Chapter 457
Thinking of this, he took a deep breath to calm himself down. After a quick calculation in his mind, he said in a deep voice, "Keep the angle of elevation unchanged. Tilt the cannon to the left by one degree. Reduce the range by one square. Keep the original weight of the cannonball."
The gunner immediately followed his instructions.
"Fire!"
The cannonballs whistled through the air. One after another, more cannonballs flew out of the city.
However, more cannonballs were flying in from outside the city. "Boom! Boom! Boom! " The trembling sound was mixed with cries of alarm and misery. One of the cannonballs landed near the ballista that Kurdorod was standing on. Stone chips flew everywhere. Kurdorod, however, remained unmoved. After this period of training, he was no longer a scholar who had just graduated from the academy (the nickname given to him by the legionnaires). He had become a qualified soldier.
The siege tower of Syracuse was far superior to the one used by Diónia to conquer Knapetitia. It was 20 meters long, 10 meters wide, and 12 meters high. It was trapezoidal in shape and had seven floors. The top floor was a circular wooden disc with five archers inside. They could shoot arrows at the top of the city wall from above. There was also a battering ram hanging on the bottom floor. The second last floor was almost as high as the city wall, where a drawbridge could be lowered to allow the soldiers inside the tower to rush to the top of the city wall. The third last floor was slightly lower than the top of the city wall, where another terrifying weapon invented by the people of Syracuse was placed — the Ventral Bow. Therefore, this was a super siege tower. It required hundreds of people behind the tower and on both sides to push it.
Diónia's cannonballs kept falling around the tower, splashing mud everywhere. The splashes of mud mixed with rainwater hit the bodies of the soldiers, causing them to feel pain. Those who were hit by the cannonballs died a horrible death. The soldiers around them were so scared that they quickly ran away. Since the city was densely packed with soldiers, there was only a large empty space near the siege tower.
The commanding officer of the siege tower sensed the danger. He urged the workers behind the tower to push the siege tower faster. As long as they reached the city wall, nothing could threaten the siege tower.
At the same time, the third floor of the siege tower opened up, revealing the two Abdomen Archers. They looked like cannons, except that they were equipped with a huge bow that was placed flat on the launcher. The operator forcefully turned the pulley, pulled the thick and solid bowstring, and put in an equally large iron arrow.
The distance of 30 meters was very easy for the Abdominal Archers to aim. The Abdominal Archer on the right even aimed his iron arrow at the general with the colorful tassels on his helmet.
"Phew!! Accompanied by the sound of the bowstring, the iron arrow flashed and reached the top of the city wall.
When Ascamas opened the window on the siege tower, his years of experience on the battlefield made him feel uneasy. He instinctively sat down on the battlements. Then, he heard two shrill screams. The soldier behind him, who was holding a round shield to block the arrows from the siege tower and the earthen rampart, was pierced in the chest by the iron arrow. The strong kinetic energy also pierced through the soldier behind him and nailed him to the wall behind him. The other iron arrow pierced through three people at once. The soldiers around him, including Ascamas, were shocked when they saw this.
The giant siege tower of Syracuse, which played a key role in the capture of Carthage's important city of Mortia, showed its ferocious face. It was like a giant beast baring its fangs and claws, slowly approaching the city wall. The soldiers guarding the city were panicking and did not know what to do …
At this critical moment, a black dot streaked across the top of the city wall like a meteor, smashing into the watchtower on the top of the siege tower with a powerful kinetic energy. "Bang!" A hole was easily punched through the thick wooden planks. Splinters flew everywhere and pierced the faces and bodies of the Syracuse archers in the watchtower like steel needles, causing them to scream in pain. But this was not the end. The stone bullet that fell into the tower followed the wooden ladder and landed on the feet of a soldier who was loading his bow on the third floor from the bottom of the siege tower. He screamed in pain, which caused the other soldiers to panic and delay the firing of the bow.
"We hit it! We hit it! Our ballistae hit it!! " The soldiers guarding the city cheered as if they had won the entire battle. They used this action to dispel the fear in their hearts.
Ascamas sighed in his heart. Compared to the huge siege tower, the stone bullets from the ballistae were like a drop in the ocean. They were not enough to cause much damage.
Just as Ascamas finished sighing, he saw one stone bullet after another flying towards the siege tower.
Just as the soldiers sighed that they had missed and some even began to pray to Apollo, their prayers seemed to be answered.
A stone bullet flew from the side and hit the middle of the siege tower, causing the enemy to cry out in shock.
Following that, another stone bullet flew right into the layer where the guard board was lifted and the bowstring was about to be fired. The bowstring shattered with a sound, all kinds of parts and wood shavings flew randomly in the narrow space, in exchange for the soldiers' blood-curdling screams and splatters of blood.
Then, another stone bullet smashed into the lower part of the siege tower.
Even though the soldiers were cheering non-stop, the siege tower, which had a few holes in it, was still slowly approaching the city wall. However, as it moved, the body of the tower began to shake. Loose wooden planks kept falling down, causing the laborers who were pushing the tower to scatter in panic. The siege tower began to collapse from top to bottom … …
Dionysius, who was standing on top of the rampart outside the city, looked at the scene with an ashen face. He knew that under his supervision, Fasipesas had gathered nearly 10,000 men under the command of the engineers to speed up the construction of the siege towers, and they had completed three in a few days. However, due to the lack of time, the siege towers were not very sturdy, and the impact of the stone cannons must have damaged the internal structure of the siege towers.
"My lord, look! The siege tower has crossed the moat! "Damocles shouted excitedly to divert Dionysius's attention.
"Our siege hammers have reached the bottom of the city. I think the walls of Crotone will tremble under its impact!" Another subordinate said, not to be outdone.
Indeed, the walls of Crotone were full of Syracuse soldiers. They attracted most of the attacks from the defenders, and the siege towers, siege hammers, and siege carts (the wooden wheelbarrows used to fortify the moat. When they reached the bottom of the city, the people in the carts could use tools such as pickaxes to dig out and loosen the toughest part of the walls, the stones, and cause the walls to collapse). These large-scale siege weapons successfully reached the bottom of the city. The destruction of one siege tower did not affect the outcome of the battle. Once the siege weapons attacked together, the walls of Crotone would be in big trouble.
However, Dionysius looked up at the sky worriedly. The clouds were getting thicker, and the rain was getting heavier. He could barely open his eyes. If the rain continued like this, then …
It was as if the rain was responding to his worries. Crack! Boom! A blinding light flashed in the sky, followed by the rumbling of thunder. The sound drowned out all the noise on the battlefield. The soldiers on both sides were shocked, and they looked up at the sky.
The wind grew stronger …
The rain became heavier, and soon it became a downpour …
Lightning, thunder, wind, and rain became the main characters of the world.
The soldiers were no longer fighting. Instead, they were cowering and hiding under the city walls or in the watchtowers. That was because a bolt of lightning had struck the ground and split a siege tower in half!
The people who saw this tragic scene were all stunned.
This was the wrath of the King of Gods! The soldiers on both sides trembled in fear and started to pray to Zeus.
"My lord, it's too dangerous here. Let's go down!" His subordinates came to persuade Dionysius.
Dionysius looked in front of him reluctantly, but the rain was too heavy. His vision was all white …
He had no choice but to give the order, "Retreat!"
The sound of the bugle could not be heard in such bad weather. Luckily, the soldiers of Syracuse did not need to give the order. They had already retreated. At the same time, the people of Crotone didn't dare to give chase in such a terrible weather. A large-scale siege had just begun, but it was aborted due to the interference of nature …
As soon as Dionysius went down the rampart, the rampart that took a few thousand men two days to build slowly collapsed under the fierce rain. He cursed helplessly, "Crotone got lucky this time!"
"It seems like Zeus is protecting them this time," one of the subordinates said.
Dionysius immediately glared at him fiercely, "Shut your mouth! This has nothing to do with Zeus, it's just a coincidence. "
Meanwhile, Ascamas was praying to Zeus on the wall.
Crotone did not have many rainy days during the winter. The rain today was one of a kind, so the people of Crotone believed it was a blessing from the gods. Even though they were being washed away by the wind and rain, their morale was boosted.
… …
The war between Syracuse and the Southern Alliance was closely watched by many factions, as it concerned the hegemony of the Greek city-states in the Western Mediterranean.
Carthage hated Syracuse to the core, even though they had been fighting against it for a hundred years. Unfortunately, reality forced the Senate of Carthage to reject Diónia's request for an alliance. Of course, they hoped that Syracuse's army would suffer a setback or even suffer heavy losses in the war. However, the news they received was that Syracuse was winning. Even Crotone and Diónia were in danger under the fierce attack of Dionysius's army. Carthage was even more afraid of Syracuse's strength.
Margo, who was in charge of the defense in Sicily, wrote several letters to the Senate, requesting to launch small attacks on Syracuse's allies to divert Syracuse's attention, slow down Dionysius's attack on the north, and prevent him from forming a stronger Syracuse after conquering Greece.
The Senate, headed by Hanno, rejected his proposal. To prevent him from acting recklessly, the Senate even sent an inspector to Sicily to supervise the mobilization of the Sicilian army.
… …
The Senate of Carthage watched the progress of the war in Greece with trepidation. Meanwhile, the battle of Corinth on the Peloponnesus Peninsula was still ongoing.
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