Rome Must Fall Chapter 57: Careless Cassinius

The Volturno River, which originates from the Abruzzi Mountains in the Samnite region, was once called the Mother River by the Tyrrhenians, the indigenous people of northern Campania. Its clear water irrigated a fertile wilderness and produced Italy's finest wheat cereal. The Tyrrhenians founded twelve new towns in their basin, with Capua as their capital. Hundreds of years have passed, the Tyrrhenians have become history, and only the Volturno River still flows quietly.

Cassinius led the main force of the Roman legions and set out from Suisa under the scorching sun, walked out of the mountains and onto the plains of Campania. They marched continuously for five or six hours and arrived at the banks of the Volturno River in the afternoon.

It was the hottest time of the day. The tired and thirsty soldiers looked at the clear river water flowing, but they couldn't walk.

Not only the soldiers were like this, but Cassinius, a veteran, was also a little physically weak. You must know that he had been urging the soldiers to hurry up in the past few days, and his physical strength and energy were almost exhausted. He thought: Anyway, he is stuck. Pua is not far ahead, so it is better to take a rest here to restore morale.

However, the river where the stone bridge is located is deep and the banks are high. Cassinius had to lead the troops westward along the river and made several turns. At one point, the river was wide, the water flow was slow, and there were Stopped at a large river beach.

When Cassinius announced the disbandment, the soldiers rushed to the river to grab water. Some soldiers took off their armor and jumped directly into the river...

Cassinius, who also drank water and washed his face, found a shady place to lie down. His sore and uncomfortable thighs and waist were greatly relieved by the support of the solid earth. He closed his eyes comfortably... …

Most of the cavalry of this Roman legion served as the rearguard. Under the leadership of the legion commander Valerius, the remaining cavalry squad was all assigned to the vanguard for reconnaissance and pathfinding. Located in The main force of the legion in the middle did not have cavalry, but Cassinius was not too worried about this. Not to mention that they were far away from Vesuvius. Capua was not far ahead, and even the gang of slaves If there is any change, Forius will also send cavalry to notify.

But he didn’t know that while he was leading the main force of the legion to rest by the river, the vanguard had suffered a disastrous defeat. The defeated soldiers hid in the city of Capua. It was considered good to escape with their lives. Where else could they want to go? Notifying the main force of the legion, only a few cavalrymen still kept their mission in mind. However, when they ran back along the road and passed the Volturno River, Cassinius had already led his team down the river. The river was winding and the banks were shaded by green trees. , the panicked Roman cavalry did not notice it and continued heading north, so they missed it and were quietly discovered by the rebel cavalry who was interested in exploring.

Cassinius was lying on the soft grass, half asleep and resting. Suddenly he felt a vibration from the ground, as if thousands of drum hammers were beating on the ground, which was extremely chaotic. But it’s getting clearer and clearer...

Cassinius, who has rich battlefield experience, immediately realized that the shaking sound on the ground could not be caused by the vanguard of only more than 2,000 people, and they were running in the direction where he was!

Cassinius suddenly stood up and shouted: "Assemble the whole army!"

At this time, he discovered that while he was taking a nap, the soldiers completely herded the sheep, and everyone took off their clothes and took a bath in the water. Some people felt that there were too many people here and they even walked downstream to look for Better place to shower.

The soldiers who heard his shout just looked at him in shock and did not take any action.

Cassinius ran over quickly, picked up the copper trumpet that the trumpeter had thrown on the river beach, and blew it hard.

"Woo! Woo!... Woo! Woo!..." The assembly bugle sounded, and the two months of hard training had an effect. The nearby soldiers, despite their reluctance, subconsciously went ashore and hurriedly He wiped his body hurriedly, then put on his tunic and armor, picked up his luggage, and gathered towards Cassinius...

The flag bearer in the simplest clothes first held up the eagle flag, and the trumpeters who were not wearing armor first took over the brass trumpets. Only then did Cassinius have the chance to speak again. He shouted urgently: "Get dressed quickly. Armor, pick up weapons, line up and prepare for battle!"

A soldier asked dissatisfiedly: "Sir Cassinius, do you want us to train here?!"

"Idiot!" Cassinius yelled: "An enemy is coming!"

"How can there be enemies here?" The soldiers were disapproving and thought Cassinius was joking.

"Look over there!" The flag-bearer stood on his toes and suddenly pointed to the southeast. A group of figures appeared on the avenue in the distance, and their armor was extremely dazzling in the sun.

"That's our troops." The soldiers laughed, thinking that Cassinius was dazzled.

"Idiot, that's the enemy!" Cassinius didn't bother to explain to them in detail, and said to the messenger: "Quick! Go and call the others to gather with me, otherwise you will be punished by military law!"

The messenger was threatened by him and did not dare to neglect, and immediately ran downstream.

"Oh my God, how come there are so many people?!" a soldier exclaimed.

What was on the avenue was no longer a group of soldiers, but a long dragon. This long dragon began to leave the avenue, stepping on the wheat fields, and walked towards this side. People continued to join behind it, until the distance in the field of vision was densely packed. The silhouettes fill up...

The soldiers couldn't laugh anymore. No matter how stupid they were, they understood that the vanguard did not have so many soldiers.

Seeing this, Cassinius calmed down and shouted: "Don't panic, follow me!"

Cassinius's words did not reduce the nervousness of the recruits by half. They hurriedly put on their armor and followed Cassinius closely as they walked downstream.

Under the guidance of Oakmar, Spartacus, who was about to arrive at the Volturno River, saw at a glance the Roman army a few hundred meters away from the avenue, located on the south side of the river, hidden by grass and wheat fields. , seeing the scattered and disorderly enemies beginning to gather together, he became a little anxious and shouted loudly: "Brothers, rush up with me, don't let the enemies have time to form an array!"

As he spoke, he jumped into the wheat field first, followed closely by the soldiers of the first brigade. They ran wildly in the wheat field, regardless of the dense wheat leaves. Even if they stepped on the heavy wheat ears into the soil, at this moment I don't care much anymore.

Spartacus ran through the wheat field, took a shortcut, and pursued him nearby. He saw a Roman army arrayed on the river bank~IndoMTL.com~Although they all put up square shields, many of them had droopy breastplates. , The helmet is worn crookedly.

The structure of the segmented armor of Roman legionnaires is a bit complicated. It takes some patience and time to wear it well. Therefore, Roman soldiers generally march wearing armor because they are worried about encountering enemies during the march. But this time they took off their armor and went to the river to take a bath. Under the pressure of the enemy's approach, it was extremely difficult to put on the armor smoothly.

Spartacus also saw enemy soldiers running towards the right side of the enemy's formation and downstream of the river, wanting to integrate into the formation.

Spartacus immediately shouted: "Go around them first and kill the loose ones!"

Under his leadership, the soldiers of the first group turned a corner and rushed to the right side of the Roman formation.

Seeing this situation, Cassinius was anxious, but he did not dare to act rashly, because enemies kept coming in the wheat fields ahead. If he divided his troops to rescue him, not only would he be able to beat the dog with meat buns, but he would also be able to line up with great difficulty. The defense array will also be disrupted, and then everyone will have no chance of survival.

Looking at the large group of heavily armed and murderous enemies, Cassinius already understood that Furius might have suffered a disastrous defeat: Damn the Senate! Damn Valerius! This is not a group of weak and ignorant slaves, it is simply an enemy army with high morale! Damn Valerius! Ten years of comfortable life have made you relax your vigilance, and your wrong decision to divide your troops has led to these young people's death!

Valirius blamed himself in his heart, but he loudly encouraged him: "Soldiers, quickly put on your armor and prepare for defense! There are many enemies and we have been surrounded. We can only fight bravely. Only then will we have a chance to survive! Commander Valerius is not far behind. When he gets the news, he will definitely find a way to rescue us!"