Chapter 34 Ludinan

Ludinum, the capital of the Ludugian province of the Western Roman Empire, was captured by the Burgundian Kingdom two years ago, taking advantage of the Bagauda movement in the Gaul provinces and the massive invasion of the Visigoths in southern Gaul. The war with the Visigoths was tight before, and Aetius's army was unable to spare any manpower. Now the Battle of Narbonne hurt the Goths' vitality and thwarted the Goths' encroachment on the empire's territory. Now, starting with Ludinum, the war against the Burgundians began.

The city had been battered by the Roman legions' trebuchets and was in ruins. The walls that had stood for hundreds of years were originally used by the Romans to defend against barbarian invasions, but now the attackers were the Romans themselves.

Our five squares were advancing, passing by a row of huge trebuchets, where groups of soldiers were busy loading stones. Everyone was sweating profusely, and no one was in the mood to say goodbye to us strangers who were about to die. We continued to move forward, and saw that we were less than a hundred meters away from the wall of Ludinan. Here, archers wearing Gallic helmets and various clothes were neatly arranged on the left and right. Each of them had several wooden arrows stuck under their feet, and in front of them there was a small earthen ditch filled with grease. They all turned back and looked at us walking towards them, their eyes were extremely indifferent. To them, we were just another batch of cannon fodder for the siege.

"Look, here comes another batch."

"Yeah, these poor guys don't even have decent armor."

The archers were talking about it, and for us strangers, the sympathy they expressed was a little comfort to us.

"It's better for us to stand at the back."

"laugh!"

Before the speaker could finish his words, he was pierced through the chest by an arrow and fell to the ground.

"Ready! Ready!"

The archers quickly reached out to grab the arrows stuck in the ground, but more arrows fell from the sky in an instant. The archers, who had no shields to block them, were hit by arrows and fell into the ditch at their feet. Those who tried to save them were also hit by arrows. The archers began to panic. Everyone bent their bodies, drew their arrows, put them on the nock, and shot, not caring whether they could hit the target or not.

"Ignite! Fight back!"

The commander shouted, and the soldiers holding torches threw the torches directly into the trench full of oil, completely ignoring the wounded soldiers struggling in the trench. The sound of burning and screaming filled the eardrums of all of us. I, along with everyone present, raised our shields above our heads to block the arrows flying from the wall, and crossed the trench burning with blazing flames. The wounded soldiers inside had stopped struggling. I could clearly hear faint crying in our phalanx. Yes, someone had wavered.

"You guys push the siege cone!"

The old commander, Medius, pointed at a few people and shouted orders, and began to try to encourage our remaining courage and fighting spirit. "Romans! (He used to call us barbarians) Don't be afraid! Don't retreat! Forward! Forward!"

"Forward! Forward!"

The soldiers around him closed their eyes one after another, their expressions were ferocious and they looked extremely painful, but there was nothing they could do but to move forward under the rain of arrows.

“Dangdangdang”

The first volley fired at us by the Burgundian archers on the walls of Ludinan was blocked by our shields.

"Protect the siege cone! You can die, but the siege cone cannot stop!"

Under the command of the old warlord, a phalanx gathered around the siege cone to protect the safety of the soldiers pushing the siege cone. We continued to advance, and the Burgundians did not relax for a moment, continuously giving us rounds of shooting. As the distance got closer and closer, people kept falling down on the way forward, but the mercenaries still gritted their teeth and persisted. The wall was right in front of us, but when we really walked, it felt like it was as far away from Rome as it was from here.

"Anyone who retreats will be killed without mercy!"

Following behind us were dozens of the governor's cavalry followers, holding lances and following closely behind us. It was obvious with our toes that they were not attacking the city, but were specifically responsible for slaughtering those deserters.

"Don't look back"

One of the cavalry commanders was shot by an arrow and fell off his horse, but his position was quickly replaced by the one behind him who continued to carry out his supervisory duties.

"Rome! Rome!"

Andrew seemed to be in high spirits, probably because of Aetius's promise. He was now at the front of the team, holding a shield in his left hand and a flag in his right hand. It seemed that the rain of arrows could not stop him at all. He became the vanguard of the team and led the team forward.

"Woo woo woo"

A series of horns sounded, and the siege towers behind them began to move slowly. A large cloud of dust rose behind the archers, and black flags fluttered in the dust. Black flags, black cavalry, a large number of cavalry were gathering, it was the Huns, the Huns were coming! "Speed ​​up! Don't be afraid! Keep moving forward!!!"

The old warlord led us to trot, and he couldn't wait for us to reach the city gate in the blink of an eye. Break open the city gate, complete the mission, and end this living nightmare.

“Crack!”

A huge sound of strings being snapped came from the front, and my heart trembled with fear.

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“Boom!”

The huge crossbow arrow hit me directly. The soldier behind me was pierced by the arrow and nailed to the ground before he could even scream. The huge impact of the crossbow arrow made everyone around me kneel down. Then there was another rain of arrows. More soldiers were hit by arrows and fell to the ground. In an instant, more than half of the square was killed or wounded. Many wounded soldiers struggled and cried on the ground, but it was useless. No one cared about them. They could only watch themselves bleed to death.

"Click, click, click"

A series of huge bowstring snapping sounds rang out again, and the unstoppable crossbow arrows tore the square formations into pieces. A large number of soldiers were either killed by crossbow arrows or fell down. Finally, the soldiers lost their remaining courage.

"Run, run if you don't want to die!"

As soon as I heard the hoarse shout, I knew it was the one who started it. I was surprised that he could survive so long. The defeated mood infected one soldier after another like a highly contagious virus. "Run, run, run!" They changed the words. Many people had already begun to collapse. The large number of casualties made them unable to fight again. They wanted to stay alive, so they followed the leader, the sputum-voiced one, and ran back.

“Don’t retreat!”

The commander's cavalry pointed their guns at the fleeing soldiers and shouted at them, but it was completely useless. They just wanted to survive.

"laugh!"

A cavalry commander raised his lance and stabbed a deserter in the abdomen without mercy. The remaining cavalry formed a straight line and ruthlessly slaughtered every soldier who turned back.

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(End of this chapter)