Rome Must Perish-Chapter 160 - 115: Single-Handedly Holding Off the Enemy_2

"Victory!! Victory!!! Victory!!!..." The soldiers’ shouts spread rapidly, with him as the center, towards both wings.

Maximus passed through the array gaps, running back to the rear of the formation, just in time to meet Female Camp Captain Karina, who had been ordered to come.

"Report, Leader. I have brought 1200 young girls!" Karina still appeared calm, but the women behind her were all nervous and uneasy.

Maximus forced a smile: "Divide the girls into three groups, line them up behind the formations of the three legions respectively, to cheer and boost the morale of the fighting brothers!"

Saying this, he took a deep breath and shouted loudly, "Sisters, trust me, with your support, we will definitely achieve the final victory!"

Maximus’s confident words dispelled some of the women’s unease, and as soon as they calmed down, they started whispering to each other. Normally, this chattering would annoy Maximus, but at the moment, it made him feel at ease.

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

The first place where battle occurred was the stone bridge.

Without the barrier of the river, the Roman soldiers formed four columns and quickly reached the center of the stone bridge. Then, at the team’s officer’s command, the Roman soldiers suddenly stopped advancing, slightly opened their intervals, and half-squatted...

"Javelins! Watch out for the javelins!" As soon as the rebel army officer’s words fell, dozens of javelins fanned out and flew down from above.

Since the rebel army was facing the Romans, Quintus, Flanitnus, and other seasoned Roman veterans had provided targeted training, making the soldiers quite familiar with Roman tactics, and they quickly took cover under the shields.

The Roman soldiers’ javelin attacks did not cause casualties nor disrupt the opponent’s defensive formation, but their advance did not halt because of this. At the officer’s command, they roared and charged at the enemy at the bridgehead.

The red iron tide surged towards the rebels’ shield formation, forcing the frontline soldiers to retreat, causing the formation to bulge backward. The Roman soldiers continuously pushed towards the bridgehead, attempting to enlarge the bulge in the rebel formation and finally create a breach.

At this time, the rebel soldiers on both sides of the bridgehead, led by the officer, quickly pressed against the side of the bridgehead, their long spears thrusting through the gaps in the stone bridge railing, stabbing at the lower bodies of the Roman soldiers on the bridge.

The bridgehead was too crowded, and the Roman soldiers near the sides of the bridgehead could not pull out their square shields in time to defend their flanks. Amidst screams, one by one, the Roman soldiers were pierced and fell...

But behind them, Roman soldiers kept pushing forward, the narrow space made it impossible for them to form effective defenses until the Roman officers overseeing the battle at the rear noticed the anomaly and ordered a halt to the attack on the bridge. By then, a section of Roman soldiers had already fallen at the bridgehead, some trampled to death by their own people.

The Roman soldiers retreated awkwardly, and under the strict orders of the team officer, the rebel soldiers did not pursue but grinned from ear to ear, starting to have confidence in holding the bridgehead.

When the Roman soldiers paused their assault on the stone bridge, the long Roman Army formation to the north had already entered the river. Soon, due to varying water depths and widths, the entire line became winding and crooked.

To occupy the defensive points as much as possible and prevent enemy flanking maneuvers, the rebel army’s riverbank defense was relatively thin, with a thickness of only four rows. After the Romans went into the river, only two rows were at the riverbank, equipped as the most elite soldiers of the troops, while the other two rows retreated 20 meters back.

Casaridaoa was among them. Positioned at the back of the line, he witnessed a myriad of javelins thrown by the Romans in the river stick all over the mud in front like the dead grass of winter, sending chills down his spine.

He couldn’t help but shiver, then heard the centurion urgently shouting, "Quick! Move up! The enemy is about to land!"

Casaridaoa ran forward with his comrades, stopping midway to bend down and pick up a javelin: Damn, the tip is bent, but it can still be used as a stick.

Just as he merged into the formation, he heard the screams from the front, so harrowing that he couldn’t help but feel a shock in his heart, followed by the excited shouts of his nearby comrades.

Although the downstream of the Womans River was slow-flowing, the knee-deep water and muddy riverbed made the Roman formation advance slowly, with uneven lines. But the soldiers couldn’t stop on their own to regroup, so pushed by the comrades in the rear, they had to keep moving forward.

Due to years of erosion by river water, the riverbed and riverbank were in a trapezoidal shape, and the Roman soldiers who had reached shallow water did not dare to use their mud-covered legs to charge up the sloping riverbank towards the enemy, as it might lead to falls. Therefore, they cautiously progressed forward.

Meanwhile, since the rebel army on the bank had sufficient preparation beforehand, the Roman javelin attacks did not cause major losses or panic. The entire line was tight and orderly.

The first battle along this line was led by the rebel centurion Stags, and having learned Roman tactics, the rebel army also inherited the Roman military tradition, with the centurion of the team leading from the front left during combat.

Born a slave, Stags had joined the rebel force after their glory at Vesuvius last year. He had since participated in the surprise attack on Pompey, the assault on Canosa, a surprise attack on Sarabia, and several battles attacking manors, making him a seasoned veteran with considerable combat experience.

He first stood still; when the Roman soldier holding a shield was two steps away, he suddenly took a big stride, his left foot stepping into the mud to stabilize himself, and his square shield slammed fiercely into the opponent’s square shield.

The opponent instantly lost footing, his body losing balance, his upper body exposed beyond the shield.

Stags leaned forward, quickly thrusting his short sword in his right hand, stabbing the enemy’s face viciously.

The Roman soldier screamed, falling backward, knocking down the comrade behind him, both rolling into the river.

The nearby rebel soldiers, witnessing this, cheered and applied the same tactic to deal with the enemies in front of them.

For a moment, restricted by the terrain, the Roman Army could not exert its strength and fell into a disadvantageous position.

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

Not all the Roman troops crossing the river were obstructed at the banks. Due to the rebel army’s change of formation, the defense line along the river was greatly shortened, allowing over half of the northern Roman army to cross the Womans River without hindrance and then regroup southward.

Since the Roman army that had just arrived from the west was also located here, currently resting, the two Roman forces inevitably mingled and generated some confusion.

Perhaps eager to fulfill Governor Crodianus’s attack orders or underestimating the rebel army’s attack capability, the legion commander of the northern troops ordered the units to continue eastward, avoiding friendly forces first, and then forming up.

As a result, when they reformed their lines, they were only about 200 meters away from the rebel formation.

This situation was soon discovered by Flanitnus, who was observing enemy movements at the front. He immediately hurried back to the rear, "Leader, the enemy troops that have crossed the river are too far forward, and they are now mixed with the enemy troops that have arrived from upstream. We should attack immediately while they are still forming!"

Maximus looked in the direction pointed by Flantillus, seeing instead a long wall composed of his own soldiers.

"Previously, we were most worried about the western line being too broad without terrain advantage. If the enemy strengthens their attack on the west, it will be hard for us to endure for long. Now the enemy’s negligence gives us an opportunity we shouldn’t miss!"

Quintus, also somewhat excited, said, "Let the Second Legion initiate an immediate attack, pursue, engage the enemy, prevent them from successfully reformatting, so that their numerical advantage cannot be realized, and also avoid casualties from javelin throws."

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