Chapter 313: Ballista
Bagul listened to his brother-in-law’s words, and his expression gradually became firm, and said loudly, “You’re right, even though I am a Lucanian, I am also a citizen of Theonia. We must not let go of this great opportunity to unify Lucania!”
“Brother, however, there is now a problem.” Seeing that Bagul’s thoughts were now clear, Asistes immediately asked, “As you could see, the strength of Pyxious is growing too fast. Do we not need to reinforce Kesima and his tribe?”
“By us not doing anything, that cunning Cincinnag will be more convinced that we are really in trouble.” With Bagul’s confusion cleared, he now fully devote himself to the battle that was about to start, “Besides, these tribes in the south are long prepared as we have informed them in advance. Everything is now ready, and we only await the arrival of the legatus – Hieronymus and Litom. I believe that Litom is eager to wash away the shame he suffered in the Isthmian Games with a big victory!”
Although Asistes also looked forward to the early arrival of the battle, Davos had entrusted him to be the assistant of Bagul with the order to assist Bagul in organising a good plan for the Battle of Grumentum. Thus he had to slightly consider the problem more carefully so as to help the brash Bagul check and fill in his deficiency, “There is still no movement in Potentia, could there be a problem?”
“Don’t worry, the Potentians are already terrified at their last defeat, and they also have to defend against the Samnites, so they can’t afford another loss. In addition, as far as I know, their great chieftain – Pamot, is a very composed man that by the time he wants to make a move, we would already have launched an attack on the city of Pyxious!” Bagul laughed confidently.
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Likumu fled back to Consentia in a state of disarray, which surprised Pian. After listening to Likumu’s ordeal, he was surprised and regretted it. He was shocked by the news that the Theonian’s fortress was about to be completed. At the same time, he regretted that even though he knew that the Theonians had captured Besidice, he still sent the Besidisian warriors to attack it, which was indeed a stupid move made by him in his haste. And he became distressed with the loss of more than two thousand elite warriors, given the shortage of Bruttian warriors!
Although Likumu assured him that as long as he came to the frontline, even if these Besidisians would not switch sides, they would not be willing to fight. Pian was not going to believe him completely, as this grumpy, violent chieftain of Besidice was not very good at winning the people’s heart. Besides, the revolt of these Besidisian warriors had a lot to do with him.
At this time, Pian could only suppress his anxiety. While waiting for the arrival of the army led by Petaru, he ordered the other tribes to send as many warriors as possible.
At dusk, Petaru had not only arrived together with the army, but he also had rendezvous with the great chieftain of Anbania – Bodiam, who had arrived together with his army. Only then did Pian feel slightly more relieved.
Early the following day, nearly 20,000 warriors, consisting of 11,000 Consentian warriors, 2,500 Anbanian warriors and 5,000 warriors from other races, led by Pian, Petaru, Bodiam and Likumu, together with 2,000 slaves, marched eastward.
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“Great chieftain, not good! The enemy is about to attack the city!” When he heard the report from his subordinates, Pangam wasn’t too nervous. After Likumu and Bodiam left with their troops in succession, the Theonians did not appear for two days in a row, which made him begin to believe what Bodiam had said about Clampettia being not the focus of Theonia’s attack!
“There is nothing to panic about. It’s not like the Theonians hadn’t attacked before, and we had even easily repulse them! Relaxed, with the strong walls of Clampettia, the Theonians wouldn’t be able to do anything to us!” Pangam cheered up his men.
“But, this siege of the Theonians are unlike the ones before. They have started digging…”
“Dig?”
By the time Pangam arrived at the wall, the soldiers of the fourth legion had already paved the slope a hundred metres away from the wall with earth and stones, creating a levelled ground of about 20 metres in length.
Then Pangam saw the Theonians placing a wooden frame about a man’s height…the Bruttian warriors were curious and guessed what it was, and many thought it was a tool for the Greeks to offer sacrifices to their gods.
Pangam continued to stare at it, watching the enemy carrying wooden boxes to the side of the wooden frame, and his uneasiness continued to increase…
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“Ready? Is it ready to be fired?” Hielos came to the front of what Davos called the “Ballista brigade” and asked the ballista captain.
The ballista captain replied with embarrassment, “We still need the spotter to position the ballista.”
The spotter, who was standing beside the captain, was an apprentice of the Institute of Mathematics established by Davos. After hearing Hielos’ question, he turned to look back and said, “Yes, but we have to try a shot first.”
He pointed to the wall ahead and added, “Although the city wall is about 100 metres away, the terrain of the city is higher, making it harder to judge the landing point. Thus I need to see the result of the test shot first before I could correct it.”
The captain nodded his head to show his understanding, while Hielos was a bit at a loss. He knew that he could not learn all kinds of knowledge as easily as Davos and get along with those learned scholars. However, even though he does not understand it, he still knew that since Davos selected the spotter from the Institute of Mathematics that he valued, there must be no question about his ability.
“Put the elevation lever in the middle position and draw the bowstring to its maximum.” Said the spotter.
Immediately, the captain gave a loud order to all the artillerist.
The artillerists immediately turned the multiple sets of pulleys at the end of the ballistae, and the iron hook began pulling the bowstring (This is Marticoris’ improvement of Syracuse’s ballista after getting some achievements in the study of pulleys, making it easier for the artillerists to pull the bowstring). As the bowstring moved further and further backwards, it drove a section of the two wooden ballista arms fixed to the main beam by the torsion spring set to move backwards as well. The artillerists felt some strain, and even the torsion spring set attached inside the main bean also began emitting “Creaking” noises. As the bowstring was pulled to the end of the guide rail, the artillerist busily jammed the pulley’s shaft.
“Prepare the ballista!” Ordered the captain. Then the artillerists took out a round stone ammunition (it was made by mixing gravel with “Davos’ cement, solidified in a round mould and polished by slaves, so the shape was round and smooth), they then place it in the woven mesh bag in the middle of the bowstring.
“Fire!” At the command of the captain, the artillerist press the snap springs, and the spring set made of two thick bull tendons tightly twisted, causing the pulled crossbow arms to rebound suddenly. The huge force generated by torsion drove the bowstring, which then pushed the stone ammunition to roll forward like lightning on the smooth guide rail and then pressed through the circular hole at the middle-end of the main beam.
Under the gaze of Hielos, the stone ball flew out and turned into a small black spot in the air.
But in Pangam’s sight, the small dot in the air quickly became larger. Under the exclamation of the warriors, it flew over the city wall and fell into the city, smashing through the roof of a household, which caused screams.
Then the warriors began talking about what it was in a panic.
Pangam’s expression became gloomy, ‘This is undoubtedly Theonia’s new siege weapon, but why haven’t they use it before? And only use it now to attack the city after Likumu and Bodiam left? Is all of these planned?’
“The elevation angle is high, and the shooting distance is about 300 metres.” After observing the flight trajectory of the stone ball, the spotter made a general judgment. He then carefully looked at the comparison table about elevation angle, torque scale and range drawn by the Institute of Mathematics that were based on the newly researched parabolic equation and then said, “Set the elevation lever a step forward, pull the bowstring to the maximum then fire another round.”
While the captain was giving order and the artillerists were busy, the spotter then said to Hielos, “According to our research, the upper and middle sections of a wall are relatively weak, so our ballista should try to attack this area as much as possible…”
Hielos nodded as he listened.
The stone ball flew out again, but this time, it hit the city wall accurately. With a loud bang, debris splashed, and one could clearly hear the enemy’s cries even with a distance of 100 metres.
Both the spotter and the captain were obviously satisfied with the result, so they continued to order, “All ballistae fire according to the previous settings.”
Then more than a dozen stone balls flew out one after another and blossoming on the enemy’s wall.
“Keep firing, don’t stop!” Even though Hielos was satisfied with the power of the ballista, he did not rely entirely on this secret weapon and had prepared another hand, “Order the soldiers to start building a ramp!”
The herald then left after getting the order.
Hielos then turned to look at Siprus, who had been following all this time, and said, “Lord Siprus, I hope that your men can also assist in the siege.”
“Legatus Hielos, there is no need for you to be polite. Just give me your orders!” Siprus said humbly, his eyes not deviating from the stone balls whistling in the air, a roar spread to his heart full of shock, ‘This siege weapon invented by the Theonians and the four metre-high tower that the engineers were building in the cam. Could there be even any city-state’s walls that could withstand the attack of the Theonians? Will the era when the Greeks, even if they are defeated, could still resist the attack of a powerful enemy as long as they hide in the city come to an end?’
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In the assembly hall of Besidice, Drakos, the legatus of the second legion, sats in the centre. On his left are the seven senior centurions. On his right are Baripiri and Burim, who got persuaded by Baripiri to surrender, and the newly elected chieftain of Likumu’s tribe, Kreru (the young man who took the lead in driving away Likumu).