He was not the only one who made the decision. The fourth and fifth platoon captains, as well as the other platoons' captains, quickly made a decision. They ordered their soldiers to rush forward and trap the enemy so that they could not escape!
However, the exhausted Legion of Dionysia's soldiers only managed to widen the distance between them and the Roman soldiers.
As for the young Roman soldiers on the flanks, the previous attack was too fierce. The formation of the two sides had become intertwined with each other and were too close to each other. It was difficult for the young Roman soldiers to retreat. This was especially so for the young Roman soldiers on the right flank of the Diónia army. Nearly half of the young Roman soldiers who came to attack the Diónia army were in a killing frenzy. They only cared about attacking and ignored the bugles and shouts from the outside world.
At this moment, more than two thousand Volsci soldiers from Antium and Satia quickly arrived. Together with the Third Platoon of the First Legion and the light armored soldiers, they surrounded the young Roman soldiers from the front and back.
However, the Roman soldiers did not panic. The platoons at the back turned around to resist the attack of the Volsci soldiers, while the soldiers at the front attacked even more desperately. The formation of the Third Platoon and the light armored soldiers almost collapsed. Fortunately, they knew that the reinforcements had arrived, and it strengthened their confidence to hold on.
At the same time, Amyntas urgently transferred the soldiers of the Second Platoon, which was next to the Third Platoon, to strengthen the defense line.
When the other reinforcements arrived at the battlefield, they saw that the entire Roman army was retreating, so they immediately began to chase after the Roman soldiers.
The heavy infantry of the Diónia army was exhausted. After running for a while, they could no longer continue. Only the light infantry and cavalry were still chasing after them.
The Seventh Platoon, which was made up of light infantry, had the best stamina in the First Legion. They ran desperately, trying to get to the front and intercept the six young Roman soldiers who were attacking the left flank.
However, the Roman soldiers did not know that the reinforcements had arrived when they were on the left flank. Therefore, they responded to the military order and retreated instead of retreating in disorder. Their morale was quite good. Similar to the way the Dionysian Army retreated, they retreated in groups of platoons instead of completely dispersing. They could immediately regroup and counterattack.
After suffering some losses, the Seventh Brigade no longer dared to block in front of them. Instead, they ran along with them and attacked with javelins and arrows at the same time, thus achieving some results.
The Diónia cavalry's pursuit was even more direct. They directly rode their horses to charge from the rear, scattering the enemy's platoon, and then stabbed the lone enemies one by one. However, this method was more damaging to the tired horses. The cavalry only used this method a few times at the beginning of the pursuit. After that, they only attacked the scattered enemies.
The battlefield was only four to five miles away from the Rome campsite. Camillus led most of the young soldiers, veteran platoon, and light infantry to retreat to the north gate of the campsite without any hindrance.
Frius had already received the news and had already opened the camp gates in preparation to receive Camillus.
Camillus did not immediately enter the campsite. Instead, he reminded Frius to guard the campsite to prevent the enemy from taking the opportunity to attack. He also ordered the light infantry to quickly stand on the wooden walls and climb up the sentry towers to attack any enemy that dared to approach the campsite. At the same time, he led the more than 3,000 young and veteran soldiers to line up a hundred meters away from the campsite and launched a swift and violent attack on the Volsci who had caught up to them.
As the Volsci only cared about pursuing the routed soldiers, their formation had long been scattered and disorganized. They were quickly routed by Camillus' troops.
Camillus defeated several Volsci troops in a row and ensured the safety of the Rome's routed soldiers. Instead of pursuing them, he led his troops in a steady retreat and stood 50 meters away from the north gate of the campsite. Under the protection of the light infantry's arrows and javelins, he blocked the escape route of the routed soldiers.
By the time the Volsci had no choice but to gather the pursuing soldiers and form a new army to approach the Rome campsite, Camillus had already led his troops into the campsite.
Seeing the Rome soldiers densely packed on the wooden walls, the Volsci finally gave up on the idea of taking advantage of the situation to attack the Rome campsite.
It was only at this point that this arduous battle finally came to an end.
Although they had won the battle, Amyntas could not feel happy when he looked at the wounded soldiers on the ground. The rough casualty statistics were out. The First Legion had suffered more than 2,400 casualties, which was one-fourth of the entire legion. More than half of the Third Legion and the light infantry brigade were lost. Although some of the wounded soldiers only suffered superficial wounds and would recover after bandaging, treatment, and recuperation, the First Legion had suffered a great loss.
Ledes sighed beside him. The First Legion of Cavalrymen had obstructed the retreat of the Rome's food supply troops at the beginning, and at the end, they had blocked the reinforcements of the Rome's heavy infantry and cavalry. Therefore, they had paid a great price. In the end, the number of casualties was as high as 700, which was close to half of the legion. The War Horse, in particular, had been severely damaged. It would probably take some time to recover before it could be used on the battlefield again.
"This is a big loss!" Ledes lamented on the side. His voice was loud enough for Amyntas to hear. Although he had tried his best to help Amyntas during the battle, it did not prevent him from venting his anger after the battle.
Amyntas did not refute. In fact, he did not have the mood to refute now. He asked the orderly to inform the medical camp to treat the wounded soldiers. At the same time, he asked the guards, who were still strong, to bandage the wounds of the wounded soldiers and carry out the initial treatment. The soldiers had received training in this aspect during the usual military training.
At this time, the soldiers of the First Legion were so tired that they did not even have time to take off their helmets and breastplates. They were lying on the ground and sleeping. They did not even react when someone stepped on them. They were too tired after being mistaken as corpses by the guards many times.
Amyntas walked in the middle of the soldiers. He was careful not to wake them up. However, his heart was heavy. He had been the commander of the First Legion for nine years. He was very familiar with all the soldiers and officers in the army. Now that he saw these soldiers and officers, who he used to get along with and fought side by side under his command, lying in a pool of blood one by one, how could he not feel distressed?
At the same time, he was also blaming himself. Although the King of Devers told him several times to pay attention to the Roman army before he left, he still underestimated the people of Rome. Otherwise, he would not have ordered the soldiers of the First Legion to attack an enemy that outnumbered them after a long march. He treated the people of Rome like the Messappi, Puchetti, and Dawni that the Legion of Dionysia had fought against in the past. However, it turned out that the King of Devers was right to worry. This army, which was somewhat similar to Diónia in terms of organization and tactics, was indeed stronger than the previous enemies of Diónia! If the First Legion had more stamina and more people, they would not have been so passive! Rome … Rome …
Amyntas thought as he walked. In front of him, Het Barus stood up shakily. His right arm was bandaged and there was a long bloodstain on his forehead. He could only force a military salute with his left hand. "Commander … Commander …"
"Lie down, Het Barus!" Amyntas said hurriedly. Facing the commander of the Third Legion, he showed a rare gentle and concerned smile.
"Commander, brothers of the Third Legion …" Het Barus looked sad. Before he finished his sentence, tears were already welling up in his eyes.
Amyntas' smile froze on his face. He could only say in a low voice, "Thanks to the Third Legion and the Eighth Legion's tenacity in blocking the enemy's attack, we won this victory! The medical camp will do their best to save your soldiers! You have to receive treatment and recover as soon as possible. The First Legion can't do without you! "
After saying this, Amyntas left in a hurry.
At this time, the adjutant, Aristonos, came over and whispered, "Commander, Stefos suffered some minor injuries. It's not a big deal." These children of the old Diónia elders were familiar with each other.
"His injuries are too light!" Amyntas' sigh stunned Aristonos.
… …
In the main tent of the camp in Rome, Camillus briefly described the battle to Frius.
After listening, Frius could not help but gasp. "Camillus, are you saying that … the Diónia army marched all the way from Selce to the south of our camp, and without stopping in the middle, launched an attack on our supply troops, and then … they even resisted the continuous attack of more than 9,000 heavy infantry, and finally waited for the arrival of Wolsey's reinforcements?! … "
"Yes!" Camillus sighed and said with a solemn expression, "The key is that we have more people than them. More than 9,000 heavy infantrymen, 2,000 light infantrymen, and 700 cavalry. The army I lead has nearly 12000 people, while the Dionians … According to the many reports from the scouts, they have about 10,000 people, but the heavy infantrymen might only have 6,000 to 7,000 people. But even with such an army that is weaker than us and has fewer people, our Roman soldiers fought fiercely for more than two hours without being able to defeat them!"
For the past few years, the Roman army had been invincible in the Latin and Etruria regions. Frius, who was used to victory, found it difficult to accept the fact that the Roman army was inferior to the Dionysian Army. Of course, he knew Camillus, and he did not think that the respected veteran would distort the facts in order to clear his name of losing the battle. So he could not help but ask, "Is the Dionysian Army really that strong?!"
"Let's not talk about the cavalry of Diónia first. You already know the situation before this. As for the light infantry, we did not pay much attention to them. They were all provided by our allies, so they were undisciplined and lacked training and cooperation. But the light infantry of Diónia has catapults that can throw long-distance lead projectiles, archers, and javelin throwers. They are well-coordinated and well-trained. So before I arrived with my army, their light infantry of about 1,000 could suppress our 2,000 light infantry and 700 cavalry … "
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