Chapter 976
There were three ports in Syracuse. The smallest one was on Ortygia Island. There were only two docks and very few ships. There was a small port on the north side of the isthmus connecting Ortygia Island and the city. It was an early trading port in Syracuse. Later, as the city expanded, the population increased, and the maritime trade flourished, the small port was no longer enough, so a bigger port was built.
The bigger port referred to the pocket like bay west of Syracuse. The real bigger port was only a small part of the northeast corner of the bay. It was two miles south of the isthmus of Ortygia Island. It used to be a part of the swamp, but was later filled up by the people of Syracuse to build the port. The freedmen and slaves who poured into Syracuse to work for the port had to continue to fill up the swamp and build simple houses in order to have enough space to live. This also caused the city wall near the bay to keep moving west. Among the many derogatory nicknames given to the people of the port area by the citizens of the city, "swampman" was the most commonly used.
Chicetas led more than 2,000 soldiers and marched southwest quickly. They did not encounter any major obstacles along the way.
In fact, Teagenis, who was defending the western part of the city, had already received urgent news from the council that there had been a rebellion in the Hipparchus and that they were attacking the council. He was asked to immediately send 2000 heavy infantry to the council to destroy the rebellion and prevent the council from being attacked.
As Chicetas had expected, the people of the council were urgently recruiting old citizens. However, he did not expect that military mobilization would take time. The square was too close to the council, and the councilors were worried about their own safety. They could not wait for the new army to be formed, so they sent people to ask for help from Teagenis, who was closest to them.
The councilors described the situation as very serious. Teagenis was shocked and became very anxious. Due to the occupation of Euryalus, the council had sent more than 6,000 soldiers (including those on both sides of the city wall). In addition to the extensive and fierce attack on the city by the army of Syracuse, all of Teagenis' troops under his command were defending the city. He did not have any extra soldiers around him, so he had to quickly transfer troops from the defending troops on the city wall.
He had mobilized nearly 1000 soldiers. This was the largest number of soldiers he could squeeze out with all his might. Because of this, the defense of the entire city became even more strained.
Nearly 1,000 soldiers rushed to the main city. At this time, Hictas led more than 2,000 soldiers to the port. Separated by a few streets, the two sides crossed each other.
Hictas led his troops to the inner wall. This was the wall built by the people of Syracuse to separate the people in the port area. Every day, a team of citizen soldiers in Syracuse was stationed there. If the goods in the port, foreign merchants, and foreign sailors wanted to enter the main city, they had to go through their inspection. When the people in the port area went to the city, they naturally had to pass through this checkpoint. They would inevitably be questioned. The people in the port area had always thought that this was the strongest evidence that Syracuse treated them unequally, and it was also a thorn in their hearts.
Previously, after the overthrow of Dionysius, Tethys and the others had proposed to Harrowis to "dismantle this inner wall". Harrowis did not agree, but agreed that the soldiers stationed on the inner wall would be the citizens of the port. However, after Harrowis' death, the council once again replaced the soldiers stationed on the inner wall with citizens of the city. This inner wall had actually become an irremovable barrier between the people of the port area and the citizens of the city.
Because this inner wall was mainly aimed at the port area and played the role of isolation and inspection, it was not built as tall and strong as the outer wall. After Hictas arrived with his troops, he did not speak to the team officers here at all. He directly ordered the soldiers to kill their way up the stone stairs on the inside of the wall. At the same time, he ordered the other soldiers to throw javelins at the defenders at the top of the wall.
Usually, there were 20 soldiers stationed here. After Tethys sent reinforcements to the council, he also thought of the importance of this place. However, he was really short of troops and only sent 150 people. He originally thought that after Hictas attacked the council and was defeated, the inner wall could cut off their retreat to the port. Then, the pursuers could surround and destroy them here. He did not expect that Hictas did not attack the council at all. Instead, he directly returned to the port. As a result, under the full attack of more than 2,000 people, the 150 defenders were quickly defeated.
Hictas led the troops through the inner wall and entered the port area. He asked Zamoratis to take people to tell the people in the port area that he had decided to join the Kingdom of Diónia, hoping to get their support, and to make all defensive preparations to deal with the upcoming attack of the Syracuse army.
At the same time, he led the main force straight to the military port.
The military port was located not far to the north of the commercial port. It had been expanded many times. In the later period of the reign of Dionysius, it could accommodate 500 three-decker warships and 100,000 crew members. However, there were only 50 warships (30 of which were three-decker warships) anchored in the military port. There were about 7,000 people in the military port, most of whom were from the port area. Nearly half of the crew members from the port area were poor freedmen. A very small number of people were from the city. They were the port guards, the captain, and the deck soldiers …
Because it was during the war, the council required that the fleet crew must gather at the military port early every morning, then take their positions on the warships, and be ready to attack at any time.
However, there were only more than 100 people guarding the port. Even if the soldiers on the warships were included, the total number did not exceed 400. They could ensure the safety of the military port and command the warships because the people in the port area basically followed the laws of Syracuse.
Now, Hictas led the army to the military port. Without saying a word, he directly ordered the soldiers to attack. He also arranged some people to shout into the military port, "Brothers in the port area, you no longer have to worry about fighting with the powerful Dionysian fleet. General Hictas has led us to join the Kingdom of Diónia. Quickly pick up the weapons in your hands and occupy this military port with us. Then become a Dionysian citizen and get fertile land! … "
As half of the sailors in Syracuse were free people, it was easy for them to be infiltrated by Diónia's Sicilian intelligence department. These spies often preached among the sailors about the "terror of the Diónia navy and the benefits that free people enjoyed after joining the kingdom", causing the sailors to love and fear Diónia. Ever since Syracuse tore up the agreement and formed an alliance with Carthage to wage war against Diónia, the Syracuse navy avoided the war in the beginning because the council wanted to preserve their strength. Later, under the strong request of Carthage, the navy of Diónia did patrol the sea. However, after discovering the warships of Diónia from afar, even if the commander wanted to fight, the sailors did not have the will to fight and used various methods to delay the execution. Therefore, until now, the navy of Syracuse had not fought with the Dionysian fleet, nor had they attacked the ships of Diónia.
Now, the sailors heard the familiar shouts of the soldiers outside the military port. Under the leadership of the Diónia spies, they picked up wooden oars and daggers and swarmed forward. They quickly knocked down the captain and deck soldiers of the warship, then jumped off the ship and rushed to the garrison of the military port who was struggling to defend against the attack of Hicketas.
Hicketas did not feel relaxed even though he had occupied the military port. He knew that the council would soon send troops and time was very tight, so he solemnly said to Artemis, "I've done what you wanted me to do. I need your help next!"
… …
A hundred meters away from the west gate of Syracuse, Leotychides, who was fully dressed in military attire, stood facing the city wall like a statue. The battle had lasted for four hours. The sun had risen to the middle of the sky, but he basically stood there and did not move at all. He was focused on the battle in front of him. The soldiers who fell from ladders, the soldiers who were smashed by stones and wood, the siege vehicles that were set ablaze by fire arrows, and the soldiers who were trapped in the siege towers screamed incessantly … However, none of them moved his frozen face. On the other hand, his adjutant, Tagrou, was worried about the fierce battle.
At this moment, a messenger rushed over from the front. Tagrou quickly went to greet him. After a while, he rushed to Leotychides and said, "Sir Commander, the First Battalion Commander of the Seventh Legion, Anfides, said that the siege troops he led have suffered too many casualties. He hopes to withdraw immediately and let the next wave of troops take over."
Leotychides said without hesitation, "Tell him that he is not allowed to retreat. Continue the attack, or else he will be punished according to military law!"
After hearing this, Tagrou hesitated for a while and said, "Sir Commander, they are the Seventh Legion."
"What about the Seventh Legion?!" Leotychides's face darkened, "As the commander, I treat the Seventh Legion and the Eighth Legion the same way. In the last wave of attack, the Eighth Legion held on for more than two hours. It was really difficult to hold on, so I changed to the Seventh Legion. How long have they been fighting? "
"About … an hour." Facing Leotychides's sharp gaze, Tagrou said softly.
"Only an hour. The soldiers of the Eighth Legion who retreated have not gotten enough rest. Let them continue fighting for another hour." Leotychides said coldly.
"Yes!" As Tagrou was about to inform the messenger, he heard Leotychides say, "Logically speaking, the Seventh Legion should be able to fight for longer."
"Huh?"
"Did you notice that the defense of Carthage's men is weakening?" Leotychides looked at the battle in front of him. Instead of saying that he was asking for Tagrou's opinion, it was more accurate to say that he was analyzing the situation to himself, "In this period of time, from what I can see, our soldiers have climbed up the wall using ladders twice. They held on for at least five minutes before they were chased down. This situation did not occur yesterday at this time. Also … our light infantry soldiers standing on the mobile towers have not been replaced. They have been replaced twice at this time yesterday. What does this mean?"
Leotychides's voice suddenly became louder, "This means that the defense of Syracuse is weaker than yesterday. They must have transferred a lot of soldiers to retake Yuryalus Citadel. That is why the defense at the top of the wall is not strong enough."
Comments