Chapter 292
The messenger sent by Pucchetti for help had already reached the battlefield of the ambush on Tarantum, but he could not see the Mesapi city-state archons led by Pachimerus because everyone was involved in the encirclement and annihilation of the Tarantum army …
The Greek heavy infantry had strong defense, and it was even stronger in melee combat. The heavy infantry that only focused on defense and did not attack was simply like a hard tortoise shell. It would take time and stamina to smash it open.
The initial ambush by the Mesapi people cut the snake-like marching column of Tarantum into a dozen sections. When they surrounded each section of the enemy, the number of Mesapi soldiers became insufficient. But as the battle progressed, the casualties of the Tarantum people increased, making each encirclement smaller and smaller.
If it weren't for the sound of Diónia's bugle, the Tarantum people might have given up fighting. Now, the only thing that supported them to continue to hold on was the belief to survive. But as the small encirclement was gradually destroyed one after another, the shackles around the necks of the remaining soldiers began to tighten …
… …
Het Barus had heard that Prososus performed extremely well in the recruit training camp, but he did not expect that on the real battlefield, Prososus would not be lenient when it came to killing people. It was completely different from the first battle (it was not). His round shield defense, head attack, and stab of the stinger were skillful and ingenious. The stinger would not be waved indiscriminately, but as long as it was used, it would cause the enemy to scream. It was really ruthless and accurate. Prososus' ruthlessness made the fierce Pucchetti people fearful, and they subconsciously avoided his assault.
Under the leadership of Prososus, his teammates fought to be the first, and the Pucchetti people's defense line was in danger …
Matonis, who was supervising the battle in the middle of the brigade, saw this scene below and could not help but be overjoyed. He asked excitedly, "Who is the warrior at the front?!"
Parmanius, the captain of the small square formation in front, quickly answered, "Prososus!"
"It's Prososus!!" His teammates also rushed to answer.
… …
"Commander-in-chief, Matonis' third brigade has broken through the enemy's defense line!"
"Amyntas' Fourth Battalion has also broken through!"
"Eptenis and Cspit's light infantry have destroyed the enemy's flank!"
"Y 'zam's Mountain Ridge Reconnaissance Brigade has joined forces with Heraclea and Metapontum's troops to destroy the enemy's flank!"
…
Good news came one after another. When Tormid reported it to the Devers, Umarcas could not help but shout excitedly, "That's great! We finally won! "
The Devers also revealed a relieved smile. "Give the order. Blow the horn to attack and defeat the enemy in one fell swoop!"
"… Let's retreat …" Tremoni's expression was bleak, but he was still calm. After all, he had experienced failure before. He had lost a lot of land in the previous war with the Downey Tribe, but he had survived.
In fact, there was no need for him to give the order. The whole army had already collapsed, and the Puchetti warriors were scrambling to escape …
Before he left, Tremoni did not forget to take another look at the top of the mountain opposite him, as if he was trying to remember the dazzling flag in his heart.
"Your Majesty, do you want to tell the Mesapi people?" Poerlo reminded him.
Tremoni was depressed and did not want to say more. However, looking at the scattered soldiers, how could the Mesapi people not know? He might as well do them a favor. He sighed and said, "Send someone to tell them that the Diónia's attack is fierce. We … did not stop them. Let them decide whether to retreat or continue fighting …"
… …
The soldiers beside him fell one by one. Diomiras was also injured in many places. He felt that he was going to die this time. However, the Mesapi people who surrounded them suddenly became restless.
He heard the enemy shouting loudly. Unfortunately, he could not understand the Mesapi language. However, someone among the soldiers was already shouting excitedly in a tired voice, "The Mesapi people say that the Puchetti have been defeated! The Diónia people have won! We are saved!! "
When the desperate soldiers heard these words, they immediately cheered up and shouted the news of victory to each other. Finally, they all said the same thing, "Hold fast! Hold fast!! The Diónia reinforcements will arrive soon!!! … "
Time passed with difficulty. The attacks of the Mesapi people gradually weakened, and they finally retreated.
Faced with the retreat of the Mesapi people, Diomiras did not want to pursue them. In fact, he could not command any of the soldiers at the moment. All the Tarantum soldiers were in the same situation as him. After more than two hours of continuous resistance, their physical strength and energy were exhausted to the limit.
He sat on the ground and did not want to stand up at all. The joy of surviving a disaster was lost when he saw the corpses of the soldiers and the wounded soldiers who fell to the ground moaning. No one could be happy …
In this battle, the Mesapi people suffered 1,200 casualties. The main casualties came from the reinforcement cavalry, which was almost completely wiped out, and the casualties of the Igratya heavy infantry.
The Puchetti people suffered less than 600 casualties. The reason for their low casualties was that during infantry battles, there were often not many casualties in frontal battles. The main losses were after the retreat. For example, in the second battle between Diónia and Crotone, they relied on the pursuit of the light infantry and cavalry to catch up with most of the fleeing Crotone heavy infantry. Such a good opportunity did not appear in this mountain battle because the Puchetti people were familiar with the mountains and had poor equipment. It was these characteristics that made it impossible for the light infantry of Diónia to catch up with them when they were fleeing. Moreover, the cavalry of Diónia did not participate in the battle. Even if they appeared on the battlefield, they could not do anything to the Puchetti people in the mountains.
On the other side of the war, Tarantum suffered more than 4,000 casualties, which was close to 1/3 of its army, and most of them died in battle. Diónia suffered 600 casualties, but most of them were injured, mostly from falling down the hillside. Heraclea and Metapontum suffered more than 800 casualties. Therefore, although it was the Mesapi and Puchetti coalition that retreated in the end, the Greek coalition suffered more losses. However, Mesapi and Puchetti lost a large number of cavalry, and Diónia gained nearly 400 high-quality War Horses.
When the Devers saw Diomiras, they did not put on the attitude of a savior, but still faced him with a normal attitude. At the same time, they also enthusiastically commanded the medical team to rescue the wounded soldiers of Tarantum, which made Diomiras feel ashamed.
The Mesapi coalition left the Anlerne Hills and entered the territory of Tarantum, quickly retreating north.
However, the Greek coalition was too tired and too many wounded soldiers to chase after them. They stationed themselves in several nearby villages and temporarily rested. At the same time, they sent people to Tarantum to report the situation and escort the wounded soldiers back to camp.
… …
On this day, the Senate of Diónia received a person.
His name was Mitrobats, and he came to ask for help from Diónia. However, he did not come from any of the allied city-states of Diónia, but from the Xilu tribe in the territory of Bruti.
It turned out that in the process of unification, the Bruti Tribal Alliance of Cosenza began to speed up the incorporation and merger of the large and small tribes in the territory. Under the general trend and coercion of force, most of the tribes chose to obey, but a small number of tribes led by the Xilu tribe refused to integrate.
According to Mitrobats, they were Greeks, and most of them were forced to escape into the mountains after the destruction of Sybaris. They had the pride of the Greeks, so how could they be incorporated by the barbarians and truly live a barbaric life?
The envoys of the Bruti Cosenza City visited the Xilu tribe several times, but after their persuasion failed, there was no more movement. The people of the Xilu tribe thought that the matter was over. However, a few months later, after Cosenza completed the control of most of the Bruti tribes and carried out effective management, he once again sent an envoy to Xilun.
This time, the envoy directly and forcefully demanded that the Xilu tribe immediately surrender and fully accept the governance of the Tribal Alliance, or else they would be annihilated by the army!
The Xilu tribe panicked, and hurriedly sent Mitrobats to ask for help from Triene.
Triene admitted that they did not have the ability to interfere in this matter, but fortunately, they had already let Cypross communicate with the Consul Devers of Diónia in advance, so they let Mitrobats turn to Diónia for help.
On this day, the rotating chairman of the Senate was Cornelus, and he looked at the envoy who claimed to be Greek, but did not look like one at all, with a puzzled expression.
Mitrobats saw the doubts of the senators and explained, "I inherited the appearance of the Bruti's mother, and because I do not look like a Greek, the leader of the Xilu tribe chose me, because this is the only way to not arouse the suspicion of the surrounding Bruti people."
Cornelus muttered in his heart, "The Devers had once raised the issue of the Bruti tribe before the expedition, but before they could carry out an in-depth discussion, they were interrupted because of Tarantum's request for help.
At this time, Polyxis stood up and said, "What can we Diónia do now? Protest to the Bruti people, and ask them not to annex this small tribe?! I'm afraid that all of you here will not believe that with just a word from us, we can make the Bruti stop the operation that they have been preparing for a long time. If the Bruti people reject us, what should we do?! If we give up just like that, we will only lose the prestige of Diónia as the strongest alliance of the Devers! But if we want to take further action, then other than war, I can't think of any other measures that can be taken.
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