Chapter 1193
Although the two fortresses were strategically located, they had been built decades ago during the Messenian riots. Over the decades, the Messenians had been relatively tame, and there had not been any major riots (during the Peloponnesus War, the Messenian Hercules were mainly rescued by the people of Athens). Therefore, the two fortresses had fallen into disrepair and were severely damaged.
It was not until the Dionysian Army invaded Messenia that Sparta urgently repaired the fortresses. However, due to the lack of time, they always felt that the repairs were not complete enough. Now that they were being attacked by an enemy that outnumbered the defenders by more than ten times, he could not help but feel worried. Therefore, even though the Diónia were about to land on land, he still sent 200 soldiers from each side to reinforce them.
At this time, the infantry of the Dionysian fleet, which had stopped near the coast, began to move towards the shore.
According to the military law of Diónia, under normal circumstances, as the commander of the infantry of the fleet, Sephidorus, was supposed to stay at the rear. However, due to the various difficulties in sea conditions, transportation, and regrouping after landing, Sephidorus sent all the infantry of the fleet to the coast at once. Since it was useless for him to stay at the rear, it would be better for him to take the lead. Instead, it would boost the morale of the troops and give the army a better chance of winning in such a difficult situation. Therefore, like the other infantry of the fleet, Sephidorus wore leather armor, carried a leather shield and helmet, and swam towards the shore using the breaststroke posture.
Although the Greek fishermen were all good swimmers, and most of the infantry of the fleet came from them, this standard breaststroke posture was taught by the Devers, mainly for the sake of noise and energy saving when swimming with armed forces.
At this moment, the infantry of the fleet did not use much strength to paddle. Like pieces of wood floating on the sea, they were approaching the shore along the tide.
In the eyes of the Sparta people on the shore, a black line across the Gulf of Laconia was quickly surging towards them.
When the water was relatively shallow, the soldiers of the Dionysian fleet stood up one after another.
Sephidorus was old, after all. He was a little out of breath when he stood up, and his body was a little cold. But like the other soldiers, he quickly put on his leather helmet, took off his leather shield, drew out his dagger, and shouted as loudly as he could, "Line up!"
His voice could not travel far in the raging tides, but all the infantrymen had been briefed on the entire landing plan beforehand, and they were now consciously rearranging their formation. The infantrymen had gathered according to the battle formation when they were in the sea, and now, after a little rearrangement, a dense formation that was three miles long and five columns thick appeared in front of the Sparta army.
Eudamidas was taken aback by the speed with which the Diónia got into formation. His attempt to take advantage of the Diónia's disorderly formation to launch an attack failed. He immediately realized that the Diónia had come prepared this time. They wanted to take advantage of the absence of Sparta's main force to attack Sparta's territory with all their might.
I won't let your conspiracy succeed! Eudamidas swung his spear forward and shouted angrily, "Attack!"
Under the leadership of Eudamidas, the Sparta army began to run forward. When they stepped on the soft beach again, dozens of stone bullets whistled towards them again. Some of the Black Roc soldiers were in a commotion, but under the fierce scolding of the Sparta officers, they had no choice but to continue to run forward in panic. They only breathed a sigh of relief when the stone bullets fell behind them.
Sephidorus led the soldiers forward steadily. Because the water had reached their crotch, they could not run. Fortunately, they were pushed forward by the tide, so they were not too hindered. When the water gradually receded from their waist to their feet, and the infantrymen's legs had just regained freedom, the enemy had already rushed in front of them.
The infantrymen of the fleet had neither javelins nor shields to defend themselves. They could only raise their shields and short swords to fight the enemy head-on.
The Sparta army consisted of nearly 300 Sparta warriors, more than 500 Sparta veterans, 2,000 Biliasi soldiers, more than 4,000 Black Roc soldiers, and more than 9,000 infantrymen of the Dionysian fleet. (The First Fleet of Diónia had nearly 280 Raven warships, with each Raven warship carrying 40 infantrymen. The First Fleet had more than 10,000 infantrymen. Although the last landing had cost them thousands of casualties, Sekerian did not hesitate to send out all the infantrymen of the fleet.) Finally, the battle began on the coast.
Xenophon climbed to the sentry tower at the back of the beach and looked at the battle in front of him nervously. He knew that this battle would determine the life and death of Sparta. He wished he could grab the bow of the archer next to him and shoot at the Diónia himself.
… …
After the battle lasted for a while, the situation changed significantly. The right flank, with the Sparta warriors and veterans as the arrowhead, with the ability of the Sparta warriors and the power of the heavy infantrymen, had the upper hand. The left flank of the infantrymen of the Dionysian fleet kept retreating into the sea.
The middle flank, with the Beliasi soldiers as the main force, also had a slight advantage. After all, the Beliasi soldiers who often fought with the Sparta had more combat experience. At the same time, although they wore simple pointed copper helmets and leather armor, they were still stronger than the infantrymen with copper shields and spears. With the help of the archers in the sentry tower, the infantrymen of the fleet, who did not have a strong defense, suffered a lot.
Only on the left flank, the Heliasi soldiers, who were basically unprotected and only had a spear in their hand, were fighting the infantrymen of the fleet, who were wearing leather armor, leather shields, and short swords. Gradually, they were at a disadvantage. Even though the veterans of Sparta were trying their best to maintain the battle line and the archers in the sentry tower behind them, the left flank kept moving backward. This caused the battle line, which was originally east-west, to gradually move northeast to southwest.
While Xenophon was worried for the Sparta army, Sekerian, who was standing on the flagship and listening to the report from the lookout on the mast, was even more anxious. "Where are the infantrymen of the fleet that went ashore yesterday?! Why haven't they appeared yet?! "
"Maybe … maybe they've encountered some trouble …" the flagship captain replied carefully.
"Damn it! Something went wrong at the critical moment! " Sekerian cursed angrily, and then said helplessly, "Then … send the reserve team immediately!"
"Yes, sir!"
In yesterday's military meeting, under the encouragement of the commander of the fleet's infantrymen, the other commanders of the B Fleets also made many suggestions. One of them was: Considering that the infantrymen of the fleet did not have an advantage in a head-on battle against the heavy infantry, could the two battalions of the Seventh Legion stationed in Messenia send some heavy infantry to participate in the landing battle?
Later, after discussion and improvement, it was changed to: Invite the Diónia troops stationed in Messenia to counterattack Sparta from the east, and at the same time, ask them to send 300 heavy infantry to participate in the landing battle.
Originally, Sekerian still hoped that the infantrymen of the fleet could win this battle by themselves. But now that they were at a disadvantage, they were worried about failure and had to send the reserve team.
On the five-meter square wooden rafts that the crew of the First Fleet had urgently made, there was a sailor controlling them with a wooden paddle in the middle, and three or four soldiers of the Seventh Legion in black armor and helmets passed through the gaps between the warships. Because the wooden rafts had a shallower draft than the small boats, they smoothly passed through the area where the wooden stakes were blocking the ships and rowed toward the left flank of the fleet's infantrymen …
"Oh no, the reinforcements of the Diónia!" Xenophon saw this scene from the watchtower and was very anxious. Sparta did not have any extra soldiers to stop the enemy's reinforcements. What should they do?
Xenophon was panicking. Suddenly, he saw a group of Black Rogues moving supplies in the camp. In his desperation, he rushed down the watchtower and rushed to the camp, wanting to organize these Black Rogues to reinforce the Sparta army at the front.
The dozen or so veteran Sparta soldiers who were in charge of guarding the Black Rogues in the camp knew that the situation was urgent and immediately agreed to Xenophon's suggestion. But then there was a problem: Even if they organized these hundreds of Black Rogues, how could they fight without weapons?
The Sparta were very strict with the Black Rogues. Even the Black Rogues who were going to fight were only given weapons before they went into battle. After the army left for battle, there were still so many Black Rogues in the camp. Of course, they would not leave weapons behind.
After an urgent search in the camp, they only found a dozen broken spears. Xenophon had to ask the Black Rogues to take away the wooden poles that supported the tents. With promises and threats, he forced the Black Rogues to reluctantly follow him to the right flank of the Sparta army.
Previously, the fierce attack of the Sparta warriors had caused some casualties in the left flank of the fleet's infantrymen. For the sake of honor and the survival of the entire fleet, they could only keep retreating to relieve the pressure from the enemy. The deeper they retreated into the sea, the weaker the attack of the Sparta warriors. The reason was simple. The surging tide and the soft bottom of the sea had a greater impact on the clumsy Sparta warriors who were wearing heavy armor. They had to spend part of their energy to maintain their balance, but the infantrymen of the fleet were used to it.
Under such circumstances, the left flank of the fleet's infantrymen gradually recovered a little.
Then the soldiers of the seventh legion arrived one after another and immediately attacked the flank of the Sparta warriors.
Under the attack, the Sparta warriors fought bravely without flinching. They knew that their home was behind them, so they could not retreat.
Xenophon led the Black Rogues across the beach and rushed to reinforce the right flank. In the battlefield that was shrouded by the sound of tides, fighting, and screams, he was so anxious that he did not hear the exclamation of the archers on the watchtower not far from him. "Enemy reinforcements again! In the east! In the east!! … "
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