IV. Will of the Gods
Our camp was buzzing with questions and activity. I stopped the centurion who commanded our ballista unit in order to make sure I had the true picture of what was happening.
“So has the Senate really declared war on Spain?”
“Yes, we have orders to prepare for a march at once. We’ll need to get the equipment ready to go before nightfall. Likely we head out in the morning, after they finish reading the entrails most likely.”
This was something with which I was not yet familiar. "What? Reading what entrails?"
"I can see you aren’t one to trouble yourself with the aspects of religion. The priests have to send us off feeling good about ourselves, so they have to gut a goat or some similar poor creature in front of us and after their ritual pronounce that the organs look healthy and indicate that the will of the Gods is favorable for a successful campaign. I can’t imagine they’d find otherwise. After all, what are they going to do, say the goat was diseased and the Senate needs to call the whole thing off?"
He had a point. "No, it doesn’t seem likely."
"No it doesn’t. So after that, we’ll be off. On to Paris most likely, that’s the closest Spanish settlement of any size that I’m aware of. Of course the Spaniards stole Paris from the French years ago, so we’re really just stealing from a thief. No harm in that, eh? Anyways, after that, your guess is as good as mine. Now we will find out just how well all this training in camp serves us."
The next day, it was just as our centurion had said. The Gods were smiling on us, so proclaimed the priests, and our campaign was to bring great glory to Rome and the Republic. We marched for weeks, and could plainly tell that many of the people inhabiting the lands did not speak Spanish, but French. So it did seem that Paris was indeed our destination. The army, called the Army of the West, was commanded by two consuls from the Senate. One consul, Lucius Varro, commanded the four imperial legions of three thousand men that should have had an equal number of velites units, each of twelve hundred men, but in this case there were only three. The second consul, Gnaeus Metilia commanded a specialized group of individual horse, spear and archer auxiliaries of three hundred each, nine hundred men in total as well as the siege train containing five groups of one hundred men responsible for the rams and four ballista units, each of six hundred men which was essential in any assault against a city held by the enemy. In all, our force numbered near twenty thousand.
Our arrival at Paris found an enemy garrison of roughly eight thousand men. Once our forces had deployed, our rams made quick work of the enemy defenses. Attacks by our ballistae had mixed results, as a unit of Spanish Asturian bowmen were not sufficiently suppressed initially. Varro deployed 4th on the left and 3rd on the right during the initial assault on Paris. The Asturians were able to destroy the 4th Legion before being overwhelmed by the 3rd Legion. Our 1st and 2nd Legions following behind were able to overwhelm three hundred charioteers and three thousand short swordsmen. The battle possibly could have been decided then and there but the consul declined to commit the velites to the battle. Instead he would carry on the battle in a subsequent action so that his legionaries were able to capture the city. Two thousand slaves and one hundred twenty one gold were sent back to Rome in testament to her first great victory against a foreign adversary. I myself was awarded the rank of Decurion after Paris fell and put in charge of my own ballista crew.
Next we marched southwest, towards Spain itself and the city of Seville. We also now had a shadow, namely a French force apparently intent on capturing any Spanish city should our arms falter.
At Seville, now with only three legions remaining with the army, we found a Spanish force of roughly three thousand six hundred defenders. Our own force now down to something over sixteen thousand, gave battle. Our 3rd legion perished to another complement of Spanish bowmen in the opening fight. Our remaining force quickly slaughtered the rest of the enemy forces and Seville was ours.
Now it was time to move onto the heart of Spain. However, with only two legions remaining and the city of Salamanca known to lie on hilly ground, word was sent back to Rome that replacement of the two legions were vital to complete the task of the army. We crossed over the Ebro River and over low lying hills that skirted west of the Pyrenees. Upon reaching Spanish Salamanca we once again prepared for battle. As yet, the French had not taken a single Spanish city on their own, largely because unlike our army, they had no siege weapons of any kind.
We found ourselves fortunate in that the Senate not only sent us replacements for the legions, but other formations that could garrison the prizes we had taken.
At the Battle of Salamanca, six hundred bowmen defending a hilled city with a total of near seven thousand defenders, they once again drew first blood, destroying 1st and 2nd Legions. What transpired next was similar to the fight at Seville where the enemy could not withstand the rush of our follow on units. Newly arrived 4th Legion was able to crush some three hundred spearmen before our velites charged in and savaged the Spanish short swordsmen, some six thousand of them along with one group of Astrurians. Varro then threw in three hundred equites, freshly arrived reinforcements that proceeded to scatter the second of the Asturian bow units. Salamanca was ours, along with another two thousand slaves and one hundred thirty five gold to fill the coffers of Rome.
Success again after Salamanca led to my promotion, this time to the rank of optio, second in command of our ballista unit that was clearly outperforming all others.
Three battles. Three victories. And now the last remaining Spanish city on the continent remained: Toledo. Thus far we had proven unstoppable. But the French were now near that city. Would we be able to not only get there before the French could take it, and at the same time muster enough of a force to take it without those vultures sweeping in?
Again, another march west. Upon arriving outside Toledo, we could observe what had become of the French. They had suffered heavily and failed on their own to take the Spanish capital. But we suspected the French had drawn blood of their own, as the Spaniards were down to only four units defending the city. Gnaeus Metilia called for an extended bombardment that necessitated a two-part effort. After an initial bombardment, a later second one succeeded in bringing down Toledo’s defenses. With only two legions, 1st and 4th supported by the velites, the attack went in. For the first time in the campaign, our legions suffered no losses to the Asturians. Six hundred of them perished in our initial assault. Only three thousand demoralized short swordsmen remained in defense, and our velites made quick work of them. Two thousand more slaves. Two hundred eleven gold to send to Rome. The Spanish had been swept from the continent, though we saw evidence that one remaining Spanish city was on the African coast.
A small force of six hundred auxiliaries was sent over by naval transport some time after Toledo fell.
It was hoped there would be little resistance, but instead they were overwhelmed by the Spaniards. It was, if one is to be objective, Rome’s first defeat, if only a minor one. Clearly a larger force would be required, and for that it would require more ships. That would take time, hence an offer of peace to Spain from the Roman Senate that was eagerly accepted.
The campaign against Spain would yield generals who would develop traditions such as archery culture that improved various arms within the Roman Army. These included reconnaissance, melee and archery units.
Even during the conflict, Rome was not idle when it came to building another world wonder. Slaves in their thousands died on the project known as The Great Wall.
Note: In Realism Invictus, there is no whipping. Instead, slaves are used like Great Engineers, each with a value of 30 hammers that can accelerate production. Or, they can build improvements but some will die as improvements are finished.
Roman Engineering was once again triumphant as The Great Wall of Rome was completed.
The scholars of the world recognized the greatness and the power that was Rome.
