Chapter 326
The Devers did not intend to fight with the Bruti Alliance at this time, so they chose to camp here. At the same time, he thought that the Bruti Alliance would be more cautious after the failure of the siege the day before. They would have been more cautious and abandoned their geographical advantage. The possibility of them marching dozens of miles to challenge them was not high, but they did not expect the enemy to really come. Since they were here, let's fight!
Both sides had equal strength. Although half of the soldiers in the Dionysian Army might be a little tired from building the camp, this was not a reason to avoid the battle. The enemy came out in full force. The Devers suddenly stood up and asked, "How is the construction of the camp going?"
"The trench has been dug, and we are building the earth barricade," Tormid replied, and then asked, "Do we need to let the soldiers retreat behind the trench?"
The Devers waved his hand, indicating that he refused. The Legion of Dionysia had always focused on offense. Although the trench could increase the difficulty of the enemy's attack, it also limited their ability to attack, so the morale of the soldiers could not be fully exerted. He would not do this unless it was a special situation.
"Blow the horn to gather, then call the two commanders, Capus and Dracos, as well as the cavalry captain, Ledes … By the way, call Epicthenis and Cspit too," the Devers ordered.
"Yes." Tormid quickly rushed to pass the order.
"We are going to fight with the Bruti Alliance here?" Trifias was a little nervous.
"Yes, it seems that the end of the war with the Bruti Alliance is coming forward!" The Devers smiled confidently. Trifias was infected by his smile and relaxed. He gave a Greek military salute, "Then please allow me to gather my soldiers first."
… …
Pienlen led the army toward the Punate River. After crossing a high slope, there was a wide and flat grassland below. On the grassland, countless Greeks were gathering and forming a formation. From above, it looked like a pile of ants that had their nest dug out. It was a messy scene, and he could not help but look down on it.
"Stop advancing and get into formation!" He immediately ordered.
Though the formation of the Greeks had not yet taken shape, he was able to get a general idea of it from his position on the high slope. To the right of the Diónia was the confluence of the Punate and the Krati, and to the left was a flat grassland without any terrain obstacles. Behind them was a mess of pits dug by the Diónia.
After watching for a while, he made a decision in his heart: because it was difficult to move on the river side, and there was little room for attack and maneuver, he placed the five thousand tribal warriors forcibly recruited from various tribes on the left wing; the five thousand warriors from Anbalia and Wigg City in the middle; and the twelve thousand warriors from Cosenza on the right.
Obviously, he wanted to use the Cosenza warriors, who were the most numerous and had the strongest combat power, to secure victory on the right flank.
Pienlen's original idea was to take advantage of the enemy's confusion to quickly form a formation and attack!
However, for an army of more than 20,000 people from different tribes to get into formation in a short period of time, it required a complete command system, long-term military training, and very disciplined soldiers. The Brutians did not meet these requirements, so the entire army slowly got into formation amidst the blowing of horns, the beating of drums, the shouting of men, the neighing of horses, the pushing and shoving of each other, and the chaos of the entire army.
Pienlen was originally quite leisurely observing the movements of the enemy while waiting for his own formation to be completed. But after a while, his expression became a little ugly.
That was because the Dionians, who were in a mess just a moment ago, quickly formed into small 'cubes'. Then, the countless cubes rapidly moved to fixed positions like building blocks without interfering with each other. Soon, the Diónia formation began to take shape.
It was a formation that Pienlen had never seen before. The "small cubes" were not close together, but there were a lot of gaps. Looking down from above, it looked like pieces of green and white wool blankets (because the linen breastplate was white). Although Pienlen did not know how powerful such a strange formation was, the speed at which the Diónia people formed their formation still made him feel uneasy.
He shouted to Petaru next to him, "Go and urge Burgam to move faster!"
… …
The initial chaos that Pienlen saw in the Diónia formation was the moment when the soldiers of the First Legion hurriedly crawled out of the bustling camp, put on their armors, and returned to their own units. Now that the formation had begun to form, the slightly nervous mood of the Devers had also calmed down.
"Sir Commander, our right flank is still in formation, it hasn't spread out yet!" Tormid rushed to report anxiously.
"Don't worry, the right flank has the allies and the legion's reserves, the source of the soldiers is the most mixed." The Devers rode on their horses and looked to the left: it was the end of autumn, it had not rained for more than ten days, the land was dry, the movement of tens of thousands of soldiers had long stirred up dust, it was impossible to see the situation on the right flank.
The Devers said with a rather leisurely expression, "Trifias is not in a hurry to get into formation, but reorganizing the troops first, which makes me feel relieved."
He pointed to the front, "Look, Bruti's men are not moving on the grassy slope, I guess they are also in formation, it just gives us time to let the soldiers of the First Legion rest and recover a little strength."
Tormid fixed his eyes on the front 500 meters away, it was also covered in dust …
"Go and inform Ledes." The Devers ordered again, "Let him send seven or eight cavalry units to harass the enemy's left, middle, and right flank, delay the speed of their formation, and at the same time observe their response, come back and report to me."
"Yes."
"Wait a minute. Tell Ledes, I said to harass, not to fight. If the enemy cavalry catches up, immediately retreat, don't let the cavalry be injured! "The Devers reminded again.
"Understood, Sir."
… …
"Boys, follow closely!"
"Uncle, we can run faster than you even without horses."
"Brat, are you itching for a beating? You'll see when we get back."
"Captain, you should have done this a long time ago!"
The cavalry unit led by Sorikos had already crossed the entire battlefield in a burst of laughter, and reached the Punat River.
"Stop!" Sorikos placed his spear horizontally, and the entire unit stopped moving forward.
"Dismount!"
"Why, Captain?! We are not in front of the enemy's formation yet! "The cavalry shouted.
"Obey the order!" Sorikos roared.
Although the cavalry was unwilling, they had to obey the military rules, but they shouted unhappily, "Captain, the other units have already thrown their javelins at the enemy, do you want us to be deserters?!"
"Shut up! Our unit was ordered to harass the enemy's left flank, so we ran the longest distance. The horses are also a little tired, so let them rest for a while so that they can better complete their mission! I brought you out, so I will bring you back smoothly! "
"Alright, Captain, we will listen to you. But how long do we have to wait?! "
"Wait for my order."
The cavaliers could only pat their agitated warhorses lightly while observing the dusty battlefield in front of them. They watched as their comrades in the distance charged into the dust and retreated from time to time … The screams and cries of pain reached their ears, and it made their hearts itch.
Time passed really slowly. Just when they were getting impatient, Sorikos shouted, "Get on the horses!" Like rain after a long drought, they were instantly energized.
The 50 War Horses began to trot, gradually forming a wedge as they moved forward.
Sorikos was at the forefront, and he raised his spear and waved it forward twice. "Speed up!"
There was a 30-meter-high grassy slope in front of them. Although it was not steep, they had to prevent the cavalry from slowing down when going up the slope and being attacked by the enemy.
The War Horse's four hooves moved quickly, and the cavalry held the horses' necks tightly and leaned forward to speed up the War Horse's speed.
Sorikos was the first to jump up the grassy slope. A few dozen meters away, there was a dense crowd of Bruti people stretching out from the bank of Punate River. One row, two rows, three rows … It was difficult to count how thick their phalanx was in a hurry.
Sorikos felt like he was standing in front of the enemy, like an ant standing in front of an elephant. There was a huge invisible pressure on his chest, making it hard for him to breathe. He took a deep breath, took out a short javelin, and squeezed his legs on the horse's belly, and the War Horse accelerated again.
The cavalry followed closely behind.
50 meters, 40 meters, 30 meters … The hooves of the horses landed on the dry and cracked soil, like drumsticks hitting the surface of a drum. "Da da da da!" The sound, coupled with the cavalry's rapid charge, created a lot of noise, causing chaos in the Bruti formation that had just been set up.
Just as the Bruti warriors were pushing each other and screaming, Sorikos threw the javelin in his hand, and then dozens of javelins plunged into the enemy's formation, and screams rang out one after another.
The Bruti people became even more chaotic, some retreated in panic, and some rushed forward angrily …
Sorikos swung his spear to the left, and the cavalry quickly turned left when they were more than 20 meters away from the enemy's formation, galloping forward along the front of the Bruti formation. Everywhere they went was like a stone thrown into calm water, and the ripples would not calm down in a short time. At the same time, the enemy's panic and confusion were reflected in Sorikos's eyes. He felt that his mission had been completed, and decisively ordered, "Turn left!"
As soon as the cavalry turned back, the Bruti cavalry arrived, and they chased after them.
The Diónia light infantry arrived in time to provide support, and used javelins to scare away hundreds of Bruti cavalry.
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