Mediterranean Hegemon of Ancient Greece

Camillus remained indifferent as he turned his head and asked, “Titus, what do you think of the current situation?”

“Lord Dictator,” Titus' expression turned grave as he glanced at the others. After hesitating, he said, “I think…this is possibly the scheme of the Theonians!”

At these words, all the other generals, except Camillus, stood frozen in surprise.

Titus explained with a worried look, “We sent reinforcements in response to repeated pleas from Gabii’s messenger. Yet the Theonians still haven’t attacked Gabii even after our troops and our Latin allies have arrived. Instead, they are fortifying their camps as if waiting for us to launch an attack.

If the Theonians refrain from attacking Gabii, it would most likely lead to a long stalemate, an unfavourable situation for us and would disgruntle our allied generals. On the other hand, the Theonians would only need to hold on to their camps if we chose to attack directly. Remember the painful lesson we learned when we attacked Ostia! However, ordering a retreat would result in our prestige plummeting among our Latin allies…”

“But…we must still send reinforcements, even if we know we might be playing into the Theonians' scheme! We are, after all, the leaders of the Latin alliance, and as per our agreement, we are responsible for safeguarding their territories. Given our current predicament, we can not afford to lose the trust of these allies…”

Since Theonia's initial assault on the Latium region, Camillus' army had remained passive and been pushed back, inch by inch, into their current predicament. In fact, they found themselves in their present plight despite not even engaging the Theonian army in direct combat, which shows how frightening the King of Theonia is!

“Since the Theonians want us to take the initiative, we will! However, we must hold back…” Camillus finally said.

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

“Your Majesty, the Roman army has set out!”

“Quickly, notify Amintas, Olivos, Ledes, and Kurcius to assemble their legions, await my command, and be prepared to launch an attack at a moment's notice!”

“Yes, Your Majesty!”

“Also, dispatch someone swiftly to notify Praeneste and Signia immediately!”

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

“Everyone, the Roman army has departed Tusculum and is heading towards us,” Phryntor's words cheered several legates.

“The big fish has finally taken the bait, and all our hard work over the past few days has not been in vain!” Thratyllus said excitedly.

“At last, we can take revenge for being forced to retreat to Ostia!” Matonis said.

“It would be better if we could hold the Roman army here as it would make the subsequent battle easier!” Epiphanes, the temporary commander of the reserve legion, had a bigger appetite and thought further ahead.

“Senior centurion Sextus, do you have any suggestions?” Phryntor looked at the only silent strategos in the tent.

Despite holding the rank of a senior centurion, the number of soldiers in the Roman Reserve now exceeds six thousand, which is the same as a legatus. However, the Roman Reserve was only a temporary unit and would be abolished after the war ended. Although Davos already thought of building a legion in Rome, it would be impossible for Sextus to serve as a legatus by that time. He couldn't even serve as a senior centurion since he wasn’t familiar with Theonia's military system and tactics, so he would need to learn to convince the soldiers.

“I have none, so please issue your orders, Commander!” Sextus said.

Crotokatax, standing at the side, looked at the Roman, who was only a few years older than him. He could understand what Sextus was feeling at the moment, but just as what his father told him, only by allowing these Romans to participate in more battles could they sever their ties to the past.

Phryntor coughed and looked at the others before saying, “My Lords, please follow the previous deployment we had discussed and confront the approaching enemy!”

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

Despite Tusculum being less than fifteen kilometres from Gabii, the marching speed of the Roman army wasn't fast, and it wasn't until noon that they arrived near the Theonian's camp. At the same time, the defenders in Gabii became excited as they heard the sounds of bugles and drums and said, “The Roman reinforcements have come!!!…”

But the mixed Roman army didn't immediately attack the camp. After they temporarily stopped their advance, the soldiers began eating their rations to replenish their previously depleted energy; only then did the soldiers start approaching the camp in a loose formation.

The Roman soldiers cautiously advanced, meticulously searching for traps on the ground. In reality, the Theonian camp had no other defensive structures aside from trenches, watchtowers, and wooden walls.

At the rear of the army, the temporary army commander, Titus, repeatedly instructed the officers of his scouting and cavalry team under his command, “Keep your men vigilant. If you observe any anomalies on the battlefield, report them immediately, especially in the direction of Rome!”

Half an hour later, the mixed Roman soldiers approached the trench and began attacking the camp.

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

“Notify all troops to prepare to leave the city!” Davos, who was at the southern end of Rome, ordered.

“Your Majesty, the messenger that Phryntor had sent just now said that the Romans' attack wasn't fierce and didn't fully use their main force in the attack. So, should we wait longer?” Tolmides reminded.

“So much time had already passed since the Romans began their attack, and I think the situation would still be like this even if we wait any longer.” Davos then continued with a determined expression, “Besides, they had already started their operations and could be noticed by the Romans at any time. If we miss this time, we can no longer fool the Romans again!”

“Understood, Your Majesty.” As Tolmides responded, the three legates of the army, Amintas, Olivos and Litom, had already begun descending from the city wall.

Davos looked at the last legatus beside him and said solemnly, “Giorgris, I will leave the city's safety to you. You must assist Asistes in governing the city of Rome!”

“You can rest assured, Your Majesty!” Giorgris put his legs together and thumped his right fist into his left chest.

Davos reached out his hand to pat Giorgris on the shoulder, then turned around and went down the city wall.

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

Camillus, Lucius, and Quintus sat in the Roman camp's command tent.

Currently, Quintus was complaining to Camillus, “Lord Dictator, I still don't understand why you still ordered the attack on the enemy camp after deciding to give up Gabii and withdraw the main army and let our precious soldiers suffer losses in vain?!”

“We need to let our allies know that we haven't given up on them and will still fight for them… Although this may cost us some casualties, it is still worth it…” Camillus explained.

“But we still gave up on them!” Quintus still had a dissatisfied expression, “Once we withdraw to Satricum, the Theonians will probably capture Gabii soon. So wouldn't that still make our other Latin allies lose faith in us?!”

Camillus was silent for some time before saying in a low tone, “…we at least made an effort, which can give them some confidence…the Theonians are cautious as they always send a large force out to attack the towns near Rome, never spreading out their troops to plunder around…we could no longer have extravagant hopes with our current strength, and only by holding onto our three colonies, Velitrae, Satricum and Antium, can we wait for the situation to change and then unite again with our Latin allies to attack the Theonians!…”

“What change of situation?” Quintus frowned.

“Yesterday, Pantheus in Antium had sent someone to inform me that a Phoenician fishing boat had broken past the Theonian warships and entered the port with the news that the Carthaginian Senate has appointed Mago as its supreme commander and that he will attack Sicily once more, with no less than an army of a hundred thousand men!” Camillus' voice became unconsciously higher as he spoke.

“An army of a hundred thousand strong!” Quintus became delighted hearing that word but frowned and exasperated, “Carthage had already sent a large army to attack Sicily once, but they didn't exert much pressure on the Theonian and were defeated, causing us to make incorrect judgments. It is the Carthaginians' fault that we are in our current situation! So even if the Carthaginians launch another attack, we shouldn't rely on them too much!”

Quintus' words caused a pang of pain in Camillus' heart as he was primarily responsible for misjudging the situation, so Quintus implicitly expressed his dissatisfaction with him.

Lucius wouldn't allow anyone to bash his father like this, so he immediately said, “Quintus, don't forget that you were one of the most active in supporting my father's proposal of gathering our forces to destroy the Hernicans quickly!… Isn't it good news for us now that the Carthaginians can attack Sicily again?! Could it be that you have a better method for quickly changing our predicament?! Furthermore, the commander of the Carthaginian army is Mago, an experienced Carthaginian general who had extreme hatred of Greeks, so he will never show mercy to the Theonians!…”

“Alright, you two should stop arguing,” Camillus waved his hand, “Quintus is also right. We cannot blindly trust Carthage, so we must wait and see how the war develops…”

“Now that we have lured the enemies out and achieved our goal, it is time for our army to retreat,” Camillus continued calmly, “Titus knows what to do next.”