third Legion arrayed in array.

When Maximus's order was issued, Carminus led the third legion to advance alongside the second legion. But after the second legion fought with the enemy, the third legion stayed where it was, maintaining its formation unchanged.

More than half an hour later, the Second Army's front line, which was originally at the same level, has moved forward a lot. The sight of the soldiers of the Second Army pressing down on the enemy made the soldiers of the Third Army, who were still a little uneasy, feel reassured. , and their roars of fighting the enemy bravely aroused the blood of the soldiers of the Third Legion who were watching the battle. The calls for battle continued, giving Carminus a headache.

Fortunately, most of the officers of the Third Legion were Roman veterans (after Maximus’ army was stationed in Sarapia, Aulus sent people to Apulia and Calabria to invite some people who were living in poverty and were interested in Rome. A former comrade with a grudge joined the team), and they worked hard to stabilize the emotions of the soldiers under their command.

Carminus also asked Aulus to stand at the front of the queue and issued an order: Anyone who dares to cross Aulus's position will be punished by military law!

As a veteran of many years of fighting, Onis would not hesitate to suggest that Carminus command the army to attack the enemy's flanks who were fighting the Second Army if he found a chance of victory. The reason why the Third Army has stood still until now is not entirely because of Maximus's order, but more importantly because of another enemy army not far behind the fighting Roman army.

At this moment, the Roman army that Aulus saw, whose outline could only be seen due to the distance, began to change, and it began to become clearer...

It was finally coming... Aulus was not nervous but excited from the bottom of his heart. He turned around and saw that most of the soldiers behind him had burning eyes.

He nodded secretly: the morale of the soldiers was good, and they occupied a certain geographical advantage (the Third Army's array was diagonally forward, extending to the height of the hill where it was difficult to walk, which would give a condescending advantage to the enemy's attack). Of course, there are also flaws. In order to occupy the best possible location and prevent the enemy from being able to easily detour, the Third Army elongated the array, so the thickness of the array is thinner, and the weapons and equipment of the soldiers in the back row are not as good as those of the opponent...

But Aulus knew that the oncoming Roman army was the one that had previously defeated Attumus's army upriver. After marching long distances and fighting continuously, how much physical strength did they still have? ...So in this battle, the Third Army has a chance to win!

This Roman army obviously learned the lessons of the Hui army. It formed a formation in the distance, first marched towards the hill, and then began to turn left as a whole, so that the entire line faced the third army of the rebel army in the east... …The process was extremely slow and chaotic, with multiple stops to reorganize the array.

Finally, the Roman army began to advance towards the Third Legion.

In Aulus's sharp gaze: the phalanxes of the various Roman armies were inconsistent and in scattered formations. The Roman soldiers were in a state of lethargy and loose posture. From time to time, someone could be seen tripping over rocks...the shouts and curses of the officers in the military formations. Always.

Aulus was determined, and he was more confident in winning, and turned back to the rear of the army.

At the same time, the shouts of "get ready to fight" from the team officers resounded throughout the entire array, and then the soldiers of the Third Legion who were sitting on the ground resting stood up one after another, raised their shields, gripped their daggers, and stared with nervousness and excitement. The enemy is approaching step by step.

There was no javelin throwing (the Roman army's javelins had been thrown out in the battle upstream), and no charge (because the grassy and bushy hills were not conducive to running), the Roman army slowly approached, and then the shouts of killing rose into the sky. , soldiers on both sides raised their long shields and thrust out their short swords, and splashes of blood continued to appear in the entangled array...

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"Chief Maximus, the Roman army that just retreated to the other side of the river has begun to attack again. They are also followed by the military law team. It seems that they are going to use all their strength! Moreover, they have also separated a force and are preparing to go along the river. The westward advance should be as we predicted before - we want to attack the left wing of the First Army!" Frontinus, who went to the northern defense line to observe the enemy's movements, shouted loudly before he could return to Maximus. road.

Due to his preparation in advance, Maximus was still calm. He turned around and said: "Pecot, it's your turn to play!"

"Chief Maximus, wait a minute!" Quintus dissuaded: "If you send out the entire escort, you will have no soldiers. If there is any emergency, we will not be able to deal with it! "

Maximus hesitated for a moment, then heard Pecot say in a deep voice behind him: "Maximus, don't worry, I only need 500 people, those Romans will not even think about setting foot on the river bank!"

"500 people are a little less. You can bring 600 people." Maximus patted Pecot on the shoulder hard: "600 people have to hold a gap of more than 200 meters... I'm begging you!"

"Don't worry!" Pecot nodded firmly to Maximus, then looked at his teammates and shouted loudly: "Brothers, it's our turn to show our faces!"

"Roar!!!" The guards raised their arms and roared.

Most of the soldiers in the escort were brought over by Pecot from the collapse of Enomui's army. Maximus appointed them as his own escort. On the one hand, it was to win over people's hearts and on the other hand, it was also easier to manage. , after all, they were used to the indulgence of Enomui's army, and they must not have adapted to the strict military discipline of Maximus' army at first.

This is also true. They have caused some troubles in the past month, causing many soldiers of the three legions to always look at them with strange eyes, and privately call them "barbaric outsiders", which makes them feel uncomfortable in their hearts. He held his breath, always looking for opportunities to prove himself.

Watching the 600 well-equipped convoy soldiers rushing toward the northwest, Frontinus whispered: "The hounds that have been locked up for a month are finally out of the cage! I hope they can play their role..."

Maximus was a little uneasy, after all, the number of escorts was too small.

"If we just block the gap and defend the river bank, there should be no problem. I'm afraid that they are eager to make meritorious deeds and adopt aggressive offensive tactics, and end up chasing the enemy into the river..." Quintus' reminder made Maximus immediately make a decision Decision: "Akgo, you go and keep an eye on Pecot for me, and always remind him to stick to the river bank and not stay away!"

"yes!"

Seeing the attendants running away, Maximus subconsciously muttered to himself: "I wonder where the reinforcements led by Spartacus have arrived?"

Quintus and Frontinus looked at each other without answering. They could see Maximus' nervousness: In fact, a young man less than 20 years old could command such a large-scale decision. In a battle of life and death, in a battlefield where the sound of killing is loud and blood is everywhere, and all kinds of good and bad news are pouring in, he can still show such calmness. His performance is already quite good.

"Report to the leader, it's bad! The city of Mateninum has sent out troops!" A scout came galloping from the east.

Maximus's heart was violently clenched.

Frontinus asked first: "How many people are there? Infantry or cavalry?"

"About six to seven hundred people, all infantry."

Quintus then suggested: "Chief, this should be the city guard of Mateninum, which is not very powerful. Let the remaining guards and the cavalry of Hagux deal with it and strive for a quick victory. !”

Maximus took a deep breath, calmed down his emotions, then nodded to Quintus and began to issue orders.

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Sititus quietly opened the tent and cautiously looked outside.

"Hey, who asked you to come out! Go back to the tent, otherwise you will be the one to watch!" A middle-aged man with a spear spotted him from a distance and shouted sharply at him.

Sititus quickly retracted.

Several other blacksmiths in the tent immediately gathered around and asked in low voices: "What's going on outside now?"

"Did the Roman army win?"

"Are these traitors trying to escape?"

…

"Don't say anything, do you want to recruit the traitors?" Sititus glared, and the military tent immediately became quiet.

"I went out to take a look. The people guarding us in the camp are still there and have not relaxed." As soon as Sititus said these words, the people around him suddenly looked depressed.

"But -" Sititus raised his voice a bit: "I saw that there were no soldiers around the rebel leader outside the camp.

An old blacksmith who had served in the military when he was young said thoughtfully: "We have peeked at the rebel leader who has at least 1,000 soldiers around him. Now he may have gone to the east... Remember what we just heard from the east? Is that the sound of fighting? The city of Mateninum is in that direction.

"The Matenumites have sent out troops!"

"Not necessarily, it could also be that the Roman army landed at the port of Mateninum."

"No matter what, these rebels have been completely surrounded. They will soon be defeated by the Roman army, and we will be free soon!"

"You think too simply." Sititus said with a bitter smile: "When the Romans defeat the rebels, I am afraid that not only will we not be able to gain freedom, we may also be killed by them or become slaves."

"How can this be?!"

"Based on my experience as a soldier in the Roman army, this is very possible!" the old blacksmith said solemnly: "Once the rebels are defeated and the situation is chaotic, we will not have enough time to prove that we are not rebels, and the Romans do not have that It’s easiest to identify them patiently and kill them all.”

"Then... what should we do?" The other blacksmiths panicked.

"We can't just sit here and wait for the rebels to be defeated. We must rush out now! Rush out of the camp and run in the direction of Mateninum City. As long as we get there, we should be safe!" Sititus clenched his fists. , said in a deep voice.

"This is too dangerous! Even without the thousand-man escort, there are still hundreds of soldiers guarding this camp!"

"What kind of soldiers are those people? They are just some middle-aged and elderly laborers temporarily recruited by the rebels from their so-called 'supply camp'. They have no armor, no shields and daggers, and they just carry simple spears and wooden sticks. There is nothing to be afraid of." of!"

Sititus bent his arms and flexed his huge and strong muscles. The blacksmith had no shortage of strength. He encouraged them, "Besides, there are thousands of people in this camp. Most of us are Sarapias. Many of them are unwilling to join the rebels and are forced to come. At this moment, they probably have the same idea as us. What they lack is someone to stand up first. As long as we encourage them all, we can disrupt the entire camp and then we can easily escape!"

Several blacksmiths hesitated.

Finally, someone gritted his teeth and said, "You may die if you stay here, and you may die if you break out. Anyway, you may die. It's better to fight the rebels!"

When he said this, others also agreed.

After everyone reached a consensus, Sititus walked to the corner of the tent, where there was still a person lying.

Sititus kicked him and said rudely: "Kedos, get up quickly!"

Kedos slowly opened his eyes and asked in a daze: "Sititus, what's wrong?"

Sititus looked at him coldly: "Don't pretend to sleep, I believe you heard what we said just now, I just ask one question, do you want to work with us?"

"I..." Kaedos didn't want to go against the rebels. He knew very well that his situation was completely different from that of these blacksmiths. They were either Sarapians or free people. They used to earn a lot of money in the workshop with their blacksmith skills and lived a good life. Now they were forced to join the team by the rebels, and of course they felt resentful.

Although he was reused by his former master, he still couldn't change his lowly status as a slave. It was common for him to be bossed around by his master, scolded and beaten. He was used to it until the rebels occupied Sarapia and made him the workshop manager. They would discuss everything with him and even let him make the decision. For the first time in his life, he tasted freedom and respect. In his daily conversations with the rebels, he gradually realized that he and these rebel soldiers were on the same path! But why did they put him in the same tent with these bastards? Facing the vicious look of Sititus, Caedesos, although he felt timid, still plucked up the courage to persuade him: "Free Italy will not lose. Their large army is about to arrive. Don't do stupid things-"