ancient greece mediterranean ruler

Chapter 877 Battle of Lola ([-])

Contruni's words hit the mark on what Segovani was worried about. When he discussed privately with other Kautini leaders who were closely related to him, he also encountered strong opposition, which forced him to give up. .

But the war situation changed so quickly that he had no time to think of a better way to solve the problem of the Naconian army.The rumors in Beneventum were spread by him in order to confuse the public. Although the effect seemed to be good, it was only a temporary measure.It is also expedient to disperse the Naconian tribal armies in the military formation.But if they are not sent out to fight, where will these more than 2000 Naconian warriors be placed?Cavutim or Abela?This will only make Segovani even more uneasy, and he firmly believes that only under such an arrangement, the Naconian soldiers will fight bravely and not dare to mess around.

This is indeed the case. The reason why Vasonk is anxious is because the Naconian army seems to be a whole, but in fact there is no leader who can convince everyone and make them obey orders. Everyone is temporarily elected and leading the army for the first time. None of the young people had much prestige, including Vasonk.Although they knew that Segovani's order was not good for them, with the Naconian army at a numerical disadvantage and surrounded by other tribal warriors, no young Naconian commander had the confidence or courage to stand up. , raise your arms, and then all Naconian warriors will obey the order and launch a rebellion.

Therefore, although the Naconian generals expressed their opposition, they finally obeyed the order unwillingly and led their troops away.And this dispersion makes it impossible to communicate with each other during battle, let alone to achieve unified action.

Wasunke couldn't do anything, so he could only curse the cruel and cunning Segovani in his heart, and waited for the opportunity.

Segovani adopted the traditional combat method used by the Samonites to fight against the Greek army. The rows of the army array were very long, covering three miles, and the length of the columns was not small. This is because the Samonite army array It is very loose, and the distance between warriors is large, making it easy for them to pass through each other.

At dusk, when the sun had set over the sea in the west and the sky and sea were dyed golden, the enemy figures appeared in Segovani's field of vision. Their thick armor was slanted by the sunset, giving off an eerie glow. A sparkling but not dazzling light.

The wall of light on the opposite side did not scare Segovani and the soldiers. On the contrary, they felt reassured because they had defeated such opponents countless times in the past, but the length of the opponent's army exceeded Segovani's expectations. , it extended to both sides, so that Segovani could not even see both ends of it. This was somewhat different from the dense and thick square formation tactics of the Campania army in the past.

Is this the way the Dionians fight?Segovani murmured in his heart that although he and the Dionians had fought once, it was a pursuit battle and the two sides had not yet had a formal battle.

But he could see that the opponent's soldiers were still densely arranged, so the opponent's column must be thin.Of course, Segovani could guess why the opponent had formed a military formation before they arrived at the battle site. This obviously meant that the Campanians had learned lessons from the past, because the clumsy Campanian army was always there. While forming a slow formation, they were attacked from a distance by the fast-moving Cavutini warriors.

Segovani hesitated for a moment, but decided not to adjust the deployment easily, but to test it out for a while and see what the situation was.

The Dionysian coalition stopped advancing when they were less than 400 meters away from the opponent. This military formation, which was 3.2 miles long but had only three horizontal lines, had become winding after advancing for a certain distance. Before fighting, straighten the battle lines again.

There are more than 6000 heavy infantry in the middle of this army formation (including about 1500 reserve legionnaires in Dionia), and then there are 3000 light armor and light infantry mixed troops including Dionia's light infantry brigade on both sides Connected, there are 500 Dionian light armored soldiers at each end, and more than 200 Campanian cavalry on the outermost left wing, with a total strength of about 11400.

Dionysia's opponent, Cautini's army, has a total strength of more than 9000 people, and the array is three miles long. Most of the army is light infantry. These light infantry are also divided into two types, one is pure javeliners, and the other One is the light infantry with long shields, who can fight with javelins and spears. They constitute the main part of the Cautini army formation. Govani personally led it.

Cautini and the League of Campania, the two decades-old enemies, are at the edge of the eastern plain of Campania today, each with all its strength, and a battle that will determine their own fate is about to take place .

But just when the Dionysian coalition forces stopped and began to reorganize their formation, Segovani had already issued an order first, and the light infantry in the middle of the Kautini army began to move forward. With a move in the middle, the left and right wings They also moved one after another.

The movement of the Cavutini military formation is different from the heavy and slow movement of the Greek military formation, and its speed is very fast.

Aialos knew this well. As the general of Naples, he stood in the front row of the array. Zantiparis once advised him to "not go to the front line in person, but command the overall situation from the rear", but he politely refused. The generals elected by most of the Greek city-states are often on the front line during the battle to show that there is no difference in status from the soldiers, so as to avoid being criticized by the citizens after the war. Naples is no exception, especially in such an important place. time.

At this moment, he took off his Corinthian helmet without hesitation and threw it on the ground. The other Campania heavy infantry also took off their Corinthian helmets according to the pre-planned plan like Aialos, and all of them suddenly realized their vision. Open and relaxed.Only the Dionian heavy infantry did not take it off because they wore open helmets.

Aialos looked around, raised the spear in his hand, and shouted loudly: "Apollo bless us! We must pursue bravely and never stop!"

The surrounding soldiers and team officers also shouted: "Pursue bravely and never stop!!..."

When the Cautini army was approaching 50 meters, almost all the soldiers of the Dionian coalition army were shouting, and their fighting spirit was very high.

Zantiparis, who was riding behind and riding on a horse, heard the thunderous roar, and his nervous mind became much calmer.

"Attack!" he shouted.

"Woo!..." The high-pitched bugle sound made the entire long military column, whether heavy infantry, light infantry, light armored soldiers, or cavalry, begin to advance.

The sudden forward movement of the Dionia coalition forces did not have any impact on the soldiers at the forefront of the Kautini army. They stopped at a suitable distance as usual, threw the javelins in their hands, and then Just prepare to retreat through the gap, so that the soldiers behind them are in the forefront, and they will continue to throw javelins... Repeat this, so that even if the opponent is advancing, they always keep a distance from the opponent, The javelins continued to be thrown, causing great damage to the opponent's dense phalanx.

In the past, the Campania League did not undergo special training, neither had light infantry that could compete with it, nor did it design tactics specifically for independent light infantry. It was impossible for the temporarily recruited civilian light infantry to fight against almost all He is a powerful Cavoutini harpooneer, so often after three or four rounds of throwing, the Campania army has to stop advancing.

Then, the Cavoutini warriors immediately switched from retreat to attack, still throwing waves of javelins to attack. When they threw all the javelins in their hands, the Campanians had basically fallen into chaos due to too many casualties. After that, Cavutini's armored infantry and light spear-carrying infantry made the final impact, often defeating them in one blow and establishing the victory.

But now, the Cavutini warriors were surprised to see the heavy infantry on the opposite side speeding up and getting faster and faster.

Are they going to charge? !Don't they know that it's impossible for us to hedge against them, and with their cumbersome speed, it's impossible for them to catch up with us! ...Although the Kautini warriors were surprised, as the distance got closer, they had to move backwards, and their first round of javelin, according to custom, because the distance was still far (more than 30 meters), so they took Throwing it slightly upward can make the javelin fly longer, and the location where it falls is often in the middle and rear of the opponent's formation, thus causing chaos in the entire formation and disjointing it from front to back, making it easier for the next attack.However, the opponent's sudden acceleration and thin columns caused most of the javelins thrown to miss.

The coalition heavy infantry who had escaped the javelin attack became more confident. They raised their bucklers at an angle and half-protected their heads, and their steps were more powerful and faster.This caused the distance between the two sides to be quickly shortened to less than 20 meters, and the Cavutini warrior who threw the javelin later had no time to be more fully prepared, so he hurriedly threw the javelin in his hand.

The 500 Naconian warriors led by Vasonk were part of this second wave of attacks. They had received hints from Vasonk in advance. Most of the warriors threw their javelins into the sky at will, and then immediately retreated. withdraw.

The desperate charging momentum of the Greek heavy infantry made Vasonk's thoughts change rapidly.

Even though the Kautini warriors threw in a hurry, they were experienced and took a straight shot in this round of javelin throwing. Countless heavy javelins were thrown by the warriors' strong arms and driven by the leather ropes. With some rotation, they pierced the shields protecting the heavy infantry. Many javelins penetrated the shields directly, causing injuries to some heavy infantry.

(End of this chapter)