Chapter 277 Palagonia Fortress

"My lord, he seems to be here for something else this time." Tagle said softly.

"Then let him in." Leotides rubbed his eyes, but his expression was not relaxed at all.

So as soon as Asitemis stepped through the door, he warned in advance: "I hope you don't come to talk to me about the cavalry attack. I have already told you, and it is not yet time."

"Lord Commander." Asitemis was stunned for a moment, and then quickly explained: "I thought of a way to reduce the threat of the Carthaginian cavalry."

Leotidas finally turned his head, looked at him, and asked, "What can be done?"

Asitemis said seriously: "Sir Commander, the number of Carthaginian cavalry is huge, but most of them are Numibian cavalry. As far as I know, the horses these Numibians ride are short, but they run They have strong strength, and they also have a feature that they are more resistant to starvation, and they can carry Numibians to fight by eating grass alone, but they must continue to eat..."

Leotidides moved in his heart, leaned forward slightly, and asked, "What do you mean?"

Seeing that the bad-tempered commander was interested, Artemis was instantly refreshed, and his words became more fluent: "The Carthaginians scattered thousands of cavalry on our Catania plain. , I am afraid it is not only to destroy our village and cover our eyes and ears, but also to solve the problem of food for these horses. It is autumn, the grass on the ground has begun to turn yellow, and since the Carthaginians have burned our village, we can still Taking advantage of the dark night, burn the weeds on the plain with confidence and boldness, so that the Carthaginian cavalry will not dare to move so frequently on the plain."

"Burn the grass on the entire plain..." Leotizides pondered for a while, then said hesitantly, "Asitemis, you are from Katanai, you should be very familiar with the situation here, even if The plain is burned to the ground, and with just one or two rains, grass will soon grow on this land."

"But it rarely rains in September and October in Catane." Asitemis had obviously considered this question, and he answered quickly.

Leotidas also quickly made a decision: "Tagru, you go and invite Cypros immediately, I need to discuss with him."

"Yes, my lord." Tagluo ran out immediately, because Cypros had just left, and he should be able to stop him on the road. As he ran, he thought to himself: Cypros is the governor of Sicily. Every time I took the initiative to talk about the problem, I felt that the commander seemed to be used to this, and shouted at Cypros, this is not a good thing, I have to find an opportunity to remind him later!

In the kitchen, Leotizides stared at the map and muttered, "I don't know if this method really works, but we have to try it, and even if the situation is not good for us, we will not You should lose confidence and work hard to find opportunities..."

"Lord Commander, you are right!"

……………………………………

As Leotizides analyzed, Margo was indeed targeting Palagonia.

Palagonia's defenses to the north were equally tight, but compared to the south, the terrain was open, which was conducive to the deployment of the army.

Margo learned some lessons from the failure of the previous attack in the south, and ordered the engineers to start assembling ballistas when building the camp.

After giving the order to attack, dozens of ballistas began bombarding the outposts in the trap zone.

At the same time, he also ordered tens of thousands of Numibian infantry formed by Carthage to dig all the soil. Since Paragonia is located at the foot of the mountain and the soil is hard, the soldiers had to go to a far place to dig soil, and then It was transported over, and any traps or trenches on the north side of Paragonia were buried, paving a wide and safe passage. During the period of clearing the periphery, in order to prevent the enemy from sneaking out of the city, he also made his elite troops line up in front, ready to attack at any time.

Moreover, he also dispatched 10,000 soldiers stationed in Gera, increasing the number of soldiers in the Carthaginian camp to 60,000 to ensure that he has sufficient troops to attack Paragonia while also being able to At the same time defend against attacks from the new camp of Leotine and Dionysius.

Although the defenders have not stopped harassing, the casualties of the Carthaginian soldiers are not large, the morale has been maintained, and the speed of the siege of Palagonia's periphery is slow, but it has been advancing steadily.

Three days later, the Carthaginian army advanced to within 100 meters of the city, forcing the Dionysian defenders to retreat into the city and stop attacking.

Marco was finally able to get close to the small town that had caused him a lot of trouble. After walking around it for half a circle, he couldn't help but be surprised: "This is the village that Syracuse calls it?!"

The adjutant next to him explained: "My lord, I remember that the Syracuses just said that Paragonia used to be a village. Since the Dionysian army entered Paragonia and moved the villagers a few months ago, They don't even know what's going on in Paragonia."

Marco glanced at him sideways and said, "You are very good at excusing the people of Syracuse."

The adjutant was too frightened to speak.

Margo stared at Palagonia in front of him: in the densely packed deer village stands a white city. Its area is not large, but its shape is different from the cities Margo has seen. Surrounded by a four-meter-high city wall, there are many prominent circular towers in the city wall. What is surprising is that there is a circular building two or three meters above the city wall, as if it is a large circle. Set with a small concentric circle.

Although Marco had never attacked such a strange city before, but based on his many years of battle experience, he also had a premonition that this small town in Palagonia was somewhat unusual, and subconsciously drove his horse forward, wanting to observe more carefully.

Suddenly I heard the guards on the left and right shouting: "Sir, be careful!"

I saw a few black dots suddenly appear in the air ahead, whistling.

Marco hurriedly clamped the horse's belly, but the warhorse under his crotch didn't move. The guard beside him hurriedly stabbed his spear into its buttocks, and the warhorse screeched out, almost throwing Marco to the ground.

At this time, a few stone bullets had already fallen, and a few shrill screams sounded immediately, and the surroundings where Marge stood just now was a blur of blood.

Brother Ma finally managed to control the war horse, turned around and turned back late, when he saw this scene, he frowned and said? : "Go back."

During the retreat, he did not forget to ask the adjutant, "Where did the enemy's stone bullet come from?"

The adjutant shook his head to indicate that he didn't see clearly, and Marco glared at him again: even though the young adjutant was a member of the Margonid family, he couldn't help but have the idea of ​​replacing him at this time.

"My lord, it seems... it seems to have been shot from the city," said a guard.

Marco was stunned for a moment and asked, "Are you sure it's from the city instead of the city?"

"My lord, I saw it too. It was indeed sent from the city." Another soldier answered.

Margo pulled the reins, turned to look at the blood-stained stone bullets on the ground, and looked up at the Palagonia city wall in front of him. There was no movement at this moment, but Margo's expression became serious.

At this time, on the wall tower of Palagonia facing Margo, a Dionian officer wearing a helmet with a purple tassel was bending over and looking out through the gap between the battlements. look out.

"It's a good shot, and the landing of the stone bullet is pretty accurate, but it's a pity that the big guy ran away!" He turned around and said with some regret.

"Captain, do you need us to continue firing?" the ballista asked.

Ten years ago, the sights of the Dionysian ballista were still exclusively held by students from the Mathematics School of Dionysium Academy, who were responsible for providing launch parameters and correcting the trajectory. After 10 years, the sights of the Dionysian ballista can be held by citizens who have graduated from the schools in the cities of Dionia and are good at mathematics. This is the result of the popularization of education and the improvement of the ballista.

The captain shook his head and said, "He has already been alerted, and it is impossible to think about a surprise attack. Don't waste stone bullets. When the enemy is attacking the city, you will be busy."

"Captain, don't worry. A few days ago, Carthage's ballistas were rampant and destroyed many of our outposts. Now it's our turn to show off!"

As soon as the spectator's voice fell, the belly archer next to him immediately said, "Yes, as long as the Carthaginian ballista dares to enter our range, we can destroy it!"

Their words aroused positive responses from the surrounding soldiers.

The brigade captain was satisfied that the soldiers could maintain such a strong fighting spirit in the face of the siege of the Carthaginian army. Of course, he knew very well in his heart that the source of the soldiers' self-confidence mainly came from this city.

Palagonia was a village with only a few inhabitants half a year ago, and when Leotides decided to use it as a forward stronghold against the Carthaginian army, he did not just reinforce the walls on the basis of this village, Instead of digging trenches and laying traps, the village was completely ripped out and a fortress was built.

The Ministry of War's research and improvement of Dionia's military technology has been in progress. In recent years, under the inspiration of King Davos, the engineers of the Ministry of War have designed a new defensive fortress and applied it to the city. In the usual training programs of various military camps-building fortresses and offense and defense drills, Leotidides deeply felt the strength of its defense, so he decided to use it in actual combat.

He not only assembled the soldiers of the Eighth Legion, but also asked Cypros to mobilize the people of Catane, tens of thousands of people working in turn, using ready-made stone bricks and wood from Paragonia, and fired with Etna ash.” Davos Cement", plus the large amount of stone provided by Naxos (there is a quarry near Tauromenian in Naxos), the large amount of wood provided by Hena, Agilion...