Nova Roma-Chapter 93 - Entering the City of Calakmul

The caciques of the local city of Calakmul were very worried about what the Romans could do, they did not understand why they were being besieged, but neither did they have other options.

All they could do is prepare the population for an eventual attack, for this they created barricades on the streets of the city because as most of the cities in America do not have defensive walls, they also gave their population spears of obsidian and stone, while hunters and people who knew how to occupy the arch were placed near the streets to maximize their power.

Although they have not had trade with Nova Roma through merchants because they travel to other Mayan cities they have learned about different issues such as the weapons occupied by the Romans and their tactics.

They know that their technology is not enough to be able to beat them, now they will face a big problem because they cannot go out to buy or hunt either and the food will only last for a few days, this will cause a famine if a way to get food is not found.

Meanwhile, Amancio was preparing for the attack during the first two days he was going to let the cavalry complete the siege after this would be his turn.

The troops that were to go in the front line were given a set of full body armor, the armor was identical to the armor that the Byzantines used with the difference that the helmet was the imperial Gallic model that was adorned with wolf skins to the conventional troop, for the sergeants were jaguar skin, for the centurions it was bearskin and finally the tribunes and Amancio had tufts of quetzal feathers and a red cape on their helmets.

For the other soldiers, the armor was much lighter because it was chainmail and cotton cover, the conventional Roman armor was not used because the jungle was hot and the soldiers could suffer serious dehydration or get tired faster than normal losing their power of battle

The weapons used by the soldiers were the saber, the paves (Roman Shield) and the pilum for medium-distance attacks, for the long-distance it was the crossbow and muskets, thanks to the lack of city walls to attack there was no need of using cannons or ballista.

To avoid mosquitoes, each soldier was sprinkled lavender oil on his body and crushed mint leaves were placed on his barracks, which prevented them from entering.

Not to mention that in each camp sown lavender, mint, and Cempasuchil in the surroundings of the camp to create an area, which will prevent mosquitoes from entering as much as possible, these plants were brought along with supplies in small pots ready to be sown.

The two days passed and the cavalry along with the Nahual guides managed to accomplish their goal now it was time that he was assaulted will begin.

Amancio, like Flavio, prefers to fight in the front line to be able to coordinate any emergency or adverse situation on the battlefield, before leaving with his troops the priests and priestesses of the legion passed by reading some verses of the sacred writings.

For the soldiers who were Anahuacas (natives of Mesoamerica), they were granted some figures of mother Tonantzin and Huitzilopochtli (god of war), to whom they pray and ask for a victory on the battlefield.

After the small religious event, Amancio approaches the city of Calakmul with his troops, the Mayan soldiers and civilians look from their positions in fear of the Roman entourage who wore dazzling armor such as silver and their skins that they had in their helmets They made them look like beasts approaching to eat their prey.

It was noon and the sun was shining, the temperature of the jungle was hot, but that did not prevent the calm of the jungle stopped by the sound of a horn that began the assault of the city of Calakmul.

The legionaries with their heavy armor began their walk towards the city, the defenders of Calakmul woke up from their fear and aiming their archaic archers fired their obsidian and stone arrows.

But their arrows proved unusable before Roman armor and shields as their arrows only bounced or broke on them once they collided.

This caused that desperation in the defense troops since their arcs were unusable they would have to use the Atlatl, a weapon that is placed in the hands and allows throwing darts or javelins in the distance.

When Amancio saw that the arrows ceased, he could see from his spyglass how the defenders of Calakmul placed in their hands a kind of glove, he knew that it was the Atlatl, therefore, shouted "Turtle formation"

The troops gathered as they placed their paves in front and on the head, they did it just in time because in just a few seconds a few hundred javelins and darts reached their positions.

Unlike the arrows these darts or javelins if they hurt the shields but thanks to the turtle formation it was possible to avoid unnecessary casualties among the troops, little by little the troops were advancing until they were at a distance where they first counterattacked.

The legionaries took the position and created small gaps in the turtle defense to launch their pilums, these flew towards the battered defenders of Calakmul, unlike the Roman legionaries with armor and shields, the Maya fell dead when the steel-tipped pilum remained embedded in their bodies.

Thanks to this counterattack the Mayan forces that are supposed to take care of the entrances to the city died or decided to flee inland to avoid Roman fury.

When Amancio arrived at the first barricades, he ordered his soldiers to clear them so that they could enter the city, is made of wood and some limestone remains, the cleaning only lasted an hour.

While Calakmul was being assaulted the other 3 Mayan cities were also being attacked simultaneously, among them the city of Aguateca surrendered when it could feel the power of the pilum on its soldiers.

While the tribune was giving orders to clear the barricades, a messenger carried a letter to where the king of the city of Aguateca surrendered to the Roman army.

What followed next was a ceremony where the defenders of the city handed over their weapons and the king started before the tribune to show his surrender.

With this 1 of the 4 cities was conquered without much bloodshed, the Roman Nova did not consider the surrender of the enemy as an act of cowardice, on the contrary, the king of Aguateca was treated as nobility and his population could move freely while sending a messenger to Origin Civitatem to decide his fate ...