Chapter 225: Marcus’s Fury 3
< 225. Marcus’s Fury 3 >
The Senate had passed a clause in his former constituency that unanimously delegated the authority to wage war against the Huns to Caesar and Marcus.
It even included the right to increase the number of troops, which the Senate had tried so hard to block.
Caesar and Marcus, who commanded 200,000 soldiers, were able to form more than five legions each.
This was a war that mobilized almost all of Rome’s national power.
If they poured out their resources and failed, even Rome would be shaken in an instant.
But the citizens sincerely sympathized with Caesar’s speech.
Wouldn’t it be better to stake everything on one war and settle the matter, rather than living in anxiety for decades or centuries facing the Huns on the border?
People from all over Italy came forward to participate in this last war.
Not only in Italy.
There was a flood of enlistment applications from the provinces of Gaul and Germania.
Their purpose was not to protect their country.
The damage was so severe in Gaul and Germania that there were more people who had lost their families or relatives to the Huns than those who had not.
Naturally, there were many people who wanted revenge everywhere.
This trend continued in Greece.
The provincials and Roman citizens living in Greece lined up to join Marcus’s legion.
Of course, not everyone joined the additional troops with only a desire for revenge.
Typically, the soldiers who participated as allies or provincial legions had a slightly different idea.
‘This war will be the last chance to get citizenship for a while. No one will dare to oppose Rome after this war. Maybe this is my last chance.’
The easiest way for provincials to become Roman citizens was to join the army and earn merit.
It seemed that there was enough chance of winning, as Rome was going all out.
The signs of the impending war began to be detected in various places.
80,000 additional troops were deployed in Greece and Dalmatia in an instant.
Wagons carrying huge supplies flowed into the border area.
Marcus especially pushed for the production and supply of equipment.
As soon as the Hunnic war began, he mobilized the facilities in Asia Minor to produce and supply steel equipment.
Until now, he had deliberately adjusted it so that the balance of the three heads would not be disturbed, but not anymore.
An endless line of wagons carrying armor and weapons followed.
It was impossible for this movement not to be detected by the Huns.
Bayatur’s movement also became busy.
He deployed as many scouts as possible and received detailed reports on the movement of the Roman army gathering near the border.
The Roman army seemed to have no intention of hiding their movements.
In fact, it was almost impossible to move a large army of over 400,000 without being noticed by the enemy.
Bayatur narrowed down the route of invasion by the Romans to two major ones and immediately gathered his Senior Warriors.
Bartazar-gal, Al-tan, Otgonbayar, and Kublai all attended the meeting.
Al-tan, who had tasted humiliation in Greece once, seemed eager to fight as soon as possible, burning his eyes with hostility.
“Supreme Senior Warriors, I heard that those Roman bastards are marching towards us without knowing their place. Don’t we have to go out and kill them right away?”
On the other hand, Bartazar-gal maintained his position of being cautious this time as well.
“The minimum number of Roman troops deployed this time is over 400,000. If we fight such a large army head-on, we will have to suffer tremendous damage no matter how elite we are.”
The Huns who returned to Sinegachar had recovered their strength by mobilizing all their reserve warriors.
But it was also true that the new recruits were less experienced and skilled than the previous soldiers.
The Romans would be no different, but the Huns relied more on the individual skills and horsemanship of each warrior than they did.
Otgonbayar and Kublai also supported Bartazar-gal’s opinion.
“We can’t avoid a frontal battle, but I don’t think we need to go out and attack first.”
“Isn’t it better to lure them in and fight them in our territory? Of course, if we fight too far back, we won’t have any space to retreat if things go wrong, so let’s look for a suitable area. Oh, by the way, do you know which way they’re coming?”
Kublai asked Bayatur a question, who spread a large map on the table.
It was a rough map, but it was enough to recognize the general areas.
He pointed his finger at a route from Thrace that also led into the Black Soil Plain and opened his mouth.
“They’ll probably join forces in this area and march towards us on the shortest route.”
“If a 400,000-strong army comes, securing the supply line will be quite difficult. How about forming a special unit and attacking their supply route?”
“I thought about that too, but they seem to have deployed a large number of warships on the river side. They’re probably planning to march along the riverbank to our territory. Unless they unload their supplies on land, it’s almost impossible for us to attack them.”
“It’s true that if we attack at an obvious point, we might fall into their ambush instead. Then what is your intention, Supreme Senior Warriors? Will you face the Roman attack head-on?”
Bartazar-gal asked for the supreme senior warrior’s decision.
No matter how much the other Senior Warriors argued, the final decision was up to him.
Even if a 400,000-strong army attacked, Bartazar-gal and the other Senior Warriors did not seem to be shaken.
Bayatur’s complexion was also calm as ever as he gave his answer.
“They’re coming from over there, so we have to fight them here. Anyway, they have a lot more infantry than cavalry. They can’t catch us with such slow movements.”
Al-tan nodded confidently.
“I agree with you. I felt it in Greece too, but the Romans don’t seem to have much experience fighting nomads. In that respect, the Han people’s response was more threatening at times.”
The nomads, who mostly rode horses, had a fundamentally different defensive strategy from the settlers.
They could retreat much faster even if they lost in battle, making it easier to preserve their strength.
And because they didn’t make a specific city their base, they could abandon their residence and migrate to another area at any time.
The Romans, who had mostly infantry in their composition, could never chase the Huns to the end.
So it was possible to escape even in the worst case scenario of losing in battle.
Bayatur even considered the option of returning to his homeland from here.
“The Romans are much stronger than I expected. They can’t finish us off, and we can’t conquer them either. Then we’ll have to continue the stalemate… That’s not good for us.”
It was a gratifying result that he had unified the former Huns and integrated a huge number of nomads.
But he needed to keep producing results that matched that in order to maintain it permanently.
At least if he had occupied Greece and Gaul, he could have made a good impression, but now he lacked visible achievements.
He needed to win this battle and achieve something.
Even if he didn’t get their surrender, he could negotiate from an advantageous position and get food, livestock, and women.
“Especially the tribal chiefs won’t be able to resist Roman women. They’ll be a good stabilizer.”
Bayatur still vividly remembered when he distributed the priestesses he captured when he attacked the temples in Gaul and Greece.
Most of the priests and priestesses had already fled, but there were a few priestesses who stayed until the end because they were worried about the people who remained.
They were women who had intelligence, beauty, and dignity, and received noble treatment even in Rome.
Of course, Bayatur and the four Senior Warriors each took one priestess they liked.
But there weren’t enough prisoners to share with all the tribal chiefs.
So he tried to draw lots to determine the winners, but there was an unexpected backlash.
The tribal chiefs did not want to miss the opportunity to take or enslave women who belonged to the most noble class in the empire.
They even suggested dueling for the ownership of the priestesses.
He managed to calm down that farce somehow, but Bayatur learned one more good way to appease the tribal chiefs.
He made his decision and pointed his sword at a wide plain where he expected the Roman army to come in.
“I’ll fight them once when they pass through here. And I’ll decide on the next policy after seeing the results of the battle.”
“Yes!”
“We’ll smash all their heads.”
“I’ll get the warriors ready right away.”
“Then I’ll try to anticipate the Roman army’s formation and think about tactical movements accordingly.”
The four Senior Warriors each said a word and nodded their heads.
Their reactions were different, but they all had the same burning spirit.
Bayatur continued to talk about how to fight against the Romans.
The Senior Warriors kept asking questions and offering various opinions.
The meeting lasted until late at night and until the warriors were ready.
And finally, a report came up that the Roman army had started marching.
The 200,000 Hunnic cavalry led by Bayatur set out to intercept the Romans.
Confident that it would be a historic battle no matter who won or lost.
※※※
The over 350,000-strong army led by Caesar moved as Bayatur expected.
Of course, they didn’t show only obvious movements.
Two Roman legions under Marcus’s command crossed the Caucasus Mountains and moved north into Bosphorus Kingdom.
He received a report that the Romans were coming from over there, but he didn’t split his troops to save Bosphorus.
He thought that Bosphorus’s forces would be enough to defend against two legions.
If they just locked the gates and held on, they wouldn’t fall so easily.
Besides, dividing his troops to deal with the enemy in Bosphorus was exactly what the enemy wanted.
Even if he sent cavalry, the Roman army could go back to the Caucasus Mountains and the Hun army would have no way to catch them.
It was only two legions.
As long as he inflicted serious damage on the Roman main force before Bosphorus fell, that was enough.
But there was one thing that Bayatur failed to notice.
Bosphorus had taken a defensive position to stop the Romans coming from the north, and the surveillance network that defended the Black Sea had completely lost its function.
Taking advantage of that gap, the Roman fleet sailed across the Black Sea and landed on the Crimean Peninsula, which was south of the Black Soil Plain where the Huns’ base was.
The strategy of supplying through the river was actually a deception.
Marcus’s real goal was to lure Bayatur’s main force with Caesar’s army and raid their base with an elite special unit.
The number was about 80,000.
It might seem small at first glance, but they were all cavalry.
Marcus led 50,000 Roman cavalry and 30,000 allied cavalry.
The Roman army had never led a unit composed entirely of cavalry and attacked the enemy’s rear.
Bayatur also did not expect that the Romans, who were settlers, would use such a tactic.
Marcus, who stepped on the land of the Black Soil, looked around at his cavalry who were ready to transform into demons descended from the ground.
His cold voice fell toward them, who were about to wipe out everything in sight.
“Show no mercy to the wounded, women, or old men. Kill everyone you see. Do not forgive those who raised their swords against Rome. Erase the Huns, Rome’s enemies, from this land.”
< 225. Marcus’s Fury > End
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