At this moment, the otherwise quiet Dionian army moved, and the light infantry of the various legions quickly stepped forward and inflicted the first blow on the advancing Roman soldiers with javelins and arrows. The cavalry legions on both flanks had already begun to ride their horses and soon collided with the Roman cavalry......

Moments later, the cavalry corps routed the small number of Roman cavalry and pursued them, while the light infantry retreated to the rear of the formation.

"Javelin ready!" In the long military formation, the commanders' orders sounded one after another.

The Roman soldiers, who had already learned about the tactics of Dionia, raised their long shields in the face of the rushing rain of javelins......

Two rounds of javelins, the Dionian soldiers charged forward and collided with the rushing Roman soldiers......

The sound of fighting became the only sound in this world.

Klotocatax felt as if his breathing had stopped, his eyes widened, and his gaze reflected the fierce battle scenes in his mind through the dust and mist, and his expression was both nervous and a little excited.

And next to him were Tolmid, the Kingdom Staff Officer, Henipolis, the Court Clerk, Olivers, the Commander of the Fourth Legion, and Giogris, the Commander of the Fifth Legion...... These generals who participated in this expedition were paying close attention to this battle, and they all knew that Davers attached great importance to Rome, so they all came to see this battle in advance and understand the fighting power of the Romans, so as to make correct judgments in future battles.

The heavy infantry battle in front of the army formation was still in a fierce stalemate, and some scouts and cavalry had already rushed over one after another to report: "Report! The 1st Cavalry Regiment has completed the pursuit and is returning to attack the flank of the enemy's right flank! ”

"Report! The 2nd Cavalry Regiment is attacking the rear of the left flank of the enemy's formation! ”

……

After listening to the report, Davers gently patted the neck of the war horse, and then said: "Amintas, after the defeat of the Romans, you must boldly pursue, completely disperse them, and drive them to the south, so that they cannot hinder our tomorrow's action. If you can take Ravenium, your troops will no longer need to build a camp, and they will spend the night there tonight, so that the soldiers can rest well. ”

"Yes, Your Majesty." Amintas replied with a salute.

Davers returned the salute, turned his horse's head, and galloped to the beach.

The palace guards followed.

Crotokatuckucks looked at the battlefield a few more times with some reluctance, and then left.

Oliver and Giogris congratulated Amintas before leaving in a hurry. It seemed to them that the Dionian legionnaires had held off the enemy's onslaught from the front, and had a slight upper hand, while the cavalry had detoured back to the enemy's flanks, and in such a favorable situation, even if the battle was still going on, victory was not far off.

As they had expected, after another ten minutes of fighting, the Roman soldiers began to retreat, which soon turned into a rout.

The Roman army was defeated so easily, in fact, it was also related to the origin of the soldiers of this army, most of its soldiers were born in the Roman civilian class, they were only recently allocated the land of Villitre, Saturnicum, Antium, and they used to be auxiliary as light infantry, only in recent years because of the reform of the Roman military system, coupled with Carthage's generous assistance, the Roman Senate issued them heavy infantry equipment, and began to train heavy infantry, However, it was obvious that they were deficient in both the combat skills of the heavy infantry and their combat experience, and they encountered a strong enemy in the first battle as the main force.

…………………………………

While Amintas led the 1st, 2nd, 3rd and 2nd Cavalry Corps in great pursuit of the router, King Davers marched north along the coast with the 4th, 5th, and 6th legions, which had already been assembled on the beach, aiming at the already predetermined port of Ostia. As the only port for Rome to conduct maritime trade and obtain important materials, the capture of Ostia would not only cut off Carthage's aid to Rome and gain a foothold for the Dionian expeditionary army in the Latium region, but also provide great convenience for the army's logistical supply and material transportation, which was a good thing to kill.

Ostia has been a Roman colony for decades, but it has been a matter of nearly a decade that it has been valued by the Roman Senate. Because of the establishment of a closer alliance with Carthage, in order to protect the various materials that Carthage provided to Rome, under the advice of the Carthaginians, began to strengthen the city defense of Ostia and the protection of the port, especially after the war with the Dionians, due to the fear of the strength of the Dionian fleet, the Senate also sent additional garrisons to Ostia, but they definitely did not expect that Dionysia would lead a large army to attack at this moment, and bypass the Roman defense system on land, Attack Ostia directly from the sea, which is in the rear.

Therefore, when Davers's army reached the outside of Ostia, the defenders of the city were only 3,000 men, and they had received the news of the enemy's attack beforehand, and they sent messengers to Rome for help, while the soldiers were ready to defend, but they could not help but shudder when they saw the large number of Dionian troops outside the city.

The general of the defending army encouraged them loudly: "Citizens, the time is not early, the enemy's attack will not last long, show your courage and repel the enemy's attack, tomorrow the Roman reinforcements will arrive!" ……”

His words gave the Roman soldiers great encouragement, for it was already afternoon, and there was indeed not enough time left for the Dioonians to attack the city.

Therefore, after the three legions of Dionya entered their predetermined positions and quickly deployed, Davers gave the order to attack without delay.

Although Davers brought a team of more than 500 engineers with him on this expedition, due to the rush of time, he did not have time to assemble large-scale siege equipment, and the ready-made siege equipment was only a few dozen ballistae and countless ladders brought with the ship, which were quickly assembled by the engineers, and these ballistae were pushed to the front of the formation and bombarded the city wall.

For a while, the stone bullets in mid-air kept whistling, the city wall roared continuously, and the stone chips flew wildly.

The Roman soldiers, who had never experienced such a Hittitan formation, hid behind the battlements in fear, barely daring to move, and their morale was depressed.

After more than ten minutes of continuous bombardment, the high-pitched trumpets sounded, and the ballista attack stopped.

As soon as the Roman soldiers breathed a sigh of relief and cautiously poked their heads out of the city walls, they saw the black, oppressive Dionian siege procession a hundred meters below the city, accompanied by an earth-shattering roar, like a raging and roaring tide, roaring towards the city of Ostia from the east and south.

"Citizens, when the enemy attacks, their ballistae will stop throwing stones, cheer up your spirits, take your weapons, teach them a good lesson, and let them taste the power of our Romans! ......" The defenders kept cheering their soldiers loudly, and the fact that the Dionians' ballistae did not fire any more stone projectiles reassured them a little.

"Archers! Archers get ready to shoot! ......" The Roman officers also began to give orders.

The reason why the ballista unit did not raise the elevation angle of the ballista mounts so that the stone projectiles were higher than the walls and bombarded the city was because there were many port warehouses in the city of Ostia, and Davers was worried that they would be destroyed and affect their future use.

Davers sat firmly behind and watched the battle unfold calmly.

Klotocatax could not sit still, and with his father's permission, he rode forward, closer to the battlefield, so that he could see more clearly. Of course, Martius followed him with some of the court guards to keep him safe.

Unlike positional battles, siege battles are large in scale and the sound of killing is earth-shattering, but it is difficult to see the casualties of both sides in a fierce battle due to the obstruction of vision, but siege warfare is different, where one's own soldiers fall from the top of the city, soldiers who climb ladders are hit by javelins or stones, and even entire ladders are knocked down...... These pictures can clearly meet Crotokatax's eyes, and the continuous appearance of these scenes also makes him feel heartache, he clenched his fists, and whispered vigorously: "Rush forward!" Attack it! Hades, please protect them and take the city! ……”

But Hades obviously did not respond to the prayers of his descendant, Klotocatax's heart jumped for a while, and he was a little afraid to look at it, he turned his head to look at Davers, who was sitting still under the military flag in the distance, and then swept his eyes to the Fourth Legion, which was still resting in a formation not far away, and couldn't help but ask suspiciously: "Why don't you send the Fourth Legion up immediately and increase the intensity of the siege?" ”

Martíus explained: "Ostia is a small city, which cannot accommodate too many soldiers to attack the city, and if they are all sent up, it will cause crowding and increase casualties. ”

Klotocatax was a soldier of the Legion Reserve and had also worked in the Military Department for a year, of course he knew that the Fourth Legion was called the most capable legion of Dionia, and at this time he could only stomp his feet anxiously: "I knew that I should have sent the Fourth Legion to attack the city first!" ”

Crotocatacuses could question his father's arrangement of troops, but the faithful Martius could not continue, he could only comfort softly: "The siege is very time-consuming, the battle has just begun, the defense of the Romans is still very tenacious, we must not be in too much hurry, I believe that Your Majesty will have a clear tactical arrangement for the Fourth Legion......"

"Really?!" Klotocatax's eyes lit up.

"Of course, Your Majesty never fights uncertain battles!" Although Martius did not know the specific battle plan, he clearly had confidence in King Davers.

。 Museum of Literature