Chapter 799
Although there were less than a thousand of them, the way they attacked had caused the light armored soldiers who were guarding the main camp to be flustered.
As the time given to the Dionysian Army yesterday was too short, the soldiers had only built the main camp and a trench. They did not set up any antlers or traps in front of the camp. As a result, the Latin reinforcements were divided into many small teams and approached the camp from multiple directions. They stood in front of the trench and fired fire arrows into the camp.
A main army camp that could accommodate three infantry legions and two cavalry legions occupied a very wide area. It was impossible for the light armored soldiers, who only had seven hundred men to defend the camp. Therefore, tents would be set on fire from time to time, forcing them to send people to and fro to put out the fire. Once the fire got bigger and part of the camp was set on fire, the soldiers who were attacking the city would see it and it would definitely affect their fighting spirit.
As a result, the manpower defending the camp became even more insufficient.
The Devers urgently transferred a few hundred laborers from the supply camp to help put out the fire. At the same time, he also sent a hundred palace guards to act as the mobile force for the defense of the camp. Only then did they manage to deal with the current situation.
The siege had been going on for nearly four hours, but there was still no breakthrough. The Devers sat in the main tent and continued to watch the staff members draw on the map with a calm expression.
Heniboris, who was taking notes at the side, seemed a little anxious at the moment. He was pacing back and forth in the tent.
The Devers had no choice but to say, "Herny, hurry up and sit down. Don't walk around. It's making me dizzy."
Heniboris said anxiously, "Your Majesty, the number of enemies attacking the camp is increasing. Even the enemy's reinforcements have appeared in the east of Rome, threatening the camp of the First Legion … Now, the enemy's reinforcements are all around us. There are no extra troops in the camp that can be mobilized. The legions are still blocked outside the city, and there are many casualties among the soldiers. If this stalemate continues, what if we can't take down Rome before nightfall? I'm worried … I'm worried …"
Devers waited for him to vent his worries before slowly saying, "Apart from Turií, Rome can be said to be the largest city on this peninsula. Even if its main force is not here, it will not be easy to capture it.
It's not like our legions haven't made any progress. You've heard it just now. The Second Legion has used siege towers and more than a hundred soldiers have attacked the top of the city wall and gained a firm foothold. Legio III has also occupied the southern bridgehead of the Bridge of Rome and is expanding its attack range. Legio IV has used siege vehicles to destroy the city wall. Their soldiers have broken through the gap and are temporarily blocked under the city …
We are in a tug-of-war with the people of Rome. The people of Rome are doing their best to keep us in a stalemate. However, this kind of explosive power will not last long. We are increasing our strength to pull the red rope over bit by bit until we completely overwhelm the strength of the people of Rome. By then, they will definitely collapse! "
Devers clenched his right fist and waved it with force. He said confidently, "As for the reinforcements of Rome …"
"Your Majesty, good news! Sir Epitenis has arrived on the battlefield with 4,000 soldiers and cooperated with Sir Tormid to completely defeat the reinforcements of Rome in the southwest. The First and Second Cavalry Legions are chasing after the defeated soldiers. Sir Tormid and Sir Epitenis are leading the army here! "
"That's great!" Heniboris, who was originally worried, was now filled with joy.
The advisors in the tent also applauded in celebration.
Devers also had a smile on his face. "Inform Tormid and Epitenis immediately. Ask them to send a heavy infantry battalion to defend the camp. The rest of the troops, gather at the rear of the Second Legion and wait for my orders!"
"Yes, Your Majesty!"
Asinarus quickly went out of the tent to inform the orderly. He quickly returned and said excitedly, "Your Majesty, the scouts have reported that Legio VI and part of the First Legion have attacked the top of the city wall!"
… …
On the surface, the First Legion and Legio VI were using conventional siege methods, but Devers had suggested that they try climbing the city wall with rope hooks.
Climbing the city wall with rope hooks was one of the first siege methods invented by Devers. It was this method that was first used to capture Amendola and gain a foothold for the mercenaries in Greece. As Diónia grew stronger, various siege weapons were manufactured one after another, and the siege methods became more and more perfect. This simple rope hook, which was a great help to the mercenaries, had long been forgotten.
However, Devers did not forget. Considering that there might be a lot of siege battles after the army arrived in Latin, they specially sent people to take out dozens of sets of hooks that were already covered in dust from the corner of the armory. They polished and equipped them with ropes, just in case.
Amyntas had always advocated offense and liked to take risks, so he did not hesitate to accept the Devers' suggestion. Trotiras, the captain of Legio VI, was also a member of the mercenary expedition in Persia. He came to Turií with the Devers and grew from an ordinary soldier to a legion commander. His combat experience was rich, and his achievements were outstanding. Of course, he would not allow his legion to perform mediocre in this important siege battle.
Both of them knew very well that in order to succeed, they had to deceive the enemy and carry out a surprise attack. Otherwise, once they were discovered, there would be a lot of casualties. So both of them unanimously decided to use the rope hook to climb the city wall at the southeast corner of Rome.
Like the southwest corner, the city wall protruded outwards, but unlike the southwest corner, it was bent a few times and eventually formed a small sharp corner. It happened to be relatively far from several gates of Rome, and the zigzagging city wall was convenient to block the enemy's line of sight, making it difficult to be discovered.
So in order to achieve this goal, Trotiras asked the soldiers of Legio VI to concentrate on attacking the section of the wall between Porta Esquiri and Porta Vimina, which was about 400 meters away from the southeast corner.
Amyntas was even more ruthless. He ordered the soldiers of the First Legion to attack the section of the wall between Capitoline Hill and Quirino Hill, which was two miles away from the southeast corner.
Trotiras planned to let his light armor brigade complete this task. After all, their lighter clothes were easier to climb. For this reason, he also left two heavy infantry brigades in the camp.
Although the camp of the First Legion was far away from the main camp, Amyntas boldly left only one heavy infantry brigade in the camp, and let more than 700 soldiers of the Mountain Reconnaissance Brigade stay in the camp at the same time to carry out this task.
However, after careful Trotiras observed the terrain many times, he found a problem. Although the southeast corner of the wall was relatively remote, the walls of Rome were very high. The soldiers on the wall could see far below the city wall. If the Diónia soldiers who carried out this task wanted to approach the wall, even if they did not carry any siege equipment, it would arouse the suspicion of the enemy, and they would be on their guard. After thinking about it, he decided to let the soldiers do this …
After the Devers understood Trotiras's idea, they applauded and applauded. So, the plan of Legio VI to climb the city wall with a rope hook was quickly established.
Originally, there was a garrison on the southeast corner of the city. However, as time went by, the continuous and fierce attacks of the First Legion and the Second Legion made the Roman generals in charge of the defense feel that their military strength was tight. They had to transfer the soldiers on other sections of the wall to strengthen the defense. Of course, the garrison on the southeast corner who had nothing to do was also transferred.
Not long after, the garrison on the nearby city wall saw hundreds of Rome auxiliary soldiers being chased by the Diónia soldiers in the distance in the southeast. They were fleeing in panic towards the city of Rome. Although some of their soldiers were occasionally caught and stabbed by the enemy, most of the defeated soldiers still crawled through the trench with difficulty and came to the southeast corner of the city. Perhaps they were afraid of being attacked by the garrison on the city wall, the hundreds of Diónia light infantry stopped their pursuit. However, they were unwilling to give up and watched from a distance.
When the garrison soldiers saw this scene, they were guessing which Latin city-state these Rome auxiliary soldiers came from (most of the auxiliary soldiers in Rome were Latin citizens).
Since the enemy was attacking the city, the garrison soldiers certainly would not allow these defeated soldiers to enter the city. And the fierce battle did not allow them to have more time to care about the life and death of their allies. However, the appearance of these defeated soldiers meant that the reinforcements of Rome were fighting the enemy in a place where they could not see. This more or less boosted the morale of the garrison soldiers.
But they did not know that these Rome auxiliary soldiers were actually Diónia soldiers in disguise. They wore the armor and equipment of the Rome soldiers that they obtained after the victory of the battle two days ago. With that, they deceived the garrison soldiers and successfully came to the southeast corner of the city. They avoided the sight of the garrison soldiers, connected the ropes that were wrapped around their bodies, and put on hooks. Dozens of rope hooks were quickly made.
The battle was still going on. The Rome soldiers were struggling to resist the enemy's attack. They gradually forgot about the existence of the defeated soldiers. Occasionally, they would glance at the southeast corner of the city from the corner of their eyes. When they saw dozens of "Rome soldiers" stationed there, they thought that they were sent by the neighboring garrison soldiers. So, they did not attract much attention. Even when they saw Diónia light infantry crawling through the trench and rushing to the southeast corner of the city, they did not cause too much alarm. After all, they did not bring any siege equipment with them. Besides, there were soldiers stationed on the city wall.
But soon, they found that something was wrong. Diónia soldiers began to appear on the southeast corner of the city, and more and more of them appeared. Those "Rome soldiers" did not fight with the enemy!
When the two garrison generals, Marcus Atilius and Barbus Fabia, heard the bad news, they were shocked. The situation was extremely urgent. Although they were short of manpower, they quickly put together a team led by the two generals and rushed to the southeast corner of the city wall from the west and the south. They vowed to drive the enemy out of the city.
。 Literature Museum.
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