Rome Must Perish-Chapter 276 - 173 The Panoni Alliance Army Arrives_2

Andres decided to personally lead the campaign against the Skodisqi bandits.

Back when the Skodisqi Tribe here was annihilated, some remnants had escaped into the mountains, harassing the Segestica Tribe for several years before he was responsible for their extermination. He had a lot of experience with this.

After some reconnaissance and deployment, Andres led his army to strike the Skodisqi bandits who were plundering. After a battle, the Skodisqi suffered heavy casualties, and the remnants fled northwest into the mountains, temporarily restoring peace to the Segestica Territory.

During this time, reinforcements from the Pannonian Alliance arrived gradually. They included ten thousand Brochi warriors, among them 800 heavy warriors; five thousand Mazi warriors, with 200 heavy warriors; ten thousand Desitia warriors, with no heavy soldiers but 500 cavalry.

These three tribes were the only ones to provide reinforcements because their territories were all close to Segestica, allowing for quick deployment and low grain consumption, and because the Desitia had close ties to Segestica, while the Brochi and Mazi were concerned about the threat the Mercenaries posed to them, thus being more proactive in providing troops.

In mid-October, the reinforcements from the three major tribes gathered in the Segestica Territory. Andres had already summoned five thousand of his own tribe’s warriors, and soon they set off together.

The large army majestically passed through the dense forests, crossed the Kupa River, and marched west along the South Bank.

At the same time, Andres sent out many scouts to carefully search the mountains along the coast... Even with a large army in hand, he was more cautious than the last time.

The scouts did not find any anomalies along the way.

But after crossing the Kolana River, they encountered interceptions from the rebel army, losing some scouts and failing to gather information about the rebels’ camp.

This was within Andres’ expectations because during his inactivity, this "Mercenary" force had even pushed their blockade to near the original Cabdes village, making it difficult for the scouts sent by Segestica to pass through. Even if they took a detour through the mountain roads, they never returned, leaving Andres completely in the dark about the situation west of the original Cabdes village.

At least this time, after the army set out, he knew that nothing unusual was found north of the Kolana River, except for extensive cultivated land around the Wallis Village, which had already sprouted seedlings.

These outsiders actually dared to farm here! It seems they truly intend to take this land for themselves! ... Andres was very angry at first, wanting the warriors to uproot all the seedlings in the field. But then he thought: once this Mercenary army is destroyed, won’t the land they cultivated return to his tribe?

Turning his anger into joy, Andres was also reassured by the large swathes of cultivated land: why did the Mercenaries want to blockade this area? It turned out to be to protect their companions farming here...

As before, the Segestica Army used Wallis Village as their last camp, with the transported grain supplies stored there.

After a good rest for the night, Andres led the army to cross the Kolana River again early the next day. Not only did they not encounter interceptions from the "Mercenaries," but even the enemy’s shadow was not seen.

It was clear the enemy knew of their strong military force this time and chose to evade. ... Andres felt disappointed by this.

The army continued westward, passing the site of their previous crushing defeat. Once a battlefield strewn with corpses and flowing blood, it had now become nothing but a withered yellow field of weeds, showing no signs of war, but still unnerving Andres.

Finally, the Panoni Alliance Army halted its advance because the "Mercenaries" camp was just over 300 meters ahead.

This time, the leader of the Desitia reinforcements was their Great Chief Temagis. He personally led the troops to assist out of friendship with Andres and his own curiosity about how the enemy, with fewer numbers, managed to defeat the battle-hardened Andres, wanting to see it firsthand.

At this moment, he asked Andres in shock, "Is this the Mercenaries’ camp? This is practically a fortress!"

It’s no wonder he was shocked; in his view, the Mercenaries’ camp had about three-meter-high earthen walls with over two-meter-high wooden walls on top of them. Every now and then, there was a wooden tower built. Even the main fort in his tribe didn’t have such towering walls and so many wooden towers as this camp did.

Andres looked grave. He did not respond but stared at the enemy camp for a while before saying, "Let’s go take a closer look!"

Thus, Andres led 50 cavalry from his tribe, and Temagis led his 500 cavalry to ride out, circling halfway around the "Mercenaries" camp, losing any illusions: not only the side facing their troops was built with high walls, but apart from the side facing the river, the whole camp was surrounded by long walls and wooden towers.

Andres gritted his teeth, "Let’s get a little closer and have a look."

Saying this, he galloped straight toward the "Mercenaries" camp, and the cavalry staggered forward, guarding him.

Temagis, too, followed closely with his cavalry.

The noise made by the 550 cavalry galloping together was enough to deter the enemy from launching a sudden attack from the camp.

The closer they got to the enemy camp, the wider Temagis’ eyes became. He pointed forward and shouted, "Andres, do you see that?! Those rows of sharp wooden stakes sticking out of the ground!"

"I see them! I also see a deep trench between the stakes and the earth wall!" Andres, who was at the front, replied with a stern face.

"What?! There’s a trench too?!" Temagis was startled, urging his horse forward, wanting to see more clearly.

At that moment, several sharp cries came from the front, as several warhorses rolled to the ground. The fallen cavalry who were thrown to the ground struggled to get up, only to fall again, clutching their feet and screaming miserably.

"There are enemy traps on the ground! Be careful! ..." The cavalry shouted in panic.

In haste, the leading cavalry reined in their warhorses, and those behind, unable to react in time, collided, leading to a chaotic mess of horse neighs and shouts... 𝚏𝕣𝐞𝗲𝐰𝕖𝐛𝐧𝕠𝕧𝚎𝚕.𝐜𝚘𝗺

Andres, however, managed to rein in his horse in time, and with the protection of his guards, he did not suffer from the collisions behind him.

Ignoring the objections of his guards, he dismounted, placing his feet on the soft grass with no detection of any threats, feeling relieved, cautiously moving forward while leaning down, searching through the grass...

Suddenly, he halted, his right foot tentatively resting on a sharp object. He squatted down, brushed away the loose soil with his hand, and pulled upwards forcefully.

Temagis, who had followed, focused his gaze on Andres’ hand: it was a short wooden stick that the enemy had deeply buried in the soil, with one end sharpened into a point!

"Damn Mercenaries!" Andres cursed angrily, handing the stick to Temagis before carefully moving forward again, trying to help the two injured cavalry up...

Unbeknownst to him, standing on the wooden tower near the gate of the camp, tens of meters away, was the rebel army’s leader Maximus.

Maximus looked calmly at everything happening in front of the camp, saying to Quintus beside him, "That man should be Andres, the Segestica Tribe’s Great Chief. The armor he wears looks like the one Emmerich described."

"Additionally, the fact that the Segestica army had just arrived and this man led the cavalry to approach the camp for a risky reconnaissance, even taking the lead, matches the personality of the Segestica Great Chief described by Emmerich. He is likely the one.

But the person behind him, who also has a pointed helmet with long feathers, although not wearing golden armor, seems to be wearing something very refined. According to Emmerich, only a tribe’s Great Chief could wear such armor. Who might he be?" Quintus asked curiously.