As for the rumor that "Dionya also has a ballista", he doesn't quite believe it, Lockrie, which has been established for hundreds of years, has not been able to create such an amazingly powerful siege weapon, how can the Dionian Alliance, which has only been in existence for less than six years, have it! (The 4th Legion of Dionyas attacked Knappetia with ballistas, and not many people know about it due to its remote location.) The Trina knew about it, but at the request of the Dionians, they did their best to keep it a secret.)

"Closer! Come closer! ......" Diopantos excitedly urged the Syracuse to move their ballistas forward, and the whole army moved forward. He wants to make the ballista bombardment more accurate, and he wants to smash the walls that the Ionians have worked so hard to build, so that they have nowhere to hide! He wanted to watch them hide in panic under the blows of stone bullets, or be forced to leave the camp and come out to meet them.

Although Dionysius gave Faspezas and his order to contain the Dionian army in Coronia, if there was a good opportunity, Diopantos certainly did not mind defeating them, breaking the record of the Dionian army that had not yet been defeated in Greater Greece, and gaining greater glory for himself.

Watching the Syracuse gunners in front of him put the heavy stone projectiles into the barrel again, Diopantus looked at the camp of Dioonia with anticipation, and then he was surprised to see ten small black dots flying out of the enemy camp and falling into the Lockley array in an instant......

"Ballista!!" Diopantos' soul was in full swing, and with his exclamation, there were countless screams in the ranks.

Because the stone bullet is smashed in a larger arc, in fact, the lethality is not great, but the effect is too amazing, the hand is broken, the leg is broken, the head is flat, if the round shield is used to block, the shield is broken. Such a tragic scene, how could it not make the surrounding Lockrie soldiers, who had never experienced a ballista hit, frightened, and their morale suddenly dropped by half.

While the team was panicking, the second wave of stone bullets from Dionya came again, and the Lockley soldiers fled in panic, and the whole formation became chaotic.

"Retreat! Hurry back!! The stone projectiles kept falling, and one of them landed near Diopantos, so frightened that he ignored the Syracuse ballista in front of him, and hurriedly gave the order.

But when the retreating trumpet sounded, the east, west, and south gates of the western camp of Dionya suddenly opened at the same time, and the soldiers who had been prepared for a long time poured out quickly and orderly. The cavalry charge was in front, followed by light infantry, light armor, and finally heavy infantry, and although they were destined to not be able to catch up with the fleeing enemy, they could hold the forward troops in formation to prevent a counterattack.

The Lockrie army, which had been demoralized and fragmented by the continuous bombardment of stone shells, was retreating in a chaotic manner, and seeing the whole army of Dionia, a black oppressive piece (because of the color of the weapons and equipment), rushed towards them with great momentum, even if Diopantos had the heart to fight back, he had lost control of the army, and the soldiers had no courage to fight, and rushed to run back.

Sobkos led the cavalry, believing in revenge for his comrades, to catch up with the enemy from the outside.

The Dionian cavalry also did not use spears, but drove their horses straight into the air, making the already scattered rout even more scattered, making it impossible to regroup. When the thousand cavalry were crushed for a while, the horses themselves instinctively slowed down, and Soberkos saw that the rout in front of him was gradually thinning, so he decisively raised his spear and kept drawing circles in the air.

"Drive them east!" Sobkos shouted. Under his command, the cavalry began to separate to the left and right, pulled out an arc, and began to drive the rout to the east, and the light infantry and light armored soldiers also cooperated with the cavalry's actions.

Most of Lockrie's routs were like headless flies, deliberately driven by the Dionian soldiers, unable to distinguish between east and west, and only fled for their lives in the direction of least stress.

At this time, the Syracuse troops outside the eastern camp were also bombarded by Dioonian ballistas in an unguarded situation, but the experienced Syracuse people did not panic, quickly stabilized their position, retreated a distance, and began to return fire with ballistas, the two sides were in a state of confrontation, and the rout of Lockley rushed towards the tide, which immediately disrupted the left flank of the Syracuses.

How could Dracos, who was in the camp, let go of this great opportunity and immediately ordered: the whole army attacked!

The soldiers of the Fifth Legion quickly rushed out of the camp gates.

Seeing that the situation was not good, Fasipesas decisively ordered: retreat.

The Syracuse army quickly retreated, while trying to maintain a fairly uniform line, brutally squeezing the scattered Lockry rout behind.

The Dionian cavalry and the 4th men pursued for five or six miles, until the enemy cavalry of the brigade met them, and Epitenes ordered the troops to be collected and returned to the camp, for he was impressed by the fierce cavalry of Syracuse, and feared the loss of the exhausted and scattered soldiers. In fact, the Syracuse cavalry and mercenary cavalry had already gone to Hibernian with Dionysius, and it was only the Lockley cavalry that appeared here.

And the Fifth Legion, without the help of cavalry, under the supervision of Dracos, pursued until the most runner-friendly light armoured soldiers were weak on their feet, and then sounded the horn to withdraw their troops.

On the way back to the city, Diopantos, who had lost his armor, met Fasipesas, who was in a bad mood after losing the first battle, and was angrily scolded by him......

This was the first time that the Dionian ballista had been used in a field battle, and it caught the unsuspecting Silo coalition by surprise. The ballistas themselves killed and wounded only a few dozen people, but they caused panic in Lockley's army and created the conditions for a surprise attack by the Fourth Legion of Dionia, which in turn and the subsequent experienced drive of the rout caused the great rout of the Sithro coalition.

In this battle, the Silo coalition army suffered more than 1,000 casualties, including more than 500 prisoners, mainly Lokrie soldiers, and it was also a big victory for the troops of the southern front of Dionia.

……………………………

Receiving an urgent call for help from Trina late at night, Assistes was taken aback.

Arcistes was able to become the acting administrator of Knappetia, in fact, Davers was originally able to fight for the Senate on the grounds that Arcistes had rich administrative experience in the mountains of Lucania and rich military experience, and was suitable to serve as the administrator of Knappetia - the manager of the southern border city of Dionya on the grounds that the majority of Brutites were Ionians, and because he was not a senator, he could only serve as acting administrator, but with the experience of serving as the city administrator, The foundation was laid for Arcistes to be elected to the Senate next year.

After Asistes took office, he used the experience he learned in the Lucania area to effectively alleviate the ethnic contradictions between the Bruti and the new Greeks in the city of Knappetia, and took advantage of the geographical location of Knappetia to vigorously develop trade with Trina and other southern Italian allies, improving the living conditions of the originally poor Knappetia, making the political situation in Knappetia stable in recent years and living up to Davers's expectations.

At this time, the news that "the people of Syracuse are approaching Trina in such a short time" made his heart very uneasy. He was more familiar with the battle plan of the South Italy Alliance: Trina, Crotone, and Sirittin worked together to defend the West Coast Pass, prevent the Syracuse army from invading the territory of the South Italy Alliance, and buy time for the full force of Dionia's main force to rush back.

Originally, Assistes estimated in his mind that the total number of citizen soldiers in the three city-states of Crotone, Siritin, and Trina was more than 30,000, and with the natural barrier of the Ramato River, which is wide and deep, it should not be a big problem to hold it for more than ten or twenty days. And once the use of troops is tight in the later stage, the reserve soldiers of the entire Bruti area can also help in time.

But he did not expect the Syracuse to come so quickly, far beyond the rate at which the armies of most Greek city-states were mobilized, assembled, and marched. Of course, the army of Syracuse had already been mobilized and assembled, but to be able to make such a large army complete the landing and march to Trina in three days is enough to show the full preparation and determination of the Sicilian dictator Dionysius for this war!

Sending troops to help? The reason why Assistes hesitated was because Davers himself wrote him a letter a few days ago, in which he repeatedly reminded him that to strengthen the city's defenses, strengthen the defenses, and once the Syracuse broke through the defense, he must do everything possible to hold Knappetia and not let the Syracuse step into Bruti territory!

But Trina has a close relationship with Dionia! Not to mention their staunch support for Dioonia in the Southern Italian League, and because of their close proximity and frequent trade exchanges, the two cities of Knapetia and Trina got along very well. If you don't save yourself in the event of death, I am afraid that it will destroy the good impression of the Trina people towards Dionia, and it will also destroy the good business that the Dionian Alliance has established in Greater Greece through the efforts of the Dionian Alliance over the past few years!

After thinking about it, Arsistes finally made up his mind.

He made a promise to Trina's emissary: Hades is on top, and he will personally lead the reinforcements of Knappetia to Trina early tomorrow morning!

After sending off the grateful messenger, Assistes decided to write a letter to Shiros, who had just become governor of Cosenza, informing him of the new movements of the Syracuse army and his concerns, and asking him for help. He is confident that the former captain of Davers will make the right choice!

After writing it, he asked his henchmen to set off immediately with the letters, and hurried to Cosenza in the starry night. Then, he called the patrol captain who had just fallen asleep, and told him to inform the reservists of the Fifth Legion to assemble in the square early tomorrow morning.

After doing this, Assistes returned to his bedroom, exhausted.

His wife, Tina, had not yet slept, and seeing that her husband was preoccupied, she asked in Greek with concern, "What happened?" ”