Rome Must Perish-Chapter 162 - 116 Battle Opportunity_2

"Hmph, just a bunch of desperate scoundrels." Crodianus shot a glare at the staff member. Although the enemy’s performance was indeed beyond his expectations, he would never believe that this ragged rebel army could be stronger than his troops.

Then Crodianus noticed the sun, already sinking behind the western mountain peak, and his irritation grew. He turned his anger toward his most capable subordinate: "Antonius, what is he doing! He has led the army to the battlefield, yet he doesn’t attack immediately, instead becoming a hindrance to our allied forces!

Bubius, go to him right now and deliver my order. Command him to assault the enemy’s left flank at once to ease Curius’s pressure. Otherwise, I will personally take over command!"

"Yes, Governor."

...

Upon hearing Crodianus’s order, Antonius felt wronged. "Bubius, it’s not that I don’t want to attack, but the soldiers are too exhausted! Last night, they landed at Castellum City by ship and haven’t had proper rest. Early this morning, after hurriedly eating breakfast, they marched over ten miles and then crossed the river to fight courageously, defeating the rebels to the west...

Due to the Governor’s orders, they had no pause to rest and rushed straight here. Some soldiers are so drained they can’t even lift their swords and shields, collapsing directly onto the ground. The Roman Legion Soldiers are still performing relatively well, but the Citizen Soldiers from various towns have been falling behind during the march and haven’t yet arrived. If there isn’t a period to rest and recover their stamina, deploying them back into battle will be very difficult!

If it weren’t for Curius’s impatience to attack, engaging without consulting me and bringing his troops here, how would this confusion between his advancing army and mine, which was still in recovery, even occur!"

Antonius’s final sentence appeared to blame Curius’s recklessness, but covertly, it was a veiled criticism of Governor Crodianus’s impatience. Antonius knew clearly that while Legion Commander Curius may have mediocre military ability, if it weren’t for Crodianus’s eagerness for victory, even if Curius rigidly followed traditional Roman tactics, he wouldn’t have made such a major blunder.

Bubius pretended not to notice the undertone in Antonius’s words and spoke gently: "You and the soldiers’ exhaustion, the Governor knows well. Your achievements are also remembered by him! However, now the battle has reached this stage, and time is running out!

If we cannot follow the original plan and defeat this rebel army before nightfall and seize their camp, retreating will leave us nowhere to rest! Moreover, if this drags on, and the rebel main forces arrive to reinforce, that would be the worst-case scenario! To overcome the dilemma of our forces and preserve our previous victories, we must ask you to encourage the soldiers to fight one more time!"

Bubius’s words were earnest, and Antonius listened. He scanned the surroundings at the soldiers slumped on the ground, remained silent for a moment, and sighed deeply: "I’ll do my best. I hope the soldiers will still obey my orders. I have a few suggestions I’d like you to relay to the Governor."

"Please, go ahead."

Antonius bent down, picked up a dry tree branch, and began sketching on the ground as he spoke: "I’ve had people survey the battlefield earlier. The rebels have defensive positions on the southern bank of the Womans River, and to the west, they initially adopted a defensive formation. But due to Curius’s mistake, they initiated an attack. I must say, this rebel force has a decent grasp of timing in exploiting opportunities."

Bubius slightly furrowed his brows.

"However, because of this, their original defensive formation has been disrupted, creating a significant gap in the line between the rebels on the southern bank and those to the west—" Antonius jabbed the ground forcefully with his stick on the lines he had drawn, "If the Governor can divert some troops to attack here, it should have a positive impact on the overall situation."

"I noticed this myself on my way over, but the troops under Curius are now being pressured by the rebels. Over ten thousand soldiers are packed together and have lost effective organization. Extracting soldiers from the rear will likely be very difficult. Besides, the reason they’ve managed to hold off the rebels might be because of the thickness of their formation. If the array is thinned out by reallocating soldiers, I fear it might lead to the collapse of Curius’s army!" Although Bubius didn’t command soldiers, he had some military insight and voiced his concerns.

"It doesn’t matter if we can’t draw troops from the west – we can take them from the north."

"The north?"

"Look, our northern forces haven’t been able to advance onto the riverbanks due to the terrain, and their casualties seem to be higher than here. Yet the rebels stubbornly hold their positions at the riverbanks without counterattacking. Hence, the northern troops can withdraw temporarily, reorganize their formations...

Over ten thousand soldiers aligning in thickness of eight columns for a river crossing assault haven’t been effective at all. It would be better to pull out half of them to attack the location I just mentioned. Ideally, we should deploy the Roman Army in that area for better results."

"That... could be worth considering."

"I also hope the Governor will order the City Guard of Mateninum to launch an assault from the city against the rebels’ rear."

"There aren’t many soldiers stationed in Mateninum City. They pose little threat to the rebels, and if they launch an attack recklessly, what happens if the rebels seize the chance to invade the city?"

"I believe this rebel force lacks more troops beyond those deployed in formation and battle here. Otherwise, why wouldn’t they send reinforcements to cover the significant gap in their lines?" Antonius stated confidently. "If the Mateninum people leave the city to attack, it will disrupt the rebels’ rear and lower their morale.

Even if the rebels have some extra troops, they’ll be constrained and unable to commit them entirely against us. If they do invade Mateninum City, they’ll waste personnel suppressing unrest in the city, which would actually benefit our operations. And as long as we secure victory in the end, no one will make an issue of it..."

Antonius’s last sentence was spoken ambiguously, but Bubius understood clearly: Since the rebellion began last year, multiple towns in Italy have been seized and plundered. The Romans had grown accustomed to it, and the fate of a small city like Mateninum was hardly worth mentioning.

However, Bubius still showed hesitation. "The Governor might agree to your proposal, but we didn’t plan for this in advance. The land route to Mateninum is cut off by the rebels. As for contacting them by sea, there’s no nearby port. A messenger would have to return to Castellum, then take a ship to reach Mateninum, which would take far too long. By then, the battle will surely be over."

"There’s a solution." Antonius smiled confidently. "With my years of experience, whenever an army goes out to battle, plenty of merchants follow, hoping to profit after the army’s victory. This time our operation was highly confidential, so there were fewer merchants ahead. But since our battle is close to the coast and near busy shipping routes, there must be merchant ships lingering near the river’s mouth, observing the battle, waiting for our victory so they can purchase war spoils. We can entrust them to take the Governor’s orders to Mateninum City."

"That... might indeed be worth trying."

"And my final suggestion." Antonius’s expression turned serious, and he spoke in a solemn tone: "As you just said, the battle situation isn’t favorable for us. The Governor must make a decisive move! Deploy the Military Law Team to supervise the troops on the northern and western fronts. Even if casualties increase, pressure the rebels enough so they don’t dare to divert their already limited forces to support other areas..."

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