ancient greece mediterranean ruler

Chapter 408 The first battle with Syracuse ([-])

By dusk, the leading troops of Syracuse actually arrived at the city of Hibernian. They traveled more than 100 miles from Locri via Medema to Hibernian. Dionysius's army used more than To be able to complete this section of the journey during a forced march in one day was considered to be quite a miracle.

The commotion caused by the successive arrival of the Syracuse army naturally alarmed Trina's spies who had been closely watching the movements of Hibernian during this period. They quickly returned to Ramato, more than 50 miles away from Hibernian. The city of Trina on the north bank of the river.

The army of Syracuse is coming! ! !
This shocking news shocked the entire city of Trina. Both ordinary people and members of the council were panicked. They never expected that the Syracuseans approached Trina on the third day after landing.

According to the original plan formulated by the South Italian Alliance, Crotone's troops, the most important main force defending the Ramato River, were far from arriving, and Siliting only sent a few thousand citizen soldiers to garrison the Ramato River. Upstream, the entire Ramato River defense line has not been established at all, and it can be said to be riddled with holes.If the Syracusans attacked tomorrow, they would easily break through the Ramato River and enter the Euphemia plain, and Trina would be the first to suffer the ravages of war.

The situation was urgent, and the Trina Council had no time to argue. They made a quick decision under the leadership of Chief General Sipulos, who was elected last year: First, send people to Crotone immediately to urge them to dispatch as quickly as possible. The main force rushed to the Ramato River; secondly, sent people to Xiliting immediately and asked it to go all out to defend the Ramato River; thirdly, sent people to Knapetia immediately to attack Dionysius. Asia asks for help; fourth, send people to Corunnia immediately and ask Dionia’s fourth and fifth legions to divide their troops to rescue...

For Sipros, who has always admired Dionia, he trusts the well-trained Dionia's legion troops more than the procrastinating citizen soldiers in Siritin and Crotone, so Trina adopted Half of the emergency measures are related to Dionia.

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On this day, soldiers outside the Dionian camp in Corunnia continued to work hard to improve the defense. However, with the rapid return of the scouts, the camp's warning horn was sounded.The soldiers immediately carried pickaxes, shovels, wooden baskets and other equipment, quickly returned to the camp, and closed the camp gate.

"The people of Syracuse have finally attacked!" Dracos excitedly put on his armor with the help of the guards and asked the adjutant: "What instructions does Felicius have?"

"Let us defend ourselves," the adjutant replied.

"Quite sensible!" Dracos muttered a few times, put on the purple crowned helmet symbolizing the identity of the legion leader, and fastened the ear protection on his cheeks: "Let's go and see how powerful Syracuse is!"

The Fourth and Fifth Legions of Dionia actually built two camps, with the Fourth Army on the west side and the Fifth Army on the east side, connected by a corridor in the middle.

Therefore, for the convenience of command, the Syracuse-Locri coalition also divided the army into two parts. The Syracuse army led by Fasipesas attacked the east camp, and Locri general Theopantos led the army to attack the west camp. .

Due to the rush of time, the Syracusans did not build a siege tower and did not even prepare many ladders. However, Theopantus still had the confidence to turn the temptation into a strong attack in return for his victory in Croto a few years ago. The shame of being forced to retreat by the Dionian army without fighting in the inner territory.

The 500-strong Locri attacking force moved forward slowly under the leadership of the rhythmic sound of copper trumpets. When they approached about [-] meters from the Dionysian camp, Diopantos raised his arms and the sound of the trumpets stopped. The army stopped moving forward one after another, and the array became uneven.

"Push the ballista!" Theopantus ordered loudly.Yes, his strength was the siege weapon brought by the Syracuseans-the ballistae.

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The Dionian Army had a busy day yesterday. They only dug trenches and built earthen forts and wooden fences. They did not have time to dig traps outside the camp. They did not even arrange the deer camp. The engineers and craftsmen of the engineering camp also We are racing against time to build the watchtower.

When the first watchtower was built, Felixius and Epithenes immediately climbed up the watchtower and looked out, just in time to see the Locris pushing a dozen ballistas out of the team.

Epithenes was not surprised at all, because there were ten ballistae that were one size smaller than the Syracuse ballistae placed neatly in the camp just below the guard tower.He frowned slightly, pointed forward, turned around and asked the young man who was on the watchtower with them: "Kuldorod, do you think our ballistae can destroy them?"

Kurdorod comes from the Mathematics Academy of Dionia Academy. According to the provisions of the "Dionia Military Law" newly revised in the past two years: each legion must be equipped with ten ballistas when going out, and the observer There must be outstanding students from Dionia Academy, because they can quickly calculate the appropriate landing point based on the parabolic equation to improve the accuracy of its launch.

Although Kuldorod has participated in military training many times, this is his first time on the battlefield.Looking at the densely packed enemies in the distance, he felt a little nervous: "It's too...too far, I'm afraid it's...difficult."

Felicius patted him on the shoulder kindly and comforted him: "Relax, young man. It is normal to feel nervous when you go to the battlefield for the first time. Don't worry, no matter how many enemies come, our brave legionnaires will Drive them away."

Coldorod nodded, he swallowed, looked forward again, and then he mustered up the courage to say: "I...I suggest that the enemy should be closer, so that the power of our crossbows can be fully exerted. .”

"It's just as I thought!" Epithenes praised, while seriously looking at the handsome young man, with a strange light shining in his eyes: "You are very good, young man."

Felicius coughed a few times when he saw this.

At this time, the messenger of the Fifth Army rushed to the sentry tower: "Sir Commander, Commander Dracos requested that the enemy wait until they are within 200 meters before firing the ballistae, so as not to scare them away."

"200 meters?!" Epithenis shrugged: "This Dracos is really greedy!"

"He thinks the same as us!" Felicius laughed.

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As the captain of the team, Ephialt and his teammates stood behind the earthen barrier and watched the huge stone bullets whizzing from the front of the enemy's formation and hitting the front of the camp, making a loud noise and raising a layer of dust. They did not show much uneasiness, because in their usual military training, they did not know how many times they had practiced with the ballista units, and they were quite familiar with this amazing long-range weapon, so despite the momentum caused by the enemy's ballista outside the camp, Surprisingly, the soldiers were still in the mood to joke.

They asked Ephialt about the details of attending the Hera celebration, and were envious of the special experience that the newlyweds enjoyed at the celebration. They all said that they must go to Thurii to attend the Hera celebration when they get married.

As the enemy array gradually approached, the ballistae pushed forward, and the impact point also continued to move forward.

When stone bullets fell from the sky, hit the front of the camp and fell into the trench, the legion commanders issued instructions one after another: "Hold against the wall and take cover!"

Just when Efialt was leading his teammates to rely on the earthen barrier and lie down, Coldorod's voice came from the sentry tower: "250 meters!"

"No rush, no rush." ​​Epithenis crossed his arms and patted his shoulders, trying his best to suppress his excitement.

"Bang!" A stone bullet hit the wooden fence, and broken wood chips fell on the heavily armed soldiers without causing any harm.

"Hoo!" Several more stone bullets roared, passed over the wooden fence, and fell into the camp, smashing several tents, but there were several mournful cries and laughter.

Coldorod stared at the ground in front of him on the sentry tower.Yesterday, while the soldiers stepped up their efforts to build the camp, the ballistae team was also busy. They mapped the ground outside the camp and left some marks. These marks may be a transplanted weed or a strange patch of grass. A rock, a stick inserted at an angle...

"200 meters!" Coldorod shouted excitedly.

"It's ready to launch." Epithenis waved his hand.

"Elevation angle 30 degrees, medium-sized stone bullets, full string!" Coldorod quickly reported the data.

The ballista captain, who had been listening attentively for a long time, immediately repeated Kurdorod's words loudly. The soldiers quickly turned the pulley, pulled out the bow string, hooked it with an iron hook, and then put about 6 kilograms of stone bullets into the smooth bore (after several years) For further research and improvement of ballistae, Dionia's ballistae is divided into two types. One is the siege ballistae, which is large in size and fires stone projectiles weighing more than 20 kilograms. The target of attack is mainly the city wall. , buildings, etc. The other is the defensive ballista, which is small in size, light in weight, and accurate. It can be carried by two or three people. The stone projectiles fired weigh three kilograms to ten kilograms. The target is the army and siege equipment) .

Since it is not a battle, the enemy's formation is relatively loose, but the team of 2 people still appears dense, so the good opportunity in the first round of attack must be seized.To this end, Cooldorad first set the impact point of the ballista at the center of the enemy's formation.

"Fire!" Captain Ballista waved his right arm vigorously.

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Theopantos felt happy in his heart as he watched the stone bullets whizzing into the Dionia camp.

At the beginning of the army's movement to the enemy camp within 500 meters, he was worried about being attacked by the Dionian slingers, because he heard that most of the Dionian slingers came from Rhode Island, and the flying stones could be thrown far and wide. allow.But when the troops advanced to 300 meters away from the enemy camp, the Dionysians still did not respond, and he was completely relieved.

(End of this chapter)