Rome Must Perish-Chapter 274 - 172 Nix’s Challenge Strategy_2

Quintus’s eyes lit up, but he didn’t respond immediately. He thought for a while before saying with some excitement: "Now our camp has nearly 12,000 troops, defending a well-fortified camp, even if the enemy comes with forty or fifty thousand men, we can fully cope.

If we send out 1,000 men to stay outside the camp, specifically to raid the enemy’s rear, cut off their supply lines, and demoralize them, making them afraid to attack the camp with full force... I think that is completely feasible!"

The suggestion was affirmed, and Maximus smiled and said slowly, "I have another suggestion, and I’d like your advice on it."

Another suggestion?!... Quintus looked eager and urged repeatedly, "Tell me! Tell me!"

"The Segestica Army was unable to attack the camp and eventually chose to retreat. If we pursue them without cavalry, we may not gain much...

The Segestica Great Leader has suffered setbacks at our hands, and his future actions will become more cautious. When we move to the banks of the Kupa River, we’ll still have to worry about when he might lead his army to attack. It would be better to take advantage of this opportunity when he brings a large force to suffer a great defeat again. This way, even if he wants to continue opposing us, he won’t have the capacity to do so in the short term...

My idea is... can we dig a tunnel from the camp while the enemy hasn’t arrived, with the exit near where the enemy might build their camp? When they fail to attack and prepare to retreat, our army suddenly emerges from the tunnel, catching the enemy off guard..."

This idea of Maximus came from an ancient military example he had read in a previous life, yet it once again amazed Quintus at the imaginative thinking of this young leader. It also sent him into prolonged contemplation, repeatedly evaluating the feasibility of this suggestion in his mind, before finally responding cautiously, "Leader, your idea is excellent! Digging tunnels to attack cities—I did that when I was a soldier in Rome, but I never thought we could dig a tunnel from a camp to counterattack an attacking enemy!

It’s best to call Flanitnus, Capito, and the engineering captain Gaius, to discuss together and survey the terrain and soil quality around the camp, and then decide whether it can be implemented."

"Let’s do it then, Capito will be here soon." Maximus decided promptly, "Casius, go call Flanitnus. Manas, go call Gaius."

"Yes!"

"Yes!"

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

After making up his mind, Spartacus led the rebel army straight southward, to Turi, Croton, Hibernian, Medma... plundering all the way without unnecessary stops, and finally arrived at Regium—Italy’s southernmost town.

The people of Regium had long known of the rebel army’s approach and had prepared their defenses.

The city walls of Regium were tall and thick, and as a maritime transport hub, it could receive support at any time. Although the rebel army was numerous and powerful, they rushed here without any siege weapons, and Spartacus had the lesson of the siege failure at Metapontum, so he didn’t rashly attack but set up camp outside the city.

Standing by the sea, Spartacus looked southward and could vaguely see the outline of a town on the opposite side of the sea. After asking locals, he learned that it was Messina, a famous city on Sicily.

It seemed the strait separating Italy and Sicily was very narrow, and it would take only a few hours by ship... Spartacus was thrilled and immediately sent soldiers to search for ships everywhere.

However, having seen the rebel army rushing toward the toe of Italy, Crassus had already guessed Maximus’s intention, because this was precisely what the Roman Elders feared: if the rebels in Italy inspired the numerous serfs in Sicily to rise again, it would be Rome’s greatest disaster.

So Crassus had already dispatched a messenger by fast ship to notify several towns near the Messina Strait to prepare their defenses, and at the same time, confiscated all the ships outside the towns into the city, leaving Spartacus empty-handed.

However, from the locals captured, Spartacus learned that not only was Regium a place of prosperous maritime trade, but smuggling was rampant, with many pirates selling stolen goods here and having their own secret harbors along the coast.

Having finally led his army here, with Sicily across the sea, Spartacus was unwilling to give up his previous plan and turn back, so he once again disregarded Maximus’s warning and sent his soldiers to find the pirates...

The cautious Crassus followed the rebel army to Medma but didn’t continue southward because he knew that further south, the territory became narrower, and with seventy to eighty thousand soldiers within it, there would be no room to maneuver, and should the rebels counterattack, the army would even have difficulty retreating.

Even though he couldn’t continue to follow the rebels, Crassus didn’t let his soldiers idle. Instead, he fully utilized the Roman tradition of engineering, and while the rebels were stuck in the Regium Region, he mobilized all his soldiers to urgently build a long wall and trench, with spaced fortifications, stretching a hundred miles along the west coast town Medma and the east coast town Locri (there’s a mountain in between), aiming to trap the rebels in the southernmost part of Italy, preventing them from running around, and then figure out how to annihilate them all.

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

In the mountains on the eastern bank of the Kupa River, a young man holding a short spear, wearing a short-sleeved linen shirt and long trousers, was moving quickly. He sometimes burrowed into dense forests, sometimes scaled low hills, and sometimes ran through valleys, like an agile hound darting between the mountains.

He finally came to a small stream deeper in the mountains, where the trees had been felled down, wild grasses and thorns removed, and the land leveled, turning it into a larger open area with dozens of tents set up, surrounded by simple wooden fences... an unexpectedly human camp appeared in this desolate place.

"Adobag, you’re back. Did you have any gains today?" the camp guard habitually asked.

Without replying, the young man anxiously asked, "Where’s the Great Captain?"

The guard pointed behind him, "Over there, training! Judging by your look, it can’t be that—"

Before he finished speaking, the young man dashed into the camp, ran through the tents, and arrived at a simple training ground, where more than a hundred men holding wooden sticks and shields were lined up in a straight line, repeatedly charging...

Standing on the sideline was a man with arms akimbo, shouting loudly, "Just now that was a bit better, but the formation is still somewhat loose. I’ve said it before, when charging, the first thing you should focus on is maintaining your formation, not the enemy ahead. As long as you can maintain your formation during an assault, it can generate a mighty momentum that would make the enemy’s hands and feet tremble. All you need to do next is aim your long spears at the enemy and thrust... Let’s do it again! If anyone acts out of line again, you’ll keep practicing here until night, got it?!"

"Got it!!!" everyone responded in unison.

"Great... Great Captain," the young man approached the man cautiously and called him a few times.

The man turned his head; it was Pequot. Seeing the young man, he hurriedly asked, "Adobag, you returned so early, is it because the Segestica people’s army has come?!"

"Yes, Great Captain, the enemy has come! A lot of them, with long trains, countless! They’ve also sent scouts ahead to explore the road, and some have even entered the mountains to search... so I hurried back!"