ancient greece mediterranean ruler

Chapter 930 Paragonia Fortress

"Sir, he seems to be here for something else this time." Taglu said softly.

"Then let him come in." Leotizides rubbed his eyes, but his expression did not relax at all.

So as soon as Acethemis stepped through the door, he warned in advance: "I hope you are not here to talk to me about the cavalry attack. I have already told you, and it is not the time yet."

"Commander." Acethemis was stunned and hurriedly explained: "I thought of a way to reduce the threat of the Carthaginian cavalry."

Leotizides finally turned his head, looked at him, and asked, "What can we do?"

Acethemis said seriously: "Commander, there are a large number of Carthaginian cavalry, but most of them are Numibian cavalry. As far as I know, the horses ridden by these Numibians are short, but they can run fast." They are strong, and they also have another characteristic, which is that they can endure hunger better. They can carry Numibians to fight just by eating grass, but they have to eat constantly..."

Leotizides' heart moved, he leaned forward slightly and asked, "What do you mean?"

Seeing the bad-tempered commander's interest, Acethemis immediately brightened up and spoke more fluently: "The Carthaginians spread thousands of cavalry across our Catania plains. , I am afraid that it will not only destroy our village and cover our eyes and ears, but also solve the problem of food for these horses. It is autumn now, and the grass on the ground has begun to wither and turn yellow. Now that the Carthaginians have burned our village, we can still Taking advantage of the dark night, burn the weeds on the plain with confidence and boldness, so that the Carthaginian cavalry will not dare to move so frequently on the plain."

"Burn the grass on the entire plain..." Leotizides pondered for a while and then said hesitantly: "Asithemis, you are from Catanai, you should be very familiar with the situation here, even if The plain has been burned to the ground, and as long as it rains once or twice, grass will soon grow on the land."

"But it rarely rains in September and October in Catanai." Acethemis had obviously considered this question, and he answered quickly.

Leotizides also made a decision quickly: "Tagru, you go and invite Sipulos immediately. I need to discuss it with him."

"Yes, sir." Taguru immediately ran out, because Sipulos had just left, so he should be able to intercept him on the road. As he ran, he thought: Sipulos is the governor of Sicily, and he is broad-minded. Every time he took the initiative to talk about the problem, I felt that the commander seemed to be used to it. He shouted at Sipulos. This was not a good thing. I had to find an opportunity to remind him later!
In the kitchen, Leotizides looked at the map and murmured: "Although I don't know if this method really works, you have to give it a try to find out. Even if the situation is very unfavorable to us now, we will not You should lose confidence and work hard to find opportunities..."

"Commander, you are right!"

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As Leotizides analyzed, Mago did target Palagonia.

The defenses on the north side of Paragonia are equally tight, but compared with the south side, the terrain is open, which is conducive to the deployment of the army.

Mago learned some lessons from the previous failed attack in the south. When building the camp, he ordered the engineers to start assembling the ballistae. After giving the order to attack, dozens of ballistae began to bombard the guard towers in the trap zone.

At the same time, he also ordered all the tens of thousands of Numibian infantry formed by Carthage to dig soil. Since Paragonia is located at the foot of the mountain and the soil is relatively hard, the soldiers had to dig soil farther away, and then Then transport them over, fill in all the traps and trenches in the north of Paragonia, and pave a wide and safe passage.During the period of clearing the perimeter, in order to prevent the enemy from leaving the city for sneak attacks, he also had his elite troops arrayed in front, ready to attack at any time.

Moreover, he also mobilized 1 soldiers stationed in Gela, increasing the number of soldiers in the Carthage camp to 6, to ensure that he had sufficient troops to attack Paragonia while also At the same time, defend against attacks from the new military camps of Leotini and Dionia.

Although the defenders continued to harass, the Carthaginian soldiers suffered few casualties and their morale was maintained. Although the attack on the outskirts of Paragonia was slow, it continued to advance steadily.

Three days later, the Carthaginian army advanced to within a hundred meters of the city, forcing all the Dionysian defenders to retreat into the city and stop attacking.

Mago was finally able to get a closer look at this small town that had caused him a lot of trouble. After walking around it for more than half a circle, he couldn't help but be surprised: "This is the village that people in Syracuse call it?!"

The adjutant next to him explained: "Sir, I remember that the people of Syracuse only said that Paragonia used to be a village. Since the Dionysian army entered Paragonia and relocated the villagers a few months ago, It’s just that no one is allowed to come near this place, and they don’t know what the situation is like in Paragonia now.”

Margo glanced at him sideways and said, "You are really good at excusing Syracuse people."

The adjutant was too frightened to speak.

Mago stared at the Paragonia in front of him: among the dense deer villages stood a white city. Its area was not large, but its shape was different from the cities Mago had ever seen. It was about Surrounded by a city wall more than four meters high, there are many protruding circular wall towers in the city wall. What is surprising is that there is a circular building two or three meters higher than the city wall inside the city wall, as if in a big circle. Set within a small concentric circle.

Although Mago had never attacked such a strange city, based on his many years of combat experience, he also had a premonition that there was something unusual about this small town in Paragonia. He subconsciously drove his horse forward to observe more carefully.

Suddenly I heard the guards on the left and right shouting: "Sir, be careful!"

I saw several black spots suddenly appear in the air ahead, roaring towards me.

Mago hurriedly clamped the horse's belly, but the war horse under his crotch did not move. The guard beside him hurriedly thrust a spear into its buttocks, and the war horse screamed and ran out, almost throwing Mago to the ground.

At this time, several stone bullets had fallen, and several shrill screams immediately sounded, and the area around where Mago was standing was a mess of blood and flesh.

Brother Ma finally managed to control his horse, turned around and returned late. Seeing this scene, he frowned and said? : "Go back."

During the retreat, he did not forget to ask his adjutant: "Where did the enemy's stone bullets come from?"

The adjutant shook his head to express that he didn't see clearly, and Mago glared at him again: Even though this young adjutant was a member of the Magonide family, he couldn't help but have the idea of ​​replacing him at this time.

"Sir, it seems...it seems to have been shot from the city." A guard said.

Mago was stunned and asked: "Are you sure you are coming from the city and not from the city?"

"Sir, I also saw it. It was indeed coming from the city." Another soldier answered.

Mago pulled the reins of the horse, turned around and looked at the bloody stone bullets on the ground, and then looked up at the wall of Paragonia ahead. There was no movement there at the moment, but Mago's expression became serious.

At this time, on the wall tower of Paragonia facing Mago, a Dionian officer wearing a helmet with purple tassels was bending over and looking out through the gaps between the battlements. Overlook.

"It was a good shot. The impact point of the stone bullet was quite accurate. It's a pity that the big guy escaped!" He turned around and said with some regret.

"Captain, do we need to continue firing?" the ballista's observer asked.

Ten years ago, the sighters of the Dionia Ballista were exclusively students from the Mathematics Institute of Dionia Academy, who were responsible for providing launch parameters and correcting the ballistics. Ten years have passed. As long as citizens who have graduated from schools in various cities in Dionia and are good at mathematics can serve as spotters for Dionia's crossbows, they can serve as sightsers. This is due to the spread of education and the improvement of crossbows.

The captain shook his head and said: "He is already alert. It is impossible to make a surprise attack again. Don't waste stone bullets. When the enemy attacks the city, you will be busy."

"Captain, don't worry. A few days ago, Carthage's ballistae was very rampant and destroyed many of our sentry towers. Now it's our turn to show off!"

As soon as the sighter finished speaking, the abdominal archer next to him immediately said: "Yes, as long as the Carthage ballista dares to enter our range, we can destroy it!"

Their words aroused active responses from the surrounding soldiers.

The captain was satisfied that the soldiers could maintain such strong fighting spirit despite the siege of the Carthaginian army.Of course, he knew very well that the source of the soldiers' confidence mainly came from this city.

Paragonia was a village with only a few inhabitants six months ago. When Leotizides decided to use it as a forward stronghold against the Carthaginian army, he did not just strengthen the walls on the basis of the village. Trenches were dug, traps were laid, but the village was completely uprooted and a fortress was built.

The Ministry of Military Affairs has been researching and improving Dionia's military technology. In recent years, inspired by King Davos, engineers from the Ministry of Military Affairs have designed a new defensive fortress and applied it to During the usual training projects of each military camp - city construction and offensive and defensive drills, Leotizides was deeply aware of its powerful defense, so he decided to use it in actual combat.

He not only gathered the soldiers of the Eighth Legion, but also asked Sipulos to mobilize the people of Catanai. Tens of thousands of people took turns working, using ready-made stone bricks and wood from Paragonia, and "fired with Etna volcanic ash" "Davos Cement", plus a large amount of stone provided by Naxos (there are stone mines in Naxos near Tauromenion), a large amount of wood provided by Hena and Agilion...

(End of this chapter)