ancient greece mediterranean ruler

Chapter 492 Dionia’s March and Syracuse’s Negotiations

When the Second Corps was about to reach the wooden bridge over the Racoeli River, several scout cavalry sent out quickly returned from the front in a slightly panic: "Report to the commander of the corps, enemy cavalry was found in front, and the number was approximately -"

Before the detective cavalry finished speaking, the enemy cavalry had already appeared on the other side of the Rakoeli River. They were dark-skinned, with loose black hair, wearing only thin short-sleeved linen clothes, holding javelins in their hands, and bare feet. There is not even a cushion on the horse's back, but the horses appear to be nimble and flexible when they move.There were about a hundred of them, and they were fearless in the face of the huge army marching towards them. They stood quietly by the river, looking at the other bank...Amintas could feel the excitement in their eyes. Some are cunning and sinister.

Is this the Numibian cavalry? !Amyntas recalled the descriptions in the previous battle report and looked at them curiously. What arose in his heart was not fear but excitement: "Ask the light infantry brigade to send 200 archers to guard the river and attack the enemy cavalry on the other side. Get away. The other light infantry followed the first group and waited for my order to cross the bridge quickly!"

The Second Legion took action quickly, and the archers rushed to the river. Before they could release their arrows, the Numibian cavalry on the other side immediately ran away, and the Second Legion easily crossed the wooden bridge.

Just when Amyntas was considering whether to deploy the Second Army in the form of detachments, the two-line "two" formation, which was like fish scales, pushed forward in conjunction with the Seventh Army, and pushed these troops flying around like flies. When the enemy cavalry was driven away, the messenger arrived with Davos's order: ignore the cavalry, continue marching on the road, and must reach Crimesa before dusk!
Amyntas had to give up his attempt and march in column again.

At first, the Numibian cavalry rushed over from time to time on both sides of the road, making strange noises and throwing javelins. However, after the light infantry shot down several riders with bows and arrows, they became much more cautious.

After being entangled like this for a while, suddenly enemy cavalry came from the front, shouting something loudly, and then these cavalry began to retreat one after another.

Soon, these "ugly-looking" Numibians were no longer in sight of the Second Legion soldiers.

The soldiers didn't know what happened, and Amintas could vaguely guess the reason: it might be that the Dionia fleet had won another naval battle, and these mercenary cavalry were worried that the Dionia fleet would control Crotone. On the nearby sea, warships will be used to break the pontoon bridge built on the Neto River and block the Neto River. Then these mercenary cavalry who are raging in the territory of Dionia will not be able to return to the Syracuse camp and will be isolated. An abandoned son will surely be strangled in anger by the soldiers.

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

This is indeed the case. When the Numibian cavalry and the Celtic cavalry on the plains north of Croton fled across the Neto River in embarrassment, Dionian warships already appeared at the mouth of the river.

The Numibians reported back to Dionysius what they had discovered.

"Dionian reinforcements are coming? So fast?!" Fasipesas was surprised. The troops just broke through the city of Crotone yesterday, and today the Dionians came in a hurry.

"How many people are there?" Astagras asked urgently.

Akirita held out three fingers: "About 3 people."

"3..." Astagras estimated seriously: "There are about 1 Dionian soldiers in Asprostum, and nearly 1 in Crimea... Calculating this, Dionia will gather more than 5 soldiers after arriving in the territory of Crotone, which is not a small number!"

"Don't forget to count the heavy infantry on the Dionian warship." Fasipesas reminded Astagras: "The Dionian army has at least 6 troops!"

"The soldiers on the Dionian warship fought with our soldiers for a long time, and they didn't have many people left." Astagoras retorted.

"You have to admit that the Dionians were able to capture so many of our warships, which means that the loss of their soldiers is not too great." Fasipesas insisted on his opinion.

Phoebidas silently listened to the two Syracuse generals arguing about the number of troops, and couldn't help but feel a little envious in his heart: Syracuse and Dionia, two powerful forces in the Western Mediterranean, were at war. The number of soldiers dispatched was often more than 5, which was beyond the reach of Sparta and its allies.

At this time, another Numibian man next to Axilita said something loudly in Numibian.

Fasipesas immediately stopped arguing with his colleagues and asked curiously: "What did he say?"

Axilita replied: "My men said, 'Some of the enemy are wearing black armor, some are wearing the same armor as you, and some are not wearing armor at all, and they don't have weapons."

It turned out that among the reinforcements led by Davos: the soldiers of the Second Army were all formal citizens, wearing standard black helmets, black armor, bayonet, long shield, dagger, and javelin; most of the soldiers of the Seventh Army were reserve citizens and The registered free people did not have enough money to buy Dionia standard equipment, so the weapons and equipment they carried were very messy. It was not until the soldiers of Tarantum were annihilated and captured that all the soldiers of the Seventh Legion were able to replace the equipment from the tower. The heavy infantry equipment pulled from the Tarentum soldiers, including Corinthian helmets, linen breastplates, bucklers, greaves, bayonet, and sabers, and the baggage train at the rear also contained thousands of pieces of equipment also from Tarantum prisoners. The heavy infantry equipment was to be replaced by the Sixth Army stationed in Crimesa; as for the spear brigade, in order not to leak the secret, the people of Syracuse knew in advance and were on guard. After all, it was four meters long. The spears were too dazzling, so they were allowed to march empty-handed, and all the spears were transported to the port of Crimesa via cargo ships to be unloaded, thus giving the Numibians such an illusion.

"Let me tell you, how can there be so many citizen soldiers in Dionia! It turns out that they have recruited all the free people, but they do not have the ability to equip them with full weapons. No matter how many people there are, it is useless!" Aspen Tagoras glanced at Fasipesas and laughed.

Fasipesas did not quarrel with him anymore, and the look on his face was much more relaxed. As an opponent, of course he also hoped that the Dionian army would be as weak as possible.

"Blessed by Apollo, Dionia's reinforcements came just in time!" At this time, Dionysius, who had been meditating, spoke.Ever since he witnessed the navy's disastrous defeat, he had been sullen. His subordinates thought he was angry about the navy's failure, but they didn't know that he was worried about the fate of this huge army because he thought of a key issue.

Even if the Syracuse army continues to move north to attack Crimesa, Castellon, and even the southern city of Thurii, the strong offensive pressure will make the Dionysians temporarily afraid to divide their forces into their fleet. In Syracuse, The Syracuse army landed at the weak rear, but as long as the Dionysians burned the wooden bridge on the wide Craty River, the Syracuse army, which had lost its naval advantage, would not be able to cross the Craty River and attack Dionysius. The heart of the Asian Alliance - the northern city of Thurii, and once the army stops at the Craty River, Dionia, who has slowed down, may stick to the river defense line while sending a fleet to sneak attack the rear of the Syracuse army. It will inevitably make the Syracuse army exhausted, and it will even be defeated in the end.

When he thought of this possibility, Dionysius broke out in a cold sweat and began to retreat in his heart: Why not... let Phoebidas go to Thurii to negotiate peace?
In the big tent, Dionysius had glanced at the straight-backed, taciturn Spartan several times. Sparta hoped that Syracuse could end the war quickly and then vigorously assist them. , Help them quickly defeat the anti-Spartan alliance, he is very clear in his heart, but he will never do this.

If he still needed the Spartans to support him when he first became the tyrant, now that he has matured, he does not need a powerful ally to tell him what to do.On the contrary, Sparta, who was in war, would lower their arrogant heads and let Syracuse gain more benefits.

At this moment, Dionysius didn't mind taking advantage of Sparta's eagerness to achieve his own goals.What kind of peace terms are proposed?Will the young man from Dionysia accept the truce in the area currently occupied as the sphere of influence of both sides?Or return to Siliting and hand Crotone to Dionia?

Although he depleted the treasury and led such a large army, he failed to capture a city in Dionysia. Dionysius was really unwilling to do so.But as a person in power who is very good at weighing the gains and losses of interests, he was able to prevent Carthage's power from being completely driven out of Sicily when Carthage was defeated and Syracuse had an absolute advantage in Sicily. Naturally, I can also temporarily swallow this unwillingness.

Moreover, this expedition occupied so many Magna Graecia city-states, almost controlling the southern part of Magna Greece, preventing the expansion of Dionysian forces to the south, and the strength of Syracuse has been greatly increased. In fact, Dionysius's mission had already achieved half of its purpose.As long as we go back, strengthen the navy, and wait until the treasury is full, then attack Magna Graecia again. I believe that Dionia will be destroyed!
However, just when he wanted to retreat and wanted to cease war with Dionia through the Spartans, he heard the news that the Dionia army was coming to help. After listening to the discussions of his men, he changed again I came up with an idea: Although the Syracuse Navy failed, the astonishing number of the army was victorious in consecutive battles, their morale was high, and they were all experienced citizen soldiers and mercenaries. Unlike Dionia, which could be matched by free civilians, In comparison, if you can completely defeat the Dionians in a battle, you can turn the tide of the battle and make Dionians pay a greater price!
(End of this chapter)