ancient greece mediterranean ruler

Chapter 820 Ostia is attacked
Arriving at the city hall, Tellis, who had been notified by his men, immediately came out and welcomed Midorades in.

After the two greeted each other for a few words, Midorades handed Davos's warrant to Tellis.

When he first obtained Ostia, Davos only announced "the granting of freedom to slaves, as well as Latin refugees, slave citizenship and distribution of land... and several other rights." Now he asked Tellis to present the rights to the slaves in the Roman Forum yesterday. The decrees promulgated among the Roman commoners and slaves were also implemented in Ostia, and at the same time the Roman nobles in Ostia were also escorted onto the warships by Midorades.

After reading it, Tellis said easily: "It will be easier to manage Ostia by following His Majesty's will."

With that said, he called his men and asked him to immediately escort the imprisoned Roman prisoners and the nobles among the people to the port as required and hand them over to the Third Fleet.

Then, he said to Midorades: "Last night, I listened to the merchants who returned from Rome talk about the decree announced by His Majesty in the Forum. I have selected these Roman prisoners in advance. There are only 178 in Ostia. There are three Roman men of noble birth, and those who meet the requirements for escort... are probably less than a hundred, so you don't need to wait long, they will be sent to the ship soon."

"Lord Tellis is so meticulous in his work! No wonder His Majesty would entrust such an important town to you to govern!" Midorades complimented. He wished he could lead some warships south to Trina immediately. Recruiting new fleet infantry, so he can spend less time in Ostia, of course he is happy.

"There is still a little time before my men finish their work. General Midorades, can you tell me the details of how your Majesty and you led the army to conquer the city of Rome." Tellis said with a smile.

"Very happy!" Midorades responded simply. He had long heard anecdotes about this senator from Sicily. Among the many senators who became Dionia due to political achievements or some special reasons, This burly middle-aged man is the only one who has condescended to train at the Turiyi military camp for a long time. Through his training performance, he has been promoted from a recruit in the reserve team to the position of captain of the reserve team. He has won the respect of many military personnel, including Midorades himself.

Tellis said happily: "It's almost time for dinner now. Why don't we drink some wine? I'll ask the chef to make a few more dishes and we'll chat while drinking."

Midorades thought that he would lead the team south immediately and was already out of the battlefield, so he did not refuse.

When the two of them were talking about each other, the guard officer at the door broke in and said urgently: "Lord Tellis, the scouts outside the city came to report urgently and found that a Roman army was marching quickly towards Ostia. , a large number of people, more than 2 people!”

Midorades was startled.

Tellis was also surprised, but he quickly laughed and said: "The Romans came just in time! Aren't you worried that you won't have a chance to go to the battlefield? Now that the war achievements have been sent, it depends on whether you have the ability to take them! Xila Si, are you scared?"

The team officer immediately replied loudly: "Sir, my brothers and I can't wait for the Romans to attack Ostia now so that they can have a taste of our power!"

"You immediately notify the three captains, let the soldiers start eating now, and then lead the groups to their respective defensive positions according to the previous training."

"Yes, my lord!" Xilas immediately turned and left.

Immediately afterwards, Teles called his subordinate Lucdelius.

This is also a Latino citizen of Dionia from Enona, who was specially left by Devus to serve as a translator for Tellis, who did not understand the language. However, Tellis boldly gave him the position of his secretary. He also gave him the position of adjutant in the new brigade, responsible for organizing and training the 1230 Ostian slaves and Latin refugees who applied to become Dionian citizens. Before that, he He is just an ordinary citizen of Enona and an ordinary soldier in the reserve force. He suddenly got such an important task, so he naturally worked very hard.

Now, Tellis ordered him to assist the captain and assemble the soldiers of the new brigade after dinner as a city defense reserve, ready to go into battle at any time.

After arranging these things, Thales said to Midolades apologetically: "The damn Romans interrupted your wonderful narration, it seems that you can only wait until I beat them back and you return from Cilitium. Only then can I continue to drink this bottle of wine.”

"Then it will be my turn to listen to your story on how to repel the Romans." Midorades smiled, and then took the initiative to suggest with a serious expression: "When I was in Rome, the Roman army outside the city was busy. They built the camp without any intention of attacking the city immediately. Unexpectedly, they quietly sent troops to raid Ostia. Sir Tellis, you must be more vigilant. It is obvious that the enemy is well prepared, because Ostia is very Our army in Rome is too important!”

After hearing this, Tellis nodded solemnly and asked: "General Midorades, have the Roman army surrounded the city of Rome? Can the messenger I send successfully enter the city of Rome?"

Midorades shook his head: "When I left, the Roman army was already stationed outside the city. Only the east side has not seen the enemy, but it will be difficult to get around!"

"It seems safe to go by sea..." Thenis pondered, and said, "General Midolades, can I ask you to send a fast boat to Rome immediately and tell His Majesty the enemy situation here?"

"This is my duty!" Midolades responded very simply, and he also reminded: "It will take at least half a day from here to Rome through the Tiber River, and it will take longer to advance in the dark, because no matter There are certain dangers in stretching or sailing, so His Majesty will not receive the information about the attack on Ostia until tomorrow, and when reinforcements are dispatched, they will not arrive until noon tomorrow at least, so you must be prepared."

Midorades paused for a moment. Seeing that Tellis was deep in thought, he suggested: "I hope you can make room in the port. I will let some warships park at the port and let the sailors go ashore to assist you in the battle to make up for it." The number of defenders is insufficient, but you have to provide them with weapons and equipment."

Tellis was both surprised and grateful, and expressed his gratitude continuously, and said: "General, you don't have to worry about weapons and equipment. We defeated the Romans here before. Some of the trophies collected from the battlefield were sold to merchants, and some were piled up." In the warehouse, there is enough equipment to equip six to seven thousand people."

"Then I'm relieved." Midorades said. The sailors in his fleet are not fleet infantry. They usually conduct more sea training and are not good at land combat. However, they are young adults after all, and they can defend the city. Still not a big problem.

The reason why Midorades took the initiative to provide help: on the one hand, as a senior general present, he left without providing any help when Ostia was facing war. Once Ostia fell, he would inevitably be attacked. The impeachment of the Ombudsman of the Ministry of Military Affairs and the criticism of his colleagues; another reason is that he has discovered the importance of Ostia to the Third Fleet. If a military port can be established here, the Third Fleet will have control over the south coast of Italy. It can extend all the way to the Etruscan region, so he hopes to obtain the approval of King Davos in the future and also obtain the active cooperation of the administrator of Ostia, so it is very important to win the favor of Tellis.

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

Just as the city of Ostia was nervously preparing for defense, the Roman army led by Titus set off from Pliniste at dawn, passing through the city of Rome, then southward through Lake Alba, and then turned towards Northwest, marching nearly 90 miles, finally arrived at the final destination - Ostia at dusk.
Titus immediately ordered the soldiers to eat rations, put on armor, pick up weapons, and prepare to attack the city.

While the soldiers were resting, he ordered the ballista unit to push the remaining nearly 20 ballistas to the front of the formation and bombard Ostiana's thin city wall, which was less than four meters high.

The Dionian reserve soldiers, who were originally extremely excited because they were finally able to participate in the battle, watched helplessly as the Roman army, which was winding like a long dragon from a distance and could not be seen to the end, arrived at the city, and then separated into hundreds of thousands of troops. The troops gradually surrounded Ostia. Not only did they begin to feel nervous, they even felt a little afraid.

Telis, who is also the commander of the Ostia army, also stood at the top of the city, staring at the dark enemy below. He also felt a little nervous. This was his first time in actual combat, but in the past few days he had repeatedly urged the soldiers to be strict. By making defensive arrangements based on what he had learned in military camp training, he believed that this could completely block the enemy's attack.

"Lord Thenis, look, the enemy's ballista!"

Without being reminded by his men, Tellis could see the dozen or so ballistas pushed in front of the formation by the Romans, and he did not panic at all.

In the more than ten years since the South Italian War, the Dionysian Ministry of Military Affairs has already developed the idea of ​​using ballistas and abdominal bows originally used for sieges to defend the city. To this end, they asked engineers to reduce the shape of the ballistas. Reduce its weight, improve the way of firing (the ballistae on the city is fired downwards, so the stone bullets are easy to slip), and even designed under the guidance of Davos to fully utilize the power of the ballistae's belly bow. A new type of fortress, and based on this, a set of defensive tactics combined with ballistae and belly bows were developed.

After capturing Ostia, considering its importance, Davos shed ten defensive ballistas and five belly bows, and Telis placed them at the head of the city.

There is a ballista on the walkway not far from Tellis. Since time was too short to renovate the city wall, a large wooden board was placed under the ballista so that its barrel could be higher than the battlements. There are several boxes of stone bullets, and there are two soldiers in charge, one is the crossbow gunner who is responsible for firing, and the other is the sighter who is responsible for reporting the parameters.

(End of this chapter)