ancient greece mediterranean ruler

Chapter 268
The messenger continued to relay the order of the Senate: "Lord Diomelas believes that the Messapian army attacking Manduria may be the last strength of the Messapians. Therefore, the Senate orders you to ensure the safety of Brindisi Under the circumstances, lead as many soldiers as possible back, join the reinforcements from Heraclea and Metapontum, march towards Mandulia, and completely defeat the Messapians! Completely ensure the security of the newly occupied territory!"

Archita lowered his head and thought: before, in the battle for Manduria and Brindisi, Tarantum suffered nearly 5000 casualties, and the Messapian casualties would not be lower than those of Tarantum. This can be seen in the corpses of the Messapeans buried later.Regardless of the fact that there are seven or eight city-states in the Messapian Alliance, the only truly big city is Rudiae, which can send tens of thousands more troops. The manpower of Messapi should have reached its limit... But why not come? Attack Brindisi, which is wedged into Mesapian territory, and attack Manduria, which is closer to Tarantum and can be more easily rescued?
But then he thought about it, and then secretly cursed himself for being confused: Brindisi had 8000 Tarentum citizen soldiers garrisoned, and Mandugna only had 2000. It was obvious which city was easier to capture.

He looked up at the messenger who was still waiting for his reply, and asked again: "How many people did Metapontum and Heraclea send?"

"Because their losses were not small last time, it is said that the two cities only sent 3000 people this time." The messenger replied.

Archita looked slightly gloomy: he had fought side by side with the allies before, and of course he knew what their casualties were.But the final result is exclusive to Tarantum, and Heraclea and Metapontum just get some rewards.However, didn't Dionia defeat opponents and grow rapidly in this way?
Thinking of this, he no longer felt guilty, but instead cared about the alliance of city-states across the bay that made him feel complicated: "Has the Senate... sent an envoy to Dionia for help?"

The messenger stopped talking and shook his head, looking strange.

Archita's mind changed and he immediately understood: Not only Diomelas, one of the newly elected consuls this year, has always been disgusted with the Dionysian Alliance, but others also have this mentality to some extent.As a large country in South Italy that has been established for 300 years, asking for help from an emerging city-state alliance that was only established less than two years ago is really a loss of face and honor. What will the alliance and other city-states in Magna Graecia think?What's more, Dionia is not like Heraclea and Metapontum. They are dominated by Tarantum, and Dionia and Tarantum are equal offensive and defensive alliances. Maybe its current The overall strength is... stronger than Tarantum.Asking Dionia for help will not work without paying a certain price.Therefore, Tarantum will never send an envoy to Dionia until there is a critical moment.

Archita pondered for a moment and said simply: "I am going to let Pebarius lead 6000 soldiers to stay at Brindisi. I will take [-] people back. You come with me, because I don't have enough cavalry to escort alone." You go back."

The messenger breathed a sigh of relief and quickly agreed.He was frightened by the elusive light cavalry of the Messapians. The cavalry team escorting him paid a dozen lives to get him safely into the city of Brindisi.

In the afternoon, the freedmen who learned the news came one after another and watched uneasily as 6000 Tarentum citizen soldiers left the city.Although Tarantum looks down on the emerging Dionia city-state alliance without historical background, he has begun to learn from Dionia on how to deal with the occupied territories.After capturing the two towns, the Senate immediately promised the foreigners and freemen in Tarentum that if they would move to Brindisi and Manduria, they would receive land and become citizens of Tarentum. Brindisi and Manduria will also become tributaries of Tarentum.Therefore, even though they knew there were risks, many free people came happily with their families.Now that war has broken out again, and most of Brindisi's defensive strength has been lost, how can they not be nervous.

Between Brindisi on the east coast of Apulia and Tarentum on the west coast, there is an east-west mountainous area. Otherwise, the road is smooth.Therefore, Achita's army can go to Tarantum in two directions. One is to go north around the mountains and go west to Tarantum; or to go directly west through Manduria, go around the mountains and reach Tarentum.Of course Archita chose the former, because the road to the north was very safe except for the only Mesapian town that needed to be careful - Igratia.Choosing the latter means always being alert to raids from some Messape towns centered on Oudière, hidden in the dense woods to the south.

Not long after Archita's army left the city, they bypassed the mountains.At this time, Tanma came to report that a small group of Messapian cavalry had been spotted snooping nearby.

Archita didn't pay much attention.Although Tarantum captured Brindisi, there were still Messapian cavalry roaming in this area from time to time on the road from Tarantum to Brindisi, and affected the relationship between Tarantum and Brindisi. Personnel exchanges and material transportation between Brindisi and Brindisi.Tarantum had sent soldiers to attack these cavalry many times, but they relied on the speed of their horses to disappear early. After the troops returned without success, they appeared again.Tarantum had nothing to do with these Messapian cavalry, so he had to consider waiting for Brindisi to be completely stabilized, and then continue to build new villages and strongholds between the two cities to completely occupy this area.Before that, Tarantum specially formed troops to ensure the connection and transportation between the two cities. Heavy infantry combined with archers could deal with these fast-moving cavalry very well, and Aquita did the same.

After bypassing the mountains, the terrain leading to Tarantum was flat and open. Archita divided the marching column into five columns, with a smaller number of light infantry in the middle and heavy armored citizen soldiers on the outside. The entire marching column was about three miles long. .Tarantum and Brindisi are about a hundred miles apart, and Archita estimates that with the current speed of the new army, they can reach them in the evening.

Archieta controlled the troop's marching speed, moving forward unhurriedly.

However, as time went by, more and more Messapian cavalry appeared. They cruised around the marching troops and attacked and killed Tarantum's scouts, forcing Archita to take back the few cavalry. Therefore, it is no longer possible to understand the surrounding situation outside the troop's field of vision.

As a commander, although Archita knew very well that after the last war, there was no strong Messapian force near the north of the hills between Brindisi and Tarantum, but this kind of blind man Feeling uneasy, he immediately ordered the troops to speed up their march and reach Sigeon as soon as possible.

Sigeon is a village north of Tarantum. Before Brindisi was captured, because it was adjacent to the territory of Messapice, it was built as a small stronghold and fortress with solid earth walls and many A watchtower to protect against Messapian intruders.

The bugle was blown, and the officers who received the order began to urge the jovial soldiers.

At this moment, a loud bugle sounded at the same time in front of the team.

The soldiers in the vanguard were stunned: Could it be that our army is coming?

"This is the trumpet of the attack!" Some soldiers have begun to exclaim.

Just when there was a commotion in the team, Archita's order came: Stop advancing!Immediately expand the formation to the west, with light infantry in front and heavy infantry in the rear!

The team officers immediately took action and ordered the soldiers to start forming formation.

Archita, escorted by cavalry, rode to the front of the team.

A hundred meters away, the loose Messapian cavalry stared at him like wolves, while he looked further ahead through the gap between the enemy cavalry.He wondered: The main force of the Messapians is now in Manduria. If it is their army coming, how many soldiers can they spare to prevent their troops from returning to Tarentum?

While he was meditating, Tarantum's marching column began to slowly expand its array to the west.The team officers and soldiers shouted to each other, looking for their positions, and the noise was loud.

In front of the array, Archita was quietly confronting the Messapian cavalry not far away...

coming!Archieta's eyelids twitched, he blinked vigorously, and stared even wider: a row of small black spots appeared on the horizon hundreds of meters away, gradually getting bigger and longer...

As the team came closer, Archita and the others could see more clearly: they were also dressed in round shields, bronze helmets and spears, and they were also in a dense queue, but this was not necessarily Tarantum's team, because Mesa The leather soldiers are also equipped with the same equipment. This is the credit of the Athenians!

When he got closer and could see the flag raised high, the adjutant exclaimed: "General, these are Igratia's troops!"

Iglatia is the northernmost city-state in the Messapian territory, adjacent to the territory of the Pucheti people. Whenever there is a conflict between Messapi and the Pucheti, Iglatia is the first to bear the brunt, so as a border city , its military capabilities are relatively strong, and it is closest to Brindisi.When Tarentum stormed Brindisi, the Iglatians came to reinforce them, but were repulsed by Archita.

Archita also specially set up a sentry post northwest of Brindi to monitor Igratia's movements. Now that Igratia's troops appeared here, Archita did not receive a warning. Obviously, something happened to the northern post.

At this moment, Archita was in no mood to observe silence. He stared closely at the enemy's array, and with a mathematician's mind, he quickly calculated that the enemy's strength was less than 3000.

Nearly 3000 people dare to stop him from going home? !Archita did not feel relaxed, but felt even more confused.

But he could no longer think about it at this moment. The originally quiet Messapian cavalry shouted and rushed over. He led the cavalry to quickly turn their horses and retreat into the formation, while the light infantry who were already at the front of the square came forward to prepare. Shoot the arrow in your hand.

　Thanks to Master Zhuoshan for the reward!Your support is my biggest motivation for writing! !

　　
　
(End of this chapter)