Mediterranean Hegemon of Ancient Greece Chapter 6: The Battle of Trionto River (4)

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Although light armor soldiers are "light armor", they have "armor" after all, and they also have leather shields and spears in their hands, how can they catch up with an enemy in single clothes. But once they stopped, the enemy's long-range attack began.

What is more worrying is that the enemy in the middle is gradually divided into three parts when the light armor is advancing: one part draws the light armor in the formation, and the other two parts go around to the sides of the light armor.

When the light armour moved forward, the flanks were attacked by the enemy. Gu Qian can't care about the left and right, and Gu can't protect the front. Crotone’s light armoured soldiers rushed recklessly like a wild boar. Not only did they not injure a single hair of the enemy, but their own casualties increased little by little...

"How about the cavalry?! Why aren't the cavalry coming! What are Ali Sosis doing!!" Watching the soldiers fall one by one, Philadefors became irritable and couldn't help but yell at him. For the first time, I realized how uncomfortable it is to use pure infantry to fight an enemy who is all light infantry. It can't be hit, it can't be chased, and it has become a living target of the enemy.

"Back to the left! Back to the left!!" He yelled, and the guards also yelled. If in the previous pursuit, the excited soldiers could not hear what he was yelling. Now everyone They were all gathered together, carefully avoiding arrows and stones, and they were already a little afraid and exhausted. The order of Philadefors was what they couldn't ask for, and the light armoured soldiers hurriedly retreated.

Who knows that Dionia's light infantry is like a bone-attached maggot.

The original meaning of Philip Foss was to retreat to the left and meet the heavy infantry on the left flank, so that with their presence, they can protect the flanks of the light armor and reduce casualties before the cavalry returns from victory. At this moment, Philadefors also firmly believes that the Crotone cavalry will win.

However, he was in the formation, but he didn't know that the left-wing heavy infantry he originally thought would be behind him was actually deflected by the enemy's right-wing light infantry. They deliberately stepped back to the northwest. The slow-moving heavy infantry unknowingly changed from facing north to northwest. As a result, the distance between Crotone's middle road and the left wing became wider and wider.

The light armor quickly retreated for a while. Not only did it fail to rendezvous with the left wing, but because it was unable to achieve better protection during the retreat, the casualties increased rapidly. Now they were forced to turn around again, shield themselves with a leather shield, and slowly backed away, avoiding the intensive shooting arrows, watching the increasing number of injured and fallen comrades on the ground in front of them being cut by the enemy. The morale of the light armoured soldiers is shaking.

At this time, they heard the hooves of horses behind them, and they couldn't look back because they wanted to avoid the arrows, but they all breathed out: "Cavalry! Our cavalry is finally here!!"

Philip Foss wondered: How did Ali Sosis’s cavalry run to the back? ! Didn't you tell him that after defeating the enemy's left wing, let him lead the cavalry to pinch the enemy on the opposite side! No such ability! ! When righteous and annoyed, someone yelled: "Javelin! Beware of the javelin! They are the enemy!!"

With this exclamation, hundreds of javelins roared from behind.

Filade Foss was at the back of the array, and he wore a brightly colored generals helmet. Of course, he became the target of the key attack, and immediately got three javelins in his body. When Philadefors fell, he did not understand until his death: Why did the superior Crotone cavalry fail?

The cavalry who had high hopes turned out to be the enemy's! This became the last straw to crush the light armour. They lost their fighting spirit and fled in all directions. Dionian light infantry and cavalry took advantage of the situation to pursue them. The light armour could not be able to surpass these poorly equipped light infantry, let alone the cavalry. After being overtaken by speed, most soldiers chose to surrender.

After solving Crotone's right-wing cavalry and the light armor in the center, the Dionians concentrated on dealing with the hardest heavy infantry.

When more than 3,000 Crotone heavy infantry were surrounded by more than 7,000 Dionian light infantry and cavalry, these heavy infantry all understood that their center and left wing might be more difficult, especially the Ledes’s. The cavalry held up the head of Philadeforth, circled the heavy infantry formation, shouting for them to surrender, and the blow to the hearts of these Crotones could be imagined.

The commander in command of this heavy infantry was Philos from Crotone, and the lieutenant was General Paul Saleus of Siritiin. The two had a dispute in the face of such a bad situation.

Filos believes that the damage caused by light infantry to them is not too great. As long as they can keep advancing and reach, the main force in front of the river crossing will help the army defeat the army of Dionia, and the final victory will still belong to Crowe. Tori.

Paul Saleus believes that the morale of the soldiers is already very low in the situation of being fully surrounded and attacked, and the destination to reach is at least six or seven miles, which is almost impossible with the current situation of the soldiers. Insist on reaching the west section of the river.

The two sides couldn't convince anyone, and finally parted ways. Pausaleus took the Siritian soldiers and some Trina soldiers, totaling 1,700, and began to retreat, preparing to return to the southern bank of the Triwento River; Philos led 1,400 Crotone heavy infantry and began to accelerate westward.

Crottone's sudden division of forces caused distress to several of Dionia's generals.

Leides and Spite believe that heavy infantry should be surrounded by heavy troops, and a small amount of troops should be used to drive out the retreating enemy.

Epiteans expressed opposition. He believed: Since the enemy retreats, it means that the fighting spirit is not strong. As long as we continue to pursue and attack, they will inevitably surrender, and then re-encircle the remaining heavy infantry in order to wipe out the enemy. The next step The plan will be easier to implement. His opinion was supported by Zantiparis.

The situation is urgent and there is no time to argue. Dionia's forces were also divided into two, and Epithenis and Zanteparis led their troops to pursue the retreating heavy infantry.

Siliting and Trina are indeed not strong in fighting spirits. They are not Crotones and do not have much conflict of interest with Dionia. Although the citizens of Siriting suffered a lot of casualties in the Dionian raid half a year ago, they participated in the war mainly because of the covenant. By the way, they would gain some benefits. Revenge for the dead citizens was only second. But when the battle situation is bad and threatens their lives, of course they will not fight recklessly. They are welcome to divide the troops. They think that the attention of the Dionian light infantry will be on the Crotone people who are advancing westward, but they did not expect that the Dionian people will still be chasing them, and there are a large number of them. . Panicked, they just arrived at the lower reaches of the Triwento River. They remembered that they had paid a lot of money when crossing the river before. Now that there are more enemies and the attack will be more fierce, their hearts are cold to the bottom of their hearts.

The Trina first surrendered, and then Paul Saleus led the Siritians to surrender.

Crottone's heavy infantry said they wanted to speed up, but in fact they were not much faster than before. Although the protection of heavy infantry is very good, it does not mean that they are not afraid of long-range blows from bows, arrows, javelins, and stones. The impact of stones on the helmet will make them dizzy. If their thighs, toes, and hands are exposed, they must be careful with bows and arrows. The linen breastplate cannot completely block the close-range heavy blow of the javelin. Of course, the large round shields with a diameter of one meter and covered with copper skin in their hands can completely withstand frontal attacks, but the enemy is not only on the front, but there are enemies everywhere on the side and behind, how to defend it?

It’s only six miles away from Crotone’s army. Normally, it takes an hour to march. Now half an hour has passed and I have walked less than a mile... People keep falling down with arrows and shots. Like a giant beast, constantly biting and bleeding by the agile wolves, it is getting weaker and more exhausted. There is no hope in the front, but the enemy’s arrows and javelins are always so abundant (Dai Firth asked the Castellons to dedicate all the arrows and javelins they had accumulated for many years in the weapon library, and transported them to the back of the battlefield with pack beasts), so when Epithenis and Zanteparis returned with their troops, they would seize them. When the flags of Siriting and Trina were thrown in front of Crotone's heavy infantry to surrender, the Crotones, who were surrounded and always defending against long-range strikes, maintained their morale for so long, and their shaky morale was finally shattered. At the time of their surrender, fewer than a thousand soldiers were intact.

…………………

Alsinius, who was still a recruit six months ago, is now a squad leader of the First Army. He has nine soldiers under his control, six of whom are prepared citizens and recruits.

The rapid expansion of the Dionian army in the past six months can be imagined, and of course it has brought many problems, especially in this tragic battle, the quality of the heavy infantry on both sides has gradually been gradually over time. Show up. Heavy infantry is not just a qualified heavy infantry wearing armor, shielding, and spear stabbing. The most important aspect of heavy infantry in battle is trust and understanding. On a close line, a heavy infantryman holds a shield in his left hand and a gun in his right. The heavy copper buckler will make him lean his body to the left, and the buckler will naturally protect his left chest and left. The right chest of the comrade on the side, and his right chest is protected by a shield by the comrade on the right, so that the shield is connected in a line to defend against the enemy's piercing. He needs to move the buckler back and forth. This action consumes physical strength and It is easy to disrupt the array. He only needs to focus on two actions, the continuous stab with his right hand and forward pushing, so trust his teammates and trust him to protect you. This is the key to the successful operation of the heavy infantry phalanx.

The citizens of a city-state are at least a few thousand people, and at most tens of thousands of people. They are either neighbors or relatives. They play together since childhood. When they are young, they receive heavy infantry training from their elders, participate in competitions, and learn together. Work together, attend parties together...Although the city-states don't open much collective military training every year, trust comes from their childhood cultivation. As long as they stand on the battlefield, they will naturally stand together and twist into a rope.