Chapter 793
Compared to the light infantry of Diónia, the siege towers posed a greater threat to the defenders.
Every time the Belly Bow was fired, the Roman soldiers would die a horrible death. The Roman soldiers who were facing the siege towers were terrified, and they quickly retreated. As a result, a few small empty spaces appeared on the top of the walls.
Of course, as the siege towers advanced, the angle between the Belly Bow and the top of the wall increased. Since the Belly Bow could not be raised high, the arrows could not accurately hit the top of the wall, and the threat was greatly reduced. However, the harpooneers at the top of the tower began to show their power. They relied on the protection of the wooden railings to throw heavy javelins at the top of the wall. These javelins were not arrows. If the Roman heavy infantry were hit, they would be injured as well. This forced them to raise their shields and be on guard. The Roman archers also fired at the top of the siege towers to attack the Diónia harpooneers who did not have any armor to protect them.
The suppression of the siege towers on the top of the wall caused the defenders of this section of the wall to weaken their attacks on the Diónia soldiers. The Roman soldiers were able to reach the top of the wall one after another. Every time they killed or drove the enemy off the wall, the Roman soldiers had to pay two to three times the casualties.
Now, the biggest danger had arrived. The siege towers were slowly approaching the wall. Even if the Roman defenders kept throwing tar cans at the siege towers, setting them on fire, and even turning the path of the siege towers into a sea of fire, there were nearly a hundred Diónia soldiers behind the siege towers. Under the cover of the wooden sheds that protruded out of the tower, they kept using sand to extinguish the burning oil on the ground and pushed the siege towers forward. Even if some of them were injured from time to time, their determination to complete their mission did not waver.
Finally, the behemoth reached the wall.
"Retreat from there! Retreat! " Due to the critical situation, Scipio The Great personally came to command the troops. He shouted anxiously when he saw the soldiers still crowded around the battlements.
Just when the Roman soldiers retreated to the sides, the wooden bridge that was tied to the top of the siege tower suddenly fell on the battlements and smashed the Roman soldiers who were still below it to the ground.
Scipio The Great did not have time to feel sorry for the soldiers who were crushed under the wooden bridge. He shouted, "Fire oil! Throw the fire oil! … "
In fact, the people of Rome did not expect to be besieged by the army in advance, so they did not have a large reserve of tar in the city. In the past two days, almost all the tar used for lighting in Rome's homes had been plundered. Up until now, almost all of it had been consumed. The people of Rome had to urgently transport olive oil for consumption.
"Bang! Bang! Dozens of clay jars smashed into it.
At the same time, the soldiers of the Second Legion of Diónia, who had been waiting in the siege tower, shouted Hades' name and quickly rushed to the wooden bridge from the siege tower. As they rushed forward, they used their long shields to knock down the clay jars that were flying at them.
Of course, there were also some soldiers who were splashed with olive oil, and unfortunately, they were hit by flying torches. They instantly turned into a burning man. He screamed in pain, but at this moment, his comrades did not stop to save him. Instead, they turned their vigorous fighting spirit into anger. They were not afraid of the densely packed spears in front of them. They put their long shields in front of their chests and jumped down from the bridge. Like a mountain, they resolutely jumped into the dense formation of the Roman soldiers. Ignoring the gunshot wounds on their bodies, they swung the short swords in their hands and stabbed the enemies around them at lightning speed.
At this time, the temporarily recruited Roman soldiers had begun to adapt to the atmosphere of the battlefield. Inspired by the belief of protecting their homeland, their fear of death had been diluted. However, they were either too young and lacked combat experience, or too old and lacked physical strength. The soldiers of the Second Legion of Diónia were all elites. Each of them was like a ferocious tiger, messing up the formation of Rome's defenders. Most of the screams came from the defenders.
Fortunately, Scipio The Great had already expected this. He deployed most of the 3,000 young and middle-aged soldiers of Rome to defend the southern wall, and 1,000 of them were used as a mobile force to deal with unexpected situations. At this moment, he deployed 400 strong soldiers to form a dense spear formation at both ends of the walkway at the top of the wall, pushing the Roman soldiers in front of them to push forward. He was trying to annihilate the Diónia soldiers who rushed to the top of the wall through a pincer attack.
Unexpectedly, the experienced Diónia soldiers ignored their own casualties and relied on crazy attacks to expand the space at the top of the wall. The Diónia soldiers behind them braved the growing fire and continued to rush to the top of the wall. While they were attacking, they also quickly formed a formation.
By the time the old and weak soldiers of Rome were injured, dead, and retreating, while the strong soldiers of Rome were facing the enemy directly, the Diónia soldiers were already standing on the top of the wall. About 60 of them formed a shield formation to defend against attacks from the front and the back. They were like a boulder on the top of the wall.
Although Scipio The Great was anxious when he saw this situation, he also understood that the battle could not be ended in a short period of time. Fortunately, the siege tower had already been set on fire. Even the harpooneers at the top of the tower, who posed a great threat to the defending soldiers, had withdrawn. It was impossible for the enemy to use it to rush to the top of the wall again. This gave him some comfort.
But soon, his mood fell to the bottom of the valley. "General Scipio! Over there … The siege tower over there is about to reach the wall! "
Scipio Africanus quickly led another 400 strong soldiers and rushed over.
This time, he decided to learn from his lesson and directly let these soldiers guard the top of the wall that the siege tower was approaching. They would stop the enemy from rushing out of the tower, and never give them a chance to stand on the wall.
But as time went by, he found that the number of soldiers defending the city was getting a little tight.
At this time, a messenger finally arrived with good news. The Senate had sent more than 1,400 reinforcements.
… …
Mattonis, who had been watching the battle from afar, sighed when he saw the burning siege tower. But soon, he was excited when another siege tower was approaching the wall.
"Quick, send another company up! This time, not only do we have to rush to the top of the wall, but we also have to break through the enemy's blockade and clear the obstacles for the other soldiers to climb up the wall! "
"Commander, we … we don't have any more companies to send," the adjutant reminded him awkwardly.
"What?! Didn't we … "Mattonis turned around in shock.
Not far behind him, there were many people, but more than half of them were engineers and craftsmen, they were still anxiously busy, rushing to manufacture the siege weapons. There were also some personnel from the supply camp, not only were they in charge of pushing the completed siege weapons, they were also carrying the wounded soldiers on the way back. There were also some doctors and nurses from the medical camp, they were carrying the wounded soldiers back to the frontline, they were carrying out urgent battlefield treatment … …
Mattonis once again looked at the bloody battlefield in front of him.
Many of the armored vehicles in front of the trench were burnt. Thick smoke rose into the air and blocked most of his vision. The frequency of the light infantrymen shooting arrows was much slower than before. They were probably tired as well.
Below the wall, the heavy infantrymen of the Second Legion were half-squatting on the ground, hiding their bodies under their long shields. At a glance, it seemed like the ground below the wall was black. Ladders were erected like trees, leaning against the wall. The Diónia soldiers crawling on top of the ladders dyed the gray wall black. There were soldiers falling from the ladders, and there were soldiers coming up from below to replace them. From time to time, a ball of fire would rise from the bottom of the wall, accompanied by a shrill scream. Every time, Mattonis felt his heart clenching.
Three of the five tall siege towers had been burned down. One of the siege towers had fallen into the trench because some of the sandbags were not compacted, causing the siege tower to break into pieces. Its axle was broken, and it could not move forward. It could only be used as a platform for the archers and javelin throwers to attack.
In Mattonis's sharp eyes, he also saw some wounded soldiers struggling under the shield formed by the soldiers below the wall. Due to their severe injuries, they could not move to the rear and were successfully rescued by the supply camp.
Then, Mattonis thought of the dozens of soldiers who were surrounded at the top of the wall, and he began to feel anxious. If they could not take down the city of Rome today, those soldiers who could not retreat would end up in a tragic state!
When he thought of this, he forgot what the Devers told him before the battle. "Preserve our strength and reduce casualties so that we can deal with the upcoming battle." He said loudly, "Get the buglers to blow the bugles and urge the soldiers to attack! And … hurry back to the camp and tell His Majesty that I request for another heavy infantryman! "
"Legion Commander." The adjutant reminded him, "I have received a notice that the camp has already sent out four brigades to stop the reinforcements from Rome. There are only two brigades left in the camp. I'm afraid —"
"Stop nagging and go!" Mattonis's eyes were red as he shouted irritably.
… …
At this time, in the central tent, the Devers had just received a report from a cavalry scout. Ten miles southeast of Rome, there were nearly two thousand troops marching quickly to the north.
The Devers immediately looked at the map. At the same time, Clausus, who was in charge of analyzing the enemy's situation, quickly made a judgment based on the previous information. "Your Majesty, this is still the reinforcements from Prinister, Bonet, Gaby, and other Latin city-states."
He pointed at a place with a red dot on the map and said, "Their target is most likely Legio VI!"
"Most of the soldiers of Legio VI are attacking the city …" The Devers pondered for a moment and said decisively, "Immediately send the heavy infantryman from the Fifth Legion to stop them!"
"Your Majesty!" Clausus reminded, "If we send out this heavy infantryman, there will only be a light armored brigade from the Second Legion left in the camp!"
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