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Chapter 1139

"Sparta will be defeated by us!" Ipamilonda's strong confidence infected the generals around him. They quickly led the troops according to Ipamilonda's plan and began to arrange the formation in front of the camp.

Because the Pioscia Coalition Army had fewer soldiers, the length of their formation was shorter than the Sparta Coalition Army's formation, and the thickness was also very thin. The only exception was the left wing, because at the front was the Thebes led by Pelopidas, followed by the Thebes' heavy infantry led by Ipamilonda. The thickness of the column was as high as 50 rows.

Moreover, Ipamilonda deliberately waited for the right wing and the middle wing to be arranged before he began to arrange the left wing. As soon as the left wing was arranged, he gave the order to blow the horn to attack, so that even if the Sparta people felt that something was wrong, they had no time to adjust their formation.

The horn was blown, and the Thebes led by Pelopidas led the entire left wing to advance quickly. The army in the middle and right wing, under Ipamilonda's prior instructions, deliberately slowed down, so that the left wing quickly broke through the front. The entire infantry formation was like a hammer swinging down with all its might, and the head of the hammer was the left wing.

However, the first to start the battle was the cavalry. Ipamilonda gathered the cavalry to the front of the middle in advance. Seeing this, the king of Sparta, Cleombrotus, naturally also gathered his cavalry to the front of the middle in order to fight against the Sparta army.

When the horn was blown, the infantry of both sides were still advancing, but the cavalry of both sides had already fought. The Pioscia Coalition Army cavalry, with the Thessaly cavalry as the main force, was obviously stronger than the Sparta Coalition Army cavalry, and they were quickly defeated.

Under the deliberate driving of the Pioscia Coalition Army cavalry, the Sparta Coalition Army cavalry had to retreat in the direction of the middle and left wing, which hindered the advance of these two infantry formations, and gradually separated from the Sparta phalanx on the right wing.

The king of Sparta, who was in the middle of the formation, could not see that the formation had broken away, but he could see that the cavalry in front of him had been defeated. However, for the Sparta people, the cavalry had never been the main force in battle. They had been invincible in Greece for years because they had received military training since childhood, and they had experienced countless battles and tempering themselves. The King's Guards were at the front, and they were the elite of the elite. Anyone who could become one of them would win the respect of the Sparta people. (The establishment of the Sparta King's Guards was 300 people, but over the years of continuous wars, the population of Sparta had plummeted, and they could no longer maintain this number. At this time, there were only 100 people in the formation.) Therefore, the king of Sparta, like the surrounding Sparta warriors, was not moved by the defeat of the cavalry, and still believed that the final victory would belong to them.

When they saw that the Thebes were not far from them, the Sparta people roared and began to charge.

At the same time, the Sacred Team of Thebes also charged under the leadership of Pelopidas. The weapons and equipment of the Sacred Team of Thebes were no different from the heavy infantry behind them, but for the past few years, they had either been training or fighting, and they had defeated the Sparta soldiers many times in small-scale battles. Whether it was in terms of combat skills or spirit, they were far superior to the other Duke's Militia. Moreover, they believed that fighting side by side with their lover was the sublimation and integration of emotions. Therefore, as the speed of their charge increased, so did their fighting spirit.

Therefore, when the heavy infantry of both sides collided, the Sacred Team of Thebes was actually evenly matched with the King's Guards of Sparta in terms of strength and skills.

But when the reinforcements of both sides pressed forward, the difference in strength gradually became apparent. Compared to a column of 50 people and a column of 15 people, the difference in strength was obvious. This difference was reflected in the battle when both sides pushed and pushed. The side of Sparta who had fewer people could only retreat step by step under the strong pressure, and the originally dense formation gradually became loose.

The Sacred Team of Thebes bravely squeezed into the gap, trying to expand the gap and destroy the shield formation. They were not afraid of the continuous spears of the Sparta soldiers, because they wanted to show their bravery to their lover. Defeating the Sparta soldiers was undoubtedly a lifetime of glory, and they believed that even if they attacked with all their strength and reduced their defense, their lover would block everything for them.

The Sacred Team of Thebes, fearless of death and the strong pressure of the super thick column, caused the soldiers of Sparta to fall one after another, and the formation began to become fragmented. The worst thing was that their king was in trouble.

Cleombrotus, who had personally joined the battle, had just stabbed his spear into the chest of a Thebes soldier who had rushed in front of him. Unexpectedly, the soldier spat out blood, but he held on to the spear and shouted a person's name.

Then, another Thebes soldier beside the soldier rushed forward with tears in his eyes. He ignored the stabbing spears of the King's Guards and pounced on Cleombrotus, who was caught off guard and fell to the ground.

The King of Sparta, whose helmet had rolled to the side, watched as the soldier's back was pierced by several spears, but the soldier still tried to bite his throat with a ferocious look …

The king was dead! The people of Sparta were founded on martial arts. Except for the battle at Hot Spring Gate, where the difference in military strength was too great, there had never been a king who died in any other battle. But today's tragedy happened, and it was hard to imagine how much of a blow it was to the morale of the Sparta soldiers. What's more, they were now facing the terrifying Thebes, who were like mad demons. In addition, they were facing a direct confrontation with the enemy, and the Sparta soldiers, who were known for their bravery and strength, were afraid. First, the soldiers of Helaus began to flee, followed by the Pyriasis, and finally, the real Sparta soldiers threw away their spears and shields, turned around, and fled …

The Sparta phalanx on the right was defeated, and the soldiers desperately fled back to the camp on the hill.

At this time, the middle and left wing had already made contact with the enemy, and they even had the upper hand in the battle. However, the Sparta army had always been the core of the Sparta army. Now that the Sparta army was defeated, the allied army had no mood to fight anymore, so they hurriedly retreated.

Although the Thebes army had defeated the Sparta army, the soldiers were exhausted. Moreover, the allied army of Sparta was almost unharmed, and they still outnumbered the Thebes. Therefore, Ipamilonda did not dare to continue attacking the camp of Sparta's allied army, so he also retreated.

The battle of Leuctra had ended. In this battle, there were about 1000 Lasidic dream warriors, including 400 Sparta warriors. The Thebes' Holy Squad also suffered 200 casualties, which accounted for 2/3 of their total strength. Although there were not many casualties in the battle, this battle was actually a competition between the strength of the two city-states, the Thebes and Sparta, and the Thebes won.

Even many of the Thebes who personally participated in the battle could not believe that they had won. After returning to the camp, they cheered to their hearts' content, and under the leadership of Pelopidas, they forcibly carried Ipamilonda around the camp to express their joy and gratitude.

The camp of Sparta's allied army was shrouded in the shadow of defeat. Although they still outnumbered the Thebes, the king of Sparta had died in battle, and the army was leaderless. Although some of the Sparta people were unwilling, they had to follow tradition and send messengers to the camp of Thebes to ask for a temporary truce so that they could bury the dead. This was, in fact, an admission of defeat.

After burying the dead, both sides sent messengers at the same time.

The messengers of Sparta's allied army had to rush back to Sparta as soon as possible to report the news of their defeat to the Council of Elders. They also had to ask them to appoint a new commander and send reinforcements so that they could be rescued from the territory of Pioscia. Although the dead king, Cleombrotus, had left them a safe place to retreat, Port Cleosis, the demoralized army was afraid of being attacked by the Thebes, so they did not dare to retreat alone, and remained in the camp on the hill.

The Thebes sent three messengers, one to Athens, one to Thessaly, and one to Diónia.

The first messenger to arrive was Athens, because it was the closest to the Thebes. When the messenger wearing a flower crown announced to the Council of Athens, "The army of Thebes has defeated the army of Sparta and killed the king of Sparta, Cleombrotus! … "

This shocking news caused the whole hall to fall silent. For the elites of Athens, the victory of the Thebes made them even more afraid of the Thebes.

Callistratus did not expect the Thebes to be able to defeat Sparta, so he and Iphicrates asked the messengers in detail. Although the messengers' answers were brief, they still felt that although the Thebes had won, the results were not great. According to the character of the Sparta, they would definitely retaliate crazily, and the intensity of the war would increase.

Although this made Callistratus secretly happy, he was also worried that Athens would be dragged back into the quagmire of war.

The second place that the Thebes' messengers reached was Philae. After all, the port in the north of Pioscia could reach Philae directly by boat, and the distance was not too far.

When Iazon heard the news, he was overjoyed. He immediately gathered the cavalry and infantry, and announced that he was going to help his ally, the Thebes.

Two days later, he brought eight thousand infantries and two thousand cavalrymen to the south and headed straight for the Hot Spring Gate.

Originally, he thought that there would be a fierce battle at Hot Spring Gate. Who knew that when the Sparta allied army led by Cleombrotus attacked the Pioscia region, they called for the garrisons in Central Greece to gather together. The Sparta garrisons at Hot Spring Gate sent out most of the garrisons. After learning that the battle had failed, the soldiers who stayed behind felt that they were alone and in a dangerous situation, so they took the initiative to retreat.

Iazon easily occupied this very important strategic point, and left 500 soldiers to guard it. Then, he led the cavalry guards, and without waiting for the main army to advance, he quickly passed through the territory of the Phocians.