Chapter 132 Storming the City of Rome (4)

But from the early morning, the battle situation was completely different from what Purlo Cassius had imagined.

The Dionians launched ten ballistas on the opposite bank and began to fire stone bullets. When the stone bullets flew over the Tiber River and fell into the Roman array, causing casualties, Cassius had to order the soldiers to disperse and retreat. In a residential area fifty meters away from the embankment.

He believed that even if the Dionysus rushed forward through the vertebral bridge, the Roman soldiers still had enough time to rush to intercept the enemy outside the city of Rome.

Dionia's ballistas stopped attacking the Roman soldiers hiding in their dwellings, and instead bombarded the four towers on either side of the Shibashi Bridge on the opposite shore.

There are always two or three stone bullets that can hit the tower in each round. The roar really worried Cassius. He had to urgently order the archers stationed on the tower to withdraw quickly. .

His concerns were right.

After more than ten minutes, the two crumbling towers closest to Shibashi finally collapsed... Then Dionia's ballista team focused on the two outermost towers.

Cassius and the soldiers watched as stone bullets bombarded the towers one after another, causing the four towers to finally fall, making a mournful roar, stirring up dust, and the powerlessness in their hearts can be imagined. Hopefully the Dionians will attack immediately and engage them in hand-to-hand combat so that this horrific stone bombardment will never be heard and seen again.

However, when the Dionians had completely destroyed the high-altitude advantage occupied by the Romans with ballistas, they stopped using ballistas.

The sudden silence of the battlefield puzzled the Romans.

At this time, Lizaru, the commander of the Third Army, who was standing on the opposite bank, was saying to Midorades, the commander of the Navy of the Third Fleet: "Other legions have already started to attack the city of Rome, and we should also start preparing."

"Don't worry, I will be able to build twenty pontoon bridges for your legion soon, and the crew can't wait!" After speaking, Midorades immediately rushed to the west bank of the Shibashi Bridge.

There are trenches dug on the periphery of the river beach, earth barriers and wooden fences are built, and there are rows of tents, and 40 crow warships are neatly parked by the river, and their bows face the river.

After Midorads gave the order, the crew of the warships immediately boarded the ship and took their places.

Then, the soldiers of the Third Corps also rushed over and pushed the warship into the river together.

Immediately after,

These warships did not start rowing in a swarm. The first boat was next to the south side of the Roman Shibashi Bridge and rowed towards the opposite bank with all its strength.

After the sailors of the second ship smashed the warship, they tried their best to make the stern stop on the shore. For this reason, the siege battalion specially made a lot of long wooden poles for the sailors sitting on the left and right sides of the warship, so that they could It was propped to the bottom of the river to stabilize the impact of the current on the warship, keeping its bow facing the opposite bank, and its stern immediately fixed to the bank with stakes and ropes.

In the sea, the small three-tiered oar warship is as big as a dragon on the Tiber River. The average length of the crow warship is more than 50 meters. Under the sailors' oars, the bow of the warship soon touched the opposite. embankment.

The operators on the deck immediately dropped the anchor, while the sailors on the right side of the hull quickly pulled back the oars, and then pulled out the long wooden poles that had been prepared at the bilge, leaning out of the oar window, and forcibly pressed against the river. end.

Since this section of the Tiber River is no more than 100 meters wide, one of the two boats is on the north bank, and the bow of the other boat is on the south bank, so there is a natural overlap between the two boats. As the sailors of the second ship tried their best to move their bows closer to the stern of the first, the pilots on board took a chance and lowered the drawbridge.

The spike at the head of the drawbridge pierced the deck at the stern of the first warship, which, though distressing to the captain and sailors, connected the two warships together; the third and fourth warships Do the same thing; the fifth and sixth warships... It didn't take long for nearly 20 "pontoon bridges" to be erected on the Tiber River on the west side of the Roman Shibashi Bridge. The suspension bridge close to the warship on the other side was put down and placed on the embankment, which immediately connected the north and south banks.

Lizaru watched the whole process from the bridgehead on the north side. He applauded the Third Fleet's clean completion of the established plan. Of course he knew: Yesterday afternoon, Midorades led a dozen warships in the river section below the river port. Repeated testing and training have led to today's success.

Seeing that some soldiers of the Third Army on the river beach were quickly divided into twenty teams and had already started boarding, Lizaru had a flash of regret in his heart: Unfortunately, the crow warship could not pass through the vertebral bridge due to its high mast, otherwise it could The "warship pontoon" was also set up on the river on the east side of Shibashi Bridge, which could force the Roman army on the other side to expand the width of the defense and add more weight to the smooth attack of the army.

Lizaru sighed slightly, and immediately turned his attention to the battle that was about to begin.

"Ulaza!" Lizaru turned around and said solemnly to the captain of the first brigade of the third legion: "You lead the first brigade, cross this bridge, and enter the city of Rome. This is what I ask of you!"

Ulaza, the former leader of the small tribe of Lucania, Bagul's childhood friend, he became a senator like Kesima and Lizaru a few years ago, but he did not choose to Instead of serving locally, he continued to stay in the Legion, compared to Bagule, who has served as the governor of the key towns of Dionia many times, and won Davos and the elders with his outstanding performance in the position of the governor of Kopsa. The praised Kesima, and Lizaru, who has already served as the commander of the army and made many achievements in battle, Ulaza is only a team captain, and the light is too dim. The reason why he stayed in this position for five or six years, It's because he likes fighting, and is only good at fighting.

After listening to Lizaru's order, Ulaza did not hesitate at all, but answered excitedly: "Legion Commander, just watch, the first brigade will open the door to victory for the Legion!"

Then, facing the soldiers of the first battalion who were already in formation, he shouted: "The warriors of Lucania, the time has come to show your courage and ability to all the legions here, to Your Majesty! Kill the bridge and destroy it. enemy!"

The soldiers of the 3rd Corps mainly come from the Lucania region, the center of which is in Grummentum, but the soldiers of the 1st Corps are mainly from Niutum, as the first Lukania to belong to Dionia In the town of Kania, the Niutum people also fought with Davos early, so when the Third Army was established, most of its officers were Niutum people, which in turn prompted more Niutum People are more active and active in serving in the army, so they have the most veterans and the most combat experience. The first brigade, as the most powerful brigade of the third army, naturally must gather the best and strongest soldiers.

These Niutum soldiers, under the command of their Niutum commander, were radiated with strong fighting spirit, shouting the name of Hades, and lined up in a dense five-way column (the width of this Roman vertebral bridge is only Can accommodate five people side by side), stepped on the vertebral bridge, and quickly rushed to the opposite bank.

When Dionia's crow warship was built into a pontoon, Cassius received an urgent return from the spies. Dionia's peculiar attack method was beyond his expectations, and it also meant that Dio Niah's army from the north to cross the river to attack the city of Rome will no longer have only Shiibashi one way, he had to urgently summon the retreating Roman squadron and ordered them to immediately rush to the embankment for defense.

And when the Roman squadrons left the shelter of the residential area, faced the Tiber River, and entered the open area, the ballista teams at the bridgehead on the opposite bank immediately began to fire stone shells.

Although Cassius had expected this, and let the army move forward quickly in a loose checkerboard formation, there were still stone bullets falling into the center of the array, and the terrifying death of the soldiers who were hit caused a lot of trouble. confusion.

Cassius didn't care about the casualties caused by the ballista at this moment. He had already seen the Dionian soldiers on the other side, like a black tide, rushing down the Shibashi bridge, and she shouted anxiously: "Accelerate. Forward! Speed ​​forward!!  …”

In fact, without his reminder, the Roman soldiers not only saw the Dionian soldiers running on the Shibashi Bridge, but also saw the enemies that began to appear on the embankment...the homeland was about to be invaded! Every Roman citizen, young and old, felt a strong crisis in their hearts at this moment. They quickened their pace, braved the roaring stone bullets, rushed over, and bumped into the Dionysian First who had just rushed to the bridge. The soldiers of the brigade also bumped into the other soldiers of the Dionysian Third Legion who had just stepped on the embankment and barely lined up in one row, and stopped them on the bank of the Tiber River.

At this time, the ballista team had to stop firing, and let the soldiers of the two armies start a life-and-death struggle on the other side...

………………………………

In Dionia's Chinese army camp, the reconnaissance cavalry and messengers from all walks of life rushed to the central army camp and left in a hurry. The order goes out...

"Report, the siege troops of the First Army have arrived under the city and started to attack!"

"Report, the five siege towers of the Second Corps have been pushed down to the side of the trench, and they are carrying out a long-range suppression attack on the enemy at the head of the city. One of the siege towers was ignited by rockets, and the surrounding soldiers are fighting the fire!"

"Report, the siege vehicles and lion chariots of the Fourth and Fifth Corps have been pushed to the bottom of the city and are destroying the city wall. The enemy is being restrained by the soldiers of the Fourth and Fifth Corps. Effective destruction!"

"Report, the soldiers of the Sixth Legion have crossed the ditch and have begun to attack the city with ants!"

"Report, the Third Army and the Third Fleet have..."

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