Chapter 516: Battle of Crotone (IX)
Chapter 516: Battle of Crotone (IX)
Davos explained after seeing his confusion, “With Kapus completing our preliminary plan of securing our left-wing, victory would only be a matter of time. However, I didn’t expect Matonis and Olivos’ legion to do so well that they advanced so much. So now that the enemy’s left-wing is quite weak, do you think it will collapse if I add more pressure?!”
“I’ll immediately inform Izam now, as I fear he couldn’t wait any longer.” After understanding what Davos plans to do, Tolmides hurriedly rode towards the reserves at the rear.
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At this moment, Dionysius became impatient when he learned Theonia repulsed his cavalry and attacked his right-wing. However, he didn’t expect that the news of the right-wing’s victory he eagerly expected would result in this.
“Immediately find Astagoras and ask him to reorganise the cavalry and attack the Theonians! Otherwise, he and his family would unite in the underworld!!” Dionysius roared viciously.
Then the herald quickly rode to the rear to find Astagoras.
“Milord, a messenger from Scylletium, had hurriedly come!” Dionysius’ attendant rushed over and said nervously.
“I don’t have the time now; let’s talk after the battle ends!” Dionysius angrily glared at him with irritation, frightening the attendant to shut his mouth.
But then another scout came, “Milord, thousands of Theonian soldiers have crossed the Targines River and are circling to our left-wing’s rear!”
‘What?!’ Dionysius became utterly flustered at the report.
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“Did you just say that you saw an empty camp?!” Hielos reconfirmed as he still felt unsure after hearing the scouting cavalry report.
“Yes, strategos. We had even approached near the Syracusan camp, yet we didn’t see any movement inside.” Hielos began pondering when he heard the scout’s squad leader’s words. ‘It was previously reported that Syracuse has an army of 70,000 men, so where will they be if they are not in the camp? His majesty Davos must have led the reinforcements to Crotone!’ So the answer is obvious: The Syracusans couldn’t have abandoned their camp and retreated back to Scylletium. Otherwise, his scout would have seen his majesty Davos’ army at this moment. Thus the greatest possibility is that the Syracusans are now facing Theonia in a battle!
With this startling revelation, Hielos’ heart beat wildly. He then took a deep breath to calm himself down, thought for a moment and firmly ordered, “Tell everyone to stop building the camp immediately. Instead, put on their armour, take up their shields and spears, form up in columns and march towards Crotone!”
After hearing the order, Adjutant Hegasitus uttered an “Ah” sound and immediately said, “You mean…for us to go to Crotone now?!” It was no wonder he was nervous. After all, if Hielos dared to lead his troops deeply, his force would be wiped out once the Syracusan army stationed in Crotone came and the defenders in Scylletium blocked their path.
“I am certain that his majesty is currently fighting the Syracusans, so we must immediately help him win this battle that determines the survival of Theonia!” Hielos said with determination.
Although only a few months had passed since Hegasitus worked with Hielos in Consentia, they had cooperated well with the political matters. So he certainly knows that Hielos was a cautious and not a reckless person.
After Hielos stepped down as the praetor of Consentia, Sedrum took over his position while also serving as the wartime governor of the Bruttii region. In addition, with Sedrum’s knowledge of the Bruttii region, he didn’t need Hegasitus’ assistance. On the contrary, he might even consider him a hindrance, given that the reason for Theonia’s conquest of the Bruttii region was the rioting Siro tribe. Hence who would know if hatred would suddenly sprout in Sedrum’s heart? So Hegasitus asked Hielos to be the adjutant of this temporary force as he would recruit soldiers for him and manage the Bruttian warriors.
With Hielos making a rational judgment, all Hegasitus could do now was obey and appease the Bruttian soldiers.
Not long after issuing the order, strategos Phromelas of Terina, who had joined them, rushed to Hielos but was persuaded afterwards, “If we win this battle, we could easily take back Terina in our hands without needing to attack it fiercely. But if we lost this battle, even if we take Terina back today, the Syracusan army will take it back again tomorrow and would even endanger the whole of Magna Graecia!”
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Two hours after the battle, except for the centre that could still maintain the stalemate, the two flanks of Syracuse were in trouble: The right end of Syracuse’s right-wing suffered heavy losses under the attack of the sarissa brigade and the Crotone-Terina reinforcements. If not for the lack of cooperation between the sarissa brigade and the Crotone-Terina soldiers, and the thickness of Syracuse’s right-wing with some experience soldiers taking the initiative to separate from the rear and left-end to block the advance of the sarissa brigade, they would have already defeated Syracuse’s right-wing;
On the other hand, the soldiers on Syracuse’s left-wing were not as strong as the elite soldiers on the right-wing. Yet they could still barely maintain their morale even after getting their flank attacked. But even though the light-armoured soldiers’ offence was far less powerful than the sarissa phalanx, Dionysius’ military reform had just begun and hadn’t considered the drawback of a large phalanx formation. So after the battle started, the middle and lower-ranking officers and even the senior officers had lost control of their troops. Furthermore, with the hodgepodge composition of the left-wing, they were unable to command them effectively in time after their enemy attacked their flank and rear. Hence their formation became chaotic when their soldiers at the rear turned around to intercept the enemy.
Dionysius could have avoided this situation as he had more troops. Unfortunately, he was still bounded by the tradition of the Greek military of not leaving any reserves and had wanted to defeat Theonia in one fell swoop and win the battle, so he sent all his troops at the start of the battle. Yet it was already too late now that he wanted to dispatch his troops to resist Theonia’s attack on the left-wing.
Soon after, the confusion at the rear of the left-wing affected the soldiers at the forefront, especially the Magna Graecian soldiers who already had low morale. At first, their almost closed helmets covered their ears, so they could only vaguely hear the sound of clashing in the rear. But later, they began to panic as the sound became louder and clearer, and the support from the rear weakened and then disappeared. In addition to the enemy’s fierce attack at the front, fear instantly took over their whole body and prompted them to turn around and flee regardless of everything, even at the expense of pushing down their comrades at the rear. At first, only one soldier fled, then two, then three soldiers fled after another, rapidly spreading the panic in all directions like a plague… Soon, the whole left-wing could no longer hold it and began to collapse.
Dionysius turned ashen when he heard the emergency report, but he couldn’t do anything for this battle as he had even sent his guards to aid the left-wing earlier… He had lost this big gamble to the new king of Theonia, whom he both valued and despised…
Although Dionysius was reluctant, he knew that he had to accept this fact and decide quickly.
“…retreat…” After spitting the word out of his mouth, Dionysius immediately pulled his horse’s rein and turned around.
Fortunately, his attendant was beside him; otherwise, he wouldn’t have heard what he said.
“Milord, th…” The attendant was unwilling and still had some expectations, so he instinctively wanted to persuade him.
Dionysius would have reprimanded or secretly kept it in mind and would settle the account later if someone dared to question his decision. But he didn’t have this thought as the only thing in his mind now was how to minimise the Syracusan army’s loss after their defeat. After all, the collapse of the left-wing may lead to the Theonians blocking the Targines river and cutting off the path of retreat for the Syracusan army. Therefore, he must withdraw back to the camp on the west bank of the Targines as soon as possible. (Dionysius had previously ordered the camp’s demolition on the east bank of the Targines river to lure the Theonian army to cross the river.)
As dozens of buglers sounded the retreat, Dionysius once again said to his attendant, “Send someone to rush back to the camp and inform Artem (the one responsible for the defenders of the camp) to separate a troop to guard us back to the east camp safely. ”
“Understood, milord!” The attendant suddenly remembered something and reminded him, “Earlier, our people in Scylletium sent a messenger to report that five-six thousand Theonian soldiers had landed on the Ophemia plain and were about to attack Terina.”
Dionysius became furious at hearing the report, “Why didn’t you report something so important earlier?!!”
His attendant felt wronged in his heart, but he didn’t dare to argue.
Dionysius originally planned to return to the camp and defend. But now, it seems that retreating to Scylletium would be the safest…
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Phidias, who was at the middle forefront of Syracuse’s right-wing, was exhausted after two hours of continuous fighting even though he had undergone strict military training since childhood. But no matter how many times he stabbed the enemies in front of him, new enemies would still rush up to bravely fight him, forcing him to do all he could and deal with them carefully.
He then realised that his plan had a problem: After looking around, not only did Theonia’s left-wing phalanx facing not collapse, but their attack became fiercer. In contrast, the thrusting of the soldiers behind him became weaker and weaker. Although he was extremely anxious at hearing the faint sound of shouting and fighting in the rear, he did not dare to be distracted even the slightest.