The army of Syracuse was again defeated and retreated.

Not long after, another general of Syracuse arrived with 3,000 soldiers, and saw the groaning wounded and demoralized troops.

After learning the whole battle with the wounded Stasikors, both sides realized that the Dioonians had been well prepared, so it would be very difficult to recapture the fortress of Yuriarus, and both began to regret their previous neglect of the fortress of Yuriarus.

So, the two joined forces together and carefully planned the next attack.

At this time, in charge of the defense of the fortress of Yurialus was Diocassis, the commander of the 5th Brigade of the Eighth Legion.

In the previous continuous battles, one of the captains of the Eighth Legion was seriously wounded, and the first captain had been guarding Selinus, so there were two vacancies in the position of captain, Diocassis had been promoted from company captain to captain because of his outstanding performance, and Leotizides, who was quite important to him, gave him such an important task to complete this time, so even if he repelled the attacking enemy, he did not take it lightly, and summoned Terrentus and the other two captains to discuss and improve the plan to defend the fortress.

When everything was in place, he began to worry about food.

The soldiers did not carry rations in order for the raid to go well, but there was some food in the storehouse of the fortress, but this was a food reserve for 200 men, but for the Diocasian army, which was more than 3,400 people, Diocassis made a rough estimate, and it was only enough for one day. It was also difficult to transport large quantities of grain from the bottom of the mountain and from outside the city to the fortress, which is one of the reasons why Leotizides sent only more than 3,000 men here.

At this time, Terentus approached Diocassis and advised him: "We need doctors and nurses here, and the wounded soldiers are in urgent need of treatment and care!" ”

Seeing his anxious expression, Diocassis knew that he was worried about the injuries of the soldiers of the more than 20 Mountain Scout Brigades.

Before Terrentus personally led 100 soldiers of the reconnaissance brigade to successfully climb the wall, not only to attack the fortress, but also to intercept the few sentinels coming from the corridor on both sides, and to send people to tie the ropes hanging down the city, in the case of the enemy and our outnumbered, as the vanguard of the mountain reconnaissance brigade soldiers with one as ten, the rapid and courageous attack led to the confusion of the defenders who were already caught off guard, creating conditions for the arrival of the follow-up troops, of course, also paid some casualties.

"You're right." Diocassis immediately agreed, and took the opportunity to say: "However, the mountain roads here are more difficult to walk, and the sky is dark, but these are not a problem for you mountain scouts, so I hope you can send a small group of soldiers down the mountain to the medical camp, pick up a few doctors and nurses, and bring some engineers and carpenters by the way." ”

Terrentius was stunned: "Engineers and carpenters, do you want them to install ballistas on the fortress?" ”

"That's a reason." Diocassis said solemnly: "In addition, I want them to install a pulley device on the city wall, which can easily pull the baggage transported to the city to the city. ”

"I'll send two squads down the mountain right away." Terrentius immediately agreed.

At this time, a soldier came in and said urgently: "Captain, the enemy has begun to attack!" ”

Diocassis and Terentus glanced at each other, quickly walked out of the dormitory, and ascended to the top of the city.

This time, not only did the Syracuse army attack the fortress from the south, but many soldiers were rapidly approaching the fortress in the walkways of the city walls on the east and west sides.

Although not only the Dionian army outside the western city had begun to attack, but the Dionian coalition army outside the eastern city was also assembling at this time, in order to recapture the fortress and eliminate the enemy who broke into the city, the two generals still sent hundreds of soldiers to march north along the aisle at the head of the city and participate in the attack.

The enemy from three directions attacked at the same time, but Diocassis was not nervous, because they had already arranged in advance.

The farther north the wall of Syracuse is, the narrower the walkway, after all, it is not easy to build the wall on the high ground, and there is a bonus to the terrain, it is not easy for the enemy to attack, there is no need to build a tall and thick wall like the wall close to the main city, so the east and west sides of the city wall near the intersection are only 4 people side by side wide.

Diocassis each sent two companies of heavy infantry to guard the aisles on either side, and they arranged themselves in extremely thick walls of shields and spears to prevent the enemy from trying to enter the fortress through the walls.

At the same time, the light infantry on the stone walls east and west of the fortress took up bows and arrows and javelins to carry out long-range attacks on the enemy in the walkways of the city walls not far from them.

It was already very difficult for the Syracuse soldiers in the aisle to break through the blockade of the Ionian heavy infantry, because the walls were built along the terrain, and the intersection was the highest, and they also had to attack upwards, but at the same time they had to guard against the side fire from the fortress, and they could only use three or four percent of their strength, which posed no threat to the Dioonians in front of them.

In the face of the countless Syracuse soldiers surging from the south, the Dionian soldiers on the fortress took out a round straw cage that had been arranged, poured asphalt, lit it with fire, and threw it down.

These straw cages stored in warehouses were originally used by the Syracuse defenders to defend against enemies who were paying to climb the mountain and siege the city, and the Dionian soldiers used them to attack their original owners, which was also very effective.

………………………………………

When the news of the "successful capture of the fortress of Yurialus by the Mountain Scout Brigade" was quickly reported to Leotizides, he did not hesitate to gather the troops in the camp and once again gave the order to "storm the city".

Although the army had just carried out a fierce siege yesterday and had paid a lot of casualties, it was to create the conditions for the night attack of the mountain reconnaissance brigade, and now it was necessary to continue to create conditions for the troops occupying the fortress of Juliarus to gain a foothold in the city, so Leoticides sent 10,000 soldiers, carrying ladders and pushing siege equipment, in three waves, to attack the entire section of the wall from the middle of the western wall to the sea.

In addition, he kept a heavy infantry brigade and two light armoured brigades of 3,000 men as reserves, not only to support the siege, but also to have a deeper expectation that if the tide of battle turned in his favor, he would consider throwing this reserve into the fortress of Yurialus to the north, joining up with the original troops, and laying the foundation for victory in one fell swoop.

To this end, he sent a number of heralds, hoping to keep in close contact with the troops of the fortress of Yurialus and keep abreast of the dynamics inside.

At the same time, he also sent messengers to the east of Syracuse to inform Zanti Paris of the good news of the "successful night attack" and hoped that he would urge the coalition forces to increase their attack on the east city.

…………………………………………

Most of the Syracuse militia fought fiercely with the Ionians in the east, west, and north directions, but one army was more leisurely in the square next to the temple of Apollo, and the 4,000 soldiers from the port area did not seem to have a sense of urgency about the battle, they sat or lay down, or chatted, or played, or slept......

Compared with the ease of the soldiers, Schiktas, who was the commander of this unit and sat on the platform of the square, seemed preoccupied, but what he didn't know was that among the thousands of soldiers resting in the audience, several pairs of eyes had been watching him.

"Artemis, it's been so many days, this old guy still hasn't taken any action, it seems that he doesn't plan to join our kingdom!"

"If he doesn't do it, let's just leave him behind and go directly to Zamoratis, they are more familiar with us and have a better impression of the kingdom, I believe we will be able to convince them to submit to the kingdom!"

"Don't worry, if Hiktath really made up his mind to protect Syracuse, he would have sent someone to arrest me and put the entire port area in order, but he didn't do it, which means that he still has ideas about my proposal, but he is still hesitating...... We need to give him some time and keep convincing him. Moreover, his prestige in the port area is very high, and without his participation, it will be difficult for Zamoratis to convince most of the port people to join us. And by that time, the news has been exposed, which will inevitably arouse the vigilance of the Council of Syracuse, so that our previous efforts will not only be in vain, but will also affect the progress of the commander of Prosous in capturing the city of Syracuse, and affect the kingdom's war against Carthage! ”

"Artemis, I'm afraid we can't wait any longer! There was a lot of commotion in the city just now, it is said that our army has occupied the fortress of Yurialus, and the two lords Prosous and Zantiparis are leading the army to attack the city with all their might, and the citizen soldiers of Syracuse have basically been sent out to meet the battle, and the army in the port is left, what a great opportunity! Think about it, if Hiktath had led these more than 4,000 soldiers to launch a rebellion at this time, the people of Syracuse would not have any extra troops to come and quell the rebellion! Whether he leads his army to the west or east to attack the defending defenders, it will lead to the rout of the Syracuse army, allowing our army to break through the city! ”

"That's right! Artemis, do you hear me, our legions are storming! We must seize this wonderful opportunity, created by our soldiers with their lives and blood! ”

"Well, let me think again...... I think...... Let's take the risk, and since Hiktas can't make up his mind at this point, we'll force him to make a choice! We do this ......"