Chapter 525: Great Victory in Hipponion
Due to Dionysius’ concern about their rear, he strictly ordered the Locrians to guard against the Rhegians and made them stop another sneak attack on Medma. At the same time, the Locrian army had to help defend Terina from the Theonian army appearing on the Ophemia plain through Clampetia. Thus Locri’s main force was forcibly held in the city of Medma by Dionysius.
Theophantes felt frustrated because of that, but when the news about Syracuse’s navy losing twice to Theonia, he had to be more vigilant: Since Theonia, who had the advantage of the sea, could send their troops to the rear of the battlefield – Scylletium, Hipponion, Terina, Caulonia, and even Locri. He knew that the city was almost devoid of soldiers as most of their soldiers were in Medma, with a small number following the Syracusan army.
So Theophantes no longer wished to go to the frontline to fight and even began hoping that Syracuse’s strong army would defeat the Theonians and suppress them. He then also started paying attention to the nearby enemy.
After learning that Seclian’s fleet had entered Taurania, Theophantes became even more nervous. But since the Theonian ships blocked the port of Medma, he could only send scouts to see the enemy movements on the other side of the river.
This morning, Theophantes received a report from his scouts about a change of movements in the port of Taurania, resulting in him feeling something foreboding.
Sure enough, a messenger from Hipponion came from the north and anxiously told him that the Rhegian army was about to attack Hipponion, so they hoped Locri’s army could rush to their rescue!
Theophantes was already prepared, so as soon as they found out the whereabouts of the Rhegian army and the Theonian fleet, he became relieved and immediately led 10,000 soldiers to the north while leaving 5,000 soldiers to defend Medma.
By noon, Theophantes and his army entered Hipponion’s territory.
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Pheidon did not panic even after learning about the Locrian army’s arrival. After landing on the coast of Hipponion, he sent cavalry to inform the Theonian army that had landed on the Ophemia plain yesterday afternoon due to their prior agreement. However, he didn’t expect to meet the Terinians, who were entering the empty city of Terina. He then learned from them that the Theonian army had defeated the Syracusan army in the battle and reached the city of Scylletium.
The Rhegian scout immediately rushed to Scylletium to contact the Theonian army, which was when Davos sent Hielos, Antonios, Hieronymus, and Ledes to lead the army to support them.
After Pheidon got the wonderful news brought back by the scout, he was overjoyed in addition to being surprised. That’s why he was not alarmed by the imminent arrival of the enemy reinforcement. On the contrary, he was secretly delighted.
While sending a scout to inform the Theonian reinforcements on the way, he took up a position just outside the city of Hipponion.
An hour later, the Locrian army rushed outside the city of Hipponion.
After seeing the Rhagian army’s readiness to fight, Theophantes was not afraid as he had more soldiers. After arranging the formation, Theophantes immediately attacked.
Pheidon considered baiting the enemy, but the Rhegian army would have difficulty executing such tactics with only a few military training a year. So he simply chose to fight desperately with their sword and spear.
The Rhegians, whose number was only half of the enemy, were naturally not their opponents. After fighting for a while, they were finally defeated because the enemy attacked their two flanks, which resulted in the soldiers throwing their helmets and armours and fleeing north.
Naturally, Theophantes had no intention of letting go of these fleeing Rhegians. In fact, he was annoyed by the Rhegian army led by Pheidon during this period because the weak Rhegian soldiers were actually quite obstinate under Pheidon’s leadership. Even after suffering tragic defeat by the Locrians while they were sieging Medma and were forced the return to Taurania, the Rhegian still crossed the river from time to time to harass him.
Now that the Rhegians were trapped in the land between Hipponion and Allaro River and had no place to escape, it was a rare opportunity for Theophantes to wipe out this annoying pest and obtain brilliant achievements and win a reputation for himself.
Thus Theophantes led the soldiers to pursue them to stop the Rhegians from running to the ships and escaping Hipponion.
Theophantes’ idea was beautiful. However, the information he and Pheidon knew was not equal.
The Syracusan strategos stationed in Terina didn’t send someone to inform Hipponion about Syracuse’s disastrous defeat that night, as he intended to send one the next day. But after their troops split up, the strategos simply did not send a messenger because he thought that the soldiers returning to Hipponion would report the situation to their city-state.
Unexpectedly, the returning Hipponian army encountered the disembarking Rhegian army in the north of Hipponion just after crossing the Allaro River and was soon defeated. Afterwards, Pheidon sent a small number of soldiers to chase the fleeing Hipponians, while the majority quickly moved south and surrounded the city of Hipponion. Unfortunately for the Locrians, the Hipponians had already sent a messenger to Medma asking for help after learning of the Rhegian’s landing, so Theophantes, by mistake, didn’t know about the important news of Theonia defeating the Syracusan army. Otherwise, he would have intensified his attack in order to remove the Rhegians before the Theonians could head south, or he would have never believed that the Theonians, who had only finished their battle last night, would be able to reach Hipponion in such a short time due to his battlefield experience.
But that’s how a “miracle” happened. After receiving Davos’ order, Theonia’s reinforcements soon set out, but halfway through their journey, they encountered the messenger sent by Pheidon. After a short discussion, Hielos, Antonios, Hieronymus, and Ledes made a plan: They would first send scouts to Terina and inform Siprus while they urged their troops to speed up their march.
After marching since morning, the Theonian soldiers were now somewhat tired. However, with the veterans of the first legion setting an example by taking the lead in seriously implementing the military orders and hearing that a victory awaited them once they reached Hipponion, the nearly 10,000 Bruttian recruits immediately took big strides forward.
By the time the Theonian reinforcements crossed the tributary of Allaro River and entered Hipponion’s territory from the east, the Locrians were already in hot pursuit of the Rhegians, forcing them into the narrow area between the coast and Allaro.
Although the Theonian fleet was anchored here, the panic-stricken Rhegians had no time to get on board. However, when Siprus saw that the Rhegians were about to be driven down to the sea by the enemy, the thousand Terinian soldiers he led hurriedly launched an attack after crossing the Allaro River.
The arrival of the Terinians caught the Locrians off guard as they thought it was the Syracusan defenders inside the city of Terina on the other side of the river.
Although the Terinians numbered fewer, the Locrians had long since scattered due to their pursuit: The soldiers could not find their officers while their officers could not control them. Since they were not in formation and disorganised, the Terinians’ attacked easily pierced them, but just as Theophantes hurriedly gathered the scattered soldiers to deal with this new threat, a deafening “Hades” shout rang out from their rear.
The Bruttian army led by Hielos, the Lucanian army led by Hieronymus, the first legion led by Antonios, and the cavalry legion led by Ledes, with a total of more than 15,000 people, marched towards the flank and rear of the Locrians with rumbling footsteps.
After seeing such terrifying sight, the scattered Locrian’s morale dropped to extremely low that they fled before even engaging the enemy in battle, leaving Hielos with the task of chasing them. After all, the Theonian army was the most experienced in chasing fleeing soldiers.
With the Allaro River to the north, the sea to the west, Terina to the northeast, the Theonian army to the southeast, and the sailors of Seclian’s fleet also disembarking and participating in the pursuit from the southwest, and the additional 1,000 cavalries, had resulted in the Locrians to be almost surrounded… In the end, they captured more than 9,000 people, with only less than a thousand managing to escape Theonia’s pursuit, which excluded Theophantes. Although he had already thrown away his helmet, the dazzling armour that he specially made to show his uniqueness to ordinary citizens made him the target of the Theonian cavalries’ pursuit.
After the battle, Hielos and Antonios went to meet Pheidon, who was busy cleaning up the wounds of the wounded Rhegian soldiers.
Hielos and Antonios looked at each other, then Antonios stepped forward and called out to him with respect, “Strategos Pheidon!”
Only then did Pheidon raise his head from his busy work and see soldiers wearing a helmet with purple and red plumes. He quickly wiped out the bloodstain on his hand with his armour, told the soldiers next to him to continue with the work, and promptly stood up and praised loudly, “Strategoi of Theonia, your arrival is timely! You had even completely defeated the main force of the Locrians in this battle!”
“You are wrong, strategos Pheidon.” Antonios’ words surprised Pheidon, and immediately afterwards, he heard him say, “This is a victory obtained by the joint efforts of Theonia, Rhegium, and Terina! It is a glorious victory that belongs to our South Italian Alliance!”
Pheidon smiled and said, “You are absolutely right!” His mood became pleasant as this victory suddenly lightened Taurania’s pressure.