“A few years ago, smoke rose from the top of Mount Etna…” Once Ladician noticed Antonios' fascination, he planned to tell the exciting story of Mount Etna's eruption that he saw with his own eyes, but Seclian shouted, “Naxosian, tell where I should land?!”
“Alright! Alright!” Ladician hurried to the bow.
This was the first ti Antonios would independently lead the army and the first ti they would land across the sea. So even after knowing the heavy burden on his shoulders, he feels nervous and excited, “n, don your armour, take up your shields and spears, we are about to land! Once we get ashore, don't stop and charge imdiately towards the city of Naxos! Conquer it as our loved ones await the news of our victory! The ti has co to give honours to the first legion and yourselves!…”
Antonios loudly cheered up the soldiers lying on the deck resting.
“Don't worry, legatus. Our brothers are already tired of staying on the ship these two days and were long eager to fight, so how can a city with only a wooden wall stop our attack?!” lisander responded loudly.
It was no coincidence that lisander was there. As Philesius' close comrade, Antonios doesn't mind giving so care to Philesius' adopted son, so he deliberately arranged for lisander's platoon unit to be assigned to the flagship.
“Kid, you should be careful not to fall into the sea when landing.” Antonios smiled and patted him on the shoulder.
The soldiers imdiately whistled and booed at their young platoon leader as lisander falling into the sea twice during the Battle of Crotone beca the soldier's discussion before and after als. Still, that did not deter his n from respecting their platoon leader. After all, lisander always fought bravely and led his n in battle, sharing weal and woe with the soldiers.
At this mont, lisander glared at them and said, “Whoever yells and screams again won't be able to play rugby the next ti we play!”
Yet lisander's threat made the soldiers boo even more.
Antonios could only shake his head helplessly at the soldiers' jokes. He then turned his attention to the land.
At this ti, the salpinx echoed in the fleet as Seclian's flagship led the way, turning to the left and approaching the bay.
In front is an arc-shaped bay with a white sand beach. And on the azure blue water were more than a dozen fishing boats, fishing with their nets on the calm sea.
But the tranquil picture was broken by the aggressive storming of the fleet.
At the sight of the fast-approaching behemoth – a trire, the fishern panicked and tried to steer their boats out of the way. However, they were simply too late as the bronze ram on the ship's bow easily split the fishing boat in two like a hot knife through butter…
It wasn't until they were almost close to the beach did the sailors stopped paddling, leaving the ship to rush to the beach through its inertia.
The soldiers imdiately put down the ladder and quickly went down to the beach, while so of the impatient soldiers simply threw their shields, spears and helts on the beach and jumped directly from the deck to the beach.
Soon, heavily ard Theonian soldiers filled the open beach.
“The enemy is coming! The enemy is coming!…” The fishern drying their fishing nets and handling their goods on the beach fled to the city in panic.
. . . . . . . . . . . . .
Before they boarded the ship on Rhegium, Antonios gathered the first legion's officers of all ranks for a eting. Hence the first legion’s soldiers did not form a unified group once they disembarked and directly marched towards Naxos under the leadership of their platoon leader and the guidance of the guides onboard the ships.
The current Naxos is no longer a city but a large town. Six or seven years ago, after Dionysius beca the tyrant of Syracuse, he began his military campaign to conquer the south-eastern corner and the east-central part of Sicily to build up his strength and fight back the Carthaginians, of which the only plain in Sicily – Catania Plain, beca the focus of his attack. Hence, after capturing the two city-states that resisted Syracuse the most – Catania and Naxos, he was determined to give them the harshest punishnt.
While Sikuri, another small city-state just 12 kilotres south of Naxos, was rewarded for its early surrender to Syracuse, with Dionysius giving them the land of Naxos for governance. Thus the Sikurians were overjoyed when they received the land of Naxos, which was larger and more fertile than their own. However, the tragic fate of the people of Naxos frightened them, so they tried to guess Dionysius' intention in destroying the city and razing its wall. As they did not dare to ask the tyrant directly, instead of restoring the old city of Naxos, they rebuilt it south to the northern bank of the Alcantara, a kilotre away from the ruins. However, rather than building a town with a stone wall, they made it a simple wooden wall for fear of displeasing Dionysius and nad the new town galos (which ans great).
The place where the first legion landed was the port of the forr Naxos, which has now disappeared. So once the soldiers were on the shore, they didn't have to run more than a few steps south before they could see a large area overgrown with weeds and piles of rocks.
Ladician stared at it blankly and shed tears: This was his forr ho – the city of Naxos!
“Ladician, don't stop! Run! We still need you to guide us!” lisander urged him.
Ladician followed quickly. Although he is over middle-aged, he still continued exercising and training, hoping he could be of use when he returns to his holand one day. Thus he thought he was in good shape, but he began to be unable to keep up with the Theonians after running for a while.
‘It's no wonder the Syracusans couldn't beat them! These soldiers could still run even when fully ard!!’ The amazed Ladician didn't know that one of the military training of the Theonian soldiers every five days was rapid marching while fully ard, which was different from the Olympic Gas' “Ard long-distance race”. The ard long-distance running was a competition in which the naked players only wore helts and round shields, while Theonia's ard march was truly fully ard. Thus if the Theonians could participate in the Olympic Gas, they could certainly compete with the Spartans, who always won the championships in the event of ard long-distance running.
“…that's…that's galos…” Said the panting Ladician as he pointed to the distant, faint outline of the town.
“Hmmm, follow us later.” lisander had no ti to wait for him and ordered the soldiers to move quickly in that direction
Although Antonios didn't say it clearly, each unit naturally competed according to the legion's tradition, ‘Let's see who gets to the enemy's town first?!’ ‘To see who attacked the enemy town first?!’
That's why the first legion split into platoons, not as if they are in a rush but as if they are in a competitive race, spreading out in a wide front and running rapidly towards the south, from first to last, irregularly.
Leading the way was a group of hundreds of n who maintained a complete formation while running.
“Damn, which team is that?” lisander cursed as he reluctantly watched the leading group in front of him.
“Captain, it seems to be the first centuria of the fourth brigade.” A soldier replied.
“So it's that ‘madman's’ centuria.” lisander sulked.
“Madman” was the nickna given to Leotychides, who was famous for his intense training and high requirents for his soldiers. Of course, his centuria often won the military competitions.
“Brothers! Speed up! We can't fall behind!!” Cried lisander, who was unwilling to be outdone.
Wherever the first legion passed, the people of galos fled in panic. However, instead of thrusting their spears at them, the soldiers drove them towards galos.
Although the town of galos only has wooden walls, they dug a moat outside the town due to its proximity to the Alcantara River, with its eastern and northern gates connected to the outside by drawbridges. The Sikurians in galos then received an urgent report from the rchant ships about ‘a fleet of hundreds of ships coming from the north, and the sail pattern seed to belong to the Theonia Union.’
After just receiving the news of Syracuse's defeat in their battle against the Theonians, the next thing the Sikurians knew, a Theonian fleet was spotted on the east coast of Sicily. Yet before they had even ti to discuss a counterasure, soone ca fleeing back from the beach and shouted in panic, “The enemy is coming! The enemy is coming!…”
The speed of the Theonians' attack frightened the Sikurians, so they hurriedly summoned their citizens to fend off the enemy.
But as more and more people fled to the town, it resulted in the drawbridge and the north gate being congested.
. . . . . . . . . . . . .
Seraphinus, a self-proclaid freeman, was employed by a Sikurian citizen a few months ago to help develop the fields. As it is currently noon, he should have been in the fields outside the town, yet he is now inside and stopped soone who fled into the town, “Uncle, what happened?”
“There are…enemies…there are enemies…coming from the sea to kill us, get your weapons and go…go…” The man explained in a frightened voice.
Seraphinus interrupted him, “Enemies?! What enemies?!”
A look of fear appeared showed in the man's eye, “Black! They are all black! Like demons from hell!” (Theonia's armour is all black)
Seraphinus blinked and looked back at the group of Sikurian citizens who didn't even have the ti to wear helts and armour as they hurriedly picked up their shields and spears and rushed towards the congested north gate.
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