Rome must fall.

Chapter 450: Risky Advance

Caesar led his army into the deserted city of Turin. After dinner, the soldiers soon fell asleep. Only Caesar was still waiting for good news from his subordinates who were responsible for pursuing the defeated enemy. However, the result was regrettable: they failed to capture Vercingetorix or get his body.

After a night's rest, on the next day, Caesar did not stop any longer. Except for leaving a small number of troops to take care of the wounded, he led all the soldiers to march southeast and return to Tortona.

Before arriving, they received an urgent report from Tortona: the cavalry discovered that the Nix army, numbering tens of thousands, was marching quickly from the east along the Via Emilia towards Tortona.

All his subordinates admired Caesar's foresight.

The Roman army hurried back to the Tortona camp and prepared to fight back.

The first to come were the scouts of the Knicks, and a Roman cavalry centurion rushed over to try to drive them away.

The Nyx scouts, who were outnumbered, did not flee in fear. Instead, they spread out in a fan shape, armed with cavalry crossbows, and fired arrows at the Roman cavalry that came within range.

After a dozen Roman cavalrymen were shot off their horses, the remaining Roman cavalrymen dared not move forward.

The Knicks scout drew his saber and advanced aggressively.

The Roman cavalry retreated hastily.

The Nyx scouts began to patrol recklessly around the many temporary military camps in Tortona until Caesar sent more cavalry, at which time they drifted away.

Later, Caesar received a report: the Niccolò army did not continue to march westward, but turned north and stationed in Piacenza, more than a hundred miles away from Tortona.

Caesar frowned. The performance of the Knyx scouts partially confirmed his analysis of the important reason for the last disastrous defeat of Anthony's army - that was the Knyx's powerful cavalry. The caution shown by the Knyx army made him even more solemn.

Although he could first defend Tortona and ensure the smooth passage of the Via Sculli, and then transfer more new troops from Rome, and then launch an attack on the Nicholas army when the troops were sufficient, that would undoubtedly be safer.

But in this case, the Gallic rebels who had just been defeated would have enough time to recover, and might even attract more tribal troops from the neighboring Gaul region, then his risky raid would lose its meaning.

What's more, waiting has never been Caesar's military style. In his past military career, he was able to win battles again and again by relying on daring and adventurous attacks.

So after careful consideration, Caesar decided to lead his main force to Piacenza the next day and force the Nicholas' army to engage in a battle as soon as possible.

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Since meeting with Vercingetorix, dividing the areas under their respective control in the northern Italian province, and making a plan for a decisive battle with Caesar's army in the northern Italian province, Maximus built a large camp near Hostilia and concentrated his main forces there, only stationing a small number of troops in the city of Cesena, close to the enemy territory in the southeast, and Bologna in the enemy territory in the south-central part.

The reason for such a deployment of troops is that although the eastern part of the northern Italian province does not have continuous mountains covering the long coastline as a barrier, there is no port town except Pula on the Istria Peninsula. In the nearly half a year after defeating Antony's army, Maximus transferred a reserve legion from the kingdom to garrison Pula, commanded by veteran Rufus, to strengthen the defense of Pula and Tarsatica and ensure the safety of the army's retreat.

Maximus also formed several cavalry patrols to patrol the eastern coastline of the northern Italian province continuously so as to promptly detect Roman troops landing by boat (although there are few ports on the eastern coast, there are many tidal flats).

In addition, Maximus asked officials from various departments to settle as many liberated slaves and poor people as possible in coastal towns. While organizing them to farm, he also sent many officers to organize them for military training during the slack season. The warehouses of these towns were filled with weapons shipped from the Kingdom of Nix. In case of emergency, these officers would arm the slaves and poor people and defend the towns to buy time for the arrival of reinforcements.

Hostilia was located on the southern bank of the lower reaches of the Po River, on the Via Carnia that ran across the northern foothills of the Apennines and led to Aquileia. Whether Caesar's army raided from the sea or attacked from the central south or the east along the land route, the main force of the Nyx army could provide timely reinforcements.

Maximus had been keeping an eye on Caesar's movements. He knew everything clearly through intelligence, including Caesar's return to Rome to suppress the unrest, the promulgation of a series of new decrees, the formation of new legions, etc.

Although Maximus believed that Caesar's announcement at the Roman assembly that he would lead the army to pacify the north in three months was just a smokescreen, he did not think that Caesar could launch an attack on him in a short period of time. After all, Caesar needed time to stabilize the turbulent Rome and to gather a sufficient number of troops. Otherwise, Caesar would not stay in the barracks for a long time to train new recruits.

Therefore, when Vercingetorix's messenger arrived at Hostilia and informed them of the "Roman army attack", Maximus and his ministers were surprised.

Where did the Roman army that entered the northern Italian province come from? ... After a review and analysis by the Nix Military Department, it was finally determined that it was most likely from Sardinia. Because the spy in the port of Ostia had reported back that he had heard that many Roman troops had entered Sardinia, but because the port of Sardinia was blocked by warships and foreign merchant ships were prohibited from docking, he could not confirm it. The Ministry of War was also concerned about this.

Obviously, Caesar used a strategy to conceal his true intentions. Just over ten days after returning to Rome, he launched a lightning raid on the western part of the northern Italian province, catching everyone off guard.

However, Maximus was not panicked, but a little happy: it was a good thing that Caesar's army arrived early, and they didn't need to waste more time waiting.

Maximus immediately assembled all the troops in Hostilia and marched south along the Via Calia to Bologna, then west along the Via Emilia.

At the same time, he instructed the Gallic messenger to return and tell Vercingetorix: He must hold Piacenza and wait for them to arrive before attacking Caesar's army together.

Halfway through the journey, another Gallic messenger arrived and told him that the Roman army had divided its forces to attack Turin, and Vercingetorix led the entire army to rescue it.

Maximus immediately realized that the Gallic army was in danger.

After a brief consultation with the Pequots, the Nix army turned and marched towards Tortona.

Maximus' goal was: it was definitely too late to rescue the Gallic army, but the main force of the Roman army was fighting in Turin, and the troops stationed in Tortona were definitely insufficient. If he could take the opportunity to capture it and cut off its supply lines, then the Roman army fighting in Turin would be trapped.

However, the timely return of the Roman army prevented Maximus's attempt from happening.

At this point Maximus couldn't help but sigh: This Caesar is really as fast as fire in attack and as fast as the wind, making him passive everywhere.

However, Maximus was still calm and did not continue to lead his troops to advance towards Tortona, but instead turned to Piacenza, which had almost become an empty city.

After entering Piacenza, Maximus immediately convened a military meeting and after discussion, decided to send scouts to Turin to find out the current situation of the Gallic army as soon as possible, especially to know whether Vercingetorix was alive or dead (the Gallic army must have been defeated if the Roman army could return intact). Before that, the entire army was stationed in Piacenza to closely monitor the enemy's movements in Tortona.

The next day, scouts brought back a message: the main force of the Roman army had left Tortona and was marching towards Piacenza.

Maximus was stunned: he had not yet decided whether to attack Tortona, but the Romans attacked first. Caesar was indeed a man who advocated offense and liked to take the initiative!

Maximus decided to wait and see.

In the afternoon, the Roman army camped fifteen miles west of Piacenza.

The next morning, the Roman army lined up five miles west of Piacenza.

Maximus remained silent.

Because of the Roman army's formation, the left wing was close to the Po River, and the right wing was also next to a river that flowed out of the Apennine Mountains, passed through the west of Piacenza, and merged into the Po River. Although the river was neither wide nor deep, and both infantry and cavalry could easily wade through it, fighting on such terrain was obviously disadvantageous to the Knicks army, especially it was difficult to give full play to the advantages of the Knicks cavalry.

The Roman army lined up in the field until the afternoon, but seeing that the Niccos army in Piacenza did not make any movement, they had to withdraw their troops and return to the camp.

At this time, Maximus received a report from the scouts: they found a remnant of the Gaul tribe near Turin, and learned from them that they had suffered more than 10,000 casualties in the battle with Rome. Fortunately, most of the army leaders escaped, including the commander Vercingetorix. After the Roman army left Turin, Vercingetorix finally gathered them together, but because the Romans burned the food supplies in Turin, they had to disperse to nearby small villages to eat, and when they collected enough food and grass, they gathered again and rushed back to Piacenza.

After hearing the news, Maximus understood that he could not count on the Gallic army in the short term.

A day later, Maximus was surprised again by the movements of the Roman army: they continued to move eastward, along the northern foothills of the Apennine Mountains, crossed the river, and naturally bypassed Piacenza.

It is no wonder that Maximus was surprised, because this action of the Roman army was tantamount to giving up Tortona and completely refusing to break into the territory controlled by the Nicholas army from the rear. Although there was a large baggage train following their team, it was undoubtedly very risky.

(End of this chapter)