Mediterranean Hegemon of Ancient Greece

Not only the soldiers, but at the moment when the Dionysian army appeared, Miron's mind was also blank, his whole body was trembling and his face was pale, he knew: he was cheated! Deceived by the sly Dionians! Thinking that there are too few enemies, and rashly letting your army cross the river in front of the enemy's equally large army, this is an extremely wrong military action for any qualified general! But it was too late to retreat now. Retreat in front of the enemy, and have to turn back and cross the river again. This is a taboo for city-state citizens who have not trained much at ordinary times. It means a big defeat without a battle, while the Dionysians can easily Attack and turn this seemingly gentle Trionto River into a tomb for Crotone's civic soldiers.

Miron did not expect that the battle between Crotone and Dionia would be here and now, and it would suddenly start like this, but in the face of this decisive battle involving the life and death of the city-state, he tried hard to force himself to calm down and put the guilt and fear away. All of them were left behind and focused on the battle in front of them: Blow all the bugles! Sound all the war drums! Let the soldiers rush up! Bravely rush across the river! Only hope can we win!! He raised his arms anxiously. call.

The messengers jumped directly into the river and shouted loudly.

The suddenly intensified sound of bugles and drums urged the army to advance, and the officers in the formation were well aware of the danger and took the lead.

Crotone's army began to speed up, but the formation of Dionia's army rearranged very quickly and was already pushing up. Because of the cobblestones on the ground, neither side charged like in the previous heavy infantry battle, but steadily. close to...

When the distance between the two sides was only more than 20 meters, Klebs saw that the enemy on the opposite side suddenly stopped advancing amid the shouts of the team officer. The actions of the other party made him immediately understand what was going to happen. He squatted down before he could even spit out the word javelin.

Just listening to the continuous whistling sound, as if a gust of wind suddenly blew up, accompanied by the screams one after another, and in the blink of an eye, the front-row soldiers of the entire army formation in Crotone collapsed. , not only interrupted the progress of the Crotone soldiers, but also the formation of the front line of the army was somewhat fragmented.

And the Dionians didn't stop, and another round of javelin throwing followed. At such a close distance, the lethality of the heavy javelin is quite amazing.

Just when the Crotone soldiers were in a hurry to avoid the javelin and rescue their companions, so that the formation was chaotic, the Dionian took the opportunity to stride forward, holding a round shield and hitting the terrified Crotone people, two or three stab guns at the same time. Poke at the enemy who just survived the javelin...

If it wasn't for the back row to make up in time, Crotone's front line almost collapsed. But as a result, Crotone's troops were blocked on the bank of the river. Miron's carefully prepared battle formation with a thickness of more than 20 columns turned into trouble at this moment. On most of the river sections, half of them were on the river bank, and half were on the river bank. in the river. In a heavy infantry confrontation, in addition to fighting face to face, using the thickness of the array to push the opponent in a tug-of-war game to achieve a breakthrough is also another effective way to attack, but the current situation of the Crotone people is not only unable to effectively form The unified force, on the contrary, slowly retreated under the strong push of the opponent.

………………

Miron felt like his heart was about to stop when the javelin that covered the sky flew into Crotone's formation.

Dionia's heavy infantry can throw javelins! Miron regretted that he was too careless at the moment, and did not go to learn more about the tactical characteristics of the Dionysian army. Take a look at their light infantry and heavy infantry. This is obviously a well-trained team with unique tactics. force!

Just when Miron was heartbroken by the deaths and injuries of the soldiers and regretted his negligence, his men stared at the fighting on the other side and shouted anxiously: Damn Dionysians actually have so many heavy infantry! It must be them. Reinforcements from Niutum and Laos have arrived!

Indeed, according to the returns of the messengers on the left and right,

The Dionian army formations have almost the same length, and can press their own formations to retreat. Although they occupy the convenience of the terrain, I am afraid their thickness is not much thinner than their own formations. Do the current Dionysians also have two formations? About ten thousand people? Hearing the scolding from his subordinates, it flashed through Miron's mind like a bolt of lightning. Desperate for revenge, he always carefully studied the secret report sent by Turii, so he also knew something about the Dionysian Alliance.

He remembered that it was said in the secret report that it would take at least three days for Turii to reach Niutum, and it would take the same amount of time to reach Laos. It will take six days to gather the troops and arrive at Turii. After all, the construction of Turii-Neutum-Laos Avenue has only begun, and it has only been four days since the declaration of war, unless Dionia called the troops ahead of time. However, those mercenaries hadn't attacked Crimesa three days ago. He tortured several prisoners, including Crianno and Tolikos. They all admitted that they had concealed Davos and decided to take them privately. Crimea's. Therefore, the reinforcements of Niutum and Laos should still be on their way to Turii, so where did so many Dionysian heavy infantry come from?

Not so many citizens of Turii and Amendolara. Miron can be sure of this, and he suddenly remembered something: ... Freedmen? ! The so-called registered freemen of Dionia! !

Miron suddenly remembered that Dionia had frequently organized their freemen to conduct military training in the previous secret report. Miron still remembered that there were many people in the Council of Crotone who laughed at Dionysian's hunger for food and turned vulgar freemen into city-state citizens. It was a mess! But everything in front of me shows that Dionia's method is still effective. The armor and the shields and spears worn by these free people who were still poor before are probably all from the Crotone army that was killed or captured in the last battle. Bar!

Although Miron was resentful, he realized more clearly that Turiel had even sent these free folks to the battlefield, and I am afraid that he had given everything he had. So do they still have extra troops! !

Miron looked at the battlefield that was killing the sky in front of his eyes, but his spirit was uplifted: Utydmus!

General, what's the matter? the subordinate who shouted just now responded.

Immediately lead the two thousand soldiers to the east, and hand them over to Philadelphus.

What?! Didn't you want this troop to step up to strengthen the middle lane?! Utidemus asked suspiciously.

Execute the order! Miron's eyes widened, the friend's son was working hard, but he was too active: You tell General Philadelphus that there will not be too many enemies on the other side, let him sacrifice casualties as soon as possible. After crossing the river and repelling the enemy, rush over to attack Dionia's army! The victory or defeat of this battle depends on his actions! Miron exhorted extremely solemnly.

Understood! Uthidmos was reminded by Miron, saw the opportunity to win, and rushed to execute the order excitedly.

Miron jumped off his horse, armed with a shield and spear, led the escort to wade down the river, joined the battle formation, and kept shouting for the soldiers to fight bravely.

Since the Dionysian heavy infantry is mostly composed of reserve citizens, he does not believe that these newbies who were free people half a year ago and have never had any experience in heavy infantry combat can master the fighting essence of heavy infantry in half a year. This is his. Confidence lies. He was convinced that even in the depths of adversity among the Crotone soldiers, they would survive until the arrival of the army of Philadelphia.

………………

Behind the middle road of the Dionysian army stands a large flag, the top of which is also inlaid with the statue of Hades, but it is obviously larger than the legionnaire's flag, and the flag is also larger, with only Davos embroidered on it. Big golden letters.

There are three legions in the Dionysian Alliance. Of course, Davos has to abdicate and return to his original position. According to the old tradition, the consul was also the commander of the city-state army. Therefore, Davos is the highest in the alliance army. The position is the commander-in-chief of the Dionian Union army (ie, the supreme commander).

At this moment, Davos is also paying attention to the movements of the enemy on the other side.

Lord Commander, the enemy has troops going downstream! Aristocrates reminded loudly that, as a talent that Davos favored, Davos had the intention to train him in an all-round way like Asistus, so he also Let him follow, but after all, he is only a free citizen, so he can only be temporarily named as a clerk.

Davos has long been waiting for this moment: Tormide!

Lord Commander, please order! Tommyed's reply was a heartfelt respect.

Originally, Crotone's rapid advance was far beyond the generals' expectations. Under the circumstance that the troops of Niutum and Laos could not arrive in time, there was a big difference in the strength of the two sides. During the military meeting, many people proposed: give up reinforcements to Castellon, stick to Turiyi, and wait for the reinforcements to arrive before a decisive battle. But Davos defied all opposition and insisted on advancing the front to Castellon, and because of the long-established prestige, everyone was finally persuaded by him.

He recruited all the citizens of Turii and Amendolara who were able to participate in training and were able to fight, as well as registered freemen, and even some of the freemen who had just arrived in Turii. This really took a great risk. Knowing that Dionia's army was concentrated in Castellon at this time, and Turiyi and Amendolara in the rear had almost no defensive strength except for a few troops in the port. If Crotone's fleet had landed on the shores of the plains of Sybari, Dionia would have been unstoppable for a while, but Davos dared to make such a bold move.