Chapter 466 - The Caesar Would Not Mind

Once the walls and gates are torn down by force, the rest of the things seemed to be pretty easy for the commanders at the front judging from his own experience, the rest of the story should probably be that the Ottoman defenders are stripped of any futile thought of putting up a defence and shiver in their hidings, or come out in groups to surrender to his army just like what it has always been with the other Ottoman possessed towns in the past. An ironic fact is that the majority of the Ottoman conscripts here are actually the same kind of people as the majority of soldiers forming up Antonius' army, they believe in the same faith, speak the same language with little difference in dialects, and have the same culture and living habits.

Suddenly the commander does not know whether this is a positive thing or a tragic.

Just as the frontline commander is lost in his own wanders, more than two hundred Roman besiegers have already rushed into the fortress and started exterminating the remaining Ottoman defenders who are still on the ground putting up a defence. Then they started forming up into groups again and marched deeper into this camp.

The Roman infantries must say that they felt like cursing whoever that designed and made this Ottoman camp as they progress along the narrow path. It is hard to say that this fortress had a proper blueprint when being manufactured, or it is the builders who have messed it up. There are no central pathways and roads in the interior for troops to maneuverer around quickly, the only roads they have are those narrow ones made from paved dirt and sands which is already becoming a swamp with the blood drained into it and so many people running around. There seems to be no integrated planning for permeant and temporary buildings, watchtowers can be everywhere arranged in an illogical manner, with tents any how scattered around it.

There are no toilets, of course, and no irrigation system within this fortress, every daily activity from washing, drinking and toileting is done within one stream flowing across the camp. A pretty common layout for most European armies in this era and is exactly why reports came to Antonius saying that plagues have started developing within these Ottoman fortresses.

Military architectural science is an important science, it will take years for people to realise it.

However, this form of messy layout and building seems to have aided the Ottomans a lot this time.

Five Roman troopers cautiously marched into the unknown, with the shield warden in front, two swordman by the side, the long spear man in the central and a crossbow operator in the behind, a proven to be effective kind of section level formation in battles.

They maneuverered inside for roughly forty meters, thinking that the situation is already under control, surely the Ottomans have either evaded or surrendered after seeing the might of their army. So the section of men started letting their guard down.

"There is no need to keep on crouching down boss!" The shield warden complained to the section commander holding sword behind him. "We are being way too cautious! I would suggest that we move faster to control the other gates and claim the bounty for our team!"

"Shut up! Do your job!" The section commander frowned and hissed as he pressed the shoulder of the shield warden downwards. "Do it according to what you have trained for! You would not want your fiancée to receive that letter of sorrow because you died from your own carelessness right?"

"Of course not, I am determined to go back to my hometown to propose my love for Maria once this battle concludes…" The shield warden grumbled in anticipation. "Come on boss, you have no idea how freaking heavy this shield and armour is, can't you just let me stand up for a…"

Five arrows came soaring through the air from various angles aimed towards the shield warden at the front, three of which bounced back after hitting onto chainmail, gauntlet and Nasal helmet. But one arrow managed to hit his shoulder that is not protected with any armour plate, and this is not the most serious one, another arrow pierced right through his neck. The warden is halted in his speech as he eyed the front filled with shock and terror. In the very last minute of his life, he tried to vocalise something, but that is no longer possible, as his vocal cord has already been destroyed.

The warden fell backwards thumping onto the ground, staring blankly at his comrades who seemed to be still reluctant about the development of things. Blood started gushing out of the impact areas and sunk into the dirt road, reaching the boots of the other Roman soldiers. The section commander came into realisation first as he roared at the mightiest he could in his life to the others.

"Ambush! Get to the side! Find cover! Observe the surroundings!"

This is not the only Roman section to have received a surprise, in fact almost every single Roman soldier that has ventured further into the unknown found themselves receiving hits from all sides. The Ottoman conscripts are definitely not in the upper hand when it come to close quarter combat and field battles with formations. But they can definitely master the skill of firing bolts – and some even able to operate a bow, towards the enemies. Remembering that there are still seven hundred plus Ottoman conscripts in this fortress, at least one third of them have a projectile weapon in their hands. And on top of that they are definitely more familiar with the surrounding terrains and building layouts in this fortress. All of these achieved an almost miraculous result now over here.

The casualty number of the Roman troopers began climbing in a rapid rate, within twenty minutes into combat, the Romans trapped inside the fortress has at least suffered one casualty in each team. The Romans now found themselves in a kind of combat that is rarely trained in the past, the whole purpose of their past section level training and formation exercise is to prepare for large scaled battles against the Ottoman horsemen, no one have ever warned them that this kind of situation they are facing at the moment.

One after another body of either wounded or deceased soldier started being taken back to Julian while the rest regrouped within themselves and continued trying to squeeze through the fortress, plucking out one after another defensive position bit by bit. But they too suffered a heavy loss in this process, before this the casualty ratio between the Romans and the Ottomans are roughly one to six, and now it has been minimised to an almost one to two, meaning that it now only requires the lives of two Ottoman conscripts that requires little budget to get rid of a professional Roman regular infantry that cost hundreds for them to be trained.

One after another unit commander sent back their reports regarding the unacceptable surge in casualty numbers, the staff and officers standing by Julian's side gulped as they took glances at their commander nervously, wandering what his reaction would be facing such a situation, while hoping that he would order the unts at the frontline to retreat temporarily and allow the other units to change over. But to their disappointment Julian just simply stood there, looking afar towards the Ottoman fortress in chaos, still with that same old expressionless face.

"Sir, I think that the frontline needs to be swept over with reinforcements…."

"I know." Julian finally spoke something after nearly thirty minutes.

"So…"

"They can make it." Julian simply said. "Stacking manpower in a packed terrain like this is not a feasible solution, instead it shall only disrupt the ongoing frontline operations and chain of command. And besides, just like what I have said, they can make it to the end."

Even the second in command could not stand it anymore. "Sir, I know that our warriors can make it to the end, but the casualty number at the end of the day printed on the report shall not be that good looking when you submit it to the Caesar…"

"The Caesar! Certainly, would not mind!" Julian interrupted as he turned around, facing the direction of the Roman main encampment. He can see that tower standing over there with light coming from a few moving torches on the top of the tower, he can almost be certain that indeed the admiral, or the Caesar is watching over him since the start.

"Have you not heard about that simple fact? Once we allow ourselves to halt our effort and fall back, all the achievements and effort we have put in shall be wasted which shall make the casualty number even larger when we replace the troopers experienced in this form of combat with those who are not. The only thing we can do is to advance, advance and advance! Advance till the very end!"