ancient greece mediterranean ruler

Chapter 527 Developing a Super Siege Tower

After hearing this, Damocles' face changed drastically and he protested loudly: "The ongoing war between Syracuse and Dionia is being fought under the witness of Ares. It is normal for any tragedy to happen in the war." . Sparta did not massacre the citizens of Athens after the victory because the Athenian navy ravaged the coast of its territory. We Syracuse did not massacre the Carthaginians in Sicily after the victory because Carthage massacred the Sicilian city-state many times. Destroy them all, so Dionia can’t make such harsh demands, this is not the Greek war tradition!”

"Could it be that the ancient tradition of Greece allows the Syracusans to hire foreigners and massacre unarmed Greek women, old people and children!" Henipolis yelled at him with his teeth bared: "Since you said this is a war, Then we Dionia are willing to continue fighting until we conquer Xiliting, and then cut off the heads of these aliens whose hands are filled with the blood of Dionia! Otherwise, once the peace treaty is signed, we can only watch these murderers swagger. His Majesty Davos cannot accept the departure! The heroic legionnaires cannot accept it! All the people of Dionia cannot accept it!"

"...Once the contract is signed, we can only watch them leave..." This sentence touched Damocles, and he pretended to be helpless and said: "The conditions you proposed are too high, can you change it a little bit? , For example, just the heads of some of them or the life of the leader?"

"No, this is the most basic condition!" Henipolis replied forcefully.

Damocles had no choice but to say: "Well, I can't make the decision on this matter. I must go back and report it to General Dionysius, and he will make the decision."

After saying that, he looked at each other with Phoebias next to him, and then with the permission of Henipolis, he was put on a blindfold by the guards and sent out of the camp.

Phoebus did not leave. He asked to see Davos as a Spartan envoy.

This made it difficult for Henipolis to refuse, so he could only let him wait here and notify King Davos himself.

Phoebidas waited for a long time, not because Davos deliberately teased him, but because he was indeed not near the big tent. He went to the engineering camp.

When occupying the Syracuse camp, the Dionysian army harvested a lot of supplies, including some siege equipment.

Needless to say, the ballistae was originally copied from Syracuse, but later it was further improved. Due to the application of parabola theory, Dionia's ballistae was more refined and Accurate.

The abdominal bow is another siege weapon of Syracuse. Its principle is similar to that of the ballista. Engineers can roughly copy it just by taking a look at the structure. After all, the most difficult thing about the abdominal bow is the use of the pulley, which happens to be Dionia engineering camp is best at.

Others such as battering rams, boat chariots, arrow-blocking chariots, etc. are all easy to imitate, but Davers looked at them very carefully. He needed to understand Syracuda from these various types of siege equipment. Human siege methods and ideas.You know, when Syracuse captured the big city of Crotone, Davos was really shocked. Compared with Syracuse, which had attacked countless cities in Sicily, the Dionian army was so powerful in the field. The experience in siege is still quite poor, including Davos himself, so learning from the enemy is the fastest way to improve.

Of course, among these siege equipment, the most eye-catching and difficult to make is the siege tower.Dionia can also make siege towers, but compared to the siege towers made by Syracuse, they are simply insignificant.Although the siege tower in front of us has only completed the construction of the base and the first floor, its scale is quite amazing: it is 20 meters long and six to seven meters wide. It is more like a wall than a tower.

Davos walked around it several times, turned around and asked Orops, one of the most outstanding engineers in the engineering camp: "Can it be copied?"

The establishment of the Legion Engineering Battalion in Dionia is relatively special.Its team officers do not need to understand engineering construction, as long as they can manage and lead troops and have some battlefield experience. Their duties are to serve the engineers, ensure their safety, and provide various materials they need. When the legion issues a construction order , and is also responsible for coordinating with other troops and recruiting soldiers to serve as labor. Therefore, most of the team officers of the engineering battalion are veterans with some disabilities after being injured on the battlefield.

The real value in the engineering camp is the engineers.If the system was relatively rough when Davos first established the engineering camp, now it has formed a fixed engineer assessment system, which not only requires engineers to be able to read and draw, have strong hands-on production capabilities, but also requires in-depth mathematical theory. Knowledge, only in this way can one pass the assessment and become a legion engineer.In addition to cultivating their own land, these engineers have also become a hot commodity that citizens of the alliance are vying to hire. They build houses, workshops, make furniture, equipment, etc., and their salaries are not low.When large-scale public projects are built in various cities, they will be invited to participate. Although the salary paid is small, their names will be engraved on the completed stone tablets, which is a great honor for them.

In addition to engineers, there are also highly skilled craftsmen, carpenters, and blacksmiths in the engineering camp. They are the engineers' assistants and assist them in making various war utensils.In addition, there were some slaves in the camp, mainly to serve the engineers.

As the legion's requirements for engineers are getting higher and higher, and after the assessment of engineers is standardized, because of its higher requirements for knowledge and practical ability, more than half of the engineers in each legion come from the laboratories of Dionia Academy.But Orops was different. He was originally a mercenary on the expedition to Persia. Because he knew some carpentry, he was transferred to Davos after he established the engineering camp. However, he worked hard and eventually became a highly skilled carpenter. He also took the initiative to participate in the adult class of Dionia School. Through hard study, he soon took off his illiterate hat.Then, because of the agreement between Davos and Mentotic Els, for a while the craftsmen of the legion entered the laboratory of the School of Mathematics and became the garrison of scholars. Orops took the opportunity to learn advanced mathematical knowledge. And eventually he was appreciated by Matikolis, became his disciple, and passed the examination to become an engineer.Therefore Orops is a typical self-taught person, deeply respected by the Dionysian craftsmen, and inspired them to learn from him.

"Your Majesty, copying is possible, but it will take some time." Orops said cautiously, squatting down and struggling to pick up a large wooden wheel: "The biggest difficulty in making this siege tower lies in these wooden wheels. On the wheels and axles. Such a large engineering tower and such a heavy weight must ultimately be supported by these wooden wheels and axles. The requirements for them are very high. What is the diameter of the axle? How thick and wide should the wooden wheel be? Yes How many sets of axles and wooden wheels are needed to ensure that the siege tower can be pushed smoothly?... These require repeated trials before they can be finally determined.

And you see, your majesty, the size and width of so many wooden wheels can be basically the same. It is difficult to do it without a large number of highly skilled carpenters. Otherwise, there are slight differences in the size of these wooden wheels, and the siege tower will become unstable while being pushed. It may tilt and collapse due to imbalance!With the capabilities of our current engineering camp, it is still difficult to achieve this. "

Orops said this with a little regret, stood up, looked at the siege tower in front of him with fascination, opened his arms, gestured with his hands, and continued: "Your Majesty, look at the towers on both sides of this siege tower. The wall is not upright, but slopes inward. Although I cannot see the whole picture, I am sure that it must be a trapezoidal body. This can enhance the stability of the base. But what is the most appropriate angle of inclination of the tower wall? How high is it? Horizontal slabs are built in different places to ensure that the force on the tower wall is even and stable?..."

Davos didn't care too much about the technical details Orops said. He understood the meaning of Orops's words: "In short, you need repeated calculation experiments to make a calculation that can be done." A functioning siege tower.”

"Yes, Your Majesty, we need time." Orops answered truthfully. He looked at the other people behind him and said: "For such a huge siege tower, we have fewer people, and we are still the first Second production..."

Although the siege battalions of each legion totaled no less than 500 people, which was actually not a small number of people, Davos heard the hidden meaning in Orops's words: there are not enough excellent engineers and craftsmen.

Recalling that the people of Syracuse built three large siege towers in a few days, Davos was jealous of the thousands of engineering teams in Xiliting City. That was the wealth Davos really desired. .

"I will give you time to study and try to make this kind of siege tower, but don't be too anxious. You must thoroughly study its technology and finally master it completely!" Davos encouraged them.

"Thank you, Your Majesty!"

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

Phoebidas, who was sitting in the big tent, was monitored by four guards. He could not walk around and look around. He could only look at the big tent with his eyes. As a result, he discovered a secret: Davos's big tent. The layout inside the tent is very similar to Dionysius' military tent. Except that the space is not as large as Dionysius's, it is also very simple. Except for a few hangers for armor and weapons, one is paved with straw. Outside the fur-cushioned bed, the most eye-catching thing is undoubtedly the piles of paper rolls, cloths, etc. on the wooden tables above. This is obviously the same as Dionysius's big tent, which shows that this consul While the officer is marching and fighting, he is also dealing with many affairs within the alliance at any time...

These two tyrants of the Western Mediterranean!Phoebidus felt an inexplicable feeling in his heart.

　Thanks to Zhan Billy, Yangtianchangxiangxi Qibaihong, and Dead Beast Tianzhuque for their rewards!Your support is my biggest motivation for writing! !

　　I finally stayed up late to watch the semi-finals, and finally no longer have to stay up late for the finals and the third-place match!

　　
　
(End of this chapter)