Chapter 491
"Alright, you're the commander. Whatever you say." Epicthenis shrugged at Felicius again, then turned to Agathia and complained, "Sir Administrator, can you get us some wheat flour? If we don't have oats, we can at least make porridge with them. We've been eating beef jerky for two days straight. It's hard for us to poop now. "
"As the commander of Legio IV, you should know that half of Legio IV's soldiers come from here. The people here would never mistreat their loved ones. But Asprustum is a small city with a small population, and it doesn't have a lot of wheat. The people's surplus food has been eaten up by you guys in the past few days. There's no food left! "Agathia said helplessly.
"Just bear with it. Syracuse's cavalry has cut off our food supply route. I've already sent scouts to His Majesty to inform him that we're having trouble with our food supply. I believe it won't be long before His Majesty arrives with his army, and the food problem will be solved," Felicius comforted him.
"Wait! Wait! Or wait! " Epthenis had become more and more anxious after Dracos' death. He did not want to stay in the mansion any longer. He said loudly, "I'm going to the city to see what's going on."
With that, he strode out.
Agathia looked at Felicius, who was sitting there in a daze. He felt that Dracos' death had a huge impact on both of them, and he felt the same way. Back then, he had invited Timason, Creander, and other former comrades to Diónia, but they attacked Crimissa without permission, causing the Second Crotone War. Although the Devers never blamed him for the Crotone's defeat and Diónia's power expanded, he blamed himself. Since then, Agathia had devoted most of his energy to politics to forget about his guilt. After a few years of honing, because of his good administrative ability, he became the second person among the former mercenary veterans to be appointed as the chief executive (the first was Hilos).
Along with the accumulation of experience in politics and his long dealings with the Crotone in Asprustom, he knew very well how disgruntled the Crotone were at losing their Southern Overlord, especially after they had recovered their strength in recent years. They had often opposed Diónia in the Southern Alliance, which was why he had another theory about the King of Devers's order to 'not attack rashly': His Majesty seemed to be allowing Syracuse to weaken the Crotone. However, would Diónia have the ability to defeat Syracuse on its own?!
… …
Crotone's siege of the city was still going strong.
Syracuse made use of the archers at the top of the siege towers and the archers at the bottom of the towers to clear out the defenders at the top of the walls while slowly approaching the walls.
In the past two to three days, the Crotone had come up with a few ways to defend against the siege towers. For example, they would concentrate their attacks with ballistae and fire arrows. When the siege towers were close enough, they would throw oil cans at them and burn them with fire. At the same time, they also made a long wooden plank wrapped in iron to push the siege towers away from the walls …
Even with all these efforts, there were still a few siege towers that approached the walls and lowered the wooden bridge. The Syracuse soldiers rushed to the top of the walls through the siege towers and engaged the defenders in a fierce battle.
Lysias urgently sent reinforcements. After a fierce battle, the enemies were finally driven off the walls one by one.
While the Crotone mainly focused on defending against the siege towers, the Syracuse soldiers used ladders to climb to the top of the walls and engaged the defenders in a fierce battle.
The allied forces of Crotone, Triene and Siridean were defending tenaciously.
The battle lasted until the afternoon. The siege towers of Syracuse destroyed the northern gate of Crotone. However, the Crotone soldiers had already sealed the entrance with rocks and wood.
However, the combined use of several siege engines and Lion Carts finally caused a section of the walls to collapse. The defenders on the walls suffered heavy casualties.
The Syracuse soldiers took the opportunity to quickly climb up the collapsed slope in an attempt to rush into the city.
Fortunately, the reserve forces organized by Lysias arrived in time. This group of freedmen, elderly and youths relied on their large numbers and fighting spirit to defend their homeland to resist the fierce attacks of the experienced Syracuse soldiers.
It was already dusk and the sky was gradually darkening. Lysias, Cyprolos and the other leaders of the allied forces were overjoyed. They thought that they had finally made it to the end of the day.
However, Dionysius had no intention of withdrawing his troops and returning to camp. He had the slaves push wooden carts filled with wood, asphalt, resin, and oiled linen. He pushed them to the side of the moat and lit them with fire. Immediately, a huge fire lit up the entire city walls.
Dionysius immediately gave the order: Blow the bugle and beat the war drums. Continue the siege!
The defenders who were bitterly holding on and thought that the battle was about to end saw one wave of Syracuse soldiers retreat and another wave attack. There was no end to it. The defenders' morale was low.
The relentless efforts of the Syracuse soldiers finally paid off. Under the urging of the soldiers, after sacrificing countless lives, due to the weakening of the defenders, the captives finally built a ramp to the top of the city walls and stacked the sandbags on top of the walls.
The long-awaited Syracuse soldiers rushed up to the top of the city walls and started fighting with the defenders who came to stop them. Dionysius, who was anxious, even ordered the guards around him to join the battle at the top of the city wall.
The defenders could no longer hold on and started to retreat. This allowed the Syracuse soldiers to gain a foothold on the city walls and quickly spread out in other directions.
"Quick! Go find Lysias! Tell him to send reinforcements or else we won't be able to hold on! "Ascamas shouted at the messenger in exasperation.
However, the north, west and south of Ciudad Crotone were under attack. The east port had to defend against a large number of enemy ships that were cruising in the coastal waters. The only reserve troops were bitterly resisting the enemy troops that were attacking from the gaps in the city walls. There were no more reinforcements.
Just as the generals of Crotone were stretched thin and could only watch helplessly as the enemies surged up to the top of the city walls and wreaked havoc. "Boom! Boom! " There were a few more loud noises and another section of the city walls was destroyed by the siege engines. Amidst the flying dust and accompanied by the roars of the Syracuse soldiers, the Crotone soldiers who were fighting for their homeland finally revealed a look of fear. Under the cover of the night, they started to shout in panic, "Run! The enemy is attacking! The city is breached! … "
The reserve troops who were already low in morale retreated. Not long after, the defenders on the city walls also started to retreat …
The people of Syracuse broke through the city walls and rushed into the city. The defense of the entire northern city was completely breached.
Lucias, Sisprotis, and other high-ranking officials were distressed to see that the panicked soldiers ignored their dissuasion and ran past them like a tide, fleeing into the depths of the city; the people on both sides of the street also ran away together with the old and the young; cries, screams, and screams resounded throughout the entire city …
Seeing that the enemy was clearing the defenders on the city walls and advancing into the city center, Lysias was anxious but he was completely at a loss. He did not know what to do.
At this moment, a long line formed by torches appeared from the depths of the city. "Go to the Temple of Apollo! Go to the Temple of Apollo! … "
This orderly shout alerted the panicked Crotone citizens. Under the illumination of the torches, they staggered towards the acropolis near the center of the city — the Temple of Apollo.
Lysias and the rest also rushed over.
"Who told you to do this?!" Lysias asked the soldier holding the torches anxiously.
"It's General Myron!" the soldier replied.
Myron was not a general at all. His task of defending the port was requested by Ascamas, but this did not affect the soldiers' respect for him.
Lysias was not in the mood to care about this. On the contrary, he was grateful to Myron. If he had not taken measures in time to guide the citizens to the acropolis, the consequences would have been unimaginable.
He turned back to look at the city walls which were in flames. He saw that a portion of the soldiers were still trying their best to block the enemy's attack. Screams rang out one after another, and he felt as if his heart was being twisted by a knife.
He reminded the soldiers beside him with concern, "The enemy will be here soon. You have to rush back to the acropolis as soon as possible!" After saying this, he and the others blended into the chaotic crowd. They had to rush back to the acropolis to calm the panicked citizens and maintain order in the acropolis. At the same time, they had to organize the citizens to defend the last fortress of Crotone — the acropolis.
… …
"Sir, we won! We broke through Ciudad Crotone!! "Damocles was extremely excited.
Dionysius could not hide his joy either. After receiving the blessings from his attendants, he immediately prayed to Apollo devoutly to express his gratitude.
Amidst the cheers, Phoebidas, who was deep in thought, seemed a little different. Today's siege gave him a great shock. Not only were the ingenious and powerful siege machines used, but the organization of the huge siege team was also quite orderly. However, what shocked him was Dionysius's ruthlessness.
Dionysius actually killed the soldiers and teams who had fled the battlefield after the siege failed. This was simply inconceivable! In traditional Greek wars, there was no way to deal with deserters. Even Sparta did not have such a tradition. After all, the entire Sparta society revered honor in battle, and deserters would have nowhere to go. However, not only did Dionysius do it, he did it more than once. This forced the soldiers of Syracuse to attack with all their might without regard for their lives. He actually created the miracle of breaking through Ciudad Crotone in one day.
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