Mediterranean Hegemon of Ancient Greece Chapter 1124: The Great Invasion of Cisalpine Gaul

It was not until the Border Legion garrisoned the Etruscan frontier and began checking the frequent raids of the Senones that the Gauls realized this new power in northern Italy was not as weak as they had assumed. Even so, they largely attributed their setbacks to the nature of their raids: these were independent tribal efforts focused on plunder, rather than forces specifically organized to counter Theonian attacks.

However, the realization that the Theonians were helping the Etruscans defend their borders alarmed the Senones. They feared a stronger alliance between the two would complicate their southward invasion. Originally, they had planned to wait a few more years for their strength to fully recover before launching a major offensive. Now, this sudden shift in dynamics forced them to act early. Just to be safe, the Senones convinced the Cenomani to join them in their march south.

Because the scale of this invasion far surpassed their last, the Gallic chieftains brimmed with confidence. After more than a year of skirmishing, they knew the Theonian military camps were heavily fortified but lightly manned, so they deliberately bypassed those strongholds during their initial surge.

At first, the offensive went perfectly. They captured Florentia and Arretium in quick succession. But disaster soon struck. The main invading forces of both the Senones and the Cenomani were successively routed by Theonian reinforcements. Relentlessly hounded by the pursuing army, the defeated Gallic remnants could not muster any effective resistance.

Meanwhile, the Border Legion, which had previously remained holed up in its camps, seized the moment to strike. Caught between intercepting forces ahead and pursuers behind, the demoralized Gallic remnants were utterly shattered. They were either killed in battle, captured, or forced to flee back into Florentia and Arretium, where the Daionian Army promptly besieged them. Only a fraction of the warriors managed to slip into the mountains and escape.

It did not take long for news of the southern expedition's disastrous defeat to reach the Gauls living south of the Po River, sending them into a panic. They were not afraid that their own territory would be attacked—after all, in the century since they had settled there, the Gauls had always been the aggressors, and no other people had dared set foot on their lands. Instead, they feared for the lives of their kin trapped in Etruria. The elders of the Senones and the Cenomani hurriedly convened. After a discussion, they decided to seek aid from the Salyes, pleading with them to send an army into Etruria to rescue their besieged and captured people.

While the upper echelons of the three tribes were still discussing the matter, dawn broke over the coast. Veneti slaves living in the City of Amirium were steering their fishing boats out to sea when they suddenly spotted countless massive Warships on the horizon. They had occasionally seen one or two similar vessels passing near Ariminum before, and they knew those ships belonged to the Kingdom of Daunia to the south. But this time, the sheer number of Warships blanketed the sea, leaving the fishermen paralyzed with terror.

Sailing straight toward the coast near Ariminum were the Warships of the First Fleet, fully loaded with legionaries.

Ever since the last war, no naval power in the western Mediterranean could rival the Kingdom of Daunia. Under King Davos's directives, the Ministry of Military Affairs had reorganized the Daunian Navy, consolidating its original four fleets into three. The 1st Fleet was primarily headquartered in Brindisi, with another naval base at the great port of Tarentum. Tasked with defending the eastern and southern coasts of Italy while keeping a watchful eye on the Eastern Mediterranean, it was commanded by Secilian.

The 3rd Fleet was primarily based in Alalia, with another base in Terina. It was tasked with securing the waters off Italy's western coast, Corsica, and Sardinia, as well as patrolling the rest of the western Mediterranean. Its commander was Straphacus.

Among these, the 1st Fleet was the most formidable, boasting a total of 550 Warships. The 2nd Fleet was slightly smaller, with 500 Warships. The 3rd Fleet was the weakest, fielding only 150 Warships. This allocation was based entirely on the specific tasks they undertook and the relative strength of the enemies they might face.

The reason the Daunian Navy's complement of Warships had increased so significantly stemmed from the early stages of the Western Mediterranean War. After both Daionia and Carthage suffered heavy naval losses, they had frantically scrambled to construct new Warships to seize maritime supremacy. However, the war ended much faster than anticipated. Many vessels still under construction ultimately fell into Daionia's hands.

However, following Carthage's submission to the Kingdom of Daunia, several Phoenician City-States successively joined the Daonian Alliance. This left the Kingdom of Daunia with virtually no enemies in Africa. Consequently, Davos and the Ministry of Military Affairs were already considering downsizing the Second Fleet.

Right now, one Daonian Warship after another sliced quickly through the water, speeding past the trembling Veneti fishermen and bearing straight down on the flat beaches ahead. Thus began what would later be known as "the most terrifying day for the people of Cisalpine Gaul"......

...

A day before the landing in Gaul's territory, Daionian envoys had successively paid visits to Liguria and the Veneti.

The Veneti were quite interested in the prospect of attacking Gallic territory. However, the ferocity of the Gauls had clearly left them with terrifying memories. Ultimately, they declared that as long as the Daionian Army did not infringe upon Veneti territory, they would not interfere with the army's operations, and they would even provide them with some material aid.

The Ligurians, on the other hand, endlessly debated the Daionian envoys' proposal and failed to reach a consensus. Some chieftains opposed Daionia attacking Gaul, arguing that it would shatter the existing stability of northern Italy. Others stated that as long as the Daionian Army did not enter Liguria, they would not interfere with Daionia's military operations. Only a tiny minority of chieftains expressed a willingness to join the Daionian Army's campaign against the Gauls in hopes of seizing some fertile lands...

Regardless of how these two peoples responded, the massive Daionian Army set sail from Brindisi exactly as planned. After voyaging for two days and two nights, they landed on the coast near Ariminum. They immediately seized the completely unprepared city of Ariminum, and the main army swiftly pressed westward.

With the Senones' territory stripped of its defenders and its terrain incredibly flat, the Daionian Army smashed through all resistance. They swiftly captured Boloma and the city of Parma before turning north to bear down on Cremona. It was only then that the Senones managed to hastily scramble together all their able-bodied tribesmen—roughly 10,000 warriors—to mount a defense on the north bank of the Po River. They sought to block the Daionian Army's northward advance while sending urgent pleas for aid to the Salyes and the Cenomani.

Leotychides encamped his forces on the south bank and ordered the entire Engineering Brigade to accelerate the construction of bridges to prepare for the crossing. At the same time, he sent a detachment down the river in an attempt to find an alternative crossing point.

While trying to stop the Daionian Army from erecting bridges near Cremona, the Senones also split off troops to track the enemy's movements. They were even willing to trespass into Veneti territory to do so, which sparked a few skirmishes with the Veneti. (The Veneti's territory had originally spanned the entire lower reaches of the Po River, until the lands along the southern bank were conquered by the Senones.)

During this standoff across the river, the Salyes and the Cenomani rushed to help. Whether driven by kinship or the grim realization that they would be the next to fall, both tribes successively dispatched as many reinforcements as they could muster. This influx of manpower swelled the ranks of the Gallic warriors on the north bank of the Po River to nearly 70,000, instantly reinvigorating the Senones' confidence.

Meanwhile, having practically wiped out the Gallic remnants in Etruria, Patroclus mobilized his forces. Leading the third legion of Theonia, the Twelfth Legion, and the Fourteenth Legion, and guided by the Border Legion, he passed through the military camp at Lucca. They marched first along the coastal roads, then trekked through the narrow passes of the mountain valleys. Upon finally arriving in Parma, they immediately executed a rapid forced march eastward to besiege Placentia, a poorly defended Gallic town situated east of Cremona on the southern bank of the Po River.

After easily seizing the town, the Engineering Brigade swiftly began throwing up bridges. Fortunately, the stretch of the river near Placentia was dotted with several mid-river islands. Exploiting this natural advantage, the construction progressed at a breakneck pace. In just a day and a half, the bridges were complete. Patroclus swiftly led his four legions across the Po River, driving straight toward Mediolanum, the central town of the Salyes tribe.

Only upon receiving urgent reports of this maneuver did the Gauls realize they had been outplayed. In a panic, they hastily scrambled their forces and rushed back to the rescue.

But to their surprise, Patroclus halted his advance halfway there at a small town named Lodi. He ordered his soldiers to get plenty of rest and wait for the coming battle.

By the time the rushed Gallic Allied Forces arrived at Lodi, Patroclus had already arrayed his army in battle formation outside the town, waiting for them.

At the same time, the main army commanded by Leotychides had also crossed the river from Placentia and arrived in the vicinity via a rapid forced march.

With the two Daionian armies pressing in on the Gallic Allied Forces from the north and the south, the Gauls found themselves boxed in. Unable to advance or retreat, they were forced into battle.

Thus, the only massive pitched battle between Daionia and Cisalpine Gaul to ever take place on the Po River Plain began in this hasty fashion.

Although nearby Gauls caught wind of the fighting and rushed to join the fray as the battle raged, the Gallic Allied Forces were in a dangerous predicament from the start, caught in a pincer movement and vastly outnumbered by their opponents. Still, the Gallic warriors fought desperately, even deploying chariots against the Daionian Army for the very first time.

Nearly two hundred two-horse chariots charged like lightning toward the slowly advancing Daionian main army. Their goal was to shatter the enemy's dense phalanxes first, so their warriors could follow up with a charge, swinging their greatswords.

However, the Theonian Ministry of Military had long studied Gallic battlefield tactics, and both Leotychides and Patroclus had conducted specialized drills to counter them. First, the legion's light infantry surged out of the formation, unleashing ranged attacks aimed at the chariot horses. Then, the heavy infantry phalanxes swiftly shifted into a checkerboard formation, widening the gaps between their detachments to create open lanes for the surviving Gallic chariots. Even if the chariots drove right into the formation, they could not inflict any massive shock against the overall array, and were swiftly surrounded and exterminated.