"The Spartans will definitely be defeated by us!" Ipamironda's strong self-confidence infected the generals around him, and they quickly led the troops to arrange formations in front of the camp according to Ipamironda's plan.
Due to the small number of Pioxia allied forces, their entire array was shorter in length and thinner than the Spartan Allied Forces. The only exception is the left flank, because at the forefront was the Thebes Saints led by Pelopidas, followed by the Thebes heavy infantry, led by Ipamironda, with a column thickness of up to 50 columns.
Moreover, Ipamironda deliberately waited for the right wing and the middle road to be lined up before starting to arrange the left wing. As soon as the left flank was formed, he ordered the attacking horn to sound, giving the Spartans no time to adjust the formation even if they felt something was wrong.
The bugle sounded, and the Holy Team led by Pelopidas led the entire left wing to advance rapidly, while the army in the middle and the right wing deliberately slowed down under the prior instructions of Ipamironda, making the left wing quickly burst. In the front, the entire infantry formation is like a hammer that is swayed hard, and the hammer head is the left flank.
However, it was the cavalry who started the battle first. Ipamironda had concentrated the cavalry in front of the middle road in advance, and the Spartan king Cleombrotus saw this and naturally also concentrated his cavalry in front of the middle road in order to fight against it.
When the bugle sounded and the infantry on both sides were still advancing, the cavalry on both sides had already fought together. The Pioxia coalition cavalry, with the Thessaly cavalry as the main force, was significantly stronger than the Spartan coalition cavalry, and they were quickly defeated.
Under the intentional drive of the Pioxia coalition cavalry, the Spartan coalition cavalry had to retreat in the direction of the center and the left flank, which hindered the forward speed of these two partial infantry formations, and the Spartan phalanx on the right flank gradually disengage.
The Spartan king in the formation could not see that the formation was out of line, but he could see that the cavalry in the front had been defeated, but for the Spartans, the cavalry had never been the main force in combat. The invincible Greek mainland relies on the Spartan warriors who have received military training since childhood and experienced countless battles, and at the forefront are the King's Guards. They are the elite of the elite, and they can become one of them. The admiration of the Spartan people (the Spartan King Guard has a staff of 300 people, but the Spartan population has dropped sharply over the years, and the population of Sparta has dropped sharply, and this number can no longer be maintained. At this time, there are only a hundred people in the array), so Spartan Like the surrounding Spartans, the King of Bada was unmoved by the rout of the cavalry and still firmly believed that victory would ultimately belong to them.
When they saw that the Thebes in front were not far from them, the Spartans roared and began to charge.
Meanwhile, the Saints of Thebes also charged under Pelopidas. The weapons and equipment of the Holy Corps soldiers are no different from the heavy infantry behind them, but they have been training or fighting in recent years, and have defeated Spartan soldiers in small-scale battles many times. Their spiritual fighting spirit far exceeds that of other Thebes citizens, not to mention that they believe that fighting side by side with their lovers is the spiritual sublimation and blending of emotions. Therefore, as the speed of the charge increases, their fighting spirit also rises sharply. .
So, when the foremost heavy infantry of the two sides collided suddenly, the Holy Team of Thebes actually fought evenly with the King's Guard of Sparta under the competition of strength and skill.
However, when the successor troops of the two sides pressed on, the gap gradually appeared. Compared with the column of 50 people and the column of 15 people, the difference in strength was obvious. This gap was reflected in the battle when the two sides pushed. The Spartan side with few people could only retreat step by step under strong pressure, and the dense array gradually became loose.
The soldiers of the Holy Team of Thebes bravely squeezed into the gap, trying to widen the gap and destroy the shield formation. They were not afraid of the stabbing guns that the Spartans kept coming out, because they wanted to show their love to their lovers and defeat the Spartans. No doubt enough to boast of a lifetime, and they believe that even if they attack with all their strength and reduce their defenses, their lover will stand up for them.
The brave attack of the Holy Team of Thebes without fear of life and death and the strong extrusion of the super-thick column made the Spartan soldiers continue to be injured and fell, and the array began to become fragmented. The worst thing is that their king ran into trouble.
Kleombrotus, who was in the battle, just stabbed the thorn in the chest of the soldier of the Holy Corps of Thebes who rushed in front of him. Who knew that the soldier vomited blood, but he held on to the barrel of the gun and shouted. with a person's name.
Immediately afterwards, another Thebes Holy Corps soldier next to the soldier rushed up with tears in his eyes, ignoring the stab spear stabbed by the King's Guard beside him, fit him and pounced on him, taking Kleombu who was caught off guard. Lotus fell to the ground.
The Spartan king, whose helmet rolled to one side, watched helplessly as the soldier bit his throat hideously even though his back was pierced by several stab guns...
The king is dead! The Spartans established their country by force. Except for the battle of Wenquan Pass where the strength of the troops was too disparate, there has never been a king who died in other battles. But today, this tragedy happened. It is unimaginable how much it hit the fighting spirit of the Spartans. . What's more, they are now facing the terrifying Thebes who are like madmen. In addition, the number of frontal confrontations is less than that of the other side. The Spartan warriors of Greece, known for their bravery, are timid. The soldiers began to flee, followed by the Piriasians, and finally the real Spartans also threw away their shields and fled...
The Spartan phalanx on the right flank was defeated, and the soldiers fled desperately back to their camp on the hill.
At this time, the middle road and the left flank had already come into contact with the enemy and had the upper hand in the battle, but the Spartan coalition had always been centered on the Spartans. Now that the Spartans were defeated, where would the allied army have any thoughts? In battle, they retreated in a hurry.
Although the Thebes army defeated the Spartans, the soldiers tried their best and were very tired, and the Spartan allied army was almost undamaged, and the number was still more than the Thebes allied army, so Ipamironda He did not dare to continue to attack the Spartan coalition camp, and he took his troops back to the camp.
The Battle of Leuctra ended, in which about 1,000 Lacidians were killed, including 400 Spartans, and 200 soldiers of the Holy Corps of Thebes were killed and wounded, accounting for the total 2/3, although not many people died in the battle, the battle was actually a competition between the two city-states of Thebes and Sparta, and Thebes won.
Even many Thebes who came to the battlefield couldn't believe that they had won the victory. After returning to the camp, they cheered indulgently, and under the leadership of Pelopidas, they forcibly carried Ipamironda and entered the camp. They marched for a week as a way to express their joy and gratitude in their hearts.
The Spartan coalition camp was shrouded in the haze of defeat. Although they were still more numerous than the Thebes coalition, the Spartan king died and the army was leaderless. Although some Spartans were unwilling, they had to. According to traditional practice, sending envoys to the Thebes camp to request a temporary truce in order to bury the dead, which is actually an admission of defeat.
After burying the dead, both sides sent messengers in unison.
The messengers of the Spartan coalition must return to Sparta as soon as possible, report the news of the defeat to the council of elders, and ask them to accept a new commander and send reinforcements to save them from the territory of Pioxia. The demoralized army was afraid of being attacked by the Thebes, not alone Retreat, still staying in the camp on the hill.
The Thebes sent three messengers, one to Athens, one to Thessaly, and one to Dionia.
The first messenger arrived in Athens, because it was the closest to Thebes, when the messenger wearing a wreath declared loudly to the Athenian council: "The Thebes army defeated the Spartan army and killed Sparta. King Cleombrotus! …”
This astonishing news caused the entire venue to be silent. For these elites in Athens, the victory of Thebes made them even more afraid of Thebes.
Callistratus had no idea that the Thebes would be able to defeat Sparta, so he and Ifikrates asked the courier in detail, although the courier's answer was relatively brief, which also made them feel: Thebes Although Spartan won, the results were not great. According to the character of the Spartans, they would definitely retaliate wildly, and the intensity of the war would increase.
Although this made Callistratus secretly happy, he was also worried that Athens would be drawn back into the quagmire of war.
The second place the Thebes messenger arrived was Philae. After all, the port in the north of the Pioxia region can take a boat to Philae, and the distance is not too far.
After Jason got the news, he danced. He immediately summoned cavalry and infantry, and declared that he was going to help his ally Thebes.
Two days later, with 8,000 infantry and 2,000 cavalry, he headed southward from the land route and headed straight for Wenquan Pass.
Originally, he thought that there would be a fierce battle at Hot Springs Pass. Who knew that when the Spartan coalition led by Cleombrotus attacked the Pioxia area, he had called for garrisoned troops in all parts of Central Greece to come to rendezvous. The Spartan garrison dispatched most of the troops, and after learning of the failure of the battle, the soldiers who stayed behind felt alone and in a dangerous situation, so they voluntarily retreated.
Jason easily occupied this very important strategic point, leaving 500 soldiers to garrison, and then led the escort cavalry, without waiting for the advance of the large army, to quickly pass through the territory of the Phokis, who were incompatible with it. .