Sincinag angrily thought: Elijah, this small Greek state that has been oppressed by Pikosis and almost destroyed, actually dares to run into Pikosis territory to make trouble! Could it be that becoming a member of the Dionian League has emboldened these Greek cowards who only know how to hide in the city?! Didn't it know that after provoking Picosis, no one could save it!

He swore in his heart: when he conquered Grummentum, he would destroy Elia!

But dreams are dreams, and real problems must be solved. Although the battle situation on his side was at a critical juncture, Picosis had to go to the rescue immediately. While 1,000 Elians could not have breached the city of Picosis, having them wreak havoc outside the city would shake the support of Sincinag. You must know that although Sincinag has made his tribe have an absolute advantage among the tribes of Pikosis through various means over the years, he is not the only tribe in Pikosis City, and even in his tribe, the elders and priests are not completely of the same heart as him. The last time he returned from a fiasco in Grummentum, he was already a little dissatisfied with the tribesmen. And this time Elia's invasion, he must act immediately, or let the warriors know that their anger alone will give him a headache.

He had to stop the attack once again, and sent Genenet with 3,000 men (2,000 Pikosis and 1,000 warriors from other tribes) back to the city of Pikosis, striving to annihilate all the invading enemies as soon as possible, so as to relieve the evil anger in his heart.

At the same time, the postponement of the offensive meant increased pressure on the army's rations, and he sent a group of warriors to collect food, which was in fact burning, killing and looting, which forced the neutral tribes to flee either into the mountains or join the tribes south of Grummentum, the Dionians......

……………………………

In Knappetia, the ballista shells of the 4th Dionian Regiment fired stone bullets for most of the day, causing cracks in the walls and spills of rubble that killed and wounded some of the defenders, causing fear and demoralization among the warriors in the city.

The Great Chieftain Pangaru had to make up his mind: send his troops out in the middle of the night and destroy these terrible siege weapons!

In fact, the ballista itself is not heavy, and the reason why the always cautious Shilos did not move it back to the barracks when the dark curtain fell, but only built an earthen rampart in front of the ballista group, precisely to lure the snake out of the hole.

As a result, Knappetia's raiding force was surrounded by the Fourth Legion, which was lying in ambush around the ballista, and after a fight, they were almost wiped out.

After losing a few hundred warriors, Pangaru no longer dared to act rashly.

The next day, under the cover of long-range fire from ballistas and light infantry, the soldiers and the people of Trina approached the trench in front of the city, and then they began to lay stone slabs on the causeway a hundred meters outside the city.

Then the Knappetia warriors were amazed to see the three wooden towers slowly pushed up the stone-paved causeway.

These wooden towers are five meters high, and with a one-meter-high causeway, they are two meters higher than the stone walls, and the width is the same at the top and bottom, two meters, and three meters at the front and back. It is made of wood, covered with wet cowhide, the bottom is a huge wooden wheel, the top is surrounded by wooden battlements, which can accommodate three or four archers, there is a drawbridge hanging at the top in front of it, and a long wooden ladder is dragged behind, when the siege tower is close to the city wall, the drawbridge is lowered, and on the top of the wall, the soldiers can climb the wooden ladder, through the tower and the drawbridge, directly into the wall, making the siege easier.

The siege tower designed by the Dionian engineers and carpenters is relatively simple and has a single function, which cannot be compared with the giant siege tower made by Syracuse, and the only highlight is that the safety of labor is well considered, because there are three wooden poles on the upper end of the wheels on both sides of the siege tower, and above the wooden pole stretches out a wooden shed like an eaves, and the people who push the tower stand outside the causeway, just enough to stand and hold the wooden pole, and the wooden shed blocks the arrows fired by the enemy for them, and they can concentrate on pushing the siege tower forward.

As the towering siege towers slowly advanced, the Knappetia warriors were stunned. Although siege towers have been used in the Mesopotamian plains for a long time, they have never appeared in the Greek world with small countries and widows and many city-states, and the tyrant Dionysius of Syracuse took the lead in making a breakthrough innovation in Greek siege technology, but this has just happened, and it has not spread, let alone the closed Brutians, they have never seen such a huge siege machine, bows, arrows, rockets, javelins do not hurt it, and throw stones but cannot go far, Perhaps the Dionian siege weapon, which could fire stone projectiles, might have destroyed it, but Knappetia did not, and the warriors could only watch as it approached the moat.

Next, heavily armored archers drill into the tower, ascend to the top of the tower through a wooden ladder, and begin to shoot arrows at the warriors on the wall.

Arrows come and go. The Dionian archers, who were high on high and protected by armor and wooden fences, had a clear upper hand, despite their small numbers.

The Dionian soldiers took the opportunity to fill the moat with sand so that the siege towers could be pushed underneath the city.

The restless Pangaru ordered his men to desperately stop the enemy's attempts, and sent men to Cosenza to call for help. He knew in his heart that without reinforcements, the destruction of Knappetia would be only a matter of days......

………………………

Although the bloody and brutal battle of the fortress took place yesterday, it seems like a long time ago.

Early this morning, Dracos, the commander of the Second Legion, Adrianx, the captain of the First Brigade, and other officers waited outside the city of Bissinia with a smile on their faces to welcome the arrival of Davers, the consul of Dioria and the supreme commander of the whole army.

Also in the procession were the former chieftains of the city of Bissinia, Bachilipi and Brim, the new chieftain Creru, and some nobles from the various tribes of Bissinia, who were nervous, excited, or excited to wait for the supreme power of Dionia.

In order to prevent accidents, Dracos ordered the 5th and 6th Brigades in the city to be closely deployed and vigilant.

"Creru, is Davers, the Archon of Ionia, really younger than us?!" Bachilipi's young nephew, Rodom, couldn't help but ask Creru beside him, the relationship between the two could only be said to be average before, but after fighting side by side yesterday, the two young men quickly became friends.

"I asked Drax, it should be so! But don't think of him as a young man! Creru reminded, quietly pointing to the officers of the Third Legion: "Look at Dracos and those Dionians, who usually look at us with their heads up, but now they look completely different, it looks like they are welcoming young people!" ”

"Of course I do! I heard Uncle Barchilippi say that Davers was the son of a Greek god who had never been defeated on battle, and that no one among the Dioonians dared to be disrespectful to him! Rodom replied.

At this moment, a soldier hurried from the defensive camp to the east, shouting excitedly as he ran: "Lord Davers is here!" He's coming! ”

Dracos immediately shouted, "Ready! ”

The officers began to arrange their uniforms, and the military trumpets and snare drums were also played.

After a while, the sound of neat footsteps came with the slight tremor of the ground, and a long column soon appeared in front of everyone: the person at the front of the column was dressed all over, leather sandals, bronze shin armor, and linen cuirass were no different from ordinary heavy infantry, only the helmet was different, it was not a heavy Corinthian helmet, but a new type of iron helmet, the crown was decorated with long red and purple feathers, very elegant, the front of the helmet was not protected, only the cheeks on both sides were protected by jaw guards, so the face could be seen clearly, wide forehead, thick eyebrows, The nose is straight, the chin is moderate, the eyes are not big but extremely energetic, the appearance seems young but not childish, and there is a majesty between Gu Pan. His steps are large and powerful, but not too fast, and he seems to be both energetic and steady......

This is Davers, the Archon of Ionia?! The curious Bessinians found the answer in the straight chests and reverent eyes of the Dionian generals and soldiers.

Davers came to Dracos with hundreds of pairs of focused eyes, and Dracos gave a clean military salute: "Lord Commander, all the soldiers of the Second Legion welcome you!" ”

Davers immediately returned the salute, and said half-jokingly, half-seriously, "Okay, Drax, you've put on a big scene!" When did you learn this too?! ”

Dracos looked at Adriankos with some embarrassment.

Davers understood, and said with a smile: "It's Adrianx's idea, it seems that the Isthmus Games are not in vain." However, such rituals should be done after the war is over, and everything should be kept simple during the war. ”

If someone else spoke like that, Adrianx would think that it was revealing his scars, and there would definitely be resentment in his heart. But for Davers's words, he thought carefully and accepted them: "My lord, you are right! The war is not over yet, we must take it seriously! ”

Davers smiled heartily and stepped forward to give Adrianx a warm hug: "I was shocked when I got the news on the way, Adrian, you only used 700 men to capture Bissinia City, what a bold and decisive action!" Terrific! Terrific! You and your first team can get a star of their own! And the people of Dionya will be happy to tell the story of your victory! ”

This was exactly what Adriankos was happy to hear, and he felt nothing in his heart, and he was so happy that he didn't know how to respond.

Davers, on the other hand, gave a solemn military salute to Dracos and said in a deep voice: "The Second Legion not only successfully captured Bissinia this time, but also successfully held it, making the first contribution to our next conquest of Bruti!" On behalf of Dionia, Dracos, I thank you and your brothers of the Second Legion for your contributions and sacrifices to the Alliance! ”