Chapter 215: Whole of Greece
< 215. Whole of Greece >
Sextus had welcomed the situation when the immigrants first fled to Dacia.
He did not like Dacia, which was slowly growing in strength, as he was responsible for Greece.
There was no need to be hostile to Dacia in the current situation, but it was easy to find examples of countries that grew into powerful nations by taking advantage of chaotic opportunities in history.
Dacia had a high potential to become a troublesome enemy in the future, as each of its tribes was very brave.
It would have been a cause for celebration if the Slavs and Sarmatians had weakened Dacia’s power.
He might have been able to easily destroy both sides if he intervened at the right opportunity.
So Sextus sent scouts regularly to collect information on how the war was going.
In the meantime, he heard an unexpected news.
The Huns, who he thought would be quiet for a while, had moved.
“The leader of the Hunnic cavalry seems to be a monster of the enemy.”
“The leader of the Huns personally invaded Dacia?”
It was such a surprising news that he repeated the report of the messenger.
When did the Huns retreat massively from Gaul?
It hadn’t been long since then, but they had already recovered their army and attacked another country. It was not an easy thing to do.
“How big is it?”
“It’s not certain, but it’s estimated to be over 100,000.”
“Of course, they’re all cavalry… That’s an enormous force.”
In the original history, when Rome’s Trajanus invaded the Dacian Kingdom, he mobilized about 150,000 to 200,000 legions.
Dacia, which could only mobilize about 40,000 soldiers, resisted Rome for five years.
Of course, it was partly because Rome advanced very cautiously, but if Dacia was not a powerful country, they would not have been so careful about the expedition in the first place.
Unfortunately, the situation was different now.
Dacia was just building up its power and did not have the national strength of the second century.
On top of that, they were attacked while they were fighting with the Slavic and Sarmatian refugees.
It was more strange that they did not fall apart.
“So, what’s the current situation of Dacia?”
“It’s practically annihilated. The 15,000 Dacian troops who tried to stop the Slavs were ambushed by 50,000 Hunnic cavalry and wiped out. The remaining soldiers hurriedly entered the capital and seemed to be preparing for a siege, but it’s only a matter of time before they fall.”
“What about the Slavs and Sarmatians who were fighting with Dacia?”
“They have already lost their morale and fallen into extreme chaos because of their previous defeat by the Huns.”
That was inevitable.
They had been chased away from everywhere they fled from the Huns, and even in the last place they aimed for, they were attacked by those who had driven them out.
They could not make a rational judgment.
And that was also true for Sextus.
‘What should I do…’
It was almost a foregone conclusion that Dacia would fall.
The problem was what the Huns would do next.
The Hunnic territory, which occupied the Black Earth Plain and Bosphorus as well as the Silk Road, was still large enough.
If they added Dacia to their hands, they would be able to self-sufficient even with their large size.
Would they be satisfied here and catch their breath, or would they still not be satisfied and invade Rome again?
Of course, Marcus, who knew the Huns well, sent a letter saying that the Huns would definitely resume the war and that he should strengthen his defense thoroughly.
Sextus also thought that it was more likely that they would do so. If he saw the attack on Dacia as a preparation for invading Greece, it would make perfect sense.
Then it would be best for Sextus if Dacia fell as late as possible.
“Was there any contact from Dacia?”
“There was. The king didn’t officially ask for it, but the influential people in southern Dacia are sending people continuously hoping for Rome’s salvation.”
“Salvation army…”
“It’s probably the same for Moesia in southern Dacia. They must think that they are next after Dacia falls.”
It was obvious.
Moesia was located north of Macedonia, a province of Greece.
If the Huns wanted to attack Greece, they had to pass through Moesia.
And considering the way the Huns had done so far, they wouldn’t ask nicely to open the way.
Moesia had not yet been incorporated into Rome’s province, so Sextus had no reason to send a rescue army.
But he also wanted to stop the Hunnic army from further ahead than Greece if he could.
“It’s hard to make a choice without knowing the exact strength of the Hunnic army.”
The Huns had shown a remarkable appearance so far.
The barbarians of the north had all been trampled under the hooves of the Huns without exception.
But that was only a story of the barbarians.
Just now, the Slavs and Sarmatians had been chased away to Dacia without causing much damage to the Roman army led by Sextus.
Although three legions were annihilated in Germania, it was a battle that was too unequal in numbers from the start.
The reason why Caesar gave up Gaul and retreated was also because the difference in numbers was overwhelming.
It was a natural result that Gaul was one-sidedly ravaged by the Hunnic cavalry.
But the Greek region led by Sextus was different.
He had enough time to build a defensive line thanks to Gaul being invaded by the Huns first.
He received military support and food from the African province, Aegyptus, and the Kushite dynasty.
He also gathered a lot of materials from the wealthy Greece and Macedonia provinces, and conscripted soldiers from Thrace.
As a result, he was ready to intercept with 200,000 regular legions if the Huns really attacked.
Of course, this was the result of squeezing all the provinces to their limit, so it was not a force that could be maintained continuously.
But he thought that the conditions would be similar for the enemy as well, since it would not be easy for the Huns to wage a long war with 200,000 cavalry.
In other words, he hardly thought that he would lose.
Sextus suddenly recalled the letter he had received from Marcus a few days ago.
‘He said not to fight head-on with the Huns, but to defend thoroughly.’
If Rome, which had expertise in siege warfare, defended with 200,000 troops, there was no way that the Hunnic cavalry could break through easily.
That was a clear fact.
But then the Huns would naturally go around and plunder the cities where the defense forces were scarce.
Sextus could not help but damage his reputation.
So he naturally wondered what if he formed a defensive line a little further ahead and stopped the Huns’ advance.
Sextus calculated all the possible scenarios without missing any.
The situation had already started to flow rapidly.
He had to make a decision within a few days at the latest.
The invasion of the Huns was approaching every moment.
Sextus sensed a fight.
The blood of a great strategist who was sharpening day by day kept sending him warnings.
They say that bad premonitions always come true.
In the end, Sextus’s decision not to send reinforcements to Dacia proved to be correct.
Less than a month after mobilizing all available forces and stockpiling materials, an urgent report came in.
It was an astonishing news that Dacia had given up resistance and entered under the Huns.
It was an incredibly fast speed considering that most of it was flat except for Transylvania.
If Sextus had sent reinforcements, they would have been attacked by the Huns who had quickly occupied Dacia and been defeated separately.
For the same reason, he had no choice but to give up Moesia as well.
The time allowed to raise the defense line was too urgent.
Sextus immediately sent messengers to Gaul and Syria to request support and called Pompeius and Gabinius.
“I heard the news. Is it true that those Huns pushed Dacia away?”
It took less than a few minutes for them to come in.
Their faces showed how they didn’t expect them to move so fast.
With two surprised people in front of him, Sextus answered in a serious voice.
“Yes. And I just got a report that they are moving south at a frightening speed. There’s Moesia in between, but considering their strength, they won’t even be able to hold their ankles.”
“That’s a scary speed. The reinforcements from Gaul and the East might arrive after they break in.”
“I’m glad I ordered to mobilize the troops in advance. The reason I called you two is because it’s time to move the legions seriously.”
Pompeius and Gabinius took a deep breath with determined expressions.
They didn’t think they would lose to barbarians, but the scale of the troops involved in this war was different from before.
Even they had never seen a battlefield where hundreds of thousands of armies clashed.
It was natural to be nervous.
“So do we just stick to your plan and defend at the natural boundary line of Peloponnese?”
“I think it’s safer to go cautiously since we don’t know the level of the enemy yet. I believe my judgment wasn’t wrong since Marcus also told me to be defensive.”
Gabinius nodded with a slightly subtle expression.
To be honest, he didn’t like this passive defense. He didn’t think that Rome would lose to barbarians like that if they fought equally without being outnumbered.
But that was just his inner thoughts, and he didn’t express any objections.
He thought it was right to follow and trust him if Sextus and Marcus had the same opinion.
Having obtained the consent of his two confidants, Sextus immediately prepared to face the enemy by mobilizing all the available forces.
And less than a month later, the Huns showed their appearance in Greece through Moesia, proving that Sextus’s decision was correct.
The number of enemies was 200,000.
It was almost the same size as when they attacked Germania.
“They must have split their forces in half. One to invade Dacia and the other to prepare for attacking us.”
Judging by the speed of the enemy’s advance, their target was Greece from the beginning.
He had prepared with that in mind, but the timing was still tight.
He shuddered to think what would have happened if he had been a little careless.
Of course, Bayatur, who led the Huns, was also impressed by the swift response of Rome.
“They move fast. I heard that the son of the South Emperor was still a greenhorn, but was the information wrong?”
Bartzar also scratched his head with a bewildered face.
“Maybe he wasn’t that stupid since he inherited the blood of Rome’s greatest general. Or maybe he had a lot of room to grow because he was still young.”
“Either way, we need to adjust our evaluation of the enemy general a bit. Not that it will make any difference.”
Bayatur smiled leisurely as he looked at the majestic defensive line of the Roman army in the distance.
He had nothing to gain from dragging on time here either. But he had no intention of moving hastily.
Bayatur kept a standoff with the Roman army and watched their reaction.
They had fortified their defense and did not come out first, reminding him of Caesar’s troops who had camped along the Rhine.
If they did that, it would be useless to pour in troops, as both sides would suffer heavy losses.
However, unlike in Gaul, Bayatur had several places where he could attack.
“If the moles don’t come out of their holes, we’ll have to throw them some bait.”
He had no intention of fighting a siege or fighting at a disadvantageous terrain with Rome’s army from the start.
Bayatur pretended to confront the Roman army while dividing his army into two.
He took only Altan with him and turned his direction to Thessalonica with 100,000 soldiers, and ordered the other three chieftains to go to Ephesus.
But Sextus did not fall for this provocation and held his ground.
The port city of Thessalonica was protected by sturdy walls, so it was not easy to capture it with only cavalry.
Even though Bayatur’s army surrounded the city on three sides, it was useless.
Sextus used his complete control over the sea to constantly send food to Thessalonica.
That didn’t mean there was no problem at all.
It was good that he gathered troops from here and there, but as the number of troops increased, it became increasingly impossible for Sextus to control the legions perfectly.
There were complaints that they were stuck in the peninsula like cowards when they had so many troops.
Especially, the reinforcements from Kush and Aegyptus showed a bad sign at seeing the Roman army that had crushed them so miserably showing such a sight.
There were also complaints from Ephesus, which was being harassed by the Huns, and Thessalonica, which was besieged, asking how long they would continue like this.
The decisive blow was the flag raised by Bayatur who besieged Thessalonica.
He carried around the aquila of the Roman legions he had annihilated in Germania as if to show off.
The aquila, which depicted an eagle, was the most important symbol in the Roman legion.
To exaggerate a bit, it could be said that it was Rome itself.
Therefore, the Roman legion considered losing this aquila as a disgrace, and even destroyed it themselves if such a situation seemed likely.
Even in battles where Rome suffered defeat, soldiers risked their lives to protect this aquila.
This important item was in the hands of the Huns because Bayatur had deliberately tried to get hold of Rome’s military spirit.
Of the three legions he annihilated in Germania, one legion destroyed their own aquila, but he managed to snatch two before they could do so.
Bayatur hid this fact until the decisive moment when he needed to provoke Rome came.
He wondered if he should provoke Caesar’s troops on the Rhine, but Bayatur predicted that Caesar would not fall for such a provocation.
But it might be different for Sextus, who was still young.
Bayatur made sure that the Roman army could see clearly and put up two aquilas at the front and staged a show of force in front of Thessalonica.
He even went further and split his army in half and sent them to attack Thrace.
It was as if he didn’t care about the Roman army of 200,000 right below him.
This outrageous provocation made Sextus’s staff explode with anger.
“How dare these ignorant barbarians!”
“Sextus, are you going to continue to deal with this so passively after suffering such humiliation?”
“They are not only insulting us, but the whole of Rome!”
“The enemy’s leader has only 50,000 soldiers! How dare he show such a mad sight against the invincible Roman army!”
The staff’s angry shouts filled the commander’s tent day after day.
Sextus was also losing his patience with the constant pressure from his subordinates and Bayatur’s provocation.
Moreover, if he didn’t show any action at this point when the enemy was openly insulting the aquila, he feared that it would have a significant political burden in the future.
“…I understand. They have definitely crossed the line that we can tolerate, so we need to show them some action.”
Eventually, Sextus decided to strike the hammer of judgment on the arrogant barbarians.
And finally.
The Roman army, following the commander’s order, began to advance toward Thessalonica.
< 215. The Whole of Greece > End
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