Chapter 81 \nâOh, these brothers are amazing! They are indeed worthy of being a hero who killed their way through Persia and return to Greece!â\nâLook at those slingers, they are all my fellow Rhodians!â
âAnd those Thracians, see how accurate they throw their javelins! I really want to remove this heavy armor and pick a javelin and join them!â
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When Drakos heard the admiration and envy of the soldiers around him, he firmly squeezed the belt behind his shield and said with a blazing intent for battle, âCome savages, come and taste our strength!â\n. . . . . . . . . . . . .
The confident leader of Pixous, Cincinnag, had never thought that his troops will suffer loses even before the battle start, and what made him even more depressed is that the traditional weapons of the Lucanians were javelins, spears and daggers, while the javelin were also their main strengths. In order to better attack the Greeks, most of them have equipped heavy equipment, and only a few warriors in the rear formation have a javelin, while the enemyâs arrows and stones could even reached their rear, while only a few of their warriors that have javelin were able to fight back and they try to avoid the enemyâs attack. However, they couldnât see the enemy, and their numbers are few and scattered, which naturally made their results bad. Fortunately, the peltast of the enemy is not a lot, and the two ends of the right-wingâs formation are not affected. Therefore, under the helplessness of Cincinnag, he could only urge both ends to advance forward toward the middle in order to try encircle or disperse these damned and terrible enemiesâŚ
The Lucanians at the center and left wing saw the tragic experience of the right wing, fearing that they would also suffer the same situations, both the warriors and the leaders subconsciously accelerated their progress, hoping to clash with the Greekâs as soon as possible.
Tens of thousands of warriors took huge step and charge forward, which shook the earth.
All stragoi and leaders such as Archytas, Friis, Drakos and so on., started shouting, âShield, DEFENSE!â\nThe soldiers on the front row of the phalanx formation took a slight stepped forward with their left foot, and step firmly on the ground with their right foot, with the round shield guarding their left while raising their spears and pointing it forward. The soldiers in the rear then stacked one by one against the back of the soldiers that are in front, while stabbing their spears forward, connecting with the shieldsâŚThe whole phalanx is like a huge metal monster with long thorns.
A hundred meter charge on a slightly higher terrain (though the plain of Sybaris is flat, but the terrain gradually increase to the west), the Lucanian warriors directly crashed into the Greek hoplitesâ phalanx with a strong momentum,
With a loud bang at the end of April of 399 BC, the battle between Thurii and Lucania officially startedâŚ
This war is a life and death for both sides, but in the eyes of powerful city-states in the Mediterranean, it is simply insignificant. Carthage and Syracuse will not pay attention to it because both sides are gathering their strength in order to fight for the dominance of Sicily, as they are about to start a new round of war. Rome wonât pay attention to it because they are busy besieging and attacking the Etruscan city, Veii, on the upper reaches of the river Tiber. Sparta and Persia will not pay attention to it, because both sides are preparing for the coming war in Asia Minor. Athens will not pay attention to it, because they are more focused on how to recover their strength as soon as possible, while enduring the overbearing behavior of Sparta. Macedonia will not pay attention it as its kingdom is divided and its kings are frequently getting changed, and the Macedonians who are suffering from internal and external troubles may be yearning for a powerful monarch to save them in this deep water⌠Hundreds of kingdoms, city-states and races in the Mediterranean are busy trying to survive or conquering, and they have no idea or ability to understand the fight between two unknown forces in the southern part of the Italian peninsula. However, this war (Itâs later called the Battle of Thurii) opened a new chapter in the magnificent ancient history of the Mediterranean.
The Lucanians are a mountain tribe, they are enthusiastic and impulsive, and during their rapid charge, their fighting spirit continue to rise. Therefore, when they saw the spear shield formation that are in front them, some of the warriors didnât even take into consideration the impact of the shield that their leaders have emphasized before, as their brains have already been filled with their high morale and so they leap straight to it. Specially Grumentum that have produced a large number of brave men due to long-term war, and so the number of people adopting this ârecklessâ action were not the minority. Although they are more likely to get stabbed, but they will disturb the defensive formation of the Greeks.
\nThousands of javelines flew tens of meters in an instant and fell into the formation of the Lucanian who are just about to charge. What was set off was no longer a drizzle like before, but a heavy rain of death. In an instant, it resulted in hundreds of casualties and has almost hindered the advance of the LucaniansâŚ
And just then, the horrible bronze bugle rang out again, and the Greek mercenaries immediately shouted, âHades!!!â As they charged forward armed with shield and spears.
The mercenaries did not charge at the same, as the soldiers at their right end didnât advance forward because of the connection with the center, and only the soldiers at the middle and left end had rushed towards the enemy without considering the thinness of their own formation nor the large number of enemies, just like a dragon swinging its tail.
The front line of the Lucanians have not yet recovered from the javelin attack and their whole formation was in chaos. But at this moment, the mercenaries charge came one after another. The soldiers skillfully used the kinetic energy that was converted from their charging speed and strike the opponents with their fitted shields in order to open up the opponentâs defense, then the spears in their right hand strike like a viper to stab the throat or the face of the enemy quickly and accurate. This made the front row of the Lucanians collapsed at the same timeâŚ
The Lucanians at the rear got frightened by such horrible efficiency in attacking and threatening momentum. Even though they boasted their bravery earlier they canât help but flinch nowâŚthe mercenaries are chasing, while the Lucanians are retreatingâŚthe collapse of the right wing of the Lucanian is just around the corner.
Note: Vergae is the northernmost town of the Brutti and it borders Laos.