Chapter 286 \n“Archers, prepare!” Once Pulo saw the Greeks coming into range, he immediately gave the order. The height difference of tens of meters not only extended the range of the archers and enhanced the lethality of the arrows, and at the same time, it shortened the range of the archers on the other side. As a result, the long-range firepower of the Messapi-Peuceti alliance was at a great advantage, such as the benefit of having the high ground.\nBut just as the Peucetians pulled their bows, countless black dots whizzed from the foot of the hill, hitting the Peucetians with inferior equipment and causing the archers to scream in pain.
‘The Greeks have slingers!’ A chill rose in the heart of Telemani.
Unfortunately for Davos, the two light infantry brigades of the two legions – Epiphanes and Cid, only had about 400 slingers under their command, which was not enough to suppress the enemy, and the only thing they can do is disrupt their shooting.
The arrows continued to fall like raindrops, prompting the soldiers to hold their shields above their heads and advance slowly step by step. Unfortunately, the terrain had limited them from using the hoplite’s killer weapon, “charge”, and they could only endure the noise of arrows pecking at the bronze shield and making “clang clang clang” noise.
When they began climbing the mountain, javelins hit their shields fiercely, causing some soldiers to be injured.
The wounded soldiers then fell to the ground, huddling together and covering themselves with the shields as they wait for the medical camp to rescue them.
In the middle of the battlefield, the hoplites of Alytia were stationed at the place where Theonia focused their attack – the lowest point of the terrain.
“Come on! Hurry up!…” Amintas kept urging the soldiers, as he did not want to lose to Matonis, a junior in the mercenary. Therefore, he broke the rules of Theonia’s military law and took the lead in fighting at the forefront of the brigade, which made the soldiers who had been tired after a long march be excited and followed closely behind.
While charging through the rain of arrows to a distance more than 20 metres from the enemy, the whole brigade suddenly stopped their advance.\n“Defence!” Timogeras gave a loud order as he thought that the enemy was about to charge.
Even if the gentle slope here is only a few metres high, this height is still enough for the Greeks to pay a heavy price!
However, what came was not the Greeks’ charge, but nearly a thousand javelins, which to the horror of the Messapians, drove powerfully into their phalanxes with whistling wind, raising a chorus of screams.
Timogeras had no idea that the Theonian hoplites could throw javelins, he shouted in exasperation without even caring about his surprise, “Shields up! Use your shield to defend!…”
Amintas quickly took out his second javelin and roared, “Rush with me!” With that, he was the first to rush to the enemy with a shield in his left hand and a javelin in his right.
Timogeras was surprised: Normally, the Greeks hoplites would have broken up from their formation when charging, but the enemy on the opposite side still managed to maintain a basic formation, charging in fast like a thick wall of iron which made him feel suffocated.
“Defence! Defence!” He hoarsely shouted in a somewhat panicked voice.
However, the soldiers were not able to recover from their panic due to the javelins, while the brigade of Amintas arrived in a flash, stepping on the gentle slope a few metres high, took a few strides and with the help of momentum, they pushed forward with their left arm that was holding the shields, “Bang!…” After the sound of continuous metallic impact, the Messapian soldiers, who were unable to defend themselves together due to the chaotic formation, were forced to retreat unconsciously to ease the impact.\nThis retreat made it impossible for the dense mass of Messapian soldiers to take care of their comrades who fell to the ground from either getting stabbed by javelins or tripped by those at their back. On the back was the panic shouting of their comrades while only on the front were javelins stabbing towards them like poisonous snakes. For a moment, they were in a mess and could only continue to fall back, which allowed most of the soldiers of Amintas’ brigade to step on the slope.
. . . . . . . . . . . . .
As the leader of the seventh brigade of the second legion, Cid has a habit of praying before a battle.
He is not the only one doing it but also asks his men to do it together. In the past, he prayed to Ares, the god of war, but after following Davos, he changed his worship to Theonia’s patron god – Hades, the god of the underworld. After singing the ode of Hades, he stood up and said, “The slingers are to continue attacking the enemy here, while the archers will follow the infantry closely. Once in range, shoot the enemy on the hill. Peltast, follow me!”
The peltast captain, Satirus, quickly advised, “Strategos, you should continue commanding and let me lead our brothers to attack.”
Cid glared at him, “Now is a good chance for us to prove our peltast. So how can I hide behind!” In recent months, opinions sprung up in the army that the role of peltast has become dispensable as we already have the archers and slingers for long-range attacks and the hoplite throwing javelins for close-range attacks, so it is better to abolish this branch and replace it with light-armoured soldiers similar to the mountain reconnaissance brigade.
Naturally, Epiphanes and Cid, who grew up as peltast, strongly opposed this opinion and always expressed their thoughts to Davos that the peltast can never be replaced, that they can’t be replaced!
Now is the time to prove the value of the peltast.
Epiphanes and Cid led nearly 500 peltasts; they scattered in pairs and in groups of three as they pass through the gaps in the “fish-scale formation” of the hoplites.
\nAnd Leotychides only nodded at him. Although there are contradictions between them, the battlefield is the melting pot of men’s friendship.
At this time, he looked up and saw someone running to the front of the formation.
A peltast! Leotychides blinked as he understood this type of unit. During the Peloponnesian War, Sparta had employed many Thracian peltasts as an auxiliary to the hoplites. However, in the battle sequence of the Theonian army, the peltasts are regarded as an important force. Therefore, their status is not lower than that of a hoplite.
These peltasts with leather shields in their left hand and rhomphaia on their right, while wearing thin cloth robes, approached the enemies on the hills in the form of scattered soldiers while deftly avoiding the javelins of the Peucetians.
Why can they be so fast and agile? It is because they are holding rhomphaia, an odd weapon with an almost curved blade that they could plunge into the earth, which would easily provide strong support to their climbing.
When Cid soon got close to the enemy, five to six spears came at him simultaneously.
Cid was very calm; he squatted down suddenly that his soft leather armour had almost stuck to the ground along the slope, with the leather shield protecting the top of his head blocking the spear.
Standing on the top of the hill, the Peucetians found it difficult to stab the enemy, who was almost on the ground and at such a low angle. And the ground sloped downward so much that they needed to move forward.
Quick as a flash, Cid pushed his legs back and slammed his whole body into the enemy, quickly reaching out to his rhomphaia and hooking one of the Peucetian warriors feet with it and pulling down hard.