Chapter 319
80 meters … 70 meters … 60 meters … The closer they were to the wooden wall, the more intense the attacks were. The number of slaves was decreasing, and most of them were already lying on the grass as stepping stones.
The fear of death made a few slaves throw away their sacks and run forward with all their might. Sharp wooden stakes and meat hooks pierced into their legs, causing them to bleed profusely. They screamed in agony, but they refused to stop staggering forward. "Ahhhh! Ah! I … I'm a Greek! I'm a Greek! I'm a Greek! "
The soldiers on the wall were stunned by the heart-wrenching screams. They all looked at Cspit with pleading eyes.
Seeing this, Cspit was also a little hesitant.
At this moment, a dozen Bruti warriors rushed out of the formation after receiving the order from their leader. They stepped on the sacks on the ground and threw javelins at the slaves who couldn't move forward because of the deer barricades.
The screams of the Greek slaves before they died made Cspit make up his mind. He shouted angrily, "Continue to shoot!"
Countless arrows with sadness and anger continued to fall … Finally, almost all the slaves and Bruti that were left in the shooting range were wiped out.
Although these slaves were almost naked and had no protection, two thousand of them were killed and injured in the trap area in a short time. They did not even reach the trench in front of the wooden wall. This made the leaders of the Bruti gasp in horror.
"Leader Pienlen, what do you think …" Burgam looked at Pienlen hesitantly.
"Send other tribal warriors to continue to fill up the traps. We're almost at the foot of the wall!" Pienlen said coldly but firmly. He had already come this far. No matter what, he had to test the strength of the enemy. He wouldn't back down so easily.
Thousands of Bruti warriors formed groups of two. They held a shield in one hand and a sack in the other. They began to move towards the wall in a very loose formation.
Cspit hoped that the enemy would slow down a little so that his soldiers could have more time to recover from the numbness in their arms.
"Release the arrows!" He waved his arm again.
The Bruti warriors were obviously more experienced than the slaves. When they saw the sky full of arrows, they immediately stopped moving forward. They crouched down, huddled together, and used their shields to protect their bodies. The arrows rained down like raindrops, and a series of "Bang! Bang! Puff! Puff! Amidst the crashing sounds, the screams of the soldiers were clearly much softer than before. However, when they were about thirty meters away from the wall, they were stopped in their tracks by the buckler barrier. Not only were there archers on the wooden wall, there were javelin throwers as well. For a moment, javelins and arrows rained down on the Bruti soldiers, increasing their casualties and forcing them to retreat.
"Great Leader!" This time, even Petaru couldn't hold himself back.
"Attack again!" Pienlen hardened his heart and ordered, "Elder Petaru, lead 4000 warriors and attack the north wall! Elder Burgam, you attack the south! Elder Nicourou, you take the middle road! Don't rush, follow the previous plan. First, clear the obstacles on the road, fill up the trenches, and then attack … … "
The soldiers on the wooden wall cheered for the Bruti's defeat, but not long after, the enemy's attack came again. This time, they were divided into small groups of a few dozen people. They were densely packed together, and at the front, there were wooden shields as big as doors.
The road that extended from the city gate was the only one that didn't have traps. It was reserved for Legio III. At this time, there were also Bruti warriors pushing a wooden cart full of sacks that were full of soil towards the city gate.
The experienced Cipitt knew that blindly shooting arrows when the enemy was heavily guarded would only waste arrows and stamina, and the results wouldn't be great. Therefore, he forbade the soldiers from shooting blindly. They would only shoot when the enemy left the wooden shields.
However, the wooden carts in the middle road were the focus of Diónia's light infantry. The distance of a hundred meters made the Bruti warriors pushing the carts lie on the ground. However, Nicourou's angry roar urged the Bruti warriors to push the carts forward. Finally, they reached the trenches with great difficulty and prepared to dump the sacks that were piled up on the carts into the trenches.
"Oil tanks!" Cspit shouted calmly. More than ten soldiers raised the olive oil tanks that were temporarily collected from Ciudad Abyssinia and threw them accurately at the wooden carts in front of the trenches. The tanks broke, and oil splashed everywhere. Soon, the wooden carts were turned into oil carts.
"Fire arrows!" Cspit ordered as he personally shot out a fire arrow.
Five to six fire arrows hit the wooden cart, and it quickly burst into flames. The Bruti warriors that were pushing the carts were also caught on fire. They were rolling on the ground in panic.
"Idiot! Quick! Push it down! Push it down! " Nicourou saw that the situation was urgent. He roared and threw away his shield. Risking being hit by the arrows, he pushed the hesitant warriors in front of him and rushed forward. He did not care about the burning carts. He held the carts tightly with both hands and pushed forward with all his strength.
Bruti warriors also rushed to his side under his command.
The wooden carts were burning, and the javelins and arrows were concentrated on the carts.
Under the leadership of Nicourou, the Bruti warriors pushed the carts with all their might. With a "boom", the entire wooden carts fell into the trenches. The sacks inside the carts filled up half of the trenches and pressed down on the crisscrossing wooden stakes in the trenches. The Bruti warriors could step on the sacks in the trenches and reach the other side of the trenches in one big step.
When the warriors were celebrating their success, Nicourou had already been hit by two javelins and was lying in a pool of blood.
Nicourou was dead! When Pienlen heard this news, he could not help but feel sad. Although his relationship with Nicourou was not very good, he was still very close to Nicourou.
At this time, the Bruti warriors had already reached the edge of the trenches after paying a heavy price. They started to throw the sacks into the trenches.
Pienlen finally gave the order, "Attack the city!"
The 10,000 warriors were divided into two groups. They carried long ladders and wooden stakes and started to approach the city wall.
Just when the Bruti warriors blew the horn to attack, the Diónia warriors also blew the horn. The soldiers of the first and second companies started to go up the city wall.
While the Diónia soldiers were changing shifts on the city wall, the Bruti warriors stepped on the corpses of their comrades and rushed to the trenches. The Legion III soldiers immediately threw a rain of javelins. The Bruti warriors who were hit directly fell into the trenches.
When the Bruti warriors reached the wooden wall, they looked up and complained. It was built by the Diónia people. Below the wooden wall, there were countless sharp wooden stakes that extended outwards, making it impossible for the ladders to reach the wall. Even if the warriors climbed to the top of the ladders, they were still a short distance away from the wooden wall. This undoubtedly increased the difficulty of attacking the city.
Just when the Bruti warrior was distracted, a stone fell vertically and hit him in the head.
"Good job!" Crelu patted the Abyssinia warrior and shouted, "My people, kill them all! Don't let a single Cosenza person go back alive!"
The battle was intense. The Diónia and Abyssinia warriors threw javelins, threw stones, stabbed with spears, pushed with tridents, and slashed with sabers. They did everything they could to stop the Bruti from attacking the city.
On the other hand, the Bruti also used wooden stakes to attack the city wall. Under the cover of the Bruti javelin throwers, a group of more than a dozen warriors carried huge logs. They not only hit the city gate, but also the wooden wall. This was because Pienlen and the others thought that even though the Diónia people had built the wooden wall in such a short time, it couldn't be very sturdy.
In fact, this was indeed the case. The wooden wall built by the Diónia soldiers was a double-layered wooden fence. The middle was filled with soil taken out from the trenches, and the top was covered with wooden planks to form a walkway. However, due to the lack of time, the soil in the middle was not completely compacted, and the wooden fence was not carefully reinforced.
After discovering the enemy's intentions, Dracos had no choice but to divert some of his forces to attack the "daring" warriors who lacked protection.
However, Pianlun did not only have these two methods to attack the city.
"Captain, look! There's a fire!" A soldier shouted to remind Adrianx. He hurriedly looked down and saw that the bottom of the wooden wall was already on fire. A few Bruti warriors were holding a clay pot and pouring oil on the wall. The fire was getting bigger and bigger.
"Quick, shoot that man!" While Adrianx ordered the soldiers to throw the javelins, he also shouted anxiously, "Quick, pour the sand down! Pour it down! … … "
Due to the lack of time and resources, the wooden wall was not fireproof. For example, painting. Fortunately, Dracos had considered this problem when he was discussing with the captains about how to defend the fortress. He placed cloth bags filled with soil on the walkway.
The fire was finally extinguished, but Adrianx's expression was still serious. He reminded the captains and soldiers to pay close attention to any enemies who were carrying clay pots and bags of oil. They should do everything they could to prevent them from getting close to the wooden wall.
… … …
The siege was bloody and cruel. Every time he saw the long ladder being pushed down and the soldiers falling from the top of the wall, Pienlen's heart ached. However, as the commander of the army, he had to pay attention to the progress of the battle. He moved forward again and again just to see more clearly. In the end, he walked to the edge of the trap area.
Perhaps the corpses on the ground made the War Horse feel uneasy. It snorted and used its front hooves to dig at the ground.
Pianlun didn't expect the Dionians to be able to set up such a complete defensive system in just three days. Furthermore, the soldiers were experienced and skilled in defending the fortress.
Seeing the Bruti warriors struggling and groaning under the wall, Pienlen's confidence gradually weakened … …
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