ancient greece mediterranean ruler

Chapter 795: Attacking the City of Rome ([-])

The two cavalry corps commanders were busy recruiting their cavalry, and Commander Tormid, who was located at the rear of the Dionian army formation, learned about the changes in the enemy's formation based on the reports from the scout cavalry, and of course he had to respond.

He pondered for a moment and issued an order: Let the light armored brigade of the Fourth and Fifth Legions behind the left and right wings quickly move forward and spread out to the two wings to block the enemy who tried to surround them, while the ones behind the center The second legion's light armored brigade was divided into two parts, ready to support both wings at any time.

After all, it is very difficult for light armored soldiers to confront the enemy's heavy infantry head-on. Tormid's move was also helpless. He just wanted to delay for a while.

The order was issued and the troops began to mobilize, causing dust to fly. Tormid, who had been in a state of nervousness, looked ahead and suddenly his eyes widened: "What's going on?!"

Through the gray dust mist, he saw Crotokatax and 40 palace guards who were resting quietly in front of him suddenly move to the right.

"Sir, no one has given any additional orders to His Royal Highness!" His subordinates were busy explaining.

"Go quickly!...Send someone to tell His Highness quickly and ask him to obey the order and stay where he is!" Tormid said urgently.

Clotokatax saw the messengers running behind the array and shouting loudly. He immediately realized that the situation had changed, so he ordered the palace guards to move to the right wing with the light armored brigade of the Fifth Army. These palace guards initially He was prevented from going there on the grounds of his safety, but after all, he was the temporary chief of the palace guard. In addition, the citizens of Dionia did not want to go to battle and perform meritorious service. These palace guards stayed in the city of Thurii for a long time to protect Daionia. King Fos, who finally had a chance to go into battle to kill the enemy, was inevitably tempted, so he was easily persuaded by Clotokatax.

When the messenger rushed over and asked "Klotokatus to obey the order and stay where he is," Krotokaltax responded angrily: "Please tell Lord Tormid that the army is now In the face of danger, other soldiers are fighting bloody battles, but he wants us to hide aside like cowards. Does he want us to become a joke to the entire kingdom?!"

Clotokatax's words made the palace guards who were a little shaken immediately become firm, so they ignored the dissuasion and continued to move forward with Clotokatax.

After Tormid got the answer from Clotokatax from the messenger, he was good at coordinating and handling various complex relationships, but he didn't know what to do for a moment.On the one hand, it is true that as the young prince said, if he allows him to stand by and wait for the war to end and return to Thurii, the prince is indeed likely to be ridiculed by the people, and not only Crotokatax will hate it He, King Davos and Princess Crystal will also be dissatisfied with him; but if he is really allowed to go forward to resist the fierce enemy, if he is really injured, he will also be blamed. If he dies in battle, Then..."

Just when he was hesitating, the scout knight came flying over: "Report, Lord Epithenes has led his army to the battlefield!"

"It's finally here!" Tormid let out a long breath, and his heart that had been hanging finally fell. He turned to his subordinates and said: "Immediately draw a company from the light armored brigade of the Second Army to accompany His Highness the Prince. Get to the right wing!"

With the reinforcements of Epithenes, the defeat of the Roman reinforcements was just around the corner, and he no longer had to worry about the safety of Clotocathax.

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"Leading an army to land in Latium and attack Rome" is regarded by Davos as his most important strategic plan so far. He knew that Rome was powerful in his previous life, and of course he would go all out, so he not only dispatched the first and second The [-]nd, [-]rd, [-]th, [-]th, and [-]th infantry corps and the [-]st and [-]nd cavalry corps. He also sent Epithenes, who had just resigned as chief executive and was idle at home, to Lucania.

Since the Third Legion stayed at Atla at the request of the Campanians, the Ministry of Military Affairs later sent Zantiparis to form a new reserve legion in Lucania to replace the Third Legion in defending the entire Lucania region. .The soldiers of the Third Legion not only come from Lucania, but also include Copsa and the coastal areas of Enona, Poseidonia, Elea, and Laos. Therefore, there are abundant sources of soldiers, and Zantiparis is very A whole new legion was soon formed.

Davos issued an order: Epithenes led half of the new legion and rushed to Ostia by ship the day after the army landed in Latium and occupied Ostia.

This is a backup plan reserved by Davos. He will use this important flag depending on the development of the battle situation.

Since the attention of the coastal city-states of Latium was attracted by the major event of "the Dionysian army besieging the city of Rome", they did not notice that another smaller Dionysian force entered among the huge fleet transporting supplies. The port of Ostia.

And when Davos learned the news yesterday evening that "the previously defeated Roman army had regrouped and marched eastward, preparing to rescue the city of Rome," he immediately sent a messenger and rushed to Ostia to inform Epi. Thenis led his army eastward today to assist the main force in defeating the Roman reinforcements and ensure the smooth progress of the siege.

Epithenes, who has been out of the army for several years, has always been known for his "flexible military tactics and skillful fighting". After he led the army to set off this morning, he did not rush the soldiers blindly, but marched at a gentle speed. At the same time, he sent many reconnaissance cavalry to the army camp frequently to understand the deployment of the entire siege and the enemy situation outside the city of Rome, and to keep abreast of the progress of the battle situation in order to look for fighter opportunities.

When he learned that friendly forces were blocking a large Roman reinforcement force to the west of Rome, he immediately realized that this would be the first target of his attack.

Only then did he give the order: the whole army should march faster in the direction he designated.

Just when the troops were about to arrive at the battlefield, Epithenes met the 400 cavalrymen hidden in the rear by the two cavalry regiment commanders. After learning the attack plan of Ledes and Curtius, he immediately said confidently : "Go tell your legion commander not to waste your horses any more, and leave the rest of the battle to me!"

After speaking, he ordered the troops to stop advancing, start forming formation, and let the soldiers sort out their equipment.

Ledes was relieved to hear the news of the arrival of reinforcements, but he was not ready to completely give up his previous attack plan, and quickly reached an agreement with Curtius: the plan would be implemented as usual, but the storming on both wings would be changed. It became a feint attack, but the surprise attack in the middle remained unchanged.

"Woo!..." The bugle of the attack sounded. Leders clamped his legs on the horse's belly, and the horse started to move forward with four hooves. More than 1000 cavalry in the rear followed him, from the initial slow walk to Jogging in small steps took a long time.

On the other side, more than 1000 cavalry led by Curtius followed suit.

This gave the Roman army, which had been alert to the Dionysian cavalry, a chance to react. Paulus, who was at the rear of the army, saw this situation. Of course, he would not allow the Dionysian cavalry to destroy the attack of the heavy infantry on both wings, so He immediately ordered the twelve Roman squadrons remaining in the rear to rush to the two wings to block the enemy's cavalry attack.

When he saw the Roman soldiers rushing to both sides, the Dionysian cavalry was still a hundred meters away, Paulus was temporarily relieved.

At this time, the Dionian cavalry has changed from a small jog to a medium-speed run. Thousands of horse hooves on both sides of the military formation are powerfully hitting the ground, dust is flying, and the earth is shaking...

Looking from a distance, I saw two black cavalry units forming two huge arrow shapes under two gray skys a mile apart, like black tides rushing forward quickly, and in that area Some bright red flashed in the surging black tide, which was the flag of the cavalry regiment.The largest one is held high next to the legion commander, located at the front of the queue. It faces the wind and flutters high, indicating the direction of the entire army's advance.

At this moment, the leading cavalry was less than 70 meters away from the Roman troops waiting in front. Ledes shouted: "Turn left! Turn left!!..."

The Pegasus military flag held high immediately pointed to the left. The flag bearers of the brigade and company, who had been paying attention to the movement of the military flag, also changed the direction of the military flag in their hands. Ryders at the forefront and the surrounding cavalry led the entire army to start. Turn... Finally, the entire cavalry team passed by the Roman army in front.

When they saw the enemy cavalry, which was only two or thirty meters away from them, kicking up dust in their faces, one after another, galloping parallel to their own formation, although the Roman soldiers were still a little nervous, they felt really relieved: just now The momentum created by countless enemy cavalry rushing towards you is really scary!
The Roman soldiers on both wings were relaxed, but the Roman light infantry behind the center became nervous. They pointed to the rear and shouted in horror: "Cavalry! Dionysian cavalry!! They are rushing towards us!! !..."

Yes, a cloud of dust also rose a few hundred meters behind them, gray wrapped in black, rolling towards them.

Paulus, who was behind the light infantry, turned around and saw this terrible scene, and he also felt panic: Damn it, I was fooled by the Dionians!

"Go! Go quickly! Go and notify the squadrons transferred to the two wings to return quickly! Quick!!..."

Unlike the Dionysian cavalry on both wings, these 400 cavalry attacking the center are already running at a high speed, and the distance of a few hundred meters does not take much time.

Most of these Roman light infantry were not Roman citizens, but came from the Latin allies. Of course, they did not have the determination of Roman citizens to "fight to the death to defend their homeland." Looking at the rapidly approaching enemy cavalry, they shouted "Run away quickly." !" Amidst the shouts, the light infantrymen fled in all directions.

(End of this chapter)