Chapter 1179
Suddenly, Agesilaus' body swayed a few times and he almost fell. His servants quickly held him up.
In order to raise morale and observe the enemy's situation, he had to stand for a long time. His old body could no longer support him, so he could only helplessly sit on the wooden chair that had been prepared.
… …
The commander of the Dionysian Army, Cloto Catax, was equally nervous. It was his first time commanding a battle, and he was faced with such a large scale battle. Furthermore, the enemy was the Greek overlord, Sparta.
Looking at the dazzling light walls that stretched endlessly on both sides, Cloto Catax felt an invisible pressure. He knew that his command would determine the life and death of thousands of Diónia soldiers, so he had been hesitating.
"Your Highness, the soldiers are almost done resting. You can give the order to attack now," Printos stepped forward and reminded him softly.
"Uh … Should we wait a little longer?" Cloto Catax asked, feeling a little guilty.
Printos intentionally looked up at the sky and said, "If we wait any longer, I'm afraid today's battle will have to be canceled. If we miss this opportunity, I don't know when we'll be able to capture the Sparta army again. The situation will become more and more unfavorable for us … "
Printos' words caused Cloto Catax's expression to change. He was silent for a moment, then clenched his teeth and said, "Then let's attack!"
"Woo! … Woo! … "The sonorous sound of the bugle echoed in the west side of the Tegea Plains.
The various military flags that were originally raised high in the formation pointed to the east at the same time the bugle sounded.
"Advance!" Just like the other team officers, Márquez gave the order to his team of soldiers.
The group of soldiers shouted excitedly, pulled out the shields that were stuck in the mud, and carried them on their backs. (In order to save the soldiers' strength and make it easier to march, the weapons merchant added a long strip of cloth to the inside of the shields according to the requirements of the Ministry of Military Affairs. With it, the soldiers could carry the shields on their shoulders.) They held spears and javelins in their hands, and moved forward steadily with the other groups of soldiers.
The battle was about to begin, and Márquez was a little excited. However, he was not as excited as his Greek soldiers. He knew that they were eager to defeat the Sparta warriors who had dominated Greece for decades. They wanted to prove that the Greek citizens of the Kingdom of Diónia were the strongest warriors in the Greek world. Therefore, Márquez was not worried about the morale of his soldiers at all.
"The Diónia have begun their attack." Agesilaus heard the bugle sound from the opposite side and unconsciously let out a sigh of relief. Facing the mercenary general who came to ask for instructions, he said calmly, "Don't be in a hurry to blow the bugle. Let the Diónia advance a little further. This way, when we engage in battle, the city of Tegea will be behind them."
As the Diónia soldiers advanced slowly, rows of wheat sprouts fell to the ground. The originally straight line of the Diónia army gradually became more distinct. The light infantries with brisk footsteps had passed through the checkerboard formation of the heavy infantries and walked in front. Next were the cavalry on both ends. Even though they did not let the War Horse gallop in order to conserve horsepower, they were still moving faster than the light infantries.
The Diónia light infantries spread out in a loose formation at the front of the left, middle, and right flanks. When they were about two miles away from the Sparta army, Agesilaus finally gave the order to attack.
The left flanks were the Sparta warriors in red cloaks, the middle flanks were mainly mercenaries, and the right flanks were mercenaries who had retreated from the siege not long ago. Other than the right flanks being ten rows thick, the middle flanks and left flanks were increased to twenty rows thick. Both flanks were Macedonian cavalry … It seemed like Agesilaus had arranged the most traditional Greek phalanx formation and was about to engage in the most standard Greek heavy infantries with the Dionysian Army. The only difference was that countless light infantries passed through the gaps in the formation and advanced forward in a loose formation.
Agesilaus had some understanding of the Dionysian Army. He knew that the Dionysian Army was good at using light infantries to attack first to disrupt the enemy's formation. That was why he had specially instructed the mercenary general to recruit more light infantries in order to counter and weaken the Diónia light infantries during the battle.
"What did you say? The enemy has a lot of stone throwers! "Cloto Catax was surprised after listening to the scout's report.
"Yes, Your Highness. The enemy threw a large number of flying stones at our light infantries from afar, causing some soldiers to be injured. "
"I think the Sparta people might have recruited some stone throwers from Rhodes." Advisor Mukelu made his conjecture, and sighed regretfully. "It's a pity that the original stone-throwers in our 1st Corps have all retired!"
"Damn it! I should have asked my father to send some Bali people! "Cloto Catax was filled with regret.
After the southern part of Iberia was incorporated into the Kingdom of Diónia, the Bali Islands naturally submitted to Diónia. The Devers allowed them to govern themselves and generously promised to solve their food shortage problem. However, they also made a request: if the war required, the Bali Islands must provide no less than 2000 stone throwers.
"Don't worry, Your Highness." "The Spartans' light infantry is a temporary patchwork, and they are not as well-trained as our soldiers. They are just taking advantage of the distance advantage. I think our light infantry will soon give them a taste of suffering," Prynthos consoled.
Cloto Catax was skeptical, but at least he felt a little relieved.
Not long after the light infantries of both sides fought, the cavalry of both sides also began to speed up. Although the tall wheat sprouts hindered the War Horses to a certain extent, the cavalry had no time to think too much at this time. Soon, the cavalry of both sides collided.
At both ends of the formation were 1000 Diónia cavalry versus 750 Macedonian cavalry. Although the Diónia cavalry had the advantage in numbers, the Macedonian cavalry was as famous as the Thessaly cavalry in Greece. They were not weak in terms of horsemanship, fighting spirit, and combat effectiveness.
Although the First Cavalry Legion was the "first" in name, it was different from the infantry legion. Its combat effectiveness could not be the best among the other legions. Even the newly established Fifth Cavalry Legion, Sixth Cavalry Legion, and Seventh Cavalry Legion were stronger than it. The Fifth Cavalry Legion was located in Iberia, and its main soldiers were from the conquered Lusitanian cavalry. The Sixth Cavalry Legion was located in the Po River area, and its soldiers were all Gallic cavalry. As for the Seventh Cavalry Legion, it was located in Hadrumentum, but it usually did not have a fixed number of personnel. Instead, it required the tribes of West Numibia to provide 3,000-4,000 cavalry when needed. It was the only light cavalry legion in the kingdom and the largest cavalry legion.
Therefore, Cuccius, who took office the year before last, felt the pressure and increased the intensity of the cavalry training (Ledes could no longer ride for a long time due to his age and injuries, so he chose to retire).
At this time, the outcome of the cavalry battle could not be determined in a short period of time.
When the news reached the command center at the rear of the Diónia army, in order to prevent Cloto Catax from worrying again, Printos took the initiative to say, "The reason why His Majesty did not send too many cavalry back then was because he considered that Peloponnesus had many mountains and few plains, so there was not much room for the cavalry to play. Moreover, the army was already consuming a lot of food for the expedition across the sea, and the cavalry consumed even more food. The Greek cavalry was not strong to begin with, so only one cavalry legion was sent. It is not our main force for victory."
"The main force for victory is our infantry legion!" Cloto and Catax looked forward with expectation. As the entire army continued to move forward, the dust that was stirred up had already begun to pervade the air, blurring the line of sight. On the contrary, the screams continued to be heard, becoming clearer and clearer.
The Diónia light infantry, who had suffered some minor losses, sped up and shortened the distance between them and the enemy. Then, the archers used their superb shooting skills that they had trained hard for many years to attack the enemy. The Cretan archers could only barely hold their ground.
The javelins took the opportunity to rush forward, closing the distance to within 30 meters. They threw their javelins, but they were counterattacked by the large number of Thracian light shieldmen.
Compared to the total number of Dionic light infantries (the 7th Legion's light infantries were left behind in the camp), the Spartan Alliance had more than twice the number of light infantries. Although the individual units were not weak, they were put together at the last minute. Not only did they lack tacit cooperation, but they also often hindered each other from time to time. Moreover, they lacked experience in large-scale battles with light infantries. That was why the Dionic light infantries, which had fewer numbers, had the upper hand by relying on their nimble movements and skilled tactical cooperation.
As the distance between the two armies got closer, the Sparta coalition light infantry, who were worried that they would be squeezed in the formation, hurriedly retreated. On the other hand, the Diónia light infantry remained fearlessly in front of the formation. They turned to attack the Sparta heavy infantry who were slowly moving forward.
Although the arrows falling from the sky did not cause much damage to them, they could slow down their advance and disrupt their formation. However, the heavy javelins that were thrown at them posed a threat to their lives.
The mercenary heavy infantry in front of the formation could not dodge the javelins. Before they could enter the charging distance, they were forced to run, causing the already crooked formation to become even more uneven.
The Diónia light infantry quickly withdrew from the gaps in the chessboard formation at the back. The small squares quickly closed up and formed a unified formation. Then, the commander shouted, "Prepare the javelins!"
At this time, most of the Sparta coalition soldiers had rushed within 40 meters of the formation. The timing was just right. This was the result of the long and arduous training of the Legion of Dionysia.
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