ancient greece mediterranean ruler

Chapter 784: Attacking the City of Rome ([-])
Upon seeing this, Marcus immediately shouted: "Follow the order and don't attack indiscriminately!"

"Don't shoot arrows!! Don't shoot arrows..." The messenger ran along the walkway of the city wall and conveyed Marcus's order.

In Marcus' view, the front line of the Dionysian siege force was originally heavy infantry, and arrows posed minimal threat to them, not to mention that there was a wooden board on their heads. With almost no results achieved, Why waste arrows and consume the strength of soldiers.

The Dionian soldiers had arrived at the trench, which was only more than 20 meters away from the city wall. They lowered the wooden planks on their heads and placed them on the ground in front of the trench.

At this moment, Magus gave the command to attack and took the lead in throwing a javelin. Then the Roman soldiers who had been prepared fired javelins and arrows at the enemy not far from the city.

Unexpectedly, as soon as the Dionian soldiers put down the planks, they immediately ran back, causing most of the long-range attacks to fail.

While these heavy infantrymen were running back, strange formations were approaching the city wall in the distance.

"Turtle shell formation?!" There was a commotion among the Roman soldiers at the head of the city. Since the reform of the Roman army, the most practical tactic for attacking cities and fortresses in the past ten years has actually appeared in the enemy's formation, even though they had heard from Dionis before. Citizens who had fought against the demihumans said, 'Dionia's tactics are very similar to those of Rome', but when it really appeared in front of Magus and the Roman soldiers, it still made them feel palpitating.

When these Dionian heavy infantry came to the long wooden plank, they quickly dispersed the turtle shell formation, and then quickly formed a row of shield walls diagonally toward the city head. Their movements were so fast, as if they had undergone countless trainings, allowing the city head to Before the Roman soldiers could react, they had already completed the array conversion.

Then seven or eight unarmored Dionian soldiers under the protection of the shield squatted on the ground, shouted slogans together, and pushed one end of the board hard to push the board through the five-meter-wide trench and let the other side of the board pass. One end was placed on the other side of the trench, forming simple wooden bridges.

How could the Roman soldiers let them succeed so easily? The rain of arrows and javelins poured down on the shield formation, and the "ding-ding-bang-bang" kept ringing. Occasionally, a javelin penetrated the long shield and stabbed the soldier's arm. Or the arrow penetrated the shield gap and injured the soldier's unprotected thigh, but they still endured the pain and maintained the integrity of the shield array.

Soon, more than twenty wooden bridges were erected on the trench, and the Dionian soldiers helped their injured teammates and began to retreat. During the retreat, they quickly completed the transformation from the shield formation to the turtle shell formation.

The enemy's skillful formation switching ability can always keep the shield formation stable in the face of strong long-range attacks, retreat quickly, and take care of wounded soldiers... This is definitely an extremely well-trained and combat-experienced team!Marcus knew that he had met a powerful enemy, but at this moment he had no time to feel panic: "Send rockets and burn those wooden bridges!" He pointed at the wooden planks on the trench below the city and ordered urgently.

The auxiliary soldiers immediately wrapped the arrows in tar cloth strips and handed them to the archers.

While the Dionian soldiers under the city were retreating, more soldiers formed larger turtle-shell formations and advanced towards the city wall. Behind these turtle-shell formations were followed by nearly a thousand soldiers without armor, some with slings on their shoulders. Bows, they lined up in a looser array, and were about to enter the range of the bows and arrows.

"It's the light infantry of Dionia!" The Roman squadron leaders on the city made a quick judgment and decided to give them a head-on attack to prevent them from coming to the city and posing a threat to the defenders on the city.

When the Roman soldiers aimed their bows and arrows at them, these Dionysian light infantry stopped 150 meters away.

Marcus saw some people in the Dionia light infantry shaking their arms, and was a little confused for a moment.Soon he saw countless black dots roaring towards them, most of them hitting the city wall below the Roman soldiers, making a "crackling" noise.

"Ah!" A soldier not far from Marcus suddenly screamed and fell to the ground, with blood flowing from his brow bone.

The soldiers picked up the objects that caused the trouble and handed them to Magus.

This is a black lead shot that is smaller than an egg.Marcus weighed it with his hands, and it was still a little heavy.

Slingers!This is what Camillus called the Dionian slingers!Marcus suddenly recalled the battle report made by Camillus in the Senate.

Yes, this is the characteristic unit of the First Legion - the Rhode Island slingers, which are also the only remaining ones in the entire Dionysian army. After the first throw, they made corrections based on the landing point, so when They waved the sling again and threw the lead pellets. This time the throwing was obviously much more accurate, and most of the lead pellets landed on the top of the city.

The Roman soldiers hurriedly put their long shields on their heads, while the archers had no protective gear and could only dodge to the side of the heavy infantry. There was a panic on the section of the wall where Marcus was located.

At this moment, Dionia's turtle shell formation had arrived in front of the wooden bridge. They quickly unfolded, revealing two ladders hidden in the formation. Each six soldiers carried a 20-meter-long ladder, and quickly Rush across the wooden bridge and rush to the wall ahead.

The heavy infantrymen, holding swords and shields, followed closely and crossed the trench.

The Roman soldiers at the top of the city did not care to avoid the incoming lead shot, and began to throw javelins and fire arrows.

Under such a fierce attack, the Dionian heavy infantry began to suffer casualties, but at this time they did not care about rescuing their comrades. The soldier carrying the ladder fell, and the soldier closest to him immediately put down his sword and shield and stepped forward to take over. , In this way, one after another, the ladder held high by the soldiers quickly leaned against the city wall, and then quickly pulled the ladder down diagonally. The pointed ladder feet dug into the soil, while the curved iron hook tied at the top hooked After standing on the battlement, with soldiers on both sides supporting it, the ladder will stand quite stable.

The Dionian heavy infantry held the long shield above their heads with their left hand, and climbed up the ladder with their right hand.

And the Roman young soldiers began to play their role. Some smashed rocks and threw wood, some poured thin oil and threw torches, some brought freshly boiled water to pour down, and some used The sword slashed at the joint between the ladder and the iron hook...

The light infantry of the Dionian First Legion also rushed to the city, throwing arrows and javelins at the city. The Roman soldiers who attacked downward but exposed their bodies outside the battlements became their focus...

"Brothers have done a good job. They have successfully attacked the city without suffering much losses!" Amyntas has arrived behind the slingers, less than 200 meters away from the city wall. This way he can easily observe the battle situation. He was very satisfied with the progress of the siege so far, so he said to Printors beside him: "This is all your credit!"

Davos was worried that Amyntas, who was attacking the city alone, would take too many risks and cause excessive losses to the First Army, so he sent Printors, considering that the cooperation between them was quite pleasant.

Printors said modestly: "It's mainly because the First Legion led by you, Commander, is well-trained!"

"Yes, the first legion has the strongest combat effectiveness! And the reserve soldiers added previously did not embarrass the citizens of Thurii, and were no worse than the veterans! It's a pity that your majesty did not use siege towers, siege vehicles, ballistas... Leave these siege weapons to our First Legion for use, otherwise the enemies in the city will suffer even more!" Amyntas complained loudly.

Printors did not answer. When he came, Davos had already warned him: This time the First Army was responsible for the auxiliary attack. The First Army had fought successively before and suffered a lot of losses. There is no need to go all out in the siege this time. Do your best to be ready to come in handy in the subsequent battles.

As the Undersecretary of Staff, Printols actually understood in his heart: His Majesty Davos still had another consideration in his mind that he had not yet expressed. He could not always let the First Legion serve as the main force and perform meritorious service in battle, but also allow other legions to have the opportunity to perform meritorious service in battle. This It is not only a balance, but also conducive to training the combat effectiveness of other legions and improving the overall combat effectiveness of the Dionian army.

"However, even without those siege equipment, our First Legion can still break through the city of Rome before the other legions!" Amyntas was full of pride and confidently said: "Printors, in half an hour, I will Just send the remaining three brigades up to put more pressure on the Romans!"

Printors was startled and hurriedly persuaded him tactfully: "Legion Commander, the siege has just begun. Should we first observe the enemy's defense situation before making a decision? And will Rome's allies come to help? It's not yet Not sure, we must always pay attention to the rewards of the reconnaissance cavalry, so these three brigades are reserve teams, so it’s best not to move lightly for the time being!”

Amyntas stared and was about to have an attack, but he quickly held back. He had been able to stay in the Dionian army for so many years, and his thoughts were much more delicate than his rough appearance: before the war, His Majesty Davos sent Printors to the First Legion. Why did he come?Then what he said was not His Majesty’s instruction?
Amyntas suddenly didn't want to speak. He just put his hands on his hips and kept looking at the battle ahead, never looking at Printors again.

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

Scipio stood in the middle of the southern city wall, which is the closest place to the center of Rome. Since the backs of the left and right walls are close to Mount Esquire and Mount Sirio, even if the Dionians broke through those two sections of the wall, , due to the obstruction of the hills behind, it is impossible to quickly advance into the city, so this will be the focus of the Dionysian attack.

Scipio felt that his judgment was correct, because after he heard the bugle sound from the enemy camp outside the city, he saw many enemy soldiers pouring out of the military camp and starting to form formation, but then he did not see the Dionian soldiers. As they approached the city wall, rectangular wooden carriages, without the traction of beasts of burden, formed a column and rolled towards the city wall automatically...

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(End of this chapter)