ancient greece mediterranean ruler

Chapter 270 Death of Archita

This time, Timogras shot himself in the foot. Retreating during a battle, even a small part, was very dangerous. If he was not careful, it would lead to the overall defeat.

Fortunately, the Tarantum soldiers were in a state of complete defense for a long time. When the enemy in front of them had disappeared, most of them had not yet fully reacted.Seeing the enemy retreat in front of them, revealing a large gap, the extremely tired Tarantum soldiers could not believe their eyes, but they were also ecstatic.

"The enemy was repulsed by us!!!"

"The enemy escaped! We...we won!!!"

How could the soldiers who were in the battlefield and have been shrouded in the shadow of death for more than an hour think so much, just like a drowning person who is about to drown even if he just sees a floating straw, they must hold on tightly. Cheering, joy seemed to replace fatigue.They rushed out of the gap desperately, which also caused the adjacent soldiers to follow them and run outside involuntarily.

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

"Everyone, stop! Don't mess up! Keep your formation and rush out again!..." Archita desperately tried to calm down the chaotic soldiers, but it was in vain.On the contrary, the Puchetti people increased their offensive intensity, forcing the Tarantum people to speed up and flee towards the gap. Archita was also pushed towards the gap by the crowded flow of people.

"General, it's useless, let's run away quickly!" the adjutant advised eagerly.

The soldiers whose fighting spirit was shaken were completely unable to withstand the all-out attack of the Puchetti people, and the casualties began to increase.The continuous screams reached Archita's ears, making him even more anxious. Seeing that the guards around him also looked panicked, he had to cheer up and shouted angrily: "Follow me and get out." !Follow me and fight out!!..."

Archita attempted to direct the soldiers to concentrate their forces and charge westward, trying to expand the gap and even defeat the Iglatians so that more people could escape the encirclement.However, on one side were the victorious enemies and on the other were soldiers who had no fighting spirit. Most of them just ran away and ignored his orders.

Tarantum's citizen soldiers still lack training and experience!He sighed sadly in his heart, and at this time he was still thinking in his mind: What would Davos do if he led the Dionian army to face this situation?
Just when he was distracted, the guards were already surrounding him, and they rushed out of the gap under the push of the soldiers.

"General, let's run away!" the adjutant urged urgently.

Escape, where can you escape to?In Archie's field of vision: in the distance, groups of enemy cavalry are galloping on the flat field, using javelins and spears to reap the lives of the Tarantum soldiers who are only fleeing for their lives; nearby, several groups of enemy cavalry are galloping He rushed towards him aggressively, yelling something...

"It's a pity that I haven't completed the research on the lifting equipment..." Archita sighed again. Academically, he had regrets. Politically, he had always admired that the Greek city-states in southern Italy should unite to fight against foreign enemies, and this ideal , Dionia seems to be completing...

At this moment, he put all attachment and regret behind him, drew out his saber, took the lead, and rushed towards the enemy...

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

As the sun sets in the west, tired birds return to their nests, the dust and fog on the battlefield clear away, the sound of killing fades away, leaving only corpses scattered across the fields and blood flowing on the poles.

Tremoni, accompanied by General Timogras and Puchetti, came to Archita's body.

The Greek mathematical genius and the young military general who had high hopes from the people of Tarantum had three javelins in his body and fell among the corpses of several horses.The strange thing is that there is no pain or anger on his gray face, but is very peaceful...

"I thought he was some great person, but he was just a young man with no beard!" General Puchetti muttered disdainfully.

Tremoni stared at him until he shut up.

He gazed at Archyta's body, and after a moment said: "Cut off his head, and show the Greeks of Brindisi, and bury his body."

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

It was not until late at night that a small number of soldiers tried their best to escape back to Tarantum. Only then did the people learn that all 6000 soldiers had been wiped out. The whole city fell into great grief.

Compared with the failure of the battle, the sacrifice of a large number of citizens, and the unknown whereabouts of Archita, the Senate was even more shocked by the alliance between Pucetti and Messape, which doubled the pressure on Tarentum.

The Tarantum Senate held an emergency meeting late at night. It was discovered that the failure of this battle had reduced the number of the Senate by nearly one-twentieth, because at least six senators, including Archita, had accompanied the army so far. No news.

With grief, everyone discussed how to deal with the difficult situation ahead.After this battle, Brindisi will be besieged by the Messape-Pucetti coalition, and the main force of the Pucetti still surrounds Manduria.With the casualties of nearly 6000 young and strong citizens, coupled with the continuous fighting in the past few months, the losses of the Tarantum citizen soldiers have reached up to 6000 people, which can be said to be broken, not to mention the people trapped in two There are nearly [-] citizen soldiers in the city, so Tarantum's remaining strength is more than enough to defend and not enough to attack.

But abandoning the territory that citizens had sacrificed their blood and lives for was not only unacceptable to the senators, but also the people would never agree, so the only way was to ask for reinforcements.

But who to turn to for help became a point of contention.Now it seems that the strength of Heraclea and Metapontum, as affiliated allies, is their limit of sending 4000 people. Tarantum will face the attack of 3 to [-] people by the Mep coalition. This amount of troops is far from enough.Asking for help from a powerful city-state is Tarantum's only option, so Tarantum does not have many optional targets.

Sparta in the east is the mother state of Tarantum, and the relationship between the two has always been good. During the Peloponnesian War, Tarantum sided with Sparta, and the relationship between the two city-states was even worse. The friendship added weight, which was the choice of some conservative elders headed by the consul Diomeras; Dionia in the west, as an ally of Tarantum, quickly became a country with The alliance of six cities and two affiliated city-states almost never failed in the battles. In one of them, an army of 2 people was dispatched. Its strength was evident. It was able to deal with the large number of Mapu coalition forces. This was another ruling power. The opinions of Guanyoumachus and some senators; some senators also mentioned Syracuse in the south. Due to the relationship with Sparta, there is still some contact between Tarantum and Syracuse, but as a big city As a Greek city-state, Tarantum was also wary of Syracuse's involvement in South Italian affairs. What's more, Syracuse was still fighting Carthage at this time. How could it possibly be able to assist Tarantum, so it was not considered. .

At the end of the discussion, most people tended to ask Dionia for help.As Umacus said: "When Davos, the governor of Dionia, was still the mercenary leader, we Tarantum selflessly helped them. Archita led our citizen soldiers to help them defeat When they secretly occupied Amendolara, we took the risk of offending other Magna Greek city-states and selflessly helped them, recognized the legitimacy of their occupation of Amendolara, and provided them with Food, protect them from the attack of Thurii; when Thurii was burned, when Dionia was attacked by Crotone, it was we who extended our friendly hands to them... It is because of Tarantum's selfless help time and time again that the Dionian City-State Alliance exists today (of course, Umarcas directly ignored the fact that Tarantum did not send reinforcements in accordance with the covenant)! We The people of Tarantum will not ask for anything in return just because they have given favors to others. But we should also give the Dionians, who enjoy our help and have been uneasy in their hearts, a chance to repay us!..."

"That's right, Lord Consul! We should generously give Dionia a chance to repay us!..." In fact, regardless of the distance between city-states and the current strength, Dionia is asking for help. The best choice is that there is an alliance between the two states, and Sparta is still involved in the Persian war.Such hesitation was only caused by Tarantum's shame in sending troops to aid Dionia several times in the past, and its reserve as a powerful country with a long history in Magna Greece.Umarchus' tactful words satisfied the vanity of the senators, and finally reached a consensus on asking for help.

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

"Achita is dead?!" Davos looked in disbelief.

"Yes, Lord Consul. This morning, several soldiers who fled back to Tarantum said that they saw the Messapians carrying away the body of General Archita on the battlefield..." Tarantum The messenger Polydorus said with a deep tone.

"How can a group of soldiers who are busy running for their lives see clearly?!" Davos still didn't want to believe this fact: "Maybe he was injured and captured?"

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

Davos understood what he meant: As Archita was the main leading general of Tarantum's army, the Messapians had almost never won a battle against him, especially this time when they attacked Manduria and Brindisi. What a blow to the Mesapian people, the Mesapian people probably want to drink his blood and eat his flesh!If it really falls into their hands this time, Archita's fate can be imagined!

　Thanks to Li Shibin, Big Book Fan of Wind and Rain, Lao Pao and Shuangguan for their rewards!Your support is my biggest motivation for writing! !

　　
　
(End of this chapter)