ancient greece mediterranean ruler

Chapter 827 Ostia is in danger

After a period of sustained bombardment, Titus sent a second wave of soldiers who had rested for a period of time to continue attacking the city. However, the Dionian defenders had been busy resisting attacks and dodging stone bullets, and their body and mind continued to be consumed. As time went by, the Romans gradually began to equal the defenders in terms of physical strength and energy.

In addition, the Romans had another headache for the defenders when they attacked the city. Their heavy infantry, except for the soldiers climbing ladders, were also busy under the city. They used long shields to protect themselves while attacking at the city. Javelins are thrown from the top of the city.

Throwing javelins with heavy infantry - this was originally a tactic of the Dionian legionnaires. After Camillus fought with the Dionians in Volsc, he realized the power of this tactic and began to fight with the Dionians. The Herniki people tried to use it in the battle and achieved some results.Before this time, when Camillus and Titus were discussing how to attack the city of Ostia, they once again mentioned the use of this tactic during the siege. Although the Roman heavy infantry was not like the Dionian legionnaires passing by, After long-term training, throwing javelins is not only accurate and powerful, but also full of tactical changes. However, Ostia's low city walls increased the lethality of javelins thrown by Roman soldiers, and the Roman army far outnumbered the heavy infantry of the city defenders. It is the key to becoming the Dionian garrison that suppresses the city with javelins.

The Roman siege soldiers retreated in a wave, and another wave of black and heavy attacks came up, like the continuous impact of a raging tide. The number of casualties of the Dionia defenders increased, the defense strength decreased, and the enemy had been able to attack the city several times.

Tellis had to send in reserve troops, but due to his lack of experience, he did not dismantle these temporarily formed fresh troops and place them among the garrison at the top of the city. They were commanded by legion reserve soldiers. Instead, he asked them to go out in groups. Taking the vacant position at the top of the city, not only was the defense strength not greatly enhanced, but there was a lot of chaos.

"General, look! The wall has collapsed!!" The entourage pointed forward and started cheering.

Titus could not suppress the ecstasy in his heart.

A few days ago, the city wall of Ostia had just experienced the baptism of Dionysian ballistae. Although it had been repaired, only a few days were not enough for it to be fully restored, and then it was hit again by Roman ballistae many times. After the attack, a section of the city wall finally wailed and collapsed.

Along with the exclamations of soldiers on both sides, a gap was revealed after the dust mist dissipated.

Seeing this situation, how could Titus miss the opportunity to break the city? He immediately ordered: "Stop the bombardment of the ballistae, and the entire army will attack immediately!"

It is said that the whole army is on the top, but in fact only the Roman citizen soldiers participated in the attack with all their strength. After all, they marched long distances during the day and fought fiercely at night. Although there were intermittent rests in the middle, all the soldiers were already extremely tired. , so that the armies of the Latin Allied States and the Etruscan Allied States complained endlessly. Their generals have repeatedly protested to Titus, and their soldiers have begun to fight passively. Only the Roman colonial civil soldiers with less than 5000 people left Supported by the belief of "taking back the motherland" and under strict discipline, the collapse of the Ostia city walls also gave them hope of success. Launched an onslaught.

The high morale of the Roman soldiers also infected the allied troops, and they reluctantly followed...

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Geogris was a cautious person, but with Crotocatax accompanying him, he became even more cautious, so he arranged four fast ships to lead the way, and the other ships were two parallel, with larger ships in front and behind. At intervals, all the ships lit torches, like a fire dragon in the river, swimming downstream along the current.

Geogris' caution worked. On the way, a pilot boat collided and sank with a clipper that was pulling up to report a message to the city of Rome. A pilot boat failed to control its direction at a sharp bay in the river and crashed into Hit the rocks and sank...

All the troop transport ships were not seriously damaged and approached the mouth of the Tiber safely. However, the soldiers on board were shocked by the scene on the shore in the distance: it was almost late at night, but the sky had not yet appeared, and the waning moon still hung. On the horizon, the sky is still dark, which is the best time for people to sleep soundly. However, in the direction of Ostia City, there are flames blazing into the sky, and the sound of killing is loud...

Has the city of Ostia fallen? !Geognis, the team officers at all levels, and the soldiers all had similar worries. With the guidance of the distant firelight and the port lighthouse, and in order not to attract the enemy's attention, Geognis immediately ordered: " Extinguish all torches on board!"

Soon, the patrol boats at the port came out to greet them. After learning that Ostia had not fallen, the fleet quickly sailed into its port.

After the boat docked at the pier, Geogris stepped ashore first. He was surprised to see countless people dressed as sailors gathering together and beginning to put on armor. The arrival of the soldiers of the Fifth Legion was warmly welcomed by them.

After asking, Geogris learned that the Roman army began to attack the city at dusk and never stopped. They lit piles of fires outside the city as lighting to facilitate the Roman soldiers' attack.Due to the continuous onslaught of the Romans, the reserve soldiers led by Tellis suffered a lot of casualties. Not only did they send the reserve force composed of Latin refugees and slaves to the city, they also gathered the sailors of the civil war ships at the dock. , ready for reinforcements at any time.

With the help of these Third Fleet sailors, all the soldiers from the five brigades of the Fifth Legion quickly came ashore, and under the leadership of Georgris, they quickly rushed towards the city.

At this moment, an exclamation came from the front: "It's not good!! The wall collapsed!!..."

Geogris was startled, the battle situation was urgent, and he immediately ordered: "The whole army moves forward quickly!"

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Continuous hard battles and the collapse of the city wall had already caused the morale of the soldiers at the top of the city to fluctuate. At this time, the Romans took the opportunity to launch a much larger attack than before.

Before the black crowd of Roman soldiers crossed the ditch, some liberated slaves at the head of the city had never seen such a great momentum, and they turned around and ran away.

Tellis hurriedly led the guards to stop them, and decisively killed the slaves who led the escape to stabilize the morale of the army.But he could not care about this end of the city wall, which was more than a mile long. As the enemy approached, the chaos at the top of the city not only did not subside, but intensified.

In such a hurry, Tellis didn't even have time to dispatch troops to block the gap. In the end, even he himself lost confidence...

Just when he was at a loss and about to give up, "Woo!..." His familiar bugle sounded in the city, followed by a uniform chant: "Great Hades, you are the king of the kingdom." The patron saint, the lord of the night, the embodiment of justice and strictness!..."

Before Tellis could react, the legion reserve soldiers at the top of the city had already started shouting: "Our reinforcements have arrived!! Our reinforcements have arrived!!!..."

I saw that under the reflection of the fire in the city (in order to facilitate the soldiers to go to the city to fight, Thales learned from the Romans and lit a fire in the city), a long black dragon was rushing down the city along the street.

The face of the tall soldier at the front was clearly visible. He was covered in thick dog skin, and he held a legion flag high in his hand, with the statue of the god at the top shining brightly.

"Fifth Legion! It's the Fifth Legion!!..." sharp-eyed soldiers shouted loudly.

The city of Ostia is saved!The legion reserve soldiers gained confidence, the originally panicked Ostia reserve soldiers gradually fled, and Tellis also calmed down.

Titus outside the city also heard the bugles and chants. He did not expect that these were reinforcements from the enemy. He thought that General Dionia used these to encourage the soldiers and defend with all their strength. After all, with his Judging from his experience, no enemy reinforcements will arrive at this special time, so he frowned and whispered: "At this time, the Dionians still have such morale! Just like a dictatorship As the official said, the army of this kingdom cannot be underestimated!"

At this time, someone in the city shouted: "Is Lord Tellis here?! Lord Tellis!..."

Telis held onto the battlements and looked down: he saw a young team officer in black helmet and red tassel on his head walking along the base of the city wall and shouting.

"I am Tellis!" he responded immediately.

The team officer hurriedly saluted and said: "I am the adjutant of the fifth army commander Geogris. The army leader asked me to tell you that he will lead the troops to block the gap and let you focus on the defense of the city. Reinforcements composed of sailors from the Third Fleet are coming to the city to reinforce you!”

After discussing with the adjutant of the Fifth Army, Tellis urged the team officers at the head of the city to lead the soldiers back to their respective defensive wall sections, and deployed more light infantry above the gap, and began to prepare enough asphalt, because Geogris was ready to return to the Romans the suffering suffered by the Fourth Legion when they attacked the city.

Titus saw from a distance that under the city full of flames, the heroic Roman soldiers braved the rain of arrows and rushed into the gap in the city wall. This made him excited and thought that victory was in sight.

Unexpectedly, not long after, the entire gap was filled with Roman soldiers. The men who went to inquire about the news came back and reported: "There are Dionian troops blocking the gap, and the soldiers are temporarily unable to break through their defenses!"

At this time, the messenger sent by Camillus also rushed outside the city of Ostia, (because in the dark night, the messenger did not dare to let go of his horse, so he fell behind the fleet) and reported to Proposal Tus : "The Dionysians sent thousands of soldiers from the city of Rome and were riding down the river in boats!"

Titus was hit hard, but he still had some illusions in his heart. He ordered the drums to be played and the bugles to be blown to encourage the soldiers to attack bravely.On the one hand, he sent his men to the city to pay close attention to the changes in the battle situation.At the same time, they also called back the Etruscan allies who were dawdling at the back of the attacking team and asked them to line up behind them in case of any eventuality.

(End of this chapter)