Heir of Aurelian

Chapter 132 Defending the Fortress

Not long after the skirmish at the border had ended, the eastern roman army discovered the bodies of their fallen soldiers. Immediately sparking an invasion of Illyricum. This was the excuse that both sides had been looking for to start killing each other. Before either Marcellus or Yazdegerd could become aware of what had happened, the eastern roman army on the border of Illyricum invaded the west.

In doing so, they were immediately met with several fortresses they would have to conquer if they wished to push into Italia. Designed over the past couple of years specifically to house the nearby villages in times of crisis, the Eastern Roman Army and their Sassanid allies were forced to halt their advance as they encountered the first of many castra in the region.

Ultimately, Alaric learned of what had happened before anybody else, and ordered the citizens of Illyricum, who were mostly goths, to flee into their local fortresses. Meanwhile, the men he had stationed in the area stood atop their ramparts with crossbows and trebuchets alike.

The first action in any siege was to establish your siege weapons, which the eastern roman army began to assemble. Not aware that they were within striking distance of the newly invented trebuchet. As they began to construct their catapults, the Gothic foederati, along with the Western roman forces, loaded their trebuchets with giant boulders and launched them towards the eastern roman engineers.

It shocked them to see the large rocks barrelling towards them at a high speed. In fact, several of the men were not able to get out of the way, and were crushed by the fortresses defenders along with their constructions. An action which astonished the Eastern Roman General who was tasked with leading this invasion.

He could not fathom just how the enemy had hit his catapults at such a distance. Every time the eastern romans attempted to build a catapult, or a scorpion, or any number of siege weapons, they would be obliterated before they could be wheeled into combat.

Days passed since the war had begun, and despite this the Eastern romans already found themselves in a stalemate. Allowing time for Marcellus to muster his forces in Italia, and march them to the defense of his Empire’s borders.

Alaric sat on top of the wall and spat over its edge as he gazed upon the eastern roman army in the distance. Though he had ordered the elimination of their siege weapons at a distance of 200 feet. He had not actually given the command for his crossbowman to open fire on the enemy.

Instead, he wanted to lure the opposing army into a sense of false security, when they were really within the effective range of the western roman crossbows. He had to admit; it worked like a charm, within three hundred meters away from the castle, the eastern romans had set up their siege camp, and for the past few days they had been slowly trying to construct siege engines, and march them into the attacking range of the castrum, all of which were met with failure.

Now, as the enemy gathered in the field outside, for their first attempt at attacking the walls with battering rams and ladders, Alaric could finally inflict heavy casualties on the eastern bastards. The moment the eastern roman forces made an attempt at a formation to march on the fortress, Alaric issued an order to the thousands of men who stood on the ramparts..

“Kill these cunts!’

The combined force of the gothic foederati, and the western roman legions, all armed with crossbows, opened fire on the enemy. Perhaps, not expecting to be attacked at such a distance, the eastern roman forces had yet to form a proper testudo formation, resulting in their front lines being heavily pelted by crossbow bolts. Those unlucky enough to be unarmored were killed on the spot. While others were saved by their lamellar armor.

Depending on the type of armor that was worn, and the distance between the two armies, the eastern roman forces either praised God for their survival, or bled out with an armor piercing bolt in their gut. Either way, the moment after the first volley impacted their ranks, the eastern roman forces raised their shields to protect them against missile fire, but was it so easy to survive? In response to this, Alaric gave yet another order to his trebuchets to target the massive shield wall that was advancing towards the fortress.

“Unleash hell upon these bastards!”

Whether it was a torrent of armor piercing bolts splitting through shields, and embedding themselves into the enemy’s torsos, or it was a series of 90kg projectiles crushing their ranks like an ant beneath a human foot. The eastern roman forces suffered horrendous losses as they boldly pressed forward to the castrum.

All across the borders of Illyricum, the eastern roman army, and their Sassanid allies suffered a similar fate as they tried their best to take out the fortresses that their enemies had built to defend the land. Alaric could only sneer in disdain as the enemy rushed to their deaths against his defenses.

However, he was not laughing for long. There were simply too many of the enemy, and eventually they were able to raise their ladders. Causing Alaric to take the lead at the rampart’s defense. With a sword in one hand, and a shield in the other, he thrust his blade into the stomach of any hostile who foolishly climbed up the ladder.

He even went so far as to kick the ladder down, causing several dozen men to fall to their deaths on top of their allies. After doing so, he dropped a pot of boiling pitch onto the eastern Romans. The casualties were so massive that the army of the east was forced to withdraw back to their encampment. Thousands had died in the initial attack, and they feared what losses they would suffer if they were to foolishly continue this endeavor.

The result of the first wave of invasions into Illyricum was a complete and total stalemate. The gothic foederati and their western roman masters had decided to sit back, and wait for reinforcements while defending the region through a series of protracted sieges.

As for the eastern roman army, and their Sassanid allies, they had suffered dearly during the first week of the attack, and would decide to wait outside the range of their enemies’ advanced weapons, all while expecting a response from Yazdegerd and his magister militum.

The psychological effect of the armor piercing crossbows, and the trebuchets would deter any further attacks. At least for the time being. Ultimately, the order to continue the assault would be forced by Yazdegerd who would disregard the losses the eastern romans suffered in pursuit of an absolute victory. Something Marcellus would take advantage of.