Chapter 517
After the light infantry retreated, the Diónia phalanx on the right and middle flung out two rounds of javelins. While the Syracuse army was in a state of confusion, they charged towards the enemy with shields and spears in hand, shouting the name "Hades" …
At this point, the two armies of Diónia and Syracuse were engaged in a full-scale battle.
… …
The news of the battle between the two armies was relayed back to the citadel by Crotone's spies, attracting the attention of all the citizens in the citadel. After all, the outcome of this battle was not only related to the life and death of the thousands of Crotone militia, but also the survival of all the citizens of Crotone. Hence, many people were anxious to watch the battle, including many members of the council.
After a discussion, the remaining few hundred citizen soldiers in the citadel would continue to stay behind to protect the women, children, and the elderly. Meanwhile, tens of thousands of Crotone citizens, led by Lucias, Sisprotis and other members of the general's executive committee, descended the hill in trepidation and arrived at the ruins of Ciudad Crotone.
Before they could even reach the Northern City Wall, a deafening sound engulfed them. Many of them turned pale when they heard it. Their legs trembled and they needed the support of others to move forward.
Due to the fire and the wanton destruction of the Syracuse people, the northern city wall collapsed section by section like an old man's teeth. There were gaps everywhere, and only the section connected to the city gate was still standing in a relatively good condition.
Lucias and the rest walked up the stone steps with heavy hearts and reached the top of the city wall. They held onto the battlements and looked out anxiously. In the distance, densely packed soldiers were fighting each other, filling up the vast plains of Croton Plains. The deafening roars they made sounded like the earth itself was roaring, stirring up the dust and changing the color of the sky …
… …
On the southern seas of Ciudad Crotone, Midolades's eighty raven warships were in a standoff with Leptineus's forty Syracuse warships.
What gave Midolades a headache was that once his fleet approached the Syracuse fleet, the Syracuse fleet would quickly retreat. Given the unique structure of the Raven Warship, they could not catch up to the normal Syracuse fleet in terms of speed. However, once Midolades's fleet approached the coast, the Syracuse fleet would close in again.
Just as Midolades was hesitating, the troops stationed at Syracuse's camp dispatched a few hundred soldiers. They brought along several thousand Sicilian freedmen who were usually in charge of transporting supplies with weapons and rushed to the coast. This caused Midolades's plan of sending sailors ashore to disrupt Syracuse's army's rear to fail.
… …
Ever since Syracuse captured Triene, the city was garrisoned with a thousand Syracuse soldiers, a thousand Hibernian soldiers, and a thousand Colenian soldiers, a total of more than 3,000 soldiers. As they were far away from the frontline, the Triene garrison had a leisurely life. That was until Dionysius's orders came from Crotone's camp twice in the past two days. They were to strengthen their defenses and pay close attention to the movements of Kenapetya in the north!
The garrison's general immediately perked up and strengthened the reconnaissance in the north.
This afternoon, the scouts came back with shocking news: a fleet had docked on the beach of Opimia Plain, and about five to six thousand Diónia soldiers had landed. After landing, the Diónia troops were advancing towards Triene!
Then came another news: more than a thousand Diónia soldiers had left Kenapetya and had entered Opimia Plain!
…
The news made the Syracuse general of Triene restless. Although he was eager to contribute, the enemy of six to seven thousand soldiers was obviously not something he could defeat with his current forces. He immediately ordered the city gates to be closed and the drawbridge to be pulled up. The soldiers of each unit were to defend the city walls according to the previous drill. At the same time, they were to prepare sufficient arrows, javelins, stones, tar …
In addition, he also sent two messengers to Siletina and Crotone's camp to deliver the news.
Hilos led his troops to Triene City. After carefully observing the situation of Syracuse's defenses, he did not immediately attack the city. In fact, time did not allow for it.
He ordered the army to start building a camp in the northwest of the city and wait for reinforcements from Kenapetya to arrive.
At the same time, in order to prevent the main force of Syracuse from attacking from the east, he sent out the few cavalry squads and mountain reconnaissance squads to investigate the movements of Siletina and Crotone's Syracuse camp.
… …
"Attack! Attack! " Matonis, who was standing at the back of the phalanx, wished that he could personally join the battle and fight to his heart's content. Unfortunately, he was already the general of the army and was limited by the Diónia Military Law. He could only order the drummers to beat the drums and urge the soldiers to attack fiercely.
Although the Seventh Legion was newly formed and most of its soldiers were new, Heraclea's victory gave them victory and glory. It also gave them more confidence and they attacked the enemy without fear.
Four years ago, Cregenis was a free who had just arrived in Turín. However, he was lucky enough to become one of the five thousand free soldiers in the battle of the Trionto River. He contributed to the defeat of Crotone's division and participated in the victory. This gave him a goal to strive for.
At the beginning of this year, he became an official citizen. In the past few years, the Dionysian Army had been expanding, but when the instructors of the Ministry of Military Affairs selected new recruits, he was always eliminated. The reason was that he was too thin and weak to be a close combat infantryman. The instructors suggested that he become a light infantryman. However, he had always dreamed of becoming a heavy infantryman, so he was always a reserve soldier. However, he was resilient and did not give up. He persisted in training his body and honed his combat skills. Finally, the war broke out and the new legion was formed.
Based on his identity and qualifications (official citizen and three-year reserve soldier), Matonis was prepared to make him a company commander. However, he rejected the offer because he felt that he had never been a team officer before. He did not have the experience and could not fight on the front lines. He could not show the results of his hard training. In the end, he became a small team leader in the Seventh Legion.
Now, he was at the forefront of the battle. The long shield in his left hand firmly protected his body, and the spear in his right hand hovered above his head. He was almost motionless, but once the enemy showed an opening, he would stab it like lightning. Every stab was fierce and accurate, and it posed a great threat to the enemy. In a short period of time, he stabbed a few people.
He rarely shouted and issued orders like some of the team officers, but his leading role greatly encouraged the soldiers under him, and their morale was greatly boosted …
Olivers, who had always been dissatisfied with Matonis and always wanted to compete with him, would certainly not let the Seventh Legion have the upper hand. Under his strict orders, Legio VI also attacked fiercely.
More than half of the soldiers fighting against these two new Diónia legions were from Sicily, such as Catarnae, Leontini, Gela, and Camalina. These city-states were considered allies of Syracuse, but they were actually vassals. The rulers of these city-states were directly appointed and supported by Dionysius. Therefore, attacking Greece was not the intention of these soldiers. However, they had won a series of victories and captured many trophies. Therefore, their morale was not bad. Moreover, they were motivated by the idea of "victory is the only way to go home", which made their fighting spirit second only to the soldiers of Syracuse.
However, there were still soldiers from Syracuse's allies in Greece in the left wing of Syracuse. There were the Locrians, Medmarans, Hibernians, and Corunnians. The Corunnians, in particular, were forced by the situation to surrender to Syracuse, and they were unwilling to do so. Of course, Dionysius knew this very well. Therefore, he left a thousand Corunnians in Triene and a thousand in Siletina to replace his own troops. There were also two thousand Corunnians. He scattered them at the front of the left wing, forcing them to fight for their survival. However, their fighting spirit was not to be underestimated.
Originally, Dionysius saw that the right wing of Diónia was basically made up of soldiers wearing Corinth helmets and holding round shields and bayonets. He thought that they were not the main force of Diónia, which was why he dared to make such an arrangement.
Who would have thought that these two new armies, with a total of 14000 soldiers, would attack so fiercely that Syracuse's left flank, which had 20,000 people but was made up of a complex composition and lacked fighting spirit, was forced to retreat slowly …
… …
The left wing of Syracuse was retreating, and so was the middle.
The soldiers of the fourth and fifth legions of Diónia had experienced the crushing defeat in Siletina and witnessed the tragic death of their commander and comrades. Today, they came to fight the enemy with the purpose of washing away the humiliation and revenge. Therefore, they were not only brave, but also a little crazy. Their expressions were ferocious as they desperately tried to get close to the enemy and engage in close combat.
The Bruti soldiers who fought side by side with them were also affected, displaying the fierceness of the mountain people. Some time ago, the unrest in the Bruti region had greatly affected the impression that the other Diónia people had of the Bruti. Today, they needed to use their performance to show their loyalty to the Alliance.
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