Mediterranean Hegemon of Ancient Greece - Chapter 80

[Chapter 26 The Battle of Turii (2)]

The Lucanian tribal coalition stopped advancing when they were two miles away from the Greek army, and they also began to form.

The Greek army just waited quietly and did not take the opportunity to attack.

This is not surprising, because Turii hopes to change the scene of its passive beatings in a battle, and Lucania also hopes to use this battle to completely eliminate the remaining forces of Turii, so the battle is the common will of both parties.

If the Greek army attacks at this time, the Lucania tribal coalition can only retreat without completing the formation, and the infantry chasing the infantry is difficult to catch up at a distance of 1,000 meters. The timing of the battle was delayed.

This is unacceptable to the Turii generals who have been well prepared.

Citizens are also unacceptable, because it means they have to worry for longer.

The Greek army gave the Lucanian tribal coalition plenty of time to deploy, and the Lucanians were making the most of this time.

Since Tanma had reported the general situation of the Greek army’s formation to the leaders of the tribal coalition forces, the coalition commanders quickly decided the positions of the troops in the formation after urgent discussions: Akpiru, the chief of Grummentum City He led his tribe with 6,000 fighters in the middle; Niutum and Laos had 4,500 fighters on the left; and Grummentum’s main ally, another in the Lucania region. A powerful tribe united with the 4,000 people led by Cincinnagar, the great leader of the city of Picossis, plus 1,500 soldiers from the city of Vig in the Bruti region, making a total of 5,500 people. right wing.

The total strength of the Lucanian tribal coalition was 16,000, and there were no cavalry.

The city of Grummentum has been fighting for the past two years, and its chief, Akpiru, is considered to be experienced in military affairs. In the place with the most people, the fish and dragons are mixed and it is not easy to be discovered), and he has received a lot of news. Combined with the return of today’s spies, he has already made up his mind: although many of the Tulii civilian soldiers in the middle of the Greek army are a little older, But the number of people should not be underestimated, and he will deal with it personally; the right flank of the Greek army is the reinforcement of Tarantum. I heard that this time the troops repulsed the Mesapis many times in Tarantum. It is estimated that the combat effectiveness is not bad. Niutu Mu and Laos are sister cities, so cooperation is not a problem, 4,500 people are more than enough to deal with them; and the Greek army has the least number of left-wing troops, and the difference between it and the other two roads can be seen almost at a glance, because it has the least number of troops. The number of people is too small.

It is said that this Greek mercenary army once went on an expedition to Persia, but after Acpiru heard the stories about them, he thought that the rumors about this army were too exaggerated. Isn’t it just that they had lost the battle in Persia and fled back. People love to brag about themselves.

He has no concept of the distant eastern power of Persia, and believes that the strength of two thousand troops is limited, and the bravery of the Picosses is not weaker than that of Grummentum, and the ability of its chief Cincinnager is not weak. , and his son Gnainath (also the son-in-law of Acpirus), bravely crowned the whole family, four thousand warriors plus fifteen hundred Brutian warriors, almost three times the strength of the other party, fully capable of Defeated the left wing of the Greek army in one fell swoop.

Therefore, he locked his chances of victory on his right flank.

The Lucanians formed the formation more quickly, because their formation was not as tight as the Greek army, and the loose formation made the already huge formation even bigger.

With the sound of several long horns, this time an astonishing number of troops slowly pressed towards the Greek army…

The battle is about to begin!

Ferris’ somewhat cloudy old eyes can already see the shadow of the enemy on the opposite side.

He took a long breath, puffed out his shriveled chest, rolled over and dismounted, and instructed the slave: “Bring me my weapons and helmet!”

Just then, he heard a commotion from the soldiers ahead.

“What happened?” he asked suspiciously, and the people around him were equally puzzled.

He had to mount the horse again and look straight ahead, nothing had changed.

But looking in the direction of the commotion of the soldiers, he saw hundreds of soldiers from the left flank rushing out of the phalanx,

Running towards the Lucanians opposite…

What are they doing?

Is it to surrender to the enemy?

… When Ferris thought of this possibility, he felt a chill in his heart: Is it really as some people say, ‘mercenaries without a sense of belonging are unreliable’!

…………………………

Epithenis and Tspit led more than 600 light infantry out of the formation and charged towards the right flank of the allied forces of the Lukalia tribe.

Of course, they were not going to surrender, but were implementing a new tactic that had been practiced according to the request of the leader of Davos: that is, before the two armies collided, they would use light infantry to kill the enemy at a distance, so as to dampen the enemy’s vigor and confuse it. The purpose of the formation.

In the face of a large number of enemy troops, hundreds of lonely soldiers are like small trees in a gust of wind, and they are in danger of being blown at any time. This psychological pressure and fear will make the cowardly collapse, but these soldiers are in the During the Persian journey, they had been tempered by hundreds of battles, and their spirits had become extremely tough. Their formations were scattered but not chaotic, and the speed of their advance was accelerating.

When they were less than 400 meters away from the enemy, Epithenes and Tspit shouted almost simultaneously: “Slingers prepare!”

The slingers stopped and began to untie the slings wrapped around their waists; while the rest of the soldiers continued to advance, when they were about a hundred meters away from the enemy, the archers stopped; and the four hundred light shield soldiers still Running forward…

The reason why Greilat of Picocis is loved by the tribal warriors is because he leads the way in every battle and rushes to the front line.

Seeing these Greeks in leather armor lined up in two very loose skirmish lines, rushing straight up, he was a little puzzled at first.

To the north of Picocis is the Greek city-state of Ilia. Picocis has invaded its territory many times. The two sides fought frequently. Genenat was familiar with the way the Greeks fought, but he had never seen it like this before. Weird move.

But soon, when the Greek raised the gleaming spearhead, strode forward, and prepared to throw, he was taken aback: “Be careful with the javelin!! Defense!!”

Hundreds of javelins roared with a fierce wind.

The experienced light shield soldiers are not thrown straight, but thrown diagonally forward.

Although the Lucanians were fully equipped with Greek heavy infantry, they did not learn the principle of “I protect others and others protect me” of the Greek heavy infantry. Exposing large gaps, this javelin, whose spearhead was purposely aggravated by Davers, slanted through the gap between the shield and the shield, and most of them plunged into the ribs covered by the multi-layered linen armor of the tribal warriors, and screams sounded. , fell a piece.

Geninat reacted quickly and blocked the thrown javelin with his shield. The javelin actually pierced the copper skin of the round shield, and it was nailed to the shield.

Just when he was about to pull out the javelin, the person next to him shouted, “Be careful with the bow and arrow!!”

Arrows and stones fell like raindrops…

Gnainart suffered a lump on his head, which, although protected by a helmet, made him dizzy and nearly fell.

This wave of mercenaries’ bows, arrows and flying stones caused little loss to the Lucanians, but caused confusion in the first few columns in the middle of the right wing of Lucania, but the Greek light shield soldiers took the opportunity to throw the second round of javelins, Makes the javelin lethality greatly increase…

…………………………

Ferris and Kunogorata were stunned when they saw this scene. They had guessed the combat effectiveness of Davos’ mercenaries, but they never expected such a novel tactic, and the effect was so amazing!

Seeing that part of the front line of the enemy’s right flank was almost fragmented, Kunogorata exclaimed excitedly: “If we had known that these mercenaries were so powerful, we should have learned from them earlier and adopted this tactic!”

Ferris shook his head: “Our light infantry will not be so bold, leaving a few hundred meters away from the phalanx to actively attack a large number of enemies, and only these battle-hardened mercenaries dare to use this, I am afraid this is The tactics they learned from Persia.” Ferris said this, and he still had a trace of regret in his heart: before the official engagement, the combat effectiveness of Davos’ mercenaries exceeded his expectations, perhaps he should follow that mercenary. On the advice of the young leader, give him another 2,000 mercenaries…

Ferris suppressed this thought: Since the original plan has been implemented, it is best to implement it to the end!

This is the experience he has gained in the military for many years.

“Get ready to fight, the enemy is about to attack!” He reminded the surrounding soldiers, dismounting, and starting to put on his helmet.