Mediterranean Hegemon of Ancient Greece

1 This time, Timoglass can be regarded as shooting himself in the foot. Even if it is only a small part of the retreat, it is very dangerous. If you are not careful, it will lead to the collapse of the whole.

Fortunately, the Tarantum soldiers were in a state of complete defense for a long time, and when the enemy in front of them had disappeared, most of them had not fully reacted. Watching the enemy retreat in front of them, revealing a large gap, the already extremely tired Tarantum soldiers couldn't believe their eyes, but were ecstatic.

The enemy was repelled by us!!!

The enemy has escaped! We...we have won!!!

In the middle of the battlefield, how could the soldiers who have been shrouded in the shadow of death for more than an hour think so much, just like the drowning person who is about to drown even if he sees a straw floating, he has to hold on tightly. Cheering, joy seems to replace exhaustion. They rushed out of the gap desperately, and also drove the adjacent soldiers to run out involuntarily.

When Archita discovered that the situation was abnormal, the entire army was like a flood in Juti. Not only did the soldiers rush towards the gap, but the high fighting spirit they had accumulated was quickly taken away.

Stop for me! Don't mess up! Keep a good formation and rush out!... Archita desperately tried to calm the chaotic soldiers, but in vain. On the contrary, the Puchetti intensified their offensive efforts, forcing the Tarantums to speed up and flee to the gap, and Achita was also pushed into the gap by the crowded crowd.

General, it's useless, let's run away! the adjutant urged eagerly.

The soldiers whose fighting spirit was shaken were completely powerless to resist the full attack of the Puchetti, and the casualties began to increase. The constant screams entered Achita's ears, making him even more anxious. Seeing the guards around him also became panicked, he had to cheer up and shouted angrily: Fight out with me. !Follow me and kill!!…”

Archita tried to direct the soldiers to concentrate their forces, rush westward, try to widen the gap, and even defeat the Igratians, so that more people could escape the encirclement. However, with the victorious enemy on one side and the soldiers with no fighting spirit on the other, most of them just fled, ignoring his orders.

The citizens of Tarantum still lack training and experience! He sighed inwardly, and he was still thinking in his mind: what would Davos do if the Dionysian army faced this situation?

Just as he was distracted, the guards had crowded around him, rushing out of the gap under the shoving of the soldiers.

General, let's escape! the adjutant urged eagerly.

Escape, where can you escape? In Archie's vision: a group of enemy cavalry is galloping on the flat field in the distance,

Using javelins and spears to harvest the lives of Tarantum soldiers who were only escaping for their lives; and nearby, several groups of enemy cavalry were charging at him aggressively, shouting something...

Unfortunately, I haven't finished researching the lifting equipment... Archita sighed again. Academically, he has regrets. Politically, he has always advocated that the southern Greek city-states should unite against foreign enemies, and this ideal , Dionysus appears to be finishing...

At this moment, he put all his attachments and regrets behind him, pulled out his saber, took the lead, and rushed towards the enemy...

…………………………

The sun sets in the west, the tired birds return to their nests, the dust and fog on the battlefield dissipate, and the sound of killing fades away.

Tremoney, accompanied by generals Timoglass and Pucherti, came to Archita's body.

The Greek math genius, the young military general who Tarantum had high hopes for, was shot with three javelins and fell among the carcasses of several horses. The strange thing is that there is no pain and anger on his gray face, but very peaceful...

I thought he was a great person, but he was a young man without a beard! A Puchetti general muttered disdainfully.

Tremoney stared at him until he closed his mouth.

He stared at Archita's body, and after a moment said: Cut off his head, show the Greeks in Brindisi, and bury his body.

……………………

It was not until late at night, when a few soldiers went to great lengths to escape back to Tarantum, that the people learned that the 6,000 soldiers were almost wiped out, and the whole city fell into great grief.

Compared with the defeat of the battle, the sacrifice of a large number of citizens, and the unknown whereabouts of Archita, the Senate was more shocked by the union of Puchetti and Messapi, which made Tarantum face more pressure.

The senate of Tarantum held an emergency meeting late at night, and it was found that the failure of the battle actually reduced the number of the senate by nearly one-twentieth, because at least six elders, including Achita, were with the army so far. No news.

It was with grief that the crowd discussed how to deal with the difficult situation that followed. After this battle, Brindisi will be besieged by the Mesapi-Puchetti coalition, while the main force of the Pucherti still surrounds Manduria. The casualties of nearly 6,000 young and strong citizens, coupled with the continuous fighting in the past few months, the loss of Tarantum's civilian soldiers has reached 10,000, which can be said to be traumatic, not to mention the people trapped in two places. There are nearly 6,000 civic soldiers in the city, so Tarantum's remaining strength is more than enough to defend, and the attack is insufficient.

But just abandoning the territory that the citizens had exchanged with their blood and lives was not only unacceptable to the elders of the Senate, but also the people would never agree, so the only way was to ask for reinforcements.

But who to ask for help has become the focus of the debate. Now it seems that the strength of Heraclea and Metapontum, which are affiliated allies, is their limit to send three or four thousand people. Tarantum will face the attack of the Maple coalition, which may be 20,000 to 30,000 people. , this force is far from enough. Asking for help from a powerful city-state is the only choice for Tarantum, so Tarantum has not many options to choose from.

Sparta in the east is the mother state of Tarantum, and the relationship between the two has always been good. In the Peloponnesian War, Tarantum stood on the side of Sparta, and even more between the two city-states. The friendship added weight, which was the choice of some conservative senators headed by Archon Diomilas; Dionia in the west, as an ally of Tarantum, quickly became a party with The alliance of six cities and two affiliated city-states participated in almost no battles, and one of them dispatched an army of 20,000 people. Its strength is evident, and it can deal with the large number of Maple coalition forces. This is another ruling. The opinion of Markas and some of the elders is official; some elders mentioned Syracuse in the south. Due to the relationship between Sparta, Tarantum and Syracuse still have some contacts, but as a major The city-state of Greece, Tarantum is also wary of Syracuse's involvement in southern Italian affairs, not to mention that Syracuse is still fighting with Carthage at this time, how can there be spare resources to assist Tarantum, so it is not considered. .

At the end of the negotiation, most people tended to turn to Dionysus for help. As Eumacas said: When the Dionysian Archon Davos was still the leader of the mercenaries, we Tarantum helped them selflessly, and Archita led our citizens to assist them in defeating them. when they secretly occupied Amendolara, we risked offending other great Greek city-states by helping them selflessly, acknowledging the legitimacy of their occupation of Amendolara, and providing them with food, to protect them from Turii; when Turii was burned, when Dionia was attacked by Crotone, it was we who extended our loving hands to them...  It is because of our Tarantum's selfless help time and time again that we have today's Dionian City-State Alliance (of course, Eumacas directly ignored the fact that Tarantum did not send reinforcements according to the covenant)! We The Tarantums do not ask for favors in return for giving others favors. But we should also give the Dionians, who enjoy our help and have been restless in their hearts, a chance to repay us!  …”

That's right, Lord Archon! We should generously give Dionia a chance to repay us! In fact, regardless of the distance between the city-states and the current state of strength, Dionia asked for help. The best choice, there is a covenant between the two states, and Sparta still has a war in Persia. It was only in the past that Tarantum was ashamed of Dionia for sending troops to aid several times, as well as being reserved as a powerful state with a long history in Greater Greece, that such hesitation appeared. Yumachus's tactful words satisfied the vanity of the elders, and finally reached a consensus on asking for help.

…………………………

Archita is dead?!! Davos looked in disbelief.

Yes, Your Honor. Several soldiers who fled back to Tarantum this morning said they saw the Messapis carrying the body of General Archita on the battlefield... Tarantum The messenger Polydorus said in a somber tone.

How could a group of soldiers who were busy running for their lives could see clearly?! Davers was still reluctant to believe this fact: Maybe he was wounded and captured?

We also hope that General Archita is still alive, but even if he is alive and falls into the hands of the Mesapis, he... Polydorus said, unable to continue.

Davos understood what he meant: Archita, as the main leader of the Tarantum army, and the Mesapis fought against him, he had almost no victory, especially this time against Manduria and Brindisi, What a blow to the Messapi people, I am afraid that the Messapi people can't wait to drink his blood and eat his flesh! If it really falls into their hands this time, the fate of Archita can be imagined!