260 BC. spring

West

On the day the fleet went to sea, the sun was shining, the sky was clear, and the sea was calm. Aloyos looked at the spectacular scene of the harbor and couldn't help but feel emotional.

"It seems that it is right to leave home and come out to see the world."

He thought to himself smugly.

The soldiers of the two legions stood in the harbor, and the queues boarded the ships one after another in an orderly manner, and the war horses meekly lined up to board the ships. There were countless warships and transports in the harbor, and the large fleet formed was magnificent, and it was spread out in the harbor. It is really a kind of pride of fish flying shallow bottom and hundreds of boats competing for swimming.

Aloyos was young and sharp, and after watching for a while, he boarded his flagship.

Antigone was reluctant to get on the ship, and he didn't know why he was so nostalgic for his homeland at this moment.

The king looked back at the mountains in the distance, as if the end of the mountain was his home. Seeing that the large army had already boarded the ship, he no longer looked forward to it, and resolutely boarded the flagship.

When all the troops and the first batch of supplies were loaded, Captain Phillips ordered the ship to be lifted at anchor.

The expeditionary force embarks on a westward march. The people on and off the boat waved goodbye. The departure point of the trip is the port of Apollonia and the landing point is the Apurian coast of the Roman Brutus family. These two points were Macedonia's closest journey to Rome by sea, and the effect of the raid was probably the most obvious.

The fleet had a smooth journey and reached the shores of Apria safely. Aloyos disembarked with the first landing soldiers.

The Macedonian regiment immediately landed ashore and assembled its troops, and the scouts immediately dispersed to reconnoiter the surrounding situation.

When the Brutus sentinels saw the enemy, they immediately returned to the city. At present, the troops stationed here are simply not enough to make up a full army.

The current leader of the faction, Olus Brutus, was half chilled when he heard the news, and he had a premonition that the family's business would collapse in the middle of the road. Aulus pondered whether to defend the city or flee with his possessions. He became hesitant. However, he still subconsciously sent messengers to the Senate to move rescue troops.

In the end, Aulus decided to lock down the city and hold on to the city of Tarentum for reinforcements.

Aegeses, a veteran Macedonian spy who had been lurking in the city, heard that he was going to hold out behind closed doors, and realized that it was almost the Macedonian army that had entered him, so he sneaked out of the city in advance into the trading convoy. After leaving the city, he managed to rush to the east coast to find out.

The Macedonian expeditionary corps was soon assembled. Led by Kings Antigone and Aloyos, march towards Tarentum.

On the way, I happened to run into Egises. Aloyos recognized him and immediately asked him to come near and inquire about the situation in Rome Brutus himself. Veteran spies confirmed that there were no reinforcements in either city, as he expected. Overjoyed, Aloyos immediately ordered his troops to advance at full speed towards Tarentum, the capital of Brutus. The large army soon arrived outside the city, and Aloyos observed the enemy.

Tarentum already has the scale of a large city, with intricate buildings and wide, unobstructed roads. It's just that such a big city has only tall wooden walls. In the distance, you can see the northern and western sections of the city, where stone walls are being built. Ah, the timing was just right.

Aloyos looked at the bright sun, his eyes full of light. You can get down to this city today.

Legions stand in siege sequence.

Aloyos ordered the siege of the city.

This time they brought ballistas for siege purposes, saving time in making siege vehicles on site.

The ballista was the inspiration for the Greek Dionysus when he was forced into the face of the powerful Carthaginian threat of force. It is the result of mechanical research - the principle of torsion spring, using the torsion force generated by two tense bundles of horsehair, leather rope or animal tendons as the driving force, driving the crossbow arm to drive the bowstring to throw projectiles or arrows. Ballistas are powerful. The ballistae carried by the Macedonian army performed well and was able to carry a stone projectile weighing 300 yards away.

The ballista easily smashed open the city gate, and then hit the hard wooden walls on both sides of the gate continuously, and after a while, the entire southern city wall was smashed into N gaps. With ammunition still in surplus, the engineers fired rockets or stones from their ballistas to fire at the defenders of the city.

At this time, Macedonian archers and Cretan archers stood up and shot arrows at the defenders of the city. The archers in the city were overwhelmed and were wiped out after a few rounds of fire. The Roman army was beaten and hid behind the buildings in the streets, and took refuge everywhere.

After the arrows were prepared, the besieging troops swarmed in.

After resting, the Macedonian soldiers were very strong, and they regained the bloody feeling of killing the enemy on the battlefield. Therefore, the siege was fierce.

The battle broke out at the first street entrance, with Macedonian pikemen taking on Roman hoplites. The Roman youth then rushed to help, clinging to their rectangular shields and approaching the enemy with a line of spears. The Macedonian phalanx stabbed these people who wanted to get closer, and for a moment the guns collided with the shields and clanged.

The Roman light cavalry also rushed out, and they came forward directly from the rear of the infantry, and although they increased the thrust, they disrupted the line of their own infantry.

The Macedonian light cavalry saw that the friendly infantry line had been broken through, and hurriedly went up to fill the position. The troops on the other side of the city came up from the rear in time, and the two sides worked together to clean up the Roman soldiers. The Macedonians were superior in numbers and had a strong fighting ability among their soldiers.

Throughout the war, after the fierce battle on the Greek coast, the Roman army was seriously understaffed. Now, even when fighting on their own soil, they have not yet recovered.

Many of the defenders were temporarily recruited, including the elderly and teenage children. And the Macedonian army is all experienced veterans who have fought all over the mountains, as well as elite troops.

There is already a huge disparity in the strength of the two armies.

The defenders of Roman Brutus resisted with all their might, but could not stop the advance of the Macedonian army.

After entering the city, Aloyos led all the siege soldiers all the way through the thorns and thorns, and fought non-stop from the edge of the city into the central square of the city.

Seeing that the tide was turning, Aulus drew his sword and killed himself. The soldiers panicked and surrendered one after another.

Macedonia proclaimed the capture of the capital of Brutus, Tarentum.

Aloyos harbored a sense of revenge. Many of his former good soldiers and several capable generals died in the Brutus War. He lamented the loss of his good comrade-in-arms and wanted to slaughter the city. Antigone immediately stopped him, and instead tried to bring the local population back to a calm mood.

When the king inspected the city in the streets, he found that most of the inhabitants were pale with hunger, and their eyes were full of fear and uneasiness. When Antigone returned to the governor's residence, he ordered the distribution of household goods to pacify the people. Of course, the great nobles and wealthy merchants in the city were not happy.

The people of the neighbouring city of Croton were disappointed at first and then panicked when they heard the news of the occupation of the capital. The Brutus family's army guarding the homeland was in Tarentum, and now the capital was broken and the army was gone.

The city of Croton is economically deflated, the society is in turmoil, and the rich don't care if the poor live or die. In any case, they were no longer able to resist the attack of the two Macedonian regiments in front of them. The people of the city were terrified, and the air was filled with terror.

Antigone sent messengers to Croton and sent several of the citizens of Tarentum with him. He wanted to bring Croton to life.

The citizens of the city felt that it was pointless to insist, and the Senate cared only for themselves, waiting for help in the long run. The county guard of Croton is still hesitating, and the hungry citizens of the city have begun to riot. There was nothing the Governor could do, and he thought that instead of being killed by the mob, he might as well surrender.

In this way, the last city of Brutus' camp was captured by Macedonia, and the Brutus faction was destroyed.

The Roman Republic seemed to have fallen a wall, and other Roman cities also experienced varying degrees of restlessness and unrest.

The Macedonians held firm on the newly occupied city, which would become their forward stronghold.

One day at noon, Aloyos leisurely came to the seaside where he had logged in, and said with confidence:

"That looks like a good start."