Chapter 253 The Battle of Jera (3)

When the brigade captain shouted "retreat", the light infantry quickly retreated back in relief, passing through the gap in the phalanx to reach the rear. By this time, there were still about 700 of them, and almost everyone was injured more or less.

When the Eighth Legion was 50 meters away from the Carthaginian formation, it slowed its advance and quickly transformed the checkerboard array into a tight phalanx.

The Balearic slingers and Lusitania javelinmen also took the opportunity to withdraw from the narrow space between the two armies, with nearly 200 casualties and a slight advantage.

After seeing the opponent's light infantry withdraw, the soldiers of the Eighth Legion slowed their pace forward, and at the same time drew out their javelins to prepare.

At this time, the Phoenician Numibian infantrymen, who were still at a standstill, suddenly began to stride forward under the orders of the officers, preparing to charge the Eighth Army.

This move of the Philippine infantry disrupted the offensive rhythm of the Eighth Army. After throwing the first round of javelins, the soldiers had to charge and fight with the enemy.

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Compared with the hurricane of the right flank, the center and left flank of the Dionian coalition are still advancing slowly, while the center and right flank of the Carthaginian army are still standing still, even arranging formations, and well-trained. Compared with the Phoenician infantry, both the Iberian infantry and the Lusitania fighters seemed a little procrastinated. Fortunately, Hasdruba was in the formation on the right flank. After the Iberians and Lusitarians lined up, they couldn't wait to move forward.

Especially the Lusitalia on the far right, who run fast.

At this time, the two sides were 100 meters apart, and the left flank of the coalition was still advancing unhurriedly, but the soldiers of Kamanlina saw through the narrow eyes of the Corinthian helmets and found that the other party was rushing forward in the blink of an eye. They hurriedly ordered a charge, but the Lusitania fighters collided before the speed was fully recovered.

The strong force was transmitted to the body through the round shield. If it weren't for the thick array behind him as a support, the Camanlina soldiers at the forefront would probably be knocked out. But even so, they were also knocked to the side and lost their best defensive positions.

Of course, the Lusitania warrior would not miss this great opportunity, and the sharp Fakata dagger in his hand stabbed fiercely.

The soldiers of Kamanlina screamed and fell one after another, and the soldiers who defended the attack also had lingering fears.

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When the two sides in the middle finally got close, the battle between the Dionian coalition and the Carthaginian army had entered a full-scale battle. The battle between the two sides was completely a big diagonal line. The army in the north was the most west, and the army in the south was the most. Farthest east.

The three-mile-long front was shrouded in the dust and mist constantly stirred up by the soldiers fighting on both sides. There were shouts, fights, and screams everywhere... In such a big, noisy and blurred battlefield, Leotidides even Even the peeping leopard can't do it. The only thing he can rely on is the reconnaissance cavalry distributed in the rear of the battle formation.

Are the soldiers advancing or retreating? Are there more casualties on one's own side or more casualties on the other side? The former problem is easy to observe, while the latter problem requires more reliance on the scout's own judgment ability. And these situations reported by the scout were finally recorded by Mukuru on the wooden board he carried,

Based on this, we can judge the pros and cons of the situation.

"Lord Commander, you see" Mukru raised the board to Leotidides with a serious expression: "This is the situation when the battle was just fought! This is the situation now! Our left wing has retreated a lot. Cut, the middle has retreated a little, and the right wing of our Eighth Corps has not made much progress forward!"

Leotizides stared at the wooden board full of data. In fact, he listened to the situation reported by the reconnaissance cavalry, and had a rough idea, but the drawing on the board was more intuitive and clear.

Leotidides' already indifferent face became even more gloomy: it can be said that at the beginning of the battle, his mood was still relaxed, because his original plan was realized, and the Carthaginians did target him. The military formation that was set up first followed suit, and the two sides turned into a face-to-face battle of heavy infantry. He believes that with the super defensive power of the Greek heavy infantry, a long-term stalemate can be formed, which will consume more physical strength of the opponent's soldiers, which is conducive to the implementation of his next plan. What he never expected was that after only half an hour of fighting, the left wing was at a disadvantage.

He felt that he had attached great importance to this Carthaginian army, but the performance of the enemy still exceeded his expectations.

"Let the cavalry corps attack." He pondered for a while and gave the order.

Muklu was slightly startled. He knew that the original battle plan was not like this, but that after the long-term battle and exhaustion on both sides, even the 8th Legion on the right wing still had the obvious upper hand, and the 4th Cavalry Legion's The sortie would be the final winning step, and now it's being used early.

Of course, Muklu did not dissuade him. He knew that the current situation was a little unfavorable for the coalition forces.

"Wait a minute." Leotidides hesitated for a moment, then said decisively again: "Let the light armour battalion and the light infantry battalion follow the cavalry and attack the left flank of the Carthaginians together!"

Muklu was taken aback, this time he couldn't help reminding: "Lord Commander, the light armour brigade is our only reserve team!"

"The Carthaginians have slingers, which are a great threat to the cavalry." Leotidides said calmly: "The reserve is used at a critical moment, and now it has reached a critical moment."

Mukru didn't speak any more. When he sent messengers to inform the three troops, he was a little uneasy. After all, Leotizides would put the few winning chips on the Carthaginians. The left wing has since lost the ability to intervene in the entire battle.

The 4th Cavalry Corps and the friendly cavalry who had been waiting behind the right wing for half an hour were already impatient. Therefore, after receiving the order to attack, the regiment commander took the lead, followed by the other cavalrymen. The 1,000 men of the 4th Cavalry Corps The cavalry formed a long column of 4 cavalry, followed by 300 Allied cavalry.

Dionia's 4th Cavalry Corps is the weakest of the four major cavalry regiments in the kingdom. In the territory of Greater Greece, Bruti, Mesapi, and Pucherti are all good at raising horses. The ability of cavalry, and the Sicilian territory does not have such conditions. Moreover, raising war horses is different from ordinary horses. It not only needs a lot of forage, but also rich beans to ensure sufficient strength to carry cavalry, and at the same time frequently control war horses, whether in battle or training. They are all easily injured, so cavalrymen often have to keep at least two horses at home to basically meet the needs of training and combat. It can be seen that raising war horses is not a small burden even for the wealthy citizens of Dionia and those who specialize in breeding and trading horses.

There is no tradition of raising horses in the Sicilian territories, and most of the people in these territories were refugees who had been persecuted by Syracuse many times. After these years of development, the lives of the people of the Sicilian territory have been greatly improved. In addition, the Senate of the Kingdom has repeatedly passed many preferential bills for citizens who become cavalrymen. For example, families of cavalrymen do not have to pay land tax, which is paid by the Ministry of Military Affairs every month. Each cavalry is given a certain amount of subsidy... It can be said that the cavalry is the only army in the Dionian military that receives a fixed salary. Stimulated by these favorable factors, the number of the 4th Cavalry Corps was just over 1,000, far from full.

The Fourth Cavalry Corps had spent all these years in barracks and had never experienced a war. And from the beginning of this war to the present, they have only played supporting roles and have not made great achievements. The cavalry are eager to prove themselves, so they bypassed the right flank of the army formation and were several hundred meters behind the enemy's left flank. After drawing a long arc, the legion commander Asitemis, under the influence of the extremely excited bellicose mood of the surrounding soldiers, deliberately ignored Leotizides' advice and did not wait in place. With the arrival of the light armoured brigade and the light infantry brigade, it was decided to conduct a tentative attack first.

After the cavalry received the order to attack, they began to ride their horses and jogged with small steps. As a result, they were attacked by the flying stones of the Balearic slingers before they could mention their speed. The flying stones still have considerable accuracy, and they deliberately focus on the horses. Compared with the cavalry in leather helmets and leather armor, the sensitive animals of war horses are hit by a lead shot, and they immediately bark and jump. Leaving the soldiers on horses behind, they ran around in panic.

For a time, the horses neighed everywhere, and the cavalry who fell to the ground anxiously chased after their horses. The scene was chaotic and the attack was forced to stop.

Arsitemis finally reunited the cavalry. After rough statistics, he lost more than 90 cavalry, and actually reached 1/10 of the number of the legion. He couldn't help but feel a great pain, and he never dared to act rashly, but waited. The arrival of helpers.

More than 10 minutes later, the two brigades arrived.

During the waiting time, the cavalry was not idle either. Asitemis sent a small team of cavalry to investigate. After paying some casualties, he brought back the general arrangement of the Carthaginians behind the left flank: the enemy The slingers were 100 meters away from the enemy formation, facing the Fourth Cavalry Corps in a loose linear array; in front of them were several hundred harpooneers, and several hundred alien light infantry escorts (due to Kai The Ults were mostly shirtless and did not wear armor, so the Dionian cavalry thought they were light infantry)…

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