ancient greece mediterranean ruler

Chapter 235 Crotone’s request for help

Although the Locri fleet had fewer warships, they still launched an attack without hesitation. The warships of both sides sailed towards each other quickly and passed each other. However, the Locri fleet did not stop the fight, but continued to accelerate. The advance was beyond the expectations of the Crotone people, so they easily broke away from contact with the Crotone fleet at the slight cost of one or two warships.

Do the Lokerans want to escape? !Askamas was quite surprised to see the performance of the Locri fleet.

However, the actions of the Locri fleet once again surprised him. After gaining some distance from the Crotone fleet, the Locri fleet turned its bow again and assumed an offensive posture.

Askamas didn't think about it for a moment: Why did the Lokli people bother to do this?
His fleet also acted accordingly.

The two fleets quickly approached again, but this time the Lokerian fleet did not escape.

The warships on both sides were intertwined, circling and hitting each other.

Battles at sea are different from those on land. Battles on land are extremely particular about formations. Once the formation is broken, it often means failure. Once a battle at sea begins, the formation is broken up. It is often a separate duel between warships. Winning depends on the quality of the warship and the skillful ship handling skills of the captain and sailors.

Crotone and Locri have had decades of grievances and know each other very well.Askamas is very clear about the strength of the fleet, the composition of the crew, and even the characteristics of the generals. He firmly believes that his fleet has six more triple-layer propeller warships, which in total exceeds the advantage of the ten warships in the Lockry fleet. Victory in this naval battle is only a matter of time.

During the battle, Ascamas's ship retreated very skillfully and quickly, narrowly avoiding the impact of the enemy ship on the middle of the ship. After averting the danger, the enemy ship was placed horizontally on the bow of his ship - Bronze rammed front.This was a great opportunity, and how could he let it go? He immediately asked the sailors to quickly paddle backwards, and the ship quickly changed from retreating to advancing.

But the enemy ship also quickly turned and turned its bow towards Asmachus' ship.

Although the enemy ship reacted quickly, the experienced Askamas did not give up. When the ships were approaching the enemy ship rapidly, and when they were about to get close to each other and pass each other, Askamas shouted: "Collect the pulp!"

The boatswain listening to the order in the bottom warehouse immediately conveyed it to the sailors, and they were well-trained to immediately withdraw the wood pulp. However, the enemy ship had just turned over the bow and had not had time to collect the pulp. The more than 20-meter-long three-layer propeller ship took advantage of The huge inertia of the forward thrust broke most of the wooden oars of the enemy ship close to it, leaving the enemy ship in a predicament unable to move forward due to lack of slurry.

Just as the sailors were cheering and Askamas was about to turn the ship around and completely sink it, a fleet of more than 20 triple-layer propeller warships suddenly appeared behind the Crotone fleet and immediately attacked Croat civil war ships attack.

The Crotone fleet was in a dangerous situation of being flanked from the north and the south.

In the end, the Crotone fleet suffered a disastrous defeat, with 15 ships sunk, 8 captured, and 10 ships seriously damaged. Ascamas led a few warships to break out of the enemy's siege.

On the way to Crotone, Askamas kept thinking painfully in frustration: Where did Locri's extra warships come from?

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

The victory in the naval battle inspired Locri's army to besiege Coronia.Early the next morning, when the Crotone reinforcements arrived near the city of Coronia, Locri's army immediately launched a battle regardless of the fatigue of attacking the city of Coronia during this period.

The Crotone army did not shy away from the challenge.

As a result, the two sides started a fierce battle on the northern outskirts of Corunnia.

In terms of strength, Locri had more troops, but since part of the force had to be used to besiege Corunnia, the number of the two sides was almost the same.However, Lockley's army was dominated by heavy infantry and light armor, while Crotone had a clear advantage in the light infantry composed of 5000 carefully selected freemen.

General Locri was worried about the impact of Crotone's heavy infantry, so he thickened the column.Due to the constraints of conditions, the Crotones learned a lot from the painful lessons of fighting the Dionysian army. After the formation was completed, they immediately sent light infantry forward to attack. Lockley's light infantry due to The number was too small and they were quickly defeated.

Then, the Crotone light infantry began to throw javelins at Locri's military formation, and Locri's infantry suffered heavy casualties.

In this case, the Lokerians immediately sounded the attack horn.

Facing an overwhelming heavy infantry charge, the Crotone light infantry did not have the strict organization and discipline of the Dionysian light infantry, nor did it have experienced veterans to stabilize the morale of the army, nor did it have the stability of the army like Epithenes and Zipit. Excellent light infantry generals such as , Alps and others were able to command with exquisite flexibility, and there was no stimulation of material rewards such as citizenship rights and land. Moreover, Crotone's dense heavy infantry formation did not have any extra gaps for them to retreat, so they could only They panicked and fled the battlefield from both sides. As a result, many light infantrymen had no time to escape and were killed by the charge of Locri's heavy infantry.After finally escaping, with the efforts of the general, the light infantry tried to regroup, but were immediately attacked by Lockley's cavalry and dispersed again.

However, the harassment of the light infantry also consumed and distracted the energy of the Locri infantry, and now only infantry versus infantry battles remained on the battlefield.One party has just escaped from the sea of ​​suffering in Dionia, and the body has not fully recovered; one party has continuously attacked Coronia and did not get enough rest.One side has fewer soldiers, but has the belief to wash away the shame and defend the territory; the other side has more soldiers, but has suffered a previous attack by light infantry, and its morale is slightly low.

The two sides fought for nearly two hours, and Lockley finally gave up and retreated from the battlefield.

In this battle, the number of casualties in Crotone and Locri was similar, about 2000 people, but more of the casualties in Crotone were freedmen.

Although Locri was defeated, its casualties were not serious, and it withdrew from the siege of Coronia.

The Crotone reinforcements were able to successfully enter the city of Colonia and were warmly welcomed by the people in the city, but the situation was not favorable to Crotone.

Locri's army retreated to camp south of the city of Coronia, still eyeing the city of Coronia.

The Locri fleet was cruising on the sea, blocking Crotone's sea routes. Crotone also felt the pain that Dionia had suffered before.

At this time, the city of Crotone had all its elite troops, but Locri still had some remaining strength. Two days later, more than 1000 Locri soldiers landed on the coast between Crotone and Siliting, burning, killing, looting, and invading northward. Territory of Crotone.

After experiencing the shock of the disastrous defeat in the naval battle, the people of Crotone were frightened again when they heard the news of the Locri invasion.The council accused Lysias of going his own way, leaving the city empty of troops and unable to send troops to repel the enemy's invasion.

Lysias did not refute the council's criticism of him. He was also shocked by the fleet's fiasco. At this time, he could only propose that the council mobilize the whole city and send envoys to Dionia and Asprostus. Mu City asked for help.

In this case, Crotone actually has no other way to think of. It's just that the war with Dionia has just ended, and the curse of Dionia in the entire Crotone city has not disappeared. At this moment But they still have to beg for help, which is a bit shameful for both members of Congress and the public.

Asprostum was not far from Crotone, and Sisprotus rushed to the south gate of Asprostum in less than two hours.

Although Dionia has made peace with Crotone, the city defense of Asprustum has not been relaxed, but has become stricter.There were teams of sentinels patrolling the city, and there were guards stationed in front of the city gate. Although there were only a few pedestrians entering and exiting the city gate, they still performed their tasks seriously, which allowed Sisprotus to patiently accept the guards' instructions. Inquiry.

When the captain of the city guard appeared before him again, he brought with him the order of the administrator Hieros: he was allowed to enter.

As soon as he entered the city, he was shocked by the sight before him: the main street under his feet, which was not very wide, was filled with dust. Some people were digging ditches with pickaxes on both sides of the street, and some were hammering and piling water with hammers and awls. Stones on the roadside, and then spread the cut stones on the dirt road, and some people demolished some buildings that hindered the smooth flow of the road and rebuilt brick walls...

Those who hauled earth, stones, and garbage... Countless strong men were busy non-stop, turning this place into a large construction site. Everyone was working in full swing, and almost no one stopped what they were doing to look at him.

"What are you doing?" Thesprotus asked curiously.

The captain of the city guard replied: "Because we will move here in the future, we are building our own home. The roads in this city are too narrow and uneven. Garbage and sewage are everywhere..."

The captain talked about a lot of the city's shortcomings, and Sisprotus found it very funny. He often came to Asprostum and felt that it was no different from Tarantum. There was no Dionysian. After hearing those questions, the Asians immediately asked, "Aren't you Greeks?"

"We are Lucarians, but we are citizens of Dionia!" the city guard captain said loudly.

"You speak Greek well." Sisprotus praised, and then changed the topic: "I heard that your Lucania region is all mountainous, the land is barren, and you often don't have enough to eat. I didn't expect you to be right. I still care so much about the living environment.”

"Since our tribe joined Dionia, we have not been hungry for a long time!" The captain shouted with a red face as if he was humiliated: "The place we lived before is indeed not as good as the houses here, but here Compared with the Tuliyi I’ve seen, it’s far behind!”

　Thanks Shijiu Dongli for the reward!Your support is my biggest motivation for writing! !

　　
　
(End of this chapter)