Chapter 712: Theonias Retaliation

As the Romans gave the order to retreat, the horn of the Volscian reinforcements sounded.

When the people of Setia heard the horn, their morale immediately soared.

Because the Roman army used centuriae as tactical units, their troops were well-organised during a siege. However, since most of their soldiers were heavy infantry, they didn’t have javelins, arrows and stones… not to mention the fact that there were several gaps in the wall. So all they could do was stand on top of the wall, unable to block the enemy effectively. With no other choice, the Romans hurriedly organised a team and rushed to the gaps. But before they could form a defensive line, the Volscian reinforcements poured in from the breach in the western wall…

The exhausted and disorganised Roman army could not hold off the enemy for long. After a while, the energetic Voscian soldiers broke the enemy ranks, swarmed into the city and began fiercely attacking the retreating Roman soldiers.

In the end, the defeated Romans scrambled to flee the city of Setia.

The Volscian reinforcements tried to chase them until all the Roman soldiers had fled to their camp.

Fortunately, Camillus foresaw the situation and ordered the troops in the south to withdraw in an orderly fashion towards the camp. Then as soon as the soldiers in the north retreated, he sent his troops to intercept the pursuers. Otherwise, it was likely that the Volscians would rush their camp.

In today’s battle, the Roman army failed to attack the city while suffering more than four thousand casualties. On the other hand, the Setian defenders also suffered heavy losses, with nearly 10,000 Setians either killed or wounded.

And even though Theonia’s First Legion, tasked with holding back the Roman camp garrison, suffered few casualties, the Volscian officials in the city of Privernum still expressed their gratitude to Amintas and Phryntor. After all, it was only by following the strategy proposed by the Theonians that they could defeat the mighty Romans. So while they celebrated their victory in today’s battle, they also became more confident in the next battle plan proposed by Amintas.

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

Although the siege’s failure cast a shadow over the entire Roman camp, Quintus’ determination to capture Setia remained unchanged, as he insisted on launching another attack the following day.

Camillus didn’t object this time, knowing that although the Volscians had won again, the gap in power between the two sides hadn’t changed much. On the contrary, Setia had suffered heavy losses and was on its last legs after today’s fierce battle. Thus even after receiving a few thousand more reinforcements, without the advantage of the city’s defences, they would be no more than a fat piece of meat to be eaten in the face of a siege by tens of thousands of Roman soldiers. Besides, they could also take this opportunity to reduce the number of Volscian reinforcements. So the right strategy was to be on the attack and not give the enemy a chance to catch their breath.

So while supporting Quintus’ siege plan, Camillus also reminded the three military tribunes to strengthen their surveillance of the surrounding areas and widen the scope of their patrols, to avoid the dangerous situation of today, where they only found the enemy reinforcements when it was already near them.

All agreed with this proposal. But to Camillus’ second proposal, “I hope the military tribunes will visit every centuriae to encourage the soldiers and raise their morale”, Furius and Licinius agreed, but Quintus disagreed.

The following day, the well-equipped Roman soldiers emerged from their military tent after the horns sounded in the Roman camp. But instead of having frustrated expressions from yesterday’s defeat, the soldiers showed the excitement of going into battle, reflecting the Roman citizen’s attitude to battle.

As the soldiers lined up, the military tribunes received unpleasant news just as they were leaving their tent.

“Astura is under attack?!” Furius’ eyes widened in surprise at the news, causing him to interrupt the messenger angrily, “What are our scouts doing?! The Volscians had bypassed us again and attacked our rear, and we didn’t even know about it?!!-”

“Military tribune Furius.” the messenger loudly said, “They’re not the Volscians; they might be the Theonians! The enemy wore black armour, had more than five thousand men and rode a massive fleet to land on the coast near Astura.”

“The enemy had begun attacking Astura by the time I left to deliver the report! Four military tribunes, please send reinforcements quickly! There’s only one centuria in Astura, and they can’t stand up to so many enemies!” The messenger asked anxiously.

Camillus, Quintus, Licinius and Furius looked at each other in shock.

These Roman generals may have heard of tactics such as assault from the sea, land operations… and so on, but they had never experienced them for themselves. And although Rome had the port of Ostia, they had few warships and had never used them in battle. And because Rome had always been a landlocked city-state, it had always fought on land and had never used landing operations against its enemies, nor had its enemies used them against it. After all, the Romans’ past enemies were like them and had no navy at all, so even Camillus had no concept of such things.

With their army having driven the Volscians to the south of Latium and their Latin allies surrounding the occupied Volscian towns, the military tribunes felt that the rear was safe, so they didn’t leave too many soldiers to defend.

Only now did the Romans realise that the enemy they had provoked didn’t only have a mighty army but also a powerful navy! And now, the Theonian fleet controls the entire coastline of Latium.

The messenger’s request immediately changed Camillus and Licinius’ expressions as they shouted, “Antium! We must rescue Antium!!!”

With only one centuria defending the small town of Astura, it couldn’t withstand the attack of several thousand Theonian soldiers. But even if they lost Astura, it would only affect the Roman army slightly. On the other hand, Antium, less than five kilometres north of Astura and a former Volscian coastal town, was different. The Roman army had placed considerable importance on Antium, as they had turned this town to the north of Volsci, which had a large port, into a transit station for transporting military supplies after conquering the place. After collecting provisions for the military, the Romans would transport them via the Tiber to the port of Ostia at the mouth of the river and then by boat to Antium, from where they were transported overland to the Roman camp, thus saving a great deal of time and labour and providing a convenient means of transport.

Because of Antium’s importance, Camillus left behind four Roman centuriae and a transport team. But he hadn’t considered an attack from the sea, so this force was too small compared to the incoming enemy. And once the Theonians captured Antium, the Roman camp would have difficulty receiving provisions.

There was a moment of silence in the tent until Quintus said dryly, “We should temporarily suspend our siege and send the army to rescue Antium!” Quintus was in a rather uncomfortable mood when he finally made this decision. After all, the inevitable siege was about to begin, only to be abruptly interrupted.

But Camillus’ words surprised everyone, “We should instead stop our attack on Volsci and withdraw the army to Rome!”

The three military tribunes looked at him in surprise. Then Camillus said with a grave expression, “With Theonia’s powerful fleet, they can land their armies anywhere along the Latium coast; today, they attacked Antium; tomorrow, they could attack our Latium ally, Ardea; and the day after that, they could attack our important port of Ostia! But the Theonians may not be satisfied with just attacking our coastal cities, so they might move inland, attack our allies and colonial cities, and destroy our villages and fields! So while our main army is here, we left Rome and the surrounding area without troops against Theonia’s powerful army!”

“But…but Theonia is suffering from drought, so they shouldn’t be able to send any more troops!” said Furius.

“We had fought a Theonian army yesterday afternoon, but a Theonian army has appeared on the coast dozens of kilometres from our rear today! So they can’t be the same army! With a second Theonian army, there could be a third Theonian army! And we…” Camillus gazed at the three men and said deeply, “Dare to risk the safety of our territories and people?!”

Their hearts sank as they fell silent for a moment.

The four military tribunes, Quintus, from a great noble family, Camillus and Furius, from a lesser noble family; and Licinius, a plebeian. So even though they had different habits and political philosophies, they had one thing in common: they all loved Rome and didn’t want to endanger their home, which had already suffered one disaster!

Thus they reached an agreement as soon as they put aside their respective interests: While Quintus and Furius lead twelve thousand soldiers to rescue Antium, Camillus and Licinius would lead nearly thirty thousand soldiers to pack up the camp, escort the supply unit and wounded soldiers, and safely withdraw back to Rome.

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

After receiving the letter from Davos, Litom began to pay attention to the Volscian region, which isn’t far from Campania.

Soon he received a letter from Amintas asking for his help.

The news about Campanian merchants operating on the west coast of Italia and seeing cargo ships frequently carrying grain between the port of Ostia and Antium naturally reached Litom’s ears.

And at Litom’s request, the intelligence department sent him information on the general distribution of the enemy and their forces in the Volscian region.

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