Chapter 471: Continuous Combat (III)
“Herald! Herald!”
“Strategos, what’s the matter?”
“Quickly inform Umakas to lead those soldiers who are still carrying grain into the ship to return to the camp immediately and cooperate with the defenders in the camp to repel the enemy first!” After Diaomilas finished speaking, he still felt uneasy, so he ordered again, “And tell the troops to stop crossing the river, unload their packs and return to the camp to fight!”
But as soon as the order was changed, the Tarantine soldiers who were crossing the pontoon bridge were a bit reluctant, ‘Why should they stay leisurely on the other side while we have to go back to fight to the death again?!’
Because of this mentality, the soldiers moved lazy and gathered very slowly.
Diaomilas became more anxious. Although he left 4,000 men in the camp for defence, the sound of screaming and fighting became more intense that he was worried for the troops they left behind; he also became angry after seeing the troops in front of him trying to delay. In the end, he made up his mind to issue strict orders for them to return to defend, even at the expense of offending these citizens.
But just as he led his guards before the pontoon, a fast boat weaved through the Agri River filled with triremes, docked on the riverbank, and the captain jumped out of the boat and stumbled towards Diaomilas as he shouted while running, “Strategos, it’s bad! The Theonian fleet is coming! They also have many transport ships behind them loaded with soldiers!…”
Diaomilas’ mind buzzed with confusion that he didn’t have the time to think, ‘Why didn’t the Theonian fleet rest after a great battle?’ As at this moment, there was only one thing in Diaomilas’ mind, ‘The Theonians are trying to surround us!’
But there was suddenly an uproar when all the soldiers currently crossing the river heard the captain, “Cross the river! Quickly cross the river!…” the soldiers began pushing each other as they shouted in panic…
After seeing this chaotic sight, Diaomilas made up his mind to immediately cancel his decision to return to the camp for defence. Still, he hesitated, ‘Should we abandon the 4,000 soldiers and retreat immediately?!’
But soon after, he didn’t even have the time to think about it.
“The Theonians are coming!!”
“Quickly run!!”
“The camp has fallen!!”
. . . . . . . . . . . . .
The sound became louder as panicked and disorganised shouting came from the east of the camp that even Diaomilas had turned around. He was surprised when he saw the fleeing soldiers, ‘They easily breached the camp?!!’
In fact, the reason for the quick defeat of the Tarantine defenders was simple: The seventh legion of Theonia had prepared in advance, and when they attacked, Matonis, as the legatus of the legion, was at the front, and the soldiers who he had stimulated were not willing to fall behind. Their swift and fierce attack made the remaining Tarantine soldiers have a hard time defending, and their morale was taken away by the retreating troop, and the first thought that came out of their hearts when they encountered such a setback was, ‘Why do we have to fight here while they retreat?!’
So the Tarantine soldiers almost collapsed as the Heraclean army that followed the defenders encircled them.
“Retreat! Quickly retreat!!…” At this moment, this was the only option left for Diaomilas.
In fact, he didn’t even need to give the order as the soldiers were already retreating after seeing the situation…
. . . . . . . . . . . . .
When Mithridates led the 70 triremes and arrived at the sea near Heraclea, they received a report from the scouting ships that the Tarantine ships gathered at the estuary of the Agri River.
Hearing this, Mithridates became delighted as he immediately ordered the fleet to fan out and prepare to wipe out the Tarantine ships.
The Tarantine ships, on the other hand, tried to sail away from the riverbank in a panic that they ended up crashing and colliding with each other; even the small ships capsized in the river. Furthermore, they didn’t even think about saving their companions who fell into the water as the only thing they had in mind was to ‘Escape from the Theonian fleet and return back to Taranto’s port!’
Unfortunately, most Tarantine ships had too much grain piled up in their cabin, affecting their flexibility and speed. Now, they only have a slight advantage over the Theonian fleet, which had installed a corvus and loaded with heavy infantry. As the Theonian fleet rapidly approaches, the Tarantine sailors couldn’t even spare the manpower to throw away those burdensome grain and are just waiting for their fate to be captured.
Davos’ ship did not participate in the battle. Instead, it landed on the coast not far north of the Agri River’s estuary while leading the transport ship.
Amintas immediately jumped off the ship as soon as they arrived and ordered the bugler to blow the salpinx. Afterwards, instead of waiting for all the soldiers to come and reorganise, he directly led a platoon of 50 soldiers from his ship towards the retreating Tarantine army not far away.
After all, the Theonian fleet under Seclian’s command had already won a massive victory with the help of the first legion. In contrast, the second legion hadn’t even done anything until now, which made the ever-competitive Amintas unable to bear it.
The ferocity of the platoon that Amintas led had frightened the already panicking Tarantine soldiers on the north bank of the Agri, making them forget that they outnumbered the oncoming enemy. But just as they began to organise their resistance, the other soldiers of Theonia’s second legion had also arrived one after another, stabbing at the weak body of the Tarantine soldiers crossing over the river and causing them to collapse and flee in all directions. Some had even tried crossing the river and fled south.
Amintas then took advantage of the situation and commanded the troops to chase the enemy southward, causing a constant stream of Tarantine soldiers to be constantly squeezed into the river…
Panic only leads to more panic, so when a part of the pontoon bridge broke due to overburden, the whole bridge fell apart, resulting in hundreds of people falling into the river…then the Tarantine soldiers who saw this tragic image felt cold.
On the south bank, a combined 12,000 troops composed of the seventh legion and the Heraclean army continued to pursue the fleeing Tarantine northward.
And the completely demoralised Tarantine soldiers scrambled for their lives, which made the entire troops a mess, so even if the two archons shouted in the crowd, it became difficult to organise them again to stop the attack of the Theonians. Thus they could only keep on retreating that they were eventually all driven to the bank of the Agri River.
And when several pontoon bridges were completely blocked while getting chased by the Theonians, some Tarantine soldiers even took off their armour and jumped into the river. Only floating heads filled the river for a time, just like a huge ant’s next thrown into a small puddle.
So when the Tarantines who had not gone down the river saw their panic-stricken comrades on the other side of the river, and a black army gradually lining up behind them and surrounding them, they could only throw down their weapons in despair and turned to surrender to the equally terrifying joint Theonia-Heraclea troops that were attacking them…
By dusk, the Tarantine army that was pursued by the Theonian legion led by two of the bravest legatus of the Theonian army had finally been surrounded on both sides of the pontoon bridge over the Agri River. Apart from the nearly a thousand men who had managed to escape from the initial group that had crossed the river, more than 12,000 were captured, more than 2,000 were wounded by shields or gotten trampled, and more than 2,000 drowned in the river.
Furthermore, the Theonian fleet captured more than 50 Tarantine ships, including 35 triremes. However, since the Tarantine fleet was unmotivated to fight and their resistance was weak, its sailors did not suffer any significant casualties, and the captured sailors numbered close to 7,500.
At the same time, the Theonian army seized many supplies, including dozens of tons of grain.
In this battle, the Theonian army lost little, which could be said to be another fantastic victory.
So after learning about the battle, Davos became happy that when he met the polemarchos of Heraclea, Teriphias, who had arrived, he put a sincere smile on his face and said, “Lord Teriphias, on behalf of the entire Theonian population, I thank you! If it wasn’t for Heraclea’s bravery in blocking the Tarantine’s attack, I fear that the Tarantine army would have already stormed into Thurii’s territory!”
Teriphias hastily said with modesty, “Lord Davos, we in Heraclea are only defending ourselves. Rather, we should be the one to sincerely thank Theonia as you have sent reinforcements in time to defend us in such a difficult situation, yet it led to the lands of Amendolara getting ravaged, so I really don’t know how…we could…”
Davos had to comfort him again by saying, “We are allies, so it’s natural for us to help each other. Fortunately, with Hades’ blessings, we manage to wipe out the Tarantines while suffering no major losses. This is already the most gratifying thing!”
“Yes, I never thought that victory would come so quickly!” with a look of admiration, Teriphias exclaimed at Davos with marvel, “Lord Davos, I did not expect for Theonia to defeat the Syracusan navy!”
Davos smiled faintly and said in a relaxed tone, “If the Syracusan fleet dares to come again, we will defeat them again! From now on, it’s time for the Gulf of Taranto to have a change of owner!”
Davos’ domineering words reassured Teriphias about the safety of the sea, “Lord Davos, when are you…going to attack Taranto?” Teriphias asked with tact. In fact, he wanted to know Davos’ battle plan for the future. After all, in just two days after Davos returned to Thurii, a massive change in the war situation had happened throughout Magna Graecia, restoring the confidence of Theonia’s allies.