Chapter 167 Ostia's Offense and Defense

I think when the Dionysian army first established the ballista unit, only one legion had ten ballistas equipped with a sight, and they were all from the Dionysian Academy, because it was necessary to accurately measure the landing point and launch. Curves require deep mathematical knowledge and fast computing power. After more than ten years, a ballista can now be equipped with a sight, which happens to illustrate the achievements of the Dionysian Kingdom in civic education.

At this moment, the ballista has adjusted the ballista's settings under the prompting of the spectator, opened the spring arm, quickly put in the small stone bullet, fixed it on the smoothbore wooden arm, pressed the launch button, and fixed the stone bullet. The copper ring and the iron hook holding the spring arm bounced off at the same time, the spring arm quickly retracted, and the strong torsion pushed the stone bullet out of the gun mount, whistling and shot towards a Roman ballista that was slowly advancing.

"Ballista! Dionia's Ballista!" The Roman soldier pushing the ballista saw the black dots flying in the air and shouted in panic, trying to push the ballista to avoid it, but the cumbersome ballista moved slowly , but the stone bullet came in a blink of an eye, hitting the ballista not far away, splashing the Roman soldiers with dust.

The frightened Roman soldiers then saw eight or nine black dots flying out from the city head and attacking the other ballistas respectively. Although they failed to hit in the end, Titus, who was watching the formation in the rear, was surprised. He never imagined that the Dionians had left a lot of ballistas in the small town of Ostia, and they also placed them at the top of the city to attack their own ballistas. This way of defense he never seen.

Just when he was still hesitating whether to withdraw the ballista, Dionia's second round of ballista attack had already begun.

Ten stone bullets struck again, and finally a Roman ballista was hit. Although only the force arm was broken, the ballista is a relatively fine siege weapon. Once the balance is destroyed, it cannot be put into use again. repair. After the Romans got Carthage's ballista, they didn't try to copy it, and they made some progress. They were only making core parts, such as metal ratchets, chains, metal cylinders, etc., which could not be cast to Carthage. So fine, the Dionians came while they were still improving their technology, so the Carthaginian ballista was one bad, one less.

Titus can only order anxiously: "Retract the ballista!"

During the hurried retreat of the Roman ballista troops, a ballista was once again destroyed by a stone bullet fired from the city head.

Titus looked at the ballista troops retreating in embarrassment, then looked up at the sky that had begun to be dyed red by the setting sun, and then looked at the densely populated enemies at the top of the city, and quickly moved his gaze down, staring at the densely populated deer village in front of the moat... After a while, he took his eyes back and turned to look at the soldier behind him.

These Roman citizens from the colonies had already put on their armor and took up their weapons. Although they looked a little tired from the long march, their eyes on Ostia were full of fighting spirit, because the desire to take back their motherland filled them with enthusiasm. The strength and their fighting spirit also infected Titus, making him suppress the concerns in his heart: Although from the previous contact and his own observation, the Dionysian people's defense of Ostia city is relatively strict, But he has no time to let the soldiers recover their physical strength and prepare for the siege more comprehensively.

Instead, she had to recapture the city of Ostia before the Dionian reinforcements arrived, so she could only rely on the strong fighters and huge numbers of her soldiers.

"Notify the troops, prepare to attack!" Titus said in a deep voice.

The messengers galloped through the army formation on horseback. The squadron commanders shouted for the soldiers under them to get ready. The soldiers stood up one after another. According to the previous arrangement, they carried the pre-made ladders and javelins from the accompanying carts...

After a commotion and uproar, "Woo!..." the bugle blared, the Roman army let out a thunderous roar, and then the soldiers, led by the squadron leader, began to walk toward the east and south of Ostia. Enter (the sea to the west, the Tiber River to the north, and lakes and marshes to the southeast as a barrier).

Telis looked at the enemy troops rushing in like a tide under the city, and clenched his fists subconsciously.

The 300 Dionian archers at the head of the city saw that the enemy was about to enter a range of 100 meters, and began to bend their bows and shoot arrows.

The ballistas and belly bows at the top of the city have already started to fire stone bullets and iron arrows at the enemies under the city. Although the swarming enemies make their attack hits very high, and the death is terrifying, but one round of attacks is not enough. The casualties of more than a dozen people were nothing but a small splash to the siege wave formed by thousands of Roman soldiers, which could not stop the Romans from advancing.

But it didn't take long for the Roman soldiers in the front to scream one after another: "Ah! Pull me! My feet! My feet are cut!"

"Be careful of the trap! There are spikes buried in the ground!!"

...

In the screams and screams of the Roman soldiers, the speed of the entire siege force was hindered.

And just as some Roman soldiers went to support their blood-drenched comrades in arms, while others carefully probed the ground and moved forward cautiously, the arrows from the city head fell like raindrops, and although there were many rushing in the front It was a Roman heavy infantry, but because the traps under their feet forced them to have no time to defend the top with their shields, they increased some casualties.

To make matters worse, they were intercepted in the trap area, giving the ballistas and belly bows at the top of the city enough time to exert their lethality.

After Titus knew the situation ahead, he was very anxious, and he realized that he still underestimated the defense of the Dionysians against this small town.

He took a deep breath and calmed himself down: "Go and send orders to the attacking troops, don't rush forward, give me all the power to remove those traps first!"

The messenger rushed away, and soon another reconnaissance cavalry rushed in: "General Titus, the people of Adi's organization have arrived!"

Titus was overjoyed, and just as he was about to reply, another scout arrived: "Report to General Titus, the people of Antium are here!"

At the same time that Titus led his army to the west, Camillous sent a messenger to inform the Roman colonial cities and Latin allies in the west of Latinum, hoping that they could send people to assist the army in attacking the city of Ostia, and now these towns responded Camelus' request.

A team from the towns in the west, carrying supplies, gathered in the rear of the Roman army one after another...

Titus had a happy expression on his face, he hurriedly expressed his gratitude to the leader, and dispatched hundreds of thousands of people to set up fires all around, and began to build camps, set up tents, and prepare for a long-lasting battle. fight.

From the tower at the east gate of Ostia, Telis watched as archers and ballistas continued to attack the Roman soldiers who had approached the trenches, while other soldiers began to throw javelins down the city.

The entire city of Ostia has two gates, east and south. Previously, Telis had people blocked the south gate, leaving only one east gate, only for scouts and messengers to pass through, so that both sides of the road out of the city were buried. Traps, the road became very narrow, and the Roman soldiers' attacking team had to form a long and narrow line, so they were attacked by the soldiers on the city, and the wounded soldiers lay in front of the trench.

Telis was not excited by such a victory. He saw the bonfires lit behind the enemy's army and the constant arrival of the Romans. He realized that this siege battle would become more difficult. One order is: let the reserve team under the city completely block the east gate with wood and stones.

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In Rome, there is a sharp contrast between the Roman civilians who went to the square to apply for Dionysian citizenship and the Roman nobles in the surrounding city who cried and cried because their relatives were taken away. restless in...

Davos returned to the Senate, hoping for a moment of peace, but who knew that the Roman administrator, Asisters, hurried to find him again.

"Your Majesty, since you went to worship those temples in Rome, the number of Romans who came to the square to register has increased dramatically, and now the number of registered people has exceeded 1,000!" Asistes excitedly reported to Davos This is good news, because it signifies a further shift in the attitude of Roman commoners towards Dionia.

Davers replied with a smile: "I saw it when I was passing by the square. It's a good thing, isn't it!"

"Your Majesty, but there is one thing I have to ask you." Asistes continued: "Some Roman people asked that their relatives were among the Roman army outside the city, and they wanted their relatives to become Citizens of Dionia, instead of fighting with us, hope to get them out of the city to persuade and ask us if we can do it?"

"Oh?..." Davos became interested now, he stroked his jaw, thought for a while, then turned his head and asked, "Cloto, what do you think?"

Clotokatax, who was standing by the side, replied seriously: "Father, judging from the situation in the square these two days, we should believe what they said, allow them to go out of the city, and persuade their relatives to return to the kingdom. , this can shake the enemy's fighting spirit, weaken their strength, and strengthen our strength at the same time! Even if some of them are deceiving us and just want to escape from the city, they are all old people, women and children, and they all come The pros outweigh the cons…”

Asisters looked at Clotokatax. When he was in Turii, he visited Davos' mansion many times. From time to time, he could see the eldest son of the king. Clotokatax was humble and polite. , treated people warmly and left a good impression on him, but this time, Asisters found that he had become much calmer.

Davos nodded and said approvingly: "Kloto is right, I allow them to go out of the city, but not all of them. Only the elderly in the family can go out, and women and children must stay in the city... Also, Take this opportunity to give the gift that I promised to give Camillous along with it."

Speaking of which, a mysterious smile appeared on his face.

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