Chapter 255 The Battle of Jera (End)

The four detachments of company captain Dio Cassis were stacked one behind the other, forming a section about 26 to 7 meters long in the right-wing array. He was in the center, and he had been closely watching the battle of the front line soldiers.

Compared with the original battle in Minoa, it was far less dangerous. The enemy on the opposite side did not look tall or strong, the attack was not ferocious, and the impact on the array was not very strong. The pressure is not too great... But after a long period of close observation by Dio Cassis, he knew that his soldiers had encountered a formidable enemy.

Because first of all, the enemy on the opposite side has a strong defense, they are very good at defending with shields, and they cooperate well with each other; secondly, they are very experienced in dealing with the soldiers' short sword attacks, which makes the Dionian Legion infantry attracted. The proud close-quarters daggers fight, the effect is not obvious; again, they have rich combat experience and master the rhythm of the attack well. They do not easily wave the stab in their hands, but first concentrate on using the long shield to defend the soldiers. The valiant attack of the enemy, using appropriate retreat to buffer the impact brought by it, and when its strength slows down, immediately hit back with a spear, forcing the opponent back, or even stabbing... Therefore, what Diocassis did The company commanded is always in a state of three steps forward and two steps back, and progress is slow.

Of course he didn't know that the reason why the Margonides recruited the refugees from Phoenicia and Numibia at the beginning was because their employment costs were low, they were able to bear hardships and stand hard work, and they were not affiliated to any city-state or tribe, so it was easy to cultivate loyalty. . After rigorous training, the Philippine infantry did indeed become the main force of the Margonid family in the Iberian Peninsula. For more than ten years, the enemies they faced were all fierce indigenous Philippine soldiers who were not superior in strength and speed. It relies on tenacious defense and tacit cooperation to drag down the enemy in a protracted confrontation, or stick the enemy's main force, and then let the fast Numibian cavalry or Mauritanian cavalry go around the enemy's rear to attack, and finally defeat the enemy in one fell swoop. , which has become a common tactic used by generals such as Marco and Hasdruba to deal with the Iberian natives. Since most of the Iberian natives used the Fakata daggers, the Feilu infantry was naturally very experienced in dealing with dagger attacks.

As the senior officer of the legion, Diocassis was anxious. Before the battle, Leotizides had briefly explained his combat intentions to them. The Eighth Legion was the victory of the Dionian coalition in this battle. However, Diocassis watched the soldiers who were fighting hard in front of him, and he guessed that the situation of other companies would be the same. Among them, I am afraid that the dawn of victory will not be seen in a short period of time...

Just as Diocassis was thinking about it, a familiar shout came from behind him: "The warriors of the Eighth Legion, I am your commander! I order you to strengthen your offensive and defeat the enemy in front of you, Earn honor and reward for yourselves! Warriors of the Eighth Legion..."

This is indeed the voice of the commander of the Prosous army! Diocassis was surprised at first, and then disturbed. In his impression, Prosusus was cold and lacking in enthusiasm. Whether in training or in previous battles, he never loudly encouraged the soldiers. However, this time the situation suddenly changed. Could it be that the whole war situation is not good for us?

Some officers as sensitive as Diocassis felt the same unease, but most of the rank-and-file soldiers of the Eighth Legion were hearing about this man who had been with them for 10 years, was demanding of them, and gave them The voice of the legion commander who brought victory and glory is all excited, and his morale is high again, and his shouts are exchanged for a tidal wave of roars: "Hades!! Hades!! Fight!! Fight! !!!..."

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When the soldiers of the Eighth Legion were motivated and intensified by Leotides,

Behind the left flank of Carthage, the Dionian cavalry was rapidly charging the Balearic slingers from both sides.

Although the Balearic slingers were conducting long-range attacks with the Dionian light infantry, they were always vigilant against the Dionysian cavalry, so as soon as they saw the enemy cavalry moving towards them, they immediately ignored the frontal light infantry and concentrated on it. All out against the cavalry. At this time, there were still more than 1,000 slingers. They were divided into two parts, and the dense lead pellets flew towards the charging cavalry in an attempt to shoot them down.

For a time, the horses neighed, and the cavalry kept rolling over.

However, since the Fourth Cavalry Corps has already launched the charge, it is impossible to stop it, otherwise it will bring greater losses. They roared and rode their war horses, passing over their comrades who were screaming on the ground, and they were not far away. An enemy who is always swinging a sling.

Infected by the courage of the Fourth Cavalry Regiment, the Allied Cavalry followed.

Looking at the enemy cavalry that appeared from the dust and fog in the sky, killing him with a pressing momentum, the distance was getting closer and closer, the Balearic slingers finally felt panic, and they began to run back one after another.

The Dionian cavalry rushed forward, stabbed with spears, and rammed with horses, completely dispersing the slingers, and then deliberately drove them to flee to the Carthaginian army in front.

Hundreds of rout soldiers were forced to charge the rear of the fighting left flank of Carthage, and the Philippine infantry in the rear had to turn around and kill these rout soldiers to avoid disturbing the battle, and at the same time they had to deal with it carefully. The javelins thrown by the Dionian cavalry must have distracted them from the attack of the soldiers of the Eighth Legion.

At this time, the soldiers of the Eighth Legion, encouraged by Leotides, were doing their best to launch a new wave of offensive.

Originally, the Philippine infantrymen were not afraid of this, but instead secretly rejoiced in their hearts, because the enemy had exhausted their remaining energy prematurely, and it was their turn to counterattack. But now, they couldn't resist, and had to retreat again and again.

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On the right flank of the Carthaginian army, it was the Dionysian coalition that was retreating again and again.

The number of soldiers in the Carthaginian army was already larger than that of the Dionysian coalition, and the formation was the same length as the opponent, which meant that the thickness of the Carthaginian army on the right flank even exceeded that of the opponent. The Dionysian coalition soldiers were weaker than the Lusitania warriors in terms of individual combat effectiveness, and were not as good as each other in terms of overall strength, so after more than an hour of fierce fighting, the Lusitania warriors had that little advantage at the start of the war. has become very obvious.

Although the attack of the Lusitania soldiers has weakened a lot from the beginning, the defense and counterattack of the soldiers of Kamanlina and Gera have weakened more obviously. , so Dionia's left-wing array continued to retreat under the offensive pressure of the Lusitanians, and the originally dense formation became more and more sparse during the retreat.

The Lusitania warriors took the opportunity to squeeze into these gaps, attacking the enemy from the side, constantly expanding the gaps, and burning the fire to the rear of the Kamanlina and Gera arrays.

Finally, fear overwhelmed the fighting spirit, and some of the Camanlina soldiers in the rear of the army began to turn around and flee. Their escape immediately affected the surrounding teammates who were also unstable in the military. Everyone also fled, and the rout inevitably appeared...

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Left flank rout? ! Although Leotidides was mentally prepared, he was still a little lost after hearing the news.

After a while, he lifted his spirits and looked forward. In order to understand the situation of the battle more easily, at this time he was close to the rear of the Eighth Legion's formation, riding on a horse, and could even see the faces of the enemies who were fighting with the soldiers: although due to his supervision of the battle and the first troops he dispatched The four cavalry corps attacked from the side and rear, the enemy was already retreating in large steps, but their faces did not show excessive panic, and the thin line of the Eighth Army could not seize this opportunity to increase the forward force. To push the pressure, and implement a more effective breakthrough... Therefore, judging from the current fighting situation, the stalemate on the right wing will continue for a while, and now the Eighth Army lacks time.

Having stayed in Sparta for more than 20 years, he is very clear: once the traditional Greek heavy infantry on the left flank appears and a soldier flees, it will not be too long until the entire left flank is completely collapsed, and then it will spread to the middle...

Leotides made a decisive decision: "Order the entire army... to retreat!"

Although Leotidides remained expressionless, the volume of his speech still showed a change in his mood.

Mukru, who was on the side, was also in a complicated mood. When he repeated the order again, his voice trembled a little: "Hurry up... hurry up... the bugle of retreat!"

Since the trumpet of Dionia's retreat was different from that of the Greek city-state army, the trumpeters had to blow it twice.

When the trumpet sounded similar to the Greek army's attack, the soldiers of the Eighth Legion couldn't believe it, because the enemy on the opposite side had not yet retreated. At this time, the sound of the trumpet meant: ... We are defeated? !

Although it was difficult to accept, the habit of strictly abiding by military discipline developed over the years made them choose to obey. After the sudden onslaught forced the enemy in front of him, the soldiers quickly turned and retreated...

"Order the soldiers to speed up their retreat and enter the city through the north and east gates of Gera!" Leotizides then ordered. He did not lose his head because of the failure, and he knew very well that once the coalition forces were completely defeated, they would panic. Most of the soldiers will instinctively flock to the west gate of the city gate of Jera, which is closest to them, which will inevitably cause congestion and easily become the target of slaughter by the pursuing enemies. Although the North Gate is farther away, because the road is smooth, the soldiers can enter the city faster. And because most of the soldiers of the Eighth Army were located on the right flank during the formation, they were closer to the north gate than the middle and left flanks.