Chapter 314: The Fall of Syracuse

Because of his injury, Kuchias did not lead the soldiers into the fort in person. He waited outside to hear the cheers of victory, but in the end, there were countless soldiers who were terrified and desperately fled back. Shouting and dissuasion was of no avail. On the contrary, under the influence of these rout soldiers, other soldiers who were still outside the fort also fled together, and Dionia's loud bugle sounded, making the rout soldiers flee faster.

Kuchias also had to flee with him. He was very anxious, and suddenly he thought that Falecus was leading many people to build defense facilities not far ahead. Maybe they could stop these fallen soldiers and reorganize the army.

Unexpectedly, when he arrived there, no one was seen at all, only a half-dug trench and an unfinished earth barrier behind the trench were left, which hindered the retreat of the soldiers.

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After the council of Syracuse learned of the news of "Hiktas leading the army to rebel", it not only sent a messenger to inform Theagenis, but also sent people to inform Falecus in the Epipole Heights. Because there are many old citizens in the people led by Falecus, they need to be recruited immediately to form an army to quell the rebellion of Hiktas.

Falecus was also shocked when he heard the news. He had no intention of building defense facilities here. When he led the team back to the city, he also prevented the messenger from notifying Kukias and them, because he saw Coming: The attack on Yuriarus fortress is in full swing, and the attacking troops get this bad news at this time, which will disturb the morale of the army and make all previous efforts in vain.

When Falecus rushed to the main city, he knew that Hiktas did not attack the council, but led his army to retreat to Dagang.

Falecus was in a hurry. He knew that the big port was very close to the Dionysian military camp. Once Hiktas occupied the port and received the Dionysian army by sea, Syracuse would be over!

Time was running out. He didn't have time to wait for these old citizens to go home and put on their weapons and equipment before gathering. Instead, he first led the 1,000 soldiers from Xicheng and the 500 old citizens who had just gathered to quickly head to the southwest port. set off.

When they arrived at the inner wall, they saw corpses scattered on the ground. The soldiers felt the urgency of the situation, but also felt angry.

Entering the port, they soon found the traitor Sitaxus leading an army in front of the port.

Sitax saw Falecus and was about to speak to him before the battle, delaying for a while.

Who knew that Falecus had seen through his intentions and ordered an attack directly.

1,500 soldiers (mostly heavy infantry) roared and charged at each other,

The port soldiers also threw dense javelins at each other. Since it was a matter of life and death for both sides, the battle was very fierce from the beginning.

However, after a period of fierce fighting, the port army, mostly light infantry, gradually lost its support. If some people in the port area hadn't arrived, they would attack the flank of the Syracuse army with wooden sticks and oars, temporarily alleviating some hopes. The pressure of the Turks army, perhaps the army of Hiktas has been defeated.

But the situation is still not optimistic, the port people have been falling in the battle, and the entire army has been forced to retreat to the coast.

At this critical moment, 50 warships returned to the military port one after another. As soon as the warships docked at the dock, the fully loaded Dionian soldiers on the deck quickly jumped off the ship. Before they could gather the whole team, they were led by the officers. The formation of squads successively launched attacks on the flanks of the Syracuse army formation.

As the commander, Falecus took the lead, and the battle was at the forefront, so he had no idea that the situation had changed, until he found that the soldiers around him began to retreat, and he was shocked: The Dionysian army has landed!

He threw away his helmet and breastplate and retreated desperately with the routed soldiers.

The Dionian soldiers were in hot pursuit, while the soldiers in the port area rushed to care for the wounded comrades and civilians.

When the Dionian soldiers were chasing after the inner wall, they found that there were reinforcements from Syracuse in front of them. Although it was a good choice to force the defeated soldiers to disrupt the opponent's formation, the problem was that there were not many soldiers participating in the pursuit. I am afraid that it is difficult to completely disturb the enemy, but may be defeated by the opponent because of the chaos of their own organization, so the officers of the Dionysian pursuit force cautiously chose to temporarily retreat, return to the military port, and rendezvous with the large army that was still landing. .

Falecus, who fled the danger, did not let the army of more than 2,000 people formed by the old citizens who had just recruited meet the broken soldiers to retake the military port and prevent the Dionians from continuing to land.

After the battle just now, he felt that the entire port area might have defected from Syracuse and continued to fight in the port area, which was likely to trap the force that was finally assembled again in a siege.

Hesitating again and again, Falecus did not dare to take the risk, so he had to let the army defend the inner wall, and at the same time sent someone to inform the council.

Before long, 3,000 Dionian soldiers joined the forces of the Sitaxus and approached the inner wall.

The inner wall is only used to isolate the port area and check the foreigners, so it is not built as tall and strong as the outer city wall, its height is only three meters, the aisles on the city are also narrow, and there is no reserve of stones, wood blocks, and asphalt. After waiting for a weapon to defend the city, after the Dionian coalition forces approached the city, Falecus was surprised to find that the Syracuse soldiers who were condescending and defending were at a disadvantage.

Because the heavy javelins thrown by the Dionia heavy infantry and the light javelins thrown by the port soldiers covered the sky and the sun, they caused a lot of casualties to the soldiers of Syracuse in the city at close range. There were not many light infantry in the army led by Lykus. The aggrieved state of the army could only be beaten, but could not make an effective counterattack.

It didn't take long for the people in the port area to send in some wooden ladders for house repairs and logs for building ships in time for the coalition soldiers to siege the city.

Seeing this scene in the city, Falecus only felt depressed and uncomfortable, while the soldiers used their shields to defend against the long-range attacks under the city, while scolding the betrayal of the port people.

The Dionian coalition soldiers quickly put these wooden ladders on the three-meter-high stone wall, and took advantage of the favorable opportunity when the enemy on the city was suppressed by the javelin, and moved agilely to the top of the city. At the same time, the coalition soldiers also used logs to smash open the city gate and rushed through the inner wall doorway, and the frontal battle gradually unfolded on and below the city.

At the head of the fierce battle, Falecus saw a huge black army (the second wave of the Dionysian 8th Legion) appearing in the port area, pressing down on the inner wall mightily. His heart suddenly fell to the bottom.

At this moment, another soldier pointed to the rear and shouted in panic: "The city is on fire!"

Falecus hurriedly turned his head and saw the smoke billowing from the northwest, and the fire was soaring into the sky. !

He thought so, and the soldiers were even more panicked, and their morale dropped sharply. Fortunately, these old citizens who have experienced many wars are still rational, and they are very clear in their hearts: If they choose to retreat at this time, Syracuse may be all over. !

Therefore, they can barely support the defense line under the constant running and encouragement of Falekus.

However, the house leaked during the night rain. In the section of the west city wall near the sea, it was very close to the port area. Siracusa soldiers stood on the city wall more than 10 meters high, not only seeing what happened in the port area clearly, I also saw thousands of Dionysian soldiers landed in the military port one after another, storming the precarious inner wall, and also saw that the perpetrators of the urban fire were also the Dionysian army in black helmets and black armor, and they were rapidly moving towards the city. Enter the core area of ​​the city.

Seeing this scene of the Muhe people, these Syracuse defenders were extremely frightened, and they were extremely worried about the safety of their families. Wherever they still had morale to continue fighting, they began to flee into the city. In order to avoid the guilt, they ran and returned Shout: "The city is on fire!! The Dionians are in the city! The Dionians are in the city!!..."

Their retreat left a defensive void in the southern section of the western wall, and the Dionian soldiers quickly captured the city's head and attacked northward along the aisle.

The defense of the entire West City collapsed quickly.

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It was the army led by Diocassis who ignited the fire in the city. They pursued the route of Syracuse and did not give the enemy a chance to regroup. They pursued from the fortress of Yuriarus to the edge of the main city. After running for several miles, it was relatively easy for the soldiers because the terrain was from top to bottom.

During the pursuit, Diocassis kept thinking: After the army he led entered the city, how could it better help the entire siege force to capture the city more quickly?

Because he knew that Commander Prosous had once again ordered the entire army to launch a storm on the city of Syracuse in order to allow his raiding force to gain a firm foothold in the fortress of Yuriarus. Life creates opportunities for himself, so he must disintegrate the enemy's fighting spirit as soon as possible and reduce the casualties of the soldiers.

In the end, the best way he thought of was to use fire.

So he sent a company to break into the houses, collected olive oil and tar, poured it over a series of houses on the edge of the main city, and set it on fire, while he continued to pursue the route with his troops.

The direction in which Kuchias, Staceikos and others fled was the Council. He also hoped that the Council would send a troop to stop the chasing soldiers like bone-encrusted maggots. Who knew that the Council was already empty of soldiers. Kepai, and the councillors were terrified when they heard the news that the "enemy was coming", and they dared to stay in the meeting hall, and they all fled west, hoping that the troops of Te Argenis and Falecus would be able to bless them. their safety.