Chapter 315 \nEighty metresâŚseventyâŚsixtyâŚthe closer they get to the wooden wall, the more intense the attack, the fewer the slaves, and most of them have become stepping stones lying on the grass.\nThe fear of death made several slaves throw away their sacks and rush forward. Even with the sharp wooden stakes and other traps piercing their legs with blood and gore and screaming in agony, they still refused to stop moving forward, âOw!âŚow!âŚIâŚI am a Greek!âŚI am a Greek!!âŚâ
The anguished cry surprised the soldiers on the wall, and they all looked at Cid with pleading eyes.
Seeing this, Cid had also become hesitant.
At this time, more than a dozen Bruttian warriors, ordered by their chieftain, rushed out of the formation, stepped on the sacks on the ground and threw spears at the slaves that got blocked by the abatis and could not move forward.
The screams of the Greek slaves before dying made Cid make a ruthless decision, and he roared angrily, âContinue firing!â
Countless arrows filled with sorrow and anger continued to fallâŚfinally sweeping away almost all the slaves and Bruttians in range.
Although these slaves were almost naked and unprotected, two thousand were still either killed or wounded in the trap area within a short time, that they could not even reach the trench in front of the wall, causing the Bruttian chieftains to suck in a breath of cold air.
âGrand Chieftain, lookâŚâ Bodiam looked at Pian hesitantly.
âSend other tribal warriors to fill the trap! We have almost reached the wall!â Pianâs tone was cold and firm. Having come this far, he has to take a shot at the enemyâs strength no matter what and will never retreat easily.
Thousand of Bruttian warriors, in pairs, with shields in one hand and sacks in the other, began to march towards the wall in a very loose formation.\nCid very much hoped that the enemyâs advance would be slower so that the soldiersâ sore and numb arms could recover for even a little bit of time.
âShoot again!â Cid waved his arm again.
The Bruttian warriors obviously had more fighting experience than the slaves, so when they saw the arrows covering the sky, they immediately stopped, crouched down, huddled together, and protected their whole body with the shield. The arrows rained down on them, and amidst the âBang! Bang! Tak! Tak!â the warriors screaming became lesser than before. However, when they advanced to more than 30 metres away from the wall, the abatis set up here made them unable to advance forward. Then on the wall, not only the archers but also the peltasts joined in the battle. In a moment, javelins and arrows began pouring down, and the Bruttian warriors suffered a lot of casualties and began to flee in panic.
âGreat chieftain!â Even Petaru was unable to bear it any longer.
âAttack again!â Pian ordered with a firm intention, âElder Petaru, you lead 4,000 warriors to attack the northern wall! Elder Bodiam, attack the south! Elder Likumu, take the middle path! Donât worry as we only need to follow our previous plan, clear the obstacles on the road, fill up the trench, and then attack the fortressâŚâ
As the soldiers on the wall cheered at Bruttiâs defeat, the enemy began attacking again not long after. This time, they were divided into small groups of dozens of men and were densely grouped together, with several wooden shields as big as a door.
And the road extending towards the gate was the only place without traps as it was the passage reserved for the third legion. At this moment, there were also Bruttian warriors pushing a wooden cart full of sacks filled with earth, forcing their way towards the gate.
The experienced Cid knows that when the enemy is well protected, blindly shooting arrows will only yield meagre results and only waste arrows and energy. Therefore, he stopped the soldiers from shooting in waves and waited for the enemy to leave the big wooden shield before firing again.
The wooden cartâ distance to the wall was only a hundred metres, but the Theonian light infantry focused their attack on the wooden cart in the middle of the road, causing the Bruttian warriors to just want to lay down on the road. However, the angry roar of Likumu urges the frightened Bruttian warriors to push the cart forward. Finally, they manage to reach the trench with difficulty, ready to dump the sacks piled up like a hill on the cart into the trench.
âOil pot!â Cid yelled calmly. Then more than a dozen slingers lifted the olive oil pots they have collected from Besidice and threw them to the wooden carts causing the clay pots to shatter and oil splashing everywhere, quickly soaking the wooden carts.\nâFlame arrow!â Cid shouted while firing a flaming arrow himself.
As soon as more than five flaming arrows hit the wooden cart, it ignited rapidly, causing even the several Bruttian warriors who were pushing the cart to catch on fire. They then dropped down and started rolling all over in a panic.
âFool! Hurry up! Push it down! Push the cart down!â Likumu seeing the situation becoming urgent roared and threw down his shield. He risked being shot and pushed aside the hesitant warriors in front of him and rushed up. Ignoring the burning flames, he grabbed the handle with both hands and pushed it forward with all his might.
The Bruttian warriors had gotten encouraged from witnessing this had rushed up to his side one after another.
As the wooden cart was burning, the javelins and arrows rained on them.
Under the leadership of Likumu, the Bruttian warriors tried their best to push the carts. With a âboomâ, they pushed down the whole wooden cart in the trench, and the sacks inside had half-filled the three-metre deep and three-metre wide trench. With the crisscrossing wooden stakes in the trench are now buried, the Bruttian warriors could now step on the sacks in the trench and cross it with only one big step.
As the warriors celebrate their success, Likumu fell into a pool of blood with two javelins piercing his bodyâŚ
âLikumu is dead!â Hearing this, Pian could not help but feel sad. Although his relationship with Likumu is average, they had still shared a common causeâŚ
After paying a great price, the Bruttian warriors approached the trench and began throwing sacks into it.
Pian gave the order at last, âAll troops, attack!â
Ten thousand warriors were divided into two groups, one carrying long ladders and another carrying battering ram, and began approaching the wall.
\nâStrategos, thereâs a fire!â The soldiers loudly reminded Adrian. He looked down and saw a fire at the bottom of the wall, and several Bruttian warriors carried clay pots and were pouring oil on the wall, making the flames get bigger.
âHurry and shoot that guy!â Adrian, while directing the soldiers to throw javelins, also yelled anxiously, âPour down the sand! Pour it down quickly!âŚâ
Due to the lack of time and lack of supplies, the wall has not been treated for fire protection. Fortunately, Drakos had already considered this when discussing with the senior centurions on how to defend the fortress and thought that they should place cloth bags filled with soils in the wallâs walkway.
Even after putting out the fire, Adrianâs expression was still serious. He reminded the officers and the soldiers to pay attention to any enemy with clay pots and make every effort to stop them from reaching the wall.
. . . . . . . . . . . . .
The siege was bloody and brutal. Pian anguished every time he saw ladders being pushed down and the warriors falling from the top of the wall, but as the leader of this whole army, he had to pay attention to the warâs progress. He moved forward, again and again, just to see more clearly, and finally reach the edge of the area filled with traps.
Maybe it was due to the corpse on the ground that made his horse feel uneasy that it neighed, burrowing its front hooves on the ground.
Pian did not expect that the Theonians had not only used only three days to establish a relatively complete defensive system, but also the soldiersâ experience and strength in defending the fortress was not weak.
Pianâs faith was gradually wearing off as he watches the Bruttian warriors struggles and groans under the wallâŚ
Compared with the wall in the northern section, which is well defended, well-coordinated and well-ordered. The southern section, which the Besidisian warriors defended, was not unified in command, weak combat strength, and low morale. After an hour of defence, some Bruttian warriors had begun climbing the wall.