Mediterranean Hegemon of Ancient Greece - Chapter 143

[Chapter 42 Raid (2)]

Davos stood up and looked around the crowd, his voice low and powerful: “Tomorrow’s first battle in the early morning will determine the ownership of the Xubari Plain! It will determine the future of our citizens of Amendolara! When the battle starts, there is no horn and no shouting! We’re going to be ruthless! We’re going to be fierce! We’re going to be fast! Destroy the enemy in their sleep as fast as we can! Charge towards the center as fast as we can! The faster we charge, the tighter and thicker the array will be, while the enemy will The more panic it will be, the more we will be able to surround them in the center and force them to surrender! Brothers, the Crotones are now like a pot of fragrant barley porridge, I want to see which group eats the fastest, eats most!”

Everyone didn’t speak, but their round eyes were burning with fighting intent…

……………………

On an early summer night in the southern Apennine, the weather was still relatively cool, but unfortunately there was no moon or stars on the dark sky.

Amendolara’s troops began to set off, starting with the first division of the first group, the first wing, and the first division. The head of each company held a lit torch to illuminate the road ahead. Walk quietly and in good order.

The sound of the rushing river, the roar of insects and frogs, and even the howls of wild beasts in the distance covered up the footsteps of the troops and the collision of armors. From a distance, only the faint flashes of fire could be seen every few hundred meters.

Crossing the pontoon bridge at night was the biggest trouble of the march.

The troops marched in two columns to ensure that there was enough space on the bridge deck and that both sides had a look.

Fortunately, most of the soldiers of the first brigade walking in front had participated in the Persian expedition, and they were very experienced in walking at night. They passed the first pontoon bridge smoothly, and then passed the second one. The successor troops with confidence.

The second brigade also successfully reached the other side.

By the third group, the speed of crossing the bridge began to slow down.

Alsinis stepped on the undulating plank, looked at the dark and faint river flowing under the pontoon bridge, imagined its depth, and his body involuntarily swayed with the bridge, seeing that his body was about to lean out, when a hand He grabbed his arm forcefully.

“Don’t panic, look up ahead, don’t look at your feet!” That was the voice of the squad leader Ctipps who was parallel to him.

He stabilized his emotions, followed the team leader’s method, and it was much better.

Just after walking a few steps, he heard a thumping sound behind him, followed by a cry for help.

Someone fell into the water!

He was suddenly startled.

“Don’t look back, go forward!” The voice of Ctips, who usually nags, was unusually calm at this time.

Alsinis finally set foot on the triangular area in the middle of the confluence of the two rivers. After gaining experience, it was much easier to cross the second pontoon bridge.

In order to help the Lucagians cross the river smoothly, Epithenes thought of a trick: let a Greek and a Lucagian walk side by side on the pontoon. With the help of these veterans, the vast majority of Lucanians also successfully crossed the river.

When he arrived at the south bank of the Klaty River and stepped on solid ground, Alsinis’s nervous mood fell to the ground. At this time, he asked the team leader: “What about the comrades who fall into the water?”

“The legion commander asked the military officer Felixius to arrange some rescue people on both sides of the strait. As long as they throw away their round shields, stab guns, and helmets, they should have no problem swimming to the shore. Of course, it depends on whether they usually train hard. Swimming. Now you realize the importance of training, and every project should be completed carefully, because maybe you will use it one day in the future.” Ctips seized every opportunity to educate the recruits.

Alsinis nodded earnestly.

Two hours later, the troops approached the city of Castellon, and the whole army extinguished all the torches.

Led by Izam’s squad, they came to the middle of the Trionto River (Castron is at the mouth of the Trionto River) and formed eight columns, with soldiers pulling stab guns back and forth (because The round shield hangs on the shoulders, the helmet hangs on the neck) to walk, although this section of the river is the widest, but the water depth is not as deep as the waist, and the current is not urgent, except for the many pebbles on the river beach, there is no enemy they cause any trouble,

We crossed the Trionto River.

Crotone’s camp is not far away.

It was still deep in the night, and it was not yet dawn.

Under the leadership of the mountain team, the teams quietly and unhurriedly entered the predetermined positions and began to lie down and rest to recover their strength.

The team officers sneaked closer, observed the Crotone camp, and began to adjust and arrange the attack positions of the subordinate teams according to the previous map.

As soon as the eastern sky showed a ray of light, the officers began to wake up the resting soldiers, while they were sorting out their weapons and equipment, the sub-commanders whispered pre-battle mobilization: For the veterans, just say ‘These arrogant Crotones How dare people insult our Lord Davos, burn our houses, and now we shall make them pay in blood with shields and spears’ is enough to ignite their anger; and for recruits, in addition to encouragement, it is necessary to Remind them of some details that need to be paid attention to in the battle, such as ‘Don’t just charge yourself, go forward with the whole team.

When the stabbing spear pierces the enemy’s body and cannot be pulled out, don’t waste time pulling it hard, pull out the saber and continue slashing’ and so on.

Alsinis began to line up with his comrades, and then put on the heavy Corinthian helmet, but he didn’t have the usual sense of isolation from the world, although he couldn’t feel the force behind his teammates (because it was a single row), But through the eyes of the helmet, what he saw was not only the tents erected by the Crotones 100 meters away, but also the thin front of Amendolara’s comrades-in-arms in the corner of his eye. Extending, arcing around the camp, out of sight…

Alsinis stepped forward lightly, approaching Crotone’s nearest tent less than 40 meters away, and the front was still deadly silent.

Excited and regretful, Alcines would love to show off his growing skill by fighting a sober Crotone.

At this time, there was a large scream of screams from the front on the right, especially harsh in the silent camp, that was the first brigade began to attack.

Ctipps whispered, “Go forward!”

Everyone started to take big strides, the round shields next to each other rubbed against each other, making a muffled “bang” sound, the feet in leather sandals stepped on the mud soaked by the morning dew, leaving rows of clear footprints .

Alsiris had already spotted a few enemies in front of him who were sleeping soundly outside the tent, but when he stood in front of the enemy, he became hesitant again.

“Do it!” The teammate next to him urged, and at the same time stabbed the stab gun into an enemy’s throat. I saw the man suddenly widen his eyes and grabbed his throat with both hands. He wanted to scream but couldn’t make a sound. His face was distorted.

The teammate pulled out the stab gun, the blood from the wound shot out like a fountain, and the injured enemy began to gasp for breath, which caused another enemy to wake up in his sleep.

“Don’t do it yet!” The teammate shouted again, Alsiris finally no longer hesitated, and quickly stabbed a shot, piercing the enemy’s chest.

The teammate turned his head and nodded to Alsinis. Although he couldn’t see the expression on his face because of the helmet, Alsinis could guess that it must be a satisfied smile. Motivated, he endured the discomfort in his stomach and continued. As you move forward, clear the enemies sleeping soundly outside the tent.

There was a tent in front blocking the advance route of the Ctips team. Ctips made a gesture, ten soldiers surrounded the tent, ten stab guns pierced in, and stabbed, accompanied by screams, blood sprayed. splash on the curtain.

“Alcines!” cried Ctipps.

Alsinis immediately held up the round shield, bent over and got into the tent, came out quickly, and said, “There are four people, two… vomit… two were seriously injured, and the others… vomit… all died.”

“Ignore them, move on!” Ctips waved his hand, then looked at Alsinis, and said in a deep voice, “Even if you vomit, don’t stop your progress for me.”

Alsinis and the others advanced for a long time before they saw the enemies who had come out of the tent in twos and threes. They were wearing short-sleeved linen clothes. Some were even naked. He was completely awake from drunk and drowsy, and looked at Alsinis and the others in a daze. He came up desperately, but screamed in panic: “There are enemies! There are enemies!…” Under the approach of Alsinis and the others, they fled everywhere. The panicked appearance reminded Alsinis of what he saw when he was a child when he went up to the mountains with his father to grazing. A flock of sheep being chased by hungry wolves.

……………………

The ancestors of Colebus were the earliest immigrants in Crotone, so they were allocated a large and fertile “land”, and the whole family lived a relatively prosperous farming and pastoral life.

However, over time, with the rise of trade, many citizens who were engaged in business gained amazing wealth, and used the earned wealth to gain a lot of power in Crotone’s political scene. They became Crotone’s new noble.

Klebs’ grandfather was an ambitious man who envied these businessmen. He was no longer satisfied with farming, and was determined to devote himself to the business trend to win a brighter future for the family.

He mortgaged the land, borrowed a lot of money, bought a few ships, and started a port transshipment trade, full of goods, sailing in the Greek city-state of Sagunto, Gaul, Massilia, Between Napoli and Benboncrotone on the west coast of Italy.

At first, everything went smoothly and made a lot of money. Later, when passing through the Strait of Messina with a full load of goods, he was caught in the great vortex of Clidis, and the ship was destroyed.

The Klebs family began to decline from then on. When he grew up, his life was down. Except for his status as a citizen of Crotone, he had nothing like a freedman from a foreign country, but he was different from a freedman in that, You can vote in the people’s assembly, you can join the army to fight.