Chapter 443
If Galagusso was only afraid of the strength of Diónia before, they were now more respectful. In their hearts, Syracuse was nothing to be afraid of. The people of Diónia, who were able to defeat the strong enemy Sammonae, would definitely win in the end.
Therefore, Galagusso took the initiative to attack Metapontum without the request of the people of Diónia.
The people of Metapontum found out that the northern region, which was originally peaceful after joining the Diónia Alliance, was once again ravaged by the people of Galagusso after they defected to Tarantum. They began to regret their choice, and their complaints towards the city hall established by Isarochas and Tarantum increased. Of course, this was a story for another time.
… …
At this time, the people of Heraclea strengthened the city's defenses while urgently sending people to Turín for help.
When the Senate of Diónia received the request for help from Heraclea, although they were shocked, they still made a decision quickly. They ordered the new Seventh Legion left in Turín to rush to Heraclea's aid.
However, at this time, the military strength of Turín had been used up to its limit. With the removal of the Seventh Legion, other than the naval fleet and the free people in the port, Turín no longer had a decent defense force on the Xbari Plain.
Due to the lack of defense in Turín and the lack of young men, it was not appropriate to transfer manpower to form a new force. If that happened, the daily affairs of Turín would be completely paralyzed. Therefore, the Senate decided to immediately form the Eighth Legion in the Bruti region and rush to Turín to be in charge of the center of the defense alliance.
The decision was quickly passed.
Petaru, Cadurc, and Burgam, who usually did not speak much in the Senate, took the initiative to express their willingness to go to the Bruti region and recruit the new force.
The shrewd chairman, Cunogorata, declined with the reason that "Hieronymus has been in charge of the military training in various regions and is very familiar with the situation of the reserve soldiers in the Bruti region. He is the best candidate."
In order to not displease the senators of Bruti, he specially explained, "Sirs, I think you should know that the army of Diónia is very different from the army of other cities. Only the people of the military can understand and implement it. In the Law of Diónia, it is clearly stated that only the Ministry of Military Affairs is responsible for the formation of the army …"
The senators of Bruti muttered in dissatisfaction and sat down resentfully.
Hieronymus became the only candidate to go to the Brutian region and form an army. The logistics and supplies that he was responsible for were temporarily handed over to Mersis.
… …
The rivers and swamps in Heraclea slowed down the march of the troops led by Diomiras. He managed to reach the north bank of the Basento River with great difficulty and converged with Umachus' troops, bringing the total number of troops in Tarantum to more than 15000.
After a short discussion, Tarantum divided its troops again.
Diomiras and 8,000 men were hurrying up the banks of the Basento, trying to cross the river at a shallow point.
Trifias stood on top of the city wall and saw the enemy's movement. He immediately understood the enemy's intentions.
Even though their military strength was far inferior to the other party, Trifias still made a decisive decision to send more than 3,000 light and light infantry troops to follow the Tarantum people on the other side of the river in an attempt to stop them from crossing the river.
This forced Diomiras to carefully move upstream, where the water was shallower and the river was narrower. At the same time, he had to choose a longer stretch of the river to avoid being intercepted by Heraclea.
After all, the Heraclea region was a small plain formed by many rivers. The terrain was very flat, and it was the dry season. In fact, it didn't take long for Diomiras to find a suitable location.
Diomiras lined up the troops along the river in a formation about a mile long and waded across the river together with the bugle of the attack.
In the face of such an offensive formation, the Heraclea people did not have the intention to fight head-on. Their goal was only to delay the time when the Tarantum people approached the city. Therefore, they only threw javelins and fired arrows at the Tarantum people. Coupled with the mud at the bottom of the river, they caused some confusion and casualties among the Tarantum people.
By the time the Tarantum people came ashore one after another, the Heraclea people had long fled.
Diomiras reorganized his troops and prepared to march east. He had to reach the city of Heraclea as soon as possible. First, he had to burn the bridge over the Agri River not far south of the city to cut off the fastest way for Diónia to reinforce Heraclea. Then, he had to build a pontoon bridge on both sides of the Basento River to support Marcus' troops to cross the river and besiege the city of Heraclea.
But at that moment, a few Tarantum cavalry galloped across the Basento River and told Diomiras that Diónia's reinforcements had arrived on the south side of the pontoon bridge over the Agri River.
Diomiras was shocked: how could Diónia's reinforcements be so fast?!
Of course, he did not know that the main road connecting Heraclea and Turií had allowed the messengers from Heraclea to reach the city of Turií in just over an hour. From the time that the Senate of Diónia quickly made a decision, to the time when the Seventh Legion was assembled at the naval base, to the time when they set off, it only took a little more than an hour.
This also included the delay caused by Sykerian's obstruction, and even the commander of the navy went to the Senate to protest. Originally, the transfer of a new legion to Crimissa was enough to make him angry. He did not expect that in just one day, the only legion that participated in the training would also be transferred away. This made the results of Sykerian's training for more than ten days go to waste. Moreover, he wanted to lead the fleet to defeat the navy of Syracuse with a new tactic, giving the people of Diónia a huge surprise, and also to prove his own name. Now that even the infantry on the warships were gone, his beautiful idea had become a bubble.
One could imagine Sykerian's anger, but the authority of the Senate was not something that he, a young commander who was not even a senator, could change.
In Cunogorata's view, it was not the main problem whether the navy went to war or not. After all, they were unlikely to be a match for the powerful Syracuse fleet. At most, they would be blockaded in the sea. But once Tarantum captured Heraclea, their army would set foot on the territory of Amendolara. It would be a disaster for Diónia, which was currently dealing with the war in the south.
So, Cunogorata first tactfully criticized him for being short-sighted and not caring about the overall situation, and then comforted him, "Sir Devers will lead the army back soon. Your navy will not lack the support of the infantry …"
Sykerian could only return resentfully. He had not completely recovered from the joy of being promoted to the commander of the navy a few months ago. Only now did he realize that in the Senate, his words carried no weight at all …
After the Seventh Legion was assembled, the commander immediately ordered the troops to march forward.
The commander was none other than Martonis, the Turií Sheriff.
Before Devers led the army to Potentia, Felicius had asked him about the candidates for the two newly established legions and their commanders.
After some consideration, Devers decided to let Martonis and Olivers be the commanders. Firstly, they had been commanders for many years. Not only did they have rich experience on the battlefield, but they also had rich experience in commanding large troops. Secondly, both of them had important positions. One was the Turií Sheriff, and the other was the military adjutant of the Ministry of Military Affairs. The newly established legions were to defend Turií, so they could work part-time. Although the two newly established legions might be disbanded after the war, with the resumes of the commanders, it would be much easier to promote them to official commanders.
It could be said that Devers was very considerate of the two, but they were not very willing to accept it, especially Martonis. He did not want his teammates to fight hard at the front while he leisurely had nothing to do at the back.
However, Devers did not think of persuading his former close comrades, and directly forced them to accept it. Now they finally had a battle to fight: Olivers led Legio VI to Crimissa, while Martonis led the Seventh Legion to rescue Heraclea.
Martonis had long been full of resentment and had nowhere to vent it, so when he received the order, not only did he urge the troops to speed up, but he also did not ride his War Horse and ran in front of the troops. With him leading by example, the Seventh Legion naturally marched very quickly. Running on the flat road, it only took them nearly three hours to reach the pontoon bridge on the Agri River.
In fact, this newly established legion was not complete. As it had just been established, they did not have a cavalry unit, a reconnaissance unit, or an engineering battalion. Moreover, most of the soldiers were preparatory citizens and registered freedmen. They did not have enough money to purchase a full set of new legion soldier equipment, so their weapons and equipment were not complete. Some heavy infantry battalions looked no different from light armor battalions. Due to the hasty departure, they did not even bring doctors and supplies.
Due to the defense of the Heraclea soldiers and the protection of the ships, the Tarantum warships in the river repeatedly attempted to destroy the pontoon bridge on the Agri River but failed. Instead, two ships were burned by fire arrows and could only be anchored at the mouth of the Agri River. However, they happened to observe the arrival of the Diónia reinforcements and immediately sent a clipper to the north bank of the Basento River to report to Umarcas. This was how the cavalry had urgently informed Diomelas.
The Tarantum people did not act decisively enough and did not march fast enough. Because of the poor land traffic between Metapontum and Heraclea (compared to the roads of Diónia), coupled with the efforts of the Heraclea people to stop them, the Diónia people had the upper hand in this march race.
Diomelas had seen the power of the Dionysian Army in battle, so he was more cautious. Since the Diónia people had come, they could not advance rashly. Therefore, he ordered the army to stop at the south bank of the Basento River and informed Umarcas to build a pontoon bridge on the north bank. Then, he led the army across the river and regrouped. After understanding the details of the situation in Heraclea, he would take further action.
Although Matonis was brave in battle, he was not a reckless person. When the Seventh Legion rushed to Heraclea, the soldiers were exhausted, so he could only bring them into the city to rest.
… …
Olivers led the Legio VI to Crimissa.
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