Rome Must Perish-Chapter 289 - 180: Accident

"What I said at the tribal alliance meeting was annihilation! Complete annihilation of these mercenaries! You haven’t fulfilled the agreement at all!" yelled Andres frantically.

"Don’t even mention completely wiping out these mercenaries; just attacking the camp inside—after Brochi’s reinforcements left, it’s impossible with just our forces! Many of our Mazi warriors have already died or been wounded. We can’t afford any more losses!"

Saromis responded resolutely, concerned that after Brochi’s army left, his own troops would be used by Andres as the main force to attack the camp.

He then showed compassion and advised, "Andres Chief, this war not only caused many of your Segestica warriors to die or be wounded, but also used up a lot of food and resources! If this continues, the tribal people will protest. I advise you to withdraw temporarily, and let the tribe recuperate. Then look for another opportunity to completely destroy these mercenaries..."

"Later?" Andres suddenly laughed, but the laughter was shrill, his expression uglier than crying.

After a moment, he stopped laughing and looked coldly at Saromis, "If you want to leave, get out quickly. Don’t just stand here and be an eyesore!"

Saromis walked away angrily.

Temagis couldn’t help but speak, "Andres—"

"What, you want to leave too?!" Andres turned abruptly, looking at Temagis with what seemed like a hint of pleading in his eyes.

Temagis smiled bitterly, "Now that Brochi and Mazi’s reinforcements are gone, with just you and me and these four or five thousand men, it’s not a question of whether we can take down the mercenaries’ camp; we have to constantly be on guard against mercenaries coming out and engaging us in a decisive battle!"

Temagis’s reminder left Andres stunned.

After a long while, he seemed deflated, his expression extraordinarily desolate, and he waved his hand murmuring, "Go, just go..."

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

In the morning, inside the inner camp of the temporary camp, the clear space beneath the wooden walls was filled with fully armed soldiers, each holding a hard bread, dipping it in steaming lamb soup, and chewing laboriously.

These breads were hurriedly made before the war. Now besieged within the camp, even wood had to be conserved, used only for boiling water and making soup.

Although they had been besieged for several days, the soldiers showed no signs of dismay. Instead, the fire lights outside the camp last night left many restless, and excitement still lingered.

While the soldiers talked eagerly about how last night Third Legion Commander Carmillus and Oluus led the army through tunnels and inflicted massive losses on the enemy, standing in the tower, Maximus felt less at ease than the soldiers.

Last night, he had Carmillus lead 2500 soldiers through tunnels to sneak out of the camp, launching a surprise attack and burning the Pannonians’ outer camp. From the look of things, the action seemed to go well, but now only about 7000 soldiers remained in the inner camp. The enraged Pannonians might launch a strong attack on the inner camp, and he must be on high alert at any moment.

But fortunately, although the soldiers defending the camp had decreased by a few thousand, moving back into the inner camp drastically reduced the defensive area required. The 7000 soldiers were more than enough, and in times of crisis, personnel could be drawn from the Supply Camp to supplement.

Maximus now hoped the Pannonians would launch an assault immediately, allowing them to use the inner camp’s defensive facilities to massively damage the enemy again, and when the Pannonians’ morale was sufficiently depleted, Carmillus and Oluus would lead troops from behind in a surprise attack, while the soldiers of the inner camp would kill their way out, pincering the enemy from both sides, and in the final battle thoroughly defeating the enemy...

This was the counterattack plan developed by Maximus after consultation with the Military Department, hoping to secure victory and end this month-long war.

But what was happening in the outer camp astonished Maximus: first, a large number of Pannonian soldiers from the northern outer camp withdrew outside, followed by soldiers from the western outer camp, with the eastern outer camp next...

"Are the Pannonians preparing for a full retreat?" Maximus said somewhat incredulously, "Last night’s raid didn’t inflict immense damage on them, so how could they lose the will to continue fighting?"

"The Pannonians have repeatedly suffered defeats at our hands. Yesterday, they barely captured the outer camp only to find another inner camp to breach, and then suffered an attack at night, resulting in many casualties, with all supplies in the camp being burned... If it were me, I wouldn’t want to keep fighting either..." said Flanitnus from the side.

"Could it be..." Quintus pondered and said, "the Pannonians are merely feigning retreat, to lure us out to pursue, then they turn back to counterattack us, thereby avoiding the hardship of storming the camp..."

"Hmm..." Maximus stroked his chin, deep in thought.

At this moment, Akegu came to the foot of the tower and shouted, "Report to the leader, the enemy across the river is retreating from the camp!"

"Leader, the enemy is about to fully pull out of the outer camp. If we don’t launch an assault now, we’ll miss the opportunity." Flanitnus anxiously reminded. 𝕗𝐫𝚎𝗲𝘄𝐞𝕓𝐧𝕠𝘃𝕖𝐥.𝐜𝚘𝚖

Quintus said nothing.

Maximus watched the Pannonian warriors leaving the gates of the outer camp one by one and, after weighing the situation repeatedly in his mind, finally spoke, "We’ve secured the victory already; there’s no need to take risks. Remember, even a cornered rabbit will bite."