Chapter 972
"No, don't send any more troops!" Falcus, who had been watching from the sidelines, said, "The terrain of the Euryalus Citadel is narrow. No matter how many troops there are, they won't be able to spread out. Moreover, judging from the current situation, the number of Diónia attacking the Citadel should not be too many. As long as Stesikos can lead his troops to arrive in time, there is a chance to recapture it. What I'm worried about now is whether the Dionysian Army will take this opportunity to attack us again. "
Everyone was shocked when they heard this.
"What happened?!" The last Syracuse general, Hictas, also arrived.
"You're always the last to arrive!" Kucias knew that Hictas lived at the port, which was the farthest from the council, but he could not help but complain, "If something happens to Syracuse, what can you do as a general?"
Hictas was used to his colleagues speaking to him in such a tone, but he always felt a little strange when he heard these unpleasant words in the past few days. Just like at this moment, his face became a little unsightly.
Teagenis, who felt the same, quickly said, "The Euryalus Citadel has been captured by the Diónia. We are discussing how to recapture it."
"Ah!" Hictas looked surprised. He did not say anything more, but his heart was in turmoil.
At this moment, the faint sound of a bugle came from outside the door.
Everyone was shocked again.
Kucias shouted in a slightly panicked tone, "It's our bugle! There's an enemy! "He quickly walked out of the door.
After a while, he returned to the hall and said anxiously, "The sentries in the West City have reported that they found the Diónia soldiers gathering outside their camp. It seems that they are preparing to attack us!"
Everyone tensed up.
"I'll go to the West City now and lead the soldiers in the barracks to organize the defense." Teagenis immediately responded, "Parnisus, organize the mobilized militia as soon as possible and reinforce the West City as soon as possible."
"Okay!" Parnisus followed Teagenis out of the hall.
"I think the Diónia will attack from the east today! Kucias, quickly gather the citizens in charge of defending the east side and rush to the eastern wall to defend, "Falekus said urgently.
Kucias accepted the order and left.
"Hictas, lead the port's militia here. If anything unexpected happens, immediately rush over to support them!" Falkus continued to give orders.
Most of the citizens of Syracuse Port served as the crew of the fleet, but 4,000 people were also deployed to participate in the defense of the city. Since most of them lived a difficult life, most of them served as light infantry and were not valued too much.
Hearing this order, Hiptas thought more about it and did not respond in time.
Falkus could not help but be a little dissatisfied. "Did you hear what I said, Hiptas?!"
"I understand," Hictas replied coldly.
Falcus glanced at him and did not have time to argue. He ordered another general to organize another three thousand citizen soldiers to go to the north to provide support first. At the same time, he decided to personally organize the people in the city to go to the north to urgently build a defensive line. This was to prevent the enemy from easily advancing south in case they could not recapture the Euryalus Fortress.
… …
The Euryalus Fortress was a small square fortress surrounded by stone walls. There were residences, warehouses, cisterns and other facilities in the fortress. At least 300 soldiers could be stationed here for a long time. The walls of the Euryalus Fortress also formed one side of the fortress. Once the enemy appeared, the soldiers in the fortress could quickly go to the top of the wall and stop the enemy. However, the many days of peace and the steep terrain made the soldiers of Syracuse, who had been living in peace for a long time, relax their vigilance. As a result, the Diónia Mountain Scouts succeeded in a sneak attack.
After Terentus led the soldiers to attack and capture the Euryalus Fortress, he did not continue to attack the city of Syracuse. Instead, he defended the fortress and actively provided support for the reinforcements.
Originally, the terrain on the west side of the Euryalus Fortress was somewhat flat and lush with trees. Back then, Dionysius led the people to spend a long time to change the terrain and burn the trees and weeds under the city wall so that the sentries on the city wall could see the enemy's movements clearly.
Unfortunately, after Dionysius' death, Syracuse had been in turmoil. Coupled with the fact that the external environment was relatively safe, no one paid attention to the city's defense anymore. Weeds and trees grew under the walls of the Euryalus Fortress again, which helped the soldiers of the Mountain Scouts to sneak under the city wall. However, the narrow terrain also meant that not many soldiers could get close to the city wall. Therefore, most of the soldiers of the Mountain Scouts, as well as two heavy infantry battalions and one light infantry battalion of the Eighth Legion, hid in the dense forest at the foot of the mountain to avoid being discovered by the sentries on the city wall.
It was only when the ambushing soldiers climbed over the top of the city wall and snatched the torches from the sentries' hands. They waved the torches according to the rules and sent a signal to the foot of the mountain. The soldiers of the Mountain Scouts, the light infantry, and the heavy infantry then sped up the mountain.
The soldiers of the Mountain Scouts charged at the front. These soldiers had undergone special training all year round. Even when they were climbing the mountain, their speed was still very fast. Very few of them fell and fell behind. When they reached the bottom of the city wall, they did not stop to rest. Instead, they grabbed the ropes that the soldiers had hung down from the top of the city wall and climbed up quickly.
When they reached the top of the city wall, they took down the leather shields and short swords on their backs and rushed into the fortress that was filled with the sounds of killing.
The reinforcements arrived one after another and finally defeated the defending soldiers of Syracuse.
While Terentus was defending the fortress and the city wall and waiting for reinforcements, he also carefully examined the situation inside the fortress. In the end, what gave him a headache was that there were two openings on the wall facing the south of the fortress. However, there was no wooden door or anything else to open or close it.
It turned out that when Dionysius built the fortress, he had purposely designed it this way so that the fortress could only defend against external attacks and not internal attacks. It could be said that Dionysius's plan was very thorough. However, he did not expect that the sentries who came later had specially made two large wooden planks to cover the entrance of the cave at night so that it would not affect their sleep. Due to the high terrain, when the mountain wind blew past the entrance at night, not only was it cold, but it would also make a "whoosh" sound, which would seriously affect their rest.
Terentus found the two large wooden planks at the entrance of the cave. He then asked the soldiers to find many wooden blocks and stones from the warehouse and used them to block the entrance of the cave.
However, he was still worried. In a moment of desperation, he thought of another solution.
When the light infantry entered the fortress one after another, Terentus heaved a sigh of relief.
… …
Back then, the ambitious Dionysius included the Eppole Highlands, Accradina, and other areas into the city of Syracuse, expanding the entire city area by a few times. In order to increase the population of the new city, he actively recruited as many mercenaries as possible to become the new citizens of Syracuse. At the same time, he also forcibly migrated the people of the conquered neighboring cities to Syracuse, such as Leontini and Katanai.
However, after the Southern Italian War, the mercenaries were expelled, and most of the people who were forcibly migrated from other cities returned to their mother states. Coupled with the years of political turmoil, the population of Syracuse was now less than half of what it used to be. As a result, the vast Eppole Highlands became sparsely populated, almost becoming a wasteland for the people of Syracuse to graze their cattle and sheep. Therefore, the defeated soldiers who escaped from the fortress of Euryalus could not find any help nearby. They could only run all the way south to the main city area and inform the member of the General Executive Committee who was on duty about the urgent military situation. Then, he would send troops to recapture the fortress.
The shortcomings of Syracuse's large area and lack of manpower were exposed at this time. The fortress of Euryalus was miles away from the main city area. Moreover, it was late at night, and the incident happened suddenly. When Stesicos led 2,000 soldiers to the fortress, it was already nearly an hour after the fortress fell. The well-planned and well-prepared Diónia assault troops, especially the two heavy infantry battalions, had already entered the fortress.
Under the illumination of the fire, Stesicos saw that the top of the fortress was filled with Diónia soldiers, many of whom were wearing dazzling armor. What surprised him even more was that the two entrances were also blocked with wooden doors. Because he led his troops here in a hurry, he did not bring any siege equipment.
Stesicos felt a headache coming on. According to Dionysius's design, the fortress of Euryalus was the center of defense at the northern end of the city wall. The sentries could only reach the top of the city wall through the fortress. Therefore, the sentries on the nearby walls were all sent out by the fortress. The nearest stone staircase to the fortress could only be found at the middle section of the eastern and western walls.
Dionysius's design may have been based on safety considerations, but now it put Stesicos in a difficult position. If he led his troops to turn back and use the stone staircase to ascend the city wall, he would be giving the enemy too much time to breathe.
Stesicos made a prompt decision and ordered his soldiers to quickly charge towards the fortress. They wanted to reach the stone wall as soon as possible and break through the stone staircase. At the same time, he ordered the orderly to rush back to the main city area and report the situation to the Military Executive Committee.
The terrain of the fortress of Euryalus was high, so the Syracuse soldiers had no choice but to use their shields to protect their heads and attack forward.
The Diónia infantrymen on the fortress did not need to shoot arrows at all. They lifted the stones and logs they brought from the warehouse and smashed them down. The stones and logs bounced along the terrain and rolled down, injuring several people at once. This caused the attacking Syracuse soldiers to complain incessantly. Not long after, their formation was broken.
Stesicos had no choice but to regroup his soldiers and personally charge at the front. With great difficulty, he led his soldiers to the bottom of the wall, but they were immediately attacked by the Diónia soldiers on the wall. Javelins, arrows, stones and logs rained down. Many of the Syracuse soldiers were injured, and even Stesicos was shot in the arm by a sharp arrow.
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