Chapter 547
"Blow the horn to attack. Raise the star-filled flag!" Sykerian ordered again.
Even though Sykerian was determined to advance, he was not reckless. He knew that the Dionysian fleet had only been established for a short period of time, and the cooperation between the warships was definitely not as good as the opponent's. Hence, if he wanted to win, he had to take advantage of the fact that the sailors of the Diónia Navy had won consecutive battles. The sailors' morale was high, and they were in good condition. Then, he would charge forward bravely and engage in one-on-one combat, using their high morale to defeat the enemy. If he did as the captain said and temporarily retreated, not only would it dampen the sailors' morale, but there would also be troops from Syracuse on land attacking Mearlo when the Syracuse fleet attacked. If the Dionysian fleet retreated in front of the enemy and ignored their allies, what awaited Sykerian after the battle would no longer be the smiling face of His Majesty the Devers, but the mercilessness of the Diónia military law!
Thinking of this, he glared at the captain and said, "You're no longer suitable to be a captain. Go and be the lookout at the stern."
Then, ignoring the captain's defense, he walked to the side of the ship and beckoned the clippers to come closer. He then shouted, "Tell the sailors of every warship that this is the last battle of the Diónia Navy in this war. It's also their last chance to earn merits and win glory and rewards from the Alliance. Don't miss this chance!"
When the boatswains of every warship relayed Sykerian's words, the sailors became emotional and shouted, "For victory, kill the people of Syracuse! … "
During the two hours of sailing, the sailors rowed at a low speed. Now, it was as if they had just warmed up. They only finished their rations under the repeated urging of the boatswains. Under the burning passion of battle, the wooden oars in their hands seemed weightless. Under the direction of the piper, the sailors gradually increased the speed of the oars …
At this moment, someone began to sing Hades's hymn. Soon, all the sailors sang in unison. The sacred and solemn lyrics were sung with great passion, piercing through the ship's hold and echoing on the blue sea …
When the Dionysian fleet discovered traces of the enemy, Syracuse's fleet naturally saw them as well. Palonisus had already arranged a 'double column' attack formation, so he immediately gave the order to 'attack'.
Logically speaking, Syracuse's warship was the first to attack. Regardless of whether it was the increase in speed of the warship or the speed of the warship, when both sides approached each other, they should have the advantage. But in fact, at the moment of contact, the speed of the Diónia warship was slightly faster than the Syracuse, which showed the difference in the enthusiasm of the sailors on both sides …
… …
The vast sea and the incessant crashing of the tides masked the collisions between the warships, making the battle at sea silent.
On land, Masias led about 12000 men from the Syracuse coalition army and arrived at the south bank of the Alcántara River. He did not immediately attack Mejaro as Antonios had expected. Instead, he ordered the army to stop advancing and get into formation. At the same time, he drove hundreds of carts to the front of the formation.
When the soldiers on the Mejaro Outpost saw so many carts, they finally understood why the Syracuse army made such a loud rumble when they advanced. Then, amidst the noisy neighing of the pack beasts, the sentinel saw the Syracuse soldiers laboriously moving ballista after ballista from the carts, and his eyes widened.
"You're saying that the Syracuse army has deployed almost a hundred ballista cannons on the south bank of the Alcántara River?!" Antonios tried to keep his expression calm when he heard the news, but the slight tremble in his voice could not conceal the shock in his heart.
"Yes, Lord Commander. Not only did they deploy almost a hundred ballista cannons, but they also have a few Abdomen Archers! "the sentinel replied.
Before Antonios could speak, the other captains looked at each other and said, "Why are there so many ballista cannons?!"
"I'm afraid that Syracuse has moved all their ballista cannons here. I heard from His Majesty that Syracuse was the first to invent ballista cannons … "
"Looks like the people of Syracuse are determined to wipe us out in Mejaro!"
"Then we'll show them the power of the First Corps!"
…
"Where are Syracuse's ballista cannons? Can our ballista reach them? "The second captain, Zantiparis, asked a crucial question.
"… About 500 meters away from the southern wooden wall," the sentinel replied after some thought.
"In other words, if Syracuse's ballista uses five kilograms of stone bullets, it can hit the southern wooden wall of Mejaro." Giogris immediately said worriedly, "And if we want to hit them with our ballista, we'll have to move them forward, closer to the southern wooden wall. That's not good for the ballista cannons, and we'll be vulnerable to attack. We only have six ballista cannons!"
Originally, every corps of Diónia was equipped with ten ballista cannons. However, during the Battle of Crotone, the ballista cannons and other equipment were left in the barracks on the northern bank of the Neto River. Following that, the main army quickly surrounded Siletam, so the First Corps did not have the time to retrieve their own ballista cannons. In the end, it was the Devers who thought that the First Corps would definitely attack Sicily, so they hurriedly searched for six ballista cannons from Syracuse's barracks that were still in good condition. After the engineers hurriedly repaired them, they handed them over to the First Corps. Syracuse's ballista cannons were relatively large and cumbersome. They did not have a ruler or any other distance measuring device, so their accuracy was rather poor. However, they could fire stone bullets that weighed a maximum of 30 kilograms.
"It seems that the generals of Syracuse's army are very cautious, and have a detailed understanding of our battle strategy." Antonios was also a little worried. He said, "Let the soldiers hide first, and let them endure the initial bombardment of the ballista. We'll just have to wait for the enemy to attack the town …"
Before Antonios could finish his sentence, there was a loud "Boom! Boom! Boom! " Deafening explosions rang out continuously, causing the faces of the high-ranking officers in the tent to turn pale.
At this moment, the soldiers on the southern wooden wall of Mejaro were witnessing a terrifying scene. Hundreds of stone bullets and short spears flew towards them with great momentum, as though they were falling from the sky like a meteor shower. Even the battle-hardened soldiers shuddered at this moment.
"Retreat! Quickly remove the wooden wall, retreat to the back to hide! " The team officers shouted anxiously.
Fortunately, when they saw Syracuse's army deploying so many ballista cannons, the officers of the 1st Corp had already begun to withdraw the soldiers on the wooden wall. Only because the wooden ladder was narrow, and the enemy's rapid deployment of the ballista cannons resulted in a few soldiers remaining on the wooden wall.
At this moment, the soldiers simply jumped down from the wooden walkway. A mere three metres wouldn't cause too much damage to them. These experienced soldiers ignored the pain in their feet, and immediately picked up the long shields they had tossed down. Shielding their heads, they tumbled and crawled backwards. Needless to say, their postures were unsightly and pathetic, but their actions to save themselves in such a dangerous situation were correct.
Because the instant they jumped down from the wooden wall, they heard a deafening boom, and the entire wooden wall trembled. Some of the stone bullets smashed into the wooden wall, and the wooden pillars that were as thick as fists broke. Some of the stone bullets flew over the wooden wall, and smashed into the muddy ground, causing dust to fly everywhere. What was even more frightening were the wooden shavings that flew out due to the broken wooden walls. These thousands of irregular wooden shavings carried the powerful force of the stone bullets as they scattered in all directions. They easily pierced through the legs and arms of the few soldiers who didn't manage to retreat in time. Some of them even pierced through the thick breastplates of the soldiers who didn't manage to retreat in time …
After a round of bombardment, the entire southern wooden wall was in ruins. Parts of the wall were broken at the waist, revealing a frighteningly large hole. Parts of the wall collapsed inwards, revealing a gap for the enemy to break through. The few watchtowers behind the curtain wall were also on the verge of collapse …
While the enemy was reloading the stone bullets, the soldiers rushed forward and supported their fallen comrades to the back.
At this moment, Leotychides heard the sound of crying not far away. As a Sparta soldier, he hated crying during battle because it meant weakness and affected morale.
"What's going on over there?!" He roared. Immediately, a soldier ran over in a hurry and said in a choked voice, "Captain, Captain Parmanius, he … he …"
Leotychides's heart sank, and he hurried over.
Seeing him, the soldiers quickly made way for him.
A short spear shot from the Abdomen Bow pierced through Parmanius' left chest, nailing him to the wall of the wooden house. He was dead.
"It's all my fault! It's all my fault! If I wasn't slow and fell, the captain wouldn't have run over to help me, and … "A soldier beat his chest and cursed himself with tears streaming down his face.
Leotychides glanced at the soldier. The soldier's thigh was pierced by a wooden spike, and the wound was bleeding, dyeing his entire calf red. "Help him to the back and find the medic camp to treat him."
A few soldiers went up to help the wounded soldier, but he still didn't want to leave and was still crying.
"Hurry up and treat my leg. Come back to kill the enemy and avenge Captain Parmanius!" Leotizides roared in a low voice, causing the soldier to stop crying. He immediately wiped away his tears and said to Parmanius' corpse with a resolute expression, "Captain, wait for me at the Valhalla!"
The wounded soldier was helped down.
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