Chapter 57: Dionia's Counterattack

At the same time that the Romans gave the order to retreat, the trumpet of the Wolsey reinforcements to attack was sounded.

When the people of Setia heard the sound of the trumpet, their confidence was greatly increased.

Since the Roman army used squadrons as tactical units, the organization of its army was not too loose during the siege, but the Roman soldiers were mostly heavy infantry and did not prepare javelins, arrows, and stones...... What's more, there are still many gaps in the city wall, and they stand on the head of the city to defend, which can't play much of a blocking role. So the Romans hurriedly organized their ranks and rushed to the gap in the city wall, and before they could arrange the defensive formation, Wolsey reinforcements poured in from the gap in the western wall......

The poor, disorganized Roman army did not last long before they were overwhelmed by the lively Wolsey warriors, who swarmed into all parts of the city and launched a ferocious attack on the retreating Roman soldiers.

The Romans were defeated and scrambled to escape from the city of Setia.

The Wolsey reinforcements pursued until the Roman soldiers fled to the barracks.

Fortunately, Camillus saw the opportunity early, and ordered the troops in the south to retreat to the camp in an orderly manner in advance, and then sent troops to intercept the pursuers when the army in the north retreated, otherwise it was likely that the Wolsey would have rushed into the camp.

In this day's battle, the Roman army failed to attack the city, and more than 4,000 people were killed and wounded. The defenders of Setia also suffered heavy casualties, and nearly 10,000 Setia residents were killed or wounded.

The 1st Dionian Legion was tasked with pinning down the defenders of the Roman camp and suffered few casualties, but the Wallsey higher-ups in the city of Polyfernam expressed their gratitude to Amintas and Printors for their victory over the powerful Romans according to the strategy proposed by the Dionicians, and while celebrating the victory, they were confident in Amyntas's plan for the next battle.

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The defeat of the siege cast a shadow over the entire Roman camp, but Quintus did not waver in his determination to capture the city of Setia, and still insisted on launching another attack on the city of Setia the next day.

In this regard, Camillus did not object, because he knew very well: although the Wolsey won again, the difference in strength between the two sides has not been greatly changed, and Setia has suffered heavy losses after today's fierce battle, and even if there are thousands of more reinforcements, in the case of losing the advantage of city defense, facing the siege of tens of thousands of Roman troops, it is just a piece of fat in the mouth, and it can also take the opportunity to reduce the number of Wolsey's reinforcements. Therefore, it is the right strategy to keep attacking and not giving the enemy a chance to breathe.

While supporting Quintus's siege plan, Camillus also reminded the three military officers to strengthen reconnaissance of the surrounding area, expand the scope of reconnaissance, and prevent the occurrence of a dangerous situation like today, where "enemy reinforcements are only discovered when they are in front of us".

Everyone agrees with this suggestion. However, as for another suggestion made by Camillus, "I hope that the military and political officers will go down to the various squadrons to encourage the soldiers and boost morale", both Frius and Licinius agreed, and only Quintus did not comment.

The next morning, the trumpet of the Roman camp was sounded, and the well-dressed Roman soldiers came out of their tents, and the frustration of yesterday's defeat was not visible on their faces, but the excitement of going to war, and the attitude of the Roman citizens towards the battle was evident.

Just as the soldiers were lining up, the military officers who were about to set off in the big tent received bad news at this time.

"Asura is under attack?!" Frius's eyes widened in surprise when he heard this, and he interrupted the messenger with some anger: "What are our scouts doing?!" Once again, the Wolsy bypassed us and went to raid the rear! We didn't even know! ——”

"Officer of the Frius." The messenger reminded loudly, "Not the Wolsey, probably the Dionians!" The enemy, all dressed in black armor and about five or six thousand men, landed on the beach near Astura, in a large flotilla. ”

"By the time I was ordered to report it, they had already begun an attack on the city of Astura! Four military and political officers, please send reinforcements to the rescue! There is only one squadron in the city of Astura, and it is simply impossible to withstand the attack of so many enemies! The messenger anxiously pleaded.

Camilus, Quintus, Licinius, and Frius looked at each other with extremely solemn expressions.

Naval offensive and landing operations...... These Roman generals may have only heard of such tactics, but they had never seen them firsthand. Rome, despite its port of Ostia, had few ships and never used them in battle, and Rome had always been an inland city-state since its founding, always fighting on land, and had never landed on its enemies, nor had any enemy ever landed on it, after all, the previous enemies, like Rome, had no navy at all. Even Camillus didn't have a concept of this in his head.

Therefore, they led their army all the way to the south of the Latin area, and the occupied town of Walsey in the rear was surrounded by Latin allies, and the military and political officers did not leave too many soldiers to defend it, because they believed that the rear was basically safe.

It was only then that they realized that the enemy that Rome had just provoked was not only powerful in the army, but also in the navy! The coastline of the Latium region was under the control of the Dionian fleet.

The messenger's request immediately changed the faces of Camillus and Licinius, and they shouted in unison: "Antium! We must rescue Antium! ”

The city of Astura, defended by only one squadron and a small city, could not withstand the attack of several thousand Dionian soldiers, and even if Astura, even if it was lost, the impact on the Roman army would not be too great. But Antium, north of Astura, less than ten miles away, was also a former seaside town of Walsey, which was important to the Roman army, because this important town in the northwest of Vol had a large port, and the Romans used it as a transit point for military rations after they captured it. The grain and grass collected by Rome was transported through the Tiber River to the port of Ostia at the mouth of the river, and then transported by ship to Antium, and then transported by land to the Roman camp, which saved a lot of time and labor, and provided convenience for the transportation of grain.

Because of the importance of Antium, Camillus left four Roman squadrons here, as well as a baggage convoy. However, he did not expect the enemy to attack from the sea, so this number of troops was too small compared to the incoming enemy, and if the Dioonians were to capture Antium, it would make food supply difficult for the Roman camp.

There was silence in the tent for a moment, and Quintus finally said in a dry voice, "We should stop the siege for the time being and send an army to rescue Antium!" Quintus finally made such a decision, and his mood was quite uncomfortable, because the siege battle that was about to start was about to begin, but it was suddenly interrupted.

But then Camillos' words surprised everyone: "I think we should stop the attack on the Wolsey and withdraw the army to Rome!" ”

The three military officers looked at him in surprise, and Camillus said with a solemn expression: "The Dionian fleet is strong, they can carry the land army of Dionya to land on any place with a flat beach on the coastline of Latium, today it is Antium, tomorrow it may attack our Latin alliance Adi, the day after tomorrow it may be our important port of Ostia, and even the Dionians are not satisfied with only attacking the towns by the sea, but break inland and attack our Latin allies and colonial cities, Destroy our villages and fields! The Dionian army is quite strong, and our main force is here, and the city of Rome and the surrounding area are empty! ”

"Yes...... However, Dionya was suffering from a drought, and it was impossible for them to send more troops! Frius said in a lost voice.

"Yesterday afternoon a Dionian army was engaged with us, and today a Dionian army appears on the coastline a few dozen miles from our rear, they cannot be the same army! Then with a second Ionian army, it is possible that a third Ionian army will appear! And we ......" Camillus stared at the three of them and said in a deep voice: "Do you dare to risk the safety of Roman territory and the people?!" ”

The hearts of the three of them tightened, and they were silent for a while.

The four military officials, Quintus from a great aristocratic background, Camillus and Frius from a minor aristocratic background, and Licinius from a commoner background, had different living habits and political philosophies, but they all had one thing in common: they all loved Rome and did not want to put their homeland, which had already experienced a catastrophe, into danger again!

Therefore, they quickly put aside their respective interests and came to an agreement: 12,000 men led by Quintus and Frius immediately went to the rescue of Antium; Camillus and Licinius led nearly 30,000 soldiers to pack up the camp and escort the baggage and wounded soldiers back to Rome.

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After Lizaru received a letter from Davers, he became interested in the Wolsey region, not far from Campania.

Soon, he received another letter from Amintas asking for his assistance.

The news of the frequent exchange of grain ships between Antium and the port of Ostia had long been seen by Campanian merchants active on the west coast of Italy, and the news quickly reached the ears of Lizarus.

At his request, a copy of the intelligence service was sent to him on the general distribution of the forces of the enemy in the Wolsey area.