ancient greece mediterranean ruler

Chapter 514 Battle of Crotone ([-])

In the past, Dionysius would not have cared too much about such a retreat, because the key to Syracuse's victory in this battle was the right wing. As long as the center and left wing could contain the enemy on the opposite side, they could maintain their position when the enemy attacked. Maintaining the balance of power, all that remains is to wait for news of the victory of the right wing.

But when Dionysius learned from the scouts that "Syracuse's greatest advantage - the cavalry was ambushed by the Dionians and was temporarily blocked", his original relaxed mood quickly became Restless and becoming worried about the constant retreat from the left wing and center.He not only asked the buglers to blow the charge order behind the phalanx, but also asked the messengers to shout loudly after arriving at the formation, warning: the team officers and soldiers must not retreat anymore and must attack!
After this action, the Syracuse citizen soldiers in the rear of the center no longer retreated, but forced the Campania mercenaries in the front to fight fiercely with the approaching enemies; as for the soldiers on the left, they just The retreat speed has slowed down a little, and it seems that he is really at a disadvantage in the confrontation.

Dionysius was a little angry: before setting up the formation, he learned about Dionia's right wing through scout cavalry. It was obviously not the main force of Dionysia, and the number should only be smaller than his left wing, but Why is the result like this?Didn't those Magna Greeks fight seriously at all?Or collude with the enemy? …

Dionysius's suspicion recurred again, and he even began to doubt his ally Locri, but he also knew: now is not the time to worry about this. The cunning Davos has put his cavalry in trouble, and now he only We can expect that the right wing led by Phoebus can quickly defeat the enemy in front of them and establish a victory for the entire battle!

The reason why Dionysius still had confidence in the battle was because compared to several other poor performances, the right wing's current performance was in line with his expectations before the war.

The huge and thick phalanx formed by 25000 people pressed against the left wing of Dionia. Out of vigilance against the close combat of Dionia, the elite soldiers of Syracuse lined up more closely in front and back, and formed a gun formation that was even closer. Densely, the Dionian left-wing soldiers fighting in the forefront not only have to avoid the attacks of the Syracuse soldiers in the front, but also be wary of the stabbing spears of the soldiers in the rear, not to mention that they have to struggle to resist the Syracuse soldiers. The huge pushing force that stabs people forward, so the power of the Dionysian heavy infantry in close combat is greatly weakened.

However, the soldiers of the First and Second Legions were experienced in hundreds of battles. Although they felt a little nervous due to the huge pressure from the enemy in front of them, this was because before the battle, the team officers had a general understanding of King Dai. Firth's tactical arrangement, so they understood that the first thing they had to do in such a situation was to ensure that the array would not be broken by the enemy, hold the enemy back, and wait for the arrival of reinforcements.

To this end, the Dionian soldiers relied on the flexibility of the squad-based formation to retreat in an orderly manner to relieve the huge pressure caused by the enemy's attack. At the same time, they spotted the opportunity, used long shields to cover, and used short swords to stab. Injure the enemy.

Phoebe Das was almost seriously injured twice: the first time was after the charge, just when he collided with the enemy, the shields collided, and people stuck together through the shield. In his eyes, the long shield would The enemy on the opposite side was completely protected, so he pressed the round shield with all his strength and pushed forward, trying to break through the enemy's defense and let the bayonet gun exert its power.Unexpectedly, the enemy's right hand, whose head was buried in the long shield, suddenly protruded from above the long shield, and the short sword stabbed down like lightning, and it was piercing his Corinthian helmet.

The second time was after he stabbed down the enemy in front of him, he instinctively squeezed into the gap in the opponent's array according to his previous fighting habits. Before he could take the next step, two gleaming daggers, one on the left and one on the right, appeared at the same time. It stabbed at his sides. Although he reacted quickly, the sharp dagger still cut through his linen breastplate and cut a gash on his right waist.

The injury this time made him finally realize the power of his opponent. He no longer took risks easily, but maintained a consistent formation with the surrounding Syracuse soldiers.

Compared with the steady counterattack of the first and second Dionia legions, the Kett reinforcement soldiers on the far left are much tougher.Although their phalanx was not as thick as that of the Syracuseans, they withstood the squeeze of the Syracuseans and refused to retreat easily. Their hatred gave them great courage and strength. Even if they were seriously injured, as long as they could still survive Stand, and their lances won't stop jabbing.Even if they fall down, as long as they still have a little strength, they will hold the feet of the enemy who steps over them, causing them to fall, or bite them with their teeth.Such a tragic scene was staged many times in front of the Cutter reinforcements, which actually made the Syracuse people with heavy troops a little panicked. They felt that the opponent who fell to the ground was more terrifying than the one who was standing. They had to repeatedly confirm that the opponent was dead before they dared to move forward. This This makes their advancement speed not much faster than that of their companions.

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Behind this battlefield is another battlefield. After withdrawing from the main battlefield, Dionia's light infantry, led by Cipit and Alps, hurried to the left wing, hoping to participate in the attack on the enemy's cavalry. During the encirclement and suppression, they encountered the Syracuse light infantry with the same purpose, and had to continue the previous light infantry battle in front of the formation to the end.

The arms of both sides are mainly archers and javelin soldiers, and Dionia has some more slingers.Both sides adopted a loose formation, with javelin soldiers in the front and archers in the back, carrying out long-range attacks.Although the battle was not as grand as the heavy infantry fight, it was not less brutal. Because their own protection was far inferior to that of the heavy infantry, on the battlefield filled with arrows and javelins flying in the sky, soldiers from both sides continued to be injured and fell to the ground.

The Dionysian light infantry was well-trained and had better tactical coordination; the Syracuse light infantry had a larger number and was severely punished by Dionysius, making it difficult for the two armies to win or lose.

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Of course, the most brutal battle was in the easternmost battlefield.

Caught in the middle and unable to escape at all, the Celtic cavalry saw the fallen horses and tribesmen who were stabbed one after another, listened to the wails of the horses and the screams of their companions, and faced the constant pressing array of spears. Most of them They no longer dared to sit on their horses and wait for death, so they were forced to jump off their horses, hold big swords, and stop to fight.

But this is undoubtedly a mantis trying to stop the car.Not to mention that it is difficult for their swords to get close to the enemy when facing a phalanx of spears. Moreover, in a hasty battle, they often fight alone and are quickly killed by the thrusts of spears.

Just like the strong Celtic warrior in front of Tapirus, he roared and kept swinging his sword. Although he cut off the heads of two spears in succession, he was still forced by the dense spear array. He kept backing up, and his feet accidentally slipped, revealing a flaw. The spear took advantage of the gap and stabbed his thigh.The moment he bent down instinctively, three more spears stabbed him in the head and chest at the same time, killing him to death.

The continuous killing and wounding of the enemy also made the soldiers of the spear brigade increasingly confident and their advance speed increased.

The company led by Tapirus in the front did not encounter any major obstacles, and it advanced faster and was separated from the neighboring companies by a large distance.

At this time, a Celtic warrior suddenly rushed into the formation from the side on the messy battlefield. The entire company was caught off guard, and several soldiers were stabbed and wounded by him in succession.

The following light armored soldiers stepped forward to block him in time, but the Celtic warrior, regardless of being surrounded, slashed the light armored soldier's leather shield in half with a sword, and four or five light armored soldiers surrounded him. Get rid of him, but also pay the price of seriously injuring two light armored soldiers.

This sounded a wake-up call to Tapirus, and he had to shout loudly that the soldiers of the company should not move too fast and wait for the adjacent company.

Although the Celtic cavalry were fierce, they had no chance of winning in a head-on confrontation with a dense phalanx of spears in this crowded battlefield.In addition, their number was not large, and many cavalrymen ran directly into the spear wall at the beginning. Therefore, not long after they continued to move forward in Tapirus, they found that the enemy blocking them was no longer tall. The Celts were tall and strong, wearing thick striped cloth, wearing pointed helmets, and holding big swords, but the Numibians were disheveled, dark-skinned, slender, wearing single clothes, and holding javelins and spears. Their battles Their courage was much worse than that of the Celts. Except for a few people who threw javelins at them, most of them quickly jumped off their bare horses, turned around and dived into the chaotic battlefield, and escaped...

Capps didn't need to send spies to scout, but he knew that his spear battalion was going well, because he was sitting in the rear and was following the phalanx.

At this time, a cavalryman came quickly: "General Capps, the cavalry led by Commander Ledes Army was attacked from the front and rear by the enemy cavalry, hoping to get reinforcements!"

It turned out that the thousand Sicilian Confederate cavalry led by Astagras were not advancing very fast and were at the end of the formation. Most of them quickly broke away from the crowded and chaotic battlefield.

It stands to reason that this battlefield at this time is no longer suitable for cavalry to fight here, but Astagras knows the importance of these foreign mercenary cavalry to this battle, and he cannot leave them alone, otherwise Dionysius will not be able to spare him. he.Therefore, he worked hard to reorganize the scattered Sicilian Greek cavalry, and then led the hastily gathered more than 800 cavalry to fight to the left side of the battlefield again.

On the left, Ledes was leading half of the cavalry corps to block the enemy's escape and desperately squeezed them toward the center.

At first, the attack of the mercenary cavalry was relatively fierce, especially the Celts, which caused some casualties to the Dionysian cavalry. However, as the spear phalanx advanced, the Celts were severely damaged, while the Numibians The cavalry are highly skilled in riding and javelin throwing, but once they lose these two advantages, they just ride on the horse and fight with the opponent at close range without any protection, and the horseback is also bare. They are not Dionia at all. Rivals of cavalry.

The Numibians were a little overwhelmed, and some cavalry began to flee instead, trying to squeeze into the middle of the chaos, and then retreat from the rear.

The cavalry of Astagras suddenly attacked, and their main attack direction was exactly where Ryders was, because his towering, purple-red crowned helmet was too eye-catching. If the guards hadn't desperately resisted, Ryders would have been there. Si will be seriously injured immediately.

　Thanks to Zhan Billy for the reward!Your support is my biggest motivation for writing! !

　　
　
(End of this chapter)