Rome must fall.

Chapter 440: Battle of Aquileia (Part )

Hagux, who was only in his twenties when he joined the rebels, is now fifty years old. Although his hair and beard are white, his complexion is ruddy and his body is strong.

After receiving Maximus' order, he looked around with joy and shouted: "Children, the king has sent an order, our cavalry corps can launch an attack!"

The cavalrymen cheered loudly. Ever since Nix sent out his troops, the infantry had been responsible for all the sieges and captures, and the cavalrymen had only been responsible for some auxiliary work such as patrolling and reconnaissance, lacking the opportunity to make great contributions. Now it was finally their turn to show their skills!

Despite receiving the order to attack, the cavalry corps under the leadership of Hagux still did not march very fast in order to save horsepower for a better attack.

When they reached the flank of the Germanic army, the opposing Roman cavalry had already lined up in front. Although their number was small, a number of light infantry had rushed to the rear of the Roman army and were rushing to the front through the gaps between the cavalry.

Time was running out, and Hagux shouted, "Ibig!"

"Commander, I'm here!" With a loud voice, Ibig, the first captain of the cavalry corps, rode his horse to Hagux.

Ibig, a Boi, was an excellent rider with amazing courage. He was once a famous warrior of the Boi tribe, but because he was born a commoner, he was always just an ordinary Boi cavalryman. He was injured and captured in the first war between Boi and Nix. He was carefully treated and recovered. He was persuaded to surrender. In the subsequent wars with the Boi, Tauris, and Germans, he made many military achievements. He even persuaded many Boi warriors to surrender to Nix...

Although the position of the first captain of the Nix Cavalry Corps was important and of high rank, and Ibiger's qualifications were actually somewhat insufficient, Maximus took into account that more than half of the cavalry corps were Boyi, and having Ibiger as an example would be more conducive to winning over the hearts of the troops and accelerating the stabilization and assimilation of the surrendered Boyi people. Therefore, he rejected all objections and directly appointed him to the second most important position in the cavalry corps.

Hagux looked at his capable subordinates and gave orders: "You lead the first, second, and third battalions to attack the enemy's cavalry and light infantry and defeat them completely! After that, decide on your own targets based on the battlefield situation!"

"Yes!" Ibig saluted, looked at the Roman cavalry on the opposite side, and had already made up his mind. On the way back to his own team, he said to his men: Immediately notify the two captains, Medario and Erogda, that we will adopt a three-line formation and attack the enemy on the opposite side! The first battalion will be the first line, the second battalion will be the second line, and the third battalion will be the third line. Let them start to form a battle line immediately!"

"Yes!"

Just as the three battalions were quickly forming up, Hagux, with the fourth, fifth, and sixth battalions totaling 1,500 cavalry (each battalion of the Nix Kingdom cavalry consisted of 500 cavalry), formed a long first-line formation diagonally behind the three-line formation.

The Nix Cavalry Corps was well-trained, and the cavalry formation was not as strict as that of the infantry, so they quickly formed a battle formation.

Ibig was in the center of the first row. He raised his spear in his right hand, drew three circles in the air, pointed it forward, and shouted, "Charge!"

Immediately afterwards, the flag bearer next to him also pointed the military flag forward.

Ibig lightly clamped his legs around the horse's belly, and the warhorse under him understood and spread out its four hooves and galloped out.

The cavalry on the left and right also rushed out, leading the first row of cavalry, and then three rows of cavalry lines that were more than a mile long began to move forward, and faster and faster...

At the same time, the Roman cavalry on the opposite side (mostly Gallic cavalry) were afraid of the large number of enemy cavalry, but at the urging of their commander they had to shout loudly, spur their horses, and go forward to fight.

The sound of horse hooves roared like war drums, and the dust raised in the air formed a yellow storm that covered the sky and the sun. The Knicks cavalry were looming in the dust and fog. Their speed was getting faster and faster, and in the end it seemed that even the wind was left behind by them.

The Roman cavalry was right in front of them, arriving in a flash, their ferocious faces clearly visible.

Ibig gripped the spear tightly in his hand and suddenly stabbed it diagonally forward. At the moment when the opponent's high-raised sword had not yet been swung down, the sharp spear head had accurately pierced the opponent's chest. With a scream, the enemy fell off his horse.

The strong reaction force was transmitted to Ibiger's hand along the spear shaft. If he was still riding a warhorse equipped with only a four-cornered saddle, he could only quickly throw away the spear to avoid being thrown off the horse. However, after Nix occupied the entire plain on the west bank of the Danube, possessed relatively rich horse resources and a large number of horse-riding tribes, Maximus, who was "inspired by the goddess Danu", improved the horse riding equipment. Stirrups, horseshoes, high-bridge saddles, better bridles... were successively manufactured, which greatly improved the combat effectiveness of the cavalry.

So at this moment, Ibig stepped on the stirrups with both feet, held the reins with his left hand, tensed his right arm and waist, and leaned his body slightly back to eliminate the impact.

Another enemy cavalryman rushed over. Ibig had no time to thrust his spear forward and was about to swing his spear across, but the guard next to him rode up to him quickly and stabbed him off his horse with a spear...

In this era, the fighting power of the Gallic cavalry was feared throughout the Mediterranean. They rode on war horses and wielded swords to charge, often making their opponents tremble in fear.

However, the new cavalry of Nix was faster, more stable, more flexible, and more powerful. Often, before the Gallic cavalry could swing their swords, their spears would pierce them. The four-cornered saddles were not enough to offset the momentum, causing them to fall off their horses and then be trampled by horses' hooves...

The three-line formation of the Nyx cavalry was like a huge and ruthless plow, flattening the Roman cavalry units in front of it with almost no hindrance, leaving behind a field of screaming and wailing wounded soldiers and scattered and unmanned horses.

However, they did not rein in their horses, but instead shifted their attack target to the light infantry who were retreating behind the Roman cavalry.

At the same time, the cavalry led by Harguchus also took action. The standard-bearer holding the military flag high charged forward, and the cavalrymen holding spears followed closely, like a sharp sword, piercing the flank of the Roman army.

When Trebonius learned that "a large number of barbarian cavalry were coming to their front", he felt something was wrong. He did not think that his cavalry would be a match for the barbarians, so he urgently notified the second-line infantry in the Roman army to turn back immediately to defend against the attack of the enemy cavalry.

Although most of the soldiers in the Roman mixed legion were not Roman citizens, they were all wearing Roman legionary weapons and equipment, and after more than half a year of Roman-style training and actual combat after the civil war began, they were already familiar with Roman tactics, so they could still complete a simple formation conversion on the spot.

The infantrymen from Syria and Greece had seen cavalry before. The Parthian cavalry and the Thessalian cavalry were both among the best cavalrymen among the Mediterranean forces. Some of them had even fought against them. Moreover, they were now wearing thick Roman armor and had sturdy large shields for self-defense. They did not have too much fear of the incoming barbarian cavalry.

However, when the Nix cavalry rushed forward at lightning speed, their spears pierced the shield wall, as if someone was swinging a hammer at a large shield, with such force that the soldiers behind the shields felt numb in their hands.

Of course, the legionnaires had their feet on the solid ground and were supported by their teammates, so they wouldn't fall down like the cavalrymen. However, the Nix cavalrymen kept thrusting their spears at them, and some of them would be exhausted and fall down due to the spears...

After the head of the cavalry array led by Hagux galloped for a distance along the enemy's rear line, it began to turn around and finally joined the rear of the previous array, forming a huge circle.

The shield formation behind the Romans was constantly rotating and impacted by this huge ring, and gaps appeared from time to time. Although the soldiers behind would fill the gaps in time, these Eastern soldiers who had only been on the battlefield for a year were already intimidated by the momentum of the Nix cavalry Hittites, and were even more frightened by the death that could come at any time, so some people began to flee, gradually leading to the collapse of the entire shield formation defending the cavalry...

However, the Nix cavalry was pressing ahead, and the panicked fleeing soldiers blindly fled backwards and rushed to the front line. The Roman soldiers on the front line were fighting with the Germanic army. The fierce attack of the Germanic warriors made their defense quite strenuous. When they were struggling to hold on, a large number of fleeing soldiers rushed in, disrupting their formation. The terrified shouts shook their morale, and the rout spread rapidly...

When Trebonius learned of the large number of barbarian cavalry attacking, he already had a very pessimistic judgment on the battle situation on the left wing, but he still gave orders and changed the formation for defense, hoping to delay time as much as possible so that the defeat of the left wing would not affect the Roman army's final victory in the entire battle after the victory on the right wing and the center.

But he didn't expect the mixed army to be defeated so quickly. He didn't even need to listen to his subordinates' reports before he could see the dust rolling in from the north and the increasingly clear screams of terror...

Instantly, his face turned pale. He knew clearly in his heart that the defeat of the mixed army would soon affect the newly formed 15th Army. The total defeat of the entire left wing was inevitable, and he had no way to deal with it...

"Hurry! Go and tell Antony! The barbarians have sent a large number of heavy infantry and cavalry to attack the weak mixed army. The mixed army has been defeated! The left wing will be defeated soon! Let him find a way to reverse the defeat as soon as possible!..." Trebonius said anxiously to the messenger.

After the messenger left, Trebonius immediately led his men and moved quickly to the south and behind the center, trying to get away from the left wing that frightened him as soon as possible.

(End of this chapter)