Chapter 551
The soldiers distributed shields and spears to the freedmen and slaves who returned. Teams of ten were formed, led by a citizen soldier, and they charged into the Diónia camp again. If anyone refused to fight or ran away, the soldiers would capture them and execute them on the spot to deter those who were afraid of death.
In front of these impromptu teams were nearly 20,000 Syracuse soldiers and moving siege weapons. They were in a very loose formation, carrying ladders that were up to ten meters long and pushing all kinds of heavy siege weapons, walking on the muddy ground that had just been leveled by the freedmen and slaves. Because many of them had lost their armor and shields in the previous battle, everyone's equipment was rather simple and crude, almost the same as the free civilians in the rear. Arrows that they didn't have to worry about before now became the long-range weapons that gave them the most headaches. Fortunately, the rain of arrows was mostly blocked by the towers, shield carts, and siege vehicles at the front of the formation.
Although the stone bullets whistled and fell from time to time, the Syracuse soldiers were not as panicked as the freedmen. After all, they had seen too many ballista attacks. Everyone was just praying, "Apollo, bless us, don't be the unlucky ones who get hit by the stone bullets."
* Bang! * A shield cart was hit by a stone bullet and immediately disintegrated. The broken pieces of wood even injured the slaves pushing the carts, causing the soldiers at the back to subconsciously move further away from the siege weapons. These big guys were the most worried about being hit by the ballista!
The Diónia light infantry on the wooden wall heard the rumbling in front of them, and the sound was getting louder and louder, like a spring thunder that was about to release lightning. They were all nervous, and the speed at which they nocked their arrows increased. Every time they heard a scream, they felt a little more at ease.
Soon, indistinct figures and objects appeared in the white fog in front of them. When more than ten towers that were taller than the camp's wooden wall emerged from the fog and appeared in front of the trench, the Diónia soldiers were nervous because of these behemoths.
"Defend!" The heavy infantry quickly put their long shields on top of their heads and formed a shield formation.
* Clang clang … * That was the sound of the javelins thrown from the towers colliding with the metal horns in the center of the shields. A few of the javelins pierced through the shields and caused damage to the legionnaires. Obviously, the Syracuse soldiers knew that archers were not much of a threat to the Diónia heavy infantry, which was why all the soldiers on top of the towers were javelins.
The light infantry hiding behind the Diónia heavy infantry immediately returned arrows and javelins to the towers that were eight to nine meters away from the wooden wall.
The Syracuse soldiers at the top of the towers relied on the protection of the wooden fence. Even if there were any who were shot and fell, a new light infantry would enter from the entrance at the back of the towers and climb up the wooden ladder to the top to replace them.
With the suppression of the long-range firepower from the towers, the Syracuse soldiers braved the arrows and javelins and rushed to the trench. They placed a ladder that was more than ten meters long on top of the wooden wall.
Due to the strict construction of the camp by the Legion of Dionysia, the trench they dug was four meters wide and three meters deep. The trench was filled with sharp wooden stakes. On the other side of the trench was a barricade. After the barricade was tamped down, a wooden wall was built on top of the barricade. Hence, the barricade and the wooden wall were almost five meters tall. The Syracuse soldiers could not stand under the wooden wall at all. They could only stand on the opposite side of the trench and use the extended ladder to attack the city.
The longer the ladder was, the slanted angle decreased after it was placed on the wooden wall. Not only did it expose the soldiers to the enemy's attacks, but it also made the ladder more unstable. If they were not careful, they could easily fall into the trench and be pierced by the sharp wooden stakes. However, the Syracuse soldiers were not afraid. They built wooden ladders and climbed up the wall one after another.
While the towers and ladders attracted the attention of the Diónia soldiers, hundreds and thousands of freedmen carried sacks filled with soil on their backs and ran towards the trench in front of the camp. Along the way, there were people who fell to arrows, but more people succeeded in throwing the sacks into the trench.
Defending the Diónia's main camp were the Legio IV and the Seventh Legion of Diónia, a total of 11000 soldiers. All of them rushed to the wooden wall on the east side to defend the camp. As the walkway inside the wooden wall was not wide, the archers retreated to either the wooden wall or the sentry tower. They continued to snipe at the towers outside the camp and concentrated their long-range attacks on the incoming Syracuse soldiers.
On the wooden wall, a mixed group of heavy infantry and javelin throwers threw javelins at the enemies in front of the trench or on the ladders. They used their shields and spears to push the enemies who attempted to climb up the wall into the trench. At the same time, they had to defend against the javelin attacks from the towers.
When the thick fog gradually dispersed and the sun rose into the sky, the attack and defense of the Diónia's main camp reached its climax …
… …
At the same time, the gate leading to the main city of Syracuse on Ortygia Island in Sicily opened. Hipparinus' carriage and his entourage walked out in a single file.
Ortygia Island was originally the earliest colonial settlement of the people of Syracuse. It was only after Dillon became the usurper that he migrated the citizens of the surrounding city-states to Syracuse and reclaimed the inland area that was connected to Ortygia Island. At the same time, he vigorously developed sea trade. Since then, Syracuse gradually became the most powerful of the Greek city-states in Sicily. When Dionysius became the usurper, he not only migrated more Greek citizens to Syracuse, but at the same time, because of two riots, his rule was almost overthrown and his life was almost in danger. In order to ensure his own safety, he forcibly migrated the original citizens of Ortygia Island, turning the peninsula into the residence and fortress of his family, supporters, and loyal mercenaries. The people of Syracuse privately joked that "Ortygia Island is Dionysius' Acropolis".
As loyal subordinates of Dionysius, Philistos and Hipparinus naturally lived on Ortygia Island. However, the city hall was outside the island, beside the square south of the Temple of Apollo. Therefore, if there were no special circumstances, Philistos would rush to the city hall early in the morning to deal with government affairs. In the afternoon, he would return to the palace on Ortygia Island to report to Dionysius.
As the Chief of Intelligence, although Hipparinus had a seat in the city hall, he usually worked in his own mansion on Ortygia Island because it was more secretive. However, during the time Dionysius was away from Syracuse, he worked in the city hall every day in order to better understand the situation in the city and to better monitor the officials in the city hall.
After Hipparinus and his entourage left Ortygia Island, they had to pass through an isthmus that was 500 meters long and 300 meters wide before they could enter the wide inner city of Syracuse. In the middle of this isthmus, there was a small fortress with hundreds of mercenaries stationed there. It was located at the corner of the wall that sealed off Ortygia Island. For the sake of his own safety, Dionysius had tried his best, but the existence of this fortress made the narrow passage even narrower.
The carriage that Hipparinus was in suddenly stopped at the exit of the isthmus. He heard a commotion outside. He quickly poked his head out and looked outside. He saw dozens of men fighting at the entrance of the isthmus. Many people were watching from the side, some even cheering, blocking the way.
"Let's go see what's going on," Hipparinus said quickly.
Very quickly, one of his men rushed back to report, "Sir, I heard that it's because the citizens are gathering in the square today to form the Hellenic reinforcements. Some of the citizens responded to the mobilization of the city and were about to go to the square, but some of the citizens thought that doing so would only … prolong the war without an end, so they stopped them from going. In the end, both sides …"
Hipparinus looked at the dust flying in front of him in frustration and cursed, "What the hell is Philistos doing?! Hurry up and send the patrols to chase these people away! "
… …
Philistos usually went to the city hall early in the morning. Today was a little earlier because gathering the citizens in the market and forming the army was a major event for the city, especially since Syracuse was currently in a special period. It was even more important to maintain order in the city and ensure that this matter could be completed smoothly. Therefore, before the citizens gathered in the square, he had to carefully check all the preparations to avoid any mistakes.
What made Philistos happy was that on the way to the city hall, he saw a lot of citizens marching towards the square. It seemed that Harolis's mobilization work over the past two days had been effective, and Lord Dionysius's request should be successfully completed!
Just as he arrived at the city hall with gratitude towards Harolis, he received bad news. "What did you say?! Harolis was beaten up on the way to the city hall?! "
"Yes, sir. I heard that a few citizens were afraid of going to war and resented Lord Harolis for persuading the citizens to participate in the mobilization of the square, so they attacked him. "
"Where is he? How is his injury now?! "Philistos asked hurriedly.
"I heard that he suffered a heavy blow to the head and fainted on the ground. He was carried back to his house by his family. The patrols have rushed to arrest the assailants."
When Philistos heard this, he could not sit still. From his point of view, he was responsible for Harolis's injury. If he had not assigned this difficult task to Harolis and made Harolis do his best to complete it, Harolis would not have suffered the resentment of the citizens who were dissatisfied with Dionysius. Moreover, the task of forming the army in the square today was very important and had a certain degree of risk. If Harolis could be there to help, things would be much easier.
Therefore, for both official and personal reasons, he had to visit him.
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