Chapter 4 Battle of the Trionto River (2)

Crotone's army also crossed the river here as Davos expected, so that the Dionysian army who had been ambushed here for a long time was waiting, and the Dionysian army with a large number of recruits occupied the land. , and using novel tactics, actually gave a lot of damage to the Crotone army, which is famous for its bravery in Great Greece, and gained the upper hand for a while.

When Davos was in Persia, he was known as an expeditionary force for being good at annihilating the enemy, playing clever battles, and having few casualties. However, at that time, Thormed was the commander of the entire army and was responsible for the coordination of the entire mercenary army. The military barracks have always been the most strictly managed, so he often only has a glimpse of their military capabilities. When I arrived in Turii, I heard that Davos led the army many times to win more with less. In this military operation, Thormed participated in the whole process as the envoy (because he was still a free man), and witnessed Davers alone, and conceived a military plan that he had never seen before, as follows: The arm and finger let all the departments of the alliance act around this plan: let the elderly and women walk around the port in armor, confuse the enemy fleet; the meticulous arrangement of the march in the night, even the new recruits who have never experienced and freedom The civilians can also reach the city of Castron smoothly; the army enforces strict discipline, strictly seals the city of Castron, and does not allow the information to be disclosed; Izam's mountain reconnaissance team is sent to cross the river to scout the enemy's movements, report at any time, and at the same time The cavalry was dispatched to intercept the enemy's reconnaissance cavalry across the river, so that the enemy knew nothing of the situation on the other side of the Trionto River. Decoys (referring to the 4,000 soldiers) were set up on the river bank in front, and at the same time, the trail of the army was blocked; and more than 1,000 people were deliberately arranged in Trionto and the downstream section of the river, so that the Crotone people did not dare to take risks. There is a high risk of casualties, so choose the safer middle section of the river...

During the entire military operation, Davos's strategy was fully demonstrated: deception, fast march, reconnaissance and anti-reconnaissance, ambush, lure... The perfect combination, finally successfully mobilized the enemy, achieved the goal, and let the trustee Armid's eyes widened. In this era, the wars between city-states are mostly the two sides recruiting soldiers to fight in a place acceptable to both sides, or when one side is strong, the other side will stubbornly defend, until the reinforcements arrive and then counterattack, the generals of both sides focus on the tactics of the battle In terms of application (this is what Spartans are best at), how can Davers formulate a plan according to the situation at the beginning, and make a series of complex and elaborate actions around this plan to achieve his goals, it is simply Carving the bloody battle into a work of art similar to the exquisite and beautiful Athenian jar ."

This is the reason why Davos can become the consul of a powerful alliance, but Timasone died in a small town! Thormed thought.

"Tormid, you rush to the east and inform Zantiparis, Epithenes, Tspit, and Rydes that the enemy will cross the river soon, and let them get ready and act according to the plan." Davos gave the order.

"Yes!" Tormide got on his horse and galloped east. Although the tactics adopted in the east would be even more bizarre, he already had confidence in Davos.

……………………

Philadelphius was shocked when he learned from Euthydmus that Miron led his army across the river, encountered Dionia's army, and was in a hard fight. The Dionysians actually ambushed nearly 20,000 troops on the opposite bank of the upper Trionto River, completely beyond his expectations!

So will there be an ambush here too? He looked at the more than 1,000 Dionysian light infantry stationed on the other side, and couldn't help thinking: Originally, he hoped that Miron would come to help him repel the enemy on the opposite side after crossing the river, so as to reduce the casualties of the soldiers, Instead, he is going to lead troops to help Miron. The situation was so dire that he could no longer think about it.

There is no room for more than 6,000 soldiers to cross the river at the same time.

He quickly divided the army into three parts: front, middle and rear. The top was more than 3,000 heavy infantry. Using their solid protection, they could be shot by enemy arrows and javelins, reduce casualties, reach the other side smoothly, and disperse enemy. They were followed by 500 cavalry, who were able to pursue the enemy's light infantry and crush them. In the end there were nearly 3,000 light armoured soldiers.

After a few casualties from the Dionysian ranged attack, the Crotone heavy infantry came to the bank, and without them having to pursue, the Dionysian light infantry had long since fled, Philadelphius All the troops crossed the river smoothly.

"Does the general want to pursue it?" The cavalry captain Alisosis asked for instructions.

Philadelphus shook his head and said cautiously: "Now we have to rush to help Miron immediately. Just your cavalry guards the periphery of the column, don't attack rashly."

Philadelphus had just turned around and marched westward with his troops for a while, when the loud sound of the bugle came from the north.

Philadelphia's heart tightened: Sure enough, there was an ambush!

At this time, Alisosis also came quickly, and said with a slightly strange expression: "General, we found an enemy troop from the north, and they are coming towards us. There are about six or seven thousand of them, all of them are archers and stone throwers. Hands and light shields, and several hundred cavalry."

Philadelphus was stunned: "No heavy infantry?"

"No!" Alisosis nodded affirmatively.

Although Philadelphia was a little puzzled, he was obviously relieved. He decisively gave the order: "The whole army should form a formation to the north!" Since the incoming Dionian army had no heavy infantry and lacked the ability to attack and kill from the front, Then Philadelphia would not mind defeating them before marching to reduce harassment.

"Alisosis, how many cavalry does the enemy have?"

"More than four hundred rides."

"Fortunately, our cavalry is twice as large as theirs." Philadelphus was even more relaxed, he said: "Alisosis, in the battle with the light infantry, your cavalry is especially important, I need you to lead the cavalry to defeat the enemy. After the cavalry, try not to pursue, but to attack the flanks of the enemy's mid lane, understand?!"

"Understood!" Alisosis rushed away.

Dionia's army was moving fast. It didn't take long for their figures to appear in Philadelphia's field of vision. When he saw the enemy's face clearly, he couldn't help being surprised: because the light infantry of the opponent was too light, whether it was an archer or a javelin. The soldiers were all thin linen clothes, and even the cavalry was partly in armor and partly in single clothes, which was extremely shabby.

Are these people all freemen temporarily recruited from the port of Turii? Philadelphia couldn't help but smile: Miron's guess was right, Dionysian citizens were scarce and the army was tight, and he could even swept it with light armour and cavalry!

Dionia's troops stopped more than 500 meters away and began to rearrange their formations.

"I think the Crotone people will be very surprised to see us, they must think we are just here to harass them, but they have no idea that we are letting them cross the river with the purpose of annihilating them here. ' Thormed said with a sigh.

"This battle will prove to the Greeks that light infantry is as important as heavy infantry. With proper strategy, light infantry can easily defeat heavy infantry!" Epithenes said confidently.

"The key depends on whether Ryders and Zantiparis can annihilate the enemy's cavalry first." Thormed was still a little worried.

"Don't worry, that's a plan carefully designed by our Hades' God-Blessed Master Davos! He is Hades' God-Blessed Master!" Tspit looked with admiration: "You and I didn't even think about it. , not to mention the enemy, they will definitely be fooled!" Just as he was speaking, Epithenes had already jumped off his horse, walked into the line, and ordered the soldiers to widen the gap to make the formation more loose, making it easier to throw and run.

Tspit also rushed to the right flank and gave the same order, while the cavalry formation of Leeds on the left flank was also loose, so that the entire Dionysian left, center and right army formations were like fermented bread, both horizontally and vertically The area occupied has almost doubled.

For Philadelphus, this was the first time he encountered such a situation. After hesitating for a while, he finally decided to make his formation thinner, but the arrangement of the soldiers was still as dense as usual. Because he felt that although heavy infantry or light armored soldiers had no projectile ability, as a melee arm with strong impact and fierce combat effectiveness, dense formation was their magic weapon for defeating the enemy. At this moment, the traditional inertial thinking imprisoned Philadelphia's brain, and the result was that the length of Crotone's entire array was only equal to the length of the opposite Dionysian middle lane, making Dionysian's military formation faint. A semi-arc encircles Crotone's army.

But Philadelphus was not worried. He knew that the number of the two sides was not much different. As long as the Crotone soldiers came into contact with the enemy, victory would come. His greatest confidence came from being twice as strong as the enemy. cavalry. Because the opponent's array was too long, in order to facilitate the confrontation, he ordered the cavalry of Alisosis to leave the connection with the middle road and face the enemy's cavalry directly.

Crotone's middle road is 3000 light armored soldiers. Their speed is faster than that of infantry. When the cavalry defeats the enemy and flanks the middle road, the speed of the light armored soldiers can cooperate with it and defeat the enemy's middle road together. As for the 3,000-plus infantry on the left flank, Philadelphus of course understood that the heavy infantry could not catch up with the light infantry at the clumsy speed. They only had to move slowly, protect themselves, and at the same time pin the enemy's right flank and prevent them from reinforcements. Just in the middle.