Customs precede all laws, and nature prevails over all. Pen ~ fun ~ pavilion www.biquge.info

- Osonius (Roman poet)

Hasduba was originally the supreme commander of the defenders in Messina, and he certainly knew in his heart how effective the defenders were; However, he still had a lot of hopes for the 8,000 defenders, after all, there were nearly 1,000 veterans under Hannibal's command, and Hush Duba was willing to believe them.

In fact, Hush Douba's trust is clearly self-inflicted; Hannibal's nearly 1,000-strong veterans had already suffered heavy casualties in the face of the attacks of the Augustus family's catapults and ballistas. After all, the projectiles, crossbow arrows, and rocks that come from them don't recognize people, and their attacks are just touching and dying.

Although the veterans were more composed than the new recruits in dealing with such an attack; But that's also relative, when a stone hits, no matter who it is, it is impossible to escape death. Even though the death rate of veterans is much smaller than that of new recruits, there are still quite heavy casualties.

After being ravaged by the enemy's long-range attack, before the defenders could recover, the soldiers of the Samonai Legion led by Antio had already slaughtered the city walls. In the face of the well-equipped, well-trained, and powerful soldiers of the Samonai Legion, only the intact Hannibal veterans in the defenders can fight against them, and the other defenders cannot resist the attack of the Samoneh Legion at all!

Coupled with the bloodthirsty and belligerent commander of the Samonai Legion, the disparity in combat power between the two sides is even greater; As soon as Antio had climbed the walls, he began to take his short sword and pick up one of the defenders' shields, and slaughtered them on the walls. All the defenders who approached Antio, both Hannibal veterans and recruits, were killed one by one, and were unable to fight back.

When the Huskiduba chose to abandon the attack on the flank of the Augustan army, Antio led the Samonai army to stabilize the situation on the city walls; The defenders on the walls had been divided into several battle groups that could not follow each other, but the soldiers of the Samonai Legion continued to climb the walls.

In fact, as early as after the Augustan army attacked the city walls with ballistas and stone crossbows, the defenders on the walls suffered at least 2,000 casualties; While the actual number of people killed may not be many, it is even more difficult to recover those who have been wounded and lost their combat effectiveness. Because these people not only lost their combat effectiveness, but also became a burden to the defenders.

In fact, by the time Antio led his army to attack the walls of Messina, there were just over 5,000 of the 8,000 defenders on the walls; Among the more than 5,000 defenders, the number of Hannibal veterans was less than 300! And the Samonai Legion under the command of Antio, after several battle losses and dispatch to stay behind, still have nearly 7,000 remaining troops, and still have an absolute advantage!

Therefore, from the very beginning of the climb to the wall, the Samonai legion and the defenders fell into a fierce battle on a par with each other; However, as a large number of Hannibal veterans who fought desperately to boost morale died, and more and more soldiers and soldiers climbed the city wall with the Samonai army, the defenders on the city wall could not support it, and the defense line on the city wall became full of dissatisfaction.

When the Huskidubas discovered the state of battle on the walls, they did not immediately return to Messina with their cavalry; After all, the cavalry under his command could not play any role in the defense of the city wall. If the cavalry were forcibly brought back to Messina, then the 4,000 cavalry would be at risk of being wiped out in Messina by the Augustan army, and the Huskiddúba would not have been able to take the risk.

Therefore, Hushduba led his 4,000 cavalry outside the city to watch the battle on the city wall, hoping that the defenders on the city wall could successfully repel the attack of the army of the House of Augustus; In this way, Huskiduba can confidently and boldly lead the cavalry to carry out a surprise attack when the Augustus army retreats!

Unfortunately, the development of the situation on the battlefield is always impossible to change according to everyone's wishes; From the very beginning, the outcome of the battle was already impossible to reverse, and how could a defender who was poorly trained and poorly armed be well-trained. And what about the opponents of the well-armed Samonai Legion?

The Hush Duba had only waited for less than twenty minutes near the city walls before the results of the battle had already been made; After paying nearly 500 casualties, the soldiers of Samonay's army finally routed the defenders on the city walls. The defenders, all surrounded by the Samoneh legion, had no choice but to surrender after the death and wounding of Hannibal's veterans.

The defenders on the walls surrendered, and the whole city of Messina changed hands; Antio immediately ordered his men to divide into four parts, the first part of which remained behind the walls and guarded the prisoners, while the remaining three parts immediately rushed to the other three walls and took control of the entire wall of Messina.

When the banner of the House of Augustus was raised from the city of Messina, the Huskidubas did not hesitate any longer, and immediately led his four thousand cavalry and quickly retreated in the direction of Lower Sicilya. For the distant Husdhuba, Oscar not only did not order the pursuit, but instead loosened a stone in his heart.

In fact, three days before the attack on Messina, Oscar received urgent information from the Dead of Sorrow again; It turned out that Hannibal had already boarded and set off from the port of Baisasian with 24,000 infantry, and in five days at most, Hannibal's army would arrive in Lower Sicilya!

This kind of information is really burning eyebrows for Oscar, you know, in five days, the second landing force of the Augustus family will not have time to reach the port of Upper Sicilya. Although it took enough time for Hannibal to lead his army to Upper Sicilia after the landing, the army of the House of Augustus also needed more than ten days after the landing to reach Messina!

In comparison, if the Augustans could not take Messina and the entire province of Upper Sicilia as soon as possible, then the first landing force led by Oscar himself could face a strong attack by Hannibal's army of more than 50,000 on his own. This is also the reason why Oscar is reluctant to confront the Husdouba's cavalry, and Oscar is really unwilling to lose his forces at such a critical juncture.

Otherwise, once Hannibal himself led the army to attack, what would the Augustus family use to hold on to Messina and wait for reinforcements? Therefore, after Husky Duba chose to lead four thousand cavalry away, Oscar's heart was still relieved; Perhaps, such a result is already the best result for the Augustan family.

After Antio's Samonai legion took control of the city of Messina, Oscar entered the city with his guards and cavalry; However, the First Army led by Luquis could not enter the city until all the temporary barracks were dismantled, while Raqqa led the First Auxiliary Army to act with the First Army.

When Oscar entered the city of Messina, the first thing he saw was the devastated traces of war near the city walls; Although the battle only broke out on the city walls, the weapons used by the Augustus family before attacked and destroyed all the houses near the city walls.

Starting from the city wall, it has been extended to the city for nearly 100 meters, all of which are traces left by the war; But further inside, they are all safe and sound. In particular, the Governor's Palace, which stood tall and majestic in the middle of the city, was not damaged in the slightest!

Oscar believed that if Hushduba knew that Messina's defenders would be defeated and lose the city, he would have burned down the Doge's palace in the city, if nothing else; Otherwise, it will be left to the enemy in vain, isn't that the enemy? Soon, Oscar found himself overthinking; After coming to the barracks of the original Husky Duba cavalry, Oscar understood what a real enemy was!

The barracks of the Huskid Duba cavalry were the barracks of the occupying army left by Hannibal when he occupied Upper Sicilya, and it was also a place where he temporarily placed grain, grass, supplies and booty; Later, Hannibal hurried back to Carthage, leaving a lot of things in it, and the Husduba gathered here the grain and grass of the whole of Upper Sicilya, and the contents stored in it can be described as a mountain of piles.

Although those gold, silver and jewelry cannot be transformed into the hard power of the Augustan family in a short period of time, they can alleviate the financial crisis of the Augustan family, so that the Augustan family does not have to worry about money for the time being; War, in the final analysis, is fought by the comprehensive national strength of both sides, that is, the money bags on the belts of both sides.

Whether it is genuine gold, silver and jewelry, or a mountain of grain and grass materials, it is all in the money bag; With so many captures, this war of the Augustus family has already been profitable. Don't think that the phrase "ten thousand taels of gold" when the cannon goes off is a joke, the money consumed in the war is far from being imaginable by people who have not experienced it.

At the most basic level, every soldier must be paid no less than a little more during the war, and there must be no arrears in the slightest; In order to ensure the combat effectiveness of the army, the food of the soldiers should also be guaranteed as much as possible. There are also weapons and equipment to build and replenish, pensions for soldiers who die in battle, etc., these expenses can be described as astronomical!

Fortunately, the Augustans not only took Messina at a very small price, but also captured so much booty; These grains, grasses, gold, silver and jewelry, which were originally the wealth of the Scipio family and the entire Upper Sicilia, were plundered by Hannibal, but they did not expect to fall into the hands of the Augustus family in the end, which can be regarded as impermanence.

After the capture of Messina, there was no longer Hannibal's army in all of Upper Sicily; The other cities of Upper Sicilia were also surrendered by the forces of the House of Augustus. After nominally taking all of Upper Sicilya, Oscar summoned all the 100 men of the Samonai Legion, who had been sent to the city to stay in the city, into Messina; Oscar is here to wait for reinforcements to arrive! (To be continued.) )