Chapter 518
If it was before, Dionysius would not have minded such a retreat. In this battle, the key to Syracuse's victory lay in the right wing. As long as the middle and left wing could restrain the enemy and maintain a stalemate when the enemy attacked, all they had to do was wait for the news of the right wing's victory.
However, when Dionysius heard from the scouts that Syracuse's greatest advantage, their cavalry, had been ambushed by the Diónia and were temporarily blocked, his relaxed mood quickly turned into anxiety. He began to worry about the retreat of the left wing and middle wing. Not only did he order the bugler to blow the signal to charge from the back of the phalanx formation, but he also ordered the messenger to shout a warning at the back of the phalanx formation. "Officers and soldiers, do not retreat! We must attack!"
After that, the Syracuse soldiers at the back of the middle wing no longer retreated. Instead, they forced the Campanian mercenaries to engage in a fierce battle with the advancing enemy. As for the soldiers on the left wing, their retreat only slowed down slightly. It seemed like they were at a disadvantage in this battle.
Dionysius was a little frustrated. Before setting up the formation, he had investigated the right wing of Diónia through the scouts. It was obviously not the main force of Diónia, and their numbers should only be lesser than his left wing. But why was this the result? Could it be that the Greeks were not fighting seriously? Or were they colluding with the enemy? … …
Dionysius's paranoia flared up again. He even began to suspect his ally, Rockley. But he knew it was not the time to worry about this. The cunning Devers had put his cavalry in a difficult situation. He could only hope that the right wing led by Phoebidas could swiftly defeat the enemy in front of them and win the battle!
The reason why Dionysius was still confident in the battle was that the performance of the right wing was in line with his pre-battle expectations, compared to the other areas that were not performing well.
The 25000 soldiers formed a thick phalanx formation that pressed down on Diónia's left wing. Out of vigilance against the Diónia's close combat, the Syracuse elite soldiers formed a tighter formation and formed a more concentrated formation of spears. Not only did the frontmost left wing soldiers of Diónia have to dodge the attacks from the frontmost Syracuse soldiers, they also had to be wary of the spears of the soldiers behind them. Moreover, they had to expend a great deal of effort to resist the massive forward push of the Syracuse soldiers. Hence, the close combat power of the Diónia heavy infantry was greatly reduced.
However, the soldiers of the First and Second Legions were battle-hardened soldiers. Even though they were a little nervous due to the huge pressure from the enemy in front of them, the commanders had a general understanding of the King's Devers's tactical arrangements before the battle. Therefore, they understood that the first thing they had to do was to ensure that the formation would not be broken by the enemy and delay the enemy until the arrival of reinforcements.
For this reason, the Diónia soldiers relied on the flexibility of the detachment-based formation and retreated in an orderly manner to relieve the huge pressure from the enemy's attack. At the same time, they seized the opportunity to use their shields as cover and their daggers to stab the enemy.
Phobidus was almost seriously injured twice. The first time was after he charged, when he collided with the enemy. The shield and the shield were pressed against each other, and in his eyes, the long shield completely protected the enemy. So he pushed the round shield forward with all his strength, hoping to break through the enemy's defense and let the stinger unleash its power. Unexpectedly, the enemy who had his head buried in the shield suddenly thrust his right hand out from above the shield. A dagger pierced down like lightning, piercing right into his Corinth helmet. The moment the dagger touched the helmet, Phoebidas felt a wave of dizziness wash over him.
The second time was after he stabbed the enemy in front of him, he instinctively followed his previous battle habits and squeezed into the gap in the enemy's formation. Before he could take the next step, two daggers flashing with cold light stabbed at his ribs from both sides. Although he reacted quickly, the sharp daggers still cut through his linen breastplate and left a wound on the right side of his waist.
This injury made him realize the strength of the enemy. He no longer took the risk and maintained the same formation as the Syracuse soldiers around him.
Compared to the Diónia's First and Second Legions' steady defense and counterattack, the leftmost reinforcements were much tougher. Even though their formation was not as sturdy as the Syracuse soldiers, they were able to withstand the pressure of the Syracuse soldiers and did not retreat easily. Their hatred gave them great courage and strength. Even if they were heavily injured, as long as they could stand, their spears would not stop stabbing. Even if they fell, as long as they had the slightest bit of strength left, they would grab the enemy's leg and let them fall, or bite them with their teeth. Such a tragic scene played out in front of the Syracuse reinforcements many times, causing the heavily armed Syracuse soldiers to panic. They felt that a fallen enemy was scarier than a standing one. They would only advance after confirming that the enemy was dead. This caused their advancement speed to be slower than their comrades.
… …
Behind this battlefield was another one. After the Diónia light infantry retreated from the main battlefield, they rushed to the left under the leadership of Cspit and Alpines. They wanted to join in the encirclement of the enemy cavalry, but they encountered the Syracuse light infantry who had the same goal. They had no choice but to continue fighting the light infantry in front of the main formation.
Both sides mainly consisted of archers and javelin throwers. Diónia also had a few catapults. Both sides adopted a loose formation, with the javelin throwers at the front and the archers at the back, engaging in long-range attacks. Even though the battle was not as grand as a battle between heavy infantry, the intensity of the battle was not low. Due to the fact that their defense was far weaker than the heavy infantry, the sky was filled with arrows and javelins. Soldiers from both sides were constantly injured and fell to the ground.
Diónia's light infantry were well-trained, and their tactical coordination was better. Syracuse's light infantry had the advantage in numbers, and with the strict orders from Dionysius, the two armies were evenly matched.
… …
Of course, the fiercest battle was still in the easternmost battlefield.
Trapped in the middle, the Celtic Cavalry saw the War Horses and their tribesmen fall one by one, heard the mournful cries of their War Horses and their comrades, and faced with the constant pressure from the pikes, most of them did not dare to sit still on their War Horses. They were forced to jump off their War Horses and fight with their swords in hand.
But this was undoubtedly a futile attempt. Putting aside the fact that it was difficult for their swords to get close to the enemy when facing the pikes head-on, they were often fighting alone, and soon lost their lives to the stabs of the pikes.
Just like the strong Celtic Warrior in front of Tapirus, he roared as he swung his sword. Even though he consecutively cut off the spearheads of two pikes, he was still forced to retreat by the dense formation of pikes. He accidentally slipped and revealed an opening, allowing the pikes to pierce into his thigh. Just as he instinctively bent over, another three spears pierced his head and chest at the same time. He couldn't have been more dead.
The continuous killing of their enemies boosted the confidence of the pike brigade, and they advanced even faster.
The company led by Tapirus did not encounter any major obstacles. They advanced even faster, widening the gap between them and the neighboring companies.
At this moment, a Celtic Warrior suddenly charged into the chaotic battlefield from the side. The entire company was caught off guard, and a few soldiers were injured by him in a row.
The light armored soldiers that followed up blocked him in time, but the Celtic Warrior ignored the encirclement and used all his strength to slash the leather shields of the light armored soldiers in half. It took four to five light armored soldiers to surround him before they could finish him off, at the cost of heavily injuring two light armored soldiers.
This was a warning to Tapirus. He had no choice but to shout for the soldiers in his company to slow down and wait for the neighboring companies.
Even though the Celtic Cavalry was ferocious, they had no chance of winning against the dense formation of pikes on this crowded battlefield. In addition, they were already few in number, and many of the cavalry had directly collided with the wall of pikes. So, not long after Tapirus and the others advanced, they realized that the enemies in front of them were no longer the tall and strong Celts, who wore thick, striped clothes, pointed helmets, and wielded greatswords. Instead, they were the disheveled, dark-skinned, lanky Numibians, who wore unlined clothing and wielded spears. Their courage in battle was much less than that of the Celts. Other than a few who threw spears at them, most of them quickly jumped off the backs of their horses, turned around, and fled into the chaotic battlefield …
Capus did not need to send scouts to know that his pike brigade was progressing smoothly. This was because he was at the rear, following the phalanx as they advanced.
At this moment, a cavalry hurried over. "General Capus, the cavalry led by Commander Ledes has been caught in a pincer attack by the enemy's cavalry. We hope for reinforcements!"
As it turned out, the thousand Sicilian cavalry led by Astagras were not advancing very quickly, and because they were at the back of the formation, most of them were able to quickly escape from the congested battlefield.
Logically speaking, this battlefield was no longer suitable for cavalry to fight, but Astagras knew the importance of these foreign mercenaries in this battle. He could not leave them behind, or else Dionysius would not spare him. So, after putting in a lot of effort to regroup the scattered Sicilian cavalry, he led the hastily gathered 800 cavalrymen back to the left side of the battlefield.
On the left side, Ledes was leading half of the cavalry to stop the enemy cavalry from escaping, desperately squeezing them into the center.
At first, the attack of the mercenaries was relatively fierce, especially the Celts, who had caused some casualties to the Diónia cavalry. However, as the pike phalanx advanced, the Celts suffered heavy losses. The Numibian cavalry was skilled in horsemanship and javelin throwing, but once they lost these two advantages, they could only fight the enemy at close range without any protection, and with the backs of their horses bare, they were no match for the Diónia cavalry.
The Numibians could not hold on any longer. Some of the cavalry began to turn and flee, trying to squeeze into the center of the chaos and retreat from the rear.
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