Rome must fall.

Chapter 434 Mark Anthony

Maximus, dressed in military uniform, strode into the hall, followed closely by the three ministers of war.

Maximus' sharp eyes swept across the crowd and paused briefly in front of several Germanic leaders such as Icarobio. They flickered their eyes and did not dare to meet his gaze.

Maximus got straight to the point and said, "I just got the news that Rome has sent troops and they are on their way here!"

These words immediately broke the silence in the hall.

"The Roman army is finally here! We can finally have a good fight with them!"

"Yes, the soldiers can't wait any longer! My king, there are so many of them, I don't know if we can have a good fight!"

"My king, who is the commander of this Roman army? Is he the one called Caesar? Many of my soldiers want to seek revenge on him!"

……

Several legion commanders spoke one after another, each showing a strong desire to fight.

Maximus nodded secretly and looked at the Chief of Staff.

Pequot coughed twice and said loudly: "Our sentry ship in the Adriatic Sea sent back news that not long ago, the Roman Gaul Governor Caesar and Pompey had a decisive battle in Greece. Pompey suffered a crushing defeat and most of the troops he led surrendered to Caesar. Although he himself escaped, I am afraid he is no longer able to fight against Caesar.

This also freed up Caesar to send troops to deal with us. But he obviously didn't take us seriously and didn't lead the army himself. Instead, he sent his general Antony to fight us. Moreover, the troops he sent were not his main force, but mostly Roman soldiers who surrendered from Pompey——"

"It would be great if Caesar looked down on us!" Tinibazus said with a sneer, "We can take advantage of his carelessness and eat up this part of his army first, thus weakening the Romans' ability to compete with us."

"That's right. Rome doesn't take us seriously and doesn't go all out. This allows us to defeat them without suffering heavy casualties!" Staggs agreed.

Several other legion commanders also echoed the words.

"We should not underestimate Antony, the commander of this Roman army." Maximus reminded in a deep voice: "According to the intelligence collected, this Roman general named Antony is not a simple one. Just ten years ago, he served as the deputy general of the Roman army in the expedition to Syria. It is said that he often led the troops in battle and performed very bravely. Later, this Roman army helped the Egyptian Pharaoh Ptolemy regain his kingdom, and Antony played an important role in this process.

It was because of Antony's performance that Caesar entrusted him with important tasks after he defected to Caesar. And he did not disappoint Caesar's expectations of him. When Caesar was in the most difficult time, he led the reinforcements to cross the sea and joined forces with him, helping Caesar overcome the difficulties. He also performed well in a series of battles afterwards, so Caesar regarded him as his most capable arm.

It is said that in the decisive battle with Pompey, Caesar let Antony command the left wing alone, which played a significant role in the final victory. This shows that Antony was a capable and battle-hardened Roman general.

In addition, Antony was also very good at winning over the soldiers. Although he was a Roman noble, he could eat and play with ordinary soldiers, and often generously rewarded the soldiers, which made him quite popular among the Roman soldiers...

Therefore, although the troops coming this time are not the elite troops of Rome, they number more than 30,000 people, and under the leadership of Marco Antony, the combat effectiveness of this army will not be too bad. Everyone must not take it lightly! ——"

Maximus saw that everyone's expressions gradually became solemn, and continued: "Of course, this Marco Antony is not without shortcomings. Judging from his past performance, this man is brave and bold in battle, but he is not a person who likes to think carefully. He likes to do things based on his feelings, so several of his military operations in the past were too risky. If the enemy was not too weak, he would have died in battle long ago...

Based on Mark Antony's weakness, the staff discussed repeatedly and proposed a plan to lure the enemy. Pequot, please tell us in detail. "

“Yes, Your Majesty.” Pecot walked to the center of the hall, looked at the legion commanders with sharp eyes, and said in a deep voice: “Gentlemen, since we have completely controlled the surrounding areas before occupying Aquileia, the Romans must not know that the city has fallen. We can use Aquileia as bait to lure the Roman army to rush to rescue.

This is the plan we made..."

..............................................................................

Mark Antony led his army across the Adriatic Sea and landed at Brindisi. While heading north, he also widely publicized the news that "Caesar had defeated Pompey."

Earlier, the news that "Caesar had won a great victory over Pompey in the battle" had been reported back to Italy, but after all, the battlefield was in Greece, and the people had not seen it with their own eyes. Influenced by Pompey's previous brilliant achievements, most people were skeptical. The appearance of Antony confirmed all this, because the legions and soldiers that originally belonged to Pompey were now under his command.

As a result, the Italian towns that had previously joined Caesar's side were completely relieved, while those towns that tended to support the senators headed by Pompey and did not cooperate with Caesar were forced by the situation to open their gates to welcome Antony's army passing by.

Antony was not a generous man. He would recount the city's past hostile acts and threaten the prefect that he must make sufficient compensation to demonstrate his sincerity in repentance, otherwise he would regard him as an accomplice of Pompey and would give him the most severe punishment.

Antony's vicious attitude, the tens of thousands of fierce soldiers under his command, and the news that Pompey had suffered a crushing defeat and was powerless to recover would eventually make these towns surrender and offer enough money to bribe Caesar's right-hand man.

Anthony did not keep all the wealth for himself. He generously distributed most of the money to the officers and soldiers, and asked the neighboring towns to provide sufficient food and wine every time he camped.

He held a grand banquet in the military camp and drank and had fun with the soldiers.

These Roman soldiers had never enjoyed such benefits when they were under Pompey's command. Soon they were conquered by the charm of the young Antony and were willing to accept his command and fight for him.

While trying to win over his soldiers, Anthony did not forget to satisfy his own selfish desires. Sometimes he would blatantly go to neighboring towns to have affairs with noble ladies, and he even had his men bring prostitutes into his military tent in carriages.

The soldiers felt strange about this at first and made fun of him about his romantic affairs at the banquet in the camp. Instead of getting angry, he accepted it calmly, but he refused to change. Soon everyone got used to it and felt that this commander was flesh and blood and could be approached more.

Anthony's triumph did not last long. As the army got closer to the northern provinces, he received more news from the northern provinces.

The Nixen army that invaded the northern Italian province not only besieged Aquileia, but also broke through and looted several surrounding towns, causing panic throughout the province...

In addition, a major rebellion broke out in the newly conquered Gaul region, which not only destroyed one of the legions stationed there, but also almost wiped out the Roman army that rushed to reinforce it...

Antony did not expect that the situation in the northern region, which was peaceful and stable a year ago, would become so bad now. If no action was taken quickly, the entire north would be completely corrupted, and the security of Italy and Rome would be threatened.

Therefore, Antony did not dare to delay any longer and sped up his march, arriving in Rimini at the end of September. Here he met many northern Italian people who had fled south, many of whom came from the vicinity of Padua.

They cried to Anthony: the barbarians brutally took away their property (including slaves), beat and humiliated their families, and drove them out of their homes...

Moreover, these barbarians confidently declared that they invaded the northern Italian province because the Governor of Gaul, Caesar, was aggressive and had massacred millions of Gauls in the past ten years! Such a bad behavior infuriated countless tribes north of the Alps. This time, the Kingdom of Nix joined forces with many tribes to invade the Roman territory with only one purpose - to avenge their dead Gaul compatriots! If Rome does not arrest and execute the culprit Caesar to relieve the anger of the Kingdom of Nix and the tribal warriors, then the attack on Rome will never stop!

Antony was furious, not only because these ignorant barbarians were so arrogant, but also because they dared to offend the great and wise Caesar!

Originally, because they had entered the northern Italian province, for the sake of safety, Antony planned to stay in Rimini for a few more days and wait for Trebonius to lead his army to meet up before taking action. But now he decided to break camp immediately and continue marching northward.

Although Antony was angry, he did not lose his mind. He sent cavalry to investigate the enemy situation to prevent the enemy from blocking him on the north bank of the lower Po River and delaying his advance.

The news he received surprised him a little: there was no trace of the enemy on the northern bank of the lower Po River!

But at the same time, Antony also breathed a sigh of relief. He quickly led his army across the Po River and arrived at Hostilia, an important transportation town on the north bank.

Soon, Trebonius, who was informed by the messenger, also arrived with his army.

This Roman noble, who followed Caesar to Gaul earlier than Antony, was one of Caesar's most trusted legion commanders in the later period of his governorship. He performed particularly well during the pacification of Pompey's army in Spain after the outbreak of the civil war. As a result, he was entrusted by Caesar with the important task of defending the three northern provinces and garrisoning Gaul.

Antony even learned through certain channels that Caesar was planning to appoint Trebonius as a high-ranking Roman legal officer after the civil war to reward his loyalty and merit.

(End of this chapter)