Chapter 550
"Don't worry, Henny. It's Tormid's job to summon the generals. He won't be happy if you steal his job. " The Devers patted him on the shoulder and said softly, "You've just become my clerk, so you still need time to get used to it. Now, the first task I'm giving you is — "
Henepolis immediately straightened his posture and waited for the Devers' order.
"Eat breakfast with me," the Devers said mischievously.
"Ah! The enemy is about to attack, and you still want to eat breakfast, Your Majesty?! " Henepolis's exclamation made the servant glance at him. Only Henepolis dared to speak to the Devers like this. All the other generals were respectful in front of the Devers!
The Devers didn't care. He signaled for the servant to bring breakfast, then walked to the entrance of the tent. He looked at the weather outside and said, "If you don't eat breakfast, how will you have the strength to fight the enemy? Perhaps, the soldiers outside are chewing on bread and drinking hot soup to keep warm … A battle has its own rhythm and rhythm. We can't be slow, but we can't be anxious. Only by controlling the rhythm of the battle can we better maintain the soldiers' stamina and morale! "
Henepolis nodded, not fully understanding.
Compared to the peaceful atmosphere in the tent, the atmosphere in the camp was tense. Because of the thick fog, it was impossible to see where the flags of the various divisions and companies were. The squad leader was very important. Not only did he have to gather the nine soldiers under him and check if there were any problems with their weapons, he also had to distinguish the shouts of his superior in the noisy camp. Then, he had to lead the soldiers to meet up with him. At the same time, he had to avoid being separated in the crowded passage.
Bonfires were lit one after another in the camp. They were not only to bring light to this foggy and overcast weather, but also for the cooks of the supply camp to make bread, gravy, and porridge for the soldiers of the various divisions.
The reason why the Diónia soldiers hadn't been urgently moved to the east wall to defend against the enemy's attack was because the Syracuse soldiers hadn't appeared in front of the trenches yet. In the past few days, the Diónia soldiers had worked tirelessly to set up various traps and bucklers that were more than 60 meters long in front of the camp, preventing the enemy from advancing quickly.
While Syracuse was eliminating these sinister traps under the cover of the thick fog, the 40 ballistae of all the legions in Diónia were quickly in position. (These ballistae had been moved here with the camp on the north bank of the Neto River on the second day after the Dionysian Army had surrounded Xilyting.)
Legio IV ballista calibrator Kordolod, who had more experience with ballistas and performed outstandingly in the defensive battle at Ciudad Crotone, was appointed as the commander of the entire ballista unit by the Devers.
At this moment, there was a vast expanse of white in front of Kurdorode. He couldn't see any suspicious targets and couldn't judge the distance. However, Kurdolod was confident and remembered all the data in his mind. How far was the ballista from the eastern wooden wall? How high was the wooden wall? How long was the trap zone outside the camp? … …
He pondered for a moment and began to give orders. "50 degrees of elevation, five kilograms of stone projectiles, three squares back, ready!"
The messengers quickly passed the order to all the ballistae in the area.
They immediately adjusted the lever of the ballista to lower the slide and increase the elevation. Then, they shook the pulley, and the strong spring arms were pulled open and fixed. The five kilograms of stone projectiles were placed into the smooth slide. Because of the limitations of craftsmanship and materials, 50 degrees of elevation was the maximum angle that Diónia's ballistae could reach. Under this condition, the projectile's parabola was high, but the distance was short. Three squares back meant that the spring set made of several tightly strung together and made of cow tendons was only half full. Five kilograms of stone projectiles was the minimum weight that Diónia's ballistae could fire. (The maximum weight was 15 kilograms. This was different from Syracuse's ballistae. Because Syracuse frequently attacked other cities in Sicily, the ballistae had high requirements for the destruction of the city walls. Therefore, the ballistae were larger and heavier. They could fire a stone projectile the weight of Talent (i.e. 26 kilograms) nearly 300 meters away.)
Kurdorode's idea was that the fog in the Western Courtyard was heavy, and the weather was cold. It had a great impact on the structure of the ballistae, especially the spring set made of cow tendons. Therefore, he first used a small weight of stone projectiles to warm up the ballistae. At the same time, he also tested the location of the enemy's main force. He estimated that the stone projectiles would fall within a range of 80 to 120 meters outside the trench. If the enemy launched a large-scale attack, then this area should be where the enemy would be most concentrated. However, usually, five kilograms of stone projectiles had a range of more than 500 meters. Therefore, he raised the angle and reduced the tension of the spring set, hoping to achieve the range he wanted.
The soldiers of the 1st Legion sat cross-legged on the ground and chewed on their bread. They raised their heads and watched as the stone projectiles shot into the air one after another and disappeared into the thick fog.
A moment later, the thick fog outside the camp suddenly exploded like a pot of boiling water. Screams and cries of alarm rang out, completely confirming the fact that Syracuse's army was attacking.
"50 degrees of elevation, 10 kilograms, one square back, get ready!" Kurdorode, who was once a gentle and elegant student of the Diónia Academy, had a murderous aura around him after experiencing the influence of war. The news that the ballistae had hit first didn't make him cheer like his subordinates. He continued to calmly give orders.
Yesterday, Diónia's 1st Legion had been bombarded by Syracuse's hundreds of ballistae and crossbows for an entire day at Meyaro. Today, Diónia had returned the favor in the same way outside the Western Courtyard. Retribution really came too quickly.
It wasn't that Dionysius didn't want to use the ballistae to retaliate, but because he wanted to attack Ciudad Crotone, he brought all of the ballistae to the main camp at Tachinadi River. In the end, the battle was lost, and the army only cared about escaping. All of the siege weapons were abandoned in the camp and fell into the hands of Diónia's army. Originally, with the thousands of engineers, craftsmen, and apprentices under his command, it wouldn't be a problem to remake dozens of ballistae in a short period of time. However, there was a crucial component that Syracuse couldn't immediately make, and that was the ballista spring made from cow tendons. They were surrounded by Diónia's army in the city. Very few people kept their cattle in the city, and most of the army's beasts were lost in the main camp at Tachinadi River. Moreover, even if there were cows in the city, killing them and removing their tendons required a lot of processes. It would take almost half a year to make a proper spring. Therefore, Dionysius gave up on making ballistae and concentrated on making other weapons.
At this moment, thousands of Syracuse's slaves and freedmen were seizing the time to destroy the traps and bucklers. Then, they flattened the ground and laid down wooden planks. The sudden stone shells fell into the dense crowd, cracking skulls and breaking bones, and spraying blood everywhere.
As a matter of fact, due to the high parabola of the stone cannonball, it did not bounce much after it landed. The total number of casualties was only slightly more than 20. However, every bloody scene frightened the people around it. It took a lot of effort for the officers of Syracuse to calm them down.
Since the Diónia's army had already noticed, Syracuse didn't hide anymore. They started to push the siege weapons out of the city one by one. In order to make them, Syracuse practically ripped apart all of the houses in Xilyting City. They collected door planks, wood, and even cut down all the trees in the harbor.
The largest weapon to be made was undoubtedly the mobile tower that was almost 6 metres tall. In order to allow these towers to be moved out of the city, Dionysius decisively ordered his men to secretly remove a small section of the city wall. It was only until last night that it was completely turned into a passageway from the city to the outside.
Dionysius dared to do this because after receiving the alarm from Locke, he realized that the cunning Diónia's camp and encirclement of Xilyting were not to attack the city, but to seal off Syracuse's army and turn to attack Syracuse's weaker allies. In order to achieve this sinister goal, the young Devers even used peace talks to numb himself (of course, he naturally neglected the fact that Syracuse was also using peace talks to buy time).
Of course, Syracuse wouldn't allow Diónia to succeed in their plan. Since the Dionysian Army had turned to attack the Locke Alliance, the number of troops stationed in the camp outside Xilyting City would naturally decrease. Furthermore, Diónia had built a huge camp that stretched for over 10 miles to surround Xilyting City, further thinning out Diónia's forces.
The Devers' 'arrogance' allowed Dionysius to see a good opportunity to defeat the Dionysian Army. In these few days, the Syracuse soldiers gradually recovered from their defeat. He also spent a lot of effort to convince the tens of thousands of freedmen and slaves to join the ranks of the soldiers. "Give freedom, give citizenship, give land …" These methods weren't only used by Diónia, but also by Syracuse. However, in the past, it was mainly used on mercenaries. This time, in order to defeat Diónia and escape from danger, Dionysius expanded the scope of application. Of course, the most important reason for them to take up arms was that everyone wanted to return to Sicily alive.
Therefore, when nearly 2000 light infantry from Diónia rushed to the wooden walls and began to throw countless arrows at the foggy camp, causing many Syracuse soldiers to be injured or killed, although they were panicking, there wasn't much chaos and they could still carry on with their mission of clearing out the defences. The trap zone that was less than a hundred meters long was quickly filled up with the efforts of tens of thousands of people.
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