Mediterranean Hegemon of Ancient Greece Chapter 931: Ballista Offense and Defense

Not only had they constructed a modest fortress in just three short months, but they had also taken the opportunity to build a new military camp a short distance north of Leontini.

Palagonia Fortress was not like Lao Fortress, which merely served as a toll collection checkpoint; it was a true defensive stronghold.

A trench five meters wide and five meters deep encircled Palagoria. Its bottom was lined with sharpened wooden stakes, and its edges bristled with dense abatis, making it incredibly difficult for siege weapons to approach the walls.

Although the outer wall was only four meters high, its structure—layered from the inside out with rammed earth, stone bricks, ashlar blocks, and cement—was thick and remarkably sturdy. The wall's surface was perfectly smooth, showing no obvious seams, and coated in a thick layer of lime powder. This white finish was not for aesthetics; it served a tactical purpose. The glaring reflection in the sunlight would disorient attacking soldiers, while the slick surface made it even harder to scale the wall. The lime coating also helped cushion the impact of stone projectiles.

The circular design of the outer wall allowed the defenders to better concentrate their forces and made it easier for reinforcements from within the city to reach the battlements.

Projecting circular wall towers stood at regular intervals along the wall. These amplified flanking fire against enemies cowering below or attempting to scale the defenses, while their curved surfaces helped deflect the force of external impacts.

The walkways atop the walls were anything but narrow, and the connecting tower platforms were even more spacious. A ballista and a gastraphetes sat side by side on each tower, with several crates of stone projectiles and iron bolts resting on the floor. Even with numerous defending soldiers stationed near the crenellations, the area did not feel crowded.

Leotychides had concentrated all the ballistae and gastraphetes from the Catana military camp here at Palagonia. He deployed them not only on the outer wall towers but also atop the central tower in the middle of the fortress. This central structure, over six meters tall and fifty meters in diameter, was similarly circular. Its roof housed multiple ballistae and gastraphetes alongside a large deployment of soldiers. Protected by battlements, they could rain attacks down on enemies who managed to scale the outer wall or breach the interior. The lower levels of the tower also featured numerous windows, allowing soldiers to shoot at foes directly below.

What Mago could not see was another wall, equal in height to the outer one, ringing the central tower. If the Carthaginians breached the outer defenses, the defending soldiers could swiftly retreat to this second wall to continue their resistance. Should the Carthaginians lower their guard, assuming that breaching the outer wall meant capturing Palagonia, they would undoubtedly suffer a heavy blow.

Currently, the fortress held nearly 4,000 soldiers. These consisted of the First Heavy Infantry Cohort and the Seventh Light Infantry Cohort of the Seventh Legion, along with a heavy infantry Reserve Brigade and a light infantry Reserve Brigade from Sicily. In total, there were 2,000 heavy infantry and 2,000 light infantry, not including the ballista units and the field hospital. Temenides felt that the number of defenders and the ratio of troop types were perfect for this modest fortress.

Although there were four cohort commanders in the fortress and Temenides was a newcomer, the commander of a regular legion's first cohort held a significantly higher status than his peers. He was typically viewed as a future Legion Commander. According to Theonian Military Law, "In battle, if the Legion Commander unfortunately perishes, the commander of the first cohort shall assume his duties." Because of this, the other three commanders treated him with considerable respect, allowing him to issue orders without facing resistance.

Temenides walked along the wall, inspecting the defensive preparations and pausing to chat with the men. He mainly spoke with the Sicilian soldiers, not only to gauge their morale but also to help these Daionian citizen soldiers from Sicily get to know him as their commander, which would make directing them in battle much easier.

The Locrians of the Seventh Legion were diligent, enduring, and reticent by nature. Temenides was the sole exception. He was outgoing, approachable, and skilled at mingling with the men. This was one of the reasons Brelius had appointed him to command Palagonia; he knew Temenides could perfectly integrate the Locrian and Sicilian soldiers.

"Commander, the enemy is preparing to attack!" a soldier shouted, pointing outside the fortress.

"That is wonderful news! The Carthaginians are about to hand us some free merit!" Temenides said with a grin.

A wave of laughter rippled through the surrounding soldiers. Their faces lit up with excitement, the lingering tension dissolving in their mirth.

The officers began urging the men to ready the defenses. Temenides stood behind a crenellation, carefully observing the Carthaginian forces.

Clearly, the Carthaginians realized they could no longer use their previous tactics. Sending waves of soldiers to clear the ground all the way to the walls under heavy ranged fire was suicide. Therefore, Mago had his engineers construct dozens of Mobile Mantlets in advance. The Carthaginian soldiers lined these wheeled shields up to form a continuous wooden wall and began pushing them toward the fortress. His plan was simple: for every bit of ground the Mobile Mantlets advanced, Numidian soldiers would follow with sacks of earth to fill in the trenches and smooth the path.

But things were not so easy. Before long, the soldiers pushing the mantlets were either getting their feet pierced by wooden spikes and iron caltrops buried in the dirt, or the mantlets themselves were dropping into hidden pits and getting stuck. That solid wooden wall quickly broke apart into a fragmented mess.

At the same time, the Daionian ballistae and gastraphetes on the walls unleashed their fury. Stone projectiles smashed into the mantlets, sending lethal wood splinters flying in all directions—a nightmare for the soldiers standing nearby. When the so-called arrow-blocking mantlets faced the thick, high-velocity iron bolts, their sturdy wooden planks were instantly punctured with massive holes. The bolts carried so much residual force that they pinned the soldiers pushing from behind straight to the ground in a gruesome display. Terrified by the grisly deaths, both the pushers and the Numidian soldiers preparing to carry earth broke formation and fled, leaving only the wounded to writhe and groan in the dirt.

Unwilling to concede, Mago ordered his army to bring forward their own ballistae to suppress the artillery on the walls.

However, the Daionian ballistae held the high ground and boasted a longer range. Before the Carthaginian artillery could even advance into a suitable firing position, they were subjected to relentless bombardment. Three or four Daionian ballistae would often coordinate their fire on a single target, significantly increasing their accuracy.

Gritting his teeth, Mago decisively pushed all of his ballistae to the front line, spreading them out widely across the northern outskirts of Palagonia. He hoped to rely on sheer numbers and dispersed angles to mitigate the threat of the Daionian artillery and claw back some advantage.

To his shock, he then saw stone projectiles launching not only from every tower along the northern semicircular wall, but soon from the tall central tower inside the city as well. Moments later, over a dozen more stone shots arched out from the southern semicircular wall, sailing cleanly over the entire city to land near the scattered Carthaginian artillery, striking with frightening precision.

It was a massive artillery duel that left the soldiers on both sides trembling, yet utterly captivated by the spectacle. However, the thrilling sight of dozens of stone projectiles screaming through the air and crisscrossing in the sky lasted little more than ten minutes. The Carthaginian army saw nine of their ballistae destroyed and suffered dozens of casualties. In stark contrast, aside from a few small craters blasted into the outer wall, the defenders of Palagoria Fortress emerged almost entirely unscathed.

Mago's face turned ashen. Realizing he had grossly underestimated the difficulty of taking Palagonia, he was forced to suspend the attack. He returned to camp and gathered his generals to brainstorm how they could crack this incredibly stubborn stronghold.

........................................

By October, the weather had begun to cool, though temperatures on the Continent of Africa remained somewhat sweltering. In years past, this was the season when the citizens of Carthage loved taking their families into the interior of Numidia for a holiday. There, a string of salt lakes offered a place to swim, or simply sit by the shore admiring the scenery, tasting freshly harvested fruits and melons while being waited on by Numidian slaves.

This year, however, very few citizens partook in such leisure. Because Daonian Warships were constantly patrolling the waters off Western Sicily, frequently ambushing merchant vessels traveling between Carthage and Sicily, trade at the home ports had grown dismal. Carthaginian merchants had become exceptionally cautious about setting sail. Although the citizens had reaped a bountiful harvest on Numidian soil, aside from what they kept for personal use, almost all the wheat and other crops were bought up by the Carthaginian government at dirt-cheap prices to stockpile rations for the Carthaginian army...

Although the war between Carthage and Daionia had only been raging for a few months, the ordinary people of Carthage could already feel its massive impact on their daily lives. They were not only anxious about the sharp drop in their household incomes, but also worried day and night for their family members fighting in Sicily. Because of this, they closely followed the developments of the war on the Island of Sicily every day. That Greek kingdom to the north of Sicily, which once had nothing to do with them, had now become the target of their ceaseless curses.

A short time ago, when the Carthaginian public learned that Mago had led the army to successfully conquer numerous Greek city-states along the Southern Coast of Sicily and pushed straight into Daionia's Sicily Territory, the city erupted in cheers and jubilation. Everyone chanted Mago's name, offering him their blessings and hoping he would drive the Theonians out of Sicily as quickly as possible, restoring the Sicilian waters as a haven of free trade for Carthaginian merchant ships.