Chapter 204: Ambush
“They still have not yet reached the location.”
“Tell those at the front to slow down their pace, and at the same time, let Philederus speed up their march to attract the attention of the enemy. Also…now that the situation is clear, have Alexias(captain of Crotone’s cavalry) withdraw the scouts, don’t waste our cavalries for nothing!”
“Roger!”
After giving the order, Milo casted his gaze on the forest ahead. He is quite familiar with this place, because after passing through it and further going west, it is the place where the army of Melanseus was attacked. After the peace agreement with Theonia was signed, Milo has personally led some people to take the thousands of corpses of Crotonians and their allies…that tragic sight had made him unable to forget it for a long time!
Milo tugged at the reins of his horse, ‘This time, Crotone will wash away her shame and avenge our people!’
When they stepped out of the forest, there was a flat wilderness in front of them. The river surface of the Trionto river narrowed down here, so it is impossible for them to traverse through the water. This was the reason why Melanseus chose this place to camp.
“Enemy! There is an enemy ahead!!” The soldiers near the river bank became restless.
On the opposite bank of the Trionto river, a heavily armed Theonian formation marched westward along the river bank.
It seemed that the Theonians have noticed their movements and are ready to prevent them from crossing the river. However, Milo wasn’t too worried, although he could not see all the enemy on the opposite side, he could still feel that their number was not too large. Just like what the report had said, the vanguard troops sent by the Theonians to Roscianum was less than 4,000, and they have to also defend against Philederus. How many enemies could there be to stop his troops from crossing the river!
The upper reaches of the Trionto river run through the narrow valley between the mountains until it rushes out of the canyon then will meet the lowland and be like a child out of control as it happily expands its territory to both sides. As a result, the width of the river reaches around 40 meters. At the same time, the water slows down and the depth decreases. After flowing slowly for more than 1 kilometer, the river surface will narrow and become deeper again because of the elevation of the terrain.
Now, on the south bank of the Trionto river, Milo arranged his 22,000 soldiers(including the 2,000 light infantry) into a formation of a long phalanx with a thickness of 10 columns and covered the entire traversable area. Because the number of the enemies on the other side of the river is only 5,000 and also have the same formation as Crotone. However, not only the thickness of their formation is thinner, their formation is also very loose, and so, Milo firmly believes that even with the help of the Trionto river, the Theonians will not be able to block the advance of Crotone, and their thin formation is bound to be broken by the massive army of Crotone!
“Attack!” Milo, who was located behind the center, gave the orders to the soldiers.
The loud sounding salpinx resounded through the quietly flowing Trionto river. The whole phalanx then began to move slowly towards the river bank, except for the 2,000 soldiers led by Milo at the center that didn’t move because the forces on their side had already far exceeded the enemy, so he didn’t need to send them to fight.
Kelebus is one of the 20,000 soldiers. After he was captured by the Theonians last time, he had been building roads while being imprisoned and had suffered a lot. And his family, in order to redeem him, have incurred a lot of debt, so in addition to his strong desire for revenge, he also hoped to defeat the Theonians to obtain a lot of spoils in order to pay off his debts.
The land here is not soft with fine sand, but was instead covered with pebbles of different shapes and sizes, which made the ground hard and is easy to slip. Therefore, they had to walk slowly and steadily….
The Trionto river is just in front of them, and through the small eyehole of his Corinthian helmet, Kelebus saw many people rushing out of the enemies’ formation on the opposite bank. Without waiting for the reminder of his squad captain, he quickly raised his round shield and placed it in front of his chest.
“Clang!” The arrow of the Theonian struck his bronze shield and made a harsh sound, but it didn’t hurt him. Then with his right foot, he stepped into the river.
“Watchout!!” The shout of the officer echoed. Kelebus subconsciously looked up and saw countless black dots in the air.
“Damn it!” He quickly raised his shield up in order to protect his head.
At this time, he listened to the officer’s urgent cry, “Watch out!!”
However, the hearing and eyesight of the hoplites were severely impaired, resulting in their slower response than ordinary people, and many of them, including Kelebus, were unable to quickly follow the order. He then felt a slight blow on his chest, then a little pain. An arrow managed to stab through his left chest even after penetrating the several layers of tightly woven and glued linen armor. However, the kinetic energy of the arrow was exhausted and it’s tip just barely touched his skin. With his experience, Kelebus knew that the damage was not great.
However, his teammate who was shot in his unguarded thighs, had fallen into the river screaming and his blood turned the river red. Looking at his teammate struggling in the water, even though Kelebus wanted to help him, his strength is lacking and the cunning Theonians have made him occupied by fending off the arrows that they have shot. So Kelebus could only watch as his teammate finally stopped struggling and floated on the river, which naturally had made him feel sad….
“Stride forward! Stride forward!….” The officers yelled and urged the soldiers to speed up their crossing.
The depth of the river is not deep, it is just below their knee, but there are lots of pebbles at the bottom of the river, which made it a bit slippery. Therefore, Kelebus squatted down and protected his head and chest with his round shield, and the water protecting his legs, with this, the probability of getting hit by an arrow was greatly reduced, but they were unable to move forward fast. After the initial panic, the soldiers gradually calmed down and moved forward slowly while protecting themselves against the arrows. At the same time, in the process of advancing, they readjusted their formation which has become a bit messy.
After almost reaching the middle of the river, the depth of the water has no longer increased, and Kelebus who was on the right side of the phalanx formation, could not even feel the strength of the current. At this time, he observed that some of their enemies have rushed out of their formation and had almost ran into the river, and is only less than 20 meters away from them, then the tip of the javelins that they are holding gleamed coldly in the sunlight…Kelebus’ heart jump wildly, so he instinctively sat down and had almost all soak his whole body in the water.
“Watch out for the javelins!!….” The shouting of the officer increased significantly, because the javelins did more damage to the hoplites than the arrows.
Kelebus then heard the wind whistling in his ear and then heard a “Bang!” The spear pierced through the copper plating and the wooden board then his left arm, and the strong impact had even pushed him backward and brought down the soldiers behind him. If it was not for the timely help of his teammates, these soldiers in heavy helmets and heavy armor will drown from this seemingly gentle and harmless river water. It can be seen how powerful the javelin throw of the enemy is as it caused another panic to the frontline of the Crotonian army.
At this time, the light infantry in the rear had closely followed, and finally, they could start fighting back. Their arrows fell like raindrops on the opposite bank of the river, forcing the enemies’ range unit not to attack the frontline wantonly.
The casualties of the Crotonians were only a fraction. Although Milo felt a bit of headache, he didn’t pay much attention to it. He was only surprised that nearly half of the 5,000 enemy troops on the opposite side were light infantry. Their skillful cooperation, tactics, fierceness and accurate attack that he has never seen in his previous battles, has aroused his vigilance. But there is no doubt about the outcome of this battle, because-
“Strategos! Our troops reach the other side! We reach the other side!….” The men around him cheered.
Milo thought it was easy to cross the Trionto river, but looking at the bodies floating on the river and looking at the relieved expressions of his men, it showed that the light infantry of the other side was powerful beyond their expectations.
“Beat the drums! Don’t let them escape!” Milo, on his horse, could vaguely see that when his soldiers stepped on the other side, the light infantry of the enemy had quickly passed through the gap between their phalanx formation and retreated to the rear.
“Yes, strategos!” As soon as the herald’s voice dropped, he heard a loud salpinx sound on the other side of the river. This deafening sound needs at least ten salpinx to play at the same time.
Milo couldn’t hide his shock, ‘Could it be that Theonia has sent more than 5,000 troops to Roscianum?!’ These thoughts flashed through the minds of Milo and his men, and their gaze were fixed on the rear of the enemy.
“Boom! Boom! Boom!….” The war drum was quickly beaten, and it reached the ears of Kelebus, who had managed to come ashore, and had increased their confidence..
“Attack! Attack!….” Without the attack of the arrows and javelins, the officers were full of excitement while giving orders.
The soldiers of Crotone then called out the name of Apollo and marched toward the enemy.
However, a loud cry came from the opposite side, and a red flag suddenly rose from behind. Then there were soldiers tightly lining up and with the same fierce drum beatings, they quickly rushed to their comrades who had served as baits. Then successive flags were erected and fluttered in the wind which evoked the painful memories of the Crotonians who had been captured, like Kelebus.
‘We have been deceived! This is an ambush!’ Every Crotonian soldiers had a similar thoughts running in their minds, but this thoughts was rapidly swallowing their morale, making them hesitant and wandering on the shore, cowering while watching the Theonian army join their first troops and started to reorganize their formation….