The setting sun gradually descended, leaving behind its last rays.
Golden sunlight poured down, reflecting shimmering hills, painting magnificent fields, and illuminating tranquil lakes—this was the picturesque scenery of Umbria.
Lorenzo stumbled back a few steps, almost falling; even if he had tens of thousands of conscripts, it was impossible for them to appear all at once.
And for them to appear behind him at this moment, there was only one possibility: the Papal States' frontline troops had returned to defend!
"Did you see whose troops they are? How far are they from our army?" Lorenzo asked with a trembling voice.
"I didn't see clearly; they have cavalry, and getting closer would make it difficult to escape, so I immediately returned to report after spotting them.
They are only a few kilometers from our army's rearmost unit."
"Damn it! Our uprising was so sudden, how could they have gotten the news so quickly? It's only been one day, and the frontline troops are already behind us!
Could this have been Augustus's conspiracy from the very beginning?"
Lorenzo felt a chill run down his spine; he had no idea how much intelligence Augustus had on him, and he involuntarily turned his gaze to Lorenzo, who had been the most vocal in supporting him at the time.
Lorenzo suddenly met Lorenzo's suspicious gaze and immediately straightened his back in surprise, but he was equally bewildered, muttering, "Yes, this is too strange!
Even if we had sent a direct message to inform them when we started the uprising, it wouldn't have been this fast!"
"Sending a message?" Lorenzo slapped his head, suddenly enlightened, "Yes, sending a message!
We sent a message to Claudio, asking him to cooperate with our actions; it must be that damned Claudio who betrayed us!
It was I who promoted him to such a position, it was I! I will make him pay the price!"
"General, now is not the time to think about these things; we have blockades ahead and pursuers behind, let's first think about how to escape our current predicament!"
"Alright, issue my order; I want to gather the officers to discuss countermeasures!" Anger restored Lorenzo's courage.
"Absolutely not!" Lorenzo quickly advised, "Although these people under our command seem to be in the same boat, they are actually not united in spirit.
After a day and a night of arduous marching, the morale of the army and the emotions of some of the generals themselves are very unstable.
If they know our true situation now, it's hard to guarantee that some uncontrollable incidents won't happen.
So now, we can only make decisions ourselves!"
Lorenzo was displeased that Lorenzo publicly refuted him, but he also felt there was some truth to it; even Claudio, whom he had personally promoted, could betray him, so it was even harder to rely on his current generals.
After some thought, Lorenzo roughly had an idea: "In the current situation, turning around to face the enemy is definitely a dead end.
The equipment and training of the frontline army are far superior to ours, not to mention their huge numerical advantage over us.
So our only breakthrough is Augustus ahead.
The main force Augustus has should not be stronger than ours, and the number of people is not very large.
Although their overall strength should still be stronger than ours, as long as we fight to the death and kidnap Augustus, it is not without a glimmer of hope!"
Lorenzo couldn't help but roll his eyes and advised helplessly, "General, if I may be frank.
Since Augustus already knows about our uprising, he could simply mobilize surrounding soldiers to defend Rome and wait for reinforcements.
Why would he personally lead an army out of the city to confront us? I think he also has full confidence."
"Perhaps he has other concerns and doesn't want to fight in Rome?
Augustus's ideas are always chaotic, and it's not necessarily that he has full confidence.
On the battlefield, there aren't that many foolproof things." To persuade Lorenzo and himself, Lorenzo could only guess in a positive direction.
Lorenzo was unmoved and continued to earnestly persuade, "Augustus has at least two regiments of the National Defense Force that we know of.
With just these three to four thousand men, we can barely take them down, and it's completely impossible in a short time, not to mention the several thousand others.
If Augustus promises our generals here that as long as they lay down their weapons, they won't be held accountable for the rebellion, where would our will to fight be?
Fighting such a battle is also just sending ourselves to our deaths!"
"Then what do you suggest we do!" With his last illusion shattered, Lorenzo said impatiently.
"At this point, we have no chance of turning the tide; we can only leave our banners and main force to hold their ground and delay Augustus, while we, with our personal guards, break away from the main force and advance south to Naples, seeking asylum from Spain, and then plan our next move.
Many great powers, including Spain, cannot possibly be happy to see the Papal States annex Venice, and Augustus as Pope is not what they want.
We might be able to seek support from these great powers and fight our way back."
Lorenzo had a relatively accurate judgment of the situation and showed astonishing decisiveness at this moment, but in Lorenzo's eyes, such an approach was completely unacceptable.
"Are you crazy! Our family's property, and so many of our clansmen, including my daughter, your wife, and the connections we've cultivated for so many years, are all in the Papal States.
If we just hide abroad like this, what will happen to them! And if we escape to Naples with nothing, won't we just be used as bargaining chips by Spain for their own interests!"
"As long as we are still alive, Augustus, considering international influence, will not arbitrarily deal with our clansmen.
However, if we truly all die here, then they will truly be at the mercy of others.
Our property will be confiscated, but there's nothing we can do about that.
The connections we've cultivated over the years will still be useful when we fight our way back.
As for how to seek asylum from Spain and gain their support, these are all matters for later; in short, we must first escape!
If we all die here, everything is over! We cannot hesitate any longer; if we do, it will be too late!"
Lorenzo was on the verge of collapse from trying to persuade him; at a critical moment of life and death, Lorenzo seemed unable to see the situation clearly and remained indecisive.
Finally, Lorenzo stopped hesitating, but it was not the kind of non-hesitation Lorenzo hoped for: "No! We still have tens of thousands of conscripts, and various nobles from different regions will rise up in response to us.
They may be on their way to support us, having discovered the change in situation.
How difficult it was for us to achieve all of this; it is the fruit of most of my life's efforts!
If we just abandon the main force and flee like this, these forces will never be used by us again!"
"But what else can we do if we don't flee? There is no chance of victory in this battle; let alone the fact that reinforcements cannot possibly arrive, even if they all came, do you think we could stand against tens of thousands of regular troops?"
"We don't necessarily have to defeat the enemy.
At that time, I will personally lead Augustus to the front of the formation, and then the entire army will charge with only one goal: to capture Augustus alive!
As long as Augustus is captured alive, the initiative will return to our hands, and then all Papal States troops will not dare to act rashly, and even Rome will have no choice but to let us enter the city!
This is our last chance; we will not have a next one!"
"Is that possible?"
"It's possible!" Lorenzo was very confident.