ancient greece mediterranean ruler

Chapter 322 Reconnaissance Before the Battle of Punate River

Davos originally had no intention of fighting the Bruti Alliance at this moment, so he chose to camp here.At the same time, he believed that the Bruti Alliance had experienced the failure of the siege the day before yesterday.I would be more cautious, abandoning the geographical advantage, and the possibility of marching dozens of miles to challenge was not high, but I didn't expect that the enemy would actually come.Now that you’re here, let’s fight!

The strength of both sides is equal. Although half of the soldiers in the Dionian army may be a little tired from building camps, this is not a reason to avoid fighting.The enemies came out in droves, and Davos just wanted what he wanted. He stood up suddenly and asked: "How is the construction of the camp going?"

"The trench has been dug and the earthen fortress is being built." Tormid replied, and then asked: "Do we need to ask the soldiers to retreat behind the trench?"

Davos waved his hand in refusal.The Dionian Legion has always been focused on offense. Although trenches can increase the difficulty of the enemy's attack, they also limit our own offensive capabilities and prevent the soldiers' morale from being fully utilized. He will not do this except under special circumstances. .

"Blow the assembly bugle, and then call the two legion commanders Capus and Dracos, as well as the cavalry captain Ledes... By the way, Epithenes and Zipit are also called. "Davos gave the order.

"Yes." Tormid quickly rushed to deliver the order.

"Are we going to fight the Brutians here?" Triphias was a little nervous.

"Yes, it seems that the end of the war with Bruti is coming sooner!" Davos smiled confidently, Triphias was infected by his smile, relaxed, and performed a Greek military salute: " Then please allow me to gather my soldiers first."

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Pianlon led the army towards the Punate River, climbed over a high slope, and descended to a wide and flat grassland.On the grass, countless Greeks were gathering and forming an array. From a height, it looked like a heap of ants whose nests had been dug out, a messy scene that made him feel a little contemptuous.

"Stop advancing and prepare to form an array!" he immediately gave the order.

Although the Greek formation did not yet have a prototype, he stood on a high slope and looked down, and he also had a general impression: The right side of the Dionians is the intersection of the Punat River and the Craty River, all the way to the left It is a flat grassland without any terrain obstacles, and behind it is a mess of pits dug by them.

After watching for a while, he made a decision in his mind: due to the difficulty of walking on the side of the river, and little room for attack and maneuver, he placed 5000 tribal fighters forcibly recruited from various tribes on the left flank; and more than 5000 warriors from Vig City; on the right wing are 1 warriors from Cosenza.

Obviously, he wanted to use his largest and most powerful Cosenza warriors to establish victory on the right wing.

What Pianlun originally wanted was to take advantage of the enemy's disorganization and quickly form a position to attack!
But with more than 2 troops from different tribes, if they want to form a formation in a short time, they need a complete command system, long-term military training and very disciplined soldiers. The Brutis could not meet the requirements, so the entire army began to slowly deploy in a chaotic state of horn blowing, military drums, people shouting, pushing each other, and making noise.

Pianlun was leisurely observing the enemy's movements while waiting for his own formation to be completed.But after a while, his face looked a little ugly.

Because the Dionians who were in a mess just now quickly formed "small squares" one by one, and then these countless small squares moved to fixed positions quickly but without interfering with each other like building blocks.Soon, Dionia's formation began to take shape.

It was a formation that Pianlun had never seen before. The "small squares" were not close together, but had many gaps.Looking from top to bottom, it looks like pieces of green and white woolen blankets (because the linen breastplate is white).Although Pianren didn't know how powerful such a strange formation was, the speed of the Dionians' formation still made him feel uneasy.

He loudly said to Petalu beside him: "Go and urge Bogam to make them move faster!"

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The chaos of the Dionia array that Pianlon first saw was the moment when the soldiers of the First Legion hurriedly crawled out of the hot camp, put on each other's armor, and returned to their own team.Now that the formation has begun to unfold, Davers' slightly nervous mood has calmed down.

"Commander, our right wing is still in formation and has not been deployed yet!" Tormid came anxiously to report.

"Don't worry, there are Allied troops and legion reserves on the right wing. The sources of soldiers are the most mixed." Davers rode on his horse and looked to the left: In late autumn, it hadn't rained for more than ten days in a row, and the land was dry. The movement of Wan soldiers has already stirred up dust all over the sky, and there is no trace of the situation on the right wing.

Davos said with a leisurely expression: "Triphias did not rush to form the formation, but reorganized the troops first, which made me feel relieved."

He pointed his finger forward: "Look, the Brutis didn't move on the grassy slope, and they were probably in formation. It just gave us time to let the soldiers of the First Legion take a rest and recover a little bit of energy."

Tormid looked intently: the front 500 meters away was also filled with dust and mist...

"Go to inform Laides." Davos ordered again: "Let him send seven or eight cavalry units to harass the enemy's left, center, and right lanes, slow down their formation speed, and observe their response at the same time. Come back and report to me."

"Yes."

"Wait a minute. Tell Leders that I'm talking about harassment, not a fight. If the enemy's cavalry comes after you, retreat immediately and don't let the cavalry get damaged!" Davos warned repeatedly.

"Understood, my lord."

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"Boys, follow closely!"

"Uncle, we can run faster than you without riding a horse."

"You brat, your skin is itchy, aren't you? I'll look good on you when you go back."

"Captain, you should have done this a long time ago!"

The cavalry detachment led by Solikos had crossed the entire battlefield and reached the Punate River amidst a burst of laughter.

"Stop!" Thorikos laid his spear horizontally, and the entire detachment stopped advancing.

"Get off your horse!"

"Why, captain?! We haven't reached the enemy's line yet!" the cavalry shouted.

"Obey the order!" shouted Thorikos.

Although the cavalry were reluctant, they were forced to do so due to military regulations, but they shouted in dissatisfaction: "Captain, other units have already thrown javelins at the enemy, do you want us to be deserters?!"

"Shut up! Our detachment was ordered to harass the enemy's left wing. We have run the longest distance. The horses are also a little tired. Let them rest for a while so that they can complete the task better! I will lead you out and lead you smoothly. go back!"

"Okay, Captain, we listen to you. But how long do we have to wait?!"

"Wait for my order."

The cavalrymen had no choice but to pat their restless horses while observing the gray battlefield ahead, watching their teammates in the distance sometimes rush into the dust and mist, and sometimes withdraw with their horses... Screams and screams were heard. It made them feel itchy in their ears.

Time passed so slowly, and just when they were getting a little impatient, Solikos's shout, "Mount the horse!" was like rain after a long drought, which cheered them up.

The 50 war horses stepped forward and began to trot, gradually forming a wedge shape as they advanced.

Thorikos was at the front. He raised his spear and waved it forward twice: "Accelerate!"

In front is a 30-meter-high grass slope. Although it is not steep, it is necessary to prevent the cavalry from slowing down when going up the slope and being attacked by the enemy.

The horses were flying with all four hooves, and the cavalry hugged the horses' necks tightly and leaned forward to speed up the speed of the horses going uphill.

Solikos was the first to jump up the grassy slope. A few tens of meters away, there were dense brutes stretching out from the bank of the Punate River. I don’t know how far it is. One row, two rows, three rows... It is also difficult to count how thick their phalanx is.

Solikos felt like he was standing in front of the enemy's formation, like an ant standing in front of an elephant. The invisible huge pressure accumulated in his chest, making him feel a little out of breath.He took a deep breath, drew out a short javelin, clamped his legs under the horse's belly, and the horse accelerated again.

The cavalry followed.

50 meters, 40 meters, 30 meters... The raised horseshoes fell on the cracked soil, as if drumsticks were hitting the drum head, making a sound of "Da da! Da da!", coupled with the rapid forward movement of the cavalry detachment. , actually caused quite a stir, causing waves of commotion in the Bruti array that had just been set up.

Just as the Bruti warriors were pushing each other and exclaiming in alarm, Solikos threw out his javelin, and then dozens of javelins plunged into the enemy's formation, and screams rang out one after another.

The Brutians became more chaotic, some retreated in panic, and some rushed forward angrily...

Solikos swung his spear to the left, led the cavalry detachment to quickly turn left more than 20 meters away from the enemy's position, and ran forward along the front of the Bruti array.Wherever it went, it was like a stone hitting calm water, and the ripples it caused would not subside for a while. At the same time, the enemy's panic and confusion were all reflected in Thorikos's eyes. He felt that his mission had been accomplished. Decisively ordered: "Turn left!"

As soon as the cavalry turned around and returned, the Bruti cavalry arrived and gave chase.

The Dionian light infantry rushed to respond in time, and drove back hundreds of Bruti cavalry with javelins.

Davers cleverly used the "fire reconnaissance" of the cavalry to make the various units of the Bruti array react on the opposite side. Through Leders's report, he had a general understanding of Bruti's array.Judging from the performance in dealing with cavalry harassment, Bruti's left wing was the worst, while the strongest was the right wing, which cost Dionia's cavalry more than a dozen cavalry casualties.Obviously, the Brutian people had the same idea as Davos. They both arranged the weakest troops on the side of the river and the strongest troops on the outside. After all, this was in line with the principles of the art of war.

　Thanks for the tip of Zhenzhenran and Shucaibao!Your support is my biggest motivation for writing! !

　　
　
(End of this chapter)