A messenger arrives and hands a letter to the emperor. It bears the seal of the Consul Titus Aurelius Constantinus Felix.
See more about the capture of Lugdunum in my Gallic theatre thread either tonight or tommorow!Ave Augustus,
I bring you today news both good and bad. I will start with the good. Rome has reclaimed two of her cities from the insidious usurper's armies. Lugdunum and Narbo have both fallen to our triumphant legions!
Lugdunum wasn't much of a battle, however. In fact, there was no battle. It seemed when we arrived that the city was dead; the citizens were locked away in their homes, terrified of the stories they had heard of the sack of Arelate, and the garrison had fled the city. We cautiously entered the open gates of the city and were greeted with garbage strewn streets and broken monuments of past glories. It seems without their leader the ruling class of the Constantinii are fracturing, unable to control their territory. This may bode well for our cause, but they are not done yet, as I will show you later.
I ordered my men to occupy the city and commit no barbarism against the inhabitants. They raised no resistance against us, and were merely defenseless bystanders in this conflict. Hopefully without a sack this town will grow into a bigger economic center in the future.
In the south, my cavalry legion assaulted the city of Narbo. This would be a hard fought battle, as the mainly heavy cavalry and lancarii legion was ill-suited to siege warfare.
The battle lines were drawn on the easternmost point of the town. The onagers bombarded the walls for a few hours, making short work of the brick defenses and wooden gates, and finally my field comes ordered the assault.
Thus began the battle in earnest. The Lancarii met stiff resistance from limantei inside the walls of the city while the heavy cavalry poured into the city from undefended breaches in the walls. It would be their job to hunt down the rebel heavy cavalry, which was present in force.
The battle at the walls took many lives as the Lancarii were out manuvered by the nimble milites they were pitted against. Eventually, however, their heavy armour, extensive training and experience won the day and the milites were pushed back to the city square.
At the same time, the cities prefect, Quartinus, led his heavy cavalry and archer battalions against the Roman cavalry snaking its way through the cities twisted roadways. The cavalry clash ensued for most of the battle, but eventually the rebel leader was killed and in the usual form the cowardly rebels fled the field. However they did not flee before the Roman cavalry destroyed a great deal of them.
Eventually the battle came down to the city square, where the beleaguered defenders for Narbo made their last pathetic attempts at a defense. They were surrounded on all sides by Lancarii and Cavalry, and not a man was spared.
It was not a heroic or total victory by any means, but it won us a town and destroyed a rebel field army, in which we can take solace.
This town was not spared. The men of military age were lined up in the city square, and every tenth man was executed. I do not approve in this method of intimidation, but I did not receive the report in time to countermand it. I would however like to note that a great deal of money was made by the sack, and it has lowered our national debt by a few thousand denarii.
Now to the bad news.
This is a map of our Gallic diocese. As you can see, in the north the remnant Constantinii are massing a massive counterattack against us. I can hold them off, but I fear that if I loose too many men I will be left at the mercy of the rebels. I would also like to make note of the rogue general Gerontius and his army of rebel Roman veterans immediately north of Lugundum. I will treat this man as a hostile until he makes his intentions plain.
Dominus, I would not presume to beg reinforcement from the Italian theater where they are most needed, but I feel that I must be reinforced soon. Therefore I have come up with a plan that I feel may be ill accepted by the court but nevertheless necessary to our continued survival.
I suggest that we evacuate Hispania for the time being.
These soldiers could help us finally bring this war in Gaul to a close, and leaving the Vandals to their own designs may get them off of our backs for a while. This will also give us only a single point to defend against the vandals, Maurentania, as the Basques are still in rebellion and pose a considerable obstacle for them.
I know this plan may be seen by some as cowardice or even treason, but I must insist that this is the right way. If we take Gaul again we will be able to fund a new expedition into Hispania. As it stands now the province is nothing but a drain on our economy and our manpower. Evacuating it can save us the upkeep of the cities and the constant crush of the vandals for some time, and win us our Gallic diocese, and it is a risk that I feel we must take.
Yours reverently
Consul and Magister Militum,
Titus Aurelius Constantinus Felix
EDIT: I cut off the Constantinii stacks in the north. They have one full stack and another that is about 3/4ths full.