Rome must fall.

Chapter 438: Battle of Aquileia (I)

The only drawback of the double-bow crossbow is that it is rather laborious to string the arrow, so the Ministry of War issued a special order: two crossbowmen are responsible for a double-bow crossbow, one shoots and the other loads arrows.

After the successful trial production of the double-bow crossbow, it began to be mass-produced by multiple weapon workshops in Nix and distributed to crossbowmen in various legions. It played an important role in the battles with the Boyi, Tauricians and Germans.

Now, facing the Roman heavy infantry that has conquered the entire Mediterranean, can the Nix crossbowmen achieve greater glory?

Reality soon gave the answer.

The sharp triangular cone-shaped arrow with strong kinetic energy penetrated the entire thick shield. Even though its power was weakened, it still pierced into the iron armor worn by the Roman soldier.

Screams were heard from the front row of the Roman left wing, which was more than two miles long, and a few soldiers even fell to the ground.

Although the Roman army officers were shocked by the long-range killing power of this new bow-like weapon equipped by the Nyx army, they were experienced and responded quickly: "Attack! Attack immediately!..."

The Roman soldiers of the 9th and 10th Legions gave up forming a line, raised their shields and began to rush forward to avoid further terrible long-range damage from the enemy.

The Knicks' front-line crossbowman quickly handed the double crossbow to his teammates behind him, picked up another crossbow that was already loaded with arrows, turned around and aimed and fired again.

The closer distance caused more Roman soldiers to fall to the ground with screams, but this did not scare them. Instead, it made them run forward with all their might.

The Knicks crossbowmen finally pulled the bowstring and loaded the arrows, and shot them hastily. Dorin had to lead the crossbow team to retreat quickly.

Only three rounds were fired at a distance of 100 meters, and the bow was only drawn once, but the Nix crossbowmen caused certain casualties to the Roman heavy infantry. More importantly, they interrupted the offensive rhythm of the Roman legions and destroyed their strict military formation.

The Nix crossbowmen retreated like a tide, revealing a harder "reef".

The fish-scale formation formed by the Knicks' First and Second Legions quickly closed after the crossbowmen passed, forming an iron wall more than two miles long.

These Nix infantrymen wore iron helmets and segmented iron armor, held large shields in their left hands and short swords in their right hands. Except for the difference that they wore yellow linings and had nose guards on their helmets, they were exactly like Roman legionnaires.

The Roman soldiers were shocked by what they saw, but the attack had already been launched with all their strength and could not be stopped. Moreover, having conquered Gaul and won the Roman Civil War, they firmly believed that no army in the world could stop them.

But the soldiers of the First and Second Legions of Nix were equally confident. Although it was difficult for the Nix Military Department to evaluate the combat effectiveness of the First to Fifth Legions (the Fifth Legion, under the command of Pequot, had made many achievements in conquering the Boii, Tauricians, and defeating the Germans), there was no doubt that the First and Second Legions had the longest experience and the most achievements.

At this moment, the soldiers of the two legions of Knys were extremely excited. In the past few years, Knys had been in a state of peace, and their title ranks had not changed for a long time. In their eyes, the Roman soldiers rushing over were wealth and status shining with golden light.

This is especially true for Akeguo, who has served as the first captain of the First Legion for many years. Now he is looking forward to being successfully promoted to legion commander in the war against the Romans so that he can be no weaker than his comrades in the same batch back then.

"Brothers, charge!" Akeguo, like other captains, shouted and gave the order to attack.

When the Roman soldiers rushed to a distance of thirty meters, the Nicholas soldiers immediately launched a counterattack. Because they had undergone repeated discussions and training beforehand, they knew that the Roman legions liked to throw javelins first at this distance, so they took action quickly and did not give the other side a chance to throw.

Two surging torrents of steel suddenly met and collided on a three-mile-long plain. The sound of shields colliding, metal tearing, and soldiers' screams rose and fell, resounding through the sky.

Although the fight between the two sides had just begun, Anthony, who was in the rear, did not fully understand the situation in the front, but he already felt that the situation was completely different from what he had imagined.

He looked up at the top of the city wall in the distance. There was no more fighting there, and even the "legion soldiers" wearing red lining and standard armor had disappeared. What caught the eye was a monster flag that had just been erected and fluttered in the wind!

We've been fooled! The barbarians may have already captured Aquileia! ... Anthony's heart sank, but he was not panicked. The attack horn had already sounded, and it was impossible to retreat easily. But even if the barbarians had made every possible effort, the outcome of the battle still depended on strength. At the moment, this was still a face-to-face battle. He firmly believed that the Roman legions could crush any barbarian army.

Anthony didn't know that the Knicks king was standing next to the dragon flag fluttering in the wind on the top of the city, and his eyes were focused on him. Is this Anthony? One of the three giants in the late Roman Republic? ... Looking down from above, the view is clearer. Maximus looked at him curiously for several times and found that there was nothing special about him except that he was relatively burly.

"Your Majesty, we have already started fighting with the Roman army. I think we can start long-range attacks." Pequot reminded from the side.

"Just do as you say." Maximus agreed readily.

After the order was issued, the Nix engineers began to fiddle with the crossbows placed on several towers on the city wall, pulling the crossbow arms, placing lead bullets, and aiming...

The crossbows that the rebels brought into the mountains had long since rusted and rotted, and were no longer usable. Later, when Knicks had crossbows, catapults, and well curbs, there was no need to manufacture crossbows to equip the army. However, Aquileia was a Roman military fortress and was already equipped with a number of crossbows for defense. After Knicks' army captured the city, the engineering team repaired the damaged crossbows and used them in this battle. After all, the accuracy of crossbows was higher than that of catapults, so they would not accidentally injure their own troops who were very close to the enemy.

However, the two armies were already fighting under the western wall, and the artillery was aimed at the Roman First and Sixteenth Legions which were still advancing.

At this moment, the two Roman legions had gradually turned from marching eastward to southward and pressed towards the Nicholas army under the northern wall of Aquileia.

The Knyx cavalry that had previously blocked the Roman army's view had withdrawn, and now in front of the Roman First and Sixteenth Legions were the Knyx Third and Fourth Legions who were waiting in formation.

Since the Nix crossbowmen were concentrated at the western wall of Aquileia, the Third and Fourth Legions had no means of long-range attack of their own, but the crossbows on the city walls made up for this shortcoming.

Stone bullets weighing nearly ten pounds whizzed out from each tower and flew towards the Roman army approaching the city.

Due to the repeated tests conducted by the Knicks engineering team during this period, they had figured out the elevation angle, range and impact point of the crossbows on each tower when firing at the north side of the city wall, and had made clear markings on the ground. Therefore, most of the stone bullets hit the steadily advancing Roman army quite accurately.

For a moment, dust flew and blood and flesh splattered everywhere.

The horrific situation of the Roman soldiers who were unfortunately hit by the stone bullets caused the surrounding soldiers to scream in fear. Although the number of soldiers killed by the crossbows was only a drop in the bucket for the huge Roman army, the panic atmosphere it caused affected every soldier in the formation.

Especially the Roman soldiers, looking at the stone bullets constantly fired from the top of the city and the enemies waiting in full battle array in front of them, these battle-hardened soldiers immediately realized that they had been fooled: the city of Aquileia had been captured by the barbarians, but the barbarians had lured them here, obviously with careful preparations, and the situation was not favorable for them!

Many Roman soldiers panicked, causing the entire formation to become somewhat disordered.

Fortunately, the officers remained calm. They almost unanimously urged their soldiers to speed up and engage in close combat with the enemy as soon as possible, thus rendering the enemy's long-range attacks ineffective.

For this reason, the soldiers of the First and Sixteenth Roman Legions did not even throw javelins less than thirty meters away from the enemy as usual, but instead charged straight into the enemy formation.

The frontline soldiers of the Third and Fourth Knicks Legions had already formed a tight shield wall. They stood shoulder to shoulder and back to back, making it impossible for the fierce charge of the Roman army to shake their front line. On the contrary, taking advantage of the instability of the enemy after the collision, the Knicks soldiers stabbed out the daggers in their hands fiercely...

While the Roman army's right wing and center were fighting, the left wing was still slowly moving eastward...

On the one hand, the composition of the left-wing army was complex and not as well-trained as other legions. In order to maintain the formation, it had to slow down its march. On the other hand, Antony was also taking advantage of the situation. It didn't matter if the left-wing army marched slowly. By the time they reached the designated position, the barbarian army might have been defeated. They could just pursue and encircle them. In this way, they didn't have to rush into battle, expose their flaws, and become a burden to the entire army. On the other hand, they could also expand their results.

The commander of the left wing army was Trebonius, who did not want to accept the appointment because according to the original plan, the left wing was just the icing on the cake for the victory of the entire battle. However, Antony said that the main force of the left wing was formed by Trebonius himself and it would be smoother for him to command. Trebonius could not refute and had to accept it.

Commanding the left wing had already consumed a lot of Trebonius' energy. Now, as the center wing pressed towards the north of Aquileia, the left wing had to change its direction from due east to southeast to avoid leaving too large a gap between it and the center wing, which would affect the subsequent battle.

Trebonius spent a lot of energy just to command the left wing army to turn and march, and he was two or three miles away from the center of the battle, so he didn't know that the situation on the battlefield had changed.

(End of this chapter)