Chapter 695: Theonia v Rome (IX)
Chapter 695: Theonia v Rome (IX)
Amintas paused, prompting Phryntor to remind him, “Don’t forget the enemy soldiers who have just retreated!”
His words resulted in adjutant Aristonos saying with contempt, “Do they still have the courage to fight?”
“Don’t look down on the enemy.” Despite what Amintas said, he didn’t think the defeated Roman soldiers could recover so quickly. Nevertheless, he remained cautious, “Have the third brigade support the centre!”
After giving his orders, Amintas looked back at the soldiers of the eighth brigade resting not far behind.
‘If only they were heavy infantry!’ Such an idea came to Amintas at this time, which shows how much psychological pressure the Roman’s initiative to attack had put on him.
“Immediately send someone to urge the Volscians to speed up their pace!” said Amintas, who no longer felt relaxed.
After Sthephilos and his centuria retreated, most soldiers sat on the ground, gasping for breath. Still, they manage to keep their formation intact.
Senior centurion Xethippus then gave the order as soon as the soldiers regained some energy, “Brothers of the first brigade, we will immediately move to the left flank to meet the incoming enemy!”
Although the soldiers complained, they propped up their sore legs with their spears, picked up their long, now heavy shields and, under the command of Sthephilos and the platoon leaders, followed the other centuriae to change direction to the left and then marched forward.
By the time the first brigade had reached the edge of the left flank, they could already see the Romans not far away.
When the Roman soldiers saw the enemy reinforcements arriving, they didn’t stop their march to form a large phalanx to fight. Instead, they charged straight at the enemy formation in small phalanxes formed by each centuria.
This style of attack, only seen in the training of the Theonian Legion, had appeared unexpectedly on the enemy side, leaving Sthephilos stunned and nervous.
“Shield defence formation!” Sthephilos could only order that as the soldiers were already exhausted and unable to launch a charge to offset the enemy’s charge.
While the foremost Theonian soldiers used their entire left arms to hold the long shields, the squad leaders kept reminding them, “Switch to short swords! Switch into short swords!…”
With the soldiers already exhausted and their muscles sore, using a spear will only reduce their accuracy and make the spear slip backwards once the enemy collides violently, causing blisters to form on their palms, making it difficult to use the weapon. On the other hand, the short sword is much more manageable and becomes more advantageous as the enemy approaches. It is a lesson learned from countless battles that the Theonian Ministry of Military Affairs has compiled in the Military Code of Conduct so the squad leaders could promptly apply it in battle.
The six rushing Roman centuriae were all made up of young soldiers, which allowed them to run vigorously and roar like the sound of thunder.
Although most of the First Legion’s soldiers were twenty-five and in their prime, they had already expended too much energy since leaving Cerceii in the morning and hadn’t had time to rest. As a result, they were no match for the enemy.
The Roman centuriae collided with the Theonian shield formation one after another, like massive rocks bombarding a city’s wall, resulting in a series of dents in their shield.
And with their powerful charge, the Roman soldiers broke through the enemy’s shield defences and thrust their spears at the unsteady enemy.
While the Theonian soldiers used all their strength first to resist the enemy’s charge and then slowly retreated with the soldiers in the rear to weaken the enemy’s attack. At the same time as they protected their entire bodies with the long shield, they would sometimes thrust the short sword in their right from the gap to wound or kill the enemy who dared to approach closely.
Although the Theonians stabbed the Roman soldiers repeatedly, they continued attacking, with the Roman soldiers at the rear stepping over their wounded.
The Theonians, on the other hand, continued to defend tenaciously, constantly moving forward to fill any gaps while maintaining their defence.
Thus the battle has been heated since the start.
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But immediately after, a scout reported another unpleasant news to Amintas, “Reporting to the legatus! More than two thousand Roman heavy infantry are rushing towards our right flank!”
Amintas’ face turned unpleasant as he heard the report, ‘The Romans still have that many troops?! Did they reorganise their defeated soldiers so quickly?!’
Unfortunately, he didn’t have any time to think. He looked at the still-resting light-armoured soldiers and ordered, “Have the third brigade rush to the right flank to organise the defence. As soon as they come into contact with the enemy, the eighth brigade would quickly move around the back of the enemy flank for a pincer attack!”
“Legatus.” Phryntor cautioned, “Since the Romans’ tactics are similar to ours, they won’t be afraid of having their flanks attacked. On the contrary, with the enemy’s morale at its highest, our light-armoured soldiers will be no match for their heavy infantry….erm…besides, our goal isn’t to defeat the enemy but to defend and stall for time…
Phryntor’s reminder made Amintas ponder for a moment. Since the Romans fought on a centuriae of more than a hundred men, the enemy’s rear centuriae could easily turn around to face the light-armoured soldiers they sent…
Soon after, Amintas changed his order, “Let the third brigade reduce the thickness of its phalanx to increase its length, allowing it to block the enemy’s attack! While the eighth brigade would instead rush to the third brigade’s rear to increase the entire formation’s thickness and resist the enemy’s impact!”
“Understood!” The herald rushed away.
Amintas could no longer remain calm, and neither could Phryntor. So the atmosphere became a little tense.
Ledes hesitated for a while before saying, “Do you want my cavalry to attack the enemy reinforcements in the flank to relieve the pressure on the First Legion?”
Amintas’ eyes brightened, but then he shook his head, “Ledes, thank you! However, my First Legion could still withstand the enemy’s attack. Instead, let your cavalry continue to rest, as I don’t want them to be unable to pursue the retreating enemy due to exhaustion.”
“Alright.” Although Ledes looked regretful, Amintas’ words still relieved him.
“Send messengers to urge the Volscians!!” Amintas’ impatient words made it clear that their legatus was not as confident as he appeared.
. . . . . . . . . . . . .
Camillus only sent some heavy infantry out, leaving three newly formed centuriae in the rear to protect the light infantry and cavalry from the enemy cavalry.
Although the Roman allies had more light infantry than the Theonians, they feared the Theonian slingers.
Little did they know that the Theonian slingers hadn’t brought too many lead balls and were already running low. Nevertheless, they adopted an offensive stance, resulting in a stalemate between the two sides.
. . . . . . . . . . . . .
Camillus paid close attention to the battle’s progress.
The new line, formed by veteran and experienced soldiers, held off the enemy’s attack and began to push them forward, but they could only advance slowly. As a result, Camillus became dissatisfied, knowing that the Theonians had fewer heavy infantry than they did, who was also tired after their long march. Thus he was also surprised that the Theonians could still roughly maintain the stalemate with their second-line soldiers, who were much stronger even after having just defeated the first line of Roman soldiers.
So Camillus sent all his reserves to defeat the enemy as quickly as possible, sending most of them to attack the enemy’s flank. Having exhausted all available means and forces, he could only wait and pray to the gods.
. . . . . . . . . . . . .
Patroclus, the senior centurion of the sixth brigade, was surprised to encounter such a formidable enemy for the first time in his service.
These Roman soldiers tried to drain the Theonian soldiers’ strength by using their shields and spears to strike and stab them constantly. However, they rarely used brute force to collide with the shield formation and avoid getting deep into the enemy line, so they could relatively maintain a continuous attack line.
But such a situation made it difficult for the Theonian soldiers to fully use their short swords since they would undoubtedly drain more of their already exhausted strength if they actively closed in on the enemy.
Thus the Theonian front was forced to retreat under the Roman soldier’s constant and unrelenting attack.
. . . . . . . . . . . . .
Meanwhile, on the flank of the Roman army, the young Roman soldiers attacked more furiously, especially the last two thousand young Roman soldiers sent on the field. Since they wanted to wash away their humiliating defeat, the young Roman soldiers didn’t preserve any strength, with some red-eyed soldiers giving all they could. As a result, the third brigade of Theonia’s First Legion was under tremendous pressure to resist their attack.
Cadmus was one of these two thousand men. After having his centuria attacked by the Theonian cavalry and then routed by the Theonian heavy infantry’s javelin attack, the soldiers could only hold on to their anger. Thus after regrouping and being sent to attack the enemy’s flank, they all charge towards the enemy’s front.
Cadmus watched from the rear at how the enemy’s short sword stabbed the chest of several soldiers. But instead of collapsing, the Roman soldiers grabbed the enemy’s short sword, allowing their comrades to kill the enemy.
Such heroic performance of the soldiers had made the blood of Cadmus, a veteran of many years, boil. Thus when he saw an enemy wearing a helmet with a white plume at the back of the enemy’s formation shouting, he threw the spear in his hand without thinking. But instead of the enemy formation becoming a mess after the enemy officer fell, it is as if nothing had happened as the Theonians continued defending tenaciously against the Romans.