Chapter 788
But from early in the morning, the situation of the battle was completely different from what Cassius Purlo had imagined.
The Diónia launched ten ballistae on the opposite bank and began to fire stone bullets. When the stone bullets flew over the Tiber River and fell into the Roman formation, causing casualties, Cassius had to order the soldiers to disperse and retreat to the residential area fifty meters away from the embankment.
He believed that even if the Diónia army rushed forward through the bridge, the Roman soldiers would still have enough time to rush up and intercept the enemy outside the city of Rome.
The Diónia ballistae no longer attacked the Roman soldiers hiding in the residential area. Instead, they bombarded the four towers on both sides of the bridge on the opposite bank.
In every round of whistling stone bullets, there were always two or three that hit the towers. The roar really worried Cassius. He had to urgently order the archers stationed on the towers to withdraw quickly.
His concern was right.
After more than ten minutes, the two crumbling towers closest to the bridge finally collapsed … Then, the Diónia ballistae concentrated on the two outermost towers.
Cassius and the soldiers could only watch helplessly as the rocks bombarded the towers one after another, causing four of the towers to finally fall, letting out a deafening roar and stirring up a cloud of dust. One could imagine the helplessness in their hearts. They even hoped that the Daonians would immediately attack and engage them in close combat. That way, they would not have to hear and see the terrifying bombardment of the rocks anymore.
However, when the Diónia army had used the ballistae to completely destroy the towers that the Roman army had in the sky, they stopped using the ballistae.
The sudden silence on the battlefield made the Roman army puzzled.
At this time, the Legio III captain, Lizaru, who stood on the opposite bank, said to the Third Fleet's Navy Commander, Midolades, "The other legions have begun to attack the city of Rome. We should also start preparing."
"Don't worry, I'll be able to build 20 pontoon bridges for your army very soon. The crew can't wait any longer!" With that, Midolades immediately rushed to the west bank of the bridge.
There were trenches dug around the riverbank, and wooden fences were built around it. There were rows of tents inside, and 40 raven warships were parked neatly by the riverbank, their bows facing the river.
After Midolades gave the order, the crew members of each warship quickly boarded and took their positions.
Then, the soldiers of Legio III rushed over and worked together to push the warship into the river.
Then, the warships didn't move in a swarm. The first warship sailed close to the south side of the Rome Bridge and moved towards the opposite shore with all its might.
After the sailors of the second warship moved the warship horizontally, they tried their best to stop the stern of the warship on the shore. For this, the sieging camp specially made a lot of long wooden poles for the sailors sitting on the left and right sides of the warship so that they could push it to the bottom of the river. This was to stabilize the impact of the current on the warship and keep the bow of the warship facing the opposite shore. The stern of the warship was immediately fixed on the shore with wooden stakes and ropes.
The three-decker warship that was small in the sea was as big as a dragon on the Tiber River. The average length of the raven warship was more than 50 meters. With the sailors paddling with all their might, the bow of the warship quickly touched the opposite shore.
The operators on the deck immediately dropped the anchor, and the sailors on the right side of the warship quickly pulled out the oars and the long wooden poles that were prepared at the bottom of the hold. They tilted the oars out of the oars and pushed against the bottom of the river.
Since the widest part of the Tiber River was only 100 meters, one of the two warships was at the north bank, and the other was at the south bank. Naturally, the two warships overlapped. When the sailors of the second warship tried their best to move the bow of the first warship to the stern of the first warship, the operators on the warship saw the opportunity and lowered the drawbridge.
The sharp nails at the end of the suspension bridge pierced through the deck of the stern of the first battleship. Although the captain and the sailors were heartbroken, they managed to connect the two battleships together. The third and fourth battleships did the same; the fifth and sixth battleships … Not long after, nearly 20 "pontoon bridges" were set up on the surface of the Tiber River on the west side of the Roman Bridge. They only needed to lower the suspension bridge closer to the battleship on the other side and put it on the embankment to immediately connect the north and south banks.
Lizaru watched the whole process from the north side of the bridge. He applauded the Third Fleet for neatly completing the established plan. Of course, he knew that Midolades had led more than a dozen warships to the river below the river port yesterday afternoon to conduct repeated tests and training. That was why they had today's success.
Looking at a portion of the Legio III soldiers on the riverbank quickly divided into 20 teams and began to board the warships, a trace of regret flashed in Lizaru's heart. It was a pity that the Raven Warship could not pass through the bridge because of its overly tall mast. Otherwise, they could also set up a "pontoon bridge" on the east side of the bridge. This would force the Rome army on the other side to expand the width of their defense and increase the weight of the army's successful attack.
Lizaru sighed and immediately turned his attention to the battle that was about to begin.
"Uraza!" Lizaru turned around and said to the first captain of the Legio III in a deep voice, "You lead the first battalion and kill your way through this bridge. Kill your way into Rome. This is my request from you!"
Uraza, the former leader of a small tribe in Lucania, was a childhood friend of Bagoule. A few years ago, he had become a senator in the Senate like Csima and Lizaru. However, he did not choose to take up a position at the local level and continued to stay in the legion. Compared to Bagoule, who had served as the governor of a key city in Diónia many times, Csima, who had won the praise of the Devers and senators for his outstanding performance as the governor of Kopsa, and Lizaru, who had served as the legion commander and had many military achievements, Uraza was just a captain. His light was too dim. The reason he had stayed in this position for five to six years was because he liked and was only good at fighting.
After listening to Lizaru's order, Uraza did not hesitate at all. Instead, he replied excitedly, "Legion Commander, just wait and see. The first battalion will open the door to victory for the legion!"
Then, he shouted to the soldiers of the first battalion who were already in formation, "Warriors of Lucania, it's time to show your courage and ability to all the legions here and to His Majesty! Kill your way across the bridge and destroy the enemy! "
The soldiers of Legio III mainly came from Lucania Municipality. The center of Lucania Municipality was in the Grumentum, but the soldiers of the first battalion were mainly from Neutum. As the first Lucanian town to belong to Diónia, the Neutum people had long fought with the Devers. Therefore, when the Legio III was established, most of its officers were Neutum people. This, in turn, encouraged more Neutum people to actively join the army. Therefore, it had the most veterans and the most combat experience. As the strongest battalion in Legio III, the First Battalion naturally had to gather the best and strongest soldiers.
Under the command of their commanding officer, these Neutum soldiers were inspired with a strong fighting spirit. Shouting the name of Hades, they lined up in five dense columns (the width of the Rome bridge could only accommodate five people side by side), stepped onto the bridge, and quickly rushed to the other side.
When Diónia's Raven Warship built the pontoon bridge, Cassius received an urgent report from the spy. This strange attack by Diónia was beyond his expectations. At the same time, it meant that the Diónia army crossing the river from the north to attack Rome would no longer only have the bridge. He had to urgently summon the retreating Rome platoon and ordered them to immediately rush to the embankment to defend.
When the Rome platoon left the cover of the residential area, faced the Tiber River, and walked into the open area, the ballista team at the bridgehead on the opposite bank immediately began to fire stone projectiles.
Although Cassius had expected this and ordered the army to adopt a loose chessboard formation to move forward quickly, there were still stone projectiles falling into the center of the formation. The horrible death of the soldiers who were hit caused a lot of chaos.
At this moment, Cassius could not care less about the casualties caused by the ballista. He had already seen the Diónia soldiers on the opposite bank rushing over along the bridge like a black tide. He shouted anxiously, "Hurry up! Hurry up! Hurry up!! "
In fact, there was no need for him to remind them. Not only did the Rome soldiers see the Diónia soldiers running on the bridge, but they also saw the enemies that began to appear on the embankment … Their homeland was about to be invaded! Every citizen of Rome, young and old, felt a strong sense of crisis at this moment. They quickened their pace, braved the whistling stone projectiles, and rushed over. They bumped into the soldiers of the First Brigade of Diónia who had just rushed to the bridgehead. They also bumped into the rest of the Diónia Legio III soldiers who had just set foot on the embankment and barely formed a horizontal line. The Diónia Legio III soldiers intercepted them on the bank of the Tiber River.
At this time, the ballista team had to stop firing and let the soldiers of the two armies fight to the death on the opposite bank …
… …
Meanwhile, in the central camp of Dionia's army, scouts and messengers hurriedly went to the central camp and left in a hurry. They gathered the situation of the battle and the enemy's situation in various places and gathered them here before they passed down new orders.
"Report, the siege troops of the First Legion have arrived at the city and have begun to attack!"
"Report, the five siege towers of the Second Legion have been pushed to the edge of the trench and are carrying out long-range suppressive attacks on the enemy on the city wall. One of the siege towers has been ignited by a rocket. The surrounding soldiers are putting out the fire!"
"Report! The 4th and 5th Corps' siege vehicles and Lion Boat Carriages have been pushed to the bottom of the city and are currently destroying the walls. The enemy is being held back by the 4th and 5th Corps. Up until now, they have not been able to effectively destroy our siege weapons!"
"Report, the Legio VI soldiers have crossed the trench and have begun to attack the city!"
"Report, the Legio III and the Third Fleet have …"
…
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