ancient greece mediterranean ruler

Chapter 1176 Battle of Tegea ([-])
Suddenly, Agesilaus's body swayed a few times and he almost fell. The servant quickly supported him.

In order to boost his morale and observe the enemy's situation, he stood for a long time, and his aging body could no longer support him. He could only sit helplessly on the wooden chair that had been prepared.

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The commander of the Dionysian army, Clotokatax, was equally nervous. He faced such a large-scale battle for the first time commanding a battle, and his opponent was the Greek overlord Sparta.

Looking at the dazzling light wall extending infinitely to both sides in the distance ahead, Crotokartax felt invisible pressure. He knew that his order would determine the life and death of thousands of Dionian soldiers. So I have been hesitating.

"Your Highness, the soldiers have almost rested and can give the order to attack." Printors stepped forward and reminded softly.

"Uh... do you want to wait a little longer?" Clotokatax said with a guilty conscience.

Printors deliberately looked up at the sky, and then said: "If we wait any longer, I'm afraid today's battle will have to be cancelled. If I miss this opportunity, I don't know if I can capture the Spartan army for a battle next time. When is it, but the situation will become increasingly unfavorable to us..."

Printors' words made Clotokatax's expression change. He was silent for a moment, then gritted his teeth and said, "Then attack!"

"Woo!...Woo!..." The powerful and high-pitched bugle sound echoed on the west side of the Tegea Plain.

The military flags at all levels that were originally erected high in the array pointed to the east as the bugle sounded.

"Move forward!" Like other team officers, Max gave the order to the soldiers in his unit.

The soldiers of the detachment shouted excitedly, pulled out the long shields stuck in the soil, and carried them on their backs (in order to save the strength of the soldiers and facilitate marching, the weapons merchants, in accordance with the requirements of the Ministry of Military Affairs, placed the long shields on their backs. An extra long strip of cloth was added to the inside. With it, the soldiers could carry their long shields on their shoulders, holding bayonets and javelins, and move forward steadily with the soldiers of other detachments.

The battle is about to begin, and Max is a little excited, but the level of excitement is far less than that of his Greek soldiers. He knows that it is because they are eager to defeat the Spartan warriors who have dominated Greece for decades to prove that Dionia The Greek citizens of the kingdom are the strongest warriors in the Greek world, so Max does not have to worry about the fighting spirit of the soldiers.

"The Dionians have begun to attack." Agesilaus heard the bugle sound coming from the opposite side and breathed a sigh of relief unconsciously. Facing the mercenary general who came to ask for instructions, he still did not panic. He said calmly: "Don't rush to blow the attack bugle first, let the Dionysians advance a little further, so that when we engage in battle, Tegea City will be behind them."

As the Dionian soldiers slowly advanced, rows of wheat seedlings fell down, and the originally linear Dionian military formation gradually became more layered: the brisk light infantry had passed through the checkerboard of heavy infantry. The formation walked in front; followed by the cavalry at both ends. Although they had not let their horses run in order to save horsepower, they still walked faster than the heavy infantry.

The Dionian light infantry spread out in a loose formation at the forefront of the left, center, and right routes. When they were about two miles away from the Spartan army, Agesilaus, who got the news, finally ordered the attack. The command.

The left wing is made up of Spartan warriors wearing red cloaks, the center is mainly made up of mercenaries, and the right wing is made up of mercenary soldiers who have just withdrawn from the siege not long ago. In addition to the thickness of the right wing, which is 10 columns, the thickness of the arrays in the center and left wing has been increased to 20 Column, with Macedonian cavalry at both ends... It seems that Agesilaus has set up the most traditional Greek phalanx, and is going to have the most formal Greek heavy infantry battle with the Dionysian army. The only difference is that Countless light infantry passed through the gaps in the array, also facing the front in a loose formation.

Agesilaus knew something about the Dionysian army. He knew that the Dionysian army was good at using light infantry to attack first in battles to disrupt the opponent's array, so he had previously specially asked the generals to recruit mercenaries. Recruiting more light infantry is to counteract and weaken the Dionian light infantry in battle.

"What did you say? The other side has a lot of slingers!" Clotokatax was surprised after hearing the scout's report.

"Yes, Your Highness. The enemy threw a large number of flying rocks at our light infantry from a distance, causing injuries to some soldiers."

"I think the Spartans may have recruited some Rhode Island slingers." Staff officer Muklu made the speculation and sighed regretfully: "It's a pity that the original slingers in our First Army They’ve all retired!”

"Damn it! I should have asked my father to send some Balearic people before!" Clotokatax regretted it at this time.

After the southern region of Iberia was merged into the Kingdom of Dionia, the Balearic Islands naturally surrendered to Dionia.Davos allowed them to govern themselves, and at the same time generously promised to solve their food shortage problem, but also made a requirement: Bali Ali must provide no less than 2000 slingers if the war requires it.

"Your Highness, there is no need to worry." Printors said with relief: "The Spartan light infantry is made up of improvised materials and is not as well-trained as our soldiers. They just took advantage of the distance and took advantage of it. I think Soon our light infantry will give them a hard time."

Clotokatax was doubtful, but at least he felt a little more relaxed.

Soon after the light infantry on both sides engaged in battle, the cavalry on both sides also began to accelerate. Although the high wheat seedlings hindered the running of the horses, the cavalry at this time did not have time to think too much. Soon the cavalry on both sides Rushed together.

At both ends of the array, there are 1000 Dionian cavalry vs. 750 Macedonian cavalry. Although the Dionian cavalry has a numerical advantage, the Macedonian cavalry is as dominant as the Thessalian cavalry in mainland Greece, regardless of cavalry. His skills, fighting spirit, and fighting ability are not weak.

Although the First Cavalry Corps is "number one" in name, unlike the Infantry Corps, its combat effectiveness cannot surpass other regiments, even the newly-built Fifth Cavalry Corps, Sixth Cavalry Corps and Seventh Cavalry Corps in recent years. The legion is even stronger than it, because the fifth cavalry legion is located in Iberia, and its main soldiers come from the conquered Lusitanian cavalry; the sixth cavalry legion is located in the Po River area, and its soldiers are all Gallic cavalry; as for the seventh cavalry legion, The cavalry corps is located in Hadrumentum, but it does not have fixed personnel in peacetime. Instead, it requires the tribes of West Numbia to provide 3000-4000 cavalry when needed. It is the only light cavalry corps in the kingdom. It is also the largest cavalry regiment.

Therefore, the legion commander Cuccius, who took office the year before last, felt the pressure and increased the intensity of training for the cavalry (Leders chose to retire due to his age and injuries, and could no longer ride a horse for a long time).

At this time, in a short period of time, the cavalry battle could not determine the winner.

The news was sent back to the command center behind the Dionysian army. In order to prevent Crotoka Tax from worrying again, Printors took the initiative and said: "The reason why your Majesty did not send too many cavalry was because Burrow There are many mountains in Pennesa but few plains, so there is not much room for the cavalry to play. Moreover, the army's cross-sea expedition originally consumed a lot of food. The cavalry consumes even more food. The Greek cavalry is not strong in the first place, so only one was sent. The cavalry corps, it is not the main force for our victory."

"The main force for victory is our infantry regiment!" Crotokatax looked forward expectantly. As the entire army continued to move forward, the dust and mist stirred up began to fill the air, making the sight blurry. It was a little blurry, but the screams kept coming and became more and more clear.

The Dionysian light infantry, which had suffered some small losses, speeded up and shortened the distance between them and the enemy. Then the archers used their superb shooting skills acquired from years of hard training to attack the enemy. The Cretan archers could only be embarrassed. Confront it.

The harpooners took the opportunity to rush forward, narrowed the distance to within 30 meters, and threw javelins, but they were counterattacked by the large number of Thracian light shield soldiers.

Compared with the total number of only 3000 Dionian light infantry (the light infantry brigade of the Seventh Legion remained in the camp), the Spartan coalition devoted more than twice as many people to the light infantry battle. They are not weak in ability, but they are put together temporarily. Not only do they lack tacit understanding of cooperation and sometimes cause mutual obstacles, but they also lack experience in large-scale front-line light infantry battles. Therefore, the small number of Dionian light infantry relies on flexible Movement and skilled tactical coordination take the initiative.

As the distance between the two armies became closer and closer, the Spartan coalition light infantry, who were worried about being squeezed in the formation, hurriedly withdrew from the formation.The Dionysian light infantry still stayed in front of the battle without fear, and turned to conduct long-range attacks on the Spartan coalition heavy infantry who were slowly advancing.

Although the arrows falling from the sky didn't do much damage to them, they could slow down their progress and disrupt their formation, but the heavy javelins thrown by them threatened their lives.

Unable to dodge, the mercenary heavy infantry in front of the array were forced to start running before they were within charging distance, making the already crooked line even more uneven.

The Dionian light infantry quickly withdrew from the gaps in the rear checkerboard array, and the small square arrays quickly closed up to form a unified array, and then the officers shouted: "Javelin ready!"

At this time, most of the soldiers of the Spartan coalition had already rushed within 40 meters, no sooner or later, and the time was just right. This was the result of the long-term and hard training of the Dionysian Legion.

(End of this chapter)