ancient greece mediterranean ruler

Chapter 791: Attacking the City of Rome ([-])
Compared with Dionia's light infantry, the siege tower is more threatening to the defenders at the top of the city.

Every time the abdominal bow was fired, those who were hit by the arrows all died tragically, which frightened the defenders facing the siege tower and retreated one after another, leading to the appearance of several small open spaces on the top of the crowded city.

Of course, as the siege tower advances, the elevation angle between the abdominal bow and the city head increases, and the abdominal bow cannot be raised, making it unable to accurately shoot to the city head, which greatly reduces the threat. However, the legion harpooneers on the top of the tower But they began to exert their power. Relying on the protection of the wooden fence, they threw heavy javelins at the top of the city from a high position.This kind of javelin is no better than an arrow. The Roman heavy infantry will also be injured if they are hit, forcing them to raise their shields and be careful. Roman archers also shoot at the top of the siege tower to attack these Dionian targets without armor protection. Gunner.

The suppression of the city by the siege tower caused the defenders of this section of the city wall to weaken their attacks on the Dionian soldiers who were attacking the city. They were attacked by the opponent one after another, and each time the enemy was killed or driven off the city. , Roman soldiers had to pay two or three times the price of casualties.

But now the greatest danger has come, the siege tower is slowly approaching the city wall.Even though the Roman defenders kept throwing tar cans at it, constantly igniting the tower, and even turned into a sea of ​​​​fire on its way forward, nearly a hundred members of the Dionysian baggage team were in the siege tower. Behind and on the side, under the cover of the wooden shed that extended out of the tower, they kept dousing the burning kerosene on the ground with sand and soil while pushing the siege tower forward. Even if someone was injured or even fell down from time to time, there was no shake their determination to complete their mission.

Finally, the behemoth finally reached the city wall.

"Get out of there! Get out of there!" Due to the critical situation, Scipio personally came to take command. When he saw the soldiers still crowded around the battlements, he shouted anxiously.

Just as the Roman soldiers retreated to both sides, the wooden iron-clad bridge tied to the top of the siege tower crashed down and fell on the battlements, knocking the Roman soldiers still below to the ground.

Scipio didn't have time to feel sorry for the soldiers who were crushed under the wooden bridge. He shouted loudly: "Fire oil! Throw the fire oil quickly!!..."

In fact, the Romans did not expect to be attacked by a large army in advance, and the city did not reserve a large amount of asphalt. In the past two days, almost all the tar used for lighting in Roman people's homes was plundered. Until now, the battle has consumed almost all the tar. , the Roman people had to urgently transport olive oil for consumption.

"Bang! Bang!..." Dozens of clay pots smashed up.

But at the same time, the soldiers of the Dionian Second Legion who had been prepared in the tower had already shouted the name of Hades and quickly rushed onto the wooden bridge from the siege tower. As they rushed forward, they Use your long shield to shoot down the flying pots.

Of course, there was also a soldier who was splashed with olive oil, and then unfortunately was hit by a flying torch, and instantly turned into a burning man. He screamed miserably, but his comrades would not stop to save him at this moment. Instead, he turned his vigorous fighting spirit into full of anger. He was not afraid of the densely erected spears in front of him. He blocked his long shield in front of his chest and jumped from the bridge. One by one, they jumped into the dense crowd of Roman soldiers like Mount Tai. In the array, regardless of the gunshot wounds on his body, he waved the dagger in his hand and stabbed the surrounding enemies like lightning.

Although by this time the Roman soldiers who had been temporarily recruited had begun to adapt to the atmosphere of the battlefield and were inspired by the belief in defending their homeland, they had diluted their fear of death. However, they were either too young, lacked combat experience, or were too old. , lack of physical strength, and these soldiers of the Second Dionysian Legion are elites, each like a tiger, messing up the Roman defenders' array, and most of the screams came from the defenders.

Fortunately, Scipio had already anticipated this, and deployed most of the 3000 young Roman soldiers who had stayed in Rome to defend the southern city wall, and used 1000 of them as mobile troops to deal with emergencies. .At this moment, he mobilized 400 strong soldiers to form a dense gun formation at both ends of the walkway at the top of the city, driving the Roman soldiers in front to squeeze inward, trying to attack the Dionian soldiers rushing to the top of the city in one fell swoop through a front and rear attack. Annihilation.

Unexpectedly, the experienced Dionian soldiers ignored their own casualties and relied on crazy attacks to continuously expand the space at the top of the city. The subsequent Dionian soldiers braved the gradually increasing fire and continued to rush to the top of the city... While they were attacking, they were also quickly forming a formation.

By the time the old and weak Roman troops in front were wounded, dead, and retreating, and the strong Roman soldiers were directly facing the enemy, the Dionysian soldiers had already stood on the top of the city. About 60 people, they formed a The shield formation, to defend against attacks from the front and rear, was like a rock piercing the city.

Although Scipio was anxious when he saw this situation, he also understood that the battle would not be resolved in a short time. Fortunately, the siege tower was already on fire, and even the top of the tower was a great threat to the defenders. The harpooneers had all withdrawn, and it was no longer possible for the enemy to use it to rush to the city again, which gave him some comfort.

But soon, his mood hit rock bottom again: "General Scipio! Over there...the siege tower over there is almost close to the city wall!"

Scipio quickly led 400 more strong soldiers and rushed over.

This time he decided to learn his lesson and directly let these soldiers guard the city head where the siege tower was approaching, blocking the enemies rushing from the tower and never giving them a chance to gain a foothold on the city head.

But after going back and forth like this, making up for the leaks, he found that the troops defending the city were already a little nervous.

At this time, the messenger who arrived finally brought him good news: the Senate sent more than 400 reinforcements.

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

Matonis, who had been paying attention to the battle situation from a distance below the city, sighed sadly for the siege tower that was burning and collapsing. Soon he was excited that another siege tower was approaching the city wall.

"Quick, send another company up! This time we not only have to rush to the top of the city, but we also have to break through the enemy's blockade and clear the obstacles for other soldiers to climb to the top of the city!"

"Legion commander, we... have no company to send." The adjutant reminded awkwardly from the side.

"What?! Didn't you just--" Matonis turned around in shock.

There were many people not far behind him, but more than half of them were engineers and craftsmen. They were still busy making siege equipment; siege equipment, and at the same time carried some wounded soldiers back on the way back; some were doctors and nurses from the medical battalion, who carried out intense battlefield treatment on the wounded soldiers brought back...

Matonis looked again at the bloody battlefield ahead.

Dozens of arrow-blocking vehicles in front of the trench were burned a lot, and the rising thick smoke obscured most of the field of vision; the light infantry fired arrows at the city head much slower than before, and I am afraid they also felt that Fatigue.

Under the city, the heavy infantrymen of the Second Army were half squatting on the ground, hiding their entire bodies under their long shields. Looking at it in a daze, it seemed that the land under the city was black, with a dark light; there was only one The ladders were erected like big trees, leaning against the city wall, and then the Dionian soldiers crawling on it dyed the dusty city wall into black passages, and soldiers kept falling down from above. Soldiers continued to be added below it; from time to time a ball of flames rose under the city, mixed with shrill screams, which made Matonis' heart tighten every time.

Three of the five tall siege towers have been burned. When passing through the trench, some of the sandbags were not tamped down, causing the siege tower to break the wooden planks, break the axle and fall into it. It cannot move forward and can only be used as a belly bow. and a platform for harpooneers to attack...

In Matonis's sharp eyes, he also saw some wounded soldiers struggling hard under the shield formed by the soldiers below the city. They were too injured to move to the rear, and were successfully picked up by the baggage personnel. .

Matonis then thought about the dozens of soldiers surrounded by the city, and he became anxious: If the city of Rome cannot be captured today, the fate of those soldiers who cannot retreat smoothly on and off the city will be very tragic!

Thinking of this, he put behind the words of Davos before the war "to preserve strength and reduce casualties in order to cope with the coming battle" and said loudly: "Let the buglers blow the attack harder for me. Bugle, urge the soldiers to step up the attack! And... hurry back to the camp and tell His Majesty that I request to transfer another heavy infantry brigade! "

"Legion Commander." The adjutant reminded: "I was notified before that the camp has sent four brigades to intercept the Roman reinforcements. There are only two brigades left in the camp. I'm afraid-"

"Stop being so nagging, go quickly!" Matonis shouted irritably with red eyes.

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

At this time, in the Chinese army's tent, Davos had just received a report from the reconnaissance cavalry: it was reported that there were nearly 2000 troops ten miles southeast of the city of Rome, and they were marching rapidly northward.

Davos immediately looked at the map. At the same time, the staff officer Claudius, who was responsible for analyzing the enemy's situation, also made a quick judgment based on the previous intelligence: "Your Majesty, this is still the same army from the Latin city-states such as Pliniste, Bonnet, and Gabi. reinforcements."

He pointed to a place with a red dot on the map and said: "The target they want to attack is most likely the Sixth Army!"

"Most of the soldiers of the Sixth Army are attacking the city..." Davos pondered for a moment and said decisively: "Immediately send the heavy infantry brigade of the Fifth Army left behind to intercept the camp!"

"Your Majesty!" Claudius reminded: "If this heavy infantry brigade is sent out, there will be only one light armored brigade of the Second Legion left in the camp!"

　Thanks to Lamperucci for the tip!Your support is my motivation to write! !
　　
　
(End of this chapter)