Chapter 696: Theonia v Rome (X)
Chapter 696: Theonia v Rome (X)
Not long after, most of the soldiers under him died or were wounded, resulting in the rear where Cadmus was at becoming the front. But when Cadmus looked back at the enemy, he was astonished to see the officer with the white plume, who he threw his spear at, still standing.
At this moment, the enemy had a massive hole in the right shoulder of his armour, which continued to bleed. With his right arm hanging down and left hand holding a shield, the enemy glared at Cadmus.
Since Cadmus no longer has a spear, he drew out his gladius and attacked the enemy. Although the more than a metre-long sword is good for slashing, the narrow space and the enemy’s well-defended long shield made him unable to exert the sword’s strength fully. But with his experience, Cadmus used the gap in strength to strike the enemy’s long shield continuously.
The seriously injured enemy obviously couldn’t bear the blow of such force. Thus with a pained expression, the enemy finally fell to his knees because he could no longer support himself.
Cadmus moved towards the enemy, raised his sword, and swung down to cut the enemy. However, he suddenly felt a sharp pain in his left leg. When he looked down to check it, he could see a short sword stabbed into his calf.
It turned out that although the enemy’s right shoulder was seriously wounded, it still allowed him to hold a short sword. He hid it behind the shield, pretending to be unable to hold a weapon and took advantage of Cadmus’ carelessness to deliver a blow. When the enemy soldier yanked the short sword out, the sharp blade immediately severed Cadmus’ tendon, causing Cadmus to scream. Unable to stand firmly, Cadmus fell forward, crushing the enemy with his shield.
The enemy also gritted his teeth in pain, yet the short sword in his right hand continued to swing, cutting the ankle of Cadmus’ comrades beside him. He continued doing so until the soldier behind Cadmus pierced the enemy’s chest with his spear, causing him to spout blood as he shouted ‘Hades’ and died with a relieved expression…
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Although the third brigade fought bravely, the number of young Roman soldiers in front of them was still more than twice of them. Under the enemy’s fierce attack, numerous gaps opened in the third brigade’s formation. Fortunately, the light-armoured soldiers in the rear didn’t hesitate to fill them in time to resist the heavily armoured Roman heavy infantry bravely…
While the battle proceeded fiercely, the mounted scouts constantly brought messages back and forth.
“Reporting to the legatus! The centurion of the second centuria of the fourth brigade was wounded!”
“Reporting to the legatus! The centurion of the first brigade’s third centuria died!”
“The centurion of the third brigade’s first centuria was wounded!…the centurion of the third centuria died!…the fifth centuria died!…”
Per the practice of the Theonian army, a centurion would seldom go to battle in person. But once they do, it only means their soldiers have suffered heavy casualties.
As Amintas listened to the scouts’ reports, his face turned gloomy, like the dark clouds in the sky.
At this time, another mounted scout came galloping and said, “Reporting to the legatus! Hybaterus, the senior centurion of the third brigade, asked for reinforcements! The third brigade had suffered heavy casualties that even the senior centurion had joined the battle in person!”
“Go back and tell Hybaterus that I have no reinforcements to send. I no longer want to hear about the number of casualties! I want him to stand there and hold off the Roman soldier’s attack! If he dies in battle, I will take over!” Amintas shouted with a grave expression.
The scout galloped away.
Amintas glanced at the guard behind him and shouted, “Let’s head to the eighth brigade’s rear!”
Amintas spoke in a threatening tone that made Phryntor, who was about to open his mouth to persuade him, give up.
At this time, Ledes said, “I will send the cavalry to attack the enemy and reduce the third brigade’s pressure.”
Amintas looked at him. But instead of refusing him again, he nodded.
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The Theonian cavalry’s movement naturally couldn’t be hidden from the Roman scouts. And they naturally understand where they would head since Theonia’s right flank is where the Roman attack the fiercest.
Thus Camillus immediately said to Lucius, “Immediately lead all the cavalry and the three heavy infantry centuriae to the enemy’s right flank. Once you repulse the enemy’s cavalry, lead them to continue intensifying the attack on the enemy’s flank! You must completely crush the enemy!”
Lucius hesitantly said, “But father, your safety-”
“The fiercer you attack, the safer I will be! Go! Go!” At Camillus’ urging, Lucius could only lead the troops to leave.
With just over 1,400 light infantry left at his side, the old military tribune beckoned their several allied generals over and said sincerely, “The life of this old man will be in your hands.”
Camillus wasn’t only famous in Rome but also throughout the Latin league. The people respected him even more after he led the army to repel the Celts who ravaged the Latin region.
Then several allied generals immediately pledge, “Be at ease, Lord Camillus. The enemy must first step over our corpses if they want to hurt you!”
But as soon as they returned to their troops, the Theonian slingers struck them before they could even set up their defence.
After seeing the cavalry and heavy infantry leaving the enemy’s rear, the seventh brigade of the First Legion also began attacking the area around the Roman flag in an attempt to capture and kill the enemy’s commander and turn the situation around in one fell swoop.
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Rome had fully engaged Theonia in battle, with heavy infantry and light-armoured soldiers fighting on both army’s front and flanks. While on the periphery, the cavalry and light infantry fought…
After nearly two hours of fighting, they finally entered the end of the battle.
At this moment, the Romans had the clear advantage as they had shrunk the entire Theonian line into a semicircle, with the Theonian’s rightmost flank faltering. If it wasn’t for legatus Amintas holding up his shield and spear to personally go into battle to fight the enemy and the legion’s flag erected behind them, then the third brigade and the light-armoured brigade would have already been defeated. Still, they continued struggling to hold on using their last strength.
Ledes’ First Cavalry Legion also struggled to block the enemy cavalry and heavy infantry.
Although the Roman cavalry was courageous, they couldn’t pose a significant threat since they were fewer in number. Still, the Roman heavy infantry managed to deal heavy casualties on the Theonian cavalry.
Although Ledes felt pained, he knew they couldn’t just stop. Otherwise, the consequences would be unimaginable if they allowed the enemy reinforcements to join, even though they weren’t many.
Just as Ledes worried about the difficulty of stopping the Roman heavy infantries’ advance, one of his men shouted, “Legatus, look!”
Ledes turned his head to the south in the scattering dust cloud and saw a rapidly approaching large shadow in the distance.
‘Volsci!’ Ledes became excited as he shouted, “Brothers, hold on a little longer! Our reinforcements are coming! Our reinforcements are coming!”
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The first to arrive was the more than a thousand Volscians led by Keronus, the former consul of Antium, followed closely by the thousand Volscians from Setia. Since the Antium soldiers, who departed from Privernum, arrived earlier than the Volscian from Setia, it just shows their strong desire to seek revenge on the Romans.
They rushed to the battlefield without pausing and fiercely attacked the Roman soldiers in red.
The first they defeated was the Roman cavalry.
Then they attacked the three Roman heavy infantry centuriae that the Theonian cavalry blocked. But just as the Romans turned around to resist, the soldiers from Setia also arrived and surrounded them.
Unlike the equipment of the Roman heavy infantry, the Volscian soldiers only carried spears, shields and helmets without any armour. But since the Romans were few in numbers and had been fighting the Theonians for so long, the Volscian tide quickly overwhelmed them.
While the Antium and Setian soldiers continued charging at the young Roman soldiers engaged in the fierce battle against Theonia’s third and light-armoured brigade, the Volscian troops arrived one after another. But then, a sharp horn signalling a retreat sounded from the rear of the Roman army line…
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At the same time as the Antium soldiers attacked the three Roman centuriae, Camillus received an emergency report from his scout. The report told about numerous Volscian soldiers appearing on the battlefield, making Camillus feel as if someone had struck him hard that it took him a moment to recover.
At this moment, only a mix of regret and self-reproach filled his heart. Camillus thought it would be safer to defeat the Theonians by relying on their strength and number of troops and then retreat afterwards. But what he didn’t expect was the difficulty of defeating the Theonians, which resulted in the battle to last long. As a consequence, not only did they not repel the Theonains, but the Volscians had also arrived…
“Sound the retreat!” Camillus suppressed his regret and decisively ordered.
“Military tribune Camillus; We should wait a little longer! We will soon crush the Theonians!” His adjutant urgently advised, “The Volscians had just arrived and might not have come in great numbers, so our soldiers might perfectly be capable of holding them off-”
“Sound the retreat!” Camillus still said firmly, “Quickly sound the retreat!”
Camillus was never the one to take chances in wars. And even if he is defeated, he will try to save the soldiers’ lives as much as possible.
The first reaction of all the Roman centurions from hearing the retreating was disbelief as they could see that their army held the upper hand. Some of them even felt the enemy could no longer hold on. But out of their absolute trust in their commander, Camillus, they still ordered their soldiers to retreat.
The veteran and experienced soldiers located in the front line formation on the left, centre and right flanks soon began pulling back. After distancing themselves from the enemy, they all turned around in a quick and orderly retreat.
Patroclus had taken up his shield and spear to fight side by side with the soldiers as he knew the ultimate objective of legatus Amintas from having them come here quickly. Still, the enemy’s sudden withdrawal had lessened the pressure on his brigade, allowing him to breathe a sigh of relief. But he then immediately realise, ‘The enemy is fleeing! So does it mean the Volscians had come?!’