ancient greece mediterranean ruler

Chapter 517 Battle of Crotone ([-])

Finally, the retreat bugle sounded.

The soldiers on the right end of Syracuse's right wing, who were struggling to resist the spear brigade and the Kent reinforcements, turned around and fled as if they had been granted amnesty. The originally thick array collapsed in an instant, and the fleeing soldiers were like a flood that broke a bank, rushing rapidly. Vent outward...

When he saw the soldiers running away, Phoebus did not panic. He immediately threw the spear in his hand at the enemy, then smashed the round shield at the enemy, forced a little space, and immediately turned around and ran away. At the same time, he also threw away the helmet.Although he had suffered many defeats in battles before, Phoebus was still frustrated by the failure of the battle while running away quickly...

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"Your Majesty, the enemy has retreated! We won! We won this battle! Dionia won!!" Tormid looked at the soldiers in the middle of Syracuse who were retreating like a tide, and he was extremely excited.

Davos listened to the cheers of the guards around him and finally put a smile on his face: "Order all troops to pursue the enemy with all their strength, regardless of physical strength!"

"Yes!" Tormid shouted back.

"Your Majesty -" a shout came from behind. Davos turned around and saw Rodom's excited face. He immediately understood what he was thinking and said with a smile: "The escort can also participate in the pursuit."

There was a cheer immediately around him, and only a few escorts such as Martius remained unmoved and still stayed by Davos' side.

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"Chief Axilita, Lord Dionysius ordered you to lead your men and fight back with me!" Astagras finally found Axilita who had fled to the east bank of the Takinadi River. .

Axilita's face, which was covered by disheveled hair, was filled with uncertainty. He said evasively: "My men have all dispersed. It will be difficult to gather them together in a short period of time."

"Axilita." Astagras sneered: "You are a smart man. If we are defeated in Syracuse this time, based on what you have done on the land of Dionia, you Do you think the Dionians can spare you foreigners! There is a Mediterranean Sea between Magna Graecia and Numbia, and you can return to Numbia on horseback?!"

Axilita's expression changed drastically. He just ran away and didn't think about it for a while.

At this time, his subordinates exclaimed: "Chief, the enemy is chasing us again!"

Axilita has made a decision in her heart at this moment: "General Astagras, let's repel these cavalry first."

Astacras was happy to see the change in Axilita's attitude, and immediately led more than 300 cavalry and the remaining 200 cavalry around Axilita to return to face the enemy.

At this moment, "rumbling" footsteps came from the front left. Astagras and Axilita subconsciously looked to the north. The growing noise made them feel uneasy.

Soon, when countless Syracuse soldiers appeared in their field of vision and rushed towards them like a tide, everyone changed their colors.

"Quickly retreat!" Axilita quickly turned his horse's head and fled in a hurry with the Numibian cavalry, and many Sicilian cavalry followed closely.

Are we defeated? ! ...Astagras couldn't believe this fact. He was stabbed under his horse by the pursuing Dionian cavalry in a daze...

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"Dionia has won! We have won! Crotone has won!!..." The spies sent by Lysias and the others rushed all the way to the ruins of Crotone's north gate, excited and incoherent. shouted loudly.

The people of Crotone who were watching the battle in the city were already crying.Although it is far away from the battlefield and cannot be seen clearly, all the soldiers are running south. Could it be that Syracuse will be victorious?At this time, countless people shed excited tears: Crotone was finally saved! ! !

Lysias had been nervously standing in front of the battlements and paying attention to the battle. As soon as he relaxed, he realized that his legs were so sore that he couldn't stand. He sat down on the walkway, facing a pile of rubble and everywhere. In the city of Cangyi, the joy of narrowly surviving death suddenly turned into deep sorrow: Although the people of Crotone were saved, the city of Crotone no longer existed...

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When deciding to retreat, Dionysius also planned to prepare the defenders of the big camp to respond and block the pursuing troops behind, so that the fleeing Syracuse soldiers could smoothly enter the camp.As it turns out, this is simply not possible.

Because the transfer of the camp's defenders was discovered by Asprostum's Dionian troops who paid close attention to the camp's movements.At the same time, the news of the "Victory of the Battle of Dionia" brought by the mountain reconnaissance team made Agarcia even more excited. Although he was the chief executive, he was also a mercenary and had rich combat experience. He took decisive action, He personally led 3000 defenders to attack the Syracuse camp that blocked the road south of Asprostum.

The Syracuse garrison was disturbed by the news of the failure of the battle, and was divided out of the camp. Facing the full-strength attack of Asprostum's army, there was still the heart to fight, and they barely resisted for a while. Easily allowed the excited Dionysian soldiers to invade the camp.

Dionysius also wanted to regroup his army during the escape, but the Dionysian army in hot pursuit made his efforts in vain. The attendants he sent were either kidnapped or knocked down by the defeated troops, and the horses were killed. snatch.

Sixty-seven thousand people continued to pour into the Tachinadi River, and the entire river was almost cut off. The slippery mud and the subsequent pursuit of the Dionian soldiers made the terrified Syracuse soldiers cross the river. A piece of floating corpse was left behind.

The defenders of the camp were frightened by the influx of broken troops. They had no idea of ​​responding, so they turned around and fled first.

The raging wave of defeated soldiers collapsed the narrow camp gate, and some defeated soldiers simply knocked down the wooden fence and poured into the camp.However, the pursuers also entered the camp.

At the same time, the shouts of the Dionian soldiers also sounded in the north of the camp. It was the Asprostum army that rushed into the camp and was chasing the retreating defenders.

The defeated soldiers of Syracuse were afraid of being cut off from their return route, so they dared not stay in the camp longer, so they continued to flee south...

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"General Hilos, the Syracuseans have been defeated by us! They are fleeing towards Xiliting! There are too many of them!..." The scout galloped over, saying excitedly and nervously.

At this time, Hilos had led his team across the Tachinadi River, entered the territory of Siliting, and was marching northeast, preparing to reach the camp in Syracuse.

After receiving the report from the scout cavalry, Hilos was happy and immediately realized that this was a good opportunity to annihilate the enemy. He immediately asked: "How far are the Syracuseans from us?"

"When I came back, they were running into the 'corridor.'"

Hieros served as administrator of Asprostum.During his tenure, he had surveyed the terrain in this area many times and was familiar with it. Of course he knew that the "corridor" mentioned by the scout actually refers to the southern plains of Croton and the Siliting territory on the west bank of the Tachinadi River. This narrow strip of coastline has rolling mountains to the north and the ocean to the south.This seaside corridor is about 36 miles long and the narrowest width is ten miles, and our own army is at least 15 miles away from entering this corridor. It seems that before Syracuse's troops ran out of the corridor, they got there and intercepted it. It's not difficult for them.But you must know that your army is walking on rugged hills, while the Syracuseans are running on the flat seaside, not to mention that they are defeated and their speed is quite fast.

Hilos thought for a moment and then immediately ordered: "The whole army is marching urgently, everyone, run for me!"

This run made the soldiers complain endlessly. You must know that at least half of the Dionia-Trina coalition army is heavy infantry.Fortunately, after several years of training, these soldiers from Bruti have developed the habit of observing discipline and strictly executing orders, while the Trina people are supported by the flame of revenge.More importantly, the news of "Victory in the Battle of Dionia" gave them great encouragement.

When they arrived at the corridor, the distance between the head of the team and the end of the team was stretched to four or five miles. Many soldiers collapsed on the ground, gasping for air, and they were covered in sweat and clamored for water.In the next half hour, Hilos, who was also exhausted, worked hard to organize the team, while also trying his best to let the soldiers who arrived have a good rest and regain some strength as soon as possible.

Most of the soldiers have arrived, but there are still soldiers who have fallen behind, arriving one after another in twos and threes.

At this moment, the reconnaissance cavalry reported: Syracuse's defeated troops were only two miles away from the army.

The rational Hilos did not let the soldiers with limited physical strength intercept the defeated soldiers head-on. He knew very well that not only would the tens of thousands of defeated soldiers who wanted to escape back to Xiliting not be blocked by his thousands of soldiers, but they would also be likely to let these exhausted soldiers escape. And the inexperienced soldiers were caught in a torrent of flight.

So he immediately ordered his troops to line up with their backs to the mountains and diagonally toward the coast, leaving a gap several miles long for the defeated troops to pass through. In this way, even if their attack was fierce and the Syracusans wanted to escape, they would not There was too much resistance.

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Dionysia's pursuit continued until dusk before sounding the horn to withdraw troops.

According to post-war statistics, in this battle that determined the fate of Magna Greece, Syracuse suffered nearly 2 casualties, most of whom were injured or killed during the escape. More than 1 people were captured. This is more It was the credit of Xilos. He first asked the soldiers to continuously kill and injure the defeated troops who were fleeing at the edge of the "Coastal Corridor". Later, he decisively ordered an attack and immediately intercepted the rear of the defeated army. In the end, there were 3 Syracuse soldiers. More than ten thousand people fled into Xiliting.

The Dionian side suffered nearly 7000 casualties, especially the Kert reinforcements, which suffered the heaviest casualties, losing almost half.Followed by the spear brigade and cavalry regiment, as the key to turning the tide of the entire battle, they also paid the price of more than 2000 people.

The result of the battle: Dionia defeated Syracuse's 58000 soldiers with 65500 men, and finally won a complete victory.

　Thanks to Zhanbili and Isarios for the rewards!Your support is my biggest motivation for writing! !

　　
　
(End of this chapter)