ancient greece mediterranean ruler

Chapter 976 The Fall of Syracuse
Because Kuchias was injured, he did not personally lead the soldiers into the fortress. He waited outside to hear the cheers of victory, but what was waiting for him was countless soldiers who looked frightened and fled back desperately. Shouting to dissuade was of no avail. Instead, under the influence of these defeated soldiers, other soldiers still outside the fortress also fled together, and the loud bugle of Dionia sounded, making the defeated soldiers escape faster.

Cuchias also had to flee back. He was extremely anxious, and suddenly thought that there were many people led by Falekus not far ahead who were building defense facilities. Maybe they could stop these defeated troops and reorganize the army.

Unexpectedly, when he got there, he saw no one at all, leaving only a half-excavated trench and an unfinished earthen rampart behind the trench, which hindered the soldiers' retreat.

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After the Council of Syracuse learned the news that "Hictas led the army to rebel", they not only sent a messenger to notify Theagenis, but also sent people to notify Phalecus in the Epipole Highlands. Because there were many old citizens among the people led by Falaikus, they needed to be recruited immediately to form an army to quell the rebellion of Sictas.

Falaikus was also shocked when he heard the news. He had no intention of building defensive facilities here. When he led his team back to the city, he also stopped the messenger from informing Cuchias and the others, because in his eyes, Come: The attack on Euryalus Fortress is in full swing. At this time, the attacking troops get this bad news, which will disturb the morale of the army and make all previous efforts in vain.

When Phalaicus arrived at the main city, he learned that Sictas did not attack the council, but led his army to retreat to the port.

Falekus was in a hurry. He knew that the big port was very close to the Dionian military camp. Once Sictas occupied the port and brought in the Dionian army by sea, Syracuse would be finished!
Time was running out, and he had no time to wait for these old citizens to go home and put on their weapons and equipment before gathering and setting off. Instead, he led the 1000 soldiers who came from the West City and the 500 old citizens who had just been gathered to quickly head toward the port in the southwest. Go ahead.

When they arrived at the inner wall, they saw corpses scattered on the ground. The soldiers felt the urgency of the situation and also felt angry.

Entering the port, they soon discovered the traitor Sitaxus leading his army in formation in front of the military port.

Sitaxus saw Falekus and was ready to talk to him in front of the battle to delay for a while.

Unexpectedly, Falaikus had already seen through his intentions and directly ordered the attack.

1500 soldiers (mostly heavy infantry) roared and charged at the opponent, while the port soldiers also threw dense javelins at the opponent. Since it was a matter of life and death for both sides, the battle was very fierce from the beginning.

But after a period of fierce fighting, the port army, which was mostly light infantry, gradually became exhausted. If some people from the port area had not arrived and attacked the flanks of the Syracuse army with wooden sticks and oars, some hopes were temporarily relieved. Under the pressure of the Tuckers' army, perhaps the Hiktas' army had collapsed.

But now the situation is still not optimistic. People in the port continue to fall in the battle, and the entire army has been forced to retreat to the coast.

At this critical moment, 50 warships returned to the military port one after another. As soon as the warship docked at the pier, the Dionia soldiers fully loaded on the deck quickly jumped off the ship. In the form of small groups, they launched attacks on the flanks of the Syracuse formation one after another.

As the commander, Falekus took the lead and fought at the forefront, so he didn't know that the situation of the battle had changed. He was shocked when he found that the soldiers around him began to retreat: the Dionian army had landed!
He threw away his helmet and breastplate and retreated desperately with the defeated soldiers.

The Dionian soldiers were in hot pursuit, while the soldiers in the port area rushed to take care of their injured comrades and people.

When the Dionian soldiers were chasing the inner wall, they found reinforcements from Syracuse arriving in front. Although forcing the broken troops to disrupt the opponent's formation was a good choice, the problem was that there were not many soldiers participating in the pursuit. I am afraid that it is difficult to completely disrupt the enemy. Instead, they may be defeated by the opponent due to the chaos of their own organization. Therefore, the officers of the Dionian pursuit force carefully chose to temporarily retreat and return to the military port to join the large forces that were still landing. .

Falaikos, who fled the danger, did not let the more than 2000 troops formed by the newly recruited old citizens join the defeated soldiers, retake the military port, and prevent the Dionians from continuing to land.

After the battle just now, he felt that the entire port area had probably rebelled against Syracuse. If they continued to fight in the port area, it was very likely that the force that had finally been assembled would be trapped in a tight siege again.

After much hesitation, Phalaicus did not dare to take risks, so he had to let the army defend the inner wall, and at the same time sent people to inform the council.

Not long after, 3000 Dionian soldiers and Xitax's troops approached the inner wall.

The inner wall is only used to isolate the port area and check foreigners, so it is not built as tall and strong as the outer city wall. Its height is only three meters, and the aisles on the city are relatively narrow, and there are no reserves of stones, wood blocks, or asphalt. Waiting for a sharp weapon to defend the city, but after the Dionian coalition forces approached the city, Falekus was surprised to find that the Syracuse soldiers who were condescending and defending were at a disadvantage.

Because the heavy javelins thrown by the Dionian heavy infantry and the light javelins thrown by the port soldiers blocked the sky and caused a lot of casualties to the Syracuse soldiers on the city at close range, at this time the French There were not many light infantry in the army led by Lykus. The aggrieved state of the army that could only be beaten but could not make an effective counterattack made Falaikus feel half cold.

Not long after, people in the port area also promptly sent some wooden ladders used for house repairs and logs used for building ships for the coalition soldiers to use in attacking the city.

When Phalaicus saw this scene on the city, he felt extremely depressed and uncomfortable. While the soldiers used their shields to defend against long-range attacks from the city, they cursed the people in the port for their betrayal.

The Dionian coalition soldiers quickly put these wooden ladders on the three-meter-high stone wall, taking advantage of the favorable opportunity when the enemy troops on the city were suppressed by javelins, and quickly climbed to the top of the city.At the same time, the coalition soldiers used logs to break open the city gate and rushed through the door opening in the inner wall. The frontal fighting gradually began on and below the city.

At the head of the fierce battle, Falaikus saw another large black army appearing in the port area (the second wave of landing troops-the Eighth Dionian Army), pressing against the inner wall in a mighty manner. Come, his heart suddenly hit the bottom.

Just at this moment, another soldier pointed to the rear and shouted in panic: "The city is on fire!"

Falekus hurriedly turned his head, and saw thick smoke billowing from the northwest, and the flames soaring into the sky, he couldn't help but turn pale with shock: Such a wide-ranging fire couldn't be an accidental fire, could it be that the Dionians have already entered the city? !
He thought so, and the soldiers were even more panicked, and their morale dropped sharply. Fortunately, these old citizens who had experienced many wars were still rational and knew very well: If they choose to retreat at this time, Syracuse may be completely destroyed. !
Therefore, motivated by Falaikus' constant running, they can still barely support the defense.

However, it rained continuously all night, and the section of the west city wall close to the sea was very close to the port area. Standing on the 10-meter-high city wall, Syracuse soldiers not only saw clearly what was happening in the port area, but also saw what was happening in the port area clearly. I also saw thousands of Dionian soldiers landing at the army port one after another, storming the precarious inner wall, and I also saw that the perpetrators of the urban fire were also the Dionian army in black helmets, and they were rapidly attacking. Enter the core area of ​​the city.

When these Syracuse defenders saw this scene of the Much people, they were extremely frightened and extremely worried about the safety of their families. They had no morale to continue fighting, and they all began to flee into the city. In order to avoid responsibility, they ran and fought back. Shout: "The city is on fire!! The Dionians are entering the city! The Dionians are entering the city!!..."

Their retreat left a defensive void in the southern section of the western city wall. The Dionian soldiers quickly occupied the city head and attacked northward along the corridor.

The entire West City's defense quickly collapsed.

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It was the army led by Diocasis that ignited the fire in the city. They pursued the defeated troops of Syracuse all the way, without giving the enemy a chance to breathe and regroup. They pursued from the fortress of Euryalus to the edge of the main city. Although They ran for several miles, but since the terrain was from top to bottom, the soldiers had an easy time.

During the pursuit, Diocasis had been thinking: After the army he led entered the city, how could it better help the entire siege force capture the city more quickly?

Because he knew that Commander Proseus once again ordered the entire army to launch a strong attack on the city of Syracuse in order to allow his assault force to gain a foothold in the Fortress of Euryalus. This was using the strength of his comrades. Life creates opportunities for himself, so he must disintegrate the enemy's fighting spirit as soon as possible and reduce the casualties of the soldiers.

Finally, the best way he came up with was to use fire.

So, he sent a company to break into the houses, collected olive oil and tar, poured it on a series of houses on the edge of the main city, and then lit a fire, while he led his troops to continue to pursue the defeated troops.

The direction in which Kuchias, Staxikos and others fled was the council. He also hoped that the council could send an army to intercept the pursuers who were like maggots attached to the bones. Unexpectedly, the council was already without troops. They could be sent, and when the members heard the news that "the enemy was coming", they were so frightened that they dared not stay in the meeting hall. They fled westward one after another, hoping that the troops of Theagenis and Phalaicus could protect them. their safety.

(End of this chapter)