Mediterranean Hegemon of Ancient Greece

Chapter 792: The Siege of Rome (X)

“Don't fret!” Davos smiled and said, “The reinforcements of these Latin city-states in the south of the camp would either fight the army led by Tolmides or advance towards the Sixth Legion. It is unlikely for them to have more soldiers to attack our base camp, so the light-armoured brigade of the Second Legion is perfectly capable of defending the camp on their own.”

Although Davos said that relaxedly, the officers still felt uneasy. Just as one of them rushed out to pass on the order, the adjutant of the Second Legion arrived.

“Matonis is requesting more soldiers…” Davos became startled at hearing this. After asking the adjutant of the Second Legion for details on the battlefield, he sighed and said, “This guy had also become anxious!”

Davos had daringly led his army to attack the city of Rome because the intelligence he received mentioned how Rome sent all the young and middle-aged citizens to attack Hernici, leaving only three thousand soldiers. He believes that even if the Romans sent all the elderly and women to defend the city, it was impossible for them to compete with the more than fifty-thousand strong and experienced soldiers of the Theonian legion who had advanced siege equipment. Unexpectedly, the battle had lasted so long, yet the various legions didn't progress significantly.

‘Are the Romans that tenacious?!’ Davos covertly clenched his fists.

“Your Majesty…Your Majesty…” Henipolis saw that Davos was lost in his thoughts, so he quickly called out softly, which immediately made Davos regain his composure. He told the adjutant, “The heavy infantry is no longer available in the camp. Instead, take the three hundred light-armoured soldiers for support.”

“Yes!” The adjutant saluted and left the command tent.

Davos glanced at the slightly worried staff officers and said with confidence, “I still have over two hundred palace guards who are not inferior to the legion's heavy infantry. And with the remaining light-armoured soldiers, we still have a thousand soldiers here, so there's no need to worry about the camp's safety.”

After saying that, he pointed his finger towards Rome and said confidently, “What's more, it's not a big deal even if the enemy destroys the camp since the place where we'll be staying tonight is the city of Rome!” In fact, there's something else that he didn't say: if they failed their siege today, he already planned to lead his army back to Ostia immediately, so this camp would naturally be of little use.

‘My army can definitely capture Rome today!…’ Davos inwardly encouraged himself.

At this moment, another battle report came: About four thousand enemy troops were rapidly advancing towards the Third Legion's camp, three kilometres north of Pons Aemilius.

“What?!” One of the staff officers exclaimed.

Davos' eyes suddenly contract, and his right hand abruptly grasped his chair's armrest.

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

On the bank of Pons Aemilius, the battle between Roman and Theonian soldiers resembled a brawl rather than a battle.

The soldiers of the Theonian Legion held their long shields with both hands, covering their heads as they clashed against their opponents' shields and dodged the enemy's spear. Then they would push forward with all their strength, gaining a larger foothold for their comrades who were climbing after them. With a shout, their faces turned red, and their necks bulged, with all of them had such grim and painful expressions because they were exerting all their strength against Rome's thick formation with their thin phalanx, so one soldier would have to face five to six enemies. But the reason they could barely endure it is that the comrades behind them would squat down and constantly thrust their short swords between their comrades' legs, trying to stab and slash the enemy's legs and feet, weakening them and making them unable to push them into the river with all their strength due to their fear.

Yet even after the Theonian soldiers fought so hard and inflicted much damage on the enemy, the place where the two sides fought remained close to the embankment: The Roman soldiers rushing towards the shore would push the Theonian soldiers down the embankment, tumbling into the river. However, they also had to exert caution to prevent themselves from sharing the same fate. On the other hand, the Theonian soldiers lying on the warship's drawbridge shielded their heads with their long shields as they skillfully targeted the enemy's legs with their short swords, forcing the Romans to keep retreating onto the embankment.

As a result, this flat embankment was both an advantage and disadvantage for the soldiers on both sides, with the Theonian soldiers unable to take a firm foothold to fight a solid defensive line while the Roman soldiers were also unable to destroy the drawbridge to cut off the enemy's route.

Since the Roman defenders hadn't anticipated the Theonians to use the warships to make pontoon bridges, they didn't prepare any oil for it. But once the fierce battle on both sides started, they could no longer get the oil to pass through the thick formation to reach the embankment.

Naturally, some Roman archers shot flaming arrows into the river, but there were also Theonian sailors putting out these flaming arrows in time.

Furthermore, more sailors patrolling the deck would immediately jump into the river to rescue the soldiers who fell into the water. And even though the twenty pontoon bridges also serve as twenty life rafts, a dozen boats are still patrolling the river downstream of these pontoons that would rescue those unlucky enough to miss the twenty pontoons. As a result, even with many Theonian soldiers falling into the water, most were in good health and could return to battle after resting on the warship.

On the other hand, even though the Roman soldiers seemed to have the advantage, the number of their soldiers that could still fight gradually decreased as they withdrew from the battle due to the wounds on their legs and feet.

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

Meanwhile, the situation in Pons Aemilius was completely different.

At the start of the battle, the Roman soldiers managed to block the enemy at the bridge. Unfortunately, they couldn't use their large number to push the enemy down the river like their comrades on the embankment.

The entire Pons Aemilius was filled with the first brigade of Theonia's Third Legion, with the soldiers at the forefront colliding with the enemy with their long shields and thrusting with their short swords, while those behind use their bodies to push the soldiers at the front while stabbing with their spears, and those further back would throw javelins while pushing forward with all their might…

After half an hour, the Roman soldiers, mainly the old and weak and were only supported by their strong belief in defending their homeland, could no longer withstand the onslaught of the Theonian legionaries, who far surpassed them in strength, skill and morale. As a result, they began to retreat gradually, forcing the anxious Cassius to come to command the battle himself, but he still couldn't reverse the situation.

As more and more Theonian soldiers rushed across the bridge, the first brigade expanded their offensive front, which increased the difficulty for the Roman soldiers' defence. Luckily, the timely arrival of over three thousand reinforcements allowed the Roman soldiers defending the bridge to hold on.

But despite receiving numerous reinforcements, Cassius continued to frown. He knew that while Roman citizens, both young and old, had received military training from an early age and could rely on their unity to counter the attacks of Theonian soldiers even though they were weak and inexperienced, the freemen and slaves, though equipped with Roman armour, long shields, and spears, were utterly ignorant of Roman tactics. This was especially true for some slaves who didn't even know how to use a shield and spear.

Because of that, the most arduous responsibility falls on the officers temporarily in charge of commanding them as they had to keep on shouting to remind the new soldiers what to do on the battlefield where the sound of fighting was deafening. Yet even after everyone's voices became hoarse, the formation of the new reinforcements still didn't improve and was still loose and disordered.

Cassius began to get worried and started complaining, ‘Why didn't the Senate make the people build walls on this embankment when we rebuilt Rome?! If they had done that, these new soldiers could play a greater role under the protection of the city wall even if they are inexperienced.’

Suddenly, he could faintly hear the familiar sound of a horn from the other bank, lifting his morale, ‘Have our reinforcements come?!’

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

A few minutes earlier, Litom, the legatus of the Third Legion standing on the other side of the bridge and closely monitoring the battle situation, had received the news of the arrival of Roman reinforcements.

However, he remained calm as he had already prepared for that, as the previous reports from the mounted scouts had already informed him about the Roman reinforcements gathering north of their camp.

“There are only over four thousand enemies, so our troops stationed in the camp should be enough to repel them in the field!” Litom said confidently.

But the navarch of the Third Fleet, Miltiades, still said with concern, “If the soldiers stationed in the camp would all go to fight, then what would happen in case there are more enemies to come-”

“Miltiades, you must trust the skills of the Third Legion's mounted scouts and mountain reconnaissance unit. Except for these approaching Roman reinforcements, they haven't found any trace of other enemies within five kilometres, and our soldiers will have plenty of time to return to defend the camp after these Roman reinforcements!” Litom seriously explained to him to dispel his concerns, “The reason I ask the troops left behind to take the initiative wasn't that I like fighting but because the camp we built is too large that the soldiers would be at a disadvantage if they were simply defending!”

Miltiades understood his point. Yesterday, the camp the Third Legion and Third Fleet had built was equivalent to two camps on the northern bank of the Tiber: They had made it west near the bridge by the river, which was long and wide to accommodate the forty or so huge triremes, while also leaving enough spacing between the warships, allowing them to drag the warship into the water and prevent fires. Thus the campsite by the river was long and wide, resulting in the area for the soldiers to defend increased. But the strength of the soldiers was slightly inadequate for them to protect the place fully…

But the thing worrying Miltiades was that: Although his soldiers could escape, regroup and fight again even if they were defeated, once the enemy was to rush into the camp by the riverside, they could easily burn his warships that were linked together, leading to the destruction of the Third Fleet.

Still, he had fought on the battlefield for so long and knew he shouldn't hesitate at this critical moment. Thus he decisively said, “I agree with you, so I would temporarily transfer the command of the marines to you!”