ancient greece mediterranean ruler

Chapter 208 The Battle of Trionto River ([-])
Although the light armored soldiers are "lightly armored", they have "armor" after all, and they also have leather shields and spears in their hands. How can they catch up with the enemy in single clothes?But once they stop, the enemy's long-range attacks will begin.

What's even more worrying is that the enemy in the middle gradually divides into three parts while the light armored soldiers are advancing: one part is pulling the light armored soldiers in the formation, and the other two parts go around to both sides of the light armored soldiers.

As the light armor advanced, the flanks were attacked by the enemy.If you look at the front, you can't take care of the left and right, and if you look at the left and right, you can't protect the front.Crotone's light armored soldiers rampaged recklessly like a wild boar. Not only did they not hurt the enemy, but their own casualties increased bit by bit...

"Where's the cavalry?! Why haven't the cavalry come yet! What are Alithosis doing!!" Seeing the soldiers fall one by one, Philadephos became impatient and couldn't help but curse. This was his first time. I realized how uncomfortable it is to fight with pure infantry against an enemy composed entirely of light infantry.You can't hit it, you can't catch it, but you become a target for the enemy.

"Back to the left! Back to the left!!" He shouted, and the escort also shouted. During the previous pursuit, the excited soldiers could not hear what he was shouting. Now everyone is gathered together. The regiment, carefully avoiding arrows and stones, was beginning to feel a little frightened and tired. Philadephos's order was exactly what they wanted, and the light armored soldiers retreated in a hurry.

Unexpectedly, Dionia's light infantry pursued them like maggots attached to their bones.

Philadephus's original intention was to retreat to the left and join the heavy infantry on the left, so that with their presence, they could protect the flanks of the light armor and reduce casualties before the cavalry returned from victory.At this moment, Philadephos still firmly believed that the Crotone cavalry would win.

However, he was in the battle, but he didn't know that the heavy infantry on the left that he thought would be behind him on the left had actually been diverted by the light infantry on the enemy's right. They deliberately retreated bit by bit to the northwest, making the movement slow. The heavy infantry unknowingly changed from facing north to advancing northwest. As a result, the distance between Crotone's center and left wing became wider and wider.

The light armored troops quickly retreated for a while. Not only did they fail to rendezvous with the left wing, but they were unable to provide better protection during the retreat, resulting in a rapid increase in casualties.Now they were forced to turn around again, using their leather shields to protect themselves, and slowly retreated, avoiding the dense incoming arrows. They looked at the increasing number of injured and fallen comrades on the ground in front of them, whose throats were cut by the enemy's last stabs. The morale of the light armored soldiers was wavering.

At this time, they heard the sound of horse hooves behind them. They could not look back because they had to avoid the arrows, but they all let out a sigh of relief: "Cavalry! Our cavalry is finally here!!"

Philadephos was puzzled: Why did Alithosis's cavalry run behind? !Didn't I tell him that after defeating the enemy's left wing, let him lead the cavalry to flank the enemy on the opposite side?He has no ability at all! !When he was getting angry, someone yelled: "Javelin! Be careful with the javelin! They are enemies!!"

Along with this exclamation, hundreds of javelins roared and attacked from behind.

Philadelphus was at the rear of the array and wore a colorful general's helmet. Of course he became the target of the attack, and he was immediately hit by three javelins.When Philadephus fell, he never understood until his death: Why did the superior Crotone cavalry fail?
The cavalry that had high hopes turned out to be the enemy's!This became the last straw for the light armored soldiers. They lost their fighting spirit and fled in all directions. Dionysia's light infantry and cavalry took advantage of the opportunity to pursue them. It was impossible for the light armored soldiers to outrun these poorly equipped light infantry, let alone the cavalry. Speed, after being overtaken, most of the soldiers chose to surrender.

After solving Crotone's right-wing cavalry and the light armor in the center, the Dionysians concentrated all their efforts on dealing with the most difficult heavy infantry.

When more than 3000 Crotone heavy infantry were surrounded by more than 7000 Dionian light infantry and cavalry, these heavy infantry knew that their center and left flank might be in danger, especially the cavalry of Lades held high The head of Philadephus surrounded the formation of heavy infantry and shouted for them to surrender. One can imagine the blow to the hearts of these Crotones.

The general commanding this heavy infantry was Philos from Crotone, and his lieutenant was Pausaleus, the general of Cyridium. Faced with such a bad situation, the two had a dispute.

Philos believes that the damage caused by the light infantry to them is not too great. As long as they can persist in advancing to the crossing point of the main force in front and assist the large forces in defeating the Dionian army, the final victory still belongs to Crotone.

Pausaleus believed that the morale of the soldiers was already very low when they were completely surrounded and attacked, and the destination they had to reach was at least six or seven miles away. With the current situation of the soldiers, it was almost impossible to persist in reaching the west. The Bushe River section on the front.

Neither party could convince the other and eventually parted ways.Pausaleus led a total of 1700 Silitin soldiers and some Trina soldiers, and began to retreat, preparing to return to the south bank of the Tricento River; Philos led 1400 Crotone heavy infantry and began to accelerate westward.

Crotone's sudden division of troops caused trouble for several generals of Dionia.

Ledes and Zipit believed that the heavy infantry advancing westward should be surrounded with heavy troops and a small number of troops should be used to drive away the retreating enemies.

Epithenes objected. He believed: Since the enemy has retreated, it shows that they are not strong in fighting spirit. As long as we continue to pursue and attack, they will inevitably surrender. Only then can we re-encircle the remaining heavy infantry to completely annihilate the enemy and implement the next plan. It will be easier to get up.His opinion was supported by Zantiparis.

The situation is urgent and there is no time to argue.Dionia's troops were also divided into two, with Epithenes and Zantiparis leading their troops to pursue the retreating heavy infantry.

The Siliting and Trina people do not have a strong fighting spirit. They are not Crotones and do not have much conflict of interest with Dionia.Although the citizens of Xiliting suffered a lot of casualties in the raid on Dionysia half a year ago, they participated in the war mainly because of the covenant, and by the way, they made some profits, and revenge for the dead citizens was only second.But when the war situation is bad and threatens their lives, of course they will not fight hard.They welcome the division of troops. They thought that the attention of the Dionian light infantry would be on the Crotones who were advancing westward, but they did not expect that the Dionians were still chasing them, and there were a large number of them .Panicked, they had just arrived at the stepping place in the lower reaches of the Trivento River, remembering that they had paid a big price when crossing the river before, and now that there are more enemies and the attack will be more violent, their hearts are chilled to the bottom of their hearts.

The Trina surrendered first, and then the Cilitines at the head of Pausalius surrendered.

The Crotone heavy infantry said they were going to speed up, but in fact the speed was not much faster than before.Although the hoplites are well protected, it does not mean that they are not afraid of long-range strikes from bows, arrows, javelins, and stones. The impact of stones on their helmets will make them dizzy. Their thighs, toes, and hands are exposed, so they must be careful with bows and arrows. The linen breastplate could not completely block the close-range heavy blows of the javelin.Of course, the large round shields with a diameter of one meter and covered with copper in their hands can completely withstand frontal attacks. However, there are enemies not only on the front, but also on the sides and rear. How to defend against them?
It is only six miles away from the Crotone army. It usually takes an hour to march normally. Now half an hour has passed and we have walked less than a mile... People are constantly falling down with arrows and bullets. They are like a The giant beast was constantly bitten and bled by the agile wolves. It became weaker and weaker and more exhausted. There was no hope ahead, but the enemy's arrows and javelins were always so abundant (Davos asked The Castellon people donated all the arrows and javelins that they had accumulated for many years in the arsenal and transported them to the rear of the battlefield on pack animals), so when Epithenes and Zantiparis returned with their troops, they took the captured Siliting, When Trina's flag was thrown in front of the Crotone heavy infantry to recruit surrender, the shaky morale of the Crotones, who were surrounded and always defending themselves against long-range attacks, was finally broken.At the time of their surrender, fewer than a thousand soldiers remained intact.

.....................

Alsinis, who was a new recruit half a year ago, is now a squad leader of the First Legion. He is in charge of nine soldiers, six of whom are reserve citizens and new recruits.

It can be imagined that the Dionian army has expanded rapidly in the past six months, and of course it has caused many problems. Especially in such a tragic battle, the quality of the heavy infantry on both sides gradually became apparent over time.A heavy infantryman is not just a qualified heavy infantryman who wears armor, can hit with a shield, and stab with a spear. The most important thing for a heavy infantryman in a battle is trust and tacit understanding.In a closely arranged front, a heavy infantryman holds a shield in his left hand and a gun in his right hand. The heavy copper buckler will cause him to lean to the left with his body, and the buckler will naturally protect his left chest and left side. The right chest of his comrade on the side, and his right chest was protected by the comrade on the right with a shield. In this way, the shield surfaces were connected in a line, which protected him from the enemy's poke. He needed to move the round shield back and forth. This action not only consumes physical strength, but also It is easy to disrupt the array. He only needs to focus on two actions, the constant jab with his right hand and the pushing forward. Therefore, trusting your teammates and trusting him to protect you is the key to the successful operation of the heavy infantry phalanx.

The citizens of a city-state are at least several thousand, and at most tens of thousands. They are either neighbors or relatives. They play together since childhood, receive heavy infantry training from their elders when they are young, participate in competitions and study together, and work together as adults. Attend a party together... Although there are not many public collective military trainings in the city-state every year, trust comes from their upbringing since childhood. As long as they stand on the battlefield, they will naturally stand together and become a rope.

　Thanks to book friend 161212140639474 and Perfect Shrouding God’s Tomb for the reward!Your support is my biggest motivation for writing!
　　Tonight, my good friends went abroad to see each other off and have a party, so I came back late, so the update will be late, sorry!
　　
　
(End of this chapter)