Chapter 274
This time, Timothy had shot himself in the foot. Retreating during a battle, even if it was only a small part of the army, was very dangerous. If they were not careful, it would lead to the defeat of the entire army.
Fortunately, the Tarantum soldiers had been in a state of complete defense for a long time. When the enemy in front of them disappeared, most of them had yet to fully react. Seeing the enemy retreat in front of them, revealing a large gap, the exhausted Tarantum soldiers could not believe their eyes, but they were also ecstatic.
"The enemy has been beaten back!"
"The enemy has escaped! We … We have won!!! "
In the middle of the battlefield, the soldiers who had been shrouded in the shadow of death for more than an hour did not think too much. Like drowning people who were about to drown, even if it was just a floating straw, they would grab it tightly. They cheered, and the joy seemed to replace their fatigue. They desperately rushed out of the gap, and at the same time, it also led the neighboring soldiers to involuntarily run out.
When Archita realized that the situation was abnormal, the entire army was like a flood. Not only were the soldiers rushing towards the gap, but the high morale that they had accumulated was also quickly taken away.
"All of you, stop! Don't panic! Maintain the formation and rush out again! " Achetta desperately tried to calm the chaotic soldiers down, but it was futile. On the contrary, the Pchedis increased the intensity of their attacks, forcing the Tarantum people to speed up and escape towards the gap. Archita was also pushed towards the gap by the crowd.
"General, it's useless. We'd better run!" The adjutant anxiously advised.
The soldiers whose morale was shaken were completely unable to resist the full attack of the Pchedis, and the casualties began to increase. The continuous screams entered Archita's ears, making him even more anxious. Seeing that the guards around him were also panicking, he had no choice but to pull himself together and shout in a hoarse voice, "Kill with me! Kill with me!! … "
Archita tried to command the soldiers to concentrate their strength and charge towards the west, trying to widen the gap, or even defeat the Igratians, so that more people could escape from the encirclement. However, on one side was the enemy who had won the attack, and on the other side were the soldiers who had no fighting spirit. Most of them only cared about escaping and ignored his orders.
The citizen soldiers of Tarantum were still lacking in training and experience! He heaved a long sigh in his heart. At this moment, he was actually thinking, 'What would the Devers do if they were the ones leading the Dionysian Army in this situation?
Just as he was lost in thought, the guards had already surrounded him and rushed out of the gap under the shoving of the soldiers.
"General, let's escape!" The adjutant urged anxiously.
Escape? Where could he escape to? In Archer's field of vision: in the distance, groups of enemy cavalry were galloping on the flat plains, using javelins and spears to reap the lives of the fleeing Tarantum soldiers. Nearby, several groups of enemy cavalry were charging at him aggressively, shouting something …
"It's a pity that I haven't finished researching the lifting equipment …" Accetta sighed again. He had regrets in academics, but politically, he had always advocated that the Greek city-states in the south should unite to fight against foreign enemies. This ideal seemed to be being fulfilled in Diónia …
At this moment, he threw all his nostalgia and regrets to the back of his head, drew his military knife, and took the lead, charging towards the enemy …
… …
As the sun set in the west, tired birds returned to their nests. The dust on the battlefield dissipated, and the sounds of killing faded away. Only corpses and blood were left on the ground.
Accompanied by Timograss and the Pchetti general, Tremoni came to Archer's corpse.
The young military general, who was a Greek mathematical genius and had high hopes for the people of Tarantum, had been hit by three javelins and had fallen among the corpses of several horses. Strangely, there was no pain or anger on his pale face. Instead, it was very calm …
"I thought it was someone great, but it's just a young man without a beard!" A Pchetti general muttered disdainfully.
Tremoni glared at him until he shut up.
He stared at Archer's corpse for a moment and said, "Cut off his head and show it to the Greeks in Brindisi. Bury his body."
… …
It was not until late at night that a small number of soldiers escaped back to Tarantum after much difficulty. Only then did the people learn that almost all 6,000 soldiers had been wiped out. The people of the city fell into great grief.
Compared to the failure of the battle, the large number of civilian sacrifices, and the unknown whereabouts of Archer, the Senate was more shocked by the alliance between Pchetti and Mesapi, which doubled the pressure on Tarantum.
The Senate of Tarantum held an emergency meeting late at night and found that the failure of the battle had reduced the number of people in the Senate by nearly one-twentieth because there was no news of at least six senators, including Archer, who had followed the army.
Everyone discussed how to deal with the difficult situation that followed with grief. After the battle, Brindisi would be besieged by the Mesapi-Pchetti coalition forces, and the main force of the Pchetti was still surrounding Manduria. Nearly 6,000 young and strong citizens were killed or injured. Coupled with the continuous battles in the past few months, Tarantum's militia had lost as many as 10,000 people, which could be said to be a heavy blow. Not to mention the nearly 6,000 militia trapped in the two cities, so Tarantum still had more than enough strength to defend but not enough to attack.
But to abandon the territory that the citizens had exchanged blood and life for, not only was the Senate's senators unable to accept it, the people would never agree, so the only way was to ask for reinforcements.
But who to ask for reinforcements became the focus of everyone's debate. Now it seemed that the strength of Heraclea and Metapontum, as affiliated states, was their limit to send three to four thousand people. Tarantum would have to face the attack of twenty to thirty thousand people from the Mesapi-Pchetti coalition, which was far from enough. Asking for reinforcements from a powerful city-state was the only choice for Tarantum, so there were not many options for Tarantum.
Sparta in the east was Tarantum's mother state, and the relationship between the two had always been good. During the Peloponnesus War, Tarantum stood on the side of Sparta, which added weight to the friendship between the two city-states. This was the choice of some conservative senators led by Consul Diomiras. Diónia in the west, as an ally of Tarantum, quickly became an alliance with six cities and two affiliated city-states within two years. They had almost never lost in the battles they participated in. One time, they even sent out an army of 20,000 people. It was obvious that they were strong enough to deal with the Mesapi-Pchetti coalition. This was the opinion of another consul, Marcus, and some senators. There were also some senators who mentioned Syracuse in the south. Because of the relationship between Tarantum and Syracuse, there were still some contacts between Tarantum and Sparta. However, as a city-state of Great Greece, Tarantum was also wary of Syracuse's involvement in the southern affairs. Moreover, Syracuse was still fighting with Carthage at this time, so how could they have spare power to help Tarantum? So it was not within the scope of consideration.
At the end of the discussion, most of them were inclined to ask for help from Diónia. Just as Umarcas said, "When the Consul Devers of Diónia was still the leader of the mercenary army, we, Tarantum, helped them selflessly. Archita led our militia to help them defeat the Lucanians. When they secretly occupied Amendola, it was we who risked offending the other Greek city-states to help them selflessly. We recognized the legitimacy of their occupation of Amendola, provided them with food, and protected them from the attack of the Turií. When the Turií was burned, and when Diónia was attacked by the Crotone, it was we who extended our friendly hands to them … It is because of our selfless help time and time again that there is today's Diónia City-State Alliance (of course, Umarcas directly ignored the fact that Tarantum did not send reinforcements according to the Alliance)! We Tarantum people do not ask for anything in return for giving favors to others. But we should also give the restless Diónia people who have enjoyed our help a chance to repay us! … "
"That's right, Consul Sir! We should generously give Diónia a chance to repay us! " In fact, regardless of the distance between the city-states and the current strength situation, Diónia was the best choice to ask for help. There was an Alliance between the two states, and Sparta still had the war with Persia. It was just that in the past, Tarantum was ashamed of Diónia sending troops to help them several times, as well as the reservation of a powerful city-state with a long history in Greece. That was why there was such hesitation. Umarcas' tactful words satisfied the vanity of the senators, and they finally reached an agreement to ask for help.
… …
"Archita is dead?!!" The Devers had a look of disbelief.
"Yes, Consul Sir. This morning, several soldiers who escaped back to Tarantum said that they saw the Mesapi people carrying away General Archita's body on the battlefield … "Polidorus, the messenger of Tarantum, said in a sorrowful tone.
"How could a group of soldiers who were busy running for their lives see clearly?!" The Devers still did not want to believe this fact, "Maybe he was injured and captured?"
"We also hope that General Archita is still alive, but even if he is still alive, falling into the hands of the Mesapi people, he is also …" Polidorus said and could not continue.
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