Chapter 120 Outpost Battle

The Roman people quickly dispelled their panic in the atmosphere of the same enemy, and they enthusiastically signed up to defend the city again. The Roman cavalry also ran on the fields outside the city, and urgently notified the people of various villages to evacuate immediately. More than a dozen messengers also rushed out of the city of Rome one after another, rushing to all directions, going to the colonial city and the allies for help...

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Ostia is more than 50 miles away from Rome, and there are no other city-states in the middle, and Rome is also nearly 30 miles away from the nearest allies. This is the result of the strong expansion of the Romans over the past century, and they continue to defeat the nearby city-states. Then they moved their people into Rome, the city of Rome continued to grow, and more and more land was directly under it, but it left a blank area of ​​dozens of miles around it, which made Dionia’s two The army of Lu marched smoothly without any hindrance, as if entering a land of no one. I wonder if the Romans regretted their past short-sighted and tyrannical practices at this time.

In particular, the two cavalry corps of Dionia galloped all the way and rushed to the forefront of the entire army.

At this time, they saw thick smoke rising in the distance.

"Damn it! The Romans must be burning their granaries!" Ryders remembered the death order that King Davos sent a messenger to him last night: in the early morning of tomorrow morning, after the whole army set off, your first and second cavalry regiments Get to the river port on the Tiber River outside the city west of Rome as quickly as possible, and seize the granary at all costs!

Ryders couldn't help but feel anxious and shouted loudly: "Speed ​​up! Prepare to put out the fire!"

The anxious Ryders even ordered the trumpeter to sound the charge horn, and led the soldiers to run wildly.

The river port in the city of Rome was built after the Romans captured Ostia, and it became another channel for the Romans to communicate with the outside world. Due to the continuous influx of people in the city of Rome at that time, there was no river port planning in advance, so the city was fundamentally There was no spare space to accommodate the port, so it was built outside the city.

In the first few decades, the river port facilities were extremely rudimentary. Until the last dozen years, the aid and trade of the Carthaginians to Rome promoted the development of this river port. The expansion and improvement of the river port also allowed the transportation of materials through river transportation. The increasing number of merchant ships also led to the establishment of Roman granaries next to the river ports. This is because Rome has frequently waged wars over the past decade, which has consumed a lot of food and sometimes cannot supply enough food itself. Carthage provides assistance to it, and the grain is basically transported by river and unloaded at the port. After experiencing a fire, the Romans learned a lesson and stopped transporting food into the city where the houses were crowded and chaotic and prone to fire accidents, but parked directly near the port, which was convenient and safe. After that, they also stored the food collected from other allies here, and then when the army went on expedition, the food was collected here and transported to the camp.

When Ryders arrived with the 1st Dionysian Cavalry Corps, he saw a large rectangular camp in front of him.

The three-meter-high stone wall, with several towers built inside the wall, was billowing thick smoke inside the camp, but no one could be seen, no human voice could be heard, and the Roman city wall less than two hundred meters away was covered with Soldiers, their gates closed.

Ryders immediately jumped off his horse, drew his dagger, and was about to run towards the gate of the camp.

"Legion Commander, be careful!" Several guards next to him immediately pulled him, and at the same time blocked the cavalry shield in front of him, only to hear two "bang bang", two sharp arrows stuck on the shield.

Ryders broke out in cold sweat, calmed down immediately, and looked intently, only to see many figures shaking on the wall of the granary, he thought for a moment, and then shouted loudly: "The first brigade will use javelins for me to attack the people inside. Enemy! Dismount me from the second brigade and see if you can knock the gate open! The other brigade circle around this camp and climb the wall for me!"

"Yes, Legion Commander!!"

After only hearing the neighing of horses, the cavalry of the third, fourth, and fifth battalions began to run around the camp, while the soldiers of the second battalion ran directly to the gate of the camp, which forced the wall The Roman soldiers had to show up and attack the Dionian soldiers approaching the camp with javelins and arrows.

The Dionian cavalry of the second battalion, which was ready, immediately attacked the enemy at the top of the wall with javelins.

The walls were not high, and there were no trenches and deer fortresses, so the Dionian cavalry could approach and attack, plus their numbers were large. Although the Roman soldiers were condescending, they were at a disadvantage in long-range attacks.

At this time, the cavalry of the other battalions had already circled under the other wall sections of the granary camp, jumped off their horses, put their cavalry shields on their backs, left their spears on their horses, and hung their daggers on their waists. One squatted down, the other stepped on each other's shoulders, and the two slowly stood upright. The three-meter-high stone wall, when the two of them overlap, the soldier above can put his hand on the edge of the wall, the soldier below pushes his shoulders up, and the soldier above climbs up the wall... After a while, several hundred Dionian soldiers were standing on the wall.

They saw that many of the dozens of large circular barns in the granary had been set on fire, and more than a dozen Roman soldiers were running between the barns carrying tar and torches. They immediately separated more than half of the soldiers, quickly ran down the fence, and went to put out the fire. The other soldiers followed the aisle at the top of the wall and killed the Roman soldiers who were fighting fiercely.

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The soldiers on the west wall of Rome, because of the height of the wall, were able to see the situation in the granary camp, and they were all anxious when they saw that their compatriots were in danger.

"General Scipio, Gaius and the others refused to retreat to the city in order to completely burn the granary. They are heroes of Rome, and we should go out of the city to save them!"

"There are only less than 2,000 Dionysian cavalry, and most of them jumped off their horses to fight, wearing light armor. If we send troops out of the city at this time, we will definitely be able to seriously damage this Dionysian cavalry. !"

Compared to the pleadings of the soldiers, the elder's suggestion made Scipio the Great, the chief of the city guard, a little moved.

At the top of the city are not only Roman civic soldiers, but also some elders. They are a little curious when they face the aggressive Dionysians. After all, this is the first time they have faced Dionysian troops. Of course their The arrival also brought some troubles to Scipio the Great.

Originally, Scipio the Great's plan was to "carry all the grains in the granary into the city, and then burn the granary." Because according to the previous reconnaissance report, the Dionysian army was still on the way, so Scipio the Great believed that There was enough time to complete this plan, so he organized nearly 10,000 people and a lot of trucks to carry food out of the city, thinking that this task could be completed before the arrival of the Dionysian army.

But not long after the rations left the city, he was rewarded by the scout again: the Dionysian cavalry was rushing towards Rome, less than 30 miles away from the city of Rome.

The speed of the Dionian cavalry's march was completely beyond Scipio the Great's expectations. Not only could he not be able to complete his previous plan, but he had to immediately withdraw the rations to the city. In order to ensure order and prevent the people and the beasts from chaotically blocking the city gate, he did not immediately go to burn the granary, but the evacuation of the grain transport team took a lot of time. The Onian cavalry was already very close to the city of Rome, and the return from the scout cavalry, they came straight to the granary.

At this time, the squadron captain Gaius, who was originally guarding the granary, and 120 soldiers under him voluntarily chose to stay in order to complete the task.

The heroism and tragicness of this Roman squadron magnified the mistakes of Scipio the Great, and it was clearly seen by the elders of the city. How much would this affect his political career in Rome in the future, Scipio the Great? Ah didn't have time to think about it at the moment, so if his colleague's suggestion could be implemented successfully, it would not only hit the Dionysians, but also restore his image.

Just when the Great Scipiasso sent troops out of the city to raid, "Dionysian cavalry! Another Dionysian cavalry is coming!!..." The exclamations of the soldiers made him raise his head and saw In the distance, smoke billows, and countless Dionian cavalry in black helmets and black armor are looming in the dust mist. Judging from this situation, there are definitely not a small number of them.

When he saw that the number of new Dionian cavalry approaching the city was about two thousand, Scipio the Great hesitated: the number of two Dionian cavalry made him not confident to solve the battle in a short time. After all, there are only 3,000 elite soldiers in his hands, and it is impossible for them all to go out of the city to raid, but let the new recruits formed by the elderly and children go out of the city and fight with cavalry in the wild. He is worried that these soldiers cannot support their physical strength.

But soon he didn't have to hesitate any more. The screams of the soldiers made her see the dust mist rising in the distance again: hundreds of Dionian cavalrymen with bright armor and red cloaks rushed forward. At the bottom of the city, join the team attacking the granary!

The arrival of the Dionysian cavalry several times gave Scipio the illusion that the Dionysian army was coming here at the fastest speed and could not send troops out! Otherwise, not only these soldiers will be in danger, but Rome will be in danger too!

It's not just him who thinks this way, I'm afraid the elders and soldiers in the city also have similar thoughts, so the battle calls and pleadings that rang out before disappeared, and the surroundings were very quiet. They just heard the screams from time to time in the granary camp under the city, and their expressions were extremely painful.

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The second rush to the river port granary was the second cavalry regiment of Dionia. The commander of the regiment, Kutchius, quickly found Ryders, who was supervising the battle, and saluted the former senior officer: "Lord Ryders, What do we need to do?"