Chapter 435 Trebonius's Judgment

Anthony was originally a little jealous of this person, but when they met this time, he found that the once high-spirited legion commander looked haggard, and even his tone of voice was extremely heavy and depressed, and he was even happy in his heart.

"...My army was completely defeated by the Gallic rebels, and less than a thousand people could escape back to the West French province. I thought at that time, 'This is over. If the Gallic rebels take advantage of their victory and attack the West French province, I will take What to resist...'

But the Gallic rebels did not do this. For a period of time, I could not find any trace of the Gallic rebels in the Gaul region adjacent to the West French province. However, the spies sent to the Gallic region to find out the news never returned. .

Later, after a lot of effort, I learned from the Gallic tribes who were once friendly with us that the Gallic rebels had gone north to besiege the Fourteenth Legion stationed in North Gaul——"

Antony interrupted him angrily: "In other words, two of the three complete legions that Caesar gave you before leaving are now finished, and the other one is also heavily surrounded by Gauls and is not far from being finished! - —”

Trebonius argued: "The Gallic rebels have not appeared on the border of the West French province so far. It seems that the Fourteenth Legion is prepared. As long as they stick to the camp, the Gallic rebels who lack siege experience and equipment will be very It is difficult to conquer it in a short time...

There are still some surviving officers and soldiers in the other two legions. I conducted an emergency recruitment in the West French Province. Because the time was too short, I only formed one legion. As long as it takes another month, I can still-"

"Enough!" Antony shouted angrily: "Stop sophistry! Caesar trusted you and gave you the important task of guarding Gaul and the three northern provinces. But you failed to detect the Gauls' rebellion in advance. Conspiracy and early preparation failed to eliminate these rebels in time, but instead caused the soldiers to suffer such heavy casualties, completely eroding the originally stable Gaul region, and ruining Caesar's ten years of hard work! , what crime do you deserve!"

Trebonius was dissatisfied and wanted to defend himself, but after a second thought, he swallowed the words he was about to say again. Facing Anthony's angry gaze, he sighed and said sincerely: "You are right, I I betrayed Caesar's trust. We have made some mistakes! I will go to Caesar personally to apologize, but now we must take action as soon as possible to restore stability to the province and Gaul, so that Caesar can continue to pursue the Pompeian rebels without any worries and become a civil war. The winner!”

Anthony snorted coldly, sat on the wooden chair and crossed his legs, and said in a nonchalant manner: "Do you want me to lead the army to Gaul first to destroy the rebels and save the Fourteenth Legion?"

"No!" Trebonius responded decisively: "The first thing we should do now is to defeat the barbarian army that invaded the North Italian province and save the people of North Italy who are in danger. Only in this way can Caesar regain control of North Italy. People’s love!”

After all, Gaul had just been conquered, and the Romans had not yet regarded it as their own territory, but the province of North Italy had long been part of the Roman Empire, and there were a large number of Roman citizens living here.

First ensuring the security of the territory, and then quelling the overseas rebellion, this is an inevitable choice that every Roman politician will make, not to mention that the Nyx actually made rumors that disrupted Caesar's smooth control of Rome, so Treboniu Si's last words were a tactful reminder to Anthony.

Anthony suppressed the carelessness on his face, sat upright, and asked: "Since you said you wanted to fight the barbarians in the east first, I guess you know something about them?"

"I haven't paid much attention to this barbarian named Nix before, but during this period, I sent cavalry to the eastern part of the North Italian Province to explore every day, and I learned something about the situation."

Trebonius paused for a moment and saw that Antony's body leaned forward unconsciously. He calmed down a little and continued: "Based on the intelligence I found, I found that not all the barbarian troops are Nyx, there are many Germans and Jabalds, the total number may be between 40,000 and 60,000——"

"Perhaps there are 40,000 to 60,000 people? Trebonius, the enemy has been here for so long, and you don't even know how many troops they have!" Antony's face sank and he criticized.

Trebonius quickly complained: "It's not that I didn't try my best, but the enemy's main force is near Aquileia. They have been blocking that area. If my scouting horse comes even slightly closer, it will be attacked by the barbarian cavalry. I have lost dozens of cavalrymen for this!"

Anthony snorted a few times and said no more.

Trebonius continued to explain: "At first, the barbarian army besieged Aquileia, and at the same time they detached some soldiers to attack Padua, Vicenza, Treviso and other towns. I used these detached troops. After investigation, it was found that there were nearly 30,000 people in total.

Although there are not many troops stationed in the lower city of Aquileia, the city there is thick and well-defended. If the barbarians leave too few troops to besiege, the troops in Aquileia may even dare to attack boldly and repel them. That's why I judge that their strength is between 40,000 and 60,000. "

Anthony curled his lips: "Forty to sixty thousand people, it sounds scary, but we have encountered many times in Gaul where the enemy's strength exceeded ours in battle, and in the end we all won. I don't think it will happen this time either." different."

Trebonius hesitated for a moment, then reminded: "According to the intelligence, the weapons and equipment of the Germans and Japods who invaded this time were better than the barbarians we faced in Gaul. Probably because they looted towns like Padua and put on our armor and weapons.

However, Nix's army is all wearing armor and holding large shields and short swords. They march and fight in an orderly manner. They are somewhat similar to our army. I'm afraid their combat effectiveness will not be too weak! "

Anthony said in a deep voice: "Caesar has told me in advance that this Nix tribe is indeed something special, and they have indeed learned something from our Rome. But barbarians are barbarians, and they cannot become Rome no matter what. As long as we cause If we take it seriously, the Knicks will not be our opponents. I just want to know one thing now, has Aquileia been captured by them?”

Trebonius did not respond immediately, but first asked: "The city of Aquileia is close to the sea, and ships plying the Adriatic Gulf should know more about the war situation there. Didn't you get this information? ?”

Anthony was displeased: "Damn it, for you, I have already asked about the ships on the Adriatic Sea. But the barbarians captured Pula, collected the ships in the port, and assembled a fleet. , blocked the sea area near Aquileia, other ships did not dare to approach at all, how could they possibly understand the battle situation there.

I also thought about sending our warships over, which could easily crush the barbarian ships. However, although Pompey was defeated, Pompey's fleet has not yet surrendered. We don't have many warships. It is also necessary to garrison Brindisi and not dare to stray far away to ensure the safety of the route to Greece and ensure that Caesar can return smoothly in the future.

Besides, although Aquileia is close to the seaside, because it is a shoal and has no port, even if warships are dispatched in time, it is impossible to provide support from the sea. It doesn't matter whether we have warships or not. Anyway, we only need to defeat the barbarians on land to solve the trouble in the east! "

Anthony said with emphasis: "So now I need to know whether Aquileia has been occupied by the barbarians. This determines the tactics we will use next!"

"Probably... not yet." Trebonius hesitated slightly: "Although it has been more than two months since the barbarians invaded the North Italian province, during which they captured Padua, Vicenza, etc. There were many towns, but these towns fell mainly because they had too few garrison troops.

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I asked the fleeing people that these barbarians relied on wooden ladders to climb the walls and use siege engines to hit the city gates to conquer the towns. Their siege capabilities were slightly stronger than the Gauls. But you and I know very well that Aquileia's city defense cannot be easily conquered by the crude siege methods of the barbarians! "

Anthony snorted and nodded.

"Judging from the performance of the barbarians during this period, they first occupied several eastern towns such as Pula through sneak attacks, and then surrounded Aquileia. They couldn't wait to divide their forces to attack nearby towns such as Treviso, but they Not long after these towns were captured, they all suddenly shrank back...

I sent detective horses to investigate many times. Although I was never able to approach Aquileia, they all said, 'I heard the loud killing sounds from the direction of Aquileia. It seems that the barbarians are still stepping up their attack on the city of Aquileia! ’ And according to the habits of the barbarians, if they have captured the city of Aquileia, they will definitely go south in large numbers and plunder more of our towns..."

Anthony was persuaded and waved his fist vigorously: "Since the barbarians are still gathered in the territory of Aquileia, I decided to march immediately and fight them in a decisive battle under the city!"

This was exactly what Trebonius wanted, but he pretended to be cautious and persuaded: "The barbarians have not conquered Aquileia yet. This is just my judgment and has not been confirmed. We should still——"

"We don't have time to waste time!" Anthony said decisively: "Quickly deal with the barbarians in the east. We have to rush to the west to quell the rebellion in Gaul and save the besieged Fourteenth Legion!"

Antony was speaking righteously, but he actually had his own selfish motives, because he had already received the news: Lucius, who led the army north from Dyracium, had successively recovered several towns that had been captured by the barbarians, and was about to approach Pula. !

Although Lucius had few troops, Antony did not expect that the barbarian army on the east coast would be so weak. If Lucius really allowed Lucius to attack Aquileia in one go and defeat the main force of the barbarians, he would be embarrassed. , so we must march as soon as possible to regain Aquileia and repel the barbarians! The glory of this war must be won by him, the commander of the Roman army!