Chapter 412
By dusk, the vanguard of Syracuse had actually arrived at Hibernian. It was a hundred miles from Lockley to Hibernian via Medmar. Dionysius's army had used more than a day to march and complete the journey. It was a miracle.
The commotion caused by the arrival of the Syracuse army had alerted the Triene scouts who had been keeping a close eye on Hibernian. They quickly returned to the city of Triene on the northern bank of the Ramato River, more than fifty miles away from Hibernian.
The Syracuse army had arrived!!!
The shocking news shook the entire Triene City. Both civilians and members of the council were shocked. They had never imagined that the Syracuse army would approach Triene on the third day after they landed.
According to the Southern Alliance's initial plan, Crotone's troops, who were the main force defending the Ramato River, had yet to arrive, and the Sirius Empire had only sent a few thousand citizen soldiers to guard the upper reaches of the Ramato River. The Ramato River's defensive line had yet to be established, and it could be said to be riddled with holes. If the Syracuse army launched an attack tomorrow, they would easily break through the Ramato River and enter the Euphemia Plains. Triene would be the first to suffer the flames of war.
The Triene council had no time to argue due to the urgency of the situation. Under the leadership of Chief General Cypross, who had been elected last year, they quickly made a decision. First, send someone to Crotone and urge them to send their main force to the Ramato River as soon as possible. Second, send someone to Sirius and request for the defense of the Ramato River with all their might. Third, send someone to Kenapetia and request for help from Diónia. Fourth, send someone to Corunya and request for the Fourth and Fifth Legions of Diónia to send reinforcements.
Cypross, who had always admired Diónia, trusted the well-trained Diónia troops more than the Sirius and Crotone militia. Therefore, half of the emergency measures taken by Triene were related to Diónia.
… …
On this day, the soldiers outside the Diónia's camp continued to work hard on perfecting their defenses. However, as the scouts returned, the alarm of the camp was sounded. The soldiers immediately picked up their pickaxes, shovels, wooden baskets, and other equipment. They quickly returned to the camp and closed the gates.
"Syracuse is finally attacking!" Dracos excitedly put on his armor with the help of the guards as he asked his adjutant, "Any instructions from Felicius?"
"Let us defend ourselves," the adjutant replied.
"At least you're tactful!" Dracos mumbled to himself. He put on the purple crown helmet that symbolized his identity as a Legion Commander and tightened the earmuffs on his cheeks. "Let's go and see how powerful Syracuse is!"
The Fourth and Fifth Legions of Diónia had actually built two camps. Legio IV was in the west, and Legio V was in the east. The two camps were connected by a tunnel.
Therefore, the Allied Forces of Syracuse and Rockley had divided their forces into two for ease of command. The Fasipesas would lead the Syracuse army to attack the East Camp, while the General of Rockley, Diopantos, would lead the army to attack the West Camp.
Due to the lack of time, Syracuse did not build any siege towers. They did not even prepare many scaling ladders. However, Diopantos still had the confidence to turn the probe into a forceful attack. He wanted to repay the humiliation of being forced to retreat by the Dionysian Army a few years ago in Crotone.
The 20,000 troops of Rockley advanced slowly under the lead of the rhythmic sound of the horns. When they were about 500 meters away from Dionysia's camp, Diopantos raised his arm high and the sound of the horns stopped. The troops stopped advancing one after another and their formation became uneven.
"Push the ballistae!" Diopantos ordered loudly. Yes, he was relying on the siege weapon brought by the Syracuse people — the ballista.
… …
The Legion of Dionysia had been busy the whole day yesterday, but they had only dug trenches and built earth ramparts and wooden fences. They did not have time to set up traps outside the camp. They did not even have time to set up the abatis. The engineers and craftsmen of the Engineering Battalion were still racing against time to build the sentry towers.
When the first sentry tower was built, Felicius and Epicthenis immediately climbed up the tower and looked out. They saw the Rockley soldiers pushing a dozen ballistae out from the camp.
Epicthenis was not surprised at all. Ten ballistae that were a size smaller than the Syracuse ballistae were placed neatly in the camp below the sentry tower. He frowned and pointed to the front. He turned around and asked the young man on the sentry tower, "Kurdorod, do you think our ballistae can destroy them?"
Kurdorod was from the Mathematics Faculty of the Diónia Academy. According to the newly revised Military Law of Diónia two years ago, every legion was required to be equipped with ten ballistae. Excellent students from the Diónia Academy had to be the spotter because they could quickly calculate the appropriate landing point based on the parabolic equation to improve the accuracy of the ballistae.
Although Kurdorod had participated in military training many times, it was his first time on the battlefield. Looking at the densely packed enemies in the distance, he was a little nervous. "It's … It's too far. I'm afraid it'll be … very difficult."
Felicius patted him on the shoulder and comforted him. "Relax, young man. It's normal to be nervous on your first battlefield. Don't worry, no matter how many enemies there are, our brave legion will drive them away. "
Kurdorod nodded. He swallowed his saliva and looked at the front again. Then he summoned up his courage and said, "I … I suggest that we let the enemy get closer. That way, the power of our ballista can be maximized."
"Just as I thought!" Epicthenis praised while looking at the handsome young man seriously. His eyes flashed with a strange light. "You're not bad, young man."
Felicius saw this and coughed a few times.
At this time, the messenger of the 5th Legion rushed to the sentry tower. "Commander, Commander Dracos has requested to wait until the enemies are 200 meters away before firing the ballistae. We don't want to scare them away."
"200 meters?!" Epicthenis shrugged. "This Dracos is really greedy!"
"He thinks the same as us!" Felicius laughed.
… …
As the squad leader, Efyart and his teammates stood behind the earthen rampart, watching the huge stone bullets whizzing from the front of the enemy's formation and smashing into the camp with a loud bang, raising a layer of dust. They did not show much unease because they had practiced with the ballista unit countless times during their usual military training. They were quite familiar with this amazing long-range weapon. Therefore, even though the enemy's ballista had caused a huge commotion outside the camp, the soldiers still had the mood to joke around.
They asked Epicthenis about the details of attending Hera's celebration. They were envious of the special treatment the newlyweds enjoyed during the celebration. They all said that when they got married, they would definitely go to Turií to attend Hera's celebration.
As the enemy's formation gradually approached, the point of impact of the ballistae also kept moving forward.
When the stone bullets fell from the sky and smashed in front of the camp and into the trench, the platoon leaders of the legion ordered, "Cover against the wall!"
Just as Epicthenis and his teammates were leaning against the earthen rampart and crouching down, Kurdorod's voice came from the sentry tower. "250 meters!"
"No rush, no rush." Epicthenis crossed his arms in front of his chest and patted his shoulder, trying to suppress his rising excitement.
"Bang!" A stone bullet hit the wooden fence. The broken pieces of wood fell on the heavily armed soldiers, but did not cause any damage.
"Whoosh!" A few more stone bullets whizzed over the wooden fence and fell into the camp, smashing a few tents. There were a few cries of sorrow and laughter.
Kurdorod stared at the ground in front of him from the sentry tower. Yesterday, while the soldiers were busy building the camp, the ballistae did not stay idle. They had carried out mapping of the ground outside the camp and left some marks. These marks could be a weed that had been transplanted, a strange rock, or a wooden stick that was stuck at an angle …
"200 meters!" Kurdorod shouted excitedly.
"You can fire now." Epicthenis waved his hand.
"30 degrees of elevation, medium stone bullets, fully loaded!" Kurdorod quickly reported the data.
The ballista captain, who had been listening, immediately repeated Kurdorod's words. The soldiers quickly turned the pulley, pulled the bowstring, hooked it with an iron hook, and put the six kilogram stone bullets into the smoothbore. After several years of further research and improvement on ballistae, Diónia's ballistae were divided into two types. One was the siege ballista, which was large in size and could fire over 20 kilograms of stone bullets. Their main targets were the city walls and buildings. The other type was the defensive ballista, which was small in size, light in weight, and had good accuracy. It could be carried by two or three people. The stone bullets it fired ranged from three kilograms to ten kilograms. Their targets were the army and siege weapons.
Since it was not a full-scale battle, the enemy's formation was relatively loose. However, the 20,000 soldiers were still densely packed. Therefore, they had to seize the best opportunity in the first round of attack. For this reason, Kurdorod set the landing point of the ballista at the center of the enemy's formation.
"Fire!" The ballista captain waved his right arm.
… …
Diopantos watched as the rocks whizzed into the Dionysian camp, and he felt a sense of joy in his heart.
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