Seeing this, Magus immediately shouted: "Obey the order, don't attack indiscriminately!" ”

"Don't shoot arrows!! Don't shoot arrows......" The herald ran along the aisle of the city wall, rushing as he conveyed Magus's order.

In Magus's opinion, the front line of the Dionian siege force was originally heavy infantry, and the threat of arrows to them was minimal, not to mention the fact that there were planks on their heads, so why waste arrows and consume the strength of the soldiers when they could hardly achieve any results.

The Dionian soldiers had already reached the trench, which was only more than 20 meters from the city wall, and they lowered the planks on their heads and placed them on the ground in front of the trench.

At this moment, Magus gave the order to attack and was the first to throw a javelin, so the Roman soldiers who had already prepared shot javelins and arrows at the enemy not far from the city.

As soon as the Dionian soldiers put down the planks, they immediately pulled out their legs and ran back, causing most of the long-range attacks to fail.

As the heavy infantry ran back, they approached the city walls in a strange formation in the distance.

"Tortoiseshell formation?!" There was a commotion among the Roman soldiers at the head of the city, and the most practical tactics of siege in the past ten years since the reform of the Roman army actually appeared in the enemy's formation, although they had heard the citizens who had fought with the Dionians say that 'Dionia's tactics were very similar to the Romans', but when it actually appeared in front of Magus and the Roman soldiers, they still felt a palpitation.

When these Dionian hoplites came to the long plank, they quickly dispersed the tortoiseshell formation, and then quickly formed a row of shield walls diagonally towards the head of the city, and their movements were so fast that they had undergone countless trainings, so that the Roman soldiers at the head of the city had completed the array transformation before they could react.

Then seven or eight unarmored Dionian soldiers squatted on the ground, shouted slogans together, and pushed one end of the plank together to push the plank through the five-meter-wide trench, so that the other end of the plank was placed on the other side of the trench to form a simple wooden bridge.

How could the Roman soldiers let them succeed easily, the rain of arrows and javelins poured down and hit the shield array, "ding bang bang" non-stop, occasionally javelins piercing the long shield, stabbing the soldier's arm, or arrows passing through the shield gap, injuring the soldier's unprotected thigh, but they still endured the pain and maintained the integrity of the shield array.

Soon, more than two dozen wooden bridges were erected over the trench, and the Dionian soldiers supported their wounded teammates and began to retreat, quickly completing the transformation of the shield formation into a tortoiseshell formation in the retreat.

The enemy's skillful formation switching ability can always maintain the stability of the shield formation in the face of strong long-range attacks, retreat quickly, and take care of the wounded...... This is definitely an extremely well-trained and battle-experienced team! Magus knew he had a fierce enemy, but at the moment he didn't have time to panic: "Launch rockets and burn those wooden bridges!" He pointed to the planks on the ditches under the city and gave an order.

The auxiliaries immediately wrapped the arrows in strips of tar cloth and handed them to the archers.

The Dionian soldiers under the city were retreating, but more soldiers formed a larger tortoiseshell formation and advanced towards the city walls, and behind these tortoiseshell formations were followed nearly a thousand unarmored soldiers, some with bows on their shoulders, they lined up in a looser array, and they were about to enter the range of bows and arrows.

"It's the light infantry of Dionia!" The Roman squadron commanders at the head of the city quickly made a judgment and decided to give them a head-on blow to prevent them from coming to the city and posing a threat to the defenders of the city.

While the Roman soldiers pointed their bows and arrows at them, the Dionian light infantry stopped 150 meters away.

Marcus saw some of the Dionian light infantry flailing their arms constantly, and for a moment he was a little puzzled. Soon he saw countless black dots whizzing in, most of them smashing against the walls below the Roman soldiers, "crackling" with a chaotic sound.

"Ahh A soldier not far from Magus suddenly screamed and fell to the ground, only to see blood flowing from his eyebrow.

The soldiers picked up the culprit and handed it to Magus.

This is a black lead pellet that is a little smaller than an egg. Magus rubbed it with his hand, and it was still a little heavy.

Slingers! This is what Camillus called the slingers of Dionia! Magus suddenly remembered Camillus's report of war in the Senate.

That's right, this is the Rhodes slingers, the characteristic of the First Legion, and the only one of the best remaining in the entire Dionian army, after the first throw they corrected according to the landing point, so when they swung the slings again and threw the lead shots out, this time the throw was obviously much more accurate, and most of the lead shots fell on the city.

The Roman soldiers hurriedly held their shields above their heads, while the archers had no armor and could only dodge to the side of the heavy infantry, and there was a panic on the section of the wall where Magus was located.

At this moment, Dionia's tortoiseshell formation had reached the wooden bridge, and they quickly unfolded, revealing two ladders hidden in the array, and each six soldiers carried the ladders up to 20 meters long, quickly rushing across the wooden bridge and rushing to the city wall in front.

The heavy infantry, armed with swords and shields, followed closely behind and also crossed the trench.

The Roman soldiers at the head of the city did not care to dodge the incoming lead pellets, and began to throw javelins and arrows down.

Under such a fierce attack, the Dionian heavy infantry began to suffer casualties, but at this time they did not care to help their comrades, the soldier carrying the ladder fell, and the soldier closest to him immediately put down his sword and shield, and stepped forward to take over, so that the ladder held high by the soldiers quickly leaned against the city wall, and then quickly pulled the ladder diagonally downward, and the sharp foot of the ladder pierced into the soil, and the curved iron hook tied at the top hooked the battlements, and there were soldiers on both sides to support it, and the ladder stood quite steadily.

The Dionian hoplites held their long shields above their heads with their left hands and climbed up with ladders with their right hands.

And the Roman young soldiers began to play a role, some threw stones and wood, some poured thin oil and torches, some brought freshly boiled water and poured it down, and some slashed the junction of the ladder and the iron hook with their swords......

The light infantry of the 1st Dionian Legion also rushed to the city, throwing arrows and javelins at the city, and the Roman soldiers who attacked downwards but exposed their bodies outside the battlements became the main targets......

"The brothers did a good job, and they have attacked the city very safely without suffering much damage!" Amintas had already come to the rear of the slingers, less than two hundred meters from the city wall, so that it would be easy to observe the battle and to command, and he was still very satisfied with the progress of the siege so far, so he said to Printors, who was beside him: "This is all thanks to you! ”

Davers feared that Amintas, who was attacking the city alone, would be too risky and would cause the First Legion to suffer too heavy losses, so he sent Printors, precisely because they were happy to work together.

Printors said modestly: "The main thing is that the First Legion led by you, Commander of the Legion, is well-trained!" ”

"Yes, the First Legion has the strongest combat effectiveness! And the reserve soldiers that were replenished before did not disgrace the citizens of Turiyi, and they were no worse than the veterans! It's a pity that His Majesty didn't put siege towers, siege vehicles, and ballistae...... Leave these siege weapons to our First Legion, otherwise the enemies in the city will suffer even more! Amintas grumbled loudly.

Printors did not answer, and when he came, Davers had already warned him: this time the First Army was acting as an auxiliary attacker, and the First Army had fought many battles before, and the losses were not small, and this time the siege did not have to exert all its strength, in order to prepare for the later battles.

As the under-chief of staff, Printors actually understood in his heart: His Majesty Davers still had a consideration in his heart that he did not say, that he could not always let the First Army serve as the main force and make meritorious contributions in battle, but also that other legions should have the opportunity to make meritorious contributions in battle, which was not only a balance, but also conducive to tempering the combat effectiveness of other legions and improving the overall combat effectiveness of the Dionian army.

"However, even without those siege engines, our First Legion can still break through the city of Rome before the other legions!" Amintas was full of pride and said confidently: "Printors, in half an hour, I will send the remaining three brigades to put more pressure on the Romans!" ”

Printors was taken aback, and hurriedly persuaded him tactfully: "Commander, the siege has just begun, should we first observe the enemy's defense situation before making a decision?" And whether Rome's allies will come to the aid is still uncertain, we must always pay attention to the return of the scouts, so these three brigades as reserves, it is best not to move lightly for the time being! ”

Amintas's eyes widened, and he was about to have a seizure, but he quickly held back again, he could be in the Dionian army for so many years, and his mind was much more delicate than his superficial roughness: before the Great War, His Majesty Davers sent Pryntors to the First Legion, why did he come? Then he said these words, wasn't it His Majesty's instructions?

Amintas suddenly didn't want to speak, but just crossed his hands on his hips and kept his eyes on the battle in front of him, not looking at Printors again.

…………………………………

Scipio the Great stood in the middle of the southern wall, which was the closest point to the center of Rome, and since the left and right sides of the wall were close to the mountains of Esquiri and Silio, even if the Dionians broke through those two sections of the wall, it would not be possible to advance quickly into the city due to the obstruction of the hills behind, so this would be the focus of the Dionian attack.

Scipio the Great felt that his judgment was correct, because when he heard the trumpet sounding from the enemy camp outside the city, he saw many enemy soldiers pouring out of the camp and began to line up, but then he did not see the Dionian soldiers approaching the city wall, but the rectangular wooden vans were no longer led by the beasts, lined up in a column, and rolled towards the city wall automatically......