Rome Must Fall

"I saw it! Our right wing and center are still standing firm, as stable as a rock!" Maximus already had a smile on his face: now only the key blow is left!

At this time, the sharp-eyed Akago pointed to the south of the mountain and shouted: "Chief, Captain Pecot has led his troops over!"

Yes, the military plan formulated by Quintus was not his own creation, but he learned the tactics of Antonius, the Roman army commander in the Battle of the Vomanus River. It's just that Antonius didn't let the town citizens fake defeat, but simply ignored their life and death.

Budokaribas obviously didn't know that the rebels were planning a counterattack. When he saw the Segostika warriors running wildly down the mountain, chasing the defeated rebels on the battlefield, he couldn't help but look mournful, and he couldn't help but feel sad. Continuing to watch the battle, he hurried down the mountain with his men, preparing to return to the stronghold to defend against possible attacks by the Segostika army.

Pecot was in a good mood: since he joined Maximus' team, he either led the team to assist other legions or was responsible for defending Maximus, and he did not perform much. His younger brother Pheasalus, who was far inferior to him when he was a pirate, was now the commander of the legion and held a high position in Maximus' army. In the past, he was a little reluctant, but who could tell that he was not optimistic about Maximus at the beginning and did not take refuge early like Pheasalus. This time the opportunity finally fell on him, and he was determined to seize it.

More and more "broken troops" of the rebel army are running towards the army led by Pecot. When these "broken troops" bypass them, some people wave and shout: "Hey, brothers, fight hard for us." We paid for such a good opportunity by beating up the Segestica people!"

Pecot ignored them. He stared ahead with all his concentration, looking for the best direction to attack.

"Follow me!" Pecot shouted and accelerated his pace. The flag bearer behind him followed closely, leading the entire team to turn a small turn from due north to northeast. After the "broken soldiers" got around one after another, they ran into a large group of Segestika warriors.

In order to catch up with the "broken troops", these Segostika warriors also imitated the enemy and threw away their shields. They had been fighting for so long, and now they ran for hundreds of meters. How could they still have the strength to withstand a force of cultivation? The enemy troops who were charging up and in complete formation were either cut by short swords or stabbed down by spears...

"Forward! Forward!..." Pecot chopped down many enemies, and the splattered blood dyed his armor red. However, he continued to run forward without stopping for a moment, his expression was extremely excited, and his face was quite ferocious.

Under his leadership, the Skordisqi recruits turned the hatred accumulated for more than ten years into a powerful force, and this powerful force made the new force that just entered the battlefield this time like an extremely sharp sword. Easily cut down all enemies passing by.

Before the left wing of the rebel army collapsed, nearly half of the Segostika soldiers followed the gap and went to pursue it, and were quickly dispersed in the pursuit. Now in disarray, they were unable to resist the attack of Pequot's team, and soon the pursuit turned into a rout...

Except for a few Skordisqi recruits who separated from the team because they were eager to kill and pursue the enemy, most of them followed the dragon flag held high in front and rushed to the edge of the middle of the rebel formation amid the shouts of the team officers.

Pequot didn't stop and continued forward, outflanking the enemy.

Their arrival also gave a powerful signal to the soldiers in the middle who were still holding on. With their confidence doubled, they shouted: "Reinforcements are coming! Reinforcements are coming!!..." and began to switch from defense to offense.

Andres had never experienced a battle like this:

At first, the enemy blocked the passage between the two swamps, and all his troops pressed forward. After fighting for a long time, he was unable to shake the enemy.

Just when he was extremely anxious, the enemy finally couldn't hold on anymore and was beaten back again and again. He shouted excitedly: "Press up! Press up! Defeat them!"

But after a while, the soldiers in front stopped advancing, and the enemy seemed to stabilize their formation again, which made him anxious again and cursed angrily.

Suddenly, cheers erupted from the right side: "The enemy has been defeated!!! The enemy has been defeated!!!..."

Seeing the soldiers on the right wing rushing forward, he suddenly fell into ecstasy. Even some of the surrounding soldiers rushed to the right wing to pursue the "broken soldiers", but he did not stop them.

Having already suffered in this battle, he believed: Since the enemy's left wing has collapsed, his entire army will be shaken, and he is not far away from winning the entire victory!

But while he was waiting for the enemy to be completely defeated, the first thing he saw was his own soldiers returning in defeat.

When he was doubtful, a fluttering flag came into view. There were many enemies clustered under the clawed monster. They rushed towards his flank like hungry wolves...

Skordisqi? ! ...The roaring faces magnified in Andres's eyes, and he was immediately furious: These lowly slaves actually dared to bully their master!

"Follow me to block the enemy's reinforcements!" he shouted loudly and galloped over, followed closely by more than 80 cavalry and some light infantry.

Andres waved his sword and headed straight for the dragon flag.

"It's the leader of the Segestika people!" A new recruit from Skodisci recognized him, his blood immediately surged up, and he rushed forward with a spear.

Andres gently pulled the reins, and the horse turned sideways. When he passed by the spear, he swung out the big sword in his hand, cutting off the opponent's spear and half of his head, while he himself was hit by the recoil. With the force, his body immediately fell backwards. Fortunately, the four-corner saddle gave his waist and hips good support, so he did not fall backwards.

However, before he could sit firmly again, another Skordisqi recruit blocked the front. He had no time to control the horse, so he could only pinch the horse's belly. The horse rushed forward, knocking it down directly, but the horse was also injured. It hinders and slows down the speed.

Pecot saw the right moment and rushed out from the side.

Andres slashed it with his sword.

Pecot was well prepared and raised his shield diagonally above his head. He only heard a "dang" sound as his long sword struck the metal corner, creating a big crater.

Pecot endured the shock in his left hand and stabbed out the dagger in his right hand, piercing deeply into the horse's belly.

The war horses raised their hooves and whined.

Andres hurriedly pulled on the reins to prevent him from falling. Naturally, he could no longer cut the enemy.

Pecot followed up with a shield bump.

The war horse roared loudly and turned to the right.

Seeing that the situation was not going well, Andres wanted to jump off the horse, but the four-cornered saddle tightened his hips too tightly. It was difficult for him to get away, and he and the horse fell to the ground.

The whole horse pressed heavily on his right leg. He felt severe pain in his right leg and almost fainted.

The new Skordis soldiers swarmed forward to kill their greatest enemy.

Fortunately, the Segestica cavalry and light infantry arrived and resisted desperately, and Andres was rescued.

With the support of his personal guards, Andres saw more and more enemies coming towards him, threatening to surround himself and others, but he persisted in not retreating, and even asked his personal guards to summon other soldiers to come and resist. , to prevent the center from being surrounded by enemies.

Pecot felt anxious when he saw that the enemy was fighting tenaciously and that he was unable to attack the enemy's flank with all his strength.

At this moment, a round object rolled to his feet. He took a closer look and saw that it was the helmet worn by the leader of Segestika that the recruits had just mentioned. He immediately took it into consideration and asked his men to use it. The spear lifted up the helmet, and at the same time everyone shouted in unison: "The big leader Andres is dead!!! The big leader Andres is dead!!!..."

The Segestika warrior who heard the shout subconsciously followed it and saw a golden antlered helmet being lifted high in the air. In the Segostika tribe, everyone knew that it was the helmet that belonged to the big leader, so everyone became panicked: Could it be that the big leader was dead as the enemy said? Otherwise, how could his helmet fall into the enemy's hands? In hand? !

At this time, the rebel army's frontal attack was in full swing. Only then did the Segostika soldiers realize that the enemy in front of them not only had a powerful defense, but also a terrifying attack:

The enemy relies on a large shield, actively approaches one's own side, and fights almost close to one's body. It is difficult for one's own long swords and spears to exert their power, but the enemy's short swords can be used with ease. However, most of the large number of light infantry originally accumulated in the rear went to pursue the enemy. They could no longer rely on the strength of many people to attack the enemy as before, so they could only retreat slowly to relieve the pressure.

However, the right side of the center of the Segostika army encountered trouble because they were flanked by enemy reinforcements and were unable to retreat directly. Under the enemy's constant attacks, the soldiers were huddled together and there was no extra space. Wielding a shield and a long sword, he couldn't even dodge when he saw the enemy's short sword thrust...

Listening to the constant screams of their comrades and looking at the big leader's helmet shaking in the air, the Segostika soldiers on the right wing of the center were panicking. They were unwilling to be slaughtered by the enemy like the dense flocks in the sheepfold. The only way is to run away!

Andres saw the soldiers' morale rising and shouted anxiously: "I'm here! I'm still alive! I'm here! I'm still alive!..."

But the voices of him and his guards were drowned in the roars of the rebel soldiers, and there was no splash.

He could only ask a cavalryman to give up his horse. With the help of his guards, he endured the severe pain in his right leg and tried to get on the horse. Just sitting in the square saddle requires some skills. He was injured and had difficulty moving, plus he was anxious. Not only was he able to sit in the saddle after several attempts, but he also injured his lower body.

By the time he finally managed to bear the pain and sat in, the soldiers had already started to escape...

Andres was riding on the horse, waving his arms in panic and shouting: "I, Andres, am still alive! I order you to keep fighting! Keep fighting!..."

The Segostika soldiers who saw him again may temporarily retreat, but under the fierce attack from two sides by the rebel soldiers, the Segostika team that has already had deserters will only appear more deserters...

When Andres saw more and more Segostika warriors running past him and ignoring his anger, he finally stopped shouting, with a look of confusion on his face. He didn't understand: he had obviously already Seeing the chance of victory, why did he lose in the blink of an eye?

"Big leader, we have to leave quickly, otherwise it will be too late!" the guard captain urged urgently.

Andres looked at the right-wing front that was about to collapse, sighed, and waved his arms again: "Retreat! Retreat! Follow me to retreat!..."

Andres and the cavalry tried to lead their broken troops to retreat eastward, but when he went straight east from behind the end of the right wing of the center and was about to reach the end of the left wing, he hurriedly reined in his galloping horses because the front Suddenly there was a team standing across them. They were the Skodischi male slaves who had just bypassed the right wing of the rebel army in an attempt to intercept the enemy's escape eastward.

They recognized Andres, and even though the temporary team officers tried their best to stop him, many Skodisci slaves swarmed towards Andres.

Andres had to urge his horse to take a detour, and the Skodisci slaves naturally could not catch up. However, even after he had crossed the Korana River, the Skodisci slaves were still chasing him, making him dare not stay at all. .

The array composed of the first and second legions attacked from south to north. The Scodisqi recruits led by Pecot attacked the enemy's flank from west to east. The Scodisqi male slaves led by Gowes and others attacked Intercept on the east side... For the Segestikas, the only safe direction of retreat was to the north. But this is exactly the purpose of Quintus's military plan, because not far to the north is the Varidosi Swamp.

In the dusty battlefield with deafening killing sounds, the vast majority of Segestika warriors were no different from hunted beasts after their defeat. They were frightened, confused, and ignorant. They could not tell the difference between north, south, east, and west. They were blind. Follow other fleeing comrades and escape in a direction where there are no enemies and no obstacles.

By the time they discovered that there was a swamp ahead, it was already too late. The pursuers had arrived, and even the soldiers who did not want to enter the swamp were pushed in by their comrades.

After escaping into the swamp, some soldiers did not stop running and soon fell in the mud. As soon as they got up, they were squeezed down by the panicked compatriots behind them, trampled several times and drowned; While walking, he suddenly sank in. No matter how much others pulled him, he couldn't get out, and he was eventually submerged in the mud...

When such tragedies continued to happen around them, the soldiers of Segostika gradually fell into despair: in front of them was a devouring swamp, and behind them were enemies waiting in formation on the shore. What choice should they make?

…………………………………………………………………………

"Chief, we lost 454 soldiers and wounded 637 in this battle. The Segestica people——"

"Wait a minute." Maximus interrupted Frontinus' report: "You forgot to report the number of seriously injured people."

"No serious injuries."