Chapter 437: Engagement

These two legions suffered heavy losses in the battle between Greece and Pompey's army. Caesar asked these two legions to follow Antony back to Italy, which actually meant to let them rest. But the situation in the north was severe, and Antony needed these two powerful legions of Caesar to ensure victory. So after crossing the Adriatic Sea and understanding the situation in the north, he added the Roman soldiers from the surrendered Pompey army to these two legions to make them full. After the running-in during the march and camping during this period, he thought that the combat effectiveness of these two legions had been restored by half.

Next were the First Legion and the Sixteenth Legion in Pompey's army. The First Legion was once lent to Caesar and fought in Gaul for many years, while the Sixteenth Legion was formed by Caesar in the late Gallic War. Later, the Senate withdrew these two legions on the grounds that the Syrian province needed troops to ensure safety, and later they were assigned to Pompey. They did not fight Caesar's army with all their strength before. In fact, the combat effectiveness of these two legions was not weak, and Antony also filled the vacancies of these two legions.

The two columns to the north were the newly formed legions of Trebonius, and a mixed force composed of Greek heavy infantry, Syrian infantry, and a small number of Roman soldiers (these were local soldiers recruited by Pompey in Greece and soldiers brought by his father-in-law Metellus from Syria). These two columns, especially the mixed forces, were weak in combat effectiveness, and it was also cumbersome to command the battle. Antony arranged them on the right wing, mainly to increase momentum, surround and pursue the defeated enemy.

Antony's offensive plan was: since the barbarians were attacking the city of Aquileia, the first to encounter the enemy must be the 9th and 10th legions on the left. They gained an advantage in the battle, and then the 1st and 16th legions in the middle pressed over, which should cause a large-scale defeat of the barbarians. Finally, the army on the left surrounded them. If the defenders of Aquileia took the opportunity to attack again, they could win a brilliant victory!

In fact, there were some troops behind these six columns, including 500 Cretan archers, nearly 1,000 Syrian archers, and more than 300 cavalry.

Originally, Caesar won the Battle of Pharsalus and got a lot of cavalry, but he wanted to use them to pursue Pompey, so he didn't give them to Antony. These more than 300 cavalry were brought by Trebonius, some of which were Gaul cavalry. Antony didn't dare to use them with confidence. Moreover, according to the military intelligence, the number of barbarian cavalry was much larger, and these cavalry would not be of much use, especially in the current situation of all-out offensive, even archers were useless.

The total strength of the Roman army commanded by Antony was about 33,000 people, divided into six columns, like six long dragons, marching towards the city of Aquileia.

In the afternoon, the sea breeze stopped blowing, and the sky was endless blue, without a trace of clouds to cover the scorching sun, and it became hotter and hotter, and the air was filled with a burning and tense atmosphere.

The sweaty Roman soldiers were not tired, but a little excited, because the shouts and fighting sounds coming from the front became clearer and clearer, and even the outline of the city of Aquileia wrapped in dust and fog could be vaguely seen.

Anthony, who rode at the front of the team, even saw countless Nix cavalrymen arranged in a very loose linear array in the distance ahead. They were shadowy in the dust and fog, like a barrier between the mountains and the bay, shielding the Nix army behind, and seemed to be ready to rush towards the marching Roman army at any time.

Anthony immediately issued orders to the columns.

Soon, the Roman army stopped advancing, and the columns began to change into horizontal formations.

The first to complete the formation change were the 9th and 10th Legions on the left wing. Although these two legions had some new soldiers because of the shortage, there were a group of high-quality officers with rich combat experience in the legions, and the new soldiers had been trained by Pang Xun for more than half a year and had experienced many fierce civil wars, so the overall ability of the legions did not decline much.

After changing the horizontal formation, the officers of the two legions did not even wait for Anthony's order, and took the initiative to lead the soldiers forward according to the current situation.

The first and sixteenth legions in the center completed the transformation next. They had also fought in Gaul for many years. Their overall capabilities were not inferior to those of the left wing, but their morale was far less high than that of the ninth and tenth legions.

The performance of the fifth column was not satisfactory. Although there were some veterans of the Gallic War in the legion, the proportion of new recruits was too high, and the new recruits were formed too recently. The officers could not command their soldiers well.

The worst was the sixth column. The other five columns had already moved forward for a distance, but they were still dawdling in place. Antony was so anxious that he ordered this mixed column to move forward immediately without changing into a horizontal formation.

Looking down at the earth from the air, the Roman army gradually changed from six columns to a diagonal line running north and south. The ninth legion on the left was at the front, close to the sea, and the mixed column on the right was close to the foothills. Like a rolling wave, it pressed towards the city of Aquileia.

The Nix cavalry was obviously frightened by the mighty momentum and retreated one after another, exposing the Nix siege troops behind them.

In Anthony's eyes, there were thousands of figures stacked up in front of him, and the crowds were like the densely growing weeds under the city of Aquileia swaying in the wind... The situation in the west of Aquileia was like this, and it can be imagined that it should be the same in other directions. Aquileia has been surrounded by the enemy, but fortunately, most of the barbarian soldiers in front were still facing the direction of the city wall. It seems that the enemy has not been able to react in time to deal with their attack!

Antony was delighted, but he could vaguely see the fighting between the soldiers of both sides on the top of the city wall as he was getting closer and closer to the city of Aquileia.

The barbarians were about to break through Aquileia! ...Antony was immediately shocked and immediately ordered the attack horn to be blown.

The soldiers of the 9th and 10th legions began to speed up their pace and get closer and closer to the enemy in front. The two sides were less than a mile apart, and Antony could see the enemy in front of them shouting and retreating in panic.

"Forward! Roman warriors, forward! Kill these barbarians and defend our land!..." Antony drew out his dagger, pointed it hard forward, and shouted loudly.

However, he did not urge his horse forward again. After all, he was now the commander of an army and could not charge forward like he did when he was a team officer.

The infantry formation behind him quickly caught up with him and left him behind. The soldiers who passed by him couldn't help but respond loudly: "Don't worry, General Antony, we will bring you victory!..."

Antony fell behind the left wing, which determined the victory of this battle. He sat here, hoping to witness the glory that was about to be won.

The Ninth and Tenth Legions advanced like an iron wall, and the enemies in front of them retreated like a tide... But when the tide receded, thousands of Nix soldiers wearing leather helmets and light armor and holding crossbows appeared in front of the Roman army. They were arranged in a loose formation, with firm eyes and the same excitement.

The enemies who were previously familiar with the barbarian costumes of the Roman soldiers (all Germanic and Japodic warriors acting as bait) suddenly became neat and well-organized, tightly-packed Roman Greek style. The key is that the other side seemed to have been prepared, which made the Roman officers in the front feel a little uneasy.

They were experienced and decisively stopped the advancing army just 100 meters away from the enemy. They began to reorganize the formation that was out of sync due to the long march, and let the soldiers take a breath to accumulate strength for the final attack.

The 9th and 10th Roman Legions were repeating their practices in the Battle of Pharsalus, but in front of them was not the Pompey infantry formation that dared not attack, but the Nix crossbowmen who dominated the river plain.

According to the Nix army organization, a legion had 500 crossbowmen. This time, five legions went out to fight, with a total of 2,500 crossbowmen. They would be concentrated and used in the battle to exert their maximum power. This time, the Ministry of War considered that the west of Aquileia would be attacked by the Roman army first, so all 2,500 crossbowmen were deployed here. The commander-in-chief of the crossbowmen was the only female general in the Nix army, the second-class baron Doreen.

This heroic female general was standing under the raised crossbow flag, shouting loudly: "Forward!"

The flag pointed forward, and the loose double-line formation of crossbow soldiers marched forward, marching to about a hundred meters away from the Roman army, and stopped advancing as the flag was raised again.

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"Shoot!" With Doreen's shouting, the flag swayed left and right in the air.

The crossbowmen in the front row pulled the trigger one after another, and thousands of crossbow arrows shot out.

Just as the Roman soldiers raised their shields to protect themselves, the crossbow arrows like meteors hit the shield surface.

The Roman soldiers were surprised by the high speed of the opponent's crossbows, and were glad that they defended in time.

But they were too happy too early, because the crossbowmen of Nix were no longer holding the arm-drawn crossbows at the beginning.

As early as when Nix attacked Brochi, Brochi warriors used thickened large shields in a targeted manner, which greatly reduced the lethality of the crossbows. In view of this situation and considering the future battle with the Roman heavy infantry, Maximus asked the weapons workshop to start trial production of double-bow crossbows (that is, adding another bow to the crossbow shaft) to enhance the crossbow's armor-piercing power.

The first double-bow crossbow was made in series. Although the shooting power did increase a lot, the double bows were concentrated at the head end, the weight was unbalanced, it was very inconvenient to hold, and the aiming accuracy was also reduced.

After learning about these disadvantages, Maximus gave a new design-a forward and reverse double-bow crossbow.

Can the bow be installed in reverse? ... The craftsmen made it with doubts, and the result surprised everyone: the double bows can be installed at both ends of the crossbow shaft, which makes the center of gravity of the crossbow balanced, very convenient for hand-held shooting, and has excellent accuracy. Moreover, such a design can obtain a longer bowstring draw distance in less space, thereby obtaining a higher shooting rate, and thus shorten the length of the crossbow arm, making the size and weight of the entire crossbow smaller, making it easier for a single person to carry and shoot...