ancient greece mediterranean ruler

Chapter 433 The vigilance of the victor
There is victory in battle if there is defeat, and there is joy in pain.While the coalition soldiers were tasting the bitter fruit of defeat, the Syracuse people were enjoying the joy of victory.

In Dionysius's tent, candlelight was brightly lit, and all the generals gathered together, eating and talking about today's great battle...

"Don't fight anymore! The most important contributor to our victory today should be Phoebus!" Dionysius sat at the top, looked around, pointed at Phoebus, and said loudly: " I really didn’t expect that the Dionian general would actually deploy so many soldiers on their left wing. If Phoebidas hadn’t adopted the correct response, I’m afraid we wouldn’t be able to wait for our reinforcements to arrive. Our right wing It will be broken by the enemy!"

"Your Excellency is right!" Fasipesas immediately agreed: "When I led my troops to attack the enemy's flank, I was very surprised because the thickness of the enemy's array...some even reached more than 50 columns. I have never seen it before... the length of the stack is enough... enough-" Fasipessas couldn't find a suitable adjective for a moment, gestured with his hand, and said: "It's longer than this big tent. ! But with such a powerful force squeezing our right wing, not only did it fail to defeat the right wing, but it actually exhausted the enemy! So I led the soldiers in a small charge, and the enemy was easily defeated!..."

Everyone couldn't help but sigh in admiration.

Although Phoebidus felt somewhat complacent, he did not boast about himself in public.Spartans would not do such a superficial approach.What's more, he was only fighting for the people of Syracuse, and whether he was honored or not didn't mean much at all.He just enjoyed the fun of this kind of battle, and being at the forefront of the battlefield, he was too tired to talk much now.

"Leptines, your performance this time exceeded my expectations!" Dionysius looked at his brother and said loudly with joy: "The mercenary attack led by Endidimenas was blocked. At that time, you did not escape, but bravely took on the responsibility, repelled the enemy who came to intercept, and ensured the smooth attack of our enemy's right flank and rear. We were able to win this battle, and you are indispensable! In addition, your fleet also boldly attacked and achieved the first result after our victory in the battle - Trina!"

Dionysius praised Leptines without hesitation, not only because of his brother's performance, but also to show those who criticized him for his nepotism that his strategy of employing people was correct.

"My lord, thanks to the help of General Leptines this time!" Endimenas took the opportunity to praise Leptines, and at the same time wanted to justify his mistake: "I didn't expect that at the end of the battle, At such a fierce moment, the Greeks retained a force, and instead of committing it to battle, they made a surprise attack on us..."

"So it is not easy for us to win this battle. The Dionysian general is not easy!" Dionysius sighed a little. You must know that he saw his elite troops being defeated by Dionysus behind the central array. The Nian Army retreated step by step.Moreover, according to post-war statistics, there were more than 1000 casualties among soldiers in the middle, which really surprised him and made him worried: "It's a pity that we failed to retain more Dionian soldiers..."

As soon as these words came out, the two mercenary cavalry leaders were a little ashamed. The more straightforward Celtic leader Gaba defended himself with a weird Greek pronunciation: "We tried our best, but those Dionian soldiers didn't do anything at all. Instead of running away, they formed an array to fight with us, and we lost... a lot of people..."

"Those Dionians stretched out their array and guarded the river bank, forcing us to fight them head-on. It is very difficult for the cavalry to fight the heavy infantry head-on..." Axilita was also defending on the side.

Dionysius glanced at them. He just wanted to beat these two unruly foreign leaders, but he didn't want to break his face with them: "Anyway, you held back more than 1000 soldiers of Dionia. , and finally eliminated and captured them, including a legion commander, I think this is probably the biggest military loss since the establishment of the Dionia Alliance!"

"Sir, that's because Dionia was not established until my youngest son is older!" Astagras, another general of Syracuse, sneered: "Next we will give them more Fail until this alliance is completely destroyed!”

Astagrath's words caused everyone to laugh.

Amid the laughter, a cold voice sounded from the seat to the left of Dionysius: "I looked at the weapons left on the battlefield among the Dionysians. To be honest, I think even if I talk to Dionysius again You won't be able to take advantage of the Nian legion infantry fighting."

These words aroused dissatisfaction among everyone in the tent.

"Spartans, you think too highly of the Dionians!" Astagras shouted rudely.

"What I said is the truth." Phoebidas said unceremoniously, ignoring everyone's dissatisfaction.

At the same time, he strode out of his seat, ignored the strange looks of others, assumed a heavy infantry attack posture, and said seriously: "According to the traditional heavy infantry fighting habits, the round shield on the left hand is used for both defense and defense. impact; as for the stabbing spear in my right hand, I can hold it high and stab the opponent over the buckler; once the stabbing spear breaks, I can pull out the curved saber to chop... However, the fighting style of the Dionian legionnaires is different from We are different, I brought the long shield and short sword used by the soldiers of the Dionian Legion, but unfortunately I was forced to stay outside the tent by the guards."

Having said this, Phoebidas did not forget to secretly satirize Dionysius, because Dionysius was good at assassination, and he was also wary of being assassinated by others. He had been assassinated many times in the past, so in this regard He was very cautious and had stipulated that anyone who wanted to meet him or discuss matters with him would be searched by the guards, and weapons were not allowed to be carried.

Once, another of his brothers (who was sent by him to serve as a tyrant of a neighboring country) came to see him in the palace. When talking about an important matter, he asked the guard for a spear and prepared to carve a map on the ground. Onysius was furious and immediately executed the guard.

At this time, Dionysius did not pay attention to Phoebus's sarcasm. He was more interested in what he was going to say next, and generously ordered: "Go and bring in Dionia's short sword and long shield. "

When the dagger and long shield were placed in front of Phoebus, he picked up the long shield with his left hand and protected it on his chest. He explained: "The long shield of Dionia is long enough to better protect the body of the soldier." , so soldiers don’t have to worry about defense and can focus on killing the enemy.”

Phoebidas said while making thrusting movements with his dagger. After a few thrusts, he inserted the dagger into the wooden table. There was a "chi" sound and the whole tip of the sword was completely pierced.

"What a sharp dagger!" Leptinius, who was sitting next to Phoebus, exclaimed. He pulled out the dagger out of curiosity and looked at it carefully: the blade of the dagger already had some small chips. The tip of the sword is also slightly curved, which shows that it has been hit by many weapons, but it still makes people feel chilly.

"This dagger is too short! Before the Dionians stabbed my soldiers with it, we had already stabbed each other to death with bayonets!" Astagras retorted forcefully.

"Yes, it is relatively short. But the Dionian soldier has this long shield to protect him, and the stabbing spear may not be able to hurt him. Once the two sides are pushing, the stabbing spear can no longer be used, and this short But the sword can easily stab the opponent..." Phoebias held the long shield and looked at the dagger in Leptinius' hand, feeling very uneasy: the round shield of the Greek phalanx was equipped with a bayonet. This Heavy infantry tactics have been passed down for hundreds of years and have proven to be so effective that they are difficult to match among other countries in the Mediterranean region.But a city-state alliance that had only been established for a few years could develop a new set of heavy infantry equipment and tactics in such a short period of time, and be able to compete with the traditional ones. This couldn't help but make him feel terrible!
It turned out to be because of the weapons and equipment!Dionysius was a little excited. He thought that his most elite army was not as good as Dionysia's new legion, and he was really shocked. Now after listening to Phoebeidas' analysis, he suddenly realized: As long as it is not the quality of soldiers Problems can all be rectified.

"Phoebidas, what do you think we should do if we encounter Dionia's legion infantry next time?" Dionysius humbly asked the Spartan for advice.

"Judging from the weapons and equipment of the Dionian soldiers, there is no advantage when they are in a stalemate with our heavy infantry at a medium distance. But once the two sides get close to fight at close range, short swords and long shields can Play the greatest role. This requires us not to use pushing tactics when fighting in phalanx, but to leave a certain distance for the soldiers in the forefront, and use the dense gun formation to make the Dionian legion infantry Don't dare to get too close, so that the Syracuse soldiers can use their skilled spear skills to gain the upper hand in the stabbings of both sides..." Phoebidas has been thinking about how to deal with this new type of weapon after carefully referring to the battlefield. Heavy infantry attack.After all, he has never actually fought face-to-face with the Dionysian Legion, but is just a speculation based on his many years of combat experience.

But this was enough to make Dionysius breathe a sigh of relief. He said to his generals: "Did you all hear it? Next time we fight the Dionysian soldiers, we will follow Phoebidas' method. Deal with them!"

Syracuse, such as Fasipesas and Astagras, will take the lead and then say yes. Of course, this is mostly a reluctant response.

(End of this chapter)