Imperator: Resurrection of an Empire

"While we could break the siege and storm their camps killing a great many of them, this would not end the war, the survivors would break camp scattering like roaches back to their homes, and in doing so embolden the defense of Athenia meaning we'd need to march on and in doing so deal with the fact that their men had infact managed to escape the grasp of Romanus, but if we hold them here, hold them long enough to break this armies morale first, before our reinforcements arrive where we'll have the numbers capable of encircling the enemy and with their utter destruction not only will the Greecians have lost a great armed force, their people back at home will also learn of the cost associated with standing against Romanus."

"So then your Majesty, we fight to the last here to ensure that we need not fight here anymore?"

Haddin seemed to be understanding Julius's reasoning.

"Precisely General, we've lost enough in this war already if the Athenian senate would only realize their folly we could have sued for peace weeks ago, but the corrupt politicians still believe they can turn the tide once more in their favour, if Romanus fell here, the legend of our invincibility would be broken, and our new neighbors would likely attack in our state of weakness, Athenia meanwhile would instead march on with their reserve force quick to capture all lost territories and in doing to bring back a unified Greecia, one that could stand on the continent as a powerful force in the years to come after recovering from this war."

"That is something we would want to prevent for certain, your majesty."

"We shall kill them to the last man!"

"Now, the scouts the report stated the Auxilary force had turned away from coming to our aid, any thoughts on why this is?"

"The only thought we have would be that they received request for aid from another source, or that they found a fight of their own perhaps the second army reported having been headed towards the first legion?"

With our war council finishing up there was not much else to do, as the defenders and outnumbers the options of what we could do was limited.

So the day passed as we maintained a rigorous mindset keeping a vigilant eye on the Greecian camps to make sure they weren't going to try anything, but It seems they received the same new that we had as the Greecians looked to be digging in for the long siege keeping us trapped in this place.

Our provisions were far from Lax so taking a vacation here wasn't opposed though there was that nagging thought in the back of my mind that I didn't know how things were going with the first legion, or even the auxiliary army.

If either of these forces were to fall allowing the second Greecian levy army to reinforce the current opposing army the fall of this hill was almost absolute as a single legion realistically could not stand against a half million men, even with high discipline and training plus tactics the men are just that... only men, fighting hours and hours, day in and day out would cause mistakes to happen and formations to break while the enemy could just change their formation daily to have those 'resting' reside in the rear of the ranks to still project power, and raise their own morale by seeing the strength of their numbers even if their opponents lesser number is superior in quality.

And so as aggravated as it was the days passed in relative peace.

The Romanus forces maintained their fortress on the hill, while the Greecians kept digging in, creating a proper siege camp preventing assault or even retreat from the hill, the only regular combat actions undertaken by either side was the subversion attempts, with only Romanus scoring victories in this regard.

Their ability to slip through the darkness of the night and sow discord amonst the greater Greecian camp gnawed at the psyche of their forces such that by the end of the second week, most of the men in the camp were jumping at the shadows themselves as they moved due to the flickering of candle light.

Julius meanwhile kept himself entertained playing games with his senior staff all to stave off the lingering doubts about the campaign and keep their minds loose and anxiety free.

The soldiers meanwhile had taken to the pasttime of repeating Julius's song from the initial defence, some even taking the words and converting it into their own.

Like sailors on a ship the men occupying the hillock sang shanty after shanty their revelrie and unwavering morale confusing the attacking force, as if they were in their position they would have encountered mass desertion, and possibly even riots within the camp against the leaders who led them to such a precarious position.

Julius also kept a close eye on the situation back home, unable to see what was going on in territory not owned by Romanus he could not see the state of the war in Greecia, the homefront was looking really good as The Eternal City continued to grow day by day, and the number of visiting merchants also increased further boosting the economy of the new Kingdom.

The values of his people was also high across the board showing, great respect and loyalty for Julius their king and saviour.

Still some bad eggs kept trying to slip through the borders but with their new patrol patterns being unorthodox and constantly changing these spies were quickly arrested and questioned.

Along the northern border The Visigoth Empire remained silent... well at least against Romanus itself, his map had yet to update itself world wide, only doing so when he was within the palace, and so Julius was unaware of the development of international disputes.

Were he aware of these Julius surely would be spending money and sacrificing loyalty to rush the completion of new legions, legions that could further secure his Western borders, as the Visigoth Empire's imperial forces continued to wage war on the neighboring countries of the fallen Herald Kingdom.