Chapter 181 The Battle of Crotone (7)

If it was before, Dionysius would not have cared too much about such a retreat, because the key to Syracuse's victory in this battle was on the right flank. As long as the middle and left flanks could contain the enemy on the opposite side, they would maintain their position when the enemy attacked. Staying balanced, the rest is to wait for the news of the victory of the right wing.

But when Dionysius learned from the reconnaissance cavalry that "Syracuse's greatest advantage—the cavalry was ambushed by the Dionysians and temporarily blocked", the original relaxed mood soon changed. Anxious and worried about the constant retreat of the left wing and the middle. He not only asked the trumpeters to sound the command to charge behind the phalanx, but also let the messengers shout loudly after arriving in the formation, warning: the officers and soldiers must not retreat, they must attack!

After this act, the Syracuse civic soldiers in the rear of the middle road no longer retreated, but forced the Campania mercenaries in the front row to fight fiercely with the enemy who came up; as for the soldiers on the left, they only The speed of the retreat has slowed down a little, and it seems that they are really at a disadvantage in the confrontation.

Dionysius was a little annoyed: before setting up the formation, he learned about Dionysian's right wing through reconnaissance. It was obviously not Dionysian's main force, and the number should only be smaller than his left wing, but Why did it turn out like this? Could it be that those big Greeks didn't fight seriously at all? Or in collusion with the enemy? ...

Dionysius' paranoia resurfaced, and he even began to suspect his ally Lokri, but he also knew: this is not the time to worry about this, the cunning Davos got his cavalry in trouble, and now he only It can be expected that the right wing led by Phoebe Das can quickly defeat the enemy in the face and lay a victory for the entire battle!

The reason why Dionysius still has confidence in the battle is because the right wing is now performing in line with his pre-war expectations compared to several other poor performances.

The huge and thick phalanx formed by 25,000 people pressed Dionia's left flank. Out of vigilance against the close combat of the Dionias, the elite soldiers of Syracuse lined up more closely in front and back, and the formation of the gun formation was also more intense. Intensive, so that the Dionysian left-wing soldiers who were fighting in the forefront not only had to avoid the attacks of the Syracuse soldiers in the front, but also guarded against the jabs of the soldiers behind them, not to mention that they had to resist Syracuse with great effort. The huge pushing force of the stabbing people forward, so the power of the close combat of the Dionysian heavy infantry was greatly weakened.

However, the soldiers of the 1st and 2nd Corps were experienced in many battles. Although they felt a little nervous because of the huge pressure from the enemy in front of them, before the battle, the team officers had a general understanding of the king's Firth's tactical arrangement, so they understood that the first thing they had to do in such a situation was to ensure that the array would not be broken by the enemy, hold the enemy back, and wait for reinforcements to arrive.

To this end, the Dionian soldiers took advantage of the flexibility of the detachment-based formation to ease the enormous pressure of the enemy's attack by retreating in an orderly manner, and at the same time, looking for opportunities, covering with long shields and stabbing with short swords Injure the enemy.

Phoebe Das was almost seriously injured twice: the first time after the charge,

When he just collided with the enemy, the shields were touching each other, and people were sticking together across the shield. In his eyes, the long shield completely protected the enemy on the opposite side, so he pushed forward with all his strength against the round shield, trying to collide. Open the enemy's defenses and let the jabs work. Unexpectedly, the right hand of the enemy with his head buried in the long shield suddenly protruded from the top of the long shield, and the dagger stabbed like lightning, and was stuck on his Corinthian helmet.

The second time was when he stabbed the enemy in front of him, instinctively followed his previous combat habits and squeezed into the gap of the opponent's array. He stabbed him in both sides, and although he reacted quickly, his linen breastplate was pierced by the sharp dagger, and a slit was cut in his right waist.

The injury this time made him finally realize the power of his opponent, and he no longer took risks easily, but maintained a consistent formation with the surrounding Syracuse soldiers.

Compared with the steady counterattacks of the Dionysian First and Second Corps, the Kurt reinforcements on the far left were much tougher. Although their phalanx is not as thick as the Syracuses, it is hard to withstand the pressure of the Syracuses and will not retreat easily. The hatred makes them glow with great courage and strength, even if they are seriously injured, as long as they can Stand and their jabs won't stop jabbing. Even if they fell, they would hug the feet of their foes, who straddled them, as long as they had any strength left, and let them fall, or gnaw them with their teeth. Such a tragic scene was staged many times in front of the Kete reinforcements, and the Syracuse people, who had heavy troops, felt a little panic, and felt that the opponent who fell to the ground was more terrifying than the standing one. They dared to move forward after repeatedly confirming the death of the opponent. Makes their propulsion speed not much faster than their companions.

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In the rear of this battlefield is another battlefield. After withdrawing from the main battlefield, Dionia's light infantry, led by Tspit and Alpins, hurried to the left flank, wanting to participate in the attack on the enemy's cavalry. Encirclement and suppression, but encountered Syracuse light infantry with the same purpose, and had to continue the battle of the light infantry in front of the big formation to the end.

The arms of both sides are mainly archers and javelinmen, and Dionia has some slingers. Both sides are in a loose formation, with the javelinmen in the front and the archers in the back, carrying out long-range attacks. Although the battle was not as grand as the heavy infantry fighting, it was not as tragic as its own protection was far inferior to that of the heavy infantry. On the battlefield where arrows and javelins were flying, soldiers from both sides were injured and fell to the ground.

The Dionysian light infantry was well-trained and tactical coordination was more tacit; the Syracuse light infantry was more numerous, and received the strictness of Dionysius, and the two armies were inseparable for a time.

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Of course, the most tragic battle was the easternmost battlefield.

The Celtic cavalry, caught in the middle and unable to escape, saw the horses and their tribesmen being stabbed and fell, listened to the screams of the horses and the screams of their companions, and faced the persecuting long spear array, most of them. No longer dared to sit on the horse and wait for death, they were forced to jump off the horse, armed with great swords, and stopped fighting.

But this is undoubtedly the man's arm to stop the car. Not to mention that when their great swords faced the phalanx of spears, it was difficult to get close to the enemy, and under hasty challenges, they often fought alone, and soon lost their lives under the stab of the spears.

Just like this strong Celtic warrior in front of Tapirus, he roared and swung his great sword continuously. Although he cut off the heads of two spears one after another, he was still forced by the dense spear formation. He stepped back again and again, and accidentally slipped under his feet, revealing a flaw, and the spear penetrated into the gap and stabbed his thigh. At the moment when he bent down instinctively, three spears stabbed him in the head and chest at the same time, and he couldn't die any longer.

The constant killing and wounding of the enemy also made the confidence of the soldiers of the spear brigade continue to rise, and the speed of advance increased.

The company led by Tapirus, who was in the front row, did not encounter any major obstacles.

At this time, a Celtic warrior suddenly rushed into the formation from the side on the messy battlefield. The entire company was caught off guard, and he cut several soldiers in a row.

The following light armored soldiers stepped forward in time to block him, and the Celtic warrior, regardless of being surrounded by a heavy siege, slaughtered the light armored soldier's leather shield in half with a sword, and four or five light shield soldiers surrounded him, only Kill him, and pay the price of seriously wounding two light armored soldiers.

This was a wake-up call for Tapirus, who had to shout out that the soldiers of the company should not move too fast and wait for the adjacent company.

Although the Celtic cavalry was fierce, in this crowded battlefield, facing the dense phalanx of spears, there was no chance of victory at all. In addition, their number was not large, and at the beginning, many cavalry directly hit the spear wall, so not long after they continued to move forward in Tapirus, they found that the enemy in front was no longer in shape. Tall, strong Celts in thick striped clothes, pointed helmets, and great swords, but shaggy, dark-skinned, lanky Numibians in single coats, armed with javelins and spears, their battles The courage is much worse than that of the Celts. Except for a few people who threw javelins at them, most of them quickly jumped off their bare horses, turned and got into the chaos of the battlefield, and escaped...

Capps didn't need to send spies to scout to know that his spear group was going well, because he was sitting in the rear and was following the phalanx.

At this time, some cavalry came quickly: "General Capps, the cavalry led by the commander of the Reeds Army was attacked by the enemy's cavalry before and after, I hope to get reinforcements!"

It turned out that the 1,000 Sicilian Confederate cavalry led by Astagras were not moving very fast, and they were at the end of the formation. Most of them quickly broke away from the congested and chaotic battlefield.

Logically, this battlefield at this time is no longer suitable for cavalry to fight here, but Astagras knew the importance of these alien mercenary cavalry to this battle, and he could not leave them alone, otherwise Dionysius would not be able to spare them. he. Therefore, he tried his best to regroup the Sicilian Greek cavalry that had escaped, and then led the hastily gathered more than 800 cavalry to the left side of the battlefield.

On the left, Ryders was leading half of the cavalry corps to stop the enemy cavalry from fleeing, and desperately squeezed it to the center.

The mercenary cavalry attacked fiercely at first, especially the Celts caused some casualties to the Dionian cavalry, but with the advance of the spear phalanx, the Celts suffered serious damage, and the Numibia The cavalry is highly skilled in riding and throwing javelins, but once they lose these two advantages, they just ride on horses to fight opponents at close range, without any protection, and their horses are naked. They are not Dionia at all. cavalry opponent.

The Numibians couldn't resist, and some cavalry began to turn and flee, trying to squeeze into the middle of the chaos, and then retreat from the rear.

The cavalry of Astagras came suddenly, and their main direction of attack was Ryders, because his towering, purple and red crown helmet was too conspicuous, if not for the guards desperately resisting, Ryder Sri Lanka will be seriously injured immediately.