Mediterranean Hegemon of Ancient Greece

Chapter 846: Attacking East

After summoning Publius, Davos held a war council. After consulting with his generals, they decided on a strategy for attacking the Latium region: first attacking the east and then to the west while engaging in negotiations.

The city of Fidenae, located on the upper reaches of the Tiber River, was only about eight kilometres away from Rome. However, it was a small town founded by the Etruscans and spans both banks of the Tiber River. But during the gradual rise of Rome, it became the main bridge for the Etruscans to enter the southern bank of the Tiber River, especially since the city of Veii is very close to Fidenae and has repeatedly invaded Rome through it.

For this reason, over several decades, the Romans and Veii engaged in repeated battles for control of this small town. Eventually, the Romans established Fidenae as their colony and transformed it into a forward base for attacking Veii. As a result, Veii was pushed onto the defensive and eventually fell under Roman occupation.

After Fidenae became a colony of Rome, most of its fertile land along the river was transferred to Rome due to its close proximity to the city, resulting in a smaller population than before.

So when the Theonians captured Rome, the Romans living in Fidenae became frightened. But because there was no movement in Rome for several days and the army led by Camillus came back, most of the people in Fidenae felt relieved. However, they started panicking again when the Roman army began to head westward and then the sudden fall of Veii.

Then they finally breathed a sigh of relief again a few days later when the Etruscan-Roman mixed army arrived, including the return of conscripted Fidenae citizens. However, this sense of security was shattered when the mixed army attempting to cross the river suffered a devastating defeat. From atop the city wall, they watched in horror as hordes of Theonian cavalry chased and killed the fleeing Roman soldiers. Many surrendered on their knees, while some jumped directly into the Tiber River, disappearing into the river's water in the blink of an eye.

Despite the fact that the victorious Theonian army didn't take advantage of the situation to attack Fidenae and peace returning to the surrounding areas, the people of Fidenae became frightened on that tragic day and no longer considered themselves safe. As a result, many strongly clamoured to flee from this dangerous place and head to their Latin allies in the south or the west to Camillus.

However, it was difficult to leave one's hometown, leading to an argument in the whole city that lasted for several days without a resolution.

In the early morning of that day, a sleepy lookout from Fidenae climbed the city wall and was instantly stunned by the scene: In the distance, a cloud of dirt and dust swirled as a throng of people rushed towards Fidenae…

“The enemy is coming!! The Theonians are coming!!!…” The city's bell rang out, causing panic among the people.

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

Early morning after the war council, Davos sent a large army to attack Fidenae.

With the bulk of the Third Legion and the Roman Reserve marching east along the north bank of the Tiber, the Second, Sixth, four brigades of the Lucanian Reserve Legion, the Mountain Reconnaissance Brigade, the First Cavalry Legion, and five hundred men from the engineering camp, totalling more than thirty thousand men, attacked the city of Fidenae from the north and south simultaneously.

Davos dispatched such a large army to a small city with less than a thousand defenders to swiftly defeat the enemy so that they could instil fear in the Latin city-states, creating a more advantageous situation for them.

Since Davos needed to stabilise the order within the city of Rome, he didn't personally lead his troops as he did previously. However, he appointed a temporary commander whom the strategoi didn't expect – Phryntor, a staff officer of the Ministry of Military.

When Davos announced the candidate, the First and Third Legion didn't react as they had a good relationship with Phryntor, so only the legatus of the Second Legion, Matonis, objected, “Phryntor has never personally commanded a war and has no experience as a commander…”

But under Davos' insistence, Matonis could only reluctantly accept as he was accustomed to obeying Davos' orders.

With thirty thousand soldiers attacking a small city with less than a thousand defenders in a flat location, capturing the city should be an easy task.

But that wasn't the case. After all, Fidenae was a strategic location contended between Rome and Veii for decades, resulting in Fidenae evolving into a small military fortress with high, thick walls and a moat, making it easier to defend but hard to attack. Furthermore, the plan Theonia adopted was for the army to seize the city as soon as possible instead of engaging in a prolonged stalemate.

In return for the King's trust and to prove himself, Phryntor decided to adopt a tactic similar to the one used by His Majesty Davos to capture the city of Ostia. Thus, after studying the situation of Fidenae and its surrounding terrain, he ordered the engineering camp to modify several pack wagons to carry five boats by land. Then, numerous pack animals and labourers pulled it while avoiding the defenders. Finally, they arrived at the upper bank of the Tiber River after bypassing the city of Fidenae…

Meanwhile, Phryntor also asked for the people of Fidenae's surrender. However, the Fidenaeans neither agreed nor opposed and only said they would need to consider it.

But how could Phryntor allow them to delay for time? Thus, he immediately issued the order to attack the city.

With a command, the Theonian army began their assault on Fidenae from the south and north.

While the Fidenaean defenders did their best to resist the Theonian soldiers, more than two hundred fully armed Mountain Reconnaissance soldiers rowed the five boats and rushed down from upstream. Then, while passing through the city of Fidenae, they luckily managed to stop just in time before crashing into the pontoon bridge that spans across the river.

Since the water on the upper reaches of the Tiber east of Fidenae were too fast to swim across and difficult to steer a raft, plus the towns along river furthest of Fidenae were all Sabines except Crustumerium, which was a Roman colony, this mountain race had never seen the sea so they could not build boats and most of their people couldn't even swim, thus the people of Fidenae never encountered an enemy attack from the upper Tiber. Hence, they were utterly unprepared as they never thought the Theonians would have the whimsical idea of transporting boats overland to the upper Tiber.

When the soldiers of the Mountain Reconnaissance Brigade climbed onto the pontoon bridge and began attacking the southern part of Fidenae, the panicking people of Fidenae hurriedly squeezed out less than a hundred soldiers and had them rushed to the bridge to intercept the enemy.

But by the time they arrived, several enemy soldiers had already reached the land on the southern part of the city and immediately attacked the rushing Fidenaean soldiers, who were attempting to go into formation.

And in a dogfight, how could the Fidenaean soldiers be the opponent of the soldiers of the Mountain Reconnaissance Brigade who had undergone years of arduous training? So they were defeated not long after, and the enemy conquered the city's southern area.

Soon, the city’s upper area also surrendered after getting surrounded.

It was only in the afternoon when the Theonian army occupied Fidenae, and from the start to the end, it lasted for less than four hours, resulting in the strategoi and soldiers finally recognising Phryntor's ability to command.

With the Theonians occupying Rome and now taking control of the upper reaches of the Tiber River, they had finally cut off the connection between the Romans and the north bank of the Tiber River.

After a whole day at Fidenae, the Theonian army advanced eastward the next day to attack Crustumerium, the last Roman colony in the east.

Crustumerium was originally a town built by the Sabines, but its complex relationship with Rome began soon after it was founded.

There was a story that after Romulus founded Rome, he encountered massive trouble as most of his followers were single men. Thus, to solve their marriage problems and allow these energetic men to settle in Rome peacefully, Romulus came up with a solution and declared to the public: He would hold a celebration of Nepture and invite the neighbouring powers to come and participate.

Believing this was true, the Sabines brought their wives and daughters to Rome, but Romulus and his followers took away all the Sabine women.

Half a year later, after losing their loved ones, the Sabines gathered their troops and attacked Rome. But just as the two sides were about to start the decisive battle, the Sabine women, who had already become the wives of the Romans, appeared and pleaded on their knees for a truce. Under the magic of family affection, the two sides reached a reconciliation, with Romulus even inviting these Sabine tribes to migrate to Rome, resulting in the two sides becoming one.

And the town where these Sabine tribes resided is Crustumerium.

Whether the legend heard from the Romans point is true or not, it is a fact that Crustumerium became a colony of Rome during the Roman kingdom. The Roman king then called upon many Latins to migrate to this town, but it joined the Latin city-state several decades later in the war against Rome. After it lost, it became a Roman colony again and soon became the frontier base for the Romans to resist the Sabines' invasion, allowing the Romans to defeat the Sabines several times.

Less than five kilometres away from Fidenae, Crustumerium is built atop a hill near the Tiber River, overlooking the narrow strip of riverside flatland that has been shaped by the mixed sediments of the Tiber's water.

Phryntor arrived in the city of Crustumerium with the Theonian army. However, they didn't immediately attack because Publius, who came later, said he was confident in convincing the people of Crustumerium to surrender.

And just like he said, the people of Crustumerium opened the city gate less than two hours after Publius entered the city.

The city of Crustumerium, adjacent to the Sabines, could barely defend itself against the Sabines without the support of Rome. So when the citizens they sent out to join the Roman army returned and told them about the collapse of the Roman army, extreme unease spread in the city. Furthermore, they became even more frightened when the Theonians captured their neighbour, Fidenae, in less than a day. Then, just as they got surrounded by two major forces and isolated, Publius, a former Roman senator they are familiar with, showed up and persuaded them to surrender.