Chapter 316 The Rebels' Counterattack

"Form a line! Form a line!"

At the sound of the defense horn, hundreds of men, led by centurions, split into two groups.

The rebel army of Bagauda swarmed in from the woods on both sides of the city. They must have been waiting there for a long time. This was just as Luca expected. They did have a trick up their sleeve.

"If we all attack, we will be surrounded by them, and then we will be really helpless." Luca said this, leading Andrew, who remained silent, and the cavalry guards behind him to the center of the army. Looking around, they saw a black mass of Bagauda rebels in all directions. They had lost their patience with the siege.

This time, the Bagauda rebels were no longer the 5,000 who were driven away. This time, they numbered more than 10,000, and they were divided into two groups. It seemed that they had already made arrangements at that time. It was just that Luca was unwilling to fall into the trap.

So they planned not to be so passive, but to take the initiative and fight with the legion under Luga outside the city.

"Form a regular defense line, and keep the archers ready!" Luga raised the lance in his hand and shouted loudly to try to stabilize the morale of the army. Just like the usual training, the remaining soldiers of the two legions formed a semicircle around Luga, with the shield and spear infantry in the first and second rows, and the shield and sword infantry in the second and third rows, a total of four rows of formation.

“Boom…”

They heard the rumbling footsteps, which shook everyone. When they looked up, they saw a huge crowd of people. The soldiers, who had never seen such a large battle, could not help but feel a little flustered. They encouraged each other and supported themselves and their comrades to hold on to the front line.

"Archers! Archers!"

The junior officers shouted, and all the archers on the inside of the semicircle raised their bows and arrows and aimed at the charging Bagauda rebels.

“Ka-ka-ka…”

There was a sound of bowstrings being snapped, and a huge "dark cloud" rose from the Roman army formation. The "dark cloud" quickly spread, and arrows whizzed past the heads of the Roman infantry, and with the sharp whistling sound of metal cutting through the air, fell into the torrent of the Bagauda rebels who were rushing straight towards them, but were soon swallowed up by the "torrent".

The catapults and crossbows also changed direction, and the engineers turned them outside the semicircle to load ammunition.

"Boom, boom, boom..." flaming stones whizzed out.

"Boom boom boom..." The falling stones swallowed up people's screams, and each stone brought up a pool of blood.

"Ka, ka, ka..." There was another volley of arrows. Countless arrows fell from the sky into the Bagauda rebels. People were constantly shot and fell down, but the subsequent reinforcements covered up these fallen and dying people.

"Believe me, this will be the toughest battle we have ever encountered since the establishment of the army!" Luga realized that this would be the time when he, the commander of the army, would be needed!

He rode his horse behind the soldiers and said loudly to them, "But this will be a test of your courage. Do not be afraid, because you will eventually get used to defeating the enemy with fewer troops. Today, I will be with you. Today, let us take this place!"

“Hoo! Hoo! Hoo!”

After hearing the commander's words, the soldiers beat their shields and used the sound of the impact to motivate themselves, trying to cheer themselves up, but there were too many enemies, and their advancing footsteps made the ground tremble slightly.

"Hold steady, don't be afraid, stop them, those who fear fighting will die! Those who fear fighting will die!" The general roared over and over again behind the army formation. The soldiers' hands were full of sweat due to nervousness. Standing here now meant that there was no turning back.

"We cannot fail. Failure means destruction. We must continue to fight. Tell yourself that if you are separated from the weapon in your hand, you will die at the hands of the enemy. Don't believe in God's mercy, believe in the weapon in your own hand. At this moment, it is your God!"

After listening to Luca's words, the soldiers couldn't help but lower their heads to look at the weapons in their hands, and prayed silently in their hearts that he hoped he could survive this time.

Blood and death had made the attacking troops of the Bagauda rebels lose their minds. They roared and picked up the scattered stones on the ground and threw them at the Roman army. The soldiers relied on their broad shields to resist round after round of stones. Some were even hit on the head by stones because they tried to look out to see the situation clearly. Even so, the injured could only grit their teeth, wipe the blood off their faces, and hold their spears on their shields to defend their posts.

“Boom boom boom…”

The Bagauda rebels crashed directly into the shields of the Roman army. They roared and desperately grabbed the shields to take them back from the soldiers. Such a crazy move shocked the Roman soldiers. This was not surprising. They also had an incomparable desire for victory. If they could not win, they would only die. The members of the Bagauda rebels were slaves who were sold from all over the province. They had been living a life worse than death. It was not easy for them to turn over. Although their lives were tight and they could not get enough food, they were still free. It was better than becoming slaves again and trembling under the whip of the nobles.

The crazy Bagauda rebels climbed up the first shield wall of the Roman army, holding various weapons, most of them were naked, or in tattered coarse clothes. Even though their equipment was simple, the fighting power they burst out also surprised the Roman soldiers. They were like wild dogs with red eyes, punching, kicking and even biting.

The latest novel is published first on Liu9shuba!

The soldiers in the first row were quickly submerged in the flood of Bagauda rebels, and the soldiers in the second row had already been grappling with the Bagauda rebels. They had to develop pessimistically. Although the shield and spear had great power on the front, it seemed that they could not stop their offensive at all in the face of such a crazy enemy.

"Third formation, move forward and exchange with the second formation!" Luga also saw the situation in front of him. He was standing in a good position and could see everything that was happening around him. He immediately made arrangements, letting the soldiers with short weapons go in front, so that when the first formation collapsed, they could instantly become evenly matched with the enemy.

The soldiers in the Roman army were switching positions in a panic, but Luca knew that this was far from enough, so he called out to Andrew and said, "Andrew, split the soldiers in the fourth array into two groups, and you call on the cavalry to follow behind me. We can't just fight with this mob like this, we must come up with a feasible plan and annihilate the enemy in large numbers so that we can suppress the arrogance of these rebels!"

After hearing what Luga said, Andrew nodded heavily, then went to summon the commander of the fourth array and began to issue the orders that Luga wanted to convey.

"Archers, retreat!" Luga shouted, "Retreat all the way to the high ground in the back. You are of no use here!"

"Now it's up to me!" Luga thought secretly in his heart.

(End of this chapter)