Chapter 305: Shouldering an important responsibility alone
Courage is not the only thing the soldiers need if they want to cross the rope bridge smoothly and reach the other side, they also need skill. Although it is only about 100 metres, it still takes a lot of time, and if the soldiers are clumsy, they could only cross the river at a snail’s pace. Even though the soldiers behind them were anxious, they did not dare to make a sound, as several of their companions fell into the river and disappeared.
It was already late in the night, and a third of the first brigade had still not yet crossed. Feeling the time was running out and that he could no longer wait around, Drakos ordered the centurions of the first brigade, who had not yet crossed the river, to organise the soldiers behind them to cross the river. He then reminded Adrian, the senior centurion of the first brigade who had already crossed the river, that as soon as daybreak, he would immediately lead the first brigade to raid the defensive camp along the river trail and capture it. Thus ensuring the smooth entry of the second legion to the territory of Besidice and join forces to capture the city of Besidice.
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Most of the soldiers, who had crossed the river, lay quietly and in an orderly manner on the riverbank under the command of their respective platoon captain and squad leaders. Taking time to rest, calm their nerves and recover their strength and energy so that they could be in better shape for the coming battle. In contrast, a small number of soldiers, who are in a better state, would sneak into the forests and use the tools they carried to cut small trees as quietly as possible, cutting off the branches and making simple wooden ladders.
As the senior centurion, Adrian took several guards and crept not far from the defensive camp to observe its layout under the faint light of the campfire.
At this time, he felt someone patting him on the back. When he looked back, it turned out that it was the centurion of the first centuria.
He followed him away from the defensive camp before sitting up and asked, “What is it?”
“The warrior who swam across the Crati River has an urgent matter with you and wants to see you.”
“What is the urgent matter? Is he dying?!” Said Adrian impatiently.
Adrian had been quite irritable for the past few days. In order to organise the delegation to participate in the Isthmian Games, he had even asked for the approval of Davos to not follow the second legion to participate in the reinforcement of Taranto. In the end, the troops who went to war came back with honour while the sports delation that he led became the laughing stock of the whole of Greece. On his return, a few statesmen of the Senate attacked him for this incident, and even though Davos and the statesmen who were former mercenary defended him and did not receive much blame, he still felt frustrated in his heart.
With the outbreak of the war with Bruttii, his old friend Drakos, who knew him well, gave him a good opportunity to prove himself and to wash away his shame by approving the first brigade that he was in charge of to take up the important task of crossing the river first, occupy the defensive camp of the enemy and welcoming the whole legion. Therefore, he has been holding back.
Adrian hesitated for a moment. In the end, considering the credits of Seklian, he had decided to take the time to see him.
At that moment, a physician, who had crossed the river, was treating Seklian. Apart from superficial wounds, his most serious injuries were two broken bones on his ribs on the left side and some damage to his left lung. The physician fixed the broken bone and bandaged the wound.
Seeing Adrian, Seklian struggled to get up but was stopped by the physician.
“You’d better lie down!” Adrian’s tone became softer after he saw that he was seriously injured, “I heard that you are looking for me?”
“Y…yes…strategos…” Seklian strained his lungs as soon as he spoke, which made his face distorts in pain, and his voice hissing like broken below as he struggled to say, “I heard that you gave the order to attack the defensive camp of the enemy in the east…just after dawn…”
“Yes, this is the legatus’ order.” Adrian thought he wanted to fight, so he said, “You need to rest now and not take part in the next battle.”
“If…if you were to attack the defensive camp first…then the enemy in the city will find out that…we are coming…and will defend the city with all their might…since we want to capture Besidice…it would undoubtedly make it more difficult, and the casualties of our brothers would have increased…why…why not just attack the city of Besidice instead?!…I swam across the river…I know that they would never think of us…” Seklian said anxiously, panting even more. The physician had even told him to stop talking and have a good rest.
Although his words are disjointedly and were not clear, Adrian still understood what he meant. The city of Besidice is not on guard, so they should attack and capture it!
Andrian’s eye lit up: Leading a brigade to capture a city independently would undoubtedly wash away his previous humiliation! As for sneaking attack on the city, there have been many experiences of Theonia in this respect. The key in capturing Amendolara, Nerulum and Grumentum were to act suddenly, attack violently and advance quickly, and give the enemy the most significant blow in the shortest time and make them fall into a mess. Davos had summed all of these and written them into the tactical chapter of the Theonian Military Book.
Adrian still remembers a sentence that Davos repeatedly stressed: To be bold and careful in planning at the same time.
Now, he has made up his mind. Not only to capture the defensive camp but also to attack the city of Besidice! Thus he had to think hard about the situation regarding the city of Besidice.
Davos once wrote a booklet about the city of Besidice(actually, it was thanks to Antrapolis), and all the officers of the second legion could even recite it backwards. When Adrian closed his eyes, he could see in his mind a sketch of the interior of the city: The city of Besidice was a small city with walls not made of stones but of dual-layered woods (With the Bruttii’s being surrounded by Greek city-states, and were greatly influenced. The city walls of various cities were diverse according to their economic strength and degree of threat. The walls of Clampetia, Consentia and Vergae were made of stone, Besidice, on the other hand, has a solid wooden wall, while Anbania only has a simple wooden wall), and there were about 3,000 warriors inside the city. According to the continuous observation and surveillance they did, the city of Besidice had sent no less than 2,000 troops to the west, but they still have not yet returned. Therefore, the remaining strength of Besidice, including the defensive camp, should be similar to that of the first brigade.
Adrian, who could not think of it before because he was used to following orders from his superiors, had now decided. After repeated consideration, he decided to send 300 men to attack the defensive camp while he would personally lead 700 men to attack the city of Besidice.
He immediately called the centurions and platoon captains to reconsider the offensive plan while sending more soldiers into the woods to make more ladders. Naturally, their movement was much larger than before, however, the darkness of the night and the surging river provided the best cover for their actions. For a hundred years, Besidice had been peaceful, hence why they had not built any sentry tower outside the city, and the few sentries on the wooden walls went to sleep early, and silence still covered the whole city…
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As time goes by, Adrian tossed and turned and have a hard time sleeping.
However, the night would still eventually pass. When a glimmer of light appeared in the sky, he rolled over and sat up, tapped the herald beside him awake and whispered, “Inform the centurions to start moving!”
The herald then went to notify the centurions, and the centurions went to inform the platoon captains, and the platoon captain went to tell the squad leaders to wake up their men.
The soldiers yawned, picked up the wooden shields and spears, then carried the ladders and advanced along with the officers.
There were no drums, no salpinx, and everything was quiet. The soldiers’ eyes stared dazedly at the flag in front of them. With the slow progress of the team, the scattered formation gradually became neat and orderly, and soberness replaced the daze on the soldiers’ faces.
150 metres…100 metres…50 metres…the team reached the trench of the city, yet there is still no movement on the wall.
In the three-metre wide and three-metre deep trench were countless sharp wooden stakes, which made the soldiers unable to cross with their bare hands, while on the other side of the trench is a wooden wall.
One end of the ladder was then stuck in the earth and held up by the soldiers, but the other end was not long enough to reach the top of the wall. So once the soldiers reached the far end of the ladder, they would reach up with their hands as far as they could, grasped the wall and, with a strong push, tumbled up the wall.
The sentries that were still wrapped in pelts were still sleeping soundly on the corridor against the wall, but the shaking and rattling of the walls alerted them to open their eyes. However, it was already too late: A dozen wooden ladders were placed on the wall, with more than a dozen soldiers climbing up the wall at one time, which soon filled the corridor, and the sentry could not even understand what was going on. They either died under the spear or became captives.
Then, the soldiers at the top of the wall quickly opened the city gate, and the centurions of each centuria led the soldiers into the city immediately. They then divided the soldiers according to their plan into the three roads and pushed forward quickly along the streets.
‘Success!’ Adrian cheered excitedly, “Blow the salpinx!”
At this time, the salpinx and the drum rang out together, and the soldiers had also taken this opportunity to roar. And immediately, the city was in a state of chaos as if an earthquake had occurred. Some, even though they were naked, had still gone out to check the situation; Some had hastily grabbed their weapons and rushed out of their houses but were met by soldiers marching along the streets and stabbing their spears without hesitation, causing the whole city to be filled with shrieks and screams for a while…the bloodshed had made the people of Besidice frightened, and just simply hid in their houses, not daring to make noises.
Although the city of Besidice was built in the mountains, it is located on a levelled ground and is, in fact, a flat city, which made the advancement of the first brigade to be very fast. In front of them was the residence of the great chieftain in the centre of the city, which also serves as the assembly hall.
Such big movement in the city had naturally startled Kanaru, who was still sleeping. As soon as he sat up with sleepy eyes, his men burst in and said, “Chief, n….not good! The enemy…the enemy, had gotten inside the city!”