Chapter 208
"Not yet."
"Inform the frontline to slow down the march, and let Philadelphus make a bigger noise to attract the enemy's attention. Also … let Alisosis (the captain of the Crotone cavalry) withdraw the scouts. Now that the situation is clear, don't waste our cavalry! "
"Yes, sir!"
After giving the order, Miron's eyes turned to the woods in front of him. He was quite familiar with this place, because through it, further west was the place where Melantius' army was ambushed. After the peace treaty with Diónia was signed, Miron personally led the team to carry out thousands of corpses from there, some from the Alliance, some from Crotone … The tragic scene was unforgettable for him for a long time!
Miron pulled the reins tightly. This time, Crotone would wash away the shame and avenge them!
The troops walked out of the woods, and in front of them was a flat and elevated wilderness. The Trionto River narrowed here, so the water was too deep for them to cross. This was also the reason why Melantius had camped here.
"Enemy! Look at the enemy! "The soldiers near the river bank were agitated.
In front of the troops, on the other side of the Trionto River, a heavily armed Diónia army was marching quickly along the river bank to the west.
It seemed that the Diónia had found out their movements and were ready to stop them from crossing the river. Miron was not too worried. Although he could not see the full picture of the enemy on the other side, he felt that the number of people in the army was not too large. As stated in the secret letter, the vanguard sent by Diónia to Castellón was less than 4,000 people, and they also had to defend against Philadelphus. How many enemies would be left to stop his army from crossing the river?
The upper reaches of the Trionto River flowed in a narrow valley between the mountains until it rushed out of the canyon and encountered flat lowlands. Like a child out of control, it happily expanded its territory to both sides, causing the river to be 30 to 40 meters wide. The water flow also slowed down, and after flowing slowly for more than two miles, the river became narrower and deeper again due to the elevation of the terrain …
At this moment, on the south bank of the Trionto River, Miron arranged his 22,000 soldiers (including 2,000 light infantry) into a long formation that was ten rows thick and more than two miles long, covering the entire walkable section of the river. There were only about 5,000 enemies on the other side of the river, and they also formed a formation that was as long as Crotone's, but not only was it obviously thin, but the formation was also very loose. Miron firmly believed that even with the help of the Trionto River, the Dionysian Army would not be able to stop the advance of the Crotone army. Their thin line would inevitably be broken by the heavy Crotone army!
"Attack!" Miron, who was at the rear of the middle road, ordered the bugler in a heroic manner.
The loud and sonorous sound of the bugler resounded across the quiet Trionto River. Other than the 2,000 soldiers that Miron personally led at the rear of the middle road, he did not move because he felt that the number of soldiers on his side far exceeded the enemy's. There was no need for all of them to participate in the battle. The entire square formation began to move slowly towards the river bank …
Colombs was one of the 20,000 soldiers. After he was captured by the Diónia, he had been detained for half a year to build a road. He had suffered a lot, and his family had to pay a huge debt in order to ransom him. This time, he was recruited by the city-state to fight against Diónia again. Other than a strong desire for revenge, he also hoped to defeat the Diónia and obtain a lot of spoils of war to pay off his debt. The river bank here was not made of soft fine sand. Instead, it was covered with pebbles of different shapes and sizes. The ground was hard, but it was easy to trip. Hence, Colombs and the rest walked slowly and steadily …
The Trionto River was right in front of them. Colombs, who was at the front, looked through the narrow eyehole of Corinth's helmet and saw many people rushing out from the enemy's formation on the other side of the river. Without waiting for the captain's reminder, he had already quickly raised his round shield and placed it in front of his chest.
"Ding!" The arrows of the Diónia soldiers hit his bronze shield and produced ear-piercing sounds. However, they could not damage it at all. His right foot had already stepped into the river.
"Watch out for the top of your head!" The captain's shout echoed in the dense helmet. His voice was weak and seemed distant. He raised his head subconsciously and saw countless black dots falling from the sky.
"Damn it, it's projectiles!" He hurriedly raised his shield to protect his head.
At this moment, he heard the captain's anxious shout again, "Watch out for the front!"
However, the hearing and vision of the heavily armored soldiers were severely impaired, causing their reactions to be slower than ordinary people. Many of them could not react quickly enough to see what was ahead of them, including Colombs. He felt as if someone had punched him lightly in the chest, and then there was a slight pain. An arrow had pierced into his left chest, and it should have already penetrated through the layers of tightly woven linen armor, but its kinetic energy had already been exhausted. The tip of the arrow had just touched his skin, and the experienced Colombus knew that the damage was actually not that great.
However, his teammate beside him was shot in the thigh that was not protected by his armor. He screamed in pain and fell into the river. Fresh blood immediately dyed the river red. Looking at his teammate who was struggling in the water, Colombs wanted to help him, but he did not have the strength to do so. The cunning Diónia soldiers used projectiles and direct shots at him at the same time. Looking at his teammate who finally stopped struggling and floated on the river, Colombs felt a sense of sorrow in his heart …
"Stride forward! Stride forward! " The captain shouted and urged the soldiers to speed up to cross the river.
The river was indeed not deep, just above their knees. It was just that there were many cobblestones at the bottom of the river, making it a little slippery. Therefore, Colombs and the rest squatted down and used round shields to protect their heads and chests. With the protection of the river water to protect their legs, the chances of being hit by the arrows were greatly reduced. However, they could not speed up their advance. After the initial panic, the soldiers gradually calmed down. They moved forward slowly while protecting themselves from the arrows. At the same time, in the process of moving forward, they readjusted their formation that was a little chaotic just now.
They were almost at the middle of the river, but the depth of the water did not increase by much. Even Colombs, who was on the right wing of the phalanx, did not feel the impact of the water because the long formation on the left was blocking the river. At this moment, he noticed that some people had rushed out from the enemy's formation on the other side of the river. They had almost reached the river and were less than twenty meters away from them. The tip of the spear in their hands shone with a cold light under the sunlight … Colombs' heart beat wildly. He instinctively sat down, almost immersing his entire body in the water.
"Be careful of the javelins!" The captain's voice was obviously much louder. That was because the damage of the javelins to the heavy infantry was obviously greater than that of the arrows.
Then, Colombs heard the whistling sound of the wind, followed by a "Bang!" Sound. The teammate behind him let out a shrill cry. The javelin pierced straight into the round shield. The tip of the javelin pierced through the copper skin, smashed the wooden plank, and directly nailed his left arm. The strong impact pushed him backward, and at the same time, brought down the soldiers behind him. If it were not for the timely help of the teammates beside them, these heavily armored soldiers would have had their mouths and noses seeped into by the seemingly gentle and harmless river water, causing them to choke and eventually suffocate. It could be seen that the strength of the enemy's javelin throwing was great, causing the front line of the Crotone army to panic again.
At this time, the light infantry at the back of the formation also followed closely behind. They could finally start to fight back. The arrows they threw fell like raindrops on the opposite bank of the river, forcing the enemy's javelin throwers not to recklessly attack the front line at close range.
The casualties of the Crotone army were only a drop in the ocean compared to the huge army. Although Miron felt a little heartache, he did not take it to heart. He was only surprised that nearly half of the five thousand enemy soldiers on the opposite bank were light infantry. These light infantry were skilled in coordination, ingenious in tactics, and ruthless in their attacks. He had never seen this in previous battles, and this raised his vigilance. However, the outcome of this battle was unquestionable, because —
"General! Our army has reached the shore! We have reached the shore! " His subordinates beside him cheered.
Previously, Miron thought that crossing the Trihonto River would be very easy. However, looking at the corpses floating on the surface of the river and the relieved expression on his subordinates' faces, it was obvious that the enemy's light infantry was much stronger than he had expected.
"Beat the war drums! Don't let them escape! " Riding on his horse, Miron could vaguely see that when the front line of his troops stepped onto the river, the enemy's light infantry had already quickly passed through the gaps in their formation and retreated to the rear.
"Yes, General!" As soon as the messenger finished speaking, they heard the loud sound of a bugle from the opposite bank. The deafening sound could only be produced by at least ten buglers blowing at the same time.
Miron could not hide the shock in his heart. Could it be that the troops that Diónia sent to Castellón were more than the five to six thousand soldiers at the front?! This shocking thought flashed through Miron and his subordinates' minds at the same time. Their eyes were fixed on the back of the opposite bank.
"Dong! Dong! Dong! … "The war drums were quickly beaten, and the sound reached the ears of Colombs, who had already reached the shore. It made him excited.
"Attack! Attack! " Without the attacks of arrows and javelins, the officers' orders were filled with excitement.
The Crotone soldiers shouted the name of the god "Apollo" loudly as they took large strides and charged towards the enemy in front of them.
However, an even louder battle cry came from the opposite side. A dark red military flag suddenly rose from the back of the river. What followed next was an endless line of soldiers that were arranged closely together. Under the same impassioned war drums, they quickly rushed towards their comrades who were acting as bait in front of them. The military flags that were raised one after another and fluttered in the wind evoked the painful memories of the Crotone soldiers who were once captives like Colombs.
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