ancient greece mediterranean ruler

Chapter 453 Siege of Crotone ([-])
Thinking of this, he took a deep breath to calm down, and after a quick calculation in his mind, he said in a deep voice: "The elevation angle remains unchanged, the gun body is deflected one degree to the left, the range is reduced by one, and the original live ammunition weight is used. "

The gunner immediately followed suit.

"emission!"

The stone bullets whizzed away, and then one after another stone bullets flew out of the city...

But more stone bullets flew in from outside the city, and the sound of "Boom! Boom! Boom!..." was mixed with exclamations and screams.One of the stone bullets landed near the ballista where Kuldorod was sitting, and the stone fragments flew everywhere with an alarming sound.Kurdorode was unmoved. After this period of training, he was no longer a scholar who had just left the academy (the nickname given to him by legionnaires), but a qualified soldier.

The siege tower of Syracuse is far from comparable to the siege tower used by Dionia when it conquered Knapetia before. It is 20 meters long, ten meters wide, and 12 meters high, with a shape of Trapezoidal, with seven floors.The topmost layer is a ring-shaped wooden disc, with five archers inside, who can shoot arrows at the top of the city from a high position; the bottom layer also has a siege ram, which can directly hit the city wall; the penultimate layer is almost as high as the city wall. The suspension bridge can be lowered to allow the soldiers entering the tower to rush to the top of the city; and the third to last floor is slightly lower than the top of the city, and there is another terrible weapon invented by the Syracuseans - the abdominal bow... Therefore , This is a super siege tower that requires hundreds of people to push it hard behind and on both sides of the tower.

Dionia's stone bullets kept falling around it, splashing mud flowers one after another, splashing mud mixed with rain and hitting people, causing pain.The death of those who were hit by stone bullets was even more horrific, scaring the surrounding soldiers into hiding.With the city surrounded by advancing siege soldiers, only a large area of ​​​​space was left near the siege tower.

Of course, the commanding officer of this siege tower also felt a bit of danger. He urged the laborers behind the tower to push the siege tower forward faster. As long as they reached the city wall, nothing could threaten the siege tower.

At this time, the outer planks of the third-to-last floor of the siege tower had been opened, and the two belly bows were revealed. Its structure was similar to a ballista, except that the device used for firing was a huge bow laid flat. Fixed on launcher.The operator turned the pulley vigorously, pulled and fixed the thick bow string, and then inserted an equally huge iron arrow.

A distance of 30 meters is a good aim for the belly bow. The belly archer on the right even aimed the iron arrow at the general with a colorful tassel on the top of the helmet on the top of the city.

"Hoo!!..." Accompanied by the huge sound of the bowstring, the iron arrow flashed with a scream and rushed to the top of the city.

When Askamas "opened the window" in the siege tower, his years of battlefield experience made him feel uneasy, so he subconsciously sat down on the battlement, and heard two miserable screams behind him The soldier wearing the round shield to block the bow and arrow attack from the earth barrier and the siege tower was pierced through the chest by the iron arrow, and the powerful kinetic energy also pierced through the soldiers behind him at the same time, and finally nailed to the wall behind him, while another iron arrow pierced his chest at once. The three people were shot through, and the surrounding soldiers, including Askamas, all showed panic when they saw this.

The giant siege tower of Syracuse, which played a key role in the capture of the Carthaginian town of Mortea in Sicily, revealed its ferocious face. Like a giant beast, it opened its teeth and claws, slowly approaching the city wall, getting closer and closer. , getting closer and closer, the soldiers defending the city were panicked and at a loss...

At this critical moment, a black spot flew across the top of the city wall like a meteor, hitting the arrow tower on the top of the siege tower with strong kinetic energy. There was only a "bang!" sound, and the hard and thick wooden board was easily blown away. A hole was opened, and the flying wood chips pierced the faces and bodies of the Syracuse archers in the archery tower like steel needles, causing them to scream in agony.But it was not over yet. The stone bullets that fell into the tower followed the wooden ladder and landed on the feet of a soldier who was winding his abdominal bow on the third floor from the bottom of the siege tower. He screamed, causing other soldiers to panic. Delayed the firing of abdominal bow.

"Hit! Hit! Our crossbow hit!!..." The defenders cheered, as if they had won the entire victory, using such actions to dispel the fear in their hearts.

Astamas sighed in his heart: Compared with the huge siege tower, the ballista's stone bullets were just a drop in the bucket, not enough to cause much damage to it.

Askamas had just finished sighing when he saw stone bullets flying one after another and hitting the siege tower.

Just as the soldiers lamented the missed hit, and some even began to pray to Apollo, their prayers seemed to have an effect.

A stone bullet flew from the side and hit the side of the middle part of the siege tower, causing the enemy to scream.

Then another stone bullet flew unbiasedly into the floor where the baffle was being opened and the belly bow was ready to be launched. The belly bow responded with a crisp sound, and various parts and sawdust were flying around in the narrow space. What was heard was the screams of the soldiers and the splatter of blood.

Then another stone bomb penetrated the lower part of the siege tower.

Despite the constant cheers from the soldiers defending the city, the siege tower, which had been pierced with several large holes by stone bullets, was still slowly approaching the city wall. The laborers who struggled to push it fled in panic, and the siege tower began to collapse from top to bottom...

On the earthen fortress outside the city, Dionysius looked at this scene with a livid face. He knew that although under his own supervision, Fasipesas gathered nearly ten thousand people and stepped up the construction project under the command of engineers. Three towers were built within a few days, but the rush of time made the siege towers not very strong. The violent impact of stone bullets must have destroyed the internal structure of the siege towers...

"My lord, look! That engineering tower has crossed the moat!" Damocles shouted excitedly to divert Dionysius' attention.

"Our battering ram has reached the city walls. I think the city walls of Crotone will tremble under its impact!" Another subordinate said not to be outdone.

Indeed, the walls of Crotone were so infested with Syracuse soldiers that they attracted most of the defenders' attacks, leaving the siege towers, battering rams, and battering rams (the section of the previously fortified moat After it reaches the city, the people in the car can use tools such as pickaxes to dig out and loosen the stones, the hardest shell of the city wall, so that the city wall collapses),...these large siege equipment Arrived at the bottom of the city relatively smoothly.A siege tower was knocked down and had no impact on the battle situation.And once these siege engines come into play together, the city walls of Crotone will be in big trouble.

However, Dionysius looked up at the sky worriedly. The dark clouds in the sky were getting thicker and thicker, and the rain was getting heavier and heavier, making him almost unable to open his eyes: If the rain continues like this, it will...

As if in response to his worries, "Crack!!!...Boom!!!..." A dazzling light flashed in the sky, followed by rumbling thunder, covering all the noise on the battlefield. Many soldiers on both sides raised their heads to look at the sky.

The wind is getting stronger...

The rain became heavier and soon turned into a downpour...

Lightning, thunder, strong wind, and heavy rain have become the protagonists of this world.

The soldiers no longer fought, but hid under the city wall or in the tower in fear, because just now a bolt of lightning struck the ground and split a huge siege tower in half!
Everyone who saw this tragic scene was shocked.

This is God King Zeus being angry!Soldiers on both sides trembled in their hearts and began to pray to Zeus.

"Sir, it's too dangerous here, let's get down quickly!" The followers came to persuade Dionysius.

Dionysius looked ahead with great reluctance. However, the rain was too heavy and his field of vision was completely white...

He reluctantly ordered: Retreat immediately!

In such extremely bad weather, the sound of the bugle could not be heard at all. Fortunately, the Syracuse soldiers did not need to give orders at all. They had already retreated voluntarily.The Crotones did not dare to go out of the city to pursue them in such terrible weather.A large-scale siege battle had just begun, but it was aborted due to the interference of nature...

As soon as Dionysius stepped off the earthen fort, the earthen fort that took thousands of people and two days to build slowly collapsed under the violent erosion of the rain. He helplessly cursed: "Forget it. Lucky Crotones!”

"It seems that Zeus is blessing them this time." A follower said casually.

Dionysius immediately glared at him fiercely: "Shut your mouth! This has nothing to do with Zeus, it's just a coincidence."

But Askamas at the top of the city was praying devoutly to Zeus.

There are not many rainy days in Crotone in winter. It can be said that today's heavy rain is rare in the past few years, so Crotone people think it is the blessing of the gods. Although it is being washed by wind and rain, but Everyone's morale has been boosted.

..........................................

The war between Syracuse and the Southern Italian League has always been under the attention of many forces because it is related to the hegemony of the Greek city-states in the Western Mediterranean.

Needless to say, Carthage hated Syracuse, which they had been fighting with for hundreds of years.But unfortunately, the real predicament caused the Carthage Senate to reject Dionia's alliance request. Of course, they hoped that Syracuse's army would suffer setbacks or even suffer heavy losses in the war in Magna Graecia, but the news came But it was the people of Syracuse who were always winning. Even Crotone and Dionia were in danger under the fierce attack led by Dionysius. The Carthaginians were even more afraid of the power of Syracuse. .

Margo, who was in charge of defense in Sicily, wrote several letters to the Senate for instructions to launch a small attack on Syracuse's allies in order to divert Syracuse's attention and slow down Dionysius's attack on the north. , to prevent him from integrating a more powerful Syracuse after he conquered Great Greece.

The Senate headed by Hanno rejected his proposal.In order to prevent him from messing around, the Senate also specially sent inspectors to Lilipi to supervise the mobilization of Sicilian troops.

..........................................

The Carthage Senate was watching the progress of the Magna Graecia war with trepidation, while the offensive and defensive battle of Corinth continued on the Peloponnese Peninsula.

However, Agesilaus, who was ill, returned to Sparta and handed command of the Spartan coalition in Corinth to Plaque, uncle of Agesipolis, another new king of Sparta. Theitas, the army brought by Agesilaus from Asia Minor, also remained in Corinth.

(End of this chapter)