Chapter 414: Battle of Poseidonia (II)
Due to the number of Samnites attacking in the north being the largest, Alexius concentrated the ballistae and most light infantry on that side.
When Tolek temporarily led his team to retreat, 7,000 Caudini warriors in the west, led by Kinduk, began climbing the wall.
On this side, the first and second brigades are in charge of the defence, Seeing the surging enemy under the wall and in the trenches, even Litom, who loves fighting, froze.
“Don’t panic, just focus on a spot and stab when an enemy shows up! Even though there are more enemies, they wouldn’t all be able to climb up!…” Litom, carrying his shield and spear, walked back and forth behind the soldiers, encouraging them while observing the enemy’s situation.
“Strategos, be careful!” The guard behind him suddenly exclaimed.
Out of the corner of his eyes, Litom caught a glimpse of a dark figure. The dark figure ignored the stabbing of the soldiers and jumped down from the top of the long ladder and rushed straight to Litom.
Due to the unexpected situation, Litom had no time to wield his spear, so he could only quickly throw away his shield and spear and tried to pull out his short sword, but the enemy pinned him on the ground.
The enemy pressed on him, twisting both his limbs on both sides. In such a narrow distance, Litom arduously pushed his short sword forward, but he instead hit a hard object and couldn’t pierce the enemy’s chest.
At this time, the shadow’s powerful hands pressed hard on his eyes, with Litom experiencing a stinging pain. At this critical moment of life and death, Litom didn’t panic. Instead, he twisted his right wrist, tilted his short sword against the hard object and pushed upward.
With a muffled grunt, the short sword pierced the dark shadow’s jaw. Afterwards, the dark shadow fell.
Litom pushed him away and immediately stood up.
The soldiers then came and stabbed the struggling enemy with their spears.
Litom shook his dizzy head, gently rubbed his swollen and pained eyes. He then squinted and saw the man wearing silver armour and silver greaves.
From what Litom knew, there are about four types of Samnite warriors: Light infantry with spears and javelins, having no protection; Infantry with spears, shields, javelins and helmets but no armour; Medium infantry with long shields, spears, helmet and a golden-ish armour; There are also heavy infantry wearing colourful plumes on their helmets, with silver armour and greaves. However, this kind of heavy infantry is not a lot among the Samnites, and its position in the tribe is not low.
Litom carefully inspected the dead man on the ground. He bent down, pulled his short sword and waved it hard, removing the bloodstains on the sword. At this time, he became alarmed when he recalled the thing that happened just now. If he were still wearing their previous weapons and equipment and used their curved military sword (a curved sword that was more suitable for cutting), he would have difficulty fighting in close combat. Although he would still be able to wave his sword and cut the enemy’s neck, the enemy would have blinded him.
Litom, with a sword in his right hand and a shield in his left hand, stood up and looked forward.
Due to numerous enemies having climbed up the wall, most of the soldiers just stood behind the wall and no longer poked their heads down. Instead, they erected their long shields and pushed outward to deflect the thrusting spears while knocking the enemy down into the trench. Once the enemy became unstable, spears and short swords would then pierce through the gap between the shields.
Behind the soldiers who are fighting with all their strength at the forefront, the second-line soldiers were ready to reinforce them at any time, surrounding the incoming enemies at the same time…
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Over the years, even though the Samnites have always looted Campania, they rarely attack sturdy cities. In fact, they lack experience in sieging, so Tolek, who had never commanded so many warriors, was complacent at wanting to destroy the camp in one fell swoop. However, he didn’t expect that this small camp has made his army stumble. The wall of fire alone killed hundreds of Pentri warriors, causing unwillingness and anger to pile up in his heart. Thus he could only retreat and reorganise his army. After the fire weakened, he once again sounded the horn that signals attack.
The Samnites charged in front with vengeful anger while their light infantry followed behind half-naked. All of them took off their short linen and used it to wrap large handfuls of dirt, carrying the javelins in one hand and earthen sacks in the other, ready to rescue their tribesmen who were still on the fire.
The defending Theonians no longer threw their oil jars even when the Samnites jumped into the trench. The Samnites then erected long ladders and continued climbing even under the constant rain of stones, arrows, and javelins.
Under the protection of the guards, Tolek, who was anxiously urging his men to attack, nearly tripped over the earthen sack placed by the light infantry in front of the trench, which gave him inspiration. He then shouted, “Drop the sack! Drop the sack quickly!…”
Under the leadership of their chieftain, the light infantry who were throwing their javelins into the enemy’s camp braved the arrow rain as they quickly threw down the earthen sacks at one spot into the trench. Seeing this, the Samnites became more excited and continued adding more sacks until it was the same height as the camp’s wall.
On the other hand, the Theonian soldiers kept stabbing at the earthen sacks with their spears, trying to destroy the enemy’s attempt.
After the Samnite warriors steadily piled up the earthen sacks and built a ramp in an attempt to occupy the top of the wall. The shields of both sides collided; spears and spears fought back as a fierce melee erupted.
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“Legatus, strategos Lacydes (the strategos of Elea’s army) is asking for help!” Alexius was paying close attention to the battle when his adjutant rushed to the north of the camp and reported to Alexius.
“He couldn’t hold it anymore?!” Alexius frowned. He ordered the Elean army and gave them half of a heavy infantry brigade to defend the south of the camp as there shouldn’t be too many Samnites coming out of Poseidonia.
“The Eleans didn’t understand the tactics of the Samnites and were hit by javelins. Now, they seemed…frightened by the Samnite’s momentum!” The adjutant explained.
“Our allies’ army is really…” Alexius muttered half of what he wanted to say but swallowed the word “unreliable”. After all, he couldn’t say anything that would undermine their unity.
“Take out 400 men from the light-armoured brigade to assist the south of the camp!” The Theonian military law emphasised that the commander must retain a reserve brigade as much as possible in case of emergency. So Alexius made the light-armoured brigade as a reserve, and it was finally time to use them.
As soon as his voice fell, he heard a loud crumbling noise and screams in front of him, “The wall has collapsed!!!…”
Alexius became shocked when he saw that a section of the wall where the north wall came into contact with the rampart made of earthen sack collapsed due to the intense fighting and trampling of the soldiers on both sides…
When the dust dissipates, a gap of about four men wide appears on the wall. The Samnites then rushed in from the hole while the soldiers desperately encircled them…
‘The war situation has finally reached the most critical moment!’
“Ede, draw out a centuria to reinforce the south while the rest of the centuria of the light-armoured brigade will push the enemy back immediately!” Alexius pointed to the place where the fierce battle was raging and gave orders to the senior centurion of the light-armoured brigade with a serious expression.
“Brothers, it is finally our turn!” Ede turned around and shouted excitedly to the light-armoured soldiers.
“Roar!!!” The energetic light-armoured soldiers roared in unison, dissipating some of Alexius’ nervousness.
He then solemnly said to his adjutant, “Take 200 light-armoured soldiers to reinforce the south quickly! I no longer have a reserve here, so you must defend the south wall! Lacydes will not be the one commanding, so you must take the command!”
“Understood, legatus!” The adjutant gave a solemn military salute and turned away.
At this moment, Alexius began to anxiously look forward to the early arrival of Davos’ reinforcements…
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In fact, on the hill a kilometre east of the camp of the third legion of Theonia, Davos, Tolmides, and a group of guards were watching the battlefield: Nearly 30,000 Samnite warriors were besieging the camp from the east, west, south and north, making the small camp looks like a broken boat, which is in danger of being swallowed by huge waves…
Tolmides express his admiration, “The third legion are really tenacious that they could last so long!”
“Yes, it is not easy for them!” Davos nodded approvingly, “But they are not alone! Have all the troops reached their predetermined positions?”
“Yes, milord!” The herald – Tolmides, finished his military salute and excitedly reported, “The first legion has reached the northeast of the camp, about a kilometre and a half away; The second legion is now at the southeast of the camp, more than a kilometre away; Ledes’ cavalry is blocking the road to the mountain in the north while Izam’s reconnaissance brigade and the army of Laos are rushing to the city of Poseidonia, ready to stop the enemy’s attempt to flee back to the city!…”
In fact, they could roughly see the action of each unit by standing on this mountain. The Theonians didn’t sound the salpinx nor shouted. They just quietly and quickly stretched their formation to surround the enemies outside the camp and advance without stopping…
“Now that everything is arranged properly, we only need to wait for the news of victory.” Davos says with a relaxed expression. He then sat leisurely on the rock, ready to watch the battle.
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To avoid becoming a burden or getting trampled by the surging attack, the injured Samnites tried their best to retreat to the rear. However, these fortunate warriors soon found that they were not so lucky as countless soldiers with black helmets and armour suddenly appeared behind them, approaching quickly like an endless black tide surging towards them.