Chapter 85
"Oh, these brothers are so powerful! As expected of the heroes who fought all the way to Persia and came back! "
"Look at those stone throwers, they're all from my hometown, Rhodes!"
"And us Thracians, look at how accurate their javelins are! I really want to take off this heavy armor, pick up a javelin and join them! "
…
Dracos heard the praise and envy of the soldiers around him. He squeezed the belt behind the round shield tightly, "Come on, natives, come and have a taste of our power!" At this moment, he was burning with the desire to fight.
… …
The confident leader of Picossis City, Sinsinag, would never have thought that his troops would suffer such a blow before the battle had even officially begun. What made him even more depressed was that the traditional weapons of the Lucanians were javelins, pikes, and short swords. Javelins were also their forte, but in order to better attack the Greeks, most of them had changed into heavy equipment. Only a few javelin soldiers were at the rear, and the enemy's arrows and flying stones had already extended to the rear. Only a few of the javelin soldiers could fight back as they dodged the attacks. However, they could not see the enemy, and the enemy's numbers were small and scattered, so the results of the battle were naturally minimal. Fortunately, there were not many enemy light infantry, and the two ends of the right phalanx were not affected. Therefore, in desperation, Sinsinag urged the two ends to squeeze towards the center in an attempt to surround or disperse these annoying and terrifying enemies …
When the Lucanians in the middle and left saw the tragic situation on the right, they were afraid that they would suffer the same fate. The soldiers and leaders subconsciously increased their speed, hoping to make contact with the Greek army as soon as possible.
Tens of thousands of soldiers took large strides forward, and the earth trembled.
Archetta, Felix, Dracos … and so on, every general and leader began to shout, "Shield formation, defend!"
At the front of the phalanx were the soldiers, with their left foot slightly bent forward and their right foot on the ground. Round shields were placed in front of their left, and their spears were raised high with the spears pointed forward. The soldiers at the back were stacked on top of each other, pressing against the backs of the soldiers at the front. Spears extended forward, and shields connected … The entire phalanx was like a huge metal monster covered in long spikes.
The Lucanian warriors charged forward at a distance of more than a hundred meters, coupled with the slightly elevated terrain (Although the Xubari Plain was flat, the terrain would gradually rise as it extended westward). With a strong momentum, the Lucanian warriors crashed straight into the Greek army's infantry phalanx.
With a loud bang, at the end of April 399 BC, the battle between the Turií and the Lucanian tribes had officially begun …
This was a battle of life and death for both sides, but in the eyes of the powerful countries in the Mediterranean Sea, it was insignificant: Carthage and Syracuse would not notice, because both sides were accumulating strength and were about to start a new round of confrontation for dominance in Sicily; Rome would not notice, because they were busy besieging and attacking the Etruscan Empire on the upper reaches of the Tiber River; Sparta and Persia would not notice, because both sides were making their own preparations for the upcoming war in Asia Minor; Athens would not notice, because their energy was focused on how to recover the dazzling power that had been lost over the years of war, and at the same time, they had to endure Sparta's tyrannical behavior; Macedonia would not notice, because at this time, its kingdom was fragmented, and the kings were changing frequently. The Macedonians, who were suffering from internal and external troubles, might be hoping for a strong monarch to save them from the abyss of suffering … Hundreds of kingdoms, city-states, and races in the Mediterranean Sea were either busy surviving or busy invading. They did not have the time nor the ability to understand the battle between two unknown forces in the south of the Italian peninsula. However, this battle (later known as the Battle of Turií) had opened the most magnificent and glorious new chapter in the magnificent ancient history of the Mediterranean Sea.
The Lucarians were a tribe in the mountains. They were passionate and impulsive. During the rapid charge, their fighting spirit continued to rise. Therefore, when they saw the spear and shield formation in front of them, some of the warriors did not think of raising their shields and ramming them into the formation that their leaders had emphasized before. Their minds were already filled with the surging fighting spirit, so they directly jumped into the formation. This was especially so for the Grumentum. The long years of conquest had produced a large number of warriors who lived by fighting, so there were many who adopted such "reckless" actions. Although it was easier to be stabbed, it disrupted the defensive formation of the Greek army.
Especially the Turií militia and the mercenaries of Dracos in the middle, because they had not trained together before, their coordination was not very good. Naturally, the horizontal line of the formation was not very close, and in addition, Dracos had never seen such a way of attacking the mountain people, so they lacked the means to deal with it. Therefore, the middle of the Greek army was in a difficult battle from the beginning …
On the other hand, the Tarantum militia on the right wing of the Greek army in front of the phalanx was obviously more experienced in dealing with the attacks of the Lucanian warriors. The warriors of Neutum and Laos were far less ferocious than the warriors of the Grumentum, so they did not cause too much impact on the right wing of the Greek army. Both sides' shields collided, spears exchanged, and they began to push and kill each other … Two hundred cavalrymen also rode forward, attacking the flank of the Lucanian left wing from time to time. As long as the Lucanian warriors came forward to stop them, they immediately withdrew and retreated. The Greek cavalrymen were still flowers in a greenhouse. They were far from the superb horsemanship of the Numidians, nor were they as fierce as the Gaul and Germanic cavalrymen. They could only play a role of harassment. But even so, it made the Lucanian left wing wary and did not dare to go all out to attack. Therefore, even though they had more people than the right wing of the Greek army, and the phalanx was thicker, the two sides were still in a stalemate …
When the left and middle of the Lucanian army had begun fighting, the right wing was still advancing slowly. The mercenary light infantry retreated as they fought, successfully delaying the enemy's advance. The distance between the two armies was almost fifty meters. Some of the light infantry retreated from the front and the outside of the phalanx, while others passed through the gap left by the phalanx and retreated to the rear.
At this time, the formation of the Lucanian army's right wing had become a crescent, with two protruding ends and a hollow in the middle. Sinsinag, who was in the middle of the formation, had already lost control of his army, let alone reorganize the formation. The only thing he could do was to order the bugler to blow the horn to charge. The only distance of fifty meters would be the bonus for the warriors' final sprint. When the horn was blown, there was a rhythmic sound of a bronze horn coming from the opposite side. This made Sinsinag instantly vigilant. While he was nervously guessing what this powerful enemy would do next, Gneinath, who was at the forefront of the battle line and had many injuries on his body, could clearly see the Greek heavy infantry on the opposite side raise their right arms, lean their bodies back, and take two steps forward. This action … Glynart, who was already a bird startled by the mere twang of a bow, quickly hid behind his round shield.
Thousands of javelins flew dozens of meters in an instant and landed on the Lucanian army, who were just about to charge. What they created was no longer ripples like before, but waves of death. In an instant, hundreds of people were killed and injured, and the Lucanian army's advance was almost stopped …
At this time, the terrifying sound of the bronze horn sounded again. The Greek mercenaries immediately shouted, "Hades!!!" and charged forward with their shields and spears in hand.
The mercenaries did not charge at the same time. The soldiers at the far right did not charge forward because they were considering connecting with the middle, while the soldiers at the middle and left completely disregarded their weak formation and the number of enemies. They charged at the enemy with high fighting spirit, like a long dragon swinging its tail with great force.
The Lucanian army's front line had not recovered from the javelin attack just now, and their formation was in chaos. And at this time, the mercenaries' charge came one after another. The soldiers skillfully converted the momentum from the speed of their charge into a collision with their shields, breaking through the enemy's defense. Then, the spears in their right hands were like the spitting of a venomous snake, quickly and accurately piercing the enemy's throat or face. A row of Lucanian soldiers at the front line fell uniformly …
Such terrifying attack efficiency and imposing momentum frightened the Lucanian soldiers at the back. They, who prided themselves on their bravery, could not help but start to retreat at this moment. The mercenaries chased after them, and the Lucanian soldiers kept retreating … The collapse of the Lucanian army's right flank was right in front of them.
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