Mediterranean Hegemon of Ancient Greece Chapter 789: The Siege of Rome (VII)

Chapter 789: The Siege of Rome (VII)

Maegius, on the other hand, was cautious, reminding Paulus that it was their disastrous defeat against the Theonians due to their sudden attack that had led to Rome's crisis today. Thus he suggested that although the army they led was the best hope to rescue the city of Rome, eight thousand soldiers were still not enough. Therefore, they should gather more soldiers to defeat the Theonians in one fell swoop, which would not only save Rome but might also drive the Theonians from their lands. So they should continue marching east to merge with the reinforcements from the city-states of Praeneste, Gabii and Bolae.
Despite having different opinions, the two are reluctant to split the army in two, as that would only weaken them and lead to their respective plan failing. Thinking they shouldn't waste precious time, they left it to the soldiers to make their choice.
The nearly three thousand Latin reinforcements were indifferent. However, even after being relocated to the three cities west of Latium, the five thousand Roman soldiers still had relatives and friends in Rome that they cared about. Knowing there weren't many soldiers in Rome and the consequence of delaying and allowing the city of Rome to fall meant they would eventually lose the land they had just acquired, so there were more soldiers who became anxious to stop the Theonian's attack and decided to support Paulus' opinion.
Although Maegius felt regretful, he still sincerely wished Paulus victory while he led one centuria of guards to the east.
Paulus quickly assembled the army. Despite feeling anxious, he remained clear-headed and knew that although the Theonian camp was simple, they would need to pay a considerable price to break through it. But since time and soldiers were the most precious, he decided to bypass the camp and go straight to the city.
While the army advanced, the mounted scouts, who had ventured past enemy cavalries and returned wounded, brought back terrible news: Five to six thousand Theonian infantry were in front, along with many cavalries.
Paulus found himself taken aback, as he had not expected the Theonians to reserve such a significant number of soldiers for defence while besieging the city.
But he immediately calmed down since the situation had already developed to this point, and they had no possibility of retreating. For the city of Rome to have hope, he could only lead his troops and attack without hesitation, repelling the enemy in their way!
He then ordered the army to stop advancing and immediately go into formation.
Paulus considered that the enemy had a good number of cavalry. Since their previous defeat was due to Theonia's powerful cavalry attacking their flanks, Paulus cautiously decided to shorten the length of the formation, increase its thickness and place the thousand or so light infantry of the Latin reinforcements in the centre of the army formation, which was protected by the heavy infantry…so by the time they completed their adjustment, the whole formation resembled an oval.
Once the Roman soldiers caught sight of the Theonian army, the sound of salpinx came from the opposite side.
The Theonians had unexpectedly launched an attack on the Roman army first.
At the forefront, where the cavalry legions on both flanks: The ten thousand horses galloped while stirring up dirt and dust into the sky, instantly covering a distance of several hundred metres.
As they watched the colossal beast charging towards them with immense momentum, fear began to engulf the hearts of the Roman soldiers on both flanks.
But this was just an illusion since the Theonian cavalry did not have the capability to attack a formation composed of heavy infantry forcefully. Instead, the Theonian cavalries threw their short javelins while passing by the flanks of the Roman formation.
Since these Roman soldiers had already fought against the Theonian cavalry, they quickly raised their shields to defend themselves at the reminder of the centurions.
At the same time, the light infantry in the formation also shot their arrows at the galloping Theonian cavalry.
Occasionally, Roman soldiers would collapse to the ground after being struck by javelins, while Theonian cavalrymen would fall from their horses by arrows.
Just as the Theonian cavalry brushed past the flank of the Roman army and charged towards the rear, Theonia's infantry formation soon approached, prompting the Roman centurions to shout, “Watch out for the javelins; raise your shield to defend!”
Crotokatax threw his javelin while following his comrades, then threw the second javelin almost without time to gasp for breath.
At this moment, hearing the screams coming from the other side for his battle gave him a thrill, but he had no time to savour this so-called sense of achievement before the soldiers in front of him began to charge at the enemy while he followed suit with the palace guards.
Even though the rain of javelins caused some confusion in the Roman army, they still managed to raise their shields and spears and marched forward with great strides when the Theonian soldiers began to charge.
One side fought with the conviction to defend their homeland and expel the invaders. In contrast, the other side was responsible for the safety of the entire army and must fight to stop the incoming enemy. Soon, the two armies collided fiercely, each thrusting their spears towards the enemy.
Meanwhile, the Theonian cavalry, who had just turned around, rushed towards the rear of the Roman army.
“Turn around! Turn around!” At the command of the Roman centurions, the heavy infantry centuriae at the rear of the Roman formation turned around and raised their long shields to face the incoming cavalry. At the same time, the Roman light infantry in the centre also turned and aimed their arrows, resulting in javelins and arrows intersecting again in the air…
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While the Roman soldiers bathed in blood at the top of the city wall to resist the enemy, the people inside the city didn't remain idle. At the arrangement of the senators, they continuously transported various consumable items for defences to various sections of the city wall while constantly carrying wounded soldiers into the city.
Seeing their loved ones getting injured and dying, the Romans, although grieving inwardly, had no time to cry as they had to seize every moment and do their best to assist the army in defending their homes. But their situation became somewhat grave less than an hour after the enemy began their attack.
“General Magnus reported that the enemy attacked fiercely. He hoped to receive reinforcements after the soldiers paid considerable casualties to prevent the enemy from reaching the top of the city wall!”
“General Sevius reported his army is doing its best to defend the city against the enemy's attack but cannot stop the enemy from continuously destroying the walls with their siege equipment. So he requested more soldiers to form a defensive formation behind the city wall to stop the enemy's attack after the wall collapsed!”
“General Pulius reported that the enemy used warships to build numerous pontoon bridges on the Tiber, giving them more access to cross the river. The soldiers are now defending the entire embankment with all their might, but the enemy attack so fiercely that the soldiers cannot last long if the battle continues, and so he hopes to receive more support!”
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The Roman Senate had initially left the defence of the entire city to the older Scipio, but he found it difficult to control the city's defence once the siege had begun. After all, the city of Rome was too big, the walls were too long, and the winding and uneven roads made it time-consuming to convey orders and send reinforcements. Thus he decisively handed over command to the Senate while concentrating on the Theonians attacking from the south.
The Senate quickly completed the transfer of command, and they even decided to go to the Roman Forum to do their work to facilitate the coordination better and organise the city's defence. They also entrusted the military command to several senators, such as Potitus, Maluginensis and others who had served as consuls multiple times. It wasn't only because of their seniority but also because they had often led troops into battle when they served as consuls and therefore had more battle experience.
But even Potitus, who had served as consul five times and had given a field promotion to Camillus, had never experienced and seen such siege warfare: Countless powerful ballistae, massive siege towers, hollow wagons that could hide soldiers while filling trenches in a strange way, frightening gastraphete, using warship to create pontoon bridges…what was even more terrifying was that the Theonian soldiers attacking the city were not only well-trained but also brave and strong.
Based on their past siege experience, Potitus and the others thought capturing a large city such as Rome with tens of thousands of defenders would only be possible with a hundred thousand soldiers and sieging the city for three months to half a year.
But less than two hours after the start of the siege, the defending army seems to no longer be able to hold on.
The senators also began panicking, and at this moment, they could no longer care about their household's rights and personal interests. So they began organising the slaves in their respective families and notified their family members to act. As a result, they managed to gather all the men and slaves who could wield a shield and spear into the Roman Forum, about ten thousand men. After having them form up and giving them weapons, they sent them wave after wave to the battlefield that urgently needed reinforcements…
Currently, the usually spacious old Roman Forum is crowded and noisy: On one side are the senators urgently training the newly formed army, and on the other are the people treating the wounded lying on the ground.
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Not long ago, nearly ten thousand soldiers were densely packed in the Roman Forum, but soon only over a thousand were left. And those slave soldiers still weren't used to wearing helmets as they shook their heads from to time and held their weapons with daze expressions… When looking at the situation, a sudden unpleasant feeling welled inside Potitus as he grabbed his chair's armrest and strained to say, “Send this last thousand or so men to the older Scipio. Although he hasn't asked for help, the other battlefield is already experiencing difficulties defending, so the South shouldn't be different. I understand the older Scipio well, and I know he is definitely doing his best to try and avoid making things difficult for us…”
“Alas, Rome hasn't experienced enemy sieging the city in decades, so the population lacks experience defending a city! Not to mention that our enemy is Theonia!…” Ambustus sighed with remorse, “It's our fault that we've been so preoccupied with expansion all these years that we haven't properly planned and repaired the city defences!”
These sentences echoed in the hearts of the senators: If they had only demolished the crooked city wall and reconstructed it into a straight and firm wall: If only they had put the bricks, tiles and stones of the city wall more tightly and filled them with mortar; If only they had built a wall on the embankment north of the city of Rome; If only they had placed abatis and stockade on both sides of the trenches; If only they had planned the streets in the city early enough to ease passage…then they wouldn't have a difficult time defending the city like today!