Mediterranean Hegemon of Ancient Greece

Chapter 733: Theonia v Carthage (III)

The bugle sounded.

“Blessed us, O Baal Hamon!!…” The soldiers shouted the protector god of Carthage.

The elite Carthaginian army known as the Hammer of Baal stepped into the Platani River in a dense formation and began to attack the Greeks on the opposite bank aggressively…

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

“What did you say?! The Sacred Band is fighting the Greeks?!” Muntebaal was so surprised that he instantly stood up and said angrily, “This Milkpilles dares to disobey my orders?! I have already told him not to engage in battle with the Greeks at this time!…”

“My lord, it was the Greek who initiated the battle. During that time, General Milkpilles was still discussing with you in the command tent, and when he finally arrived at the Platani, the battle had already escalated…” the herald explained.

“I don't care about the situation. Go and tell Milkpilles to withdraw his troops immediately!” Muntebaal said severely.

“I can't persuade him!” The herald dared to speak to the Carthaginian commander in this way because he was Milkpilles' cousin and also came from a prestigious Carthaginian clan.

In a fit of anger, Muntebaal decided to call Milkpilles back in person. But before he left, he cautiously sent someone to tell the other general to call all the soldiers back to camp to assemble and wait for further orders.

On his way to the upper part of the lower reaches of the Platani, Muntebaal heard the loud battle.

Once he reached his destination, stood on the west bank, and looked east, Muntebaal could see that the Sacred Band's troops had all crossed the east bank and gradually sped up. Meanwhile, the Greeks had managed to gather their soldiers quickly and organise a group to block the Carthaginians' attack as soon as they spotted them. Unfortunately, they had no unified command, and the soldiers came from different cities, so they had no tacit cooperation. And since the enemy also outnumbered them, they found themselves increasingly unable to resist the enemy under the fierce attack of the Sacred Band's soldiers.

Just as Muntebaal hesitated whether to recall the Sacred Band in such a favourable situation, a louder sound suddenly erupted from the battlefield.

The Greeks lost!

As the Greeks hurriedly fled to the east, a louder shout could be heard behind them, “Follow them!! Follow them!!…”

The Sacred Band began to march forward in pursuit. Then the cavalry troops on the right flank, hidden behind the phalanx, rushed out and pierced the fleeing soldiers with their extra-long cavalry spears while the tall Iberian horses trampled the fallen Greeks with their powerful hooves.

Seeing the Sacred Band's troops take advantage of their victory, Muntebaal no longer hesitated. He sent his herald to inform the Phoenician and Numidian soldiers and the Numidian cavalry waiting in camp to rush here immediately and join forces with the Sacred Band to utterly defeat the Theonian Alliance on the other side of the river.

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

Where are the Theonian soldiers at this critical moment? It all began when the Theonian Alliance started building a camp near Minoa.

Unlike the western bank, the eastern bank of the lower Platani was hilly. The Theonian allied army chose to build the camp to the north of Minoa, where there are three large hills over a hundred metres high, each about half a kilometre away, facing the river bank in an ‘inverted ?'. After some discussion, Leotychides and the allied strategoi decided to build their camp on these three hills after considering the Carthaginian army outnumbering them and defending themselves better against the enemy's attack.

Since Theonia had the most soldiers and was the strongest, their military camp occupied the largest hill in the middle. On the other hand, the Agrigentine and Eknomos soldiers occupied the hill to the north, and the soldiers of Gela, Kamarina and Pachynus occupied the one to the south.

And on the foot of the hill that the Theonian army occupied is a relatively large, almost rectangular lake. While Theonia's allied soldiers ran to Platani to cool themselves, the Theonian soldiers certainly had the same need. However, Leotychides told the soldiers to cool off at the lake closer to their camp for safety reasons.

But unlike Muntebaal, Leotychides, although he also stayed in the camp, had his mountain reconnaissance brigade and scouts keep an eye on the area and report anything unusual to him.

So when the Agrigentine soldiers clashed with the Carthaginians on the Platani, he immediately learned about it. But keenly feeling something was wrong, he immediately sent heralds to the foot of the hill ordering the Theonian soldiers to return to the camp quickly.

At the same time, he also sent a herald to the other camps asking the allied strategoi to immediately recall their soldiers on the river bank, especially the Agrigentines.

Unfortunately, the situation developed quickly, and the Allied soldiers, who lacked discipline, became furious after getting beaten up. So how could an Allied strategoi with little authority over them restrain them?

With the spreading of the conflict and the presence of fully armed Carthaginian soldiers, the conflict turned into a battle.

And when Leotychides learned from the scout that the fully armed Sacred Band of Carthage was rushing to the riverbank, he was immediately anxious.

So he immediately ordered the troops to stand by while he stared at the map of the surrounding camp that had just been drawn and drew up a rescue plan.

Suddenly, the adjutant beside him said, “Commander, there's no need to save them. If they are defeated, they can simply flee to their camp. Anyway, the camp is only a kilometre away from them.”

Leotychides, however, shook his head and said, “The Carthaginians will continue to pursue them to the point that our allies may even lose their own camp!”

The adjutant thought momentarily and said, “Then don't let them escape into their camp and lead them here instead.” Then he pointed to a spot on the map.

Leotychides looked to where his adjutant was pointing, a plain between the southern and northern camps.

The three camps of the Theonia Alliance are in the shape of an inverted ?. The southern and northern camps are closer to the riverbank, the central camp is further east, and between the three camps is a plain. Since the plain is only a kilometre from the riverbank and is opposite where the conflict occurred, the allied soldiers could turn around and flee straight back. Then once they crossed the plain and ran towards the hill where the Theonian camp was located, the Carthaginians would not dare to chase them. Although the distance was only a kilometre or two, most routed soldiers would instinctively flee to their camp first, so the adjutant suggested they should guide them.

But the adjutant's words flashed like a light in Leotychides' mind, causing him to suddenly leaned forward and stared at the arrangement of the three camps on the map and the river section in front of him. At the same time, he asked, “How many men does the Carthaginian Sacred Band have?”

“According to what we know, they have about ten thousand.”

“Have they all set out?”

“That's what the scout reported.”

“How many of our allies' soldiers are fighting the Carthaginians on the river?”

“The situation is too chaotic for our scouts to give detailed figures, but their rough estimate is that there are no less than two thousand soldiers, and the number is still growing…”

After reflecting for a moment, Leotychides thumped his hand hard on the map and said loudly, “Pass my order! The six heavy infantry brigades of the Eighth Legion and the first, second, third and fourth reserve heavy infantry brigades go to the foot of the hill in front of the camp and form up facing the riverbank! Then have the eighth brigade (the light armoured brigade) rush to the riverbank and spread out around the rear of our allied soldiers so that if they collapse, the eighth brigade can lead them to flee towards our main force!

Then tell the fifth reserve heavy infantry brigade to go immediately to the northern camp and help them defend against the enemy's attack. (This was because the Agrigentine and Eknomos soldiers manned the northern camp, but now more than half of their soldiers were fighting on the riverbank, so Leotychides was worried that the northern camp had a shortage of soldiers for defence). Have the seventh brigade (the light infantry brigade) also go to the northern camp, and all the reserve light infantry go to the southern camp and stand by on the high ground. But when they find the enemy, they must wait for them to pass and then attack their flanks and rear once they start engaging the heavy infantry.

Also, send someone to inform the allied strategoi in both camps that our Theonian army is about to fight the Carthaginians, but they should continue guarding their camps!”

The adjutant, who had undergone rigorous training on the army staff, picked up the slate he had just written on and quickly and accurately repeated Leotychides' orders. Then he asked curiously, “My lord, are you going to lure the Carthaginian Sacred Band into our camp and wait until they are completely exhausted before defeating them?”

Leotychides nodded slightly and said, “Go and pass on my orders immediately.”

But before the excited adjutant could leave, Leotychides suddenly remembered something and called to him, “Wait! One more thing, send someone to inform the Sikeloi in the mountains to harass the rear of the Carthaginian army as soon as the battle begins to reduce the pressure on our defences!”

“Roger!”

“By the way, what is your name?” Leotychides asked suddenly. Ever since his former adjutant, Sthephilos, had left, the Eighth Legion had changed to more than ten adjutants in the past two years because they found Leotychides' unusual temperament strange and difficult to get along with, so they took the initiative to transfer out. On the other hand, Leotychides was very demanding and felt that these young men weren't capable enough, so he kept changing adjutants like a revolving lamp. However, during the preparations for the war, Leotychides specifically asked the Ministry of Military to send him a capable adjutant, given the scale and difficulty of the war.