Rome must fall.

Chapter 448 Caesar's Attack Choice
After the recruitment of soldiers had achieved certain results, Caesar even lived in the military camp outside the city. From time to time, the people saw him in armor inspecting the training of new recruits on the playground...

The Roman people were looking forward to Caesar leading his army north to drive out the barbarians in three months, but Caesar himself did not want to wait that long.

When people still thought that Caesar stayed in the barracks every day and worked tirelessly to train new recruits, he had already disguised himself, sneaked out of Rome, took a ship at the port of Ostia, and arrived at Sardinia, across the sea from the mouth of the Tiber River.

Gathered here were seven legions that had arrived one after another under Caesar's orders, about three thousand cavalrymen (most of whom surrendered from Pompey's troops), a total of more than 200 people, in addition to more than warships and a large number of transport ships.

Since the day Caesar left Egypt, he had been thinking about how to quickly pacify northern Italy. Based on the intelligence he had obtained about the Nix army and the Gaul rebels, he had developed a rather risky sea raid plan through discussions with generals such as Trebonius. While handling administrative affairs in Rome, he frequently wrote letters to urge the army assembled in Sardinia to make careful preparations.

In the past, when the northern barbarians invaded, Rome sent troops to fight them, but they had to go through the Pisenum area in the east, pass through Rimini, and then enter the northern Italian province...

Caesar believed that the traditional marching route took too long and was easily defended by the enemy, which would prolong the war. Rome was now in crisis, and he should not spend too much time in northern Italy, so he decided to find another way - by sea.

There are many landing sites in the northern part of the Illyrian province and on the eastern coast of the Adriatic Sea, but the terrain there is narrow, which is not conducive to the deployment of large troops. In addition, the Nyx army has strengthened the defense of the city of Talsatica. Judging from Lucius' previous attack on the city, it is not so easy to conquer. Once a long siege is caused, it will go against Caesar's original intention.

There was no other suitable landing site in the eastern part of northern Italy and the Adriatic Bay except Pula on the Istrian Peninsula, and Pula was strictly guarded by the Nicholas' army. Therefore, landing on the eastern coast of northern Italy was not within Caesar's consideration. Not only was there no suitable site there, but the Adriatic Sea was narrow, and it was difficult for large fleets to enter and exit without avoiding the enemy's eyes and ears, making it difficult to achieve the effect of a surprise attack, but instead causing great difficulties for the landing.

In addition, there is the western coast of northern Italy. But it is almost covered by the Apennine Mountains, and the coast is full of towering cliffs. There are few decent coastal towns, let alone ports.

There are some suitable landing sites on the coast of West France, especially a city that has not fallen - Massilia. Caesar can lead his army to enter the port of Massilia by ship, then recapture West France and attack Gaul to achieve the effect of besieging Wei to save Zhao.

But Caesar did not intend to do so, because he felt that the biggest threat to Rome was the Nix army, which would not rush to rescue him just because he attacked Gaul. Instead, it was more likely to speed up its march toward Rome while the main force of the Roman army was away. Moreover, after landing in the province of West France, if they wanted to enter the western part of the province of North Italy, they would either have to take the narrow coastal road - Scauli, or cross the Alps. Once the enemy learned of his army's movements and blocked these roads, it would be difficult for the Roman army to enter the province of North Italy from the west by land, and the entire war would be delayed.

After repeated consideration, Caesar finally set his target on Genoa, the only port town on the western coast of the northern Italian province.

The snow on the mountains at the northern end of the Apennine Mountains melted and flowed to the lower areas, forming streams. Most of them flowed into the Po River from south to north, and a small number flowed directly into the Mediterranean Sea from north to south. Two of the rivers that were very close to each other have eroded the mountains over the years, and the silt they carried formed a not-so-large flat lowland at the estuary.

Hundreds of years ago, the Ligurians living at the northern end of the Apennine Mountains discovered that there was a natural harbor at the northern end of this lowland, so they built the port town of Genoa.

When the Romans began to dominate the Mediterranean, the small town of Genoa, with a small population and remote location, received attention, not only because it was an important port for maritime trade between the western part of the northern Italian province and the outside world, but also because it was an important hub for the Via Scauli, the seaside avenue from Rome to the western French province.

But even so, due to geographical limitations, after hundreds of years of development, the city of Genoa is still not large in area and has a small population. In order to facilitate the transportation and storage of goods, it even had no city walls for a long time. It was not until a few years ago when pirates were rampant that it was forced to build a simple city wall.

Genoa's location was so important that Vercingetorix naturally would not ignore it and sent nearly 2000 soldiers to garrison the city.

But according to intelligence gathered by Roman spies, this Gallic rebel garrison in Genoa was not only unfamiliar with the terrain around the city, it did not even set up a sentry post near the river mouth to the west. Moreover, they were rather slack, all retreating into the city at night and rarely patrolling the city walls.

So, on a full-moon night in early March, Caesar sent a fleet, which made a big detour to avoid being discovered by the city's blast furnace rebels, and finally arrived at the mouth of another river three miles west of Genoa, where there was a large shoal for ships to beach. However, the mud and sand here were slippery, making it difficult for individuals to move, and almost impossible for a large army to land, so even during the day, the Gauls rarely patrolled here.

But hundreds of sailors and carpenters in the fleet jumped into the river beach without hesitation, dragging special sampans, carrying tools, and toiling in the mud that was deep enough to sink their legs for nearly two hours. Finally, they built a simple pier with a "bridge" hundreds of meters long extending all the way to Scully Avenue on the shore.

Then the soldiers of the Thirteenth Legion began to land carrying siege equipment such as ladders, siege crossbows, and disassembled siege vehicles. Last year, the Thirteenth Legion, led by Caesar, evaded the blockade of Pompey's fleet, crossed the Adriatic Sea by boat, and ventured to land on the coast of Epirus. The soldiers already had a lot of experience, and had undergone many trainings in Sardinia beforehand, so they were well organized and reached the shore smoothly. Then, according to the plan, they first cut off the passage between Genoa and the outside world, and then quietly surrounded the entire town. After some rest and preparation, they began to attack the city with all their strength at dawn.

The Gallic soldiers stationed in the city were mainly from southern Gaul. They had lived in the mountains since childhood. It was their first time to come to the seaside and they were not used to the damp and cold sea breeze and the endless roaring tides. In addition, they were separated from the Gallic army by mountains. After a long time, they did not find any trace of the Roman army. Complaints and homesickness grew rapidly in their hearts, so they became lazy, and when it got dark they just wanted to hide in the house and have a good sleep.

So when the Roman Thirteenth Legion approached the city of Genoa, most of the Gallic soldiers were still asleep. It was not until the Roman soldiers broke into the city that the Gallic soldiers hurriedly gathered together and launched a counterattack, and many of them were even out of order.

The battle lasted until the morning, and eventually the Gallic warriors were surrounded and annihilated.

The 13th Legion, which occupied the city of Theraea, immediately opened the ports and docks, and a huge fleet loaded with Caesar's troops docked at various ports one after another.

Thanks to Caesar's careful preparation in advance, although the Genoa dock was busy and bustling, the entire landing process was organized in an orderly manner.

At Caesar's urging, the Seventh Legion, which had just completed its landing, took a short rest and then marched north with two days' rations. Other legions that landed later also marched north one after another.

There are mountains over seventy miles long between Genoa and the Po River Plain, but many rivers flow through it, forming a flat valley connecting the north and the south. The Romans built solid roads in the valley for commercial needs, so the Roman army's march was not only fast but also smooth.

Even though they encountered a Gallic checkpoint halfway, it was built by Vercingetorix's subordinates on purpose. Its function was to send people to Genoa every day to understand the situation and then report to the Gallic army headquarters. This shows that Vercingetorix understood the importance of Genoa and therefore remained vigilant.

However, the Gallic soldiers in the outpost had not seen the enemy for a long time and became complacent. By the time they discovered the Roman army, they had already been surrounded.

The Roman Seventh Legion easily crushed the outpost, spent more than a day walking out of the valley pass, and soon arrived at the city of Tortona (Dertona).

Tortona is a small town that prospered because of Genoa. As a commodity transit point, it did not have decent city defenses, but the Gauls still stationed a hundred soldiers here.

Perhaps because they were from the Arverni tribe and strictly followed the requirements of their leader Vercingetorix, they discovered the Roman army's tracks long before it approached, and quickly fled Tortona and rushed to Piacenza, the headquarters of the Gallic army.

The Roman Seventh Legion captured Tortona without losing a single soldier and controlled the pass.

After that, Roman legions arrived one after another, and in the evening Caesar led the baggage train into the town.

The leaders of the Gallic army also received the news at dusk from the Gallic soldiers stationed in Tortona: the Roman army is coming!

The leaders, led by Vercingetorix, were shocked.

After the Gallic army leaders reached a consensus with King Nyx to "meet the Roman army in Northern Italy", they who controlled the western part of Northern Italy felt that the Roman army was most likely to attack from the south of the eastern part of Northern Italy. Although the western part of Northern Italy is surrounded by the Alps and the Apennines on three sides, there are still several places that are convenient for the Roman army to march and enter the western part of Northern Italy, so it deserves attention.

(End of this chapter)