Chapter 148
He didn't expect things to go so smoothly this time when he followed Melantius to battle. They easily conquered the city of Turín, and Colombs also got a lot of loot. It was no wonder that many people said that Melantius was the favorite of the Goddess of Luck. Moreover, he heard that the Crotone City Hall was preparing to migrate to the Xubari Plain. Hence, he planned that after returning to Crotone, he would first cash his loot, save money to marry a wife, and then join the Crotone immigration team. The land of the Xubari Plain was flatter and wider than the Croton Plain of Crotone. He should be able to get a sizable piece of land.
That night, Colombs had a sweet dream, but he was woken up by pain. He opened his eyes and saw that his comrades in the tent were like hornets whose nest had exploded. They were running out crazily, and he, who was sleeping by the door of the tent, had already been stepped on several times.
"Watch out!" he roared angrily.
"Enemy attack! Come out and fight! "his teammates shouted as they rushed out of the tent.
"Enemy attack? Where did the enemy come from? "Colombs was still a little confused.
At that moment, he heard a series of screams. He quivered, pushed his hands against the ground, and forced himself to stand up. He drank a lot of wine last night, and he didn't mix it with water, so the aftereffects were strong. His head was dizzy, and his body was a little out of control. He almost fell, and he didn't have time to put on his armor. He grabbed a spear from the ground and staggered out of the tent. In his sleepy eyes, he saw the neatly dressed heavy infantry in a tight formation quickly approaching them. Two of his companions rushed forward with spears in their hands, but they were quickly stabbed down by the enemy. The tacit cooperation and the concise and skillful fighting style completely woke Colombs up. Fear instantly took over his whole body. He threw away the spear, turned around, and ran.
"Run! Get out of here! " Colombs had a strong desire to survive. He ran while looking at the position of the sun in the sky. He decided to escape to the east, because the east was the city of Castellón.
After running for a while, he saw some people running toward him. They shouted in horror, "There's an enemy, run! … "
There are enemies in the east?! Colombs panicked when he heard that, and he could only run after them.
Following that, he ran around like a headless fly. More and more people surrounded him, and there were even quite a few pack animals running around. Many people were injured, but they couldn't escape.
At this time, no matter how panicked Colombs was, he understood that they were surrounded, and the encirclement was constantly shrinking …
… …
The Devers' headquarters was located behind the second brigade, between Camp Christina and Castellón. The 30 guards were on standby. Their attention was mainly on the east. Captain Maltius raised the flag of the legion. The Devers, on the other hand, were listening attentively to Ledes' report on the latest battle situation from his subordinate cavalry.
"First Team, attack!"
"Second Team, attack!"
"Third Battalion, begin the attack!"
"Seventh Brigade and Lucania Brigade, attack!"
"The advance of the First Battalion is a success, the enemy did not resist!"
"Second Battalion's advance is progressing smoothly!"
"First Main Company, pass the supply area and continue to advance!"
"So fast?!" The Devers were a little surprised and asked, "How did they do it?"
Ledes answered, "The people around the supply area are all Turií freedmen and slaves who have defected to Crotone. When they saw us attacking, they all ran away. Capus and the rest went around this area and left a team to slowly clear the area. The rest of the troops will continue to advance. "
"Yes, Capus made the right choice!" The Devers nodded in approval.
At this time, another cavalry came to report, "Second Team has become two horizontal lines!"
"First Team has become two horizontal lines!"
…
"Commander, our attack is very successful. The encirclement is shrinking rapidly!" Asistes was excited.
"Yes, it's going well beyond my expectations!" The Devers exhaled to ease the tension in their hearts. They then asked Ledes, "Is there still no movement in Castellón?"
"No."
"It seems that the enemy's alertness and reaction to danger are very slow. Alpines won't be able to fight this time." The Devers now had the mood to joke, "When the sports champion wakes up from his sleep, he must be wondering, 'Where did his troops go?'"
The people around them burst into laughter.
… …
In fact, the Devers' judgment was still wrong. It was not that the sentries of Castellón did not notice the abnormality in Crotone's camp. Although Crotone's camp was about three miles away from Castellón due to the forest and the river, they could not see the outline of the camp even if they stood on the city wall. However, the loud noise of tens of thousands of soldiers mixed together into a mixture of screams and exclamations could be vaguely heard by the sentries.
Therefore, the sentries reported this abnormal situation to the captain. The captain thought to himself, 'Crotone's camp should be very safe! The Bruti people in the west were blocked by the mountains and could not come at all. The Turií in the north had been burned, and they had the protection of the Trionto River. The Crimissa in the south had also defected to Crotone. The northeast was blocked by our Castellón. At this moment, Crotone had no enemies at all. Could it be that these arrogant Crotone people woke up early in the morning and were having a party again?
Out of professional habit, he still sent a few cavalrymen to see what was going on. However, when the cavalrymen passed through the forest, they were ambushed by Alpines' archers and were all annihilated.
… …
As the encirclement continued to shrink, some companies even had to split into three lines because the line of attack was too tight. The surrounded Crotone army became more and more crowded due to the shrinking space.
Melantius and the other high-ranking officers were invited to the city for a party and could not return. However, the captain of the hundred men was still there, especially the officers who were sleeping in the middle of the camp. As soon as they sensed that something was wrong, they laboriously ordered their men to put on their armor, pick up their weapons (because most of them were drunk) and prepare for battle. It was just that the Amendorians' attack was too fast. There were deserters everywhere, messing up the hastily organized troops. But now that the shrinking space prevented the deserters from running around, the captain of the hundred men in brightly colored helmets became their backbone.
"We've been surrounded. We can only survive if we rush to the east! Charge east! " The captain of the hundred men shouted in unison to attract the attention of the people around them. Under their leadership, they began to charge towards the direction of the sun. The Amendorians were facing their toughest test since the raid.
Dracos did not panic at all when he saw the black mass of enemies swarming towards him. It was not the first time Second Brigade had encountered such a situation. Last time, they had blocked the ferocious Lucanian food attack. After a few months of training, they were more confident that they could fend off these unarmored, unarmed, and even naked enemies.
"Pass on the order, defend where you are!" Dracos ordered the drummers (each brigade was equipped with five drummers. In addition to conveying orders, they could also use the drumming to adjust the pace of the soldiers during the march, to keep the formation in line, and to boost morale).
The rhythmic drumming sounded, and the flag-bearers of each company waved their flags. In fact, according to their judgment, the platoon leaders had already begun to order the soldiers to stop advancing and prepare for defense.
The Crotone's charge was like a row of huge waves. Although majestic, its power was scattered. The defense of Second Brigade was like an iron wall. Although thin, it was very strong.
The two armies collided. One had been maintaining an offensive posture and had expended a lot of energy; the other had been running since the beginning and was exhausted. One was fully armed, and the other was not. One had fewer people, and the other had more. The two sides engaged in close combat, and the outcome was obvious. However, the Crotone finally showed their courage in this critical moment. If they had no weapons, they would use their bodies to ram and their feet. If they were stabbed by spears, they would hold on tightly with both hands.
For a moment, Second Brigade was in a tough battle.
When the Devers received the news, he immediately ordered, "The rest of the brigade, increase the speed of attack and try to get the enemy to surrender!"
At the same time, he asked Ledes to quickly call Alpines to lead the light infantry back to assist Second Brigade in attacking, while he led the guards to the front.
When the Legion's flag appeared behind Second Brigade's defense line, the high and mighty bronze statue of Pluto shone golden under the light of dawn, the morale of the soldiers of Second Brigade who were struggling to hold on was immediately boosted.
"Dracos, can you still hold on?" The Devers deliberately asked the platoon leader who was commanding from the rear.
"Commander, we will soon be able to beat the enemy back!" Dracos gritted his teeth, turned around and shouted to the drummers, "Beat the drums to attack! We must attack! "
Under the gaze of the Commander-in-Chief, under the sound of the drums to attack, the soldiers perked up. Although the formation of only three rows was relatively weak compared to the enemy, they began to counterattack. They swung their shields forward with all their might, and thrust their spears into the gaps that were exposed. If the enemy grabbed their spears, they would pull out their sabers and slash. Originally, the battle between the Greek infantrymen was frustrating. The muffled sound of metal colliding with shields, the crisp sound of spears piercing armor, and the ear-piercing sound of sabers slashing at each other. No matter how long they fought, they might not be able to defeat their opponent. But now, every swing, every thrust, every slash could be heard from the enemy, the sound of metal piercing into flesh, and the string of blood droplets from the sabers …
The Second Brigade's swift counterattack stopped the enemy's charge, and the courage of the Crotone soldiers, who were mostly unarmored and unarmed, quickly diminished in front of an impregnable wall.
The light infantrymen who soon arrived fired arrows and stones at the back of the Crotone's charge line, preventing their reinforcements from catching up and forming a combined force.
The last thing that tipped the balance of the battle was the fierce attack of the other three brigades. The encirclement was shrinking rapidly. The Crotone soldiers in the center were almost squeezed together, and it was difficult for them to even turn around, let alone break out.
Nearly ten thousand people were tightly surrounded in this circle with a circumference of less than one mile. Arrows and stones kept raining down from the sky, and cries of surrender kept ringing out from all directions. People kept screaming and falling down, and fear quickly spread among the enemies …
The freedmen and slaves were the first to kneel and surrender.
They were followed by the soldiers of Siletina, Crimissa, and Castellón.
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