Chapter 521
Finally, the bugle signal for retreat was heard.
The soldiers on the right flank of Syracuse who were struggling to fend off the Pike Brigade and the reinforcements of Kert felt as if they had been pardoned. They turned around and fled. The originally sturdy formation collapsed in an instant. The fleeing soldiers were like a broken dam, flooding outwards …
Seeing the fleeing soldiers, Phoebidas did not panic. He immediately threw the spear in his hand at the enemy and smashed the round shield at the enemy. After opening up some space, he immediately turned around and fled, throwing away his helmet. Even though he had suffered quite a few defeats before, Phobidus was still feeling dispirited by the failure of the battle as he quickly fled.
… …
"Your Majesty, the enemy has retreated! We've won! We've won this battle! Diónia has won! "Tormid looked at the retreating soldiers from the middle of Syracuse with excitement.
The Devers listened to the cheers of the guards beside him and finally smiled. "Order all units to pursue the enemy with all their might!"
"Yes!" Tormid replied loudly.
"Your Majesty …" A shout came from behind. The Devers turned around and saw Rodom's excited face. He immediately understood what he was thinking and smiled. "The guards can also join the pursuit."
Cheers immediately rang out around him. Only Martius and a few other guards remained unmoved and stayed by the side of the Devers.
… …
"Leader Akhilita, Sir Dionysius has ordered you to lead your men and fight back with me!" Astagras finally found Akhilita who had escaped to the east bank of Tachinadi River.
Akhilita's face, covered by his unkempt hair, looked uncertain. He said evasively, "My men have all run away. It's hard to gather them in a short time."
"Akhilita." Astagras sneered. "You're a smart man. If Syracuse is defeated this time, do you think the people of Diónia will spare you foreigners after what you've done in the land of Diónia? Greece and Numibia are separated by the Mediterranean Sea. Do you think you can return to Numibia on horseback?! "
Akhilita's expression changed. He only cared about running away and did not think about this.
At this moment, his men exclaimed, "Leader, the enemy is coming again!"
Akhilita had already made a decision. "General Astagras, let's defeat these cavalry first."
Astagras was happy to see the change in Akhilita's attitude. He immediately led more than 300 cavalry and the remaining 200 cavalry to fight the enemy.
At this moment, rumbling footsteps came from the left. Astagras and Akhilita subconsciously looked to the north. The increasing noise made them feel uneasy.
Soon, countless Syracuse soldiers appeared in their field of vision, rushing towards them like a tide. Everyone's expression changed.
"Retreat!" Akhilita quickly turned his horse around and led the Numibian cavalry to flee in a hurry. Many Sicilian cavalry also followed.
We've lost?! Astagras could not believe this fact. In a trance, he was stabbed under his horse by the pursuing Diónia cavalry...
… …
"Diónia has won! We've won! Crotone has won!! " The scout sent by Lucias ran all the way to the ruins of Crotone's north gate. He shouted excitedly and incoherently.
The people of Crotone who were watching the battle from the city wall had already burst into tears. Although they were far away from the battlefield and could not see clearly, all the soldiers were running south. Would Syracuse still win?! At this time, countless people shed tears of excitement. Crotone was finally saved!!!
Lucias had been standing nervously in front of the battlements to watch the battle. When he had just relaxed, he found that his legs were so sore that he could not stand. He sat down on the walkway, but faced with the rubble and devastated urban area. The ecstasy of narrowly escaping death suddenly turned into deep sorrow. Although the people of Crotone were saved, Ciudad Crotone was no more...
… …
When deciding to retreat, Dionysius also planned to let the garrison of the camp get ready and stop the pursuing army from behind, so that the fleeing Syracuse soldiers could enter the camp smoothly. As it turned out, this was impossible.
The movement of the garrison of the camp was discovered by the Diónia troops who were closely monitoring the movements of the camp. At the same time, the news of "Diónia's victory" brought by the mountain scout made Agassia even more excited. Although he was the governor, he was also a mercenary with rich combat experience. He took action decisively. He personally led 3,000 garrison troops to attack Syracuse's camp which was blocking the road south of Asprustum.
The garrison of Syracuse was disturbed by the news of their defeat. They were also separated from the camp. Faced with the all-out attack of Asprustum's army, they did not have the mood to fight. They barely resisted for a while before the excited Diónia soldiers easily broke into the camp.
On the other hand, Dionysius wanted to regroup his army while he was escaping, but the relentless pursuit of the Diónian Army made his efforts futile. The guards he sent out were either coerced or defeated by the routed soldiers, and their War Horses were snatched away.
Sixty to seventy thousand people poured into the Tachinadi River. The entire river was almost cut off. The slippery mud and the pursuit of the Diónia soldiers caused the terrified routed soldiers of Syracuse to cross the river, leaving behind a sea of floating corpses.
The garrison of the camp was frightened by the tide of routed soldiers. They did not have any thoughts of providing support, and were the first to turn around and escape.
The raging tide of routed soldiers squeezed the narrow gate of the camp. Some routed soldiers simply pushed down the wooden fence and rushed into the camp. However, the pursuing army had also entered the camp.
At the same time, the shouts of the Diónia soldiers could be heard from the north side of the camp. It was the Asprustum troops who had rushed into the camp and were pursuing the retreating defenders.
The routed soldiers of Syracuse were afraid of being cut off. They did not dare to stay in the camp any longer, so they continued to escape south …
… …
"General Hilos, we've defeated the Syracuse soldiers! They're running towards the Siletlands! There are too many of them! " The mounted scout galloped over and said excitedly and nervously.
At this time, Hilos had already led his troops across the Tachinadi River and entered the Siletlands' territory. They were marching towards the northeast, ready to reach the Syracuse camp.
When he received the scout's report, Hilos was overjoyed. He immediately realized that this was a good opportunity to annihilate the enemy. He immediately asked, "How far away are the Syracuse soldiers from us?"
"When I came back, they had already run into the 'corridor'."
Hilos was the chief executive of Asprustum. During his time in office, he had surveyed the area many times and was familiar with it. Of course, he knew that the 'corridor' mentioned by the scout was actually the coastline of the narrow strip of land between the southern plains of Croton and the Siletlands' territory on the west bank of the Tachinadi River. To the north of it was a mountain range, and to the south was the ocean. This seaside corridor was about 36 miles long, and the narrowest was 10 miles. His army was at least 15 miles away from entering this corridor. It seemed like it would not be difficult to reach the routed soldiers of Syracuse before they ran out of the corridor and intercepted them. However, his army was walking on uneven hills, while the Syracuse soldiers were running on the flat sea. Moreover, they were routed soldiers, so their speed was relatively fast.
Hilos pondered for a moment, then immediately ordered, "Everyone, hurry up and run!"
This caused the soldiers to groan incessantly. One must know that at least half of the Diónia – Triene coalition army were heavy infantry. Fortunately, the soldiers from Bruti had gone through years of training and had developed the habit of obeying discipline and strict execution of orders. The Triene soldiers, on the other hand, were fueled by the flames of vengeance. More importantly, the news of "Diónia's victory" had given them a huge boost in morale.
By the time they reached the corridor, the distance between the front and the back was at least four to five miles. Many of the soldiers were paralyzed on the ground, gasping for air. They were drenched in sweat and begging for water. In the next half an hour, the equally exhausted Hilos tried his best to organize the troops, and at the same time, he tried his best to let the arriving soldiers rest and recover their strength.
Most of the soldiers had already arrived, but there were still some soldiers who had fallen behind, arriving in twos and threes.
At this moment, a scout reported that the routed soldiers of Syracuse were only two miles away from the main army.
The rational Hilos did not let the physically exhausted soldiers intercept the routed soldiers. He knew that the tens of thousands of routed soldiers who were determined to escape back to Syracuse would not be intercepted by his few thousand soldiers. Instead, these tired and inexperienced soldiers would be trapped in the flood of escape.
So he had his troops line up with their backs to the mountains and slanted towards the coast, leaving a gap of a few miles wide for the routed soldiers to pass through. That way, even if they attacked fiercely, the Syracuse people would not be able to put up much resistance.
… …
Diónia's pursuit lasted until dusk before they blew the bugle to retreat.
According to the post-battle statistics, in this battle that determined the fate of Greece, Syracuse suffered almost 20,000 casualties. Most of them were injured or died while escaping. More than 10,000 were captured. This was mostly due to Hilos. He first ordered his soldiers to kill the routed soldiers who were escaping at the edge of the "coast corridor", then he decisively ordered an attack, intercepting the tail of the routed army. In the end, more than 30,000 soldiers of Syracuse escaped back to Syracuse.
On the other hand, Diónia suffered almost 7,000 casualties, especially the reinforcements from Kert, who had lost almost half of their men. Next were the spear brigade and the cavalry. As the key to turning the tide of the battle, they paid the price of more than 2,000 men.
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