Mediterranean Hegemon of Ancient Greece - Chapter 432

[Chapter 99 The Battle of Lamato River (End)]

In this way, the space for the Fifth Army to retreat to the north should be relatively spacious.

However, not long after the Fifth Legion began to retreat, it was targeted by Syracuse’s mercenary cavalry.

After being reprimanded by Dionysius, the Numibians and Celts had to brace themselves and chased the men in black armor from east to west, with fewer routs along the way. Their ride, and then they saw the retreating Diorian Fifth Legion.

The soldiers of the Fifth Corps were still relatively concentrated and orderly during the retreat, which was obviously not conducive to the impact of the cavalry. Even the fierce Celtic cavalry were not stupid enough to directly ram the thick heavy infantry array.

But the cunning mercenary cavalry had their own way. They formed a column again, drove their horses close to the Dionian soldiers, shouted loudly, quickly swept past the formation of the Fifth Legion, and threw their javelins without interruption… …

The rushing sound of horses’ hooves, the horrifying screams, and the screams of teammates … made the soldiers of the Fifth Legion, who were already demoralized, even more flustered, and they rushed forward, trying to escape from the place behind them earlier. Terrible cavalry, … the retreating ranks of the Fifth Legion began to be in chaos.

Drakes, who was in front of him, saw this scene and made a decisive decision. Behind him happened to be the first group. He turned his horse’s head and shouted: “Brim, take your first group with me, and block those damned Cavalry! Let the other brothers retreat safely!”

Bloom, who used to be the leader of Vicinia, a tough guy among the Brutians, and is now the commander of the 1st Brigade of the Fifth Army, answered without hesitation: “Yes “Lord

Corps Commander!”

The bugle of the attack did not sound, for fear of affecting the retreat of other soldiers, but the flag of the first brigade pointed in the opposite direction of the retreat, and then the flag of the company and the flag of the division pointed to the place where there were enemy cavalry. , Under the shouts of the team officers, the soldiers of the First Brigade turned around one after another…

While the other soldiers fled in panic, the First Brigade of the Fifth Army rose to the challenge!

Leading the way was the corps commander Drax, fully armed and on foot, followed by the 1st battalion commander Bream.

Drakes turned his head to look at the soldiers of the first brigade who were panicking but still firmly following him, and his satisfaction was palpable: “As expected of a man from Bixinia! My best soldier! My best brigade ( Because the soldiers of the first brigade are all from the city of Bisinia)!”

“It is the honor of our first brigade to fight with the adults!” Bream straightened his chest.

Drakes nodded and gave the order loudly: “Two lines! Keep the formation and back slowly! Never let an enemy pass by!”

At this moment, Drakes didn’t think about life and death at all, and

only saw the front .

The mercenary cavalry whizzing past.

……………………

Dionysius, who had been studying Dionysian past battles for a long time, learned from Dionysian well this time.

He used the high mobility of the mercenary cavalry and the two support troops who had just entered the battlefield and had plenty of stamina to carry out a continuous pursuit of the routed troops of the southern Italian coalition until dusk, before finally withdrawing the troops and returning to the camp.

Trina’s route back to the city was blocked by the Ramato River. In addition to the warships waiting in the river, most of the soldiers were pursued by Campania mercenaries and sailors of the Syracuse fleet. Follow the Dionian army in the middle and retreat north.

The reconnaissance cavalry sent by Trina City fled back to the city in panic, and reported the news of the defeat of the battle to the defenders stationed in the city, and everyone fell into great panic.

In view of the fact that the main army could not return, and the city of Trina was alone and unable to cope with the coming Syracuse army, General Blomaras had to make a painful decision: to abandon the city of Trina and the soldiers to withdraw. Go to the city of Knapetia in the Dionian Union.

The watchmen of the Syracuse warships cruising in the harbor noticed the unusual movements of the Trina defenders. After the Trina people were far away, they sent sailors to land to test, and they easily occupied an empty city.

In this way, at the end of the battle of the Ramato River, the Syracuses took Trina, and gained a well-placed foothold for their army in the middle of Greater Greece, where the great army of Syracuse was. The required materials can be transferred into Trina Port by sea, which is convenient and safe.

But Dionysius was not satisfied, his greedy eyes fixed on Sirius, not far from the battlefield.

The situation of the soldiers who participated in the war was rather miserable. They fled east and crowded with the rout of Crotone, which consumed precious time, and the route of returning to the east was cut off by reinforcements from Faci Pesas. Syracuse led some of the Syracuse soldiers to pursue the pursuit despite fatigue. As a result, some of the Siriting troopers died, some surrendered, and some were escorted by the Crotone troopers and fled north. Only more than 3,000 people fled back to Siri. Court City.

Dioria’s 4th and 5th legions in the middle were far away from the reinforcements on the enemy’s flanks, and because the friendly troops helped to block (involuntary), the retreat was relatively smooth, except for some setbacks when crossing the Colache River, No great loss.

However, the Syracuse mercenary cavalry caused them the greatest losses.

Although most of the cavalry was stopped by the 1st Brigade of the Fifth Army led by Drakes, it also delayed the retreat of Drax and this brigade, causing it to eventually fall into the heavy siege of Syracuse’s pursuit troops, and did not fail to escape. Being

able to escape…

Dionia’s greatest luck is that although the cautious Felixius agreed to the coalition to fight, but after he and Ancitanos discussed it, he still kept an eye on his mind: he considered the possibility of failure, so he waited After the army lined up, let Ancitalos lead the cargo battalion, engineering battalion, medical battalion of the two legions… and other legion auxiliary personnel out of the camp, marching north, and retreating to Aspurustum and the battlefield. place between.

Felixius’ plan was that if the battle was won, the Syracuses would be driven out of the Euphemia plain, and the auxiliary troops such as the baggage battalion would not be too late to return; but if they failed, they could no longer retreat to the camp. Instead, they should retreat to Asporustum City and make new defensive arrangements as instructed by Davos before leaving.

Therefore, when the Syracuse army was chasing the routed soldiers, the slow-moving Dionian auxiliaries were already on their way to the city of Aspurustum, thus avoiding the fact that the camp had no soldier defense and became Syracuse. The experience of the captives.

…………………………

Perhaps Apollo couldn’t bear to witness such a tragic battle between the Greeks, and after letting the sun fall into the mountain early, darkness quickly occupied the whole world.

But Apollo’s younger sister, Artenis, the goddess of hunting and the moon, was lazy and didn’t let the moon hang high in the sky, so Hades took control of the night.

Logically, the coalition army should feel fortunate that with the blessing of Hades, whom the Dionians believed in, at least the arrogant Syracuse mercenaries did not dare to chase them in the dark night, but the night also created the retreat of the coalition forces. many difficulties.

In the darkness, the soldiers could not see the flag and the caps of their officers, so they could not reorganize. Except for the Dionian Legion, which was slightly better, the other soldiers were completely scattered.

In fact, this area is the edge of the hills. The ground is undulating and potholes. The tired, hungry, panicked, black-eyed soldiers are prone to fall. If they can’t stand up in time, they will be trampled by the soldiers behind. Therefore, the number of wounded soldiers is not small.

Thousands of routed soldiers were saddened by the death of their teammates in the dark, shouting the names of the team officers, and worrying about their own safety…

Traveling in the dark, they felt Aspur for the first time. The distance between Sturm and Tarantum was actually so long…

Until late at night, Agarcia, the administrator of Asprostum, who learned the news of the failure of the battle, urgently dispatched cavalry and citizens with torches, Illuminated the troops along the way.

Then Tarantum also made corresponding measures, and the routed soldiers finally escaped from the dark panic.

For a whole night, the two cities were busy with receiving the defeated soldiers…

………………………………

And this night was also a sleepless night for the people of the Sirius.

Since Xi Liting was not far from the battlefield, the news of the failure of the battle spread throughout the city immediately, and the people immediately fell into panic.

At dusk, a total of more than 3,000 civilian soldiers fled back to the city, and only a few scattered soldiers returned to the city.

A mighty army of 14,000 people left the city in the morning, and less than a third of them came back in the evening. The whole city was in mourning.

The chief general, Pretinis, regretted it even more: if he had known, he should not have forced the Dionysians to fight hastily!

But now the crisis in Sirius has only just begun.

In the South-Italian Alliance, Xiliting City was also considered a big city. It used to be the pride of the Xiliting people, but now it has become a trouble for the Xiliting people because of the serious lack of defense.

According to the descriptions of the routed soldiers, they were defeated by Syracuse reinforcements that suddenly appeared on the battlefield.

Then the military strength of Syracuse on the battlefield is probably more than 50,000 people.

With such a large number of Syracuses in the army, with the momentum of victory in the battle, who would Dionysius’ next attack target be?

Pretinis and the members of the council dared to always think: It must be Sirius!

Because the distance is too close.

Now that Dionia and Crotone have just suffered a crushing defeat, they will definitely not be able to send troops to rescue Siri in a short period of time. If Sirius wants to escape from the next attack of the Syracuses, he can only rely on himself.

Therefore, a citizens’ assembly was urgently held in the city of Xiliting.

The uncleaned, terrified citizens will make an important decision about the life and death of the city-state…