With the arrival of spring, the civil war in Italy resumed.
The legions of Pompey and Lucullus advanced throughout Italy and besieged any city that offered resistance to the new regime.
Sulla intended to become dictator for life after the civil war, and it was necessary to take advantage of the civil war to purge his political enemies and possible opponents.
A large number of refugees and noble enemies of Sulla sought refuge in the city of Praeneste.
With the fall of the city of Rome and the disastrous defeat of the populist faction led by the former consuls Carbo and Norbanus, the victory of the civil war tilted toward Sulla's faction.
Large and small Roman cities surrendered upon seeing the legions of Lucullus and Pompey approach, in order to avoid a fierce siege.
Pompey also carried out massacres in the cities that resisted.
In his youth, Pompey was ruthless and cruel, showing no mercy in killing, which earned him considerable criticism; he certainly was not the saintly figure he became when he suppressed the pirates in the Mediterranean.
Pompey's newly recruited legions lacked the discipline of the clone army and were more disorganized when dealing with the families of enemy nobles. Women and children were not spared from the savagery of Pompey's legionaries.
The legions were composed of citizens from the lower classes, who often unleashed their darkest side against nobles or merchants and their families.
On the other hand, Lucullus's legions advanced with relative stability without Pompey's competitive approach.
Lucullus's army, following Sulla's orders, carried out large and small purges in the cities they conquered.
The Roman civil war brought hundreds of tragedies to both the lower and upper classes of Rome.
Region of Campania.
The entire territory of the Campania region is basically divided into open fertile plains and mountainous edges that enclosed it like a kind of basin.
The mountainous area had irregular, forested, and broken terrain with narrow passes. The routes were also more difficult and were ideal for ambushes and wars of attrition.
On a narrow path, a large army advanced slowly along the irregular mountain road; their armor was of different quality, and the symbols on their shields were different and varied in small details among the soldiers.
They were the Samnites!
The Samnite people were considered a barbarian army by the Romans, but years of interaction and mutual self-learning turned the Samnite army into a military force comparable to the regular Roman army.
The Samnites, in particular, had been direct rivals of Rome for centuries in the Samnite Wars, which led to strong mutual influence.
The most classic example of mutual self-learning between Samnites and Romans is the use of javelins in the Roman army.
Rome adopted the use of javelins (pilum) mainly through its contact and confrontations with Italic peoples such as the Samnites during the Samnite Wars, since these weapons caused great trouble for the Roman army due to their decisive tactical advantage: allowing them to disrupt the Roman army before close combat; when thrown, they not only caused casualties, but their tips bent upon impact, rendering classic Roman shields unusable and forcing the legionary to fight at a disadvantage, which led Rome to systematically integrate them into the structure of the legion due to their proven effectiveness in combat.
A middle-aged general, mounted on a brown horse, was observing the army moving along the mountain road.
The general was named Pontius Telesinus and was the supreme military leader of the Samnite army.
Another general approached from behind and greeted him humbly while reporting.
"General Pontius, our Lucanian allies will catch up with us within a day," said the adjutant general with a servile expression.
The commander was named Gaius Papius Mutilus and was Pontius's adjutant in charge of coordinating the important tasks of the army.
"Order the soldiers to reduce their pace, we must join with the Lucanian army before entering the plain of the Campania region," said Pontius Telesinus seriously.
In the original history, the Samnite and Lucanian army advanced in a disorganized manner until reaching the vicinity of the city of Capua, where they finally formed a united army heading toward Rome.
Due to the butterfly effect of Septimus, the more organized and numerous Samnite tribes grouped together to form six legions before entering the region of Campania.
Pontius Telesinus frowned at the imminent war. He did not want the lives of thousands of young Samnites of the tribe to be wasted.
In fact, Pontius had secretly sent people to negotiate with Sulla some time ago. If General Sulla accepted the conditions offered before the war by Cinna, the Samnites would remain neutral.
Unfortunately, Sulla refused, leaving him with no other option.
"Transmit my order: the army will regroup with the Lucanian allies, and together we will attack the city of Capua," ordered Pontius.
Having given the orders, Pontius did not forget to inform his allies, the Lucanians, to accelerate their march; there was no longer room for hesitation.
The six Samnite legions advanced slowly along the irregular road toward the region of Campania. Due to Septimus's reputation and while waiting for the allied Lucanian army, the entire march was slow and cautious.
As they passed through a mountain pass, looking at the dense forests on both sides,
Pontius frowned. "Have the scouts already observed the area?"
"The mountain road toward the region of Campania is completely safe, the scouts have verified it multiple times," replied a lieutenant.
Pontius nodded without asking further questions; the Samnites had a mobility advantage in mountainous areas, and the scouts were the best among all Samnite soldiers.
The slow march of the army caused the scouts to have enough time to verify the road and discover possible ambushes.
The Samnite army stopped every few kilometers to rest.
Although the advance was slow due to the dense summer vegetation and thick undergrowth, the Samnite soldiers could only make their way with their weapons.
The Samnite legionaries found a shaded place to rest, drink water, and eat dry rations; the heat was unbearable.
The reconnaissance soldiers, on the other hand, maintained a cautious attitude after covering such a long distance and having to push through mosquito bites and itching.
The Samnite scouts were true experts in mountainous terrain.
A dozen Samnite scouts advanced slowly along the rocky path.
Thirty meters from the scouts, a camouflaged clone soldier hid silently while observing the Samnite reconnaissance soldiers.
The clone's camouflage was well crafted, and not even the most experienced Samnite scouts could notice the hidden clone.
The interference of the Samnite and Lucanian tribes in the Roman civil war was a historical event described in the history books of the modern era.
Septimus had long known that the Samnites and the Lucanians would ally to form a large army and advance through the region of Campania from the city of Capua toward the city of Rome.
The region of Campania was very vast, and the mountainous terrain surrounding it had deceptive paths that were only known by the few people who lived nearby or by experienced hunters of the area.
The clones were deployed in small groups around known paths with the intention of alerting and preparing the clone army in advance for a possible attack by the Samnite and Lucanian tribes on the region of Campania.
Septimus's idea was simple and consisted of taking advantage of the special connection with the clones and hiding scout clones on mountain paths that could be used by large enemy armies.
The shared connection among all the clones was a great advantage that eliminated the need to send messages or report.
It was only necessary for one clone to discover the location of the enemy army for all the clones to know the news.