ancient greece mediterranean ruler

Chapter 774 Outpost Battle

In an atmosphere of common hatred and hatred, the Roman people quickly dispelled their panic and once again actively signed up to defend the city.Roman cavalry also galloped in the fields outside the city, urgently notifying people in various villages to evacuate immediately.More than a dozen messengers also rushed out of Rome and rushed in all directions to seek help from colonial cities and allies...

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Ostia is more than 50 miles away from Rome, with no other city-states in between. Rome is also nearly 30 miles away from its nearest allies. This is the result of the strong expansion of the Romans over the past century. They continued to defeat nearby city-states. Then they continued to move their people into Rome. The city of Rome continued to grow, and more and more land was directly under it, but it left a blank area of ​​dozens of miles around it, making the two sides of Dionia As if entering uninhabited territory, the army marched smoothly without any hindrance. I wonder if the Romans regretted their past short-sighted and tyrannical methods at this time.

In particular, Dionia's two cavalry legions galloped all the way, rushing to the forefront of the entire army.

At this time, they saw thick smoke rising in the distance.

"Damn it! It must be the Romans who are burning their granaries!" Leders thought of the death order that King Davos sent him last night: In the early hours of tomorrow morning, after the whole army sets off, your first and second cavalry regiments We must rush to the river port on the Tiber River outside the city west of Rome as quickly as possible, and seize the granary at all costs!
Leders couldn't help but feel anxious and shouted loudly: "Speed ​​up! Get ready to put out the fire!"

The anxious Leders actually ordered the bugler to blow the charge horn and led the soldiers to gallop forward.

The river port of the Roman city was built after the Romans captured Ostia. It became another channel for the Romans to communicate with the outside world. Due to the continuous influx of people in the city of Rome at that time, there was no prior planning for the river port, so there was no plan for the river port in the city. There was no spare space to accommodate the port, so it was built outside the city.

In the first few decades, the river port facilities were extremely crude. It was not until the past decade or so that the Carthaginians' aid and trade to Rome promoted the great development of this river port. The expansion and improvement of the river port also made it possible to transport materials through the river. The number of merchant ships increased, which also led to the establishment of Roman granaries close to river ports.This is because Rome has frequently waged wars in the past ten years and consumed a lot of food. Sometimes it was unable to supply enough. Carthage provided assistance to it. The grain was basically transported by river and unloaded at the port.After experiencing a fire, the Romans learned a lesson and no longer transported food into the city where the houses were crowded and chaotic and prone to fire accidents. Instead, they parked it directly near the port, which was both convenient and safe.After that, they also stored the food collected from other allied countries here. Then when the army went on an expedition, they would collect the food here and transport it to the camp.

When Leders led the Dionia First Cavalry Corps to arrive, he saw a large rectangular camp in front of him, with a three-meter-high stone wall and several towers built inside the wall. There was smoke, but no one could be seen, no human voice could be heard, and the Roman city wall less than 200 meters away was covered with soldiers, and its gates were closed.

Ledes immediately jumped off his horse, drew his dagger, and ran towards the gate of the camp.

"Legion commander, be careful!" Several guards nearby immediately grabbed him and blocked the cavalry shield in front of him. He heard two "bang bang" sounds and two sharp arrows pierced the shield.

Leders broke out in a cold sweat and immediately calmed down. He looked closely and saw many figures shaking on the wall of the granary. He thought for a moment and then shouted loudly: "The first team will use javelins to attack the people inside." Enemy! Dismount the second brigade and see if you can break down the gate! The other brigade go around this camp and climb the wall for me!"

"Yes, Legion Commander!!"

After hearing a burst of people shouting and neighing, the cavalrymen of the third, fourth, and fifth brigade began to gallop around the camp, while the soldiers of the second brigade ran directly to the camp gate, forcing the wall to The Roman soldiers had to show up and attack the Dionian soldiers approaching the camp with javelins and arrows.

The prepared second group of Dionian cavalry immediately attacked the enemy on the wall with javelins.

The wall is not high, and there are no ditches or deer villages. The Dionian cavalry can approach and attack, and they have a large number of people.Although the Roman soldiers were condescending, they were at a disadvantage in long-range attacks.

At this time, the cavalry from other brigades had already circled under the other walls of the granary camp, jumped off their horses one after another, put their cavalry shields on their backs, kept their spears on their horses, and daggers on their waists. They stood against the wall, One person squatted down, the other stepped on the other person's shoulder, and the two slowly stood upright.On the three-meter-high stone wall, as soon as the two people overlapped, the soldier above could already put his hands on the edge of the wall. The soldier below raised his shoulders, and the soldier above climbed up the wall... After a while, hundreds of Dionian soldiers stood on the wall.

They saw that many of the dozens of large round barns lined up in the granary were already on fire, and a dozen Roman soldiers were running between the barns carrying tar and torches.They immediately separated more than half of their soldiers and quickly ran down the wall to put out the fire.The other soldiers followed the corridor on the wall and killed the Roman soldiers who were fighting fiercely.

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The soldiers on the west wall of Rome were able to see the situation in the granary camp due to the height of the wall, and they were all anxious when they saw that their compatriots were in danger.

"General Scipio, Gaius and the others refused to retreat to the city in order to completely burn down the granary. They are heroes of Rome. We should go out of the city to save them!"

"There are less than 2000 Dionian cavalry, and they basically jump off their horses to fight, and they are all wearing light armor. If we send troops out of the city at this time, we will definitely be able to severely damage this Dionian cavalry! "

Compared with the entreaties of the soldiers, the elder Scipio's suggestion moved the city guard's chief Scipio a little.

Now there are not only Roman citizen soldiers standing on the city, but also some senators. Facing the Dionians who are coming with great momentum, they are a little curious. After all, this is the first time to face the Dionian army directly. Of course, their The arrival also brought some troubles to Scipio.

Initially, Scipio's plan was to "transport all the grain in the granary into the city, and then burn the granary down." Because according to the report from the previous scouts, the Dionian army was still on the way, so Scipio thought that There is enough time to complete this plan. For this reason, he organized nearly [-] people and many pack carts to move food out of the city. He thought he could complete this task before the arrival of the Dionian army.

But not long after the grain transport team left the city, he received another reward from the reconnaissance cavalry: the Dionysian cavalry was rushing towards Rome, less than 30 miles away from the city of Rome.

The speed of the Dionian cavalry's march completely exceeded Scipio's expectations. Not only was he unable to complete his previous plan, he also had to immediately withdraw the grain transport team into the city.In order to ensure order and prevent the people and beasts of burden from causing chaos and blocking the city gates, he did not immediately burn the granary. However, it took a long time to evacuate the grain transport team. When the people had basically entered the city and wanted to set fire to the granary, Dai The Onian cavalry was already very close to the city of Rome, and before the reconnaissance cavalry returned, they were heading straight for the granary.

At this time, Gaius, the squadron leader who had been guarding the granary, and his 120 soldiers voluntarily chose to stay in order to complete this task.

The bravery and tragedy of this Roman squadron magnified Scipio's mistakes, and they were clearly seen by the senators in the city. How much impact would this have on his future political career in Rome? Scipio the Great Ah has no time to think about it at the moment, so if his colleagues' suggestions can be implemented successfully, it will not only attack the Dionians, but also restore his image.

Just when Scipio was thinking about how to send troops out of the city to raid, "Theonian cavalry! Another Dionian cavalry is coming!!..." The soldiers' screams made him raise his head, and saw There was smoke and dust billowing in the distance, and countless Dionian cavalry with black helmets and black armor loomed in the dust and mist. Looking at this situation, their number was definitely not a small number.

When he saw that there were about two thousand new Dionian cavalry approaching the city, Scipio hesitated: the number of the two Dionian cavalry made him not confident that the battle would be resolved in a short time. After all, he only has 3000 elite soldiers in his hands, and it is impossible for them all to go out of the city for a raid. However, he is worried that the new soldiers formed by old people and children will not be able to support the physical strength of the new soldiers when they go out of the city to fight with the cavalry in the wild.

But soon he didn't have to hesitate anymore. The soldiers screamed again and she saw the dust mist rising in the distance again: hundreds more Dionian cavalry with bright armor and red cloaks were rushing towards her. When you get to the city, join the team attacking the granary!
The arrival of the Dionian cavalry several times gave Scipio the illusion that the Dionian army was coming here at the fastest speed and could not send troops out!Otherwise, not only these soldiers will be in danger, but Rome will also be in danger!

Not only did he think this, but probably the elders and soldiers in the city also had similar thoughts. Therefore, the previously loud calls for battle and pleas disappeared, and the surroundings were very quiet.Just hearing the screams coming from the granary camp below the city from time to time, their expressions were extremely painful.

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The second to rush to the granary at the river port was the Second Cavalry Corps of Dionia. The regiment leader Kuchius quickly found Laides who was supervising the battle, and saluted the former old officer and said: "Master Laides, What do we need to do?”

　Thanks to Yijian 68 for the reward!Your support is my motivation to write! !

　　
　
(End of this chapter)