ancient greece mediterranean ruler

Chapter 1136 The Battle of Leuctra (continued)

"The Spartans will be defeated by us!" Ipamilonda's strong confidence infected the generals around him, and they quickly led their troops to follow Ipamilonda's plan and began to arrange formations in front of the camp.

Since the Boeotian coalition had fewer soldiers, the length of their entire array was shorter than that of the Spartan coalition, and its thickness was also very thin.The only exception is the left wing, because its front line is the Theban holy troops led by Pelopidas, followed by the Theban heavy infantry led by Epamilondas, whose column thickness is as high as 50 columns.

Moreover, Ipamilonda deliberately waited until the right wing and center were lined up before starting to arrange the left wing.As soon as the left wing was in formation, he ordered the attack horn to sound, leaving the Spartans no time to adjust their formation even if they felt something was wrong.

The bugle sounded, and the Holy Army led by Pelopidas led the entire left wing to advance rapidly, while the troops in the center and right wing deliberately slowed down under Ipamironda's prior instructions, causing the left wing to quickly break out. At the front, the entire infantry formation is like a hammer swinging hard, with the head of the hammer being the left wing.

However, it was the cavalry who first started fighting.Ipamilonda had concentrated his cavalry in front of the center in advance. Seeing this, King Cleombrotus of Sparta naturally also concentrated his cavalry in front of the center in order to confront him.

When the bugle sounded and the infantry on both sides were still advancing, the cavalry on both sides were already fighting together.The combat effectiveness of the Boeotian coalition cavalry, with the Thessalian cavalry as the main force, was obviously stronger than that of the Spartan coalition cavalry, and they were quickly defeated.

Under the intentional driving of the Boeotian coalition cavalry, the Spartan coalition cavalry had to retreat towards the center and left wing. This hindered the forward speed of these two infantry arrays and was in conflict with the Spartan phalanx on the right. Gradually disengage.

The Spartan king in the formation could not see that the formation was out of touch, but he could see that the cavalry on the side and front had been defeated. However, for the Spartans, the cavalry had never been the main force in combat. The invincibility of the Greek mainland relies on Spartan warriors who have received military training since childhood and have experienced countless battles. And at the forefront are the King's Guards. They are the elite among the elite. Being one of them can win the Spartan victory. The admiration of the Spartan people (the Spartan King's Guard has a strength of 300 people, but with the constant wars over the years, Sparta's population has dropped sharply, and this number can no longer be maintained. At this time, there are only a hundred people in the array), so Sparta King Parta, like the surrounding Spartan warriors, was unmoved by the cavalry's defeat and still firmly believed that victory ultimately belonged to them.

When they saw that the Thebans in front were not far away from them, the Spartans roared and began to charge.

At the same time, the Theban holy team also launched a charge under the leadership of Pelopidas.The weapons and equipment of the Holy Legion soldiers are no different from those of the heavy infantry behind them, but in the past few years, they have either been training or fighting, and have defeated Spartan soldiers in small-scale battles many times. Their fighting spirit is far superior to that of other Theban citizen soldiers, not to mention that they believe that fighting side by side with their lovers is the spiritual sublimation and blending of emotions. Therefore, as the charge speed accelerates, their fighting spirit also rises sharply. .

So, when the frontline heavy infantry of both sides collided suddenly, the Theban Holy Team actually fought evenly with the Spartan King's Guards in a competition of strength and skill.

But when the follow-up troops of both sides pressed forward, the gap gradually became apparent. Compared with the column of 50 people and the column of 15 people, the strength gap was obvious. This gap was reflected in the battle when the two sides pushed each other. The small Spartan side could only retreat step by step under the strong pressure, and the originally dense array gradually became looser.

The Theban soldiers bravely squeezed into the gap in an attempt to widen the gap and destroy the shield formation. They were not afraid of the Spartans' constant stabbings because they wanted to show their bravery to their lovers and defeat the Spartans. It is undoubtedly enough to boast for a lifetime, and they believe that even if they attack with all their strength and reduce their defense, their lover will resist everything for them.

The Theban Holy Team's fearless and life-or-death aggressive attack and the strong squeezing of the super-thick column caused the Spartan soldiers to continue to be injured and fall, and the array began to become fragmented. The worst thing was that their king was in trouble.

Cleombrotus, who came to the battle in person, just stabbed his lance into the chest of a Thebes Holy Soldier soldier who rushed forward. Unexpectedly, the soldier was spitting blood, but clung to the barrel of the gun, and shouted with a person's name.

Immediately afterwards, another Thebes holy soldier next to the soldier rushed up with tears in his eyes, ignoring the stabbing spears stabbed by the king's guard beside him, and rushed forward, knocking the Cliomb who was caught off guard. Lotus fell to the ground.

The King of Sparta, whose helmet rolled to one side, watched helplessly as the soldier bit his throat with a ferocious expression even though his back was pierced by several spears...

The king is dead!The Spartans built their country by force. Except for the battle of Thermopylae, where the military strength was too disparate, no king had ever died in any other battle. But today this tragedy happened. It is hard to imagine how much this affected the fighting spirit of the Spartans. .What's more, now they are facing the Thebans who are as terrifying as crazy demons. In addition, the number of people facing them head-on is less than the opponent. The Spartan warriors in Greece, who are famous for their bravery, are timid. First of all, the Helots and their subordinates The soldiers began to flee, then the Pilians, and finally the real Spartans threw away their shields and spears, turned around and fled...

The Spartan phalanx on the right was defeated, and the soldiers fled desperately back to their camp on the hill.

At this time, the center and left wing had been in contact with the enemy and had the upper hand in the battle. However, the Spartan coalition had always been centered on Spartans. Now that the Spartans were defeated, how could the allied forces still have any ideas? While fighting, they also retreated in a hurry.

Although the Theban army defeated the Spartans, the soldiers tried their best and were very tired, and the Spartan allied army was almost unscathed and still outnumbered the Theban coalition, so Ipamilonda They did not dare to continue attacking the Spartan coalition camp and withdrew their troops back to the camp.

The Battle of Leuctra ended. In this battle, about 1000 Lacedaemonians were killed, including 400 Spartan warriors. The Theban Holy Army soldiers also suffered 200 casualties, accounting for 2% of their establishment. 3/[-]. Although not many people died in the battle, the battle was actually a competition between the two city-states of Thebes and Sparta, and Thebes won.

Even many Thebans who were present on the battlefield could not believe their victory. After returning to the camp, they cheered heartily, and under the leadership of Pelopidas, they forcibly carried Ipamelonda in the camp. They marched for a week to express the joy and gratitude in their hearts.

The Spartan coalition camp was shrouded in the haze of failure. Although their number was still greater than that of the Theban coalition, the Spartan king died in the battle and the army was leaderless. Although some Spartans were unwilling to do so, they had to According to traditional practice, sending an envoy to the Theban camp to request a temporary truce so that the dead could be buried was effectively an admission of defeat.

After burying the dead, both sides sent messengers in unison.

The messenger of the Spartan coalition must rush back to Sparta as soon as possible, report the news of the defeat to the Council of Elders, and ask them to appoint a new commander and send reinforcements in order to rescue them from the territory of Boiosia.Although the slain king Cleombrotus left a safe place for them to retreat, the port of Chryuses, the demoralized army was afraid of being attacked by the Thebans and did not dare to Retreat alone, still staying in the camp on the hill.

The Thebans sent three messengers, one to Athens, one to Thessaly, and one to Dionia.

The first place the messenger arrived was Athens, because it was the closest to Thebes. When the messenger wearing a flower crown loudly announced to the Athens Council: "The Theban army defeated the Spartan army and killed the Spartan army." King Cleombrotus!..."

This shocking news caused silence in the entire venue. For these elites in Athens, Thebes' victory made them even more afraid of Thebes.

Callistratus had no idea that the Thebans could actually defeat Sparta, so he and Iphicrates questioned the messenger in detail. Although the messenger gave a relatively brief answer, it also made them feel: Although Sparta won, the result was not great. According to the character of the Spartans, they would inevitably retaliate crazily, and the intensity of the war would increase.

Although this made Callistratus secretly happy, he was also worried that Athens would be drawn back into the quagmire of war.

The second place the Theban messenger arrived was Philae. After all, the port in the north of the Boeotian region could reach Philae directly by boat, and the distance was not too far.

After Jason got the news, he danced with joy.He immediately summoned his cavalry and infantry, declaring that he was going to help his ally Thebes.

Two days later, he took 8000 infantry and 2000 cavalry and marched southward by land, heading straight for Hot Spring Pass.

Originally he thought there would be a fierce battle at Thermopylae. Unexpectedly, when the Spartan coalition led by Cleombrotus launched a large-scale attack on the Boeotian area, they had called on the troops stationed in Central Greece to come and join them. Thermopylae. Most of the Spartan garrison was sent out, but after learning the news of the failure of the battle, the soldiers who stayed behind felt that they were alone and in danger, so they took the initiative to retreat.

Jason easily occupied this very important strategic location, leaving 500 soldiers to garrison, and then led the escorting cavalry, quickly passing through the territory of the Phokis people who were incompatible with them, without waiting for the advance of the large army. .

(End of this chapter)