Chapter 120 Reversal

Everything is going smoothly according to plan. Antonius, who is riding a horse and following the legion, only hopes that the soldiers can be faster and defeat another rebel army in front. He will win this battle!

At this moment, he heard a huge shout from behind, covering all the noise on the battlefield, like a mountain falling apart.

He turned around in shock and saw that the Italian town soldiers who had originally fled westward due to the pursuit of the rebels were now running back in fear. Behind them was a dense crowd, like a roaring torrent, rolling towards them with overwhelming force. …

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"Report to the leader, leader Spartacus has arrived with reinforcements and is attacking the enemy from the west!"

"Reporting to the leader, Chief Altonix is ​​leading reinforcements through the seaside road. He hopes that our troops to the north can make way for a passage to facilitate his attack on the enemy!"

"Report to the leader..."

…

This day's battle made Maximus nervous all the time. The defeat of the Third Army at the last moment made him despair. In the blink of an eye, he learned that reinforcements had arrived and turned the tide of the battle. He suddenly fell into ecstasy. There are no greater ups and downs in life than this.

When the news of the final victory of the battle came, Maximus, who was already exhausted physically and mentally, just wanted to fall down and have a good sleep immediately, but this was just a luxury hope, because there were still many matters to be dealt with immediately after the war.

At dusk, the entire battle was over.

Through the reconnaissance of the Oakmar cavalry, Spartacus learned about the entire battlefield situation and the layout of the Roman army in advance. He divided the reinforcements he led into two parts and quickly advanced eastward along both banks of the Vomanus River. The Roman army They had been fighting with Maximus's army for nearly two hours, and there was no extra strength to resist the impact of the rebel reinforcements. They were almost defeated at once.

Subsequently, Altonix's reinforcements arrived along the coastal road. When the consul Crotianus on the north coast saw that the situation was not good, he abandoned his troops and fled in panic, which made the Roman army in defeat even worse. If Antonius had not relied on his own prestige to lead the only Roman legion he could control to resist desperately, the rebel reinforcements could not form an encirclement as soon as possible, allowing nearly 20,000 Roman and Italian town soldiers to escape. In the end, nearly 30,000 Roman soldiers The soldiers of the army were either killed or captured, and Antonius also died on the battlefield...

The setting sun disappeared behind the mountain, and the sunset glow was like blood, hanging in the dim western sky. The plains downstream of the Vomanus River are littered with corpses, and the river water has been completely dyed red with blood...

Such a horrific post-war scene did not frighten the 50,000 rebel reinforcement soldiers. On the contrary, they were excited about a great victory and were lining up on the south bank of the lower reaches of the Womanus River, stepping on the scarlet soil. Staring attentively at Spartacus across the river.

Spartacus stood on the north bank of the Vomanus River. He was not happy about the victory. Instead, he had a serious face and his voice was like a bell, hitting the eardrums of the soldiers: "Brothers, we have won! But this victory It is not your credit, but the troops led by the two leaders Maximus and Attumus! When the Roman army came to kill them, they did not run away out of fear, but bravely stayed and fought with their colleagues! The Romans fought! It was because of their bravery that they persisted until our arrival and won the final victory!

Were the Romans powerful? If they were not powerful, how could they destroy our city-states and tribes and make us slaves! Were the Romans scary? If it is not terrible, how can our relatives and friends be killed by them, and we are tortured! But, is this really the case? Let me tell you the truth! ——”

Spartacus waved his arm forward, and his escort immediately pressed up hundreds of prisoners. These prisoners were stripped naked and stood naked on the river bank. Some of them were fat and flabby. , some were too thin and fleshless, some had too fair skin, and a few were tall and strong (Spartacus carefully selected them, most of them were Italian town soldiers)... Because these prisoners fought for a whole day , haven’t eaten to replenish calories, their naked bodies were blown by the cold and wet river breeze in the evening, and everyone was hunched over, shaking like a sieve.

Spartacus drew his dagger and slapped the bulging belly of a prisoner with the sword blade. The prisoner was so frightened that he knelt down and begged for mercy.

"Open your eyes and look at these fragile guys! It is these enemies who scare you so much that you dare not fight and abandon the camps you built! It is these enemies who force you to march day and night and even sleep at night. We can't sleep well! It's these enemies who are about to surround us and want to kill us all!

Brothers, this battle is over today, but there will be many more battles like this in the future. Do you have the confidence to win each victory with your own hands, so that the Romans' plan to destroy us will be shattered, and we will be completely free? ! "

Looking at these "Roman soldiers" trembling under the sword and listening to Spartacus's hopeful questioning, the self-esteem of the rebel soldiers on the south bank was aroused, and they roared in unison: "We are confident that we can defeat Rome with our own hands. people!!!……"

Spartacus still had a serious look on his face: "It's not enough to just say something nice, I have to see your next actions!"

After Spartacus finished speaking, he pushed the dagger back hard, and with a shrill scream, the dagger pierced the prisoner's stomach. Then he slashed downwards, and the intestines rolled out with blood...

Such a tragic situation frightened other prisoners and also caused some rebel soldiers to scream in surprise.

Spartacus glanced at the soldiers on the other side with cold eyes, and said in a stern tone: "Next, it will be up to you to execute these Roman prisoners!..."

Spartacus used a similar method last year, and now he had to repeat the same trick, wanting to let the tens of thousands of new recruits who joined the team in Magna Graecia personally kill all the prisoners in this battle, so that they would not No longer afraid of killing.

Forced by the situation, Spartacus had to take cruel measures.

When the soldiers of the rebel army's reinforcements killed heads in the Vomanus River and stained the seaside of Mateninum with blood, the soldiers of Maximus' army had already returned to the camp to rest. They were really too tired after the battle. But the medical battalion began to get busy. There were too many injured soldiers, and they couldn't cope with it.

When Maximus, who went to the medical camp to comfort the wounded soldiers, found out, he immediately ordered that a dozen tents be vacated in the camp for the use of the medical camp. At the same time, he also asked Capitol to provide more manpower to help the medical camp rescue the wounded soldiers.

Then he returned to the military tent and listened to Akago and Cassius's statistics on their own casualties in this battle.

"...the First Army had 198 dead and 356 wounded, 53 of whom were seriously wounded; the Second Army had 231 dead and 262 wounded, of which 116 were seriously wounded; the Third Army had 444 dead, including two centurions. , 572 people were injured, of which 212 were seriously injured——" Akguo's voice became lower and lower, his face full of sadness. Perhaps among these dead soldiers were his familiar friends.

Maximus coughed lightly and said in a deep voice: "On the battlefield, swords and spears have no eyes, and there is no one who is immortal. Fortunately, we won this time, and their death was exchanged for our survival. They Even if you die, you will be remembered forever! If it is your turn to fight against the enemy in the future, can you use your courage and wisdom to win and win a better life for everyone?"

"We can!" Akago, Cassius and other young attendants were inspired by this and responded loudly with their heads held high.

"Very good, I look forward to the day when you become heroes!" Maximus nodded and said, "Keep talking."

"...119 people in the convoy died and 214 were injured, 75 of whom were seriously injured; two people in the cavalry died and 13 were injured, all of which were minor injuries." Ak Guo's voice gradually returned to normal.

After listening to this, Maximus fell into deep thought: In general, the army was outnumbered by the enemy, and the casualties were not serious. The worst among them was probably the Third Army, with only 4,000 people in total, and more than 1,000 casualties. Therefore, there was such a heavy casualty rate because they suffered a surprise attack while chasing the defeated troops;

The highest casualty rate is also the escort. This escort, which has only been in the team for less than a month, has not received the long-term rigorous military training like other legions. They are not good at relying on strict formations to resist attacks during the battle. They are more trustworthy. Due to their own bravery, they were almost broken by the constant impact of Roman soldiers who were far more numerous than them;

Although the First Army and the Second Army were at a disadvantage in the end, they suffered few casualties during the battle. I believe the same was true for the Romans, but once they were defeated, tens of thousands of people would be gone in the blink of an eye...

Such experiences and lessons are worth learning! ...Maximus came back to his senses and saw that the eyes of the attendants were still focused on him, so he said: "You have done a good job. It seems that I can give you more tasks in the future."

The attendants all smiled.

Maximus was telling the truth. From the time he gathered the children together to impart knowledge and arranged them to work in a targeted manner, he later transferred the older children to his side to serve as scribes and heralds, until today. The first time they were assigned to do post-war military casualty statistics, they all completed well. This made Maximus satisfied with the child training plan of his army, although it was impossible for them to become a charging soldier in a short time. , but they may play an important role in Maximus's plan in the near future.

"Okay, go and call Volenus, Capito, Arconis, Frontinus, Quintus, the three legion commanders, Aulus, and Pecot."

"yes!"

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"Chief, Arconis can't come. She is busy instructing her men to cook food, because we are not the only ones who are going to eat here tonight, there are more than 50,000 reinforcements," Capito said.

"If they hadn't arrived in time today, we would all be doomed. This life-saving grace is not worth a dinner, haha, we can't be stingy." Maximus said half-jokingly, half-seriously After finishing, he then asked: "There was a riot in the camp before, what was the loss?"

"The loss was not big." Capito replied: "Five tents were damaged, three mules and horses were frightened and ran away, and they were later recovered. A dozen people were slightly injured. It was just those who started a riot and tried to escape. We killed four of the Sarapians and captured all the others."

Maximus looked at him and asked: "Do you think we should execute all those who try to escape in accordance with military law?"

"They cannot be executed!" Capito said firmly: "Military law applies to our people, and they are just prisoners. And these prisoners who tried to escape were either blacksmiths, potters, charcoal workers, gold and silverware craftsmen..., Very important to us! ”

These words really touched my heart! ...Maximus secretly approved, but said sternly: "But these people have caused so much trouble for us, and they must be punished! In the future, whether they are marching or resting, they must be roped and sent Someone should be assigned to guard them, and the food given to them should be halved. Also, aren't there people killing people on the river bank? Take them all over, take a good look, and teach them a lesson!"

"OK."

Maximus looked at Pecot, whose right arm was wrapped in linen, and asked with concern: "Pecot, how is your injury?"

Pecot moved his right hand, which was wrapped in linen, and said with a dull expression: "It was just lightly slashed by a Roman sword. I just went to the medical camp to see it. It's nothing serious. It will be fine in a few days."

"That's good!" Maximus breathed a sigh of relief, looked at several generals of the army, and praised loudly: "This time the Roman army attacked, you led the troops to resist tenaciously, and persisted until the reinforcements arrived, and won a great victory. Victory! This victory changed the dangerous situation of our free Italy and gave us a life. Everyone should thank you!"

"Chief, since we have made great achievements, shouldn't you give us some rewards?" Pheasalus said seriously: "For example...distribute so many armors and weapons that were ripped off from Roman soldiers. To our soldiers, after all, we fought desperately to achieve this victory, we can’t let other troops take advantage!”

It turned out that after the victory of the battle, the soldiers of Maximus' army went back to camp to rest because they were too tired, so the task of cleaning the battlefield was almost taken over by reinforcements.

Maximus said with a smile: "Don't worry, Spartacus is a reasonable man. I have discussed it with him in advance. He agreed to give us 10,000 sets of weapons and equipment for Roman legionnaires, waiting for their execution." After you take the prisoners, send them to us, Pheasalus, and you will be responsible for receiving them later.”