Rome Must Fall

"Of course." Blix nodded affirmatively.

"I have one more... one more suggestion." Temagis spoke again, but his voice stuttered: "I just don't know... I don't know if it's appropriate to say it?"

Brix was not unfamiliar with Temagis's entangled demeanor. Although Temagis was a bold leader in the past, this failure seemed to have dealt him a big blow. He had been depressed for two days in the camp.

"If you have any suggestions, just say it and let's discuss it together." Maitilis said in a gentle tone of relief.

"Well... I think we can try to sue for peace from the Nyx people." After saying this, Temagis simply let go: "When I retreated from the battlefield, I saw many warriors of our tribe from a distance. Being surrounded by the Knicks and then captured, I think your situation is probably the same as mine. Tens of thousands of warriors only came back in the end. It is impossible for all the other warriors to be killed by the Knicks. Most of them were probably still alive. Became a prisoner of the Knicks...

Previously, Segestica went to war with the Knicks and suffered a series of disastrous defeats. Andres was injured and died of illness. The tribe was in a mess. Later, Cabudes signed a truce agreement with the Knicks and redeemed many Segus. After Tika was captured, the tribe slowly regained some strength...

Since we don’t have the ability to defeat the Nyx people now, why don’t we learn from what Kabudez did, send envoys to negotiate with the Nyx people, sign an armistice agreement, and then find a way to redeem our captured tribesmen, and even... we still Some price can be paid to allow the Nyx to withdraw from the territory of Segestica. "

Maitilis and Brix were greatly moved after hearing these words. In fact, at the previous tribal alliance meeting held in Maziyi's main camp, Kabudes mentioned the truce agreement signed between Segestika and Nix. The tribal alliance also deliberately postponed the attack on Nix for this reason, but The reasons why they didn't think about it were: first, because they were focused on destroying the Knicks at the time, so they didn't understand the details behind the armistice agreement; second, because their territory was not seriously threatened by the Knicks. .

Because Temakis led his army to stay in the territory of Segestica for a few more days, he had some understanding of the situation in Segestica over the past year, and he once openly exposed Kabudez's cowardly approach. He had expressed his contempt, but now that the situation has changed, he wants to pick up what Kabudez did to save his severely damaged tribe.

"Now that the Nyx people have the upper hand, will they agree to a truce with us, release our soldiers, and withdraw from Segestika's territory?" Matilis reminded in a deep voice, suppressing his heartbeat.

"Of course the Nyx people will not agree easily, and we will definitely pay a considerable price... But as long as we can rescue so many of our captured warriors, I think the entire tribe will not only be able to accept it, but also be willing to bear it... ..." After being reminded, Brix, the original initiator of the attack on the Knicks, pondered for a while and had to say: "This will not only reduce our losses in this war and allow the tribe to recover as soon as possible, but also can Give us more time to carefully prepare our approach against the Knicks."

"In this case, I agree to engage in truce negotiations with the Nyx people." Metiris said smoothly: "But we have to wait for Demikas and Parakis to come back and obtain their consent before we can use the tribe to An envoy was sent in the name of the Alliance.”

As soon as Maitilis finished speaking, the tent was opened and the guard captain came in: "Big Chief, we found Chief Demikas and Chief Pachilas!"

Brix stood up suddenly and asked with a look of joy on his face: "Where are they now?!"

It’s no wonder that Brix is ​​so out of his mind. As this year’s rotating leader of the Panloni Tribal Alliance, it was at his suggestion that he launched a war against the Knicks, and the result was a disastrous defeat. Of course, he is responsible. If Di The two great leaders Mikas and Pakilas died in this war, so he would be even less able to explain to other tribes.

Pulikas, who was standing outside the tent, saw that the tent was suddenly opened, and the three leaders Brix, Maitilis, and Temagis hurried out of the camp.

Pricas asked Ancasus and his followers to wait where they were, and he followed curiously.

To the west of the camp is the Kupa River, and there is a simple river port on the east bank. It was built by the Broch people not long ago to transport food for the main force of the coalition. Now there are many small boats parked in the river port, and some people He was being helped out of the river port by Soldier Broch...

All of them had disheveled hair and beards, pale faces, and thin cheeks, highlighting their deep cheekbones. They looked tired and weak, and their eyes were dull, as if one foot was about to step into the grave...

It wasn't until Brix and the others came up to express concern and greetings to the two leaders that Pulikas realized that these two men were the two great leaders, Pagilas and Demikas. He had seen these two before. A great leader, but now he has simply turned into another person, making him completely unrecognizable.

Later, he learned from Soldier Broch that the reason why these two big leaders became like this was because after the defeat in the battle with the Knicks that day, although the armies led by these two big leaders had not suffered The losses were too great, but under the fierce pursuit of the Knick soldiers, they retreated in a panic toward the southeast, and ended up entering a densely wooded mountain ridge.

It was already evening, and night had fallen. Since the army did not carry any fire starters or food, the two leaders lost control of the team. Instead, they followed the increasingly panicked soldiers in the darkness and wandered around the mountains. As a result, after dawn Only to find that they were already deep in the mountains, lost their way, and many soldiers were separated.

The Pannoni people are not good at living in mountainous areas, especially the large tribes located in the north and bordering the Boi people. In addition, they are completely unfamiliar with the terrain here and can only rely on the sun in the sky to judge the direction. Worried that they would encounter the Nix army if they went west, they could only march east.

Without food, they had no choice but to kill horses and eat raw meat to satisfy their hunger; without sleeping gear, they slept with their clothes on and endured the bites of mosquitoes, gnats and poisonous insects; it was extremely painful to climb mountains and ridges all the way. In the first day or two, the team could barely hold on, but after all the horses were killed and there was no food, the team encountered the greatest danger - hunger.

The soldiers could only go hunting and collect food, but with their large team of several thousand people, the wild beasts in the forest had long since hid far away. They had to expand the scope of their hunting. As a result, many people went out and never came back. When they came back, the two leaders had to issue an order: no one was allowed to leave the team. Everyone should resist hunger, get out of the mountains as soon as possible, find the Brochi people, and they would be saved!

As a result, the Pannoni warriors tightened their belts and staggered forward. Excessive hunger caused them to eat whatever they saw in the following days, including insects, fungi, earthworms... and even tree roots. Many people were poisoned and suffered from diarrhea. , fell on the road.

Finally, they arrived at the banks of the Kupa River and walked along the river before finding Brochi's village. At this time, only a sparse group of more than 2,000 people remained in their team of tens of thousands. Some of them died on the road, and some of them died on the road. Lost in the mountains, some people fell behind due to illness... So in the next few days, the Brochi people followed the route they took to search and rescue their compatriots who were still alive.

Also in the past few days, the two chiefs Pachilas and Demicas, who had recovered some vitality, began to accuse Blix, saying, "First he escaped first in the battle, causing the entire army to suffer a disastrous defeat, and then He only cared about himself and failed to lend a helping hand to them trapped in the mountains in time. As the rotating leader of the tribal alliance, his performance was not only unqualified, but he also had to bear the main responsibility for the huge losses of other tribes."

Bricks repeatedly argued that the Knicks concentrated their forces and focused on attacking the left wing of the military formation he was responsible for. His soldiers suffered too many casualties, and the flanks were detoured, so they had to retreat. He retreated very quickly (after Brix retreated to the stronghold he occupied, he led the 2,000 soldiers stationed there and returned along the original march route. Since there was still some food left in the temporary camps along the way, his team He did not starve, and it only took him three days to return to the Broch territory). This was also to return to the territory as soon as possible to collect supplies to rescue other teams, so he quickly led the team back, and the rescue team was still on the way. The team led by the wandering Maitilis could not find any trace of the team led by Pakiras and Demicas in the mountains, but he never gave up looking...

Several big leaders were arguing endlessly, and the soldiers below were busy searching for and rescuing their compatriots who were lost in the hills and mountains to the west. One after another, ragged soldiers with withered bodies returned to the camp... and about "rescuing Segas" "Tika", the tribal alliance meeting has never given a clear conclusion. Pulikas was anxious, but had no choice.

However, in the camp, he accidentally discovered more than 2,000 Segestika people, including nearly 500 warriors. It turned out that these people were residents of Segestika's fourth village along the Kupa River. After learning about the disastrous defeat of his army on the banks of the Kupa River, he was afraid that the Nyxians would take advantage of the victory to attack with their troops, so under the leadership of their leader Gytias, they fled to Bubu with the great leader Temagis of Desitiatai. Roach territory.

They originally just wanted to take shelter for a while, waiting for the main force of the coalition to win, before returning home. Unexpectedly, they met Bricks who had already fled back in this camp. Only then did they learn the news of "the main force of the coalition's defeat", and they did not dare to return home again. , can only stay temporarily in the camp.