Chapter 182 The Battle of Crotone (8)

But Ryders, who reacted, disregarded the danger, and immediately drove his horse with a spear to fight with the enemy cavalry charging from the south, and shouted at the same time: "Brothers of the cavalry regiment, hold on! Never let the enemy escape from us! "

Ryders took the lead, allowing the Dionian cavalry to resist even if they were attacked from both sides.

The Sicilian Confederate cavalry, the Numibian cavalry, and the Dionian cavalry were strangled together, and the battle was fierce.

Capps had expected such a situation before the battle, and had already made arrangements, so he did not hesitate to send out the 500 light armored reserve troops who remained beside him.

The light armored soldiers in leather shields and leather armor quickly rushed to the left side of the spear square and immediately launched a fierce attack on the cavalry of Syracuse. Now it was the turn of the cavalry of Syracuse to be attacked from both sides.

Not to be outdone, Astagras called on the cavalry to fight bravely.

The four teams were intertwined, and the bloody battle continued, becoming the most tragic area of ​​the battlefield.

In the end, the Numibians on the inside were the first to take it, and they saw that the battlefield in the rear became less crowded due to the successive withdrawal of Numibian companions in the central rear, and the phalanx of spear soldiers continued. He stabbed the clansmen in front of him and fell off his horse, so the fighting spirit began to fade, and they turned around to flee.

The situation of the Sicilian Confederate cavalry, which was alone, became more difficult. Astagras saw that the situation was not good and wanted to withdraw, but the Dionian cavalry and the light armored soldiers were stubbornly entangled, and finally only more than 300 Sicilian Confederate cavalry escaped.

The Celtic cavalry was almost completely annihilated in the battle, and the leader Gaba was also killed. Their resistance bought some time for the Numibians.

Nearly 1,000 Numibian cavalrymen were able to escape contact with the phalanx of spears. These races from the African desert are usually arrogant. This time, they were obviously frightened, even though there were only more than 600 people on the right side of the phalanx behind them. Pursued by the Dionian cavalry, they did not dare to turn around to fight, or throw javelins, but fled south in panic, including their leader Akirita, who fled at the forefront.

As soon as the battle on the left was over,

Ryders fell off his horse and was so shocked that his men rushed to rescue him. He was covered in blood, and his body was injured in many places, especially a date palm-sized wound pierced by a spear on the outside of his left leg. The blood flowed unstoppably.

The guards were busy dressing his wounds, but he weakly shouted: "Quick...go and call Kutchius...call Kutchus."

The former young and vigorous cavalry squad leader, now the experienced cavalry battalion leader Kutchius, heard the call of the corps commander and rushed to Ryders immediately.

"I order...I order you to lead the remaining cavalry (that is, the Dionian cavalry fighting on the left side of the phalanx of spears) to continue to pursue...the enemy, and don't give...them any chance to breathe."

"Yes!" Kutchus gave a strong military salute, turned around to leave, stopped again, and said with concern: "Legion Commander, you are recovering well, and wait for my good news!"

Ryders waved his hand impatiently: "Go... go..."

Kuchius got on his horse and shouted, "Brothers, follow me to kill the enemy!"

The remaining 400-odd cavalrymen, although exhausted, were given new strength by the victory. They shouted in unison and followed Kutchius in pursuit of the fleeing Syracuse cavalry.

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"Company Captain, we won! We repelled the enemy's cavalry!" The soldiers cheered, Tapirus looked at the blurry figure of the enemy fleeing in confusion in front of him, he was relieved, and felt the double-armed spear. His arms were swollen, his clothes were soaked with sweat, and the dust was sticking to his clothes. It was very uncomfortable, but he knew that this was not the time to relax. According to the pre-war deployment, there was still a battle to be fought.

"Reassemble! Reassemble for me!..." Just as he called out to the soldiers under him, the high-pitched bugle sounded, causing the excited spearmen who wanted to pursue them to stop advancing.

The messengers galloped in front of and behind the phalanx, calling for the senior officers to rearrange the formation.

At this time, Capps had rushed to Ryders' side to pay attention to his injury.

"Don't worry... I can't die." Ryders tried to squeeze out a smile, but the shock when the guard lifted him onto the stretcher still made him frown tightly, showing a painful expression.

"Lighter! Lighter!" Caps shouted in dissatisfaction.

"Caps." Ryders' face was pale, and he didn't call the old comrade in front of him at this moment. He said softly: "Our cavalry... have completed our task... You can rest assured, Syracuse. The cavalry will not come again... It's up to you next..."

Capps nodded solemnly, got on his horse, and gave him a military salute: "Take care of your injuries, victory belongs to Dionia!"

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The spear brigade finally re-arranged. At this time, the front was not facing the south, but directly facing the rear of the right wing of Syracuse, 100 meters away.

Capps had all the soldiers with broken spears withdraw from the battle, so there were only nearly 4,000 soldiers left in the entire phalanx. At this time, there were only 170 people left in the company of 200 people under Tapirus, and 112 people with spears still intact.

"Ugh!!!..." The bugle of the attack sounded quickly, and the flag waved, pointing forward.

Tapirus and the other team officers shouted, "Go on!"

The soldiers marched on steadily, and the victory gave them enough confidence that this time their opponents would be heavy infantry.

On the left side of the spear phalanx are 2,000 light armoured soldiers, who will do their best to protect the flank of the spear phalanx's biggest weakness.

As the battle continued and the number of wounded increased, the Kerte reinforcements could no longer hold on to the enemy as they did at the beginning. The thick formation of the Syracuses began to show their might, and the force with which they pushed forward made the Kurt reinforcements increasingly strained, forcing them to retreat to relieve the pressure. However, they were forced to retreat, unable to control the rhythm of the advance and retreat of the entire army as sophisticated as the Dionysian First and Second Corps, and as a result, the pressure was increasing.

Under the loud shouts of Miron and Cypros, the soldiers supported themselves with the courage of their blood...

At this moment, a loud bugle sounded from the rear of the right end of the right flank of Syracuse in front of them.

Miron and Cypros asked each other uncertainly, "Is it Dionia's bugle?"

Antonios, who was a few hundred meters away from them, had accurately judged that it was Dionia's charging horn. He knew that Davos's battle plan must have been the cavalry of Syracuse that had been repelled by the spear brigade. Just as he was about to flank the rear of Syracuse's right flank, he was suddenly refreshed.

Immediately, the bugle of the First Army's attack sounded.

Immediately afterwards, the commander of the Second Legion, Amyntas, even drove his horse close to the rear of his legion and shouted loudly: "Brothers, attack! Attack! It's time to let the Syracuses know how powerful we are!  …"

In fact, the attack of the phalanx of spears could not cover the entire rear of the right flank of Syracuse, and even could only directly help the Kete reinforcements, but the attacks of the first and second legions could contain the enemies in front of them and let them Don't dare to send too many soldiers from the rear to block the spear formation.

"The enemy! The enemy is attacking from the rear!..." The soldiers behind the far right of Syracuse's right wing heard the bugle sound, and then heard the roar of unison from behind. They looked back and panicked. , the team officers hurriedly organized them to turn around and fight.

Just when the organization behind the right end of Syracuse's right-wing phalanx was somewhat chaotic, the soldiers of the Dionysian spear brigade began to step up and speed up. The second column, the third column, the fourth column, the fifth column... Form a dense wall of spears in front of the square.

"Apollo is above, this spear is too long!" The Syracuse soldiers watched in horror as the approaching enemy stopped three meters away from them, and countless trembling spear tips had stabbed them. On the body, and their stab guns could not reach the enemy at all, the Syracuse people who encountered this situation for the first time were in a panic.

"Shield wall! Put up the shield wall!..." Some Syracuse team officers shouted in panic. In such a chaotic situation, the Syracuse phalanx lacked a unified and effective command and emergency measures.

The pressure on the Kerte reinforcements suddenly eased.

How could Miron and Cypros miss this opportunity, and immediately gave the order to charge. With vengeful fury, the soldiers again rushed to the enemy who had burned their homeland.

The Syracuse soldiers in the front row of the phalanx heard the noisy shouts of their comrades behind them, but at the same time they could not feel the strength and support they gave, and couldn't help thinking in their hearts: What happened? Are you surrounded? Are they going to run away? ...

Their fighting spirit is declining, and they can no longer fight with all their hearts.

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"Your Majesty, the spear brigade led by Capps has repelled Syracuse's cavalry, and is now attacking the right flank of Syracuse!" Thormed reported excitedly to Davos.

Davos let out a long sigh, and his nervousness was relieved. He calmed down a little, and immediately gave an order: "Tormid, you immediately inform Lizam and let him lead the reconnaissance brigade and the two Thousands of light armoured soldiers, cross the Tachnadi River, and attack the left flank of Syracuse in a roundabout way!"

Hearing this order, Thormid was stunned for a moment. He knew: In Davos' original plan, this reserve of 3,000 soldiers was intended in case Dionia's left flank could not withstand the enemy's heavy army. When attacking, put it into the left flank to strengthen its defense; or when the spear phalanx attacks the enemy's rear, put the reserve into the left flank at the same time to accelerate the defeat of the enemy's right flank, but now take this force away Attacking Syracuse's left flank? !