Mediterranean Hegemon of Ancient Greece

The messenger went on to relay the order of the Senate: Lord Diomilas believes that the Messapi army that attacked Manduria may be the last force of the Messapis. Therefore the Senate orders you to ensure the safety of Brindisi. Under the circumstances, return with as many soldiers as possible, join the reinforcements of Heraklia and Metapontum, march to Mandulia, and completely defeat the Mesapis! Completely guarantee the safety of the newly occupied land!

Archita bowed his head and pondered: Before, Tarantum paid nearly 5,000 casualties to compete for Manduria and Brindisi, and the casualties of the Mesapis would not be lower than Tarantum. The Messapie corpses buried in the back can be seen. Despite the fact that there are seven or eight city-states in the Messapi Alliance, the only really big city is rudiae, which can send tens of thousands of troops. Attacking Brindisi, wedged into Mesapien territory, to Manduria, who is closer to Tarantum and easier to rescue?

But he thought about it, and immediately scolded himself for being confused: Brindisi had 8,000 Tarantum citizens garrisoned, and Mandunia had only 2,000, and it was obvious which city was easier to capture.

He glanced up at the messenger who was still waiting for his reply, and asked again, How many people did Metapontum and Heraclea send?

Because of their considerable losses last time, it is said that only 3,000 people were sent from the two cities this time. The messenger replied.

Archita's expression was slightly gloomy: he had fought side by side with the allies before, and of course he knew how their casualties were. But the final result is exclusive to Tarantum, and Heraklia and Metapontum just get some rewards. However, isn't Dionia defeated and grown rapidly in this way?

Thinking of this, he no longer felt guilty, but cared about the city-state alliance across the bay that made him feel complicated: The Senate... Did you send an envoy to Dionia for help?

The messenger hesitated, shook his head, and looked strange.

Achieta's mind changed, and she immediately understood: Not only Diomilas, one of the newly elected consuls this year, has always been disgusted with the Dionysian Alliance, but other people have this mentality to some extent. As a southern Italian state that has been in existence for 300 years, it is a shame and honor to ask for help from an emerging city-state alliance that has just been established for less than two years. What will the allies and other city-states in Greater Greece think! What's more, Dionia is not like Heraclea and Metapontum. They are dominated by Tarantum, while Dionia and Tarantum are equal offensive and defensive alliances. Maybe it is now. The overall strength is stronger than Tarantum... Ask Dionysus for assistance, it is impossible to do without paying a certain price. Therefore, Tarantum will never send a messenger to Dionysus until a critical moment.

Archita pondered for a moment, then said simply: I'm going to let Pebalius lead 2,000 soldiers to stay in Brindisi, I'll take 6,000 people back, you go with me, because I don't have enough cavalry to escort them alone. You go back.

The messenger heaved a sigh of relief and hurriedly agreed. He was terrified by the elusive light cavalry of the Messapien, and the cavalry squad escorting him sacrificed a dozen lives to get him safely into the city of Brindisi.

In the afternoon, the freedmen who heard the news came one after another and watched 6,000 Tarantum citizens out of the city in an uneasy manner. Although Tarantum looked down on the emerging Dionysian city-state alliance with no historical background, he had already begun to learn from Dionia on how to deal with the occupied territories. Immediately after taking the two towns, the senate promised the gentiles and freemen in Tarantum that if they would move to Brindisi and Manduria, they would acquire land and become citizens of Tarantum, Brindisi and Manduria will also be attached to Tarantum. Therefore, although they knew the risks, many freedmen still came with their families and their families. Now that the war has broken out again, and Brindisi's defensive strength has gone by more than half, how can they not make them nervous.

Between Brindisi on the east coast of Apulia and Tarantum on the west coast there is an east-west mountain range, otherwise it is a smooth road. So Achitar's army could go to Tarantum in two directions, either by going north around the mountains and going west to Tarantum; Tarantum. Of course, Archita chose the former, because the road to the north was very safe, except for the only Messapi town, Igratia, to be careful. And choosing the latter means keeping an eye out for raids in some of the Messapi towns centered in Udière, hidden in the dense woods to the south.

Not long after Archita's army left the city, they bypassed the mountains. At this time, Tan Malay News: A small group of Messapi cavalry was found snooping nearby.

Archita didn't care too much. Although Tarantum has taken Brindisi, there are still Messapi cavalry cruising in this area from time to time on the road from Tarantum to Brindisi, affecting Tarantum and Brindisi from time to time. Movement of people and supplies between Brindisi. Tarantum has repeatedly sent soldiers to attack these cavalry, but they ran away early on their horses, and when the troops returned without success, they appeared again. Tarantum had nothing to do with these Messapi cavalry, so he had to wait until Brindisi was completely stabilized, and then build new villages and strongholds between the two cities to completely occupy this area. Before that, Tarantum specially set up troops to ensure the connection and transportation between the two cities. Heavy infantry and archers could well deal with these fast-moving cavalry, and Akita did the same.

After bypassing the mountains, the terrain leading to Tarantum was flat and open. Archita divided the marching column into five columns, with a small number of light infantry in the middle, and heavy armoured civic soldiers on the outside. The entire marching column was about three miles long. . Tarantum was about a hundred miles away from Brindisi, and Archita estimated that at the current speed of the new army, they would be able to arrive in the evening.

Archita controls the marching speed of the troops and moves forward unhurriedly.

However, as time went on, more and more Messapi cavalry appeared. They were cruising around the marching troops, attacking and killing Tarantum's reconnaissance cavalry, so that Archita had to take back the few cavalry. As a result, it is no longer possible to understand the surroundings outside the unit's field of vision.

As a commander, although Achieta knew very well that after the last war, there was no strong force of Messapi near the north of the hills between Brindisi and Tarantum, but this blind man's Feeling uneasy, he immediately ordered the troops to speed up their march and arrive at Siegon as soon as possible.

Sigeon is a town north of Tarantum. Before the capture of Brindisi, because it was adjacent to Mesapi's territory, it was built into a small stronghold with strong earthen walls and many A sentry building to defend against Mesapien intrusion.

The bugle was blown, and the officers who received the order began to urge the hip-hop soldiers.

At this moment, a loud bugle sounded at the same time in front of the team.

The soldiers of the vanguard were stunned: Could it be that our army is here?

This is the trumpet of the attack! Some soldiers have begun to exclaim.

Just when there was a commotion in the team, Archita's order came: stop advancing! Immediately expand the formation westward, with light infantry in the front and heavy infantry in the back!

The team officers acted immediately, commanding the soldiers to start formation.

Archita, under the escort of cavalry, rode to the front of the team.

A hundred meters away, the loose Messapi cavalry stared at him like a wolf, and he looked further ahead through the gap between the enemy horses. He wondered in his heart: Now that the main force of the Mesapis is in Manduria, if it is their army, how many soldiers can they send to prevent their troops from returning to Tarantum?

As he pondered, Tarantum's marching column began to slowly spread out to the west. The officers and soldiers shouted to each other, looking for their positions, and the noise was overwhelming.

In front of the array, Archita quietly confronted the Messapi cavalry not far away...

coming! Archita's eyelids jumped, he blinked hard, and stared wider: I saw a row of small black dots on the horizon a few hundred meters away, gradually getting bigger and longer...

When the procession got closer, Archita and the others could see it more clearly: the same attire of round shields and bronze helmets and spears, the same dense formation, but it was not certain that it was Tarantum's procession, because Mesa The leather soldiers are also equipped with the same equipment, which is the credit of the Athenians!

When he got closer and could see the flag held high, the adjutant exclaimed, General, it's Igratia's troops!

Igratia is the northernmost city-state of the Mesapi territory, adjacent to the territory of the Puchetti people. Whenever there is a conflict between Mesapi and Puchetti, Igratia bears the brunt of the conflict, so it is a border city. , its military capability is stronger, and according to Brindisi recently. When Tarantum stormed Brindisi, the Igratians came for reinforcements and were repelled by Archita.

Archita also specially set up a sentry in the northwest of Brindi to monitor Igratia's movements. Now that Igratia's troops are here, Archita has not received a warning. Obviously, the northern sentry has suffered an accident.

At this moment, Archita was not in the mood to observe a moment of silence. He stared at the enemy's array, and with the mind of a mathematician, he quickly roughly calculated that the enemy's strength was less than 3,000.

Nearly 3,000 people dare to stop themselves from going home? ! Archita did not feel relieved, on the contrary, he was even more puzzled.

But at this moment, he was no longer allowed to think about it. The originally quiet Messapi cavalry rushed over with a shout. He led the cavalry to hurriedly turn their horses and retreated into the formation, while the light infantry already at the forefront of the phalanx greeted them and prepared to Shoot the arrow in your hand.