ancient greece mediterranean ruler

Chapter 203 Before the Battle
Chapter 1

The next morning, reinforcements from Silitin and Trina arrived, and Crotone also received intelligence from Thurii: About 8000 reinforcements from Amendolara arrived at Turii, and the troops from the Sybari plain arrived. Dionia citizens gradually entered the square to gather. It was reported that there were about [-] people, and then stationed in the military camp in the north of Thurii City. No further actions were seen. Dionia seemed to be still waiting for the news from Niutum and Laos. of reinforcements.

This news prompted Milon to decide to take immediate action. With his active promotion, the council passed a resolution to attack Thurii. The chief general Milon served as the army commander, and another Philadephobe who had the ability to lead the army was appointed as the commander-in-chief. General Si served as adjutant and led about 4 soldiers, including [-] heavy infantry and [-] light infantry. Of these [-] light infantry, [-] were wearing leather armor and holding weapons. The light armored soldiers with leather shields and spears did not have the ability to project, and there were also [-] cavalry.In addition to the regular troops, there were also a large number of slaves and free people transporting baggage, making the actual number of the entire army as high as [-].

To this end, Crotone organized a huge fleet of ships at the port, and it took nearly three hours just to load supplies and get soldiers on board.It was not until noon that the troop convoy sailed north under the escort of the Crotone fleet.Passing through Crimesa, they were joined by 500 more soldiers, bringing the number of combat troops to [-].

Because the whole process of boarding the ship at the port of Crotone was cumbersome and chaotic, Milon feared that the situation would be worse when landing on the beach.He and Frederic Foss were very concerned about what Tratus' intelligence said before: "The coastline of Dionia is monitored by cavalry." For the sake of safety, they did not dare to land on the coast north of Castellon. After crossing the swamp, they immediately docked the boat. The place where the boat stopped was the beach where the Ma Song mercenaries landed a few days ago.

Milon first asked the cavalry to disembark, expanded the warning area to a radius of two miles, and only after confirming that there was no enemy situation, began a large-scale landing.Countless soldiers carried weapons and equipment, and some even led war horses, jumped off the cargo ship, walked through the water, and reached the shore.Because there was no dock, slaves and freedmen had to carry food, tents and other materials to transfer them to the shore...

At a glance, the whole beach was full of black heads, and it was a mess, with people shouting and neighing, and the officers were anxious; and the baggage piles and piles were placed randomly, which affected the soldiers' formation. Defos beat and scolded the slaves... It took a long time to organize the entire landing force and straighten out the affairs.After all this trouble, people and horses were exhausted, and it was already dusk.

After confirming the nearby campsite, Milon issued an order with strict requirements: Each team should build a strong camp and place sentries without any negligence!
The defeat of Melanthius is a lesson learned from the past. This time Crotone has an absolute advantage and an opportunity. They just need to move forward steadily and victory is just around the corner.

Tomorrow, Castellon will be captured first, making it the forward base for Crotone's army and fleet... Milon was conceiving the next military action plan in his mind, and gradually fell into sleep.

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

In the large tent of the Turiyi military camp, Davos, military officer Felicius, Capps, commander of the first army, Drax, commander of the second army, and cavalry captain Ryders were analyzing the enemy situation.

On the wooden table in the center was a smooth wooden board two meters square, with a detailed map of Magna Graecia drawn on it. Felicius held a wooden stick in his hand, pointed at the map on the wooden board, and said: "Everyone, we just received the message from the front. According to the intelligence coming in, Crotone has sent about [-] soldiers and they have landed here - on the coast south of Castellon. It is estimated that they will be able to attack Castellon tomorrow!"

"3 people?!" Cavalry Captain Ledes took a breath of air: "In order to deal with us, Crotone may have sent out all the citizens of the city-state!"

"3 people are nothing!" Drax shouted unconvinced: "If the third army can arrive in time, plus the free people recruited, our strength will still exceed 3! And even if there is no With 3 people, Crotone is no match for us!”

"But the soldiers in Crotone are all citizen soldiers!" Capps looked at Daves with a slightly worried look: "Sir, do we really rush to Castellon without waiting for the arrival of the Third Army?! "

Davos said calmly: "There is no time. Crotone is determined to destroy Dionia this time, so it has been prepared and the advance is so fast! If we wait, that means Abandoning Castellon will not only damage the reputation that Dionia has just established, but also allow the enemy to enter the Sybari Plain, which also violates the promise we made before! Fighting with the citizen soldiers of Crotone on the plain, we There is no guarantee of victory, and relying on city wall defense will take too long, which is not good for our new alliance!" Davers took the wooden stick from Felicius and pointed to the curve of the Trionto River marked on the map. , said in a deep voice: "So we must make full use of this river!"

Everyone present was very clear about Daves's plan. Felicius opened his mouth and finally raised a question: "Lord Daves, the Crotones will lead their army across the Trionto River rashly." ?! I heard that their coach Milon is an experienced general."

Davos smiled and said seriously: "There is no guarantee that any plan will be fully realized, but Milon was confused by the false news I released. Seeing how eager he was to assemble the army, he wanted to attack the city before we completed the assembly. It is very possible to fall into the trap. Of course, if he is not fooled, we can also withdraw to Thurii and fight a long defensive battle with the Crotones!"

"He will be fooled!" Drax expressed the expectations of the generals present. They also did not want the Crotones to set foot on the land of Dionia.

"How many cavalry do they have?" Ryders asked an important question.

"About 800 people," Felicius replied.

Ryders clenched his fists. No matter in terms of numbers or experience, his cavalry did not have the upper hand. It only depended on whether Lord Davos's wonderful tactics could work.

"Brothers!" Davos looked at these generals who were going through life and death together and were eager to try at this moment. He knew that there was no need to mobilize at all. Their fighting spirit must be high, so he said calmly: "It's getting late. You guys should go back immediately. Go to your respective teams and act according to the previous plan! Hades will protect us and everything will go well tomorrow!"

"Yes!"

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

That night, the Crotone camp was uneventful.

Early the next morning, the sky was clear and rainless. Milon woke up and felt refreshed. Moreover, the information from Turiyi was also delivered in time: the reinforcements from Laos and Niutum had not arrived yet. In the afternoon picture Riey rushed to Castellon with 3000 men.

This secret letter should have been sent last night. At the same time, the Croto civil war ship cruising on the coast of Turii in the morning found no trace of large-scale troop movements on the Turii-Castellon Avenue... Milon thought: The Dionysians should have already known about the arrival of the Crotone army, but they were still in the process of war mobilization and only sent 3000 reinforcements, but these 4000 people wanted to defend Castellon. ? !According to his understanding, even if Castellon's soldiers are included, there are no more than [-] soldiers. Moreover, the small town of Castellon is less than four meters high and cannot stop Crotone's army from crossing Trionto. Hehe captured Castellon, and even Milon hoped that Castellon would send all his troops to block him from crossing the river, so that he could inflict maximum damage on them in the wild and capture the city of Castellon more easily.The weather and enemy situation are favorable to Crotone. This is Apollo's blessing!Crotone must seize this opportunity when the Dionysian alliance has not yet completed war mobilization and the army has not yet assembled and arrived, quickly cross the Trionto River, capture Castellon as soon as possible, and then fight with Dionysius A decisive battle between Asia's armies!
Miron immediately discussed with Philadephos and formulated a plan to cross the river.

Under Milon's repeated urging, the army quickly assembled. 2 soldiers were led by Milon and marched northwest; another [-] soldiers and [-] cavalry were led by Philadephos and marched towards the northwest. march north.

There are two ideal fording locations on the Trionto River: one is located in the middle reaches. Not only is the water shallow, the river beach is flat, but the fordable stretch of the river is more than two miles long. It was here that Davers crossed the river to sneak attack on Mei. Lancius; the other is located downstream, west of Castellon City, with a short river section and deeper water.

The Crotone people's plan for crossing the river was: 5000 men led by Philadephos would contain and attract the enemy, but they would not cross the river immediately. Instead, Myron's army would cross the wide river section in the middle reaches with all its strength.

The Crotone army led by Milon formed eight columns and formed a long dragon, which was four or five miles long.

The ears of Milon, who was riding a horse and walking in the center of the team, were filled with noisy footsteps and the sound of armor clashing... But he felt it was extremely pleasant. The huge force gave him enough confidence. He even had the leisure to think: Kass The cities of Troon and Crimesa were both built on the north bank of the river. This is because they were both sub-states of Sybaris at the beginning, and they were close to Sybaris and guarded against Crotone.And after this war, they must be forced to move the city to the south bank!As for Thurii...if everything goes well, he wouldn't mind destroying it for the fourth time!
"Report to the general that the reconnaissance cavalry crossing the river were surrounded by enemy cavalry. Four died and two escaped."

"Have you found anything?"

"They saw the enemy numbering in the thousands marching along the north shore."

Thousands of people?Are they following us?Myron thought for a while and said, "Has Philadephus reached his destination?"

(End of this chapter)