Chapter 196: Storming Krimisa
Although the Thua Union had not punished Krimisa in the end, Krimisa had to return to becoming neutral again, and the strategoi and statesmen of Krimisa were uneasy. Although Crotone lost, they had not lost their strength: And the merchants who had been to Thurii marveled at the rapid development of Theonia Union. One of them has suffered humiliation of losing in a war for the first time after many years, and the other has suffered from having their city burned. The two forces will surely fight again. This is the consensus of the top-level of Krimisa, but this will be a disaster for them, who is sandwiched between Crotone and Theonia.
After Roscianum joined the Theonia alliance, Theonia had built a road that connects Roscianum, and had given them trade preferences. As a result, the trade of Roscianum had rapidly grown in just a short period of more than half a year. Despite the envy of the Krimisians, most of them will not try to curry favor with Theonia. After all, Krimisa is closer to Crotone and has been influenced by them for a long time. Both in terms of feelings and interests, the Krimisians are more inclined to Crotone.
When the council of Krimisa received an urgent report from the cavalry that there were countless soldiers crossing the marsh in the north, which made everyone shocked, though some of them have thought to check out the situation first.
However, the polemarchos, Androlis, strongly opposed the opinion of everyone and insisted on: While they send out scouts to check out the situation, they would send someone to Crotone to ask for their help.
He then exclaimed, “Everyone, these men that have come from the north, armed or not, from Theonia or from other places, but they have stepped into our territory without permission. It is without a doubt that they have malicious intent! Krimisa has not yet recovered from our previous defeat, and there are no more than a thousand citizens who can fight. I am afraid that once we have a thorough understanding of them, the enemy would have already arrived, and then it will be too late to ask for help! I’d rather ask for help first and apologize to the Crotonians later if I made a mistake than losing our ancestral home because of hesitation!”
The words of Androlis had convinced most of them. Half an hour after they sent a herald to Crotone, the scouts brought back a news that made them worry: About two thousands soldiers, most of which are hoplites, rushed to Krimisa with long ladders, and had killed a Krimisian cavalry who went to question them.
‘They are enemies!’ The members of the Krimisa’s council no longer need to doubt, but they had no time to thank Androlis for his foresight, as they had to inform the citizens to start arming themselves, and at this moment, they had also issued an emergency mobilization order for battle, which ordered all the people who can fight to go to the wall.
As a small town, Krimisa does not have any special products and the trade of its port is not developed. Even so, Androlis and the other strategoi had learned the lesson of the old Thurii and had immediately granted citizenship to nearly 500 young and strong freemen and asked them to participate in the battle.
Just as the Krimisians were preparing for the battle, the mercenaries had already advanced to more than 200 meters from the northern part of Krimisa, and Timasion could now already see the shadowy figures of the guards on the top of the wall.
“It seems that the Krimisians are ready!” Cleanor said with a bit of disappointment.
While the expression of Timasion remained unchanged. Timasion then said, “Since our surprise attack plan can no longer be used, then we will take Krimisa by storm!”
He then immediately ordered, “Brothers, take a rest on the spot!”
He, Cleanor and Toras and the other officers quickly gathered together to discuss how to attack the city of Krimisa.
The city wall of Krimisa is only four meters high, and there is only a three meter wide moat outside. There are no fortifications or traps, such a simple city defense is not worth mentioning compared to the cities that they had captured in Asia Minor with Thimbron. Even though the city wall was full of soldiers, Timasion and the officers did not think that they could withstand the powerful offense of the mercenaries because Krimisa have been at peace without experiencing war for decades, and half a year ago, when they followed the army of Crotone against the union, the Krimisians were completely massacred.
Timasion, Cleanor and the officers firmly believed that the Krimisian soldiers, who have no combat experience and have low morale, are all incompetent!
After quickly completing the deployment, Timasion went to the front of the formation and said to the mercenaries, “Brothers, I believe that you will never forget the two months that you have stayed in Theonia Union! You have left there and have followed us here because you are not satisfied! Why is it that Davos and the others who were mercenaries like us, have everything, while we have nothing?!” Timasion turned around and then pointed to the city of Krimisa and shouted, “Now, the opportunity is in front of us, once we take down this city, we will also become noblemen! And be the masters of the city as well!!”
The mercenaries beat the shield with their spears and roared to vent their depression and frustration over the past two months. At the same time, they also wanted to win and hope for a better life in the future!
Their roars have even reached the top of the city wall, which made the Krimisians pale.
The strategos in charge of military affairs, Eurypus, was anxious when he saw this situation. In order to boost their morale, he then shouted, “Citizens, the number of enemies is as large as ours! But we have walls and moats to protect us, so they won’t be able to hurt us! What is more, the Crotonians are on their way to aid us!”
When the Krimisian heard of reinforcements, they became a bit courageous.
“Attack!” Timasion saw that the morale was high and so he gave the order without hesitation.
And so, the salpinx sounded, and Cleanor led his troops to the west of Krimisa, while Timasion led his troops to the north.
The hoplites were at the front, with 5 men carrying long ladders, and were marching slowly in a very loose formation, and the light infantries were at the back. As they were about to enter the range of the archers of Krimisa, they started to take off their round shields, then use the shield to protect their head and chest, and moved forward by staying low.
The arrows that came from the walls were like rain, but the mercenaries were not afraid. They then manage to arrive at the moat without a suspense, then several people helped to put the six meter long wooden ladder on the moat. When they stepped on the long ladder to cross the moat, compared to hoplites accidentally falling into the moat, the arrows did not cause as much as casualties to the hoplites.
Eurypus, who was watching the skillful tactics and calm performance of the enemy, had made him nervous. ‘These enemies are experienced and I fear that it will not be easy to deal with them!’
“Come on! Go and prepare more stones, wood and flax oil, and bring them to the top of the wall at once!” Eurypus shouted anxiously.
After the hoplite basically crossed the moat, they took the long ladder again, and quickly rushed to the bottom of the wall, they then laid the long ladder against the wall, but there are still some long ladders on the moat that were not retracted, as it is for the light infantries to use to cross the moat.
The Krimisians then rushed to throw woods and stone, and poured the flax oils. As the torch dropped, the flame rose and the casualties of the mercenaries sharply increased….
. . . . . . . . . . . . .
At the height of the fierce battle between Krimisa and the mercenaries, Davos received
an alarming information that Timasion had not gone to Syracuse, but had instead went to Krimisa.
On the eastern coast of Magna Graecia, there are frequent ships that come and go, so when they see more than 40 empty ships stranded on the beach, there will always be curious merchant ships that stop to investigate. They then found the captains and sailors who were bound and were left in the grass.
After being rescued, they immediately sailed back to the port of Thurii and complained to the guards about what happened.
After Davos learned about it, he became furious. As the guarantor of Timasion, the hijacking of the transport ship and the 15 casualties of the sailors have already made him angry, but what made him even more angry was that, Timasion had led more than a thousand mercenaries to land on the coast between Roscianum and Krimisa.
With a bit of thinking, he managed to guess what their goal was, ‘Krimisa! Those audacious mercenaries actually have the idea of taking Krimisa! I had even felt sorry for their departure! Damn Timasion, he cheated us all!’ While complaining about his carelessness, Davos was already thinking about the consequence of the action of the mercenaries: Whether they manage to take Krimisa or not, they will break the delicate balance between Theonia and Crotone, and now, Theonia has to start to prepare earlier now!
But when he thought of holding a senate meeting, Davos felt a bit of a headache, because some people will certainly take this opportunity to make trouble. Although it will not have any actual impact on him, he indeed had made a mistake! And sure enough, those in power must not be easily influenced by their personal feelings. If he had hindered his personal feelings and not agreed to Agasias at the start, then how could there have been so many things afterwards! This is a profound lesson that he should bear in mind!….
“Aristocrates, immediately send someone to Philesius, Agasias, Hieronymus, Kapus, and Antonions and have them come here!” Davos told Aristocrates that he needed to talk to these former mercenaries.
. . . . . . . . . . . . .
“Leader, our men are going up fast!” His subordinate shouted with excitement.
Timasion became spirited, he then exposed his head from under his round shield and peeped up. He then saw a soldier managing to step on the battlement not far away.
At this time, seven spears pierced straight towards the soldier who was busy blocking it with his round shield, but because of this, he could not stand firmly and was forcibly pushed down the wall. However, the wall was only four meters high and there were corpses on the ground, so he did not suffer so much damage after he fell. The soldier then unsteadily stood up, he was currently not fully awake and have even forgotten to take a precautions when a rock hit his head*, so he fell down again, but this time, he didn’t get up. (Because the Corinthian helmet is bulky and the vision is too narrow for a siege so they had taken it off.
Seeing this situation, Timasion then shouted, “Have Execias and the others to get closer to the wall to give more support to the hoplites who are sieging the city!”
“Leader….” The herald’s face showed an awkward expression, “They are light infantries who are lacking protection. Doing so will make them vulnerable to arrows!”