Mediterranean Hegemon of Ancient Greece

Chapter 206: Battle of Trionto River (II)

Just like what Davos had expected, the army of Crotone had crossed the river in this place and the Theonian army had been lying in wait. The Theonian army, which had a large number of new recruits, have occupied the land and used novel tactics to inflict the greatest damage on the army of Crotone, which was famous for their bravery in Magna Graecia, and took the upper hand.

When he was in Persia, Davos was famous for his ability in wiping out the enemy, battling in an ingenious way and only suffering few casualties. Tolmides, as the herald of the whole mercenary, was the one responsible for the coordination of the whole mercenaries, but the camp of Davos was always the most strict, so Tolmides could only take a glimpse of his military ability. When he arrived in Thurii, he heard that Davos had led the army many times, which made his heart itch for a long time. In this military operation, Tolmides served as the deputy herald(because he is still a freeman), so he have participated in the whole process, so he managed to finally witnessed how Davos held on to his opinion against the others, conceiving strategies that he have never seen before, and making all the department of the union to carry out actions around his plan like: Making the elderly and women walk in the port in armor to confuse the fleet of the enemy; A detailed arrangement in their marching at night to make it possible for the new recruits and freemen who have never had any experience to reach the city of Roscianum smoothly; The army carrying out strict discipline and to completely blockade the city of Roscianum to prevent the information from leaking out. The mountain reconnaissance team of Izam being sent to cross the river to spy on the movement of the enemy and to report at all times. At the same time, the cavalry was sent to intercept the scouts of the enemy that had crossed the river, so that the enemy knew nothing about the situation on the other side of the Trionto river, then leading the army to quietly and quickly hide before daylight, and setting bait in front of the river bank(referring to the four thousand soldiers) and at the same time, to cover the trail of the army. And deliberately deploying more than a thousand people in the Trionto river, so that the Crotonians will not dare to take the risk of having heavy casualties by traversing the other part of the river and instead to choose the safer middle section of the river.

Throughout the whole military operation, the strategy of Davos was fully demonstrated: Deception, rapid march, reconnaissance and counter-reconnaissance, ambush, temptation….have been perfectly combined to successfully lure the enemy and achieve his goal, which has expanded the sight of Tolmides. In this era, most of the wars between city-states were to recruit soldiers then fight in a place that was accepted by both sides, or when one side was stronger, the other side would defend stubbornly until their reinforcements arrived and then counterattack. The commanders of both sides will only use tactics during the battles(this is what the Spartans are good at.) Initially, Davos made plans according to the situation, and made a series of complex and delicate actions to achieve his goal, just like carving the bloody battle into a fine and beautiful Athenian pottery. Just as what Davos himself had said, “War is related to the survival of a city-state, so we must be careful and cautious before taking any action.”

‘This is why Davos became the archon of a powerful union, while Timasion died in a small city-state!’ Tolmides was lost in his thoughts.

“Tolmides, go to the east and inform Xanticles, Epiphanes, Cid and Ledes that the enemy will soon cross the river. Tell them to get ready and act according to the plan.” Davos gave the order.

“Roger!” Tolmides got on his horse and galloped eastward, and though the tactics that will be used in the east would be more bizarre, he already had faith in Davos.

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

Philederus was startled when he learned from Eurydemos that Milo had led his army to cross the river and encountered the Theonian army and that he was currently in a bitter battle. The Theonians had nearly 20,000 troops lying in wait on the other side of the Trionto river, which was totally beyond their expectation.

‘Is there also an ambush here?’ Looking at the more than a thousand light infantry deployed on the opposite bank, he couldn't stop himself from thinking about it. He had hoped that Milo would come to help him drive away the enemy after he crossed the river, so as to reduce the casualties of his soldiers. But now, he instead would need to lead his troops to help Milo. The situation was so dire that he was unable to think straight.

In this place, there is no room for more than 6,000 soldiers to cross the river at the same time. So he had to quickly divide his army into three: The front, the center, and the rear. At the front are more than 3,000 hoplites, with their strong defense, they can reduce the casualties from the arrows and javelins of the enemies and successfully reach the opposite bank to disperse the enemy. Close behind them are the 500 cavalry, who can chase down the light infantry of the enemy and crush them, and finally in the rear, were nearly 3,000 light armored soldiers.

After suffering from the long-range attack of the Theonians, and after paying some casualties, the hoplites of Crotone finally stepped into the river. However, they no longer needed to chase them because the light infantry of the Theonian had already fled, and so, Philederus managed to lead his army to cross the river smoothly.

“Strategos, will you have us pursue them?” Asked Alexias, the captain of the cavalry.

Philederus shook his head and said cautiously, “We are now going to help Milo, your cavalry will be the one to guard our surroundings, so don't act rashly.”

Philederus had just made his troops turn westward to march, when suddenly, the sound of salpinx came from the north.

Philederus' heart tightened, ‘Sure enough, there is an ambush!’

At this moment, Alexias also rushed over and said with a puzzled expression, “Strategos, an enemy force is heading here from the north. They numbered seven thousand, and all of them were archers, slingers, peltasts and hundreds of cavalries.”

Philederus was taken aback, “There are no hoplites?”

“None!” Alexias nodded.

Philederus, though puzzled, was obviously relieved, so he decisively gave the order, “Everyone, face the north!” Since the attacking army of Theonia had no hoplites, it meant that they lacked the ability to have a frontal clash, so Philederus did not mind to defeat them first before marching in order to reduce their harassment.

“Alexias, how many cavalries the enemy have?”

“More than 400.”

“It's fortunate that we have twice as many cavalry as they do.” Philederus became more relaxed and said, “Alexias, your cavalry will particularly be important when fighting the enemies' light infantry. So I will need you to lead the cavalry to defeat the enemies' cavalry, and do your best to not pursue them, and instead attack the flank of the enemy’s center, do you understand?!”

“Yes!” Alexias then went away.

And the army of Theonia moved quickly, not long after, they appeared in Philederus’ line of sight. When he roughly saw the enemy, he became surprised, because the light infantry of the other side was too light. No matter if it's the archers or peltasts, they are all wearing thin linen clothes, and even the cavalry are either armored or just in plain clothes. They are extremely shabby.

‘Are all these freemen have been recruited from the port of Thurii?’ Philederus couldn't help stop from smiling, ‘What Milo had guessed is correct, the Theonians did indeed only have a few citizens so they now have a shortage of troops, that they even have to result in using light infantry. He could even sweep them all with just the cavalries trampling them!’

500 meters away from them, the soldiers of Theonia suddenly stopped and began to reorganize their formation.

“I think the Crotonians will be very surprised to see us. They must have thought that we are only here to harass them, but they have no idea that we have allowed them to cross the river with the purpose of wiping them all out here.” Said Tolmides.

“This battle will prove to the Greeks that the light infantry is as important as the heavy infantry and that the light infantry can easily defeat them as long as the strategy is right!” Epiphanes said with confidence.

“The important point is to see whether Ledes and Xanticles can wipe out the cavalry of the enemy first.” Tolmides was still a bit worried.

“Rest assured, Lord Davos, the favored of Hades, has carefully devised this strategy! He is the favored of Hades!” Cid said with admiration.

“You and I couldn’t even expect it, let alone our enemy! They are all going to fall for it!” Just as he finished speaking, Epiphanes then jumped to his horse and joined the ranks of the soldiers and ordered them to widen the gap so that the formation became more loose, which will make it easier to shoot and run.

Cid had also rushed to the right wing to give the same order, while the cavalry formation of Ledes on the left wing was also loose. In this, the left, center and right wing of Theonia had almost doubled in area, just like a fermented bread.

For Philederus, this will be the first time that he would encounter such a situation, he hesitated for a while and finally decided to make his formation be more compact. However, the arrangement of the soldiers were still dense as usual, because he felt that although both the heavy infantry and the light infantry could not hit at a far away place, and as a unit that is good at close range combat with strong clashing strength, the dense formation is their magic weapon for defeating the enemy. At this moment, the traditional habitual thinking of Philederus has confined his thoughts, which resulted in the Crotone’s army’s length to be equal to that of the center of Theonia and had allowed the Theonian army to encircle the army of Crotone in a crescent way.

However, Philederus was not worried, because he knew that the number of soldiers on both sides were not much different, and as long as the soldiers of Crotone can get near to the enemy, then they will be victorious, and the greatest guarantee for his confidence is due to the double the number of cavalries. Because the length of the formation of the enemy was too long, he needed to order the cavalry of Alexias to break away from the center and directly face the cavalry of the enemy.

The center of Crotone has 3,000 light armored soldiers, whose speed is faster than that of a hoplite. When the cavalry manage to defeat their opponent, they will then go flank the center, and with the speed of the lightly armored soldiers, they can cooperate with the cavalries to defeat the center of the enemy. As for the more than 3,000 hoplites on the left wing, Philederus certainly understood that they could not catch up with the light infantry with their slow speed, this is why they only need to move slowly and protect themselves from being pinned down by the right wing of the enemy and prevent them from reinforcing the center.