Chapter 409: Initial Battle Against Syracuse (II)
Chapter 409: Initial Battle Against Syracuse (II)
Regarding the rumours that “Theonia also has a ballista”, Theophantes didn’t believe it. After all, Locri was established for hundreds of years, yet they couldn’t even make such a powerful siege weapon. So how can the Theonia Union, which had just risen for less than six years, have it?! (Even though the fourth legion of Theonia attacked Clampetia with ballista, its remote location made it so that only a few people knew it. The Terinians knew it, but at the request of the Theonians, they tried their best to keep it a secret.)
“Closer! Closer!…” Theophantes excitedly urged the Syracusans to move the ballista forward so that the whole army could advance as he wanted to make the bombardment of the ballista more accurate and smash the wall built by the Theonians so that they would not have any place to hide! He would then watch them hide in panic under the impact of the stone balls or be forced to leave the camp and come out to face them.
Dionysius had given Phacipessas the order to keep the Theonian army in Caulonia in check. But if there were a good opportunity, Theophantes would certainly not mind defeating them and break the record Theonia army of having no defeat in Magna Graecia and win greater honour for himself.
Theophantes then looked at the Theonian camp after seeing the Syracusan spotter at the front, putting heavy stone balls into the slider. Then, he became surprised to see ten small black dots flying out of the enemy camp and roaring into Locri’s formation…
“Ballista!” Theophantes’ soul shot out, and along with his cry of alarm, countless screams rang out in their ranks.
Due to the stone ball falling in a large arc, its lethality is not that great. But the effect is terrific. After all, just by getting grazed by it would break the hands and legs, the head would get flattened, and if they use a round shield to block it, the shield would break, and they would die. How could such a tragic situation not make the surrounding Locrian soldiers, who had never experienced a ballista’s attack before, shudder and cause their morale to suddenly drop by half?!
As they were panicking, another wave of stone balls came again. The Locrian soldiers then fled everywhere in panic, and the whole formation became chaotic.
“Move back! Move back quickly!!” Stone balls kept falling, with one falling near Theophantes that he became so frightened that he ignored the Syracusan ballistae in front of him and hurriedly gave orders of retreat.
But just as the salpinx sounded the retreat, the east, west and south gate of the Theonian camp suddenly opened at the same time, and the soldiers who had already been prepared poured out quickly and orderly. The cavalries charge ahead, followed by the light infantry, then the light-armoured soldiers and finally the heavy infantry. Although they are destined to be unable to catch up with the fleeing enemy, they could push forward to prevent the enemy from counterattacking.
The already demoralised Locrian army had collapsed due to the constant bombardment of stones. Then they retreated in disarray after seeing the entire dark Theonian army (because of the colour of the weapons and equipment) coming at them. And even though Theophantes had the will to fight back, he had already lost control of his army, and the soldiers no longer had the courage to fight as they scrambled to retreat.
Solikos then led the cavalry to catch up with the enemy from the flank with the hope to avenge his comrades.
The Theonian cavalry did not even use their spears and just drove their horses straight, which scattered the troops even more and were unable to reorganise. After the 1,000 cavalries ran for a while, the horse itself instinctively slowed down. Still, seeing the defeated soldiers in front gradually getting sparser, Solikos resolutely raised his spear and drew circles in the air.
“Drive them east!” Solikos shouted. Under his command, the cavalry began to spread out to the left and right, drawing an arc and started driving the defeated soldiers eastward, with the light infantry and light-armoured soldiers matching their movements.
Most of the defeated Locrian soldiers were like headless flies, being intentionally herded by the Theonian soldiers. They could not even distinguish between southeast and northwest and only ran for their lives in the direction with the slightest pressure.
At this time, the Syracusan troops outside the eastern camp were also getting bombarded by the Theonian ballistae. However, the experienced Syracusans did not panic and soon stabilised their position. After retreating for a distance, they began fighting back with their ballistae. As the two sides were in a state of confrontation, the defeated Locrian troops poured in like a tidal wave and immediately disrupted Syracuse’s left flank.
How could Drakos let go of this great opportunity? So he immediately ordered the whole army to attack!
The soldiers of the fifth legion then quickly rushed out of the camp’s gate.
Seeing the situation turning bad, Phacipessas decisively gave the order to retreat.
Although the Syracusan troops retreated quickly, they tried to maintain a fairly intact formation while squeezing the scattered Locrian troops behind.
The Theonian cavalry and the fourth legion’s soldiers pursued the enemy for more than 3 kilometres. It was only when a large group of enemy cavalrymen came up to meet them that Epiphanes ordered the retreat, for he was deeply impressed by the fierce cavalry of Syracuse and worried that the tired and scattered soldiers would suffer. In fact, Syracuse’s cavalry and the cavalry of the mercenaries had already gone to Hiponion with Dionysius, and the only ones that appeared were the cavalry of Locri.
And the fifth legion, under the urging of Drakos, made the light-armoured soldiers who were best at running chase the enemies without the help of cavalry and then sounded the call to stop.
On his way back to the city, Theophantes, who had lost his armour, met Phacipessas, who was in a bad mood after losing the first battle and received a scolding from him…
As this was the first time the Theonian used their ballista in the field, it caught the Syracuse-Locri alliance by surprise. The ballistae itself only killed a few dozen men, while the panic caused by the Locrian army created an opportunity for the fourth legion of Theonia to raid. And the raid of the fourth legion and the subsequent planned dispersal of the defeated troops caused a major rout of the Syracuse-Locri alliance.
In this battle, there were more than a thousand casualties from the Syracuse-Locri alliance, including more than 500 captured men, mainly Locrian soldiers, which was a great victory for the Theonian’s southern front.
. . . . . . . . . . . . .
Asistes became surprised after receiving Terina’s urgent request for reinforcements late at night.
The reason why Asistes could become the acting Praetor of Clampetia was due to Davos asking the Senate for it on the grounds that Asistes had rich administrative experience in the mountains of Lucania and military experience, and was suitable to be the Praetor of Clampetia, a city with the Bruttians being the majority and the southern border city of Theonia. However, since he is not a statesman, he can only serve as the acting Praetor. Still, his experience as a Praetor laid the foundation for Asistes to be elected into the Senate the following year.
After taking office, Asistes made use of the experience he learned in Lucania to effectively ease the racial contradiction between the Bruttians and the new Greeks in Clampetia. He then made use of its geographical location to vigorously develop the trade with Terina and the other cities in the South Italia Alliance, thus improving the living conditions of the impoverished Clampetians. This has made the political situation of Clampetia to be stable in recent years and lived up to Davos’ expectations.
Hearing about how the Syracusans had approached Terina in such a short time had made him feel uneasy. After all, he knew that the plan of the South Italia Alliance was for Terina, Crotone and Scylletium to work together in defending the western coastal passage, prevent the Syracusan troops from invading the territories of the South Italia Alliance, and buy some time for the return of Theonia’s main force.
Asistes initially estimated that the combined soldiers of the three city-states of Crotone, Scylletium and Terina would have more than 30,000 soldiers. With the addition of the Allaro river, which is wide and deep, as a natural barrier, it shouldn’t be a problem for them to defend it for more than 10-20 days. Furthermore, once the use of troops becomes tense in the later stage, the reserves in the whole Bruttian region can also provide reinforcements in time.
However, he did not expect Syracuse to come so fast, which was faster than the mobilisation, assembly and marching of most Greek city-states armies. Naturally, Syracuse has already mobilised and assembled its troops. Still, to be able to make such a huge army complete its landing and march close to Terina in three days is enough to show that the Sicilian tyrant – Dionysius is fully prepared and determined for this war!
‘Should we send troops for assistance?’ The reason why Asistes was hesitating was that a few days ago, Davos personally wrote him a letter, in which he repeatedly reminded him to strengthen and enhance the city defence. Because once Syracuse breaks through the defensive line, he must do everything possible to defend Clampetia and not allow Syracuse to step into the Bruttian territory!
But Terina has a close relationship with Theonia! Besides their firm support for Theonia in the South Italia Alliance, the two cities of Clampetia and Terina also got along well due to their close proximity and frequent trade exchanges. So if they did not save them, the Terinians good impression of Theonia and the businesses that the Theonia Union had built up over the years in Magna Graecia through their efforts would be destroyed!
After thinking about it, Asistes finally made up his mind.
He then pledged to the messenger of Terina, ‘With Hades as a witness, I will lead the reinforcements from Clampetia to Terina early tomorrow morning!’
After sending off the grateful messenger, Asistes decided to write a letter to Hielos, who had just become the Praetor of Consentia. He told him the current situation of the Syracusan army and his worries and asked him for help as he believes that Davos’ former captain will make the right choice!
After writing, he told his men to take the letter and set out immediately to Consentia in the night. Then, he called the patrol leader, who had just fallen asleep, and told him to notify the reserve soldiers of the fifth legion to assemble at the square first thing in the morning.
After finishing all of these, Asistes returned to his bedroom, exhausted.
His wife Dina, who was still awake, saw that her husband was worried, so she asked him in Greek, “What happened?”