Chapter 734: Theonia v Carthage (IV)

Even though his adjutant had been working with him for almost two months, and they were usually together, Leotychides couldn’t even remember his adjutant’s name. Fortunately, his adjutant had already understood Leotychides’ character, so he didn’t care and just answered him seriously, “My lord, my name is Muklo!”

“Are you a Bruttian?” Leotychides asked while looking at his appearance, which differed from Greek.

“Yes. I am from Consentia, Bruttii.”

“Hmm.” after nodding, Leotychides waved his hand and said, “Go and pass my orders quickly.”

“Yes, my lord.” The adjutant quickly turned around and went out with a smile on his face since he knew he got the legatus’ recognition, which his colleagues in the Army Staff jokingly called the most strict legatus.

In fact, adjutant Muklo has a remarkable identity. At the age of eighteen, he followed Hieronymus to the Battle of Crotone, where he received the praise of King Davos after getting wounded. Later he officially joined the Fifth Legion and, for more than ten years, took part in all the kingdom wars, achieving many successes. But after becoming a senior centurion, he voluntarily requested to go to the Army Staff of the Ministry of Military Affairs for further study. Since it was rare for someone to request to study further after becoming a senior officer in Theonia, even though he was over thirty years old, Philesius made an exception and transferred him to the Army Staff.

After getting transferred to the Army Staff, Muklo won the praises of his colleagues for his diligence and hard work. This time, given the importance of this war, Philesius reluctantly sent this capable aide, and now it seems that the hard-to-please Leotychides’ demand has finally been met.

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

The fifteen thousand men led by Leotychides on this expedition included the eight thousand soldiers of the Eighth Legion, five thousand reserve heavy infantries, almost a thousand reserve light infantry and a thousand cavalry of the Fourth Cavalry Legion*. (These are only a few because of the lack of population and war horses in Theonia’s territory in Sicily.)

The soldiers of the Eighth Legion became excited after hearing they were about to fight since the battle to pacify the Sikeloi two years ago had brought them great rewards, so they were more eager to contribute now that the opportunity had come!

On the other hand, the soldiers of the reserve unit were eager to perform well in the coming battle so that they could add more to their military résumé and become regular soldiers without a hitch.

Led by their officers, the soldiers ran to the foot of the hill in an orderly and swift manner and began to line up in a checkerboard formation.

Then the soldiers heard a huge noise coming from the front just after going into formation.

Soon after, they could hear a disorder and thunderous footsteps, which grew louder… Then they saw the shadow of the routed soldiers rushing towards them like a flood in a rainstorm, causing some of the Theonian recruits to swallow their saliva in nervousness.

“Command all units to go in shield formation quickly!” Theokases calmly ordered. Theokases was Naxos’ constable two years ago and had now become a centurion of the first centuria of the first brigade of the Eighth Legion.

And the other officers issued similar orders.

Unlike before, the Theonian shield formation is no longer the same. Now, the soldiers of each centuria raise their shields at the front, back, left and right periphery of the small phalanx formation, but the spear also points outwards in the same direction, like a hedgehog filled with quills.

The soldiers also shouted, “Run towards the gap!!! Run towards the gap!!!…”

The Eighth Legion made a much wider gap between the small phalanxes than the one in their training to help the routed soldiers.

But unless they were fools, no one would take the initiative to collide with them even after seeing the dense spears sticking out. Moreover, with people shouting to remind the routed soldiers and the light-armoured soldiers guiding them in front, the routed soldiers naturally split into several groups in front of the Theonian formation and ran to the rear through the gap between the small phalanxes.

Unfortunately, some got pushed or panicked and crashed into the shield wall, with the spear piercing them as they screamed in agony. But even with that, the Theonian soldiers didn’t withdraw their spears nor rescue the wounded soldiers. Instead, they held onto their position without moving. Meanwhile, the screams of their companions warned the others to stop and not crash into the shield formation.

“Go faster! Don’t let them get away!…” Milkpilles, on horseback, followed the Sacred Band as he charged forward and shouted excitedly, regardless of whether the soldiers running around could hear him.

Sitting high on his horse, Milkpilles could see how well-trained the Sacred Band’s soldiers were; even after a victory, they could keep their formation relatively intact and push forward like a tide. Of course, this is also because most of their enemies fled in the same direction.

Unfortunately for the Carthaginians, whether it is Muntebaal or Milkpilles, they only know that the Theonian allied army built a camp on the hill on the east bank of the Platani without knowing the specific layout. They didn’t even know what terrain was there because they didn’t care about getting information about the surroundings of the battlefield and the enemy. On the other hand, Leotychides, under the long-term influence of Theonia’s Military Code, had taken the initiative to protect the military secrets of his army from being disclosed. Thus, while building the camp, he sent all the scouts, mountain reconnaissance brigade, and even some light-armoured soldiers to patrol around the camp, drive out the Carthaginian scouts, and shield the area around them.

As they pursued the enemy, Milkpilles was unaware that there was a hill a kilometre to their left and right and that the enemy army’s camp was on it. But what he was even less aware of was that there was a larger hill a kilometre and a half ahead of them, blocking their path and that it was on this hill that Carthage’s real enemy, the Theonian army, was stationed.

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

Theokases divided his centuria into four small phalanxes, two at the front and two at the rear, with Theokases standing in the middle of the rear phalanx. And through the gap between the phalanxes, he could see the situation of the advancing soldiers.

Suddenly, his eyes squinted, and through the gap between the allied soldiers who had lost their armour, he saw the Carthaginians wearing gorgeous armour.

If they were to follow the usual tactics of the Theonian army, the small phalanxes in the rear line should move forward quickly, filling the gaps in the front line and forming a complete, dense, large phalanx. But if they did so, their allied soldiers in the rear would be intercepted by the Theonian phalanxes and caught between the Theonian army and the Carthaginian army, becoming victims of the confrontation between the two armies.

So the small phalanxes of each centuria of the Eighth Legion didn’t move. Instead, the soldiers just pulled their long shields and spears closer. They did that not because they felt sorry for their allies but because it was the tactic ordered by their commander, Leotychides.

Some Sacred Band soldiers chasing the retreating enemy saw the dense spear phalanx formation in front of them and stopped advancing in surprise, only to be pushed by their comrades behind them. They could only protect themselves with their round shields and thrust their spears at the newly appearing enemy. Then some Sacred Band soldiers followed the retreating enemy into the gap between the small phalanxes, but another small phalanx blocked their paths. Lastly, some Sacred Band soldiers managed to follow the routed soldiers blindly through the gaps…

“There are enemies ahead!!”

“It’s the Theonians!!”

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

The slightly panicked shouts of the soldiers reached Milkpilles’ ears. And since he was on horseback, he could see more clearly: The black-armoured Theonian soldiers had gathered in numerous small phalanxes amidst the torrent of defeated soldiers and soldiers of the Sacred Band, like an island getting swallowed by a tide…

Despite knowing he had lost control of the Sacred Band, Milkpilles waved his spear and shouted, “Warriors of Carthage, attack and crush the Theonians!”

But in the eyes of Leotychides, who was halfway up the hill and overlooking the entire battlefield, the checkerboard formation of the Eighth Legion had split the Carthaginian army, which was moving like a tide in pursuit, into countless small streams. Thus the disorganised Carthaginians could not focus their attack on shaking the small phalanxes of Theonia, which remained as solid as a rock amidst the tide!

“Order the reserve to advance!” Leotychides ordered.

Adjutant Muklo hesitated a bit as he said, “Shouldn’t we wait a little longer until our allies escaped-”

Leotychides remained indifferent, saying, “If we wait until all of our allied soldiers escaped, it will also allow some of the Carthaginians to run to the rear of our formation, causing unnecessary trouble for our soldiers! I have already given them the opportunity to escape, so they can only blame themselves for not running fast enough!”

“Understood!” Muklo said nothing more and accepted the order immediately.

“Also, inform our allied strategoi to take this opportunity to gather the routed soldiers and quickly lead them back to their camps to resist the enemy’s next attack.”

Then a high-pitched salpinx sound rang out from the hillside.

Then the reserve officers, having received their instructions in advance, began to order the small phalanxes in the rearmost line to advance slowly.

The flood of routed soldiers, and the Carthaginians who were pursuing them, passed through several gaps and flowed to the rear, reducing the impact on the small phalanx formation at the rear. Then, with spears to clear the way and long shields for defence, accompanied by the screams of the enemy and allied soldiers, the soldiers of the reserve at the rear of the formation had relied on their phalanx of fifty men each to advance smoothly into the gap with little hindrance and, together with the small phalanx formation in front, formed a dam of only four columns thick, but about a kilometre long, which completely cut off the tide.

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