174.The Battle of Toledo (I)

In the Battle of Creek Island, Agrippa was defeated, and Antony could land from Italy at any time, so Octavian urgently convened a temporary military conference to deploy defense tasks in various places. Pen × fun × Pavilion www. biquge。 info The whole of Italy, once again, has entered a state of intense readiness.

In the far west, Apis was in a position to wreak havoc on Octavian's towns in Spain with the Spanish Crook tribe, while enthusiastically building apartments and infrastructure for the local population wherever his army passed. "Don't be afraid, fellow, we are here to save you and protect you." This was Appis's slogan to these Spanish refugees. Sometimes, even little Crassus thinks that his partner is doing things too badly.

Appis, on the other hand, relied on this disgraceful means to subdue the local people along the way, not only helping the suffering citizens to build clean apartments, but also paving roads from these areas to nearby Spanish cities, and building elevated drinking bridges to allow clean water to flow into the town squares. The necessary public infrastructure, including a theater and a bathhouse, was built. The series of measures was very popular with the people, because almost all of the works were built by Appis out of his own pocket.

Of course, the purpose of these things was not simply to gain the hearts and minds of the people, such as repairing the road network. Ostensibly to improve transportation, facilitate trade, and increase the income of the local population. In fact, the deeper purpose was to connect the conquered regions with the cities under his rule, so as to facilitate the mobilization of troops. In the event of a war or riot, your legions can rush to various places in time through these repaired roads.

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A month later, the Romans could no longer endure Apis's actions, and Octavian ordered General Certolius, who was stationed in North Africa, to lead all the legions in his camp north to meet the enemy. Towns along the Carthaginian and African coasts were left with only a handful of city guards to maintain law and order.

At the same time, Appis also accelerated the total conquest of Spain.

In front of you is an ancient giant castle in the Spanish province of Toledo. This is a magnificent mountain city, and the terrain is extremely dangerous, the Tagus River flows through the east, south and west sides of the castle, only the north can launch a strong attack, however, the direct assault on the castle, the road is also extremely tortuous, because the castle is built on high ground, the siege road slope is very large, and it is a back attack, as long as the soldiers in the city defend it, no matter how many soldiers can conquer it.

From a distance, the residential buildings, towers, and fortresses in the mountain city are stacked on top of each other, and Apis took a cursory look and felt that the castle was surrounded by at least two walls, and there was probably a last high wall at the top. It can be said that it is completely a military station, and there are not many resources to plunder. But the peculiarities of the location made it necessary for Apis to capture it, as the castle controlled the river Tagus and the vast valley in front of it.

You must know that in ancient times, when transportation was not developed, the value of river and sea transportation was far better than that of land transportation. Ships can go down the river and transport a large amount of grain and supplies to the regiments fighting on the front line, while by land, there must be good roads, and the carriages can walk smoothly, the key is that on the road, the livestock and soldiers who transport grain need to eat, which is to exacerbate the consumption of food during transportation, and a ship can carry a large amount of grain without too much carrying livestock and soldiers.

Therefore, in order to deal with Settorius's North African legion, Appis must ensure the smooth flow of his logistics and supplies before the outbreak of the Great War.

The siege of the castle would take at least half a year, and it was clear that Appis and the generals knew that they did not have that time.

"It's a tricky question. Appis, the topography of this hill makes it impossible for our siege weapons to reach the door. No matter how many machines are built, the range will not be that far. ”

Crane retreated before he could attack the city, not only as the most difficult town he had ever encountered, but also one of the most difficult bunkers to defend and impregnable for Appis to encounter. Toledo is located on a hill high in front of a large gentle slope, and siege weapons including catapults also have a certain range, they cannot shoot too far, otherwise weapons such as cannonstones and heavy javelins will not be able to be thrown into the city, and the catapults are too far away from the castle, and the power of firing cannons will be much reduced.

However, if you set up siege weapons on a gentle slope, you will also face the attack of long-range weapons in the castle. You know, condescending not only has a good view, but the range of ballistas and bows will be greatly enhanced. Therefore, Klein's talk about the difficulty of the siege is not groundless.

All officers, including the centurion, knew the difficulty of this siege campaign.

"Siege Trail."

This is the only method that Appis hears these days that feels feasible and practical.

After surveying, the engineering team found that there was only one ridge on the outskirts of the castle that was suitable for the construction of the siege trail. Their opinion was that, first, steps were dug into the ridge, and then large timber beams were used to nail the dug steps, and the gaps between the beams were filled with gravel. Completion of the main support structure. Finally, on the surface of the gravel, the earth is used to make a complete siege passage, so that the flat and solid ground can support the advance of large siege weapons, and finally push to the city gate. Send soldiers to the city walls.

Of course, during the construction process, both the engineering team and Apis expected that the enemy would drop arrows and javelins from the castle to hinder the progress of the project. The opinion of the commander of the engineering corps was that while laying siege trails, small ballistas should be erected to counterattack the defending troops. Cover the construction of the engineering team.

After much deliberation, Appis finally approved the plan. As soon as the decision was made, the soldiers of the Eighth Legion took off their armor and cut down trees in a sweat outside the range of the castle towers. Within a few days, the forest outside Caledo had been cut down and a large amount of timber had been transported to the front line in preparation for construction.

In the following days, the siege trail and siege equipment were constructed simultaneously. Just as the Engineer Commander and Apis had predicted, halfway through the construction of the trail, the defenders of Caledo began to fight back, as the trail had been built within range of their weapons. A large number of javelins and arrows were thrown, and Appis ordered Klein to lead the elite soldiers of the Seventh Legion to form a "tortoiseshell formation" and slowly ascend the trail to cover the engineers to erect a temporary wooden wall. Wild donkey cannons were erected behind these wooden walls to counter the defenders of the city.