Mediterranean Hegemon of Ancient Greece

Chapter 83: The Battle of Turii (3)

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"Oh, these brothers are amazing! As expected of the heroes who can kill Persia and come back!"

"Look at those slingers, they're all my fellows, Rhode Islanders!"

"And us Thracians, look how accurate they throw the javelin! I really want to take off this heavy armor, pick up the javelin, and join them!"

Hearing the praise and admiration of the soldiers around him, Drax squeezed the belt behind the round shield tightly: "Come on, natives, come and taste our power!" At this moment, he was full of fighting spirit.

… … … … …

Cincinnager, the confident leader of Picocis City, never expected that his troops would be hit with a sap before the official engagement. What made him even more depressed was that the traditional weapons of the Lucanians were javelins, spears and short swords, and javelins were also their strong point, but in order to better combat the Greeks, most of them were replaced with heavy equipment. Only A few javelinmen are in the rear, and the enemy's bows and arrows and flying stones have extended to the rear. Under the avoidance of the attack, only a few can fight back, but the enemy cannot be seen, and the number of the enemy is small and scattered. Naturally, the result is Very few. Fortunately, the enemy's light infantry was not much, and the two ends of the right phalanx were less affected. Therefore, in desperation, Cincinnagar urged both ends to accelerate and squeeze toward the center, trying to surround or disperse these nasty and terrifying enemies...

And the Lucarians in the middle and left wing saw the tragic experience of the right wing, for fear that they would suffer the same situation. Both the soldiers and leaders subconsciously accelerated their progress, hoping to contact the Greek army as soon as possible.

Tens of thousands of soldiers strode forward and dashed forward, shaking the earth.

Archita, Ferris, Drax... etc., every general and leader began to shout: "Shield Defense!"

At the forefront of the phalanx are the soldiers with their left feet slightly bent in front, their right feet on the ground at the back, a round shield protecting the left front, and their spears held high with their spear tips pointed forward and downward. The soldiers in the back row were stacked one on top of the other, pressed against the backs of the soldiers in the front, thrusting their spears forward, with their shields and shields connected... The entire phalanx was like a huge metal monster with thorns all over its body.

With a charge of hundreds of meters and the slightly higher terrain (although the Xubari Plain is flat, the terrain is gradually rising as it extends westward), the Lucanian warriors, with strong momentum, slammed straight into the Greek infantry. phalanx.

With a loud bang, on this day at the end of April 399 BC, the battle of the combined forces of the Turii and Lucania tribes officially began...

It was a life-and-death battle for both sides, but it was so inconspicuous in the eyes of the great powers of the Mediterranean: Carthage and Syracuse would not notice, because the two sides were accumulating forces for the supremacy of Sicily Right, a new round of confrontation is about to begin; Rome will not notice, because they are busy besieging and attacking the great Etruscan state of the Tiber; Sparta and Persia will not notice, because both sides They are all making their own preparations in Asia Minor for the upcoming war; Athens will not notice, because their energy is focused on how to restore the national strength that has been dazzled by the long-term war as soon as possible, and at the same time forcibly enforce the overbearing behavior of Sparta Forbearance; Macedonia will not notice, at this time its kingdoms are torn apart, kings are frequently replaced, and Macedonians in internal and external troubles may be looking forward to a strong monarch to save them from dire straits... Hundreds of thousands of kingdoms, city-states and races in the Mediterranean may be busy Survival, or busy with aggression, have no time or ability to understand the struggle between two unknown forces in the southern part of the Italian peninsula. Yet this time of war (later known as the Battle of Turii) opened the most splendid and glorious new chapter in the mighty ancient history of the Mediterranean.

The Lucarians are mountain tribes. They are enthusiastic and impulsive. In the fast sprint, their fighting spirit continues to rise, so when they see the spear and shield array in front of them, some soldiers think of not raising the shield as emphasized by the leaders before. Crash, they jumped in, especially Grummentum, who had been flooded by the high fighting spirit. The long-term battle has produced a large number of warriors who make a living by fighting, so people who take this "reckless" action Not a few, although more vulnerable to stab wounds, disrupted the Greek defense formation.

Especially the Turii civic soldiers and Drakes mercenaries in the middle, because they have not trained together before, the cooperation is not very tacit, and the connection between the horizontal rows of the natural array is not too close. The race has never seen this kind of impact before, and it lacks the means to deal with it. Therefore, the Greek army's middle road was in a hard fight from the beginning...

The Tarantum civic soldiers on the right wing of the Greek army in the front of the phalanx are obviously much more experienced in dealing with the impact of the Lucanian fighters, and the Niutum and Laos fighters are far less fierce than Grummentum. , and did not cause too much impact on the right wing of the Greek army. The shields of the two sides collided, spears came and went, and they began to push and fight... Two hundred cavalrymen also galloped forward, and from time to time they attacked the flank of Lucaria's left flank. As long as the Lucania warriors stepped forward to block them, they would Immediately withdrew, the Greek cavalry was still flowers in the greenhouse. They were far from the superb riding skills of the Numidians, nor the sturdyness of the Gallic and Germanic cavalry. They could only start to harass. But even so, the left wing of Lucania was on guard and did not dare to go all out to attack. Therefore, even if they are more numerous than the Greek right-wingers and the phalanx is thicker, the two sides are still at a stalemate...

When both the left and middle roads of the Lucania coalition had started fighting, the right flank was still slowly advancing. The mercenary light infantry retreated while fighting, successfully slowing the advance of the enemy, and the distance between the two armies was approaching. Fifty meters, some of the light infantry withdrew from the front and outer sides of the phalanx, and some passed through the gap left by the phalanx, and retreated to the rear.

At this time, the formation of the right flank of the Lucania coalition had become a meniscus, with both ends protruding and the center sunken. Cincinnager, who is in the formation, has lost control of the army, let alone reorganize the formation. The only thing he can do is to order the trumpeter to sound the horn of the charge. The only 50 meters away will be the last sprint of the soldiers. Bonus, just when the horn sounded, there was also a rhythmic sound of copper horns on the opposite side, which made Cincinnage vigilant, and nervously guessing what the next action of this powerful enemy on the opposite side would be. Geninat, who was in the front row and had multiple injuries on his body, clearly saw the Greek heavy infantry on the opposite side raise their right arms and lean back, but their legs took two steps forward. Lennart shrunk his entire body under the shield with great speed.

Thousands of javelins leaped a distance of tens of meters in an instant and fell into the Lucalia formation that was about to charge. It was no longer the blooming waves like before, but a wave of death, and hundreds of people were killed and injured in an instant. Almost stopped the progress of Lucalia's team...

At this moment, the terrifying sound of the bronze horn sounded again and again, and the Greek mercenaries immediately shouted: "Hades!!!" Holding shield guns, they charged forward.

The charge of the mercenaries is not the whole army. The far right end did not advance because of the connection with the middle road, while the soldiers in the middle and left end completely disregarded the thinness of their array and the large number of enemies, and rushed to the enemy with high fighting spirit. The army is like a long dragon swinging its tail extremely powerfully.

The front line of the Lucanians hadn't recovered from the javelin strike just now, and the formation was chaotic. At this moment, the charge of the mercenary army came one after another. The soldiers used the kinetic energy converted by the sprint speed to fit the body and hit the shield to open the opponent's defense. Quickly and accurately stab the enemy's throat or face, the front row of the Lucanians swept down a row of people...

Such a terrifying attack efficiency and threatening aura frightened the Lucarians in the back row, and they couldn't help but flinch at this moment... The mercenaries were chasing after each step, and the Lucanias stepped back. … the collapse of the right end of the Lucania coalition's right flank is just around the corner.

Note: Vergae, the northernmost town of the Brutians, borders Laos.