Chapter 451: Siege of Crotone (I)
“Ah…I am sorry!” Although Azune was apologetic, she still couldn’t conceal the joy on her face.
While Cheiristoya, who was lying on the bed, was unable to stop herself from smiling when she looked at Azune, “I could hear your laughter even from a distance. Come tell us what the good thing is.”
“Madame, lady Agnes…oh no, your two highnesses! Congratulations, the Senate has just announced Lord Davos to be the king of Theonia!” Azune spoke out with joy in one breath.
Now even Cheiristoya’s pretty face was overflowing with joy that completely concealed her weakness after giving birth. At this moment, she suddenly remembered that after making love with Davos, he once said, ‘Cyrus the younger is nothing. In the future, I will definitely make you a queen!’…‘Davos has really done it!’
On the other hand, Agnes was not as excited as Cheiristoya. After all, it has been hundreds of years since the era of kings in Magna Graecia, so she doesn’t feel much about it. Rather, she is just happy for her husband.
“Queens, how about we hold a banquet to celebrate this joyous occasion once Cynthia and Adoris return from school?” Suggested Azune. But after thinking for a moment, Cheiristoya shook her head and said, “Currently, the people of the union are worried about the war and their loved ones, so if we were to hold a banquet to celebrate at this time, we will offend the masses and damage Davos’ reputation!”
“Your highness is right.” Azune hurriedly agreed.
“Don’t say the word ‘highness’ either. This matter has not yet been settled, so let’s not get too carried away!” Cheiristoya reminded her again.
“Indeed. You should address as you used to, which also makes the people feel closer.” Agnes interjected. Then she continued, “Tonight, why don’t we make offerings to the gods and goddesses at home? We should thank them for their blessings and hope that they will bless Davos to return without any incident!”
“Sister, your proposal is wonderful! We should also offer a sacrifice to Hades and thank him for protecting our husband! At the same time-” Cheiristoya smiled at Agnes, “We should offer sacrifices to Hera as well, thanking her for blessing me with a healthy Eunice, and hope that she will also bless you with a smooth birth!”
“Yea!” Agnes gently caressed her slightly protruding stomach and smiled like a doting mother.
“Wa! Wa! Wa!…” Eunice, who was in the cradle, woke up.
“Oh, my little princess!” Azune hurried over and opened the linen diaper to check, “She pooped, and it’s quite a lot!” After she said this, she then skilfully changed the diaper…
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In the early morning, a continuous salpinx sounded outside the city, waking up the Crotonians.
“What’s happening?”
“I fear that Syracuse is about to attack the city!”
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The people at the top of the city wall looked in fear and anxiety at the countless soldiers standing in the distance.
Suddenly, a black dot flew over the city walls.
“Take cover!” After warning each other, the crowd looked in the direction where the stone came from and scattered to run away. After all, they were already familiar with Syracuse’s terrifying weapon, which had continuously attacked the city of Crotone in the past few days.
However, today’s situation is much different from the previous two days. The stones kept bombarding the city one after another, smashing the neighbourhoods near the walls, quickly causing the houses to crumble and turn to rubble, littering the ground. On the other hand, the people scattered and fled while supporting their injured loved ones…
With the continuous bombardment on the city wall, layers of stones fell down pieces by pieces…
Lysias, who watched all of this from the top of the city wall, became anxious and said, “Why haven’t the Theonian ballistae fought back? They are just letting the enemy fire their weapons with such recklessness!”
“Lord Lysias, the Theonians have no choice.” Ascamas, who had already discussed with the ballista team many times, explained, “The towers on our city wall is too narrow to place a ballista. Thus they could only set it up below the city wall. However, since our city wall is too high, they needed to raise the ballistae’s elevation, which shortens the range…”
“In other words, they can’t attack the enemy’s ballistae?!” Lysias immediately understood it after hearing Ascamas.
“Yes. Hence the Theonians suggested for us not to reveal that we have ballista so that we could deal a heavy blow to the enemy once they let their guards down.” Although Ascamas disliked the Theonians before, he also knew the importance of unity when faced with a great enemy. Thus he frankly said, “And I think this method is feasible.”
Lysias thought for a moment and could only reluctantly accept the suggestion of the Theonians, “But what shall we do now? The enemy obviously has more ballistae than two days ago. I fear that our city wall will collapse!”
“For the time being, it won’t happen. So you can rest assured.” Ascamas comforted him and continued, “We now have to wait for the enemy to attack and then beat them! I believe Syracuse will soon take action!”
As he spoke, Ascamas’ gaze kept looking at the large earthen ramp built by the Syracusans for days. He thought this ramp would be the real threat to the city’s defence compared to the ballista. Yesterday, he sent his soldiers out of the city to destroy it, but the well prepared Syracusans defeated them. He also thought of digging a tunnel, but a moat surrounds the city, causing water to seep when the soldiers dug below the moat and scared them. Otherwise, they might have drowned in the tunnel. In the end, the Theonians told him that there was a way to destroy that ramp, which relieved him for the time being.
However, Ascamas knew that: Currently, there is no one above the earthen ramp, but once the siege begins, Syracusans archers would fill the ramp, raining down arrows at the soldiers at the top of the city wall.
“I’ll leave this place to you, as I will go and see the Terinians!” Lysias said seriously. He wanted to quickly leave here as the continuous roaring of ballista made him very nervous, thinking that the city wall would collapse at any time.
As the Polemarchos of Crotone, he needed to offer condolences to Siprus, who was leading the Terinians. At the same time, there were also several thousand Scylletian soldiers defending the southern part of the city, which was also a force that they could rely on. After all, with Syracuse slaughtering the city of Scylletium, these soldiers’ relatives and friends were either killed or sold into slavery and transported to foreign lands. And only the blood of the Syracusan soldiers could quell the anger of the Scylletian soldiers, so they were the ones hoping Syracuse to attack the most.
Just as Lysias was about to leave, the guard hurriedly came with an urgent report, ‘Countless Syracusan ships had appeared outside the port and were preparing to break in.’
Crotone was somewhat similar to Taranto, where they integrated their port into their city. However, their port is built in the gulf, so it is impossible for them to blockade it. Therefore, when the enemy fleet breaks in, they could land on the side and rear of Crotone. And even if they have walls, they still have to stay alert while defending it as the enemy could break into the gulf and land at the port. Therefore, the commanding strategos must have high commanding ability and judgment, especially since Crotone doesn’t have many troops.
“We need an experienced strategos to command the few soldiers in the port area and stop the enemy from sneaking up on our rear!” Ascamas said with a grave expression.
Lysias understood what he meant, so he said without hesitation, “I will send Milo.”
Milo was the former polemarchos of Crotone that the Crotonians expelled after Theonia defeated his army. After he got expelled, he went to the Peloponnesian Peninsula not far from Crotone and lived in seclusion in a coastal town in Elis.
But when the Syracusan army invaded Magna Graecia, Crotone decided to recall their exiled countrymen in order to work together to fight Syracuse. So as soon as he received the news, Milo returned to Crotone. However, the Crotonian army had already departed to Scylletium by then, so he could only stay in the city as an ordinary citizen until today.
Hearing Lysias’ words, Ascamas showed a hint of a smile, which soon disappeared because the enemy began their attack…
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Hundreds of metres away, the huge, loose and massive battle formation of the Syracusans slowly approached the wall. At the forefront were some oddly shaped siege equipment pushed by the Syracusans, a wooden wheeled vehicle with wooden shields for the soldiers to hide, and about five metres long battering ram…
However, the ones that worried Ascamas the most were the three huge, taller than the city walls, movable wooden towers. Although this was the first time Ascamas saw it, a word immediately flashed through his mind – siege towers. Previously, he only heard that the Syracusans used siege towers to capture numerous cities in Carthage’s Sicily, but he now saw it personally that made him alarmed.
The soldiers were equally shocked and overwhelmed when they saw the huge siege tower slowly coming closer to them.
“Cheer up!” Shouted Ascamas to encourage the soldiers and himself, “Although that thing is massive, it will not be able to cross the moat!”
‘Right, that monster wouldn’t be able to get through the moat!’ The soldiers became relieved for a while. But suddenly, they saw that the enemy had stopped advancing. Afterwards, thousands of naked men, carrying linen bags, came out and staggered towards the wall. Behind them were heavily armed Syracusan light infantry, pushing their siege wagons closely…
‘Could it be the Syracusan slaves are going to fill our moat?!’ Kelebus and his comrades around him thought the same thing as they tightly gripped their javelins and bows.
Ascamas, on the other hand, began to feel uneasy.