Mediterranean Hegemon of Ancient Greece

Chapter 78 Dionia VS Carthage (2)

At the beginning, both sides were at peace with each other, enjoying the coolness and comfort brought by the river water.

But in the upper part of the lower reaches of the Plaitara River, the river here is narrow, and the widest is just over ten meters. It is the soldiers of Agrigento who draw water on the east bank (their camp is nearby). It was the Carthaginian guild soldiers (because the upper end of the Plaitara River was close to the mountains, the Sikels often harassed the Carthaginian camp from the north, and the Numbian troops originally stationed in the north were There was an attack that caused chaos, and Monteardno had to relocate his most reassuring Guild troops here).

The full name of the Holy Order is the "Carthaginian Holy Legion", which is called "Bal's Hammer" by the Carthaginian people. Most of its soldiers are elites selected from the oldest famous families in the Carthaginian city-state. Whether they are equipment, Or the training they received was outstanding. These noble and wealthy people wiped their strong bodies with clean white cloth, and let their accompanying Numibian slaves go further upstream to absorb the pure. He came to drink water from the river, and at the same time watched the Greek soldiers on the other side of the river soaking in the river water, and some lying directly by the river to drink water, he immediately showed contempt, and laughed at each other with his companions: the Greeks on the other side were not hygienic, They are all poor people! ...

But what they didn't know was that the Greek soldiers on the other side of the river were citizens from Agrigento.

Agrigento was once the second largest Greek power in Sicily after Syracuse, and their history is even older than Syracuse. Decades ago, Syracuse was able to develop and grow because of the support and immigration of Agrigento. Even Dillon, who made great contributions to the prosperity of Syracuse, was also an Agrigento. With the help of the power of Agrigento, he sat on the throne of the tyrant of Syracuse.

But nearly 20 years ago, the Sicilian expedition of Athens weakened the power of the Greek city-states on the island. The Carthaginians took the opportunity to make Hannibal, the patriarch of the Margonid family, as their commander, and launched an attack on eastern Sicily. Hannibal bloodbathed Hemera, avenged the shame of his ancestors, but Dionysius' father-in-law, the general of Syracuse, Hermocrates, led the Sicilian Greek city-state army to repel the Carthaginian army. But it didn't take long for him to be killed by the Syracuse Democrats who incited the people to kill him on the grounds that he wanted a dictatorship.

Before long, the Carthaginians attacked again. This time, the newly-appointed Margonid family patriarch and Hannibal's cousin Himilko served as commander-in-chief. This was his first time as the commander-in-chief of the Carthaginian army, and he first aimed the attack on Sicily. The great Greek city-state of Agrigento.

Agrigento faced the attack of the Himilko army. Although the number of soldiers was far less than the other side, they were not afraid, because the Agrigento people have always respected Sparta, and their citizens' usual military training is also required. It was much stricter than the average Greek city-state citizen, and a Spartan army was employed in the city.

The siege of Carthage lasted for more than eight months, during which Agrigento also won several small victories, but the advantage of the Carthaginians was too great.

And Shimilco used money to buy and threaten, causing reinforcements and mercenaries in Agrigento to give up rescue or defect, including Syracuse and Sparta.

The people of Agrigento were finally desperate, and most of the people fled to Gera in the dark. The Carthaginians attacked the city, killed everyone who remained in the city, looted the entire city, and burned it down He even decided to destroy it completely and rebuild a Carthaginian city, but the subsequent failure of the war made Himilco unable to do so.

When Dionysius led the army to attack western Sicily, these Agrigento exiles were finally able to return to their hometowns. In 20 years, the children of the former generation of fugitives grew up into the pillars of the city-state. Not only did hatred not because of time Disappeared, but became increasingly intense. Although they could not understand the Carthaginian language spoken by the other side, from the wanton laughter and contemptuous eyes of the other side, they could not understand that the other side was humiliating themselves, so anger burned in their hearts.

When an Agrigento soldier picked up a pebble in the river and threw it hard at the Carthaginian Holy Legion on the other side, the surrounding Agrigentos followed suit.

The Carthaginians who were attacked immediately retaliated with stones.

Although the stone will not cause fatal injuries, it still hurts to hit the body, and most people are only wearing linings or naked. The severe pain is more aroused by the anger of these young and vigorous soldiers. So some people didn't throw stones at all, they rushed across the river, clenched their fists, and beat each other... The conflict between the two sides quickly changed from throwing stones to physical combat, and the scope of the conflict was also rapidly expanding. Soldiers on both sides were also affected by it and joined the fight one after another.

At this time, the clever Numibian slaves ran back to the camp one after another, asking for help from other Holy Order soldiers, and even carrying the weapons and equipment left by their masters in the tent to the river.

The addition of heavily armed Carthaginian soldiers brought the growing conflict to a new stage.

And the few Agrigento soldiers who were watching by the river and not joining the battle group saw the arrival of the heavily armed enemy. Although their hearts were burning with anger, they would not be foolish enough to fight the heavily armed Carthaginians. , so they shouted loudly and asked their comrades to withdraw quickly, but the scene was so chaotic that no one listened for a while.

However, the conflict was started by Agrigento soldiers, and it was not easy to end the conflict.

The arrogant and arrogant soldiers of the Holy Order of Carthage were unwilling to give up, and they had sharp weapons in their hands, but the enemy was like a lamb to be slaughtered not far away. This was simply the fat they got, how could they not eat it! They waved their shields and spears and stepped into the Pratara River.

The comrades who fought fiercely before took the initiative to make way for them, but they squeezed in front and stabbed their spears at the Agrigento soldiers who wanted to escape...

At this time, on the upper part of the lower reaches of the Pratara River, nearly a thousand soldiers from both sides were piling up in order to fight in groups. The Agrigento soldiers at the front saw that the situation was not good and wanted to escape. But I don't know what happened, and I didn't get out of the way in time. The spear of the Carthaginian soldier easily pierced the body of the almost naked Agrigento soldier.

When the screams continued to sound, the blood stained the surface of the Pratara River, and the panic overwhelmed the anger in their hearts, the Agrigento soldiers began to flee back in panic. Some people stumbled and fell while pushing each other. , either stabbed to death or drowned.

At this time, Milefio had just reported to Monte Ardeno what he had learned about "why the Carthaginian fleet failed to escort" in the central army tent. On the way back to his camp, It was only from the mouth of the adjutant who arrived that he learned what had happened on the Praetara River.

He immediately rode to the Plaitara River, just in time to see that the heavily armed Guild soldiers had rushed to the opposite bank, killing the fleeing Greeks along the river bank.

The young and enthusiastic Milefio did not sound the horn to retreat, and ordered the soldiers under his command who violated the military order and provoked the battle to return to the West Bank immediately. Instead, he sent a messenger to inform the remaining Holy Order soldiers and Holy Order cavalry in the camp. Immediately rushed to the Praetara River, and ordered the naked soldiers on the river bank to immediately put on their armor, take up their weapons, and form a formation.

After deploying all this, Milefio said to the messenger beside him: "You go to the main camp of the Chinese army and inform Lord Monte Adeno, saying that the Greeks took the initiative to provoke the soldiers of our Holy Regiment, and it happened. Fight, now the entire Holy Legion army and cavalry have fully engaged the Greeks!"

The messenger turned around and was about to go, but was stopped by him again, emphasizing: "Slow down, don't rush too fast!"

The messenger immediately expressed his understanding, and then slowly marched towards the main camp.

The reason why the young and vigorous Milefio lied about the military situation was because he was dissatisfied with the conservative cowardice of Monte Ardeno. Thinking that this is the credit of his father-in-law Hanno, he needs to use brilliant military exploits to prove his ability, and now he thinks this is a good fighter.

The Guild soldiers who had crossed the river chased and killed the fleeing Agrigento soldiers along the river bank.

The Agrigentos, who had found that the situation was not good, had long since returned to the camp to call for reinforcements. It didn't take long for the heavily armed Agrigento soldiers to arrive, along with some soldiers from other city-states.

The killing of the soldiers of the Carthaginian Holy Order was stopped, and even as more Greek soldiers arrived, the Carthaginians who fought on the east bank quickly turned from offensive to defensive because of the small number of people, and began to gradually move towards the enemy. back.

Although the soldiers of the Carthaginian Holy Legion were proud because of their origin, they were indeed well-trained. Not long after Milefio issued the order, they had already arranged a line on the West Bank about a mile long and seven thick. A square matrix of eight columns.

They wore open helmets similar to those of the Dionian heavy infantry, without visors and only cheek pads, crowned with a long red or white tassel, and thick linen breasts. Armor, originally they could put fine chain armor on the outside, but these soldiers would rather put a layer of leather armor with gorgeous colors and beautiful patterns on the linen breastplate, rather than wear dark chain armor that spoils the beauty. . Glittering golden bronze armor was placed on his calf, his feet were wearing fine leather sandals, his right hand was holding a two-meter-long sharp spear, and his left hand was holding a large copper shield with a diameter of more than one meter. The shields were painted with elaborate lace and patterns, which soldiers often boasted or compared to beauty. In addition, these soldiers have enough family property to provide rich nutrition to fight their bodies. All of them are tall and strong, and the phalanxes listed are both majestic and colorful.

On the right flank of the infantry phalanx is a thousand holy regiment cavalry, its real name is Carthaginian noble cavalry, also composed of children of famous Carthaginian families, these cavalry also wear the best armor, holding three Mido-long super-long lance, high-quality dagger on the waist, and the crotch mount is selected from the toughest warhorse in Iberia.

"Attack!" Milfio ordered impatiently. ()

.. m.

Chapter 732/1317
55.58%
Mediterranean Hegemon of Ancient GreeceCh.732/1317 [55.58%]