ancient greece mediterranean ruler

Chapter 971 The intelligence agency is in action

The army of Syracuse was defeated again.

Not long after, another Syracuse general arrived with 3000 soldiers. What he saw was wounded soldiers groaning everywhere and an army with low morale.

After learning about the entire battle with the injured Stasikos, both sides realized that the Dionians had made careful preparations, so it would be very difficult to regain the fortress of Yurialu, and they all began to regret their previous treatment of Yuria. Neglect of the fortress of Ruth.

So, the two joined forces and carefully planned the next attack.

At this time, the person in charge of the defense of Euryalus Fortress was Diocasis, the fifth captain of the Eighth Legion.

In the previous consecutive battles, a captain of the Eighth Legion was seriously injured, and the first captain had been guarding Selinus. Therefore, there were two vacancies in the position of captain, Diocasis. Because of his outstanding performance, he has been promoted from company captain to captain. Leotizides, who thinks highly of him, entrusts him with such an important task to complete this time. Therefore, even if he repelled the attacking enemy, he Not taking it lightly, Terentus and the other two captains were summoned to discuss and improve the plan to defend the fortress.

After everything was arranged, he began to worry about the food problem.

In order for the raid to go smoothly, the soldiers did not carry rations. There was some food in the warehouse of the fortress, but this was a food reserve for 200 people. But for the Dionysian army of more than 3400 people, Diocasis was rough. I estimated that it would only be enough for one day.It is more difficult to transport a large amount of food baggage from the foot of the mountain and from outside the city to the fortress. This is one of the reasons why Leotizides only sent more than 3000 people here.

At this time, Terentus came to Diocasis and gave him advice: "We need doctors and nurses here. The injured soldiers are in urgent need of treatment and care!"

Diocasis saw his anxious expression and knew that he was worried about the injuries of the more than 20 soldiers from the mountain reconnaissance brigade.

Previously, Terentus personally led 100 soldiers from the reconnaissance brigade to successfully scale the top of the wall. They not only had to attack the fortress, but also intercept the few sentries coming from the aisles on both sides. They also had to send people to tie up the ropes hanging down from the top of the city. When the enemy was outnumbered, the soldiers of the mountain reconnaissance brigade, who were the vanguard, were one to ten. The fast and brave attack caused chaos to the defenders who were caught off guard, creating conditions for the follow-up troops to arrive. Of course, some casualties were paid for this. .

"You are right." Diocasis immediately agreed and took the opportunity to say: "However, the mountain road here is more difficult to walk, and the sky is dark, but these are not problems for you mountain reconnaissance soldiers, so I hope you We can send a small group of soldiers down the mountain to the medical camp, pick up a few doctors and nurses, and bring along some engineers and carpenters."

Terentus was stunned: "Do you want the engineers and carpenters to install ballistas on the fortress?"

"This is one reason." Diocassis said sternly: "In addition, I want them to install a pulley device on the city wall, so that it can conveniently pull the luggage transported below the city to the top of the city."

"I will send two teams down the mountain immediately." Terentus promised immediately.

At this time, a soldier came in and said anxiously: "Captain, the enemy has begun to attack!"

Diocasis and Terentus looked at each other, quickly walked out of the dormitory, and climbed to the top of the city.

This time, the Syracuse army not only attacked the fortress from the south, but there were also many soldiers on the walkways of the east and west walls quickly approaching the fortress.

The messengers sent by Stasikos successively told the plight of the army's attack on the fortress to Teiagenis and Falekus. The Asian coalition army was also gathering, but in order to retake the fort and eliminate the enemies who broke into the city, the two generals still sent hundreds of soldiers to march north along the aisle at the top of the city to participate in the attack.

Enemies from three directions attacked at the same time, but Diocasis was not nervous because they had already made arrangements in advance.

The farther north the city wall of Syracuse goes, the narrower the walkway becomes. After all, it is not easy to build a city wall on high ground, and with the bonus of terrain, it is difficult for the enemy to attack. There is no need to build it as tall and thick as the wall near the main city. Therefore, east , The city wall walkways near the intersection on the west side are only wide enough for four people to stand side by side.

Diocasis sent two companies of heavy infantry to guard the aisles on both sides. They formed an extremely thick shield and spear wall to prevent the enemy from trying to enter the fortress through the city wall.

At the same time, the light infantry on the east and west stone walls of the fortress picked up bows and arrows and javelins to conduct long-range attacks on the enemies on the wall walkways not far from them.

It is very difficult for the Syracuse soldiers on the corridor to break through the interception of the Dionysian heavy infantry, because the city wall is built along the terrain, and the intersection is the highest. They also need to attack upward, but at the same time they also need to attack To guard against the side fire from the fortress, one can only use [-] to [-]% of his [-]% strength, which poses no threat to the Dionians in front of him.

Facing the countless Syracuse soldiers surging from the south, the Dionian soldiers on the fortress took out the woven circular grass cages, poured them with tar, lit them with fire, and threw them down, one by one burning. The fireball followed the terrain and rolled into Syracuse's attacking formation, causing great chaos. The soldiers retreated in a hurry, pushing each other, and many people fell and were injured.

These grass cages stored in the warehouse were originally reserved by the Syracuse garrison to deal with the enemies who struggled to climb the mountains to attack the city. The Dionian soldiers used them to attack the original owners, and the effect was equally good.

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When the news that "the Mountain Reconnaissance Brigade successfully captured the Fortress of Euryalus" was quickly reported to Leotizides, he did not hesitate to assemble the troops in the camp and once again issued the order to "storm the city."

Although the army had just carried out a fierce siege yesterday and suffered a lot of casualties, it was to create conditions for the mountain reconnaissance brigade to conduct a night attack at night, and now it will continue to prepare for the troops occupying the Euryalus Fortress. To establish a foothold in the city and create conditions, Leoticides sent 1 soldiers, carrying ladders and pushing siege equipment, divided into three waves, and launched an attack from the middle section of the west city wall to the entire wall section facing the sea. attack.

In addition, he also retained a heavy infantry brigade and two light armored brigade with a total of 3000 people as reserves. The purpose was not only to support the siege, but because he had deeper expectations. If the development of the battle situation was beneficial to his side, he would Consider putting this reserve force into the fortress of Euryalus to the north to join the original troops and establish victory in one fell swoop.

To this end, he sent many messengers, hoping to maintain close contact with the troops in the Urealus Fortress and always understand what was going on inside.

At the same time, he also sent a messenger to the east city of Syracuse to inform Zantiparis of the good news of the "successful night attack" and hoped that he would urge the coalition forces to increase their attack on the east city.

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Most of the citizen soldiers of Syracuse were fighting fierce battles with the Dionians in the east, west and north directions, but one army was more leisurely - in the square next to the Temple of Apollo, soldiers from the port area The 4000 soldiers seemed to have no sense of urgency about the imminent battle. They were sitting, lying, chatting, playing games, or sleeping...

Compared with the relaxation of the soldiers, Sikstas, the commander of this unit and sitting on the platform of the square, seemed very worried, but what he didn't know was that among the thousands of soldiers resting under the stage Among them, there were several pairs of eyes that were always paying attention to him.

"Artemis, it's been so many days and this old guy still hasn't taken any action. It seems that he doesn't plan to join our kingdom!"

"If he doesn't do it, let's just leave him alone and go directly to Samoratis and the others. They are more familiar with us and have a better impression of the kingdom. I believe we can convince them to submit to the kingdom!"

"Don't worry, if Hiktas really made up his mind to protect Syracuse, he would have sent someone to arrest me and rectify the entire port area, but he didn't do this, which shows that his proposal to me I still have ideas, but he is still hesitating... We need to give him some time and continue to persuade him. Moreover, he has a high prestige in the port area. It is difficult to convince most of the people in the port to join us. And by then, the news has been exposed, which will inevitably arouse the vigilance of the Syracuse Council. Then our previous efforts will not only be in vain, but will also affect Commander Proseus The progress of capturing the city of Syracuse will affect the kingdom’s war against Carthage!”

"Artemis, I'm afraid we can't wait any longer! There was quite a commotion in the city just now. It is said that our army has occupied the fortress of Euryalus, and Proseus and Xantiparis have Your Excellency is leading the army to attack the city with all its strength. Basically, all the citizen soldiers of Syracuse have been sent out to fight, leaving only the army at the port. What a great opportunity this is! Think about it, if Sictas At this time, leading these more than 4000 soldiers to launch a riot, the Syracuseans did not have any extra troops to quell the rebellion! Whether he led the army to the west or east to attack the defending defenders, it would lead to The defeat of Syracuse’s army allowed our army to successfully attack the city!”

"That's right! Artemis, did you hear that, our legions are attacking! We must seize this excellent opportunity created by the lives and blood of our soldiers!"

"Okay, let me think about it again... I think... let's take a risk. Since Xiktas can't make up his mind at this moment, then we will force him to make a choice! Let's do this..."

(End of this chapter)