Rome must fall.

Chapter 435 Trebonius's Judgment

Anthony was originally a little jealous of this man, but when they met this time, he found that this once high-spirited legion commander looked haggard, and even his tone of voice was extremely heavy and depressed, and he even felt happy in his heart.

"...My army was completely defeated by the Gallic rebels, and less than a thousand people were able to escape back to the province of West France. At that time, I was thinking, 'This is over. If the Gallic rebels take advantage of the victory to attack the province of West France, what can I do to resist...'

But the Gallic rebels did not do so. For a period of time, I could not find any trace of the Gallic rebels in the Gaul region adjacent to the province of West France, and the spies sent to the Gaul region to gather information never returned.

Later, I learned from the Gallic tribes that were once friendly to us that the Gallic rebels had gone north to besiege the 14th Legion stationed in northern Gaul—"

Antony interrupted him angrily: "That is to say, of the three complete legions that Caesar gave you before he left, two are now destroyed, and the other is also heavily surrounded by the Gauls and is not far from being destroyed!——"

Trebonius argued: "The Gallic rebels have not appeared on the border of the Western Province so far. It seems that the 14th Legion is prepared. As long as they hold on to the camp, the Gallic rebels who lack siege experience and equipment will find it difficult to conquer them in a short time...

There are still some officers and soldiers left in the other two legions. I conducted an emergency recruitment in the province of Xifa. Because of the short time, I only formed one legion. As long as another month passes, I can -"

"Enough!" Antony shouted, angrily, "Don't quibble anymore! Caesar trusted you and gave you the important task of guarding Gaul and the three northern provinces. But you failed to discover the Gauls' rebellion conspiracy early and take precautions early, and you failed to wipe out the rebels in time. Instead, you caused the soldiers to suffer such heavy casualties, and the originally stable Gaul region was completely corrupted, and Caesar's ten years of hard work was destroyed! Trebonius, what crime should you be punished for!"

Trebonius was dissatisfied and wanted to explain himself, but he changed his mind and swallowed the words that were about to come out. Facing Anthony's angry eyes, he sighed and said sincerely: "You are right, I have failed Caesar's trust and I have made some mistakes! I will personally go to Caesar to apologize, but now we must take action as soon as possible to restore stability in the province and Gaul, so that Caesar can continue to pursue Pompey's rebels without worries and become the winner of this civil war!"

Anthony snorted coldly, crossed his legs while sitting on a wooden chair, and said in a gloomy tone, "Do you want me to lead the army to Gaul to wipe out the rebels and save the Fourteenth Legion?"

"No!" Trebonius responded decisively: "What we should do first is to defeat the barbarian army that has invaded the northern Italian province and save the northern Italian people who are in distress. Only in this way can Caesar regain the love of the northern Italian people!"

After all, the Gaul region had just been conquered, and the Romans had not yet regarded it as their own territory, but the northern Italian province had long been part of the Roman Empire, and a large number of Roman citizens lived here.

To ensure the security of the territory first and then quell the rebellion abroad is the inevitable choice that every Roman politician will make. Moreover, the Nyx actually spread rumors that disrupted Caesar's smooth control of Rome. Therefore, Trebonius' last sentence was a tactful reminder to Antony.

Anthony put away the carelessness on his face, sat up straight, and asked, "Since you said you want to fight the barbarians in the east first, I guess you know something about them?"

"I haven't paid much attention to this barbarian tribe called Nix before, but I have been sending cavalry to explore the eastern part of Northern Italy every day recently, and I have learned a little about the situation."

Trebonius paused for a moment, and seeing Anthony leaning forward unconsciously, he calmed down a little and continued, "According to the intelligence I have gathered, I found that not all of the barbarian troops are Nixes. There are also quite a few Germans and Japodes. The total number may be 40,000 to 60,000 people—"

"Maybe 40,000 to 60,000 people? Trebonius, the enemy has been here for so long, and you don't even know how many troops they have!" Anthony frowned and criticized.

Trebonius quickly complained: "It's not that I didn't try my best, but the enemy's main force is near Aquileia. They have been blocking that area. If my scouts get too close, they will be attacked by the barbarian cavalry. I have already lost dozens of cavalrymen!"

Anthony snorted a few times and said nothing more.

Trebonius continued to explain: “Initially, the barbarian army besieged Aquileia while sending some soldiers to attack towns such as Padua, Vicenza, and Treviso. I have found out the strength of these troops, and the total number is close to 30,000.

Although there are not many soldiers stationed in the lower city of Aquileia, the city walls are high and thick, and the defenses are strict. If the barbarians leave too few soldiers to besiege, the army in Aquileia will dare to attack and repel them. That's why I judge that their strength is about 40,000 to 60,000. "Anthony curled his lips and said, "40,000 to 60,000 people sounds scary, but we have encountered many battles in Gaul where the enemy's strength is stronger than ours, and we won in the end. I don't think it will be different this time."

Trebonius hesitated for a moment, but still reminded: "According to the intelligence we have obtained, the weapons and equipment of the invading Germans and Japodes this time are better than the barbarians we faced in Gaul, probably because they plundered towns such as Padua and replaced them with our armor and weapons.

However, all members of Nix's army are wearing armor, holding large shields and short swords, and they march and fight in an orderly manner, which is somewhat similar to our army. I'm afraid their fighting power is not too weak!"

Anthony said in a deep voice: "Caesar has already told me that this Nyx tribe is indeed special. They did learn something from us Romans. But barbarians are barbarians. No matter what, they can never become Romans. As long as we pay attention to them, the Nyx will not be our opponents. I just want to know one thing now. Has Aquileia been captured by them?!"

Trebonius did not respond immediately, but asked: "Aquileia is close to the sea, and the ships sailing in the Adriatic Gulf should know more about the battle situation there. Didn't you get any news about this?"

Anthony was immediately displeased. "Damn it, you don't even need to tell me that. I have already asked about the ships on the Adriatic Sea. But the barbarians captured Pula, collected the ships in the port, assembled a fleet, and blocked the waters near Aquileia. Other ships dared not approach, so how could they possibly understand the situation there?

I also thought about sending our warships over, which could easily crush those barbarian ships. However, although Pompey was defeated, his fleet has not surrendered yet. We don't have many warships, and we have to stay in Brindisi and dare not go far away to ensure the safety of the route between Greece and to ensure that Caesar can return smoothly in the future.

Besides, although Aquileia is close to the sea, it is all shallow and has no port. Even if warships are sent in time, it is impossible to provide support from the sea. It doesn't matter whether there are warships or not. Anyway, we only need to defeat the barbarians on land to solve this trouble in the east!"

Anthony emphasized, "So now I need to know whether Aquileia has been occupied by the barbarians. This will determine the tactics we will adopt next!"

"Probably... not yet." Trebonius hesitated a little: "Although more than two months have passed since the barbarians invaded the northern Italian provinces, during this period they captured several towns such as Padua and Vicenza, but these towns fell mainly because there were too few garrisons.

I asked the refugees, and they said that the barbarians relied on wooden ladders to climb the walls and rammed the city gates with siege vehicles to break into the town. Their siege capabilities were only slightly better than those of the Gauls. But you and I know very well that the city defenses of Aquileia cannot be easily conquered by the barbarians' crude siege methods!"

Anthony snorted and nodded.

"Based on the barbarians' performance during this period, they first occupied several towns in the east, such as Pula, through surprise attacks, and then surrounded Aquileia. They couldn't wait to divide their forces to attack nearby towns such as Treviso. However, not long after they captured these towns, they suddenly retreated...

I sent scouts to investigate many times, and although we were never able to get close to Aquileia, they all said, 'We heard the sound of killing from the direction of Aquileia, it seems that the barbarians are still stepping up their attack on Aquileia! ' And according to the habits of the barbarians, if they have already captured Aquileia, they will definitely move south in large numbers and plunder more of our towns..."

Antony was convinced and waved his fist vigorously: "Since the barbarians are still gathering in the territory of Aquileia, I have decided to march immediately and fight them under the city!"

This was exactly what Trebonius wanted, but he pretended to be cautious and advised: "The barbarians have not yet conquered Aquileia. This is just my judgment and has not been confirmed. We should still--"

"We don't have time to waste!" Anthony said decisively, "Hurry up and get rid of the barbarians in the east. We have to rush west to quell the rebellion in Gaul and save the besieged 14th Legion!"

Antony spoke righteously, but in fact he had his own selfish motives, because he had received news: Lucius, who led his army north from Dyrrachium, had successively recaptured several towns captured by the barbarians and was about to approach Pula!
Although Lucius had few soldiers, Anthony did not expect that the barbarian army on the east coast would be so weak. If Lucius really attacked Aquileia and defeated the main force of the barbarians, he would be embarrassed. So he had to march as soon as possible to recapture Aquileia and repel the barbarians! The glory of this war must be won by him, the commander of the Roman army!

(End of this chapter)