Mediterranean Hegemon of Ancient Greece

Chapter 90: The Battle of the Great River (I)

And the Greeks stopped their chase, and began gathering up their ranks and slowly move forward.

In addition to the warriors of Pyxous and Vergae, there were also the wounded warriors of the other three cities. Outside of the camp are more than 9,000 warriors, from south to north, the formation's length was about several meters, and they all belonged to the tribes of Grumentum, Nerulum, and Laus. Therefore, their speed in forming their formation is slow.

A mere 2,000 Greek mercenaries seemed to be too weak in front of a titan, which is the Lucanian tribe, but they suddenly turned left as they slowly move a hundred meters away from the enemies' formation.

When the leaders of the Lucanians failed to respond, the Greek army manage to quickly approached the right wing of the Lucanian alliance. And the Lucanian warriors that are in a disorderly formation watched in horror as the Greek army threw javelins at them, and launched a fierce attack…

In the blink of an eye, the right-wing end of the Lucanian army collapse…

“These despicable Greeks went against their creed and launched an attack without waiting for us to finish our battle formation!..” Seville furiously curse.

Akpir found that he had made a mistake in sending out a large army against the small and capable Greek army, just like when a bull face a flexible mouse, they are too big too move and ineffective.

“Blow the horn, and have the warriors attack immediately!” Akpir quickly ordered, while the Greek army continued attacking the left wing along with the right end of the right wing, “Surround them! Don't let them run away!”

At the same time, the other leaders issued similar orders.

The Lucanians, who were freed from their restraints, were like hounds that quickly pounce on the Greeks whom they hated so much, with them wanting to tear up the Greeks who had repeatedly made fun of them and humiliated them.

The Greek army immediately turned and ran eastward. As they ran, they threw away their round shields, their spears, and their swords, to ensure that they would not be overtaken by the Lucanians who were chasing them like crazy.

The Greeks ran like hell at the front, and the Lucanians kept up with them, and gradually formed a long, dense line which was several meters long…

The Greeks turned around the ridge and ran eastward along the low mountain path for about 5 kilo-meters. All the soldiers were out of breath, and behind them were the Lucanians who continued to follow them.

At this time, the Greeks left the mountain path and approached the river Tiro. They then ran down the gentle slope and came to the shoal of the great river on the other side of the famous hot spring swamp. Although the soil here is moist and soft, the terrain is flat. Compared with the uneven, rock covered mountain path, their running became easier and faster. Of course, the Lucanians still followed them down the river, otherwise, they won't be able to catch up with the Greeks…

“Brothers, hold on for a bit more, we will…soon be there!” Philesius, who was running at the front, breathed heavily with his hoarse voice to cheer up the soldiers around him. In fact, as a veteran that is over 40 years old, this long-distance running had almost exhausted his strength.

After the Greeks ran across the shoal and over the gentle hillside, the Lucanians still followed closely. However, when they were just about to step on the top of the slope, they were surprised to find rows of heavily armed Greek hoplites that were in formation waiting for them.

“It's an ambush-” The words of the warrior at the front have not yet manage to yell it, when the spear of the Greek pierced his chest.

The Lucanian warriors, who had been exhausted due to their running, had completely lost their ability to dodge. They rolled down like dumplings one by one under the relentless stabbing of numerous spears of the Greek hoplites, while the warriors at the back doesn't know the situation at the front and were still running forward…

At this time, Taranto's reinforcements were responsible for intercepting the enemies, while the soldiers of Davos' mercenaries, had been the one responsible for luring the enemy, and were currently eating bread and drinking hot water, while the women and slaves of the supply camp brought new shields, spears and swords to quickly equip each soldier. The mercenaries knew that their time was tight and they had to replenish their strength as quickly as possible, then rush forward at the fastest to complete their encirclement.

Mersis also knew that his time was very tight, and after replenishing the mercenaries, he had to take the armed guards of the supply camp, the slaves, and also the slaves from Thurii, and the dozen of mercenary soldiers that served as the captains of the slave soldiers and were in charge of commanding them. Their total number was about 1000, including more than a dozen pack animals, and rushed to the narrow area in front of the mountain path to build a defensive line and block the reinforcements of the Lucanian alliance.

Drakos, Adrien, Sesta led about 1,500 mercenaries and hid on the side of the shoal of the river, which was more than 1 kilo-meter long, although their rank is relatively weak. Fortunately, there are about 700 peltast soldier and 700 armed mine slaves behind them. Between the two troops were Davos and his guards.

“Leader!” Asistes came riding his horse and excitedly said, “Our troops has already begun to advance rapidly to the western mountain path!”

Davos nodded and tried his best to suppress his excitement and nervousness. The beginning of their operation can be said to be fruitful, as he looked at the dense enemy below, his lowest estimate is at 8000~9000 which is more than half of the troops of the Lucanian alliance being concentrated here. Excluding the warriors that was killed yesterday, the warriors left in the enemy camp should be no more than 5,000. After annihilating the enemy in front him, the Lucanians will no longer be able to make trouble in the plain of Sybaris. So they should take this advantage while the enemy's organization is being chaotic on the shoal of the river to launch an attack and win as soon as possible.

“Peltast unit, ATTACK!” Davos decisively gave his order.

Afterwards, Epiphanes and Cid led the peltast units towards the front of the mercenaries, while Arpernst ordered the slingers and archers to start loading their ammo…

The front is blocked, but the Lucanians were still rushing due to their inertia. Soon, countless Lucanian warriors crowded together under this great river about a few hundred meters wide and more than a kilo-meter long. A lot of them already felt that there is something wrong and were shouting at each other anxiously…

At this time, numerous Greek soldiers appeared on the slopes on their side.

“Enemies!”

“It's an ambushed!”

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

Along with their cries, javelins, arrows, and rocks poured down on them…

The warriors were so crowded and in order to make it convenient for them to chase, most of them have thrown away their shields and helmets, and some even remove their armors. In the absence of any protection, the mercenaries' peltast doesn't even need to aim, and each of their javelin, rocks, and arrows easily hit their target.

“Quickly retreat!!” Their companions fell down one by one, and the frightened warriors wanted to escape. However, in the crowded and narrow space, some of them were trying to avoid the rocks, some wanted to retreat, and some wanted to kill the Greeks that were in front of them in anger…each of them have their own ideas, and run in all places like a headless fly, but this got their whole troops in chaos, which made it difficult for them to complete a smooth retreat. On the contrary, they are more likely to get trampled. In the face of death, the terrified warriors push down the people that are in front of them, and them silently dying at the feet of countless people…

The leaders of the tribes and the warriors were very anxious after seeing this. However, in the turbulent and noisy crowd, any shouting and obstruction were futile, and the Lucanian's bugler fell far behind their ranks and could not be depend on.

“Kill them! Follow me to kill them!…” With his sturdy body, Seville squeezed through the panic-stricken warriors. Armed with a spear, he kept yelling angrily as he rushed to the gentle slope at the side of the river…

His charge attracted the attention of both sides and reminded the panicking warriors to avoid the rain of arrows. Some warriors began to follow him as they brave the enemy's range attack and ran up the gentle slope.

Cid pulled out a javelin, wrapped a thin strip of cloth around the middle of the javelin, and the leather ring was wrapped around his finger. He stretched his body like a bow string and stared at Seville, who was getting closer and closer to him, and remained still. When he saw that Seville blocked a javelin thrown by a peltast soldiers with his round shield, and his feet were slipping due to the excessive force, did he threw the javelin at Seville. The leather ring in his hand was covered with the cloth strips, and used it to pull the javelin in accordance with the situation. The javelin not only have a strong kinetic energy but also a rotation. In a blink of an eye, it accurately penetrated Seville's linen armor.