Chapter 603 Attack or Defense

"Attila sacked Reims. No city could stand under his iron hoof for even a week."

In Aetius's meeting hall, everyone looked at the map on the ground in silence. Aetius skillfully used a wooden stick to push the knight statue on the ground that symbolized Attila's Hunnic coalition to Reims.

"The next one is Durocertorum. If we lose Durocertorum, we will completely lose Belgic Gaul." Tereus said to Luca behind Aetius. His tone was a little anxious. After all, in the face of huge difficulties, there was no way to address and solve this difficulty. Watching the barbarians wreak havoc on the territory that had finally returned to Rome, Gaius Caesar would probably be furious and furious.

Luca sat in his seat, his expression not only solemn but more uneasy, watching Attila's army advancing again and again in the land of Gaul. The garrison along the way had no other way to retreat except to be slaughtered. It seemed like fate, making the cities that had not yet been invaded become precarious.

Fear, Attila once again successfully spread his fear, first in Greece and now in Gaul.

"The people of Durotolcolum have become lambs to be slaughtered. If Reims is captured, the only retreat route in Belgium will no longer exist." Aetius said, drawing the Great Sequanorum Province with a stick. "This place has withstood many attacks by Attila's vassal army. I'm afraid the last thing it can withstand is the next attack."

"How many people does Attila have?"

After sitting in silence for a long time, Luga finally spoke. His expression was serious. Although he looked unusually calm, it could be seen from the fact that his right hand was constantly grinding the captain's staff that he felt no heavier than anyone else at this moment, and was even in greater torment, watching Attila trample on his hard work unscrupulously.

"We can't say for sure how many there are, Caesar," Tereus continued. "There are tens of thousands, maybe even more. They are everywhere, even more than the 50,000 we estimated at the time."

"Specifically, how many do you estimate?"

"Hmm..." Tereus was silent. He turned around and looked at Aetius as if asking for his consent.

"Go ahead, Tereus, there's nothing to hide about this," Aetius said, nodding.

"More than 150,000, or even more." Tereus turned around and hesitated for a moment, but still gave a more conservative number. After all, even such a number was a weight that Aetius and Luca, who were present, could not bear.

"A conservative estimate is that the difference is three times, haha..." Luga said, and couldn't help laughing out loud. He shook his head gently, sighed, and then stood up suddenly, as if the thick fur-covered chair made him feel uncomfortable.

Luca walked slowly to the door, put his hands behind his back, tightly grasped the captain's staff, and looked up at the blue sky.

Fifteen thousand, this number is probably not that small, he knew it very well, but he couldn't understand why Aetius was calmer than him at this time.

Everyone present was silent, looking at Luga's back and the scepter that was tightly grasped behind him. They knew that Luga, who always had a solution, was now completely at a loss.

"Attila's vassal tribes number more than a hundred. Any combination of them is a force that we cannot stop." Aetius said calmly. He pointed at Luduga with a stick and said to Luca: "Caesar, I think it's time for us to abandon the Great Sequanorum and concentrate our forces to set up a defense line in Luduga to stop the enemy."

"Stop? Are you saying that we are here to stop Attila who has 150,000 or more troops?" Luca turned around and looked at Aetius, his eyes full of doubt. "I think you should understand the lessons of the past few years."

"Negotiate!" Aetius stood in front of him with his stick in both hands and answered calmly: "When facing such a powerful force, we can only negotiate. On the contrary, we formed a defense line to buy time for negotiation with Attila."

"Attila was not a barbarian who would be easily satisfied. He did not want one or two cities or even a province, he wanted the entire Western Roman world."

"But he is unmatched and unstoppable." Aetius shrugged and said helplessly, "I just negotiated with King Theodoric of Visigoth, and they rejected our alliance request. Moreover, because of the initial hostile momentum, many barbarian tribes, um, chose to wait and see and had no intention of standing on our side."

"Are you secretly questioning Caesar?" Andrew was so angry after hearing what Aetius said that he stood up, but was stopped by Luca.

"Sir Andrew, I mean no offense. But how dare I question Caesar?" Although Aetius spoke politely and maintained his so-called aristocratic demeanor from beginning to end, his eyes were fixed on Andrew, as if warning Andrew to abide by the rules here.

"That's enough, stop it!" Luca tried to mediate, "Gentlemen, our enemies are pressing us even more during the quarrel, and we don't have much time left."

"Then Caesar, do you have any better ideas?" Aetius asked directly: "There has never been anything more desperate and helpless than this time. Since Caesar is not satisfied with my idea, then what Caesar thinks, I, as his subordinates, will naturally obey!"

Such questions made Luga fall into silence. Was it war or peace? Why couldn't he get the answer he wanted? No, history did not describe it that way.

Luca thought so and looked up at Aetius. Did Aetius really not want to resist? This was not like him. At least he was very good at dealing with the barbarians, so it was impossible for him not to get their support.

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"Maybe it was really my fault." Only then did Luga think of his reckless attack. There were not only two opposing sides on the battlefield, but also many pairs of invisible eyes watching his every move.

"The great achievement I made from my initial attack has become the biggest fetter that binds me." Luca had to sigh at this time. He was alone and weak. When the Purple Chamber gained enough benefits from the successive victories, he also lost the trust of the barbarians. Was he really going to face it alone? Luca would not compromise. He gritted his teeth and looked up at Aetius and the officers present, as if he had made up his mind, and said, "Have you never thought of using offense instead of defense?"

As soon as Luca finished speaking, one could almost hear dozens of people taking deep breaths together. Everyone raised their heads and looked at Luca with extremely surprised eyes, as if silently asking: "Caesar, are you crazy?"

"Well, that's a good idea, Caesar." Aetius shrugged and nodded. "It is said that the Imperial Spear is known for its offensive prowess. So, Caesar, how do you plan to deal with this war..."

I hope you will leave more comments and tell me your thoughts. After all, this book is about to reach its climax.

(End of this chapter)