Chapter 436
With that, the Fifth Legion should have more space to retreat to the north. However, not long after the Fifth Legion began to retreat, they were targeted by Syracuse's mercenaries.
After being reprimanded by Dionysius, the Numibians and Celts had no choice but to perk up and chase after the men in black armour from the east to the west. The fewer defeated soldiers along the way made it easier for them to ride. Then, they saw the retreating Fifth Legion of Dionysia.
The soldiers of the Fifth Legion were still relatively concentrated and orderly as they retreated. This was clearly not conducive to the cavalry's charge. Even the ferocious Celts were not foolish enough to charge straight into the heavy infantry formation. However, the cunning mercenaries had their own methods. They once again formed a column and rode their horses close to the Diónia soldiers. They shouted loudly as they quickly swept past the Fifth Legion's formation, throwing the javelins in their hands continuously …
The hurried galloping of the horses, the heart-palpitating cries, and the screams of their comrades … This caused the already low morale of the Fifth Legion to become even more frantic. They sped up and ran forward, hoping to escape the terrifying enemy cavalry behind them. The retreating troops of the Fifth Legion began to fall into chaos.
Seeing this, Dracos made a decisive decision. Behind him was the First Main Company. He turned his horse around and shouted, "Brim, bring your First Main Company and follow me. Stop those damned cavalry! Let the rest of us retreat safely! "
Broom, once the leader of Abyssinia, a tough man among the Bruti, and now the leader of the First Main Company of the Fifth Legion, answered without hesitation, "Yes, Lord Commander!"
The bugle for the attack was not sounded, for fear of affecting the retreat of the other soldiers. However, the First Main Company's flag was pointed in the opposite direction of the retreat, followed by the company flag, and then the division flag, where the enemy cavalry was. Under the orders of the officers, the soldiers of the First Main Company turned around …
As the other soldiers fled in panic, the First Main Company of the Fifth Legion charged forward!
At the front was the fully-armed Commander Dracos on horseback, followed by the First Main Company's leader, Brim.
Dracos turned back to look at the soldiers of the First Main Company who were panicking but determined to follow him. He was satisfied. "As expected of the men of Abyssinia! My best soldier! My best brigade (for the soldiers of the first brigade are all from Ciudad Abyssinia)! "
"To be able to fight alongside my lord is the glory of our First Brigade!" Brim puffed out his chest.
Drakos nodded and ordered loudly, "Two rows in a row! Maintain the formation and retreat slowly! Don't let a single enemy escape! "
At that moment, Dracos did not think about the issue of life and death. He only had eyes for the mercenary cavalry that whizzed past him.
… …
Dionysius, who had been studying Diónia's past battles, learned from Diónia this time. He made use of the high mobility of the mercenary cavalry and the two reinforcements, who had just entered the battlefield and were full of energy, to pursue the defeated soldiers of the Southern Italian Coalition until dusk, when they finally returned to camp.
The route of the defeated soldiers of Triene was blocked by the Ramato River. With the warships waiting in the river, most of the soldiers were forced to retreat north with the Dionysian Army in the middle of the road under the pursuit of the Campanian mercenaries and the sailors of the Syracuse fleet.
The scouts sent out by Triene fled back to the city in panic and reported the news of the defeat to the garrison stationed in the city. Everyone fell into a great panic.
General Blommaras saw that the main army could not return, and the city of Telena was alone, unable to deal with the incoming army of Syracuse. He had no choice but to make a painful decision: to give up the city of Telena and withdraw the soldiers to the city of Kenapetya of the Dionian Alliance.
The lookouts of the Syracuse warships that cruised the port discovered the unusual movements of the Triene garrison. After the Triene army left, they sent sailors ashore to test the waters and easily occupied an empty city.
Just like that, at dusk after the battle of the Ramato River, Syracuse occupied Triene, giving their army an excellent foothold in the center of Great Greece. The materials needed by the Syracuse army could be transported by sea to the port of Triene for transfer, which was convenient and safe.
However, Dionysius was not satisfied. His greedy eyes stared at Siletina, which was not far from the battlefield.
The situation of the Siletina soldiers who participated in the battle was more tragic. They fled east and squeezed together with the defeated Crotone soldiers, wasting precious time. Their route east was cut off by the reinforcements of the Fasipesas. Behind them, some of the Syracuse soldiers led by Phoebidas did not care about fatigue and persisted in their pursuit. As a result, some of the Siletina soldiers were killed in battle, some surrendered, and some were carried north by the defeated Crotone soldiers. Only about 3,000 of them managed to escape back to Siletina.
Because the Fourth and Fifth Legions of Dioria in the middle were further away from the enemy's flanks, and because their allies helped to stop them (involuntarily), their retreat was relatively smooth. Apart from some setbacks when crossing the Korache River, they did not suffer many losses.
However, the hired cavalry of Syracuse brought them the greatest loss. Although most of the cavalry was stopped by the First Brigade of the Fifth Legion led by Dracos, it also delayed the retreat of Drax and the brigade, causing them to be heavily surrounded by the pursuing troops of Syracuse, and not be able to escape …
The greatest fortune of Diónia was the cautious Felicius. Although he had agreed to the Allied Forces to engage in a decisive battle, after discussing with Ancitanos, he still had a plan in mind. He had considered the possibility of failure, so after the army got into formation, he let Ancitanos lead the two legions' supply camp, engineering camp, medical camp, and other auxiliary personnel out of the camp, marching north, retreating to the place between Asprostom and the battlefield.
Felicius' plan was that if they won the battle, Syracuse would be driven out of the Orfemia Plain, and it would not be too late for the supply camp and auxiliary troops to return. But if they lost, they could no longer retreat to the camp, but should retreat to the city of Asprostom according to the instructions of the Devers before they left, and set up a new defense.
Therefore, while the Syracuse army was pursuing the routed soldiers, the slow-moving auxiliary troops of Diónia had already retreated to the city of Asprostom, thus avoiding the fate of becoming prisoners of Syracuse because there were no soldiers defending the camp.
… …
Perhaps Apollo could not bear to witness such a tragic battle between the Greeks, so he let the sun set behind the mountains early, and darkness quickly took over the whole world.
Apollo's sister, the Goddess of the Hunt and the Moon, Artemis, was lazy and did not let the moon hang high in the sky, so Hades took control of the night.
Logically speaking, the Allied Army should be thankful that they had the protection of Hades, whom the Diónia people believed in. At least the arrogant Syracuse cavalry did not dare to come out to chase them in the dark of the night, but the darkness also created a lot of difficulties for the Allied Army to retreat.
In the dark, the routed soldiers could not see the flags and the tassels of their officers, so they could not regroup. Except for the Legion of Dionysia, which was in a slightly better situation, the rest of the routed soldiers were completely scattered. In fact, this area was at the edge of the hills, and the ground was uneven and full of potholes. Tired, hungry, panicked, and in the dark, it was easy for the routed soldiers to fall. If they could not stand up in time, they would be trampled by the soldiers behind them, so there were a lot of injured soldiers.
Thousands of routed soldiers mourned the death of their comrades in the dark, while shouting the names of their officers, and worrying about their own safety …
Trudging forward in the dark, they felt for the first time that the road between Asprostum and Tarantum to Siletland was so long …
Until late at night, Asprostum's governor, Agathia, who had received the news of the battle's failure, urgently sent out cavalry and citizens with torches to illuminate the routed soldiers along the way. Tarantum also made corresponding measures, and the routed soldiers finally broke away from the fear of the dark.
Throughout the night, both cities were busy taking in the routed soldiers …
… …
This night was also a sleepless night for the people of Siletland.
As Siletland was not far from the battlefield, the news of the battle's failure spread throughout the city immediately, and the people immediately fell into panic.
By dusk, a total of more than 3,000 citizen soldiers escaped back to the city, and after that, only sporadic routed soldiers returned. In the morning, a huge army of 14000 soldiers left the city, and in the evening, less than a third of them returned. The whole city was in a state of grief.
Chief General Pretinis was even more regretful. If he had known, he would not have forced the Diónia people to hastily carry out the battle!
But now, the crisis of Siletland had only just begun. In the Southern Alliance, Siletland City was considered a large city. In the past, it was a source of pride for the people of Siletland, but now it had become a problem for the people of Siletland, because their defences were severely lacking. According to the routed soldiers, they were defeated by Syracuse's reinforcements who suddenly appeared on the battlefield. Then, the military strength of Syracuse on the battlefield was probably more than 50,000 people. With such a large number of Hittites in the Syracuse army and the momentum of victory, who would Dionysius' next target be?
Pretinis and the council members dared to think that it must be Siletland! Because the distance was too close. Now that Diónia and Crotone had just suffered a crushing defeat, they would definitely not be able to send reinforcements to Siletland in a short period of time. If Siletland wanted to escape from Syracuse's attack, they could only rely on themselves.
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