ancient greece mediterranean ruler

Chapter 783: Attacking the City of Rome ([-])

After touching the iron gate, Terentus felt confident. He took off the rope tied around his waist, tied it firmly to the iron gate, and then pulled the rope hard. After getting the response from his teammates, he Holding the iron rod with one hand, he squatted down, took off the tools on his body, took out the iron saw, and used it to cut the iron rod below.

While he was busy, Yizam held back his excitement when he got the news sent back through the rope, and immediately sent another scout to grab the connected rope and smoothly reach the bottom of the sewer from the broken bridge. He easily climbed to the exit, gestured to Terentus, and without speaking, he took off the tools and did the same thing as his teammates—saw the iron rod, and then broke it with iron pliers.

This lasted for more than 20 minutes, and finally a gap was opened under the iron fence for people to climb in and out.

Terentus took off his belongings, threw them inside through the gap in the iron rod, then lay down, clinging to the slippery moss and smelly sewage, he struggled to get in through the gap, and then felt relieved. He leaned his numb body against the stone wall, too tired to care about the dirty garbage clinging to the waterway.

His teammates quickly climbed in and pulled hard on the rope tied to the iron fence.

Even though Izam, who was originally on the river bank, had expected this, he finally couldn't help being excited at this moment and whispered: "It's successful! It's successful! Brothers, follow me and enter the city of Rome together!"

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In the morning, the sleeping Davos was awakened by Clotokatax.

Last night, Davos had been busy and thinking about today's siege. It was not until late at night, when he received the message sent back by Izam, that he was relieved. He couldn't resist the drowsiness and fell asleep until now.

When he was woken up, Davos was still a little confused and blurted out: "What's going on?!"

"No, father, the legion commanders are waiting for you to give the order to attack!" Clotokatax replied hurriedly.

Davos realized that he had lost his composure. He patted his face with his hand, feeling more awake, and then stood up: "Bring me the armor!"

The servant immediately brought the armor and helped Davos put it on, and Crotokatax also helped.

"Don't worry! Don't panic!" Davers comforted his son and asked, "How's the weather?"

"Father, it's a sunny day!" Clotokatax replied briskly.

"This is a good omen!" Davos smiled, took the helmet from the servant, put it on, straightened it calmly, and then said: "Go, go see the protagonists who attacked the city today! "

As he spoke, he strode towards the big tent next to him.

"Your Majesty!!" The generals in the tent immediately stood up and saluted, and then watched with bright eyes as Davos walked up to the main seat.

Amyntas, the commander of the first army, Matonis, the commander of the second army, Lizaro, the commander of the third army, Olivers, the commander of the fourth army, Geogris, the commander of the fifth army, and Trotilas, the commander of the sixth army. , Commander of the First Cavalry Corps Ledes, Commander of the Second Cavalry Corps Curzius, Commander of the Navy of the Third Fleet Midorades...Davos's eyes slowly swept over them, each one with different characteristics. His face, roughened and scarred by years of fighting, was filled with excitement and anticipation.

At this moment, in the eyes of Davos, the twinkling stars in the big tent gave him more confidence, and he smiled: "It seems that everyone is very confident, so what are you waiting for, prepare to attack! "

"Yes, Your Majesty!" The generals responded with a smile.

"Lizaru and Midorades, the third fleet and third legion led by you will not start attacking until half an hour after the other legions attack!"

"Yes!"

Davos only specifically asked this sentence, and then said firmly: "Everyone, you must capture the city of Rome before dark! I am here waiting for news of your victory!"

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On the Capitoline Hill in the city of Rome, in the magnificent temple of Jupiter, the main god of Rome, the priests were making devout prayers to the gods under the auspices of the high priest Cato Julius Eurus. Kneeling behind them were many Roman senators and some senior officers led by the city guard chief Scipio.

The ritual of worshiping gods in Rome was relatively simple. After the prayer ended quickly, a group of divination priests appeared. They were holding a rooster with a red crown on its head and mostly red feathers. A priest sprinkled a handful of black beans on the ground. Then release the cock.

This rooster, who was originally in low spirits (had not been fed from yesterday afternoon to this morning), when he saw the black beans on the ground, his eyes suddenly widened, his legs kicked very fast, his wings kept flapping, and he pounced on it like lightning. Then his head kept thinking about food, making the people next to him dizzy.

In the blink of an eye, a handful of black beans was eaten by it, leaving no one left. The rooster wandered around the temple unsatisfied, looking for new food.

Seeing the performance of the holy rooster, everyone watching looked happy. There was no need for the priest to make the final conclusion. Everyone looked happy: This is a good omen!

At this time, the priest who performed the bird divination outside the temple also completed his task (the most important divination method for Roman priests, the bird divination priest divides the sky into four parts, and then sees which part of the sky is abnormal, such as Dark clouds, flocks of birds, showers...it's up to them to decide whether these abnormalities are good or bad omens). After entering the palace, they loudly announced: "Good luck! Good luck!"

Cheers suddenly erupted inside and outside the temple.

When the people and soldiers at the foot of the mountain heard the cheers from the mountain, their confidence suddenly doubled.

And at this moment, "Woo!..." A high-pitched bugle sounded from outside the city, and the faces of everyone on the Capitoline Mountains suddenly changed: Has the Dionian attack begun? !
Scipio hurried to the edge of the cliff and looked northwest: he saw that many figures had appeared in front of the enemy's camp in the distance (this was the military camp of the first Dionysian legion), and they began to form a formation.

Scipio kept his expression calm, turned around and said to the generals: "The Dionysians have begun to attack. You each return to your own defense areas, command the citizens, and defend Rome!"

"Yes!!" The generals replied forcefully.

Scipio led them down the mountain in a hurry. Most of the people crowded at the foot of the mountain were women and children. They took the initiative to make way for the generals, and wished them victory and drove away the enemy.

After emergency mobilization the night before and yesterday, the city of Rome recruited a total of about 25000 soldiers. Scipio divided the force into four parts based on the situation of the Dionian camp outside the city: 5000 soldiers to defend the northeastern section of the city wall; 5000 soldiers defend the western city wall, and the number of troops defending the southern city reaches 1, which corresponds to the huge Dionysian military camp outside the city. The remaining less than 5000 soldiers defend the Roman Vertebra Bridge in the north.

The person responsible for commanding the defense of the northeastern city wall was Marcus Atilius. He was originally the cavalry commander among the 3000 elite soldiers who stayed in Rome. He came from a prominent Roman family and was a veteran general who had experienced many battles. Therefore, Scipio the Great He entrusted him with the important task of entrusting him with the northeastern section of the city wall, which had the longest defensive range and was farthest from the center of Rome.Therefore, after descending the mountain, he did not need to go far and immediately went to the top of the city next to the Capitoline Mountains.

Some Roman soldiers immediately gathered around: "General, the enemy has begun to attack!!"

Surrounding him were teenagers under the age of 18. Their childish faces were mixed with excitement and nervousness. They had already grabbed their spears and leather shields in their hands, and looked at Marcus like children. looking at parents.

"Don't panic, our walls are so high and the trenches are so deep, the enemy can't attack! The great god Jupiter has given us a good omen. The holy chicken has eaten up all the feed, and the Dionians will be repelled! Zhu. Pitt will protect Rome!”

After listening to Marcus's encouraging words, the soldiers cheered.

Marcus squeezed out of the crowd, found his adjutant, and said in a serious voice: "Go and inform each squadron leader to take care of their soldiers, stick to the position they should stick to, and don't run around casually, otherwise they will be dealt with according to military law." !”

The adjutant immediately went to carry out the military order.

Max saw a row of soldiers sitting against the outer wall. Their weapons and even helmets were placed on the ground at hand. From a glance, almost all of them had gray hair. They talked to each other with relaxed expressions, as if they didn't know anything at all. The battle is coming...

These are all Roman citizens over the age of 50. Although their strength has faded due to old age and their muscles and bones are no longer healthy, it can be said that almost all of them have experienced hundreds of battles. Therefore, compared with those young soldiers who have not experienced battles, Magus trusts these real veterans more, which is also his helplessness, because besides the old people and young people in his team, there are only some civilians and slaves left. The crowd didn't deserve his complete trust.

Marcus held his hands on the battlements and looked into the distance.

Dionia's siege army has advanced to a distance where he can see clearly: Dionia's siege army was divided into a group of more than a dozen heavy infantry, placing a long and wide wooden board on their heads, and lined up One by one, the columns were loosely spaced, and the distance between the columns was wide, approaching the city wall unhurriedly.

"Blow the bugle and get the soldiers ready for battle!" Magus ordered.

The bugle soon sounded, and the Roman soldiers, under the command of the squadron leader, quickly put on their armor, picked up their weapons, and took up defensive positions. They stared at the approaching enemies below the city and were always ready to attack; older citizens acted as auxiliaries. Soldiers, bring bundles of javelins, arrows, cans of tar, and even stones and wood, and place them on the prescribed walkway...

The most advanced Dionian soldiers were less than 150 meters away from the city wall, which was already within the shooting range of the archers at the top of the city. Marcus did not order an attack, but there were still sparse arrows shot from the city. .

(End of this chapter)