Assistes led him to a map of northern Etruscan on the table, pointed to the map and said: "At dusk, I received a messenger from the Florentian military camp from Hasdruba, where a large number of Gauls appeared, the exact number is not clear, Hasdruba estimates that there will be no less than 20,000 men. Immediately afterwards I received a messenger from the Lucca barracks, and there were Gauls with more than 10,000 men. Other than that, I didn't receive any other information...... That's the case at the moment. ”

"Didn't hear from the Aretium barracks?"

"Not yet."

Patroclus had visited the Frontier Legion to learn about the military qualities of that legionnaire, and he believed that if Gauls appeared near the Aretium camp, they would react quickly, and it was impossible for them to not even be able to send messengers, so he groaned for a while and made his own judgment: "It seems that this time the Gauls are still invading from the direction due north of the northern border of Etruria, and it is likely that it is the Senonese tribe of Gaul again!" ”

"The possibility of the Senones is very high, but there are also Salves who have attacked the Etruscan in recent years, and if the number of Gauls invaded this time is too large, it cannot be ruled out that the Sarves are also involved."

Patroclus nodded.

Ever since Dionya took over the Latin region, Assistes and his team began to gather a lot of information about the Gauls in the north, the greatest threat to the kingdom, and finally figured out the origin of the Gauls in Italy.

The Gauls originally lived north of the Alps, and many years ago (the Gauls have no chronology, no writing, and cannot determine the exact date) the Gauls in the north of the Alps were peaceful and prosperous under the rule of the wise chief Abigatus, so the population skyrocketed, and the output of the original land could not support the excessive population, so Abigatus decided to let the surplus population colonize the new land, and finally chose several young and promising young people as leaders, And by drawing lots to decide where they will each colonize.

Abigatus's sister's son, Belo Visus, was drawn south of the colonial Alps, which was undoubtedly extremely bad luck for the Gauls at the time, because the Alps were inaccessible and difficult to navigate, and it would have been a great risk to climb over them, not to mention that no one knew what the situation would be like south of the Alps.

Belovisus was young and courageous, and the young people of the six tribes he was supposed to lead, under his encouragement, were also not afraid of difficulties, and they resolutely went south. After a great deal of hardship, the famous Taurini Pass was discovered, which led to the crossing of the Alps and into the north of Italy. They drove out the Etruscans, the original owners, centered on the Mediolanium (modern Milan), settled down, called themselves "Salves", and gradually expanded outward.

Many years later, the Gallic tribes north of the Alps heard that Belovisus had settled well in the south, and then the Gauls, led by the Knomani tribe, also crossed the Alps and entered northern Italy, and with the help of the Salves, settled in Verona to the east.

Over the next decade or so, these two large tribes rapidly expanded to the surrounding areas, defeating the Etruscans in the north many times, forcing them to move southward, and also causing the Etruscans, the original overlords of north-central Italy, to begin to decline.

After another decade, another large Gallic tribe north of the Alps, the Señez, decided to move south into northern Italy, but by this time there was no more open space in the Po Plain. The upper reaches were occupied by the Ligurians and the lower by the Veneti, and the most extensive and fertile central part of the land was occupied by the two major tribes of Gaul, the Salves and the Knomani, who had to cross the Po River into the hills and mountains of the south, driving the Etruscans further south and settling in Boloma (modern Bologna).

In the years that followed, the Senones south of the Po River did not think of taking the lower Po River plain occupied by the Beneti as their own, they waged wars against the Benneti many times, and also seized some of the land of the Beneti, but in the end they had no way to take the Benneti, this is because at this time the Bo and the lower reaches of the swamps are all over the place, the water network is criss-crossed, the land is muddy, the Gauls who are originally a mountain race are very uncomfortable to fight here, and the Beneti are not the original natives of the Po River Plain, But after migrating from Illyria on the other side of the Adriatic Sea, they had been familiar with the environment for hundreds of years, so the Senonesians had suffered a lot of losses and finally decided to keep peace with the Veneti for a long time.

The upper Ligurians are also said to be a part of the Celts, migrating along the coast to Italy very early, but they never achieved unity, and the tribes were often at war with each other, but they were also extremely xenophobic. The Salveans invaded several times, but they were stubbornly counterattacked, and the Salveans found that these Ligurians were shorter than them, but they were as strong and fiercer than them. After suffering several major defeats and discovering that the Ligurians were not easy to mess with, the Salves were finally forced to restore peace with the Ligurians.

In this way, the Gauls looked around, and the best bully was the Etruscans from the south.

By this time, after decades of development and the occasional addition of small Gallic tribes from the north of the mountains, the population of southern Gaul had multiplied several times, especially for the Senones tribes who lived in the hilly and mountainous areas, who occupied less and more barren land, had a greater need to expand their territory outward, and their settlements were closer to the Etruscans.

Thus, around 390 BCE, under the leadership of the great leader Brenium, the Senones crossed the mountains, invaded the Etruscan territory, and defeated the main Roman force at the Battle of Arria, and finally captured the city of Rome, but then they were mired in war. When Brenum finally decided to retreat from Rome and return to his homeland, he was forced to engage in a hasty battle with the Latinum coalition led by Camillus, which pursued him, and finally the Senones were defeated, attacked by the Etruscans along the way, and less than half of their people fled back to their homeland. The Grand Chieftain Brunlum was also seriously wounded, and died of illness shortly after returning to Boloma, leaving the Selonius tribe not only weakened, but also plunged into a period of chaos, after which the northern Etruscan frontier was much quieter for several years.

It is said that during that period, even if the Senonese tribe wanted to plunder south, they generally had to pull in the Salves tribe and support it, so that the relationship between the two tribes in southern Gaul became more intimate.

After more than 10 years of recuperation, the strength of the Senones should have recovered a lot, so in recent years, they have begun to intensify their invasion of Etruria. A single Senonese invasion didn't worry Assistes, but if the more powerful Salveans joined in, it would have to attract the attention of the kingdom.

"I believe that tomorrow we will have more news about the Gauls, which will be more conducive to our countermeasures. But what I'm worried about now is that there are so many invading Gauls, and the Frontier Legion under Lord Hasdruba...... Will you be able to hold on to the barracks until our reinforcements arrive? Assistes said with some concern, and there was something he didn't say in his heart: Hasdrubal was a relative of His Majesty, and the fact that he was able to directly serve as the commander of the legion as a newly surrendered Carthaginian showed that King Davos attached great importance to him, and if he was killed in this Gaul invasion, he was afraid that it would attract the wrath of King Davers.

"Don't worry, my lord, the three barracks to the north are as strong as fortresses, and the defenses are as good as those of Palagonia. And as far as I know, the Gauls are not very capable of attacking cities, even if they have a large number of warriors, it will not be easy to break through the barracks, and the commander of the Hasdruba army will be able to hold out until our reinforcements arrive! Patroclus said confidently.

"I hope so, but we also need to hurry up and send troops, the Fourteenth Legion and the Roman Reserve Soldiers are gathered, how many people can there be?" Assistes asked earnestly.

"33,250." Patroclus immediately said a number.

More than 33,000 people are enough to form 4 legions, which is indeed a staggering number for a region that has not been incorporated into the Kingdom of Dioonia for a long time, but the Roman region (especially Rome) had a large population of young and middle-aged people when it was converted to the kingdom, and at that time it was easy to form an army of tens of thousands (Roman reserve brigade and Roman noble soldiers) to follow the main force of the Dionian army. Citizens of the kingdom who are still just coming of age are given priority in this area, so the Roman region has been the fastest growing area in the entire kingdom in recent years.

As the governor of the region, Assistes was not surprised, and he said in a deep voice: "If the allies are fully supportive, about 50,000 or 60,000 people will come, and even if half of them come, there will be 20,000 or 30,000 people, plus our own army, I think it is possible to ...... Repelling the invading Gauls was the goal of the Dioonian League in central Italy. ”