Chapter 449 Attack and rescue

One is the Scoli, the Roman seaside road leading to the province of Western France. When passing through Genoa, there is a branch road heading north into northern Italy;

One is the Via Casaia from Rome to Florence, which runs through the central mountains of the northern Apennines to Bologna, and then passes through the Via Emilia and enters the western part of the North Italian province. Although Bologna is within the area responsible for Nix, it is located On the eastern edge, if the Nycians were not careful, the Roman army might slip through;

There is another one that still takes the Scully Avenue, in Pisa, a seaside town southeast of Genoa. There is a winding mountain road to the north, which can cross the mountains and enter western North Italy;

In addition, the Roman army may also land at the port of Massilia, enter the province of Western France, and then move eastward through the valleys between the Alps and enter the western part of the province of North Italy.

Considering that the Nyx-Gaul coalition was not trying to keep the Roman army out of the province of North Italy, but wanted to fight the Roman army here in a decisive battle, however, since the coalition forces were scattered in two places, it took time to assemble the entire army. , and also to prevent the uncontrolled rampage of the Roman army from causing damage to the coalition forces...

Therefore, after deliberation, Vercingetorius and other leaders made such a troop deployment: Genoa, as the main transportation hub directly entering the western part of the Northern Province, is too far away from the Gallic army, so it is a key target. Therefore, the largest number of troops was deployed to delay the enemy's advance and gain reaction time for the main force; a small number of troops were deployed for other valley passes and roads leading to the west as a warning; the main force of the Gallic army was stationed at Piacenza.

Piacenza is located on the south bank of the upper reaches of the Po River, at the intersection of Herminia Avenue and Postumia Avenue. It is very close to several strongholds that need to be guarded, and it is also easy to meet with the Nix army.

But Vercingetorius did not expect that Genoa would suddenly fall, and even the news was not spread. The Roman army rushed into the western part of the northern Italian province, leaving them completely defenseless.

After urgent discussions, the leaders of the Gallic army decided to hold their troops temporarily and sent messengers to the east to inform King Maximus that they hoped he would lead the army to join forces as soon as possible. At the same time, they also sent many spies, hoping to find out as soon as possible the strength of the incoming Roman army and whether its commander was Caesar.

After that, the news that the spies kept sending back alarmed the leaders of the Gallic army: one after another, the Roman legion flags they were familiar with and hated appeared in Tortona. In the evening, people gathered in and around Tortona. A massive Roman army.

Although the spies did not see Caesar with their own eyes, Vercingetorius knew very well: the only Roman general who could command so many legions could be Caesar!

The leaders of the Gallic army spent a restless night. Early the next morning, they received news from the expedition: a Roman army of 10,000 to 20,000 people left Tortona and headed for the northern Italian province. March northwestward.

While Vercingetorius and other leaders were still wondering what the Romans wanted to do, new news came: This Roman army did not occupy the towns it passed through, but marched directly to the northwest.

Vercingetorio was suddenly shocked: what he was most worried about had happened. The target of this Roman army's attack was most likely Turin!

The city of Turin is located in the northwest of the North Italian province and on the west bank of the upper reaches of the Po River. The Alps surround it to the west and north. However, there are relatively easy-to-travel river valleys. Its location is on the other hand, except for the Scully Avenue on the seaside. It is the inland starting point for connecting with the outside world and the provinces of Western France.

But in the past, the Romans were afraid of the barbarian invasion from the north and always regarded Turin as a defensive fortress. After Caesar became the governor of North Italy, he gradually built it into one of the logistics bases for attacking Gaul. A large amount of food and supplies were stored here, and many military camps were built around the city to train new soldiers.

A month ago, the Gallic army occupied the western part of the North Italian province and began to lead the starving Gallic people to eat in the North Italian province. Most of them settled in Turin, because it was the closest to the Gallic territory and within the city. There are many stores of food and supplies, and there are enough camps to live in... The only drawback is that it is a bit far away from the main army.

Originally, Vercingetorelli and the others planned to have the people move to the Milan area one after another. Milan is a big city, has a lot of food stored, and its location is safer. It wasn't long before Vercingetorius organized the campaign of "Gaul people coming to the province to eat". The Gallic people who lacked food and clothing finally entered the province after traveling long distances and needed to rest in Turin for a while. Only then can you recover and continue migrating.

The information that both Nix and the Gallic army have now obtained is that Caesar is still training new recruits in Rome, and depending on the situation, it will take at least two or three months before sending out troops. This somewhat paralyzed the leaders of the Gallic army. Not only did they let a large number of The Gallic people gathered in Turin, and only two thousand soldiers were sent to protect them.

Vercingeoli never expected that Caesar would not only launch an attack so early in advance, but also unexpectedly raid the western part of the North Italian province first. Yesterday, in a hurry, they made a big mistake. They did not send anyone to inform the people who were eating in Turin and several other towns to take shelter as soon as possible to prepare for the possible war.

If we send fast horses to rule now, the time is too short. The weak Gauls, many of whom have children, cannot escape too far. And they have to hide in Turin. Because the Nyx army had smashed several gaps in the city wall with catapults when they captured the city, the Gauls had not had time to repair it. Therefore, it is difficult to win a long rescue time for the Gaul army with only two thousand soldiers defending the city.

In fact, Tortona is about two hundred miles away from Turin, which is not close. There are also many towns in between (although they are all empty cities). The Roman army entering the western part of the Western Province should have attacked Piacenza, where the main force of the Gaul army was stationed and it was a transportation hub, or attacked Milan, the richest town in the west... The leaders of the Gaul army habitually made such judgments.

However, when Caesar left Egypt, he ordered the army to send spies to investigate the situation in the three northern provinces in detail. The western part of the northern Italian province had vast land, the Gallic army had a loose organizational management system, and there were not enough people to carry out strict patrols. Therefore, the Roman spies could easily find out the deployment and movement of the Gallic army in the northern Italian province.

Based on this information, Caesar's decisive choice of "attacking Turin first" can be regarded as a precise knife stabbing the waist of the Gallic army.

Save? Or not save? ... The leaders of the Gallic army quickly made the decision to "send the main force to Turin for rescue", and even Vercingetorix, who thought "this was a wrong decision", had to nod his head.

Because the vast majority of the Gallic people gathered in Turin came from the southern part of Gaul (after all, it was closer to the northern Italian province), among which there were many people from the Arverni tribe, and the troops from the tribes in southern Gaul were exactly the main force of the entire Gallic army. Even if there were leaders from the north who thought this move was too risky, it would be difficult to object.

Vercingetorix knew the strength of the Roman army led by Caesar, so he simply gave up Piacenza and rushed to Turin with his entire army to rescue his people.

There was a road connecting Piacenza to Turin, and it was flat all the way. The Gallic army was very fast and reached Turin in just three and a half days.

At this time, the Roman army had surrounded Turin, but had not launched an attack. After discovering the arrival of the Gallic army, they immediately lined up to wait.

After resting for an hour, the Gallic army also deployed its formation and took the initiative to fight.

The Roman army had four legions, about 25,000 people; the Gallic army had about 30,000 people (after the food shortage problem was solved, Vercingetorix recruited thousands of tribal warriors).

The two sides started a fierce battle near Turin.

The two thousand Gallic warriors in Turin rushed out of the city, defeated the few Roman auxiliary troops still stationed outside the city, and then escorted the people in the city and fled to the mountains not far to the north.

The general who led these four Roman legions was Caesar. These four legions were originally the most elite troops under Caesar. Under the command of Caesar, who was in danger, the morale was extremely high. They used dense arrays to resist the fierce attack of the Gaul army that outnumbered them. Even though the two thousand soldiers who escorted the Gaul people to escape later returned to assist the main force in the pincer attack, they still could not shake the Roman army's position.

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The leaders of the Gallic army, such as Vercingetorix, actually understood that it was difficult to defeat Caesar's army in a field battle when the number of troops was not much different, but in order to save the thousands of people trapped in the city, they launched an attack on the Roman army under the city with the determination to fight to the death.

Hatred made the soldiers get rid of fear, double their courage, and fight for a long time regardless of fatigue.

The battle lasted for several hours, and the two sides still maintained a balance. As the sky gradually darkened and the two sides were about to enter a night battle, the Roman reinforcements arrived on the battlefield.

It turned out that when Caesar led his army to Turin, he issued an order to the general Quintus Petius who stayed in Tortona, asking him to do his best to find out the movements of the Gallic army in Piacenza. Once he found that its main force was also moving towards Turin, he would send two legions and cavalry to reinforce Turin as soon as possible.

Petius faithfully carried out Caesar's order. After tens of thousands of fresh troops arrived at the battlefield, they immediately launched a fierce attack on the flank of the Gallic army. The exhausted Gallic warriors could not resist and were eventually defeated.

Under Caesar's strict order, the Roman reinforcements continued to pursue the defeated enemy army, but because it was late and many defeated enemies fled directly into the mountains not far to the north, the Roman army, which was unfamiliar with the terrain and afraid of ambushes, had to stop the pursuit at the foot of the mountain and failed to achieve full success.