Chapter 734
At first, both sides were at peace with each other, enjoying the coolness and comfort brought by the river.
However, on the upper part of the lower reaches of the Pletala River, the river was relatively narrow, with the widest being no more than ten meters. Agrigento's soldiers were drawing water from the east bank (their camp was nearby), while Carthage's Paladins were on the other side. (Because the upper end of the Pletala River was close to the mountains, the Sikells often harassed the Carthage camp from the north. The Numibian troops originally stationed in the north were attacked once, causing chaos. In the end, Monadeno had no choice but to transfer his most trusted Paladins here.)
The full name of the Paladins was "Carthage's Sacred Legion". They were called the "Hammer of Baal" by the people of Carthage. Most of the soldiers were elites selected from the oldest noble families in the city of Carthage. They were outstanding in terms of equipment and training. These noble and wealthy geniuses used clean white cloth to wipe their strong bodies. They let their accompanying Numibian slaves go further upstream to drink from the pure river water. At the same time, they looked at the Greek soldiers on the other side of the river. Some of them were soaking in the river, while some were directly lying on the riverbank drinking water. They suddenly showed a look of contempt and laughed at each other with their companions. The Greeks on the other side of the river did not care about hygiene. They were all poor! …
But what they did not know was that the Greek soldiers on the other side of the river were citizens from Agrigento.
Agrigento was once the second most powerful Greek state in Sicily, second only to Syracuse. Their history was even older than Syracuse. Decades ago, the reason why Syracuse was able to develop and grow was because of Agrigento's support and immigration. Even Dillon, who contributed greatly to the prosperity of Syracuse, was an Agrigento. He borrowed the power of Agrigento to sit on the throne of Syracuse.
But nearly 20 years ago, the Sicilian expedition of Athens weakened the power of the Greek city-states on the island. The people of Carthage took the opportunity to let Hannibal, the patriarch of the Magonid family, become the commander and launched an attack on the eastern part of Sicily. Hannibal massacred Cimera to avenge his ancestors, but Dionysius's father-in-law, General Hermocrates of Syracuse, led the coalition of the Greek city-states of Sicily and repelled Carthage's army. But not long after, the Syracuse democrats incited the people to kill him on the grounds that he wanted to be a dictator.
Not long after, the Carthaginians launched another attack. This time, the new patriarch of the Magonid family, Hannibal's cousin, Himilco, became the commander. This was the first time he served as the commander of the army of Carthage. His first target was Agrigento, the second largest Greek city-state in Sicily.
Agrigento faced the attack of Himilco's army. Although the number of soldiers was far less than the other side, they were not afraid. The people of Agrigento had always respected Sparta, and the military training of their citizens was much stricter than that of the average Greek city-state. Moreover, they also employed a Sparta army in the city.
The Carthaginian siege lasted for more than eight months. During this period, Agrigento won several small victories, but the Carthaginians had too much advantage. Through money and threats, Agrigento's reinforcements and mercenaries either gave up or changed sides, including Syracuse and Sparta.
The people of Agrigento finally lost hope. Most of them fled to Gela under the cover of the night. The people of Carthage attacked the city, killed all the people left in the city, looted the whole city, burned the temple, and even decided to completely destroy it and rebuild a city of Carthage. But the failure of the war made Himilco's wish come true.
When Dionysius led the army to attack the western part of Sicily, these exiles of Agrigento were finally able to return home. In 20 years, the former generation of children who escaped had grown into the pillars of the city-state. Not only did their hatred not disappear with time, but it grew stronger. Although they could not understand the Carthage language spoken on the other side of the river, from the wanton laughter and contemptuous eyes of the other side, they could understand that the other side was humiliating them. So, anger burned in their hearts.
When an Agrigento soldier picked up a pebble from the river and threw it at the soldiers of Carthage on the other side of the river, the Agrigento people around him followed suit.
The Carthage people who were attacked immediately fought back with stones.
Although the stones would not cause fatal injuries, they still hurt when they hit the body. Moreover, most people were only wearing undershirts or naked. The severe pain stimulated the anger of these young and energetic soldiers. So, some people simply stopped throwing stones and directly rushed across the river, clenched their fists, and punched the other side … The conflict between the two sides quickly changed from stone throwing to physical combat, and the scope of the conflict was rapidly expanding. The soldiers of both sides near the river were also affected and joined in the fight.
At this time, the clever Numibian slaves ran back to the camp and asked for help from other Holy Knights. They even brought the weapons and equipment left in the tents by their masters to the river.
The participation of the heavily armed Carthage Holy Knights pushed the expanding conflict to a new stage.
A few Agrigento soldiers who were watching from the river and did not join the battle saw the arrival of the heavily armed enemy. Although their chests were burning with anger, they were unarmed and would not be stupid enough to fight against the heavily armed Carthage people. So, they shouted for their comrades to retreat, but the scene was too chaotic and no one listened for a while.
However, the conflict was started by the Agrigento soldiers, and it was not so easy to end the conflict.
The arrogant soldiers of the Carthaginian Sacred Regiment were not willing to give up. Furthermore, they had sharp weapons in their hands, while their enemies were like lambs waiting to be slaughtered not far away. This was simply a fat piece of meat in their hands, how could they not eat it! They waved the shields and spears in their hands and stepped into the Pletala River.
The comrades who were fighting before took the initiative to make a gap for them, and they squeezed to the front and stabbed the Agrigento soldiers who wanted to escape...
At this time, in the upper section of the Pletala River downstream, nearly a thousand soldiers from both sides were piled up to fight. The Agrigento soldiers at the front saw that the situation was not good and wanted to escape, but the people at the back did not know what was going on and did not get out of the way in time. The spears of the Carthage soldiers easily pierced the almost naked bodies of the Agrigento soldiers.
When the screams continued, blood dyed the surface of the Pletala River red, and fear overwhelmed the anger in their hearts, the Agrigento soldiers began to flee in panic. In the midst of pushing and shoving each other, some people lost their footing and fell. They were either stabbed to death or drowned.
At this time, Milefio had just returned to the central tent and reported to Monordano what he learned in the past two days about "why the Carthaginian fleet did not appear to escort". On the way back to his camp, he learned from his adjutant what happened on the Puletara River.
He immediately rode to the Pletala River, just in time to see the heavily armed Holy Knights had rushed to the other side of the river and were slaughtering the fleeing Greeks.
The young and hot-blooded Milefio did not blow the horn to retreat and order the soldiers who violated the military order to immediately retreat to the west bank. Instead, he sent messengers to inform the remaining Holy Knights and Holy Knights in the camp to immediately rush to the Pletala River. At the same time, he ordered the naked soldiers to immediately put on their armor, pick up their weapons, and get into formation.
After everything was arranged, Milefio said to the messenger next to him: "Go to the central camp and report to Lord Monadeno that the Greeks took the initiative to provoke the Holy Knights, and as a result, a battle broke out. Now the entire Holy Knights and Holy Knights are in full combat with the Greeks!"
The messenger turned around and was about to leave, but he was stopped by Milefio and emphasized: "Slow down, don't go too fast!"
The messenger immediately expressed that he understood, and then slowly walked toward the main camp.
The reason why the young and hot-blooded Milefio lied about the military situation was because he was dissatisfied with Monadeno's conservative cowardice. At such a young age, he was able to become the commander of the most elite Holy Knights in Carthage, and he did not want others to think that it was his father-in-law Hanno's credit. He needed to use brilliant military achievements to prove his ability, and now he thought that this was a good opportunity.
After crossing the river, the Holy Knights chased after the fleeing Agrigento soldiers along the riverbank.
The Agrigento soldiers who noticed that the situation was not good had already run back to the camp to call for reinforcements. Not long after, the heavily armed Agrigento soldiers arrived, along with some soldiers from other cities.
The massacre of the Carthaginian Holy Knights was stopped, and with the arrival of more Greek soldiers, the Carthaginians who were fighting on the east coast quickly changed from attacking to defending due to the small number of Greek soldiers. They began to gradually retreat.
Although the soldiers of the Carthaginian Sacred Regiment were arrogant because of their origins, they were indeed well-trained. Not long after Milefio issued the order, they had already lined up in a square formation about a mile long and seven to eight rows thick on the western shore.
They wore open helmets similar to those worn by the Dionysian Heavy Infantry, with no visor and only cheek guards, crowned with long red or white tassels. They wore thick linen breastplates, which could have been covered with fine chain mail, but these soldiers would rather wear a layer of leather armor with gorgeous colors and beautiful patterns over the linen breastplates than wear heavy black chain mail, which would ruin the aesthetics. They wore polished bronze armor on their calves, and they wore fine leather sandals on their feet. They held sharp spears more than two meters long in their right hands, and large copper shields more than a meter in diameter in their left hands. Each of the shields was painted with exquisite lace and patterns, which were often used by the soldiers to show off or compare their beauty. On top of that, these soldiers had enough property to provide rich nutrition to train their bodies. They were all tall and strong, and the square formation they formed was both majestic and colorful.
On the right flank of the infantry phalanx were a thousand Holy Knights. Their real name was the Carthaginian Noble Cavalry, and they were also formed by the children of the Carthaginian nobles. These cavalrymen were also wearing the best armor, wielding long lances that were more than three meters long, with high-quality short swords hanging from their waists. Their mounts were chosen from the toughest warhorses in Iberia.
"Attack!" Milefio impatiently gave the order. ()
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