was not entirely stable. Caesar suggests in his writing that Aeudui leaders were both bribed with gold and sent misinformation by emissaries of Vercingetorix. Caesar had agreed with the Aedui that 10,000 men would protect his line of supplies. Vercingetorix convinced the chief, Convictolitavis, who had been made chief of the tribe by Caesar, to order the same men to join him upon their arrival at the oppidum. They attacked the Romans who were accompanying their supply train, leaving Caesar in an embarrassing position. His rations threatened, Caesar took four legions from the siege, surrounded the Aedui army, and defeated it. The pro-Roman faction retook control of the Aedui leadership, and Caesar returned to Gergovia with 10,000 pro-Roman Aedui horsemen. The two legions that he had left to continue the siege had been hard-pressed to keep Vercingetorix's much larger force at bay. Caesar realized that his siege would fail unless he could get Vercingetorix off the high ground. He used one legion as a decoy while the rest moved onto better ground, capturing three Gallic camps in the process. He then ordered a general retreat to lure Vercingetorix off the high ground. However, the order was not heard by most of Caesar's force. Instead, spurred on by the ease with which they captured the camps, they pressed on toward the town and mounted a direct assault on it, exhausting themselves. The Romans were largely unable to escalade over the walls of Gergovia, lacking ladders. The Aedui arrived to support the Romans; however the Romans mistook them for enemies at first, proceeding to attack them. Caesar could do little more than cover the retreat. The noise of the assault alerted Vercingetorix, who arrived and saw the Roman and Aedui in dissension just beneath the walls of Gergovia. Vercingetorix then led a cavalry charge that crushed the Roman lines. Then the warriors left their horses and joined the infantry in their fight against the Romans, who soon had suffered heavy casualties. Caesar's work records 46 centurions and 700 legionaries as losses. Modern historians are skeptical; the depiction of the battle as a rout, and one where there were 20,000-40,000 allied Roman soldiers deployed, leads to suspicion that Caesar was downplaying the casualty figures, even if his figures were excluding losses among allied auxiliaries. Aftermath Given his losses, Caesar ordered a retreat. In the wake of the battle, Caesar lifted his siege and