Rome must fall.

Chapter 449: Attack and Save
One is the Scauli, the coastal road from Rome to the province of Western France. When passing through Genoa, there is a branch road heading north into northern Italy.
One is the Via Casaia from Rome to Florence, which runs through the central mountains of the northern Apennines to Bologna, and then through the Emilia Road to the western part of the northern Italian province. Although Bologna is in the area under the charge of Nicholas, it is located on the eastern edge. If the Nicholas are not careful, the Roman army may slip through;
Another route is still to take the Via Sculli. In the coastal town of Pisa, southeast of Genoa, there is a winding mountain road to the north, which can cross the mountains and enter the western part of northern Italy;

In addition, the Roman army may also land at the port of Massilia, enter the province of West France, and then move east through the river valleys between the Alps into the western part of the province of Northern Italy.

Considering that the Nyx-Gallic coalition was not trying to stop the Roman army outside the northern Italian province, but to fight a decisive battle with the Roman army here, however, since the coalition forces were scattered in two places, while it took time to gather the entire army, it was also necessary to prevent the Roman army from rushing around uncontrollably and causing damage to the coalition forces...

Therefore, after discussion, Vercingetorix and other leaders made the following troop deployment: Genoa, as the main transportation hub for direct access to the western part of the Northern Province, was too far away from the Gallic army and was a target of key attention, so the largest number of troops were stationed there to delay the enemy's advance and buy reaction time for the main force; a small number of troops were deployed at other valley passes and roads leading to the west for guard purposes; the main force of the Gallic army was stationed in Piacenza.

Piacenza is located on the southern bank of the upper Po River, at the intersection of the Via Ermina and the Via Postumia. It is close to several strongholds that need to be guarded, and it is also convenient for joining the Nicholas army.

But Vercingetorix did not expect that Genoa would fall suddenly. Before even the news had been released, the Roman army suddenly rushed into the western part of the northern Italian province, leaving them completely unprepared.

After an urgent discussion, the leaders of the Gallic army decided to hold their troops for the time being and sent messengers to the east to inform King Maximus, hoping that he would lead the army to join them as soon as possible. At the same time, they also sent out many spies to find out as soon as possible how many troops the invading Roman army had and whether its commander was Caesar.

Afterwards, the news that the spies kept bringing back frightened the leaders of the Gallic army: one after another, the flags of the Roman legions that they were familiar with and hated appeared in Tortona. By the evening, a large Roman army had gathered in Tortona and its surroundings.

Although the spy did not see Caesar in person, Vercingetorix knew very well: the only Roman general who could command so many legions could be Caesar!

The leaders of the Gallic army spent a night in anxiety. Early the next morning, they received news from scouts: a Roman army of 10,000 to 20,000 people left Tortona and marched towards the northwest of the northern Italian province.

While Vercingetorix and other leaders were still wondering what the Romans were trying to do, new news came: this Roman army did not occupy any of the towns it passed through and marched straight to the northwest.

Vercingetorix was suddenly horrified: the thing he was most worried about had happened, the target of this Roman army's attack was most likely Turin!
The city of Turin is located in the northwest of the northern Italian province, on the west bank of the upper reaches of the Po River. The Alps surround it to the west and north, but there are more accessible river valley passages. Its location is actually the inland starting point connecting with the western French province, in addition to the Via Scauli by the sea.

However, the Romans used to fear the invasion of northern barbarians and always regarded Turin as a defensive fortress. After Caesar became the governor of northern Italy, he gradually turned it into one of the logistics bases for attacking Gaul. A large amount of food and supplies were stored here, and many military camps were built around the city to train new soldiers.

A month ago, the Gallic army occupied the western part of Northern Italy and began to lead the starving Gallic people to the Northern Italy to seek food. Most of them settled in Turin, because it was closest to the Gallic territory, there were a lot of stored food and supplies in the city, and there were enough camps to live in... The only drawback was that it was a bit far from the main force of the army.

Originally, Vercingetorix and his team planned to gradually move the Gauls to the Milan area. Milan was a big city with a lot of food stored, and its location was safer. However, Vercingetorix had just started the "Gallic people come to the province for food" campaign. After a long journey, the Gauls, who were short of food and clothing, finally entered the province. They needed to rest in Turin for a while before they could recover and continue to migrate.

Both Knys and the Gallic army had obtained information that Caesar was still training new recruits in Rome and that it would take at least two or three months before the troops could be dispatched. This had somewhat paralyzed the leaders of the Gallic army, and not only did they gather a large number of Gallic people in Turin, they also only sent two thousand soldiers to protect them.

Vercingetorix never expected that Caesar would not only launch an attack so early, but also unexpectedly raid the western part of the northern Italian province first. In their haste yesterday, they made a big mistake by not sending people to inform the tribesmen who were eating in Turin and several other towns to hide as soon as possible to prevent possible war.

If they sent fast horses to attack now, the time would be too short. The weak Gauls, many of whom were still carrying children, could not escape too far. They had to hide in Turin, but because the Nyx army had smashed several gaps in the city wall with catapults when they captured the city, the Gauls had not had time to repair it. Therefore, it was difficult to buy a long time for the Gaul army to rescue them with only 2,000 soldiers defending the city.

In fact, Tortona is about 200 miles away from Turin, which is not close, and there are many towns in between (although they are all empty towns). The Roman army entering the western part of the province of West France should have attacked Piacenza, where the main force of the Gallic army was stationed and it was a transportation hub, or attacked Milan, the richest town in the west... The leaders of the Gallic army habitually made such judgments.

However, when Caesar left Egypt, he ordered his army to send out spies to investigate the situation in the three northern provinces in detail. The western part of the northern Italian province had vast land, the Gallic army had a loose organizational management system, and did not have enough manpower to carry out strict patrols. Therefore, the Roman spies were able to easily detect the deployment and movements of the Gallic army in the northern Italian province. Based on this information, Caesar's decisive choice of "attacking Turin first" was a precise blow to the Gallic army.

To rescue? Or not to rescue? ... The leaders of the Gallic army quickly made the decision to "send the main force to Turin for rescue", and even Vercingetorix, who thought it was a wrong decision, had to nod his head.

Because most of the Gallic people gathered in Turin came from southern Gaul (after all, it was closer to the northern Italian province), including many people from the Arverni tribe. The troops from the tribes in southern Gaul were the main force of the entire Gallic army. Even if some leaders from the north felt that this move was too risky, they would not be able to object.

Vercingetorix was well aware of the strength of the Roman army led by Caesar, so he made up his mind to abandon Piacenza and rush to Turin with his entire army to rescue his people.

There was a road connecting Piacenza to Turin, and it was flat all the way. The Gallic army moved quickly and reached Turin in just three and a half days.

At this time, the Roman army had surrounded the city of Turin, but had not launched a siege. When they discovered the arrival of the Gallic army, they immediately formed a battle line and waited for them.

After resting for an hour, the Gallic army also deployed its battle formation and took the initiative to fight.

The Roman army had four legions, about 25,000 men; the Gallic army had about 30,000 men (after the food shortage problem was solved, Vercingetorix recruited several thousand more tribal warriors).

The two sides started a fierce battle near the city of Turin.

The two thousand Gallic warriors in Turin rushed out of the city, defeated the few Roman auxiliary troops still stationed outside the city, and then escorted the people in the city and fled to the mountains not far to the north.

The general who led these four Roman legions was Caesar. These four legions were originally the most elite troops under Caesar. Under the command of Caesar who personally went to dangerous places, the morale was extremely high. They used dense formations to resist the fierce attack of the Gaul army that outnumbered them. Even though the 4 soldiers who escorted the Gaul people to escape later returned to assist the main force in the pincer attack, they still could not shake the Roman army's position.

Vercingetorix and other Gallic army leaders actually understood that it would be difficult to defeat Caesar's army in a field battle when the number of troops was not much different. However, in order to save the thousands of people trapped in the city, they launched an attack on the Roman army under the city with the determination to fight to the death.

Hatred eliminated the soldiers' fear, increased their courage, and allowed them to fight for a long time regardless of fatigue.

The battle lasted for several hours, and the two sides remained evenly matched. As the sky gradually darkened and the two sides were about to enter a night battle, Roman reinforcements arrived on the battlefield.

It turned out that when Caesar led his army to march towards Turin, he gave an order to the general Quintus Petius who stayed in Tortona, asking him to do his best to find out the movements of the Gallic army in Piacenza. Once he discovered that its main force was also moving towards Turin, he should send two legions and cavalry to reinforce Turin as soon as possible.

Pertius faithfully carried out Caesar's orders. After tens of thousands of fresh troops arrived at the battlefield, they immediately launched a fierce attack on the flank of the Gallic army. The exhausted Gallic soldiers were unable to resist and were eventually defeated.

Under Caesar's strict orders, the Roman reinforcements continued to pursue the defeated enemy, but because it was getting late and many defeated enemies fled directly into the mountains not far to the north, the Roman army, unfamiliar with the terrain and afraid of ambushes, had to stop the pursuit at the foot of the mountain and failed to achieve full success.

(End of this chapter)