Chapter 217 Battle of Mayaro (1)

Hyparinus believed that the rebels such as Herolis were powerful now, and the courtiers loyal to Dionysius such as Philistos had nowhere to go, so he chose conservative measures.

In fact, at this time, the Syracuse riot troops in the city were retreating step by step under the onslaught of mercenaries.

Herolis was a good organizer and instigator, but not a good general. He did not take decisive measures to reorganize the command and organization system of this new army, and divided his troops around the streets to surround the enemy. Instead, he took the lead in the battle from the very beginning. As a result, the civic soldiers were disorganized, and the wounds and deaths of their companions made the vicious image of Dionysius' mercenaries in their hearts once again vivid.

Unfortunately, at this time, Hiparinus was too cautious and wanted to protect his daughter and grandson first, and missed the opportunity to send mercenaries on the island to defeat the citizen army.

Originally, there were a small number of nobles and citizens who supported Dionysius in the city, but they were imprisoned because of Philistos, and no one came out to take the lead in organizing them to assist the mercenaries to fight, resulting in a thousand mercenaries fighting fiercely in the city. The upper hand, but the lack of follow-up support, cannot completely defeat the opponent.

Just as Herolis led the civic soldiers to support, the Dionysian spy, who had been paying close attention to the movement in the city, immediately notified the poor and free people in the port area. They quickly organized a team and never had mercenaries. The guarded Puskamen in front of Epipole Heights entered, quickly passed through Epipole Heights, rushed to the main city, went around behind the mercenaries and launched an attack.

The mercenaries were attacked from the front and back, and the formation was in chaos. After hard fighting, most of them were wiped out, and a very small part fled to Ortigia Island.

Herolis did not continue to chase, he had realized the problem of the army he led at this moment, and this illness almost ruined the resistance action he led. So he ordered the troops to stop the offensive, and with the assistance of other rebel leaders, appointed officers at all levels for this huge team of more than 14,000 people composed of citizens, poor and free people, and let his friends, Kuzias, a democrat with experience in combat, served as his assistant to reorganize the army and negotiate offensive plans.

Kuzias suggested to him that the walls and fortresses of Ortigia were tall and strong, and were not easy to capture. Under the circumstance that Marcias may lead his army to return at any time, the troops should not attack the island with all their strength, but should send troops to control the gates and walls of Syracuse, and at the same time eliminate the forces supporting Dionysius in the city, and unite The people of the city fought against these mercenaries of Dionysius...

Herolis and others agreed with Kuzias' suggestion, and sent him to lead a team to the isthmus of Ortigia, and urgently built a wall to completely block Ortigia from Syracuse. Zha outside the city, and then Harolis started the clearing operation in the city.

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And just as the riots broke out,

The Dionysian spy lurking in the port had already sent people to take a fast boat, set off from Dagang, sailed straight north, and arrived at Katanai more than two hours later.

In the port of Catane, there is Dionia's secret agent in charge of Sicily, Antrapolis. He did not personally go to Syracuse to participate in the riot, and even ordered his men not to enter the tin during the riot. Rakuza City, so as not to have bad associations with the people of Syracuse.

But in Catane, Antrapolis did not have these scruples, because most of the mercenaries, the rulers of the whole city, were recruited to Meyaro by Marcias, and the defense in the city was empty. Antrapolis even blatantly summoned freemen and slaves in the port, calling on them to overthrow the rule of those outsider mercenaries.

When Dionysius destroyed Catane, he gave the land to some of the mercenaries who helped him fight. These soldiers fight and kill all the year round, they don't know how to manage the fields at all, and the land of Catania is vast, and they can't be busy with their manpower alone, so they can only rely on slaves and free people. The slaves mainly came from the people of the city-states captured by Dionysius when he conquered the east coast of Sicily. The mercenaries themselves often sent troops to the western mountains to capture the exiles and the Sikers and work for themselves as slaves. Many of the freedmen were former citizens of the city-states on the east coast, but now they have lost their homes. Therefore, the mercenaries of Catanay ruled this large group of slaves and free people who were far more numerous than them and hated them, only because of the powerful force of Syracuse and the ferocity of the mercenaries, they smashed the resistance of the slaves many times and forced the They had to choose obedience.

Antrapolis, as an exile from Catane, returned to his hometown after a few years. The port opened up, with the help of his former compatriots, he formed his own team, and sent additional staff to neighboring city-states such as Syracuse, Leotini, Sikuli, Taunis, etc. to spread rumors, find alliances, and wait. opportunity.

Now is the chance. The Syracuse army suffered heavy losses in Greater Greece, and almost all the troops of Syracuse and its southeastern allies were dispatched to encircle and suppress the landing Dionysian army. The reason why Antrapolis did not immediately launch a riot was because For fear of alarming Dionysius supporters in Syracuse, the Catanes had urged him several times.

Now that news of the riots in Syracuse comes, Antrapolis immediately announces: Operation begins!

The Katanai burst into cheers, and they gathered their troops and launched an attack on the city of Katanai.

At the same time, the Katanai slaves in the city were also organized to launch a violent attack on the mercenaries above the city to collect blood debts for their dead relatives.

There were not many mercenaries left behind, and they were suddenly attacked from the front and back, and they were quickly defeated.

Antrapolis led the uprising team to occupy the city of Catane. He did not participate in the victory celebration of his former compatriots, but immediately sent people to ride to the three city-states of Leotine, Taunis and Sikuli, and told the lurker. The news that "the riots have occurred in Syracuse and Katanai and has been successful" among the men there encouraged their confidence and urged them to take immediate action.

Antrapolis believed that these three city-states had succumbed to the powerful force of Syracuse, and were also set up as puppets by Dionysius to establish tyrant regimes one by one, with heavy tribute and military tax pressure. Among the people, their resentment towards Syracuse can be imagined. Only one flame is needed, and a raging fire will surely ignite, and the news of the success of the riots in Syracuse and Catane will undoubtedly inspire their confidence and Fighting spirit. As long as the riots in these three city-states are also successful, it will be difficult for the army led by Marcias to return to Syracuse.

To this end, Antrapolis sent people to take a fast boat and quickly went north to the port of Meyaro to inform the first army commander Antonios of the "success of the riots between Syracuse and Catane", so as to make him feel psychologically. Prepare.

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In the early morning of this day, it was foggy in the Siriting, but there was only mist in Meyaro.

Macias has received a report from the scout: more than 5,000 reinforcements from the south coast city-states of Gera and Kamanlina are coming.

Therefore, the cautious Macias did not continue to bombard the southern bank of the Alcantara River with ballistas, nor did he lead his army to cross the river to attack directly. The pack team headed westward along the river bank, crossing the Alcantara River from a flat area far from Mejaro, near Mount Etna, leaving the First Corps in the river near Mejaro. All the traps set were in vain.

Antonios did not send an army to intercept it on the other side of the river, because Tauromenion's mercenaries also came out in full force. They also called back the 200 soldiers who had built the temporary checkpoint in the north the day before yesterday, and sent people to the western mountains to inform the exiles not to go east for the time being.

Marcias' army was easily reunited with the Tauromenian mercenaries, numbering 13,000 men.

Macias still chose a prudent tactic, and placed the remaining ballistas in front of the formation to continue firing stone bombs on the west of Meyaro, while waiting for the arrival of reinforcements.

For a time, stone bullets whistled in the air, and the town roared continuously.

In order to avoid being accidentally injured by the flying rubble and sawdust, Dionia's soldiers and the exiles in the town had to retreat again and again, retreating to the east.

Macias, on the other hand, calmly sent the soldiers to clear the traps and obstacles of the Dionians outside the town on the west side of Mealros.

The soldiers of the First Corps felt suffocated. Since the establishment of the First Legion, it has won many battles and is invincible. It is a hero praised and longed for by the people of Dionia. He has never experienced such a battle, in addition to avoiding ballistas, he is constantly retreating.

As a result, the soldiers began to protest to the officers and demanded: rush out of the town and engage in frontal engagement with the enemy.

Not only the soldiers protested, but the exiles were also dissatisfied. They were trapped in this town with their wives and children. There was no river to the west, so the ballista could be pushed completely in front of the town. The town is within range of the ballista.

When everyone's protests and dissatisfaction were conveyed to Anton Rios through the team officers and exile leaders, the pressure he was under could be imagined.

"Lord Legionnaire, we can't be beaten like this anymore! We must go out and destroy those ballistas!" Tigertinos suggested loudly.

"Kill it out?! That's the trick of the enemy!" Trotiras immediately objected: "What we have now is not 8,000 legionnaires, but an army of 5,000 legionnaires and more than 3,000 exiles. Fighting on the plains, it is very easy to be surrounded by enemies that outnumber us! These exiles are not like us, even if they are surrounded, they can continue to fight heroically!"