Mediterranean Hegemon of Ancient Greece

There are three ports in Syracuse. The smallest port is on Ortygia Island. There are only two docks in the port. There are very few boats moored.There is a small port on the north side of the isthmus connecting Ortigia and the city. It was an early trading port in Syracuse. Later, as the area of ​​the city expanded, the population increased, and the maritime trade flourished, the small port was no longer enough. Dagang was built.

The big port in the broad sense refers to a bay that is as large as a pocket on the west side of Syracuse, and the real big port is only a small part of the northeast corner of the bay. It is two miles south of the isthmus of Ortygia. Originally there was a part of the swamp, which was later filled by the Syracuse people to build the port. The freemen and slaves who continuously poured into Syracuse and worked for the port had to continue to live in order to have enough place to live. Filling swamps in the west and constructing simple houses have also caused the wall near the bay to move westwards. Among the many derogatory nicknames that citizens of the city have given to people in the port area, "swamp people" are the most used.

Hiktas led more than 2,000 soldiers and quickly marched southwest without encountering major obstacles along the way.

In fact, Ty Agnes, who was defending in the West City, had received the urgent message from the meeting that "Hiktas has rebelled and is attacking the meeting", and asked him to immediately send 2,000 heavy infantry to arrive The council will quickly put an end to this rebellion and prevent the council from being attacked.

The people at the council are indeed calling for old citizens urgently, as expected by Hiktas, but he did not expect that military mobilization will take time, and the square is too close to the council, and lawmakers are worried about their own safety and can’t wait. When the new army was formed, it sent people to ask for the nearest aid to Taagnis.

The parliamentarians described the situation very seriously, and Te Agnes became very anxious after being shocked. Due to the occupation of the Fortress of Uryarus, the council sent more than 6,000 soldiers (including the walkways on both sides of the wall) , Coupled with the subsequent widespread and violent attacks by Siracusa’s army on the city, all the troops under Ty Agnes’s army were defended in the city, there were no redundant soldiers around, and they had to hurry and relocate from the defending army in the city. ,

Nearly 1,000 soldiers were recruited, which was the maximum strength he could squeeze out, and for this reason the defensive strength of the entire city became tighter.

Nearly 1,000 soldiers hurried to the main city, and it was at this time that Hiktas led more than 2,000 soldiers to the port in a hurry, crossing the streets across the street.

Hiktas led the troops to the inner wall. This is the wall built by the Syracuse people to separate the people in the port area. Every day, a team of civic soldiers in the Syracuse city station, the port’s goods, foreign merchants and For the Gentile sailors to enter the main city, they must go through their inventory.When people in the port area go to the city, they naturally have to pass through this checkpoint, and they will inevitably be cross-examined. People in the port area have always believed that this is the strongest evidence of Syracuse's unequal treatment of them, and they also have a thorn in their hearts.

After the overthrow of Dionysius before, Tethytis and others once proposed to Herolis to "remove this inner wall" on this matter. Herolis did not agree, but agreed to the soldiers stationed in the inner wall. Port citizens served, but after the death of Herolis, the council once again replaced the soldiers stationed in the inner wall with citizens of the city. This inner wall actually became an inextricable gap between the people in the port area and the citizens of the city.

Because this inner wall is mainly aimed at the port area, it plays a role of isolation and investigation, it has not been built as strong and strong as the outer city wall. After Hickas led his team, he did not speak to the team officers here. Directly ordered the soldiers to kill the city head from several stone ladders inside the city wall, and ordered other soldiers to throw javelins at the defenders at the city head.

Normally the soldiers stationed here are usually 20 people. After Te Agnes sent reinforcements to the council, he also thought of the importance of this place, but he was really tight. He sent only 150 people, originally thinking of Hitax After the offensive council was defeated, the inner wall could cut off their access to the port, and subsequent chasers could surround them and wipe them out. He did not expect that Hitax had no offensive council at all, but returned directly. In the port, as a result, 150 defenders under the full attack of more than 2,000 people were quickly defeated.

Hitax led the troops through the inner wall and into the port area.On the one hand, he let Zamoratis take people to tell the people in the port area: he has decided to join the Kingdom of Dionysia, hoping to get their support and make all defense preparations to deal with the upcoming Syracuse Army offensive.

At the same time, he led the main force straight to the military port.

The military port is not far north of the commercial port. It has been expanded many times. In the late period of Dionysius, it was able to accommodate 500 three-story paddle warships and 100,000 crew members.But now there are only 50 warships (30 of which are three-layer paddle warships) moored in the military port. There are about 7,000 people in the military port, most of them from the people in the port area, and nearly half of these crews from the port area They are poor free people, and very few people come from urban areas. They are port defenders, captains, and deck soldiers...

Because of the war, the council required: The crew of the fleet must gather at the military port early in the morning, and then each of them on the warship, ready to attack whenever there is an order.

However, there are only more than 100 defenders in the port. Even with the soldiers on the ship, there are no more than 400 people in total. They can guarantee the security of the military port and command the warships. That is because the people in the port area have basically followed the rules Rakuza law.

Now, Hiktas led the army to the outside of the military port. Without saying anything, he directly ordered the soldiers to forcibly attack, and also arranged some people to shout into the military port: "Brothers in the port area, you don’t have to worry about the powerful Dai The Onia Fleet is at war. General Hiktas has led us to join the Kingdom of Dionysia. Take up the weapons in your hands and occupy the military port with us. Then become a Dioria citizen and obtain fertile land. !......"

Since half of the Syracuse sailors were made up of freemen, they were easily infiltrated by the Dionysian Sicilian intelligence service. These spies often preached in the sailors "The horror of the Dionysian navy and the enjoyment of freemen after joining the kingdom "The benefits" made the sailors love and fear Dionia. Since Syracuse tore up the agreement, formed an alliance with Carthage, and fought with Dionia, the naval avoidance war was a council to preserve strength. Afterwards, at the strong request of Carthage, the Siracusa navy was not without cruising, but after the far discovery of the Dionysian warships, even if the commander wanted to try a war, the sailors did not have the fighting heart The delay was not implemented using various methods, so to date, the Syracuse Navy has not dealt with the Dionysian Fleet or attacked the Dionysian ships.

Now, the sailors heard the shouts of the soldiers familiar from outside the military port. Under the leadership of the Dionysian spies, they all picked up the wooden oars and drew out their daggers. They swarmed up and quickly overwhelmed the captain and the warship. Deck soldiers then jumped off the ship and rushed to the garrison guarding the gate against the attack of Hiktas.

Hiktas occupied the military port, and he did not feel relaxed. He knew that the meeting would soon send troops, and the time was very urgent, so he solemnly said to Artemis: "I have finished what you want me to do. , I need your help next!"

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A hundred meters away from the west gate of Syracuse, Leotizides in full-body uniform stands facing the wall like a sculpture. The battle has continued for 4 hours. The sun has risen to the center of the sky, and he basically stands There is not much movement here, staring attentively at the battle in front of him.The screams of soldiers who fell from the ladder, soldiers who were hit by stones and wood under the city, rocket-ignited siege cars, and soldiers trapped in the siege tower continued... but none of them To make his face frozen by frost move, his adjutant Taglu had been worried about the fierce fighting.

At this time, a herald rushed from the front, and Taglu quickly greeted him, and soon he rushed to Leotizides, saying: "Master Commander, the first captain of the 7th Legion, An Fides said,'The siege troops he led were too casualties, and he hopes to immediately withdraw and let the next wave of troops take over.'

Leotizides said without hesitation: "Tell him,'No retreat, give me to continue to attack with all my strength, or military punishment!'"

When Taglu heard this, hesitated and said, "Master Commander, they are the 7th Army--"

"What's wrong with the Seventh Army?" Leotichides said with a heavy face. "As a commander, the Seventh Army and the Eighth Army are treated the same. In the last offensive, the Eighth Army insisted on fighting for two. More than an hour, it was really difficult to support, I was replaced by the Seventh Army, how long did they fight?"

"Probably... more than an hour." Facing Leo Tizides' sharp gaze, Taglu whispered.

"In just over an hour, the soldiers of the 8th Legion that had been withdrawn had not received enough rest to allow them to continue fighting for another hour." Leotizides said coldly

"Yes!" Taglu was about to notify the herald soldiers, and he heard Leotizides said: "Actually, the Seventh Army should be able to fight longer."

"Eh?"

"Have you noticed that the Carthaginians' defenses are weakening." Leotizides watched the battle ahead, rather than asking Taglu's opinion, rather than talking to himself for analysis: "During this period of time, as far as I can see, our soldiers have already climbed the city head twice through the cloud ladder, and stayed in the city head for at least 5 minutes before they were driven off. This situation was at this time yesterday. It has never appeared before; and... our light infantry standing on several mobile towers have not been replaced so far. We have changed two dials at this time yesterday. What does that mean?"

The volume of Leotizides suddenly increased: "It means that the defensive ability of the Syracuse is weaker than yesterday. They must have mobilized many soldiers and want to recapture the fortress of Yuriarus. Has insufficient defense power."