Chapter 413
As for the rumor that Diónia also possessed ballistae, he did not believe it. Even Locry, which had been established for hundreds of years, could not create such a powerful siege weapon. How could the Diónia Alliance, which had only been established for less than six years, have one? (The Diónia Legio IV used ballistae to attack Knapetitia. Due to its remote location, not many people knew about it. The Triene people knew about it, but under the request of the Diónia, they tried their best to keep it a secret.)
"Closer! Closer! " Diopantos excitedly urged the Syracuse soldiers to move the ballistae forward. For this reason, the entire army moved forward as well. He wanted the ballistae to be more accurate. He wanted to smash the walls that the Diónia people had worked so hard to build so that they would have nowhere to hide! He wanted to see them hide in panic under the bombardment of the stone bullets, or be forced to leave the camp and come out to fight.
Although Dionysius had ordered the Fasipesas and him to restrain the Dionysian Army of Corunna, if there was a good opportunity, Diopantos would not mind defeating them. He wanted to break the undefeated record of the Dionysian Army in Greece and gain more glory for himself.
Looking at the Syracuse gunners loading the heavy stone bullets into the barrels, Diopantos looked at the Diónia camp expectantly. Then, he was surprised to see ten black dots flying out from the enemy's camp and landing in the middle of Locry's formation …
"Ballistae!" Diopantos' soul almost left his body. Following his exclamation, countless screams came from the army.
Because the stone pellets fell in a wide arc, the killing power was actually not that great. However, the effect was too shocking. The hands that came into contact with it were broken, the legs that came into contact with it were broken, and the head that came into contact with it was flattened. If a round shield was used to block it, the shield would break and the person would die. How could the soldiers of Locry, who had never been attacked by ballistae, not feel fear in their hearts? Their morale dropped by half.
While the army was panicking, the second wave of stone bullets from Diónia arrived. The soldiers of Locry dodged in panic, and the entire formation was in chaos.
"Retreat! Retreat now! " The stone bullets continued to fall. One landed near Diopantos. He was so frightened that he could not care less about the Syracuse ballistae in front of him and hurriedly gave the order.
However, when the bugle sounded, the east, west, and south gates of Diónia's West Camp suddenly opened at the same time. The well-prepared soldiers rushed out in an orderly manner. The cavalry charged at the front, followed by the light infantry, light armor, and finally the heavy infantry. Although they could not catch the enemy, they could still hold the front line and prevent the enemy from counterattacking.
Lockley's army, whose morale was low due to the relentless bombardment of stone bombs, was retreating in disarray. When Diopantos saw the entire army of Dionysia charging towards them in a black mass (due to the color of their weapons and equipment), even if he had the intention to retaliate, he had already lost control of his army. The soldiers had also lost the courage to fight as they scrambled to retreat.
Determined to avenge his comrades, Soberkos led the cavalry and caught up to the enemy from the outside.
The Diónia cavalry did not use their spears. Instead, they drove their horses forward, causing the scattered soldiers to be even more disorganized and unable to regroup. After the 1,000 cavalrymen crushed the enemy for a while, the War Horse instinctively slowed down. Soberkos saw that the fleeing soldiers in front of him were thinning. He raised his spear and drew circles in the air.
"Drive them to the east!" Soberkos shouted. Under his command, the cavalry began to split to the left and right, drawing an arc to drive the fleeing soldiers to the east. The light infantry and light armor also cooperated with the cavalry.
Most of the fleeing soldiers were like headless flies. Under the intentional command of the Diónia soldiers, they could not distinguish between north, south, east, and west. They only ran in the direction that was the least pressured.
At this time, the Syracuse troops outside the East Camp were also bombarded by Diónia's ballistae. However, the experienced Syracuse soldiers did not panic. They quickly stabilized their position and retreated for a distance before retaliating with their ballistae. Both sides were in a stalemate. The fleeing soldiers of Locley surged forward like a tidal wave, instantly disrupting the left flank of the Syracuse soldiers.
Dracos, who was in the camp, would not let go of such a golden opportunity. He immediately ordered, "All troops, attack!"
The soldiers of the Fifth Legion quickly rushed out of the camp.
Fasipesas saw that the situation was not good. He decisively ordered, "Retreat."
The Syracuse troops quickly retreated. At the same time, they tried their best to maintain an orderly formation, roughly squeezing the fleeing soldiers of Locley behind them.
The Diónia cavalry and the soldiers of the Fourth Legion chased for five to six miles until a large group of enemy cavalry caught up to them. Only then did Epithenis order his troops to retreat. He had a deep impression of the ferocious cavalry of Syracuse, and was worried that the exhausted and scattered soldiers would be at a disadvantage. In fact, the Syracuse cavalry and the mercenary cavalry had already followed Dionysius to Hibernian. It was only the Locley cavalry that appeared here.
Under Dracos's supervision, the Fifth Legion, who did not have the help of cavalry, only blew the horn to retreat after the light armor soldiers, who were the most adept at running, had their legs jelly.
On the way back to the city, the defeated Diópantos met Fasipesas, who was in a bad mood due to his first defeat, and received a scolding from the latter …
This was the first time Diónia's ballista was used in a field battle, and it caught the Syracuse Coalition unprepared. The ballista itself did not kill more than a few dozen people, but it caused panic in the Locley army, creating the conditions for Diónia's Legio IV to launch a surprise attack. Legio IV's surprise attack and subsequent experienced driving of the fleeing soldiers caused the Syracuse Coalition to retreat.
In this battle, the Syracuse Coalition suffered more than a thousand casualties, including more than 500 who were captured. Most of them were Locley soldiers. For Diónia's southern troops, this was a significant victory.
… …
Asistes was shocked when he received an urgent request for help from Triene late at night.
The reason why Asistes could become the acting governor of Kenapitia was because the Devers had rich administrative experience in the Lucania Mountains and rich military experience, and that Asistes was suitable to be the governor of Kenapitia, a city on the southern border of Diónia. As he was not a senator, he could only serve as the acting governor. However, with the experience of serving as the city's governor, Asistes would be elected to the Senate next year.
After Asistes took office, he used the experience he learned in Lucania Municipality to effectively ease the racial conflict between the Bruti and the new Greeks in Kenapitia. He also used Kenapitia's geographical location to develop trade with Triene and other Southern Alliance states, improving the poor living conditions of the Kenapitians. This made Kenapitia's political situation stable, and he did not disappoint the Devers's expectations.
At this time, the news that "Syracuse had approached Triene in such a short time" made him very uneasy. He had a better understanding of the Southern Alliance's battle plan. Triene, Crotone, and Siletine would work together to defend the West Coast Passage and prevent Syracuse's army from invading the Southern Alliance's territory. This was to buy time for Diónia's main forces to rush back.
Originally, Asistes estimated that Crotone, Siletine, and Triene had a total of more than 30,000 citizen soldiers. With the natural barrier of the Lamato River, which was wide and deep, it should not be a problem for them to hold out for ten to twenty days. Moreover, if the situation became tense in the later stages, the reserve soldiers in the Bruti region could provide timely assistance.
However, he did not expect Syracuse's army to arrive so quickly. It was far faster than most of the Greek city-states' armies could mobilize, assemble, and march. Of course, Syracuse's army had already been mobilized and assembled. However, the fact that such a large army was able to arrive at Triene in three days was enough to show that the dictator of Sicily, Dionysius, was fully prepared and determined for this war!
Should he send reinforcements? The reason why Asistes hesitated was because the Devers personally wrote him a letter a few days ago. In the letter, they repeatedly reminded him to strengthen the city's defenses. Once Syracuse broke through the defensive line, he must do everything possible to defend Kenapetitia and not let Syracuse step into Bruti territory!
However, Triene and Diónia had a close relationship! Not to mention their firm support for Diónia in the Southern Alliance, Kenapetitia and Triene were very close to each other and had frequent trade exchanges. Their relationship was very good. If he did not help them, he was afraid that it would destroy the good impression the Triene people had of Diónia. It would also destroy the good business that the Diónia Alliance had worked hard to establish in Greece over the past few years!
After thinking about it, Asistes finally made up his mind.
He made a promise to the Triene emissary. In the name of Hades, he would personally lead Kenapetitia's reinforcements to Triene first thing in the morning!
After sending away the grateful emissary, Asistes decided to write a letter to Hilos, who had just been appointed as the chief executive of Cosenza. He told him about the new movements of Syracuse's army and his own concerns. He also asked for reinforcements. He believed that the former captain of the Devers would make the right choice!
After writing, he immediately set off with the letter and rushed to Cosenza under the starry night. Then, he called the patrol captain who had just fallen asleep and asked him to inform the reserve soldiers of the Fifth Legion to gather at the square the next morning.
After doing all this, Asistes returned to his bedroom, exhausted both physically and mentally.
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