Chapter 457: Rome ends, Knicks rise

Caesar looked at the Gaul cavalry who had gone away with a slightly clear expression.

"Caesar, is the battle situation on the left wing still going well?" Brutus was very clear about the battle plan that Caesar arranged before the war. He felt a little uneasy when he saw the Gaul cavalry that was used for the left wing counterattack appeared here. Seize the opportunity and ask carefully.

Caesar glanced at him, causing Brutus to feel shocked.

Caesar then looked forward again and sighed slightly: "We all underestimated the Knicks. They were well prepared for this war! The heavy cavalry who dared to rush forward, the iron man who was not afraid of slashing the sword, and the unchallenged The cavalry of the soldiers... was so unexpected!"

Caesar took a breath and his two eagle eyebrows suddenly raised: "But they are just like that! It's almost dusk now. As long as we persist until night and the two sides quit, tomorrow I will come up with a way to defeat them and win. In the end, it will belong to Rome!”

After saying that, he rode his horse to the wall of man at the gap in the army: "Citizens of Rome! Warriors who defend their homeland! I am Caesar, and I will stand behind you and fight side by side with you!..."

Caesar's shouts were exchanged for the roars of the Roman soldiers, and they, who were originally tired and nervous, became very energetic in an instant.

Caesar surrounds the wall, riding and shouting. After a round, the momentum of the entire Roman team became different, and he seemed to have confidence in victory again.

At this moment, a commander rushed over: "Sir, it's not good! Commander of Petius's Legion sent me to tell you that the left wing could no longer stop the attack on the barbarians!"

"What did you say?!" Caesar was shocked and thought he had heard it wrong.

The messenger explained anxiously: "After you left, the barbarian crossbowmen suddenly appeared on the left wing, causing great damage to the spear formation of the 13th Legion. The barbarian cavalry also took the opportunity to charge and completely defeat them. And the 13th The defeat of the Legion also chased the second-line soldiers of the Seventh Legion who rushed to support...

Not long after, thousands of barbarian infantry also walked around our flanks and pressed them up. We no longer had the reserve soldiers and could not resist their attack... Some of the soldiers fighting on the front line had already begun to flee..."

It seemed as if his heart was suddenly grabbed by someone, and Caesar couldn't breathe in pain: When he was on the left wing, there was a problem in the middle! Leading reinforcements to the middle lane, there was another big problem with the left wing... In this battle, the Knicks were leading step by step, and they were passive everywhere, which was something that had never been done in previous battles!

Caesar was calm and said loudly, "Hurry up! Gather the soldiers of the Eighth Legion and join me in the left wing to rescue!"

When Brutus heard this, he blurted out similar words to Petius: "Caesar, what should you do if you leave?!"

Caesarton felt bitter and didn't feel it before, but at this time he realized that none of the generals under his command could stand on the harem alone.

He barely suppressed his emotions that were about to explode and wanted to encourage the other party, but suddenly he heard someone beside him shouting in horror: "Caval! The barbarian cavalry are coming!!"

Caesar's heart tightened and turned his head to look at it. He saw hundreds of barbarian cavalrymen holding swords and spears from the left wing, charging quickly toward this side. The dust and mist they raised came to his face, which was suffocating.

At this moment, we also saw the Knicks cavalry bypassing the left wing and rushing straight to the middle road, and the Knicks heavy cavalry who had been watching from a distance and the Gaul cavalry who were harassing them.

When Gaul cavalry leader Galadia saw this scene, his face changed immediately. He immediately threw the task assigned by Caesar behind and led his tribesmen to flee.

Originally, these Gaul cavalry were just cruising around the Knicks heavy cavalry and no battle occurred. Now this move is even less irresistible to the Knicks heavy cavalry.

The captain of the heavy cavalry took the opportunity to shout loudly: "Brothers, have your war horses rested?!"

Gnalo patted the neck of the war horse under his crotch. The war horse, which had just eaten food mixed with eggs, soybeans and a little salt, and had a little water, made a loud and powerful "sighing" sound.

Gnalo responded loudly like other comrades: "All have rested, just wait for the captain, you order the attack!"

"Okay! The brothers and cavalry are all here, we can't watch stupidly! Charge again with me and completely defeat the Romans!"

Gnalo raised the hammer, shouted excitedly with his comrades, and quickly arranged the charge formation.

Soon, a terrifying sound of horse hooves sounded behind the middle of the Roman army.

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Finally won! ...After learning from the messenger that "Roman's three sides were defeated and the soldiers had begun to pursue the whole line", Maximus's always hanging heart finally relaxed.

Although he has been in charge of the Knicks for more than 20 years and has been able to treat any accidents calmly, this time he still couldn't stop feeling excited: not only because he defeated Caesar, but also because the victory of this battle was destruction. An important step in Rome!

He took several deep breaths, then reluctantly calmed down, and said, "Transfer my orders to pursue them with all their strength regardless of fatigue, and try to wipe out the enemy's troops before the night comes!

In addition, let me emphasize that no matter who it is, as long as he captures the enemy's commander Caesar, no matter what level he was before and how many military achievements he made, he will be directly promoted to level three! ”

What Maximus said in the end made everyone around him want to come to chase him in person.

"Also... send someone to tell Vercingetorix that Caesar's army has been completely defeated by us, and he doesn't need to rush to join us.

Let him lead his troops to capture Tortona directly, then capture Genoa, and then march to Rome along the coastal road. And we will soon move to Bologna and attack south along the Via Cania!"

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Before the overall collapse of the Roman army, Caesar's guards forcibly pulled him to retreat. During the period, he encountered the pursuit of the Nix cavalry several times, and these guards stayed to intercept desperately, which bought him some time to escape.

Caesar threw away his cloak, took off his armor, and even ventured to hide in the mountains at night, which got rid of the pursuit, but also made him lose his direction, running around in the dark mountains and forests like a headless fly.

Tired and hungry, and hit hard by the failure of the battle, Caesar suddenly fell to the ground while walking, his hands and feet kept twitching, his eyes rolled back, and foamed at the mouth.

The followers who followed him were very shocked, even desperate, thinking that Caesar was abandoned by the gods and had such a terrible curse, so he lost this important battle.

Only his trusted slave Poca protected him and told everyone that Caesar had suffered from epilepsy many years ago and would have seizures from time to time. During this period, he had won countless wars, so this was not a curse, but a gift from the gods.

But everyone obviously did not accept his explanation. When the next day dawned, there were only a few people left following Caesar.

Fortunately, Galadia, who had fled the battlefield in advance yesterday, learned the news that "Roman was defeated and Caesar's whereabouts were unknown". After thinking about it, he felt that the Gallic rebels led by Vercingetorix regarded him as an enemy. If Caesar was gone, there would be no place for him and his people in Rome.

So he led his people back to look for him. On the way, he happened to meet an follower who escaped from Caesar and learned about Caesar's approximate location.

After half a day of searching, he finally found Caesar and his party who were trekking through the mountains.

Caesar had regained consciousness at this time, but he was too hungry to speak.

Caesar wolfed down the dry food brought by Galadia, and learned from him that until this morning, there were few Roman defeated soldiers who fled to Tortola.

The reason was simple: Caesar led the army to line up in the east, the Nix army was in the west, and Tortona was in the west. It would be much more difficult for Roman soldiers to escape back, and fleeing to the east would still be surrounded by the Nix army, and they would eventually be trapped.

Along the way, Caesar was very silent.

Back to Tortona, although the Nix people did not come to attack, there was no one here, and even the thousands of Roman soldiers who had stayed here before had fled without a trace.

Caesar and others did not dare to stay, and hurried south through the mountain pass.

When they arrived in Genoa, there were still soldiers stationed here, but they all seemed very panicked. Caesar's arrival gave them a reassurance.

Caesar decided to abandon Genoa because he could not defend this port with simple defenses due to his lack of soldiers and generals.

However, before leaving by boat, he sent someone to inform Lucca, which was located south of Genoa and also on the Via Sculli, to strengthen the town's defenses in preparation for the barbarian attack.

Caesar did not land at the port of Ostia, but quietly went to Sardinia because some of his troops were still left on Sardinia.

Here, he learned that the news of the disastrous defeat in the battle had reached Rome, and the people in the city were very panicked. Rumors that "he was captured by the barbarians and killed" were flying everywhere.

Caesar secretly called Trebonius to ensure his loyalty, and then learned about the training of the new legions in detail from him, and then sent trusted men to take over these new legions.

The next day, Caesar led three large groups of soldiers to land at the port of Ostia and went straight to Rome along the land route in a very high-profile manner.

Thousands of Romans who heard the news rushed to the city gate to greet him. After they were sure that the person standing on the carriage and waving to them was Caesar himself, they did not question Caesar's failure, but excitedly thanked the gods for blessing Caesar's safe return.

Caesar gave an impromptu speech to the gathered people.

He first admitted that he had made a mistake. He did not know that the Nix barbarians had coveted Rome for a long time, made full preparations, and secretly formed some new types of troops. He knew nothing about it, so he was caught off guard.

Then he confidently promised that Rome was the most powerful country in the Mediterranean, and a failure was not enough to shake Rome's hegemony. Now he has found a way to deal with the Nix barbarians. When he reorganizes the army, he will completely destroy the Nix and Gallic barbarian armies that invaded Italy within a year.

Finally, he passionately declared loudly: I hope Roman citizens will actively sign up for the army, because he has decided that after the invading barbarians are eliminated, all citizens who serve will be divided into land, and this land is in Italy.

Caesar dared to make such a declaration without the approval of the Senate, and it was the most difficult issue of land distribution, which was absolutely taboo in Roman politics.

But no one doubted that Caesar's words were empty words, because all the promises he made before were fulfilled one by one. With his current status, he had the courage and strength to fulfill it!

The people burst into cheers, and they led Caesar into the city singing and dancing, as if he had not lost the battle, but returned triumphantly, and the panic atmosphere that had previously filled the city of Rome was swept away.

Then, countless citizens rushed to the military camp outside the city and enthusiastically inquired about registration for the military.

Caesar returned to his high priest's residence and refused anyone's visit on the grounds that he was "tired on the journey and needed rest."

The conservative veterans who had previously learned that Caesar was defeated and took the initiative to provoke disputes were uneasy, especially when they learned that Caesar made the declaration at the gate of the city, which made them feel that Caesar became more arbitrary after returning.

However, Caesar's return did restore Rome to peace and tranquility, not only the order in the city, but also the political arena.

Caesar rested at home for two days. On the one hand, he was to take care of his body and the days he was defeated and fled caused considerable damage to his body and mind. On the other hand, he needed to discuss with his generals to improve the formation of a new army and strengthen the north. The defense, the plan to ultimately defeat the powerful Knicks army, is to be submitted to the Senate.

Caesar's premonition: the Knicks army planned to invade for so long, and after defeating itself, it would not continue to stay in northern Italy as before, because there was no army in the south that could stop them. They would take the opportunity to go south and occupy more Romans. The territory may even want to be involved in Rome.

The situation is dangerous and time is tight.

So on the third day, at Caesar's request, the Senate held an emergency meeting.

All the elders in Rome arrived, and Caesar finally entered the venue.

When he sat in his exclusive chair, before the meeting was announced, Cicero came over, followed by some people, all of whom were conservative veterans.

Caesar was surprised.

Cicero quickly explained: "Dear Caesar, there is something very important to let you know in advance! ... Well, originally Gattu, Metlus and others recruited soldiers in North Africa, trying to fight against you. But in After knowing that the barbarian army invaded North Italy, defeated the Roman army repeatedly, and posed a serious threat to Rome, they felt that if the civil war continued, it would only weaken the power of Rome and benefit the barbarians!

Therefore, they wrote letters, hoping to get your understanding, eliminate their treason and allow them to return to the Senate. In return, they will also disband all their troops…”

After Cicero finished speaking, Langjinus took out an envelope from his arms and then said, "Caesar, this is true. Metluth has written me a letter to express his willingness to return to Rome!"

Brutus (another Brutus, the son of Caesar's lover Sevilla) was also nervous and rushed to say, "Ga...Gatu also wrote me a letter, this...this is his letter. "" ""

"I have a letter from Rabbi Enus here!"

“I have…”

Other elderly people also took out their letters.

There is no mistake, one, one, one, one, one, one, one, one 619, one book, one, one, one, one, one, one, a book!

Caesar believed most of the people with Cicero, and his favorite Brutus, and at the same time felt a little relaxed: if Gatu and the others could really surrender, he could concentrate on his efforts to deal with the powerful Knicks. people!

"Brutus, give me Gatu's letter." Caesar decided to read Gatu's letter first, eager to know how his mortal enemy figured it out.

Just as Caesar unfolded the letter and read it carefully, he did not notice that these conservative elders had slowly surrounded him.

Langinos, who was standing behind Caesar, suddenly grabbed his Toga with his left hand, and quickly took out a shiny dagger from his arms with his right hand, and stabbed it hard into his chest.

Caesar screamed, which became a signal, and all the conservative elders around him took out daggers and stabbed Caesar.

Caesar fought desperately, but the enemy was too small. He was hit by more than a dozen times and suddenly fell to the ground, one of which was stabbed by Brutus.

From Langinos to Caesar falling to the ground, in just a few minutes, before the other veterans in the venue could react, Caesar fell into a pool of blood.

Cicero did not expect the tragedy to happen in front of him, standing there like a puppet.

Since the founding of Rome, this is the first time that a bloody murder occurred in the Senate, the most sacred place. Langjinus and others, who dared to take the blame for the world, were not immediately arrested and questioned. On the contrary, after the incident, the Senate was in the Senate. The chaos was that some elders felt that the situation was not good and began to quietly escape from the venue, including Trebonius.

After succeeding, Langjinus even stood in the center of the venue and proudly declared: "Everyone, according to the will of the gods, the dictator Caesar has been eliminated by us, and Rome will restore its former glory! Cato and Metluth have led it The army headed north by boat and would soon come to defend Rome. No need to worry about Rome's safety! "

Perhaps everyone was still shocked, or perhaps Langkinus's words worked. The remaining veterans and guards in the venue allowed the murderer to rush to Zhu with Caesar's blood-stained Toga and showed off his might. Sacrifice in the Bit Temple.

Soon after, the slave Poka, who received the news, bravely walked into the Senate with two companions, endured the grief and carried Caesar's body home.

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After winning the victory, the Knicks army rested for a day in Piacenza, then moved to Bologna and began to march south along the Avenue of Cania.

Three days later, the entire army passed through the northern Apennines and entered the Etruscan region of Rome. The town in northern Etruscany blocked the army's way. It was Florence, a town in northern Etruscany.

This was a Roman colonial city and a populous town with a prosperous trade due to convenient transportation with the northern Italian province.

During the period when the Nix army was stranded in northern Italy, the Romans stationed a lot of soldiers in the city and strengthened the city defense, hoping to hold on to the city and prevent the Nix people from rashly entering the core area of ​​Rome.

Maximus' strategy for this was to surround Florence without attacking it, and divide the troops to attack other towns to the south.

Before the Nix army occupied the northern Italian province and expelled all the residents, some of whom went to Rome, and some stayed in various towns in Etruscany because they were closer to their homes.

Maximus sent a large number of spies (most of whom were from the men trained by Onomabaitis in the Roman territory over the years. They spoke Latin and their appearance was not suspicious) to mix in with the refugee tide, enter the Etruscan region, and live with the refugees in various towns.

Except for Florence and Lucca, these two towns have been transformed into temporary military fortresses by Rome to prevent barbarian invasions, so outsiders are prohibited from entering.

These towns are seriously understaffed, the city defenses have not been repaired for a long time, and there are people to support them. Therefore, in just over ten days, the northern part of the Etruscan region was almost completely captured by the Nix army, and a large amount of food and supplies were raised to solve the logistics supply.

So Maximus sent a force to Lucca on the northwest border of Etruscania to meet the Gallic allies.

At this time, Vercingetorix had reassembled more than 10,000 Gallic troops, reoccupied the empty Tortona and Genoa, and surrounded Lucca.

He followed Maximus's advice and did not attack Lucca, but bypassed it and joined forces with the Nix army.

Maximus left a small number of troops to continue to besiege Florence, and the main force would accelerate southward with the Gaul army, because he had received news: Caesar was assassinated, the Roman people rioted, and Rome fell into chaos.

When the Nix and Gallic coalition marched to the north of Veii, a Roman army blocked the way.

It turned out that Longinus did not lie, Cato and Metellus did lead the army to sail north.

However, when they set out, they did not know that Caesar suffered a disastrous defeat in northern Italy. They only learned from secret communications with their friends in Rome that Caesar led the army to leave Rome to conquer the barbarians who invaded northern Italy.

Labienus insisted that this was the most favorable time to recapture Rome and defeat Caesar.

Under his strong instigation, Metellus and Cato reluctantly led their troops to set off, but their hesitation and fear of Caesar can be seen from their many stops on shore in Sicily and Regium and the slow speed of the fleet.

However, after learning the news that "Caesar had been killed by Longinus", Cato and others were ecstatic. In just 5 days, they rushed from Regium to Ostia.

Then, they followed Caesar and led the army into Rome to quell the chaos caused by the angry people who were killed by Caesar.

Throughout the process, Trebonius watched the whole process and did not lead the new troops to confront the army of Metellus and Cato.

Because he had reached a compromise with the conservatives headed by Longinus in advance, the conservatives forgave him for his previous actions and believed that he was just forced to be a gun under the threat of Caesar, not voluntarily.

The conservatives temporarily stabilized the Roman order, but they had no time to eliminate Caesar's followers, and were even more powerless to stop a large number of disappointed Roman people from fleeing south, because the Nic-Gallic coalition was already approaching.

Metellus and Labienus decisively led their troops northward, trying to keep the enemy out of Rome.

Although they heard that the Nic army had good combat effectiveness and had defeated the Roman army several times, including Caesar.

But according to the information obtained, the Nic army had only more than 30,000 people, and with the Gallic barbarians, it was less than 50,000 people.

Metellus and Cato alone recruited 50,000 soldiers in North Africa, and together with the troops led by Juba I, King of Numidia, and the new legion trained by Trebonius, the number of soldiers reached 100,000, twice that of the other side.

Although more than half of them were new recruits, they were fully confident that they could defeat the invading barbarian army, win glorious honors for themselves, and thus establish their important position in the Senate.

The Roman army came aggressively, but Maximus did not rush to fight with it. Instead, he retreated again and again to distance himself from the enemy.

After learning the details of the Roman army, Maximus sent an envoy to quietly enter the tent of Juba I, the king of Numidia, at night.

On the third day, the Nic-Gallic coalition did not retreat, but took the initiative to set up a battle formation, so the two sides launched a large-scale battle.

But not long after the battle began, the Numidian army suddenly turned against it, leading the Nic army, which was supposed to fight with it, to attack the flank of the new legion led by Trebonius.

At the same time, thousands of Numidian cavalry also raided the headquarters of Metellus and Cato, resulting in Cato's death and Metellus's escape.

The Roman army suffered a disastrous defeat. Under the relentless pursuit of the Nic, Gaul and Numidian armies, countless Roman soldiers were desperate and jumped into the Tiber River in a panic to feed the fish and shrimp...

The reason why Juba I rebelled against Rome was because Maximus told him: This battle is very important. If Rome fails again, it will cease to exist! Is King Juba willing to join us in bravely destroying the hegemony of Rome, regaining independence for Nubia, and winning a broader space for development, such as the whole of North Africa, or even Spain? Or is he willing to continue to be a vassal of Rome and perish with it?

Juba is a man with ideas. He hates that he needs to be recognized by Rome to inherit Wang Wen, and he hates that he, as the king of Numidia, was tried and embarrassed by Caesar. So later, knowing that Caesar was stronger, he chose to help Metellus, Cato and others, just for revenge.

Now Caesar is dead, he just habitually follows Cato's team. In fact, as a bystander, he has seen the current predicament of Rome, and Maximus' words have awakened him.

So he reached a secret agreement with Maximus.

The Roman army was destroyed and had no power to stop the advance of the Nyx and the Gallic coalition.

They entered Rome unhindered. Although most of the residents had fled south, a small number of people ran to the Capitoline Hill to defend themselves, trying to repeat the history of being occupied by the Gauls and then recaptured hundreds of years ago.

Maximus ignored this and asked the soldiers to empty the city of property, supplies and food, and then poured oil and set fire to various places in the city.

In the blazing fire, the Senate, which controlled the life and death of the Mediterranean states and ethnic groups, collapsed; the place where a powerful army was formed, the Ares Forum, became rubble; the twelve bronze columns that regulated the Roman order and safeguarded the interests of the powerful turned into copper water; the Pantheon, which promoted the supremacy of Rome and unified the national faith, turned into ashes...

The fire burned for three days and three nights, and the thick smoke went straight into the sky. The people in the nearby towns watched, which shook their faith in Rome.

When this news spread throughout the Mediterranean, it was a torch that ignited the anger in the hearts of all races oppressed by Rome.

The city of Rome, which had been established for hundreds of years, became a ruin. The nightmare that had been buried in his heart since his rebirth finally disappeared. Maximus firmly believed that the era of Rome had ended, and the era of Knicks had just begun!