Mediterranean Hegemon of Ancient Greece Chapter 12: Milon’s counterattack

lnmao.org, the fastest update to the latest chapter of the Mediterranean Overlord of Ancient Greece!

Martonis cursed the timid Crotone, helplessly let some soldiers participate in the construction of the bridge.

The Umbria River is not too wide or too deep. With sufficient labor, the soldiers on both sides of the strait will soon be able to build bridges in accordance with the steps in the Military Law under the command of engineers. The construction of a wooden bridge was completed, but Matonis received a return from the scout: about 8,000 Crotone light infantry attacked him!

His listless face suddenly became energetic: "Brothers, get me up, there is a battle!"

What kind of soldiers bring what kind of soldiers. The soldiers who had been lying down and resting immediately stood up, put on their equipment, and quickly approached the soil barrier, looking out with excitement, and the soldiers who were building the bridge quickly rushed back after hearing the news.

It didn't take long before they saw the figure of Crotone.

……………………

After Miron fled back to Crimea, he specifically questioned the few surviving soldiers of Philadefors, and came to an astonishing conclusion: Philadefors’s army was turned out to be by Dionia. Defeated by the light infantry! And now he has the conditions of fewer heavy infantry and more light infantry, which is why he decided to learn the enemy's tactics. He even allowed some sailors from the fleet docked at the port of Crimea to join the expedition.

8000 people came ashore from the south bank of the Umbria River's estuary. Under his leadership, they marched formidable along the Umbria River towards the garrison on the south bank of Dionia.

Seeing the trenches and earth walls built by the Dionians, Miron laughed: The Dionians bound their hands and feet, which is more conducive to the offensive of the light infantry.

At a distance of two hundred meters from the Dionians, he spread out his troops loosely and encircled Dionia, a semi-arc temporary defensive camp backed by the Umbria River.

With an order, the archers advanced to within 100 meters and began to throw arrows.

For the Dionian heavy infantry guarded by an earthen wall, the rain of arrows in the sky looks scary and does not do much harm to them. They only need to put the buckler on the wall and block their heads. . The Dionian soldiers also joked: "The Crotones must have known that our bows and arrows were almost used up in the last battle, so they kindly sent us arrows." But Dionian replied. This relaxed mood of the infantry quickly disappeared without a trace.

The Crotone light infantry continued to move forward at a distance of about 50 meters, and the accuracy of the bow and arrow was greatly increased.

Of course, there is still little damage to the Oriya heavy infantry with bucklers and earth walls.

However, when Crotone's Javelinmen continued to advance to twenty or thirty meters, the Dionia heavy infantry felt the pressure. Of course, squatting behind the dirt wall will not suffer any damage at all. Anyway, the enemy is light infantry, and they dare not fight with them head-on. But when the tortoise shrinks its head, it’s not the style of Matonis. What's more, once they shrink to the earth wall, they don’t know the other side’s movements at all. What if they bypass the line of defense and go down the river to burn the wooden bridge under construction? !

Martonis is now the commander of the South Coast Forces, and he knows exactly what his responsibilities are.

"Javelin!" He roared, stood up suddenly from behind the earth wall, quickly put down his buckler, leaned back, without a run-up, only relying on waist strength and hand strength, the javelin in his hand threw more than 20 meters and penetrated. Crotone inside the javelinman's chest, and then immediately squatted down.

The Dionian soldiers, who had been suppressed by bows and arrows, got the order of Martonis and immediately began to counterattack. Numerous javelins flew over the dirt walls and trenches, plunged into Crotone’s army, splashed Blossoming blood flowers. Crotone's arrows and javelins also poured on the Dionian heavy infantry, and the casualties on both sides began to increase.

Milon was watching the development of the battle in front of the archers. He began to appreciate the benefits of using a large number of light infantry to attack simple heavy infantry. Unfortunately, the Dionian heavy infantry were not the traditional Greek heavy infantry. The javelins they threw caused great damage to Crotone's weakly protected javelinmen, and the casualties between the two sides were also quite different.

But Miron believes that a few light infantry will be exchanged for a heavy infantry. This trade is worth doing. Crotone now has no shortage of freemen and sailors, but citizens who serve as heavy infantry.

……………………

"Captain Epithenis, the enemy offensive on the South Bank is fierce! Captain Martonis wants your reinforcements!" The messenger brought Matonis' message.

"I see!" Epithenis frowned and responded. He thought for a while and said, "Ampeo Rex!"

"Subordinates are here!"

"I want you to lead the slingers and immediately cross the river to support Matonis!" Epithenis looked at the captain of his slinger company and exhorted: "Remember! Never enter Matonis' camp. , Otherwise the small camp will prevent you from evading the large number of light infantry in Crotone! You have to go around the enemy’s periphery and attack the enemy with the ultra-long range of the slings!"

"I understand, Captain!" Ampeo Rex hurriedly summoned his soldiers.

The formation of the light infantry brigade (the seventh brigade) of the Dionian regiment is somewhat different from that of the heavy infantry. According to the "Military Law", the heavy infantry brigade has five companies, each with 200 personnel, with a total organization of 1,000 people; while the light infantry brigade, although the organization is also 1,000 personnel, has only three companies, each of which is a sling company. , Archer Company, Javelin Company, the number of people under each company is variable.

This is because compared to heavy infantry, light infantry has a higher technical content. Javelinmen are better. Archers and slingers cannot become qualified light infantry without long-term training. The composition of the light infantry brigade of the Onia Army often depends on the actual situation in the region. For example, the Light Infantry Brigade of the 1st Legion has little difference in the number of the three arms, but its javelinmen are actually Thracian light shield soldiers; the Light Infantry Brigade of the 2nd Legion is mainly from the reserve citizens of Turei, most of whom are born Freedmen and sailors, so there are more archers, but also some light shield soldiers; and the light infantry brigade of the 3rd Army is mainly from Lucaria, so the majority of javelin soldiers. Because the light infantry has a loose formation and greater flexibility, and rarely has direct contact with the enemy, there are more and less light infantry units, which have little influence on command and operation.

"Captain, Ampeo Rex took away the slingers. Will the Croton civil warship berthed in the river see the number of us reduced, and take the opportunity to go up against the river and come to destroy the wooden bridge we just built... …" Zenaris, the captain of the light shield company, said worriedly.

"I really hope that they will come. Even if we have few soldiers, I have the confidence to destroy them! Not like now, can neither attack nor retreat, let the wooden boats staying there hold us back, and can't reinforce the other side. Comrades!" Epithenis said angrily.

"Since they are not coming, we can attack them in the past!" A handsome young man interjected, a guard beside Epithenis.

Epidenis slapped him on the back of his head and said with a smile: "Idiot, the place where the enemy warships are anchored, the river bank is low. We are going there to attack those warships, just like attacking the city wall. Like the enemy, my own loss is big, the enemy's loss is small, this kind of battle knowingly loses, what will I do with Epithenis?!"

"Now we are located in the highlands of the river bank, and there is a barrier on the river. The enemy knows that they will be passively beaten here by boating. Will they do such a stupid thing?!" The handsome guard asked back.

Epithenis was speechless for a while, then he nudged him with his hand again, and then laughed and cursed: "Okay, you are very advanced now!" Then, he sighed helplessly: "It seems that we are with the enemy. The warship was exhausted, and the commander asked us to protect the wooden bridge. I thought it was a simple task, but now it looks like a really troublesome thing!"

…………………

Daves had received news when Milon and Matonis fought. Although Milon dared to attack with all light infantry, Daves was surprised, but he didn’t have any worries: "Notify Laides , His cavalry was temporarily placed under the command of the First Corps. I believe Capus will soon be able to push the enemy back!"

Captain of the First Corps, authorized by Daves, immediately mobilized three heavy infantry battalions and cavalry, and quickly walked across the river, trying to bypass the Crotone and cut off their retreat.

Who knows, Miron learned that Dionia's reinforcements were coming soon, and given the advantage, he simply ordered the retreat.

This battle ended hastily. Of the 2,000 heavy infantry led by Matonis, 500 were casualties, most of them wounded. Among Miron's 8,000 people, there were more than 700 casualties, but many died. However, Matonis believed that he had suffered a loss, while Miron believed that Crotone had won a small victory because it hit the arrogant arrogance of the Dionians and would definitely delay its progress in building a camp and besieging Crimea.

But when Miron returned to the city, he immediately got bad news: a large army came from the north and was entering Dionia's barracks.

That must be Niutum’s reinforcements! Milon suddenly became nervous.

…………………

In fact, not only 5,000 soldiers from Niutum, but also 3,000 Laos Allied forces entered the Dionia barracks, bringing Dionia’s frontline force to as many as 22,000.

The originally high morale of the Dionian Barracks is now full of cheers...

Daves went out to greet the Laos consul Avinojis, the first captain of the Third Army, Bagul, the lieutenant Asistes, and the second captain Li Zaru and many other senior team officers.

"Your Excellency Commander, we are late!" Asistes saluted respectfully, and then said apologetically.

"It took more than three days to rush from Niutum to Crimea. Is this kind of marching speed still slow?!" After Davers returned the salute seriously, he praised with a smile on his face: "You are here. It is just time that the next battle will depend on you!"