Chapter 323: Cavalrys Offence at the Battle of Finita River

On the right flank, Davos place his allies’ troops and the legion’s reserve; On the middle is the first legion; And finally, the second legion on the left flank, as he also wants to use his strongest troops to make a breakthrough from the outside and eventually encircle the enemy.

After making up his mind, Davos said to Ledes, “The cavalry brigade had worked hard! That’s why have our brothers retreat to the rear and get some rest!”

Upon hearing this, Ledes hurriedly said, “Lord Davos, the enemy’s right flank still have five hundred cavalries. If we were to withdraw to the rear, then who will deal with them?”

“There will be someone to deal with them, while you and your cavalry will need to deliver a fatal blow to the enemy at a critical moment! Until then, have your men and the horses recover their strength!” Explained Davos.

Ledes could only back down.

Davos immediately asked Tolmides to call Epiphanes and Cid and solemnly said, “Once the enemy attacks, I want you to lead the light infantry and the freemen to strike the enemy’s right flank from a long-range, while also dealing with the enemy’s cavalry and light infantry. This task is difficult. Can you do it?”

“When we were in Persia, we fought with the Persian cavalry and archers and defeated them many times! And the Bruttians will not be stronger than the Persians!” Epiphanes said confidently.

“Hades, bless us!” Cid muttered devoutly.

Davos looked into their eyes and gave them a solemn and firm salute, “I await for your victory!”

After seeing the two, Davos’ battle plan has been fully implemented and was just waiting for the Bruttians’ attack.

At this moment, Martius and Rodom, the nephew of Baripiri, came to him and asked, “Milord, Burim and Kreru, the chieftains of Besidice, insisted on meeting you!”

Davos looked back at the two Besidisian chieftains that the guards stopped. Afterwards, they hurriedly dismounted and rushed over.

“Archon of Theonia, we Besidisians strongly demand to meet the enemy instead of hiding behind like a coward! This is a shame to our warriors!” Exclaimed Burim emotionally.

‘Shame?’ After listening to the translation of Adepiges, Davos glanced suspiciously at the herald, Tomides, who had been following him.

Tolmides hastily explained, “I have patiently told chieftain Burim a lot of times, but he seems unwilling to accept the idea of being a reserve…”

After hearing this, Davos immediately became serious. He then said in a cold voice, “Since the warriors of Besidice are now Theonians, then you should know that the soldiers of Theonia must obey the orders of their superior unconditionally. But if you are still unable to do so, then lead your troops away! As our true Theonian soldiers will enjoy the glory of victory alone! That’s all!” After saying that, he spoke another sentence to Adepiges, “Translate it as it is!” He then turned around and left.

Tolmides followed while turning back from to time, only to see Burim and Kreru leave unhappily.

“Milord, are you not afraid that the Besidisians will leave in anger?” Tolmides said with some worry.

Davos smiled, “For stubborn people, the more you explain, the more they will ask for more. Hence it is better to cut him off of this idea from the start! Moreover, even if the Besidisians leave, it still won’t affect our victory!”

With suspicion, Tolmides secretly sent some people to observe the movement of the Besidisians. However, he found out that after Burim returned, he obediently led his men to wait in the rear without making any fuss, making Tolmides ashamed. For more than ten years, Tolmides had been dealing with many mercenary leaders, yet his understanding of human nature is still not as good as that of a twenty-year-old youth. And the only thing that could explain it is that he is truly the ‘God’s Favored’.

Due to the harassment of the Theonian cavalry, the Bruttians only managed to complete their formation by afternoon. And Pian became somewhat anxious after seeing his warriors no longer as excited as they had been at the beginning. Knowing his people too well, the Bruttians – a race living between the Greeks and the Lucanians, were brave but timid, passionate but meek, these warriors who lived freely in the mountains and plateaus, the crucial point is to boost their morale.

Therefore, Pian led his guards to the front of the formation, while his guards attracted the attention of thousands of warriors with their shouts. Then Pian shouted, “Bruttians, my fellow citizens! For hundreds of years, we have lived freely on this beautiful plateau, this place where Amara has nurtured us with her sweet **, and Brutus giving us peace. But now, our peace has been harmed! Our land was invaded! Who is taking over our cities?! Slaughtering our people?!”

“Theonians!!!”

“Those wretched Greeks!!!”

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

The warriors began to respond angrily.

“Are we just going to allow these evil foreign race to occupy our land, destroy our temples, r*pe our women, turn our children into slaves, lose our freedom and live like livestock?” Pian asked in a loud voice while his guards repeated what he said.

“No!” The warriors in front of him responded angrily, which gradually spread throughout the whole formation.

“No!!!” Then twenty thousand Bruttian warriors shouted at the same time.

“Then defeat the Theonians and get our freedom back!” Pian raised his spear high.

“Kill them!”

“Kill them!!!”

Thousands of warriors roared in hysteria.

“ROAR! ROAR! ROAR!…” They then used their spears to beat the ground, and their morale rose sharply.

Pian likewise gotten affected by this and became excited. Facing the warriors who could no longer bear it, he pointed his spear forward and shouted, “Attack!”

The horn behind sounded, and it rang out everywhere.

“ROAR!!!…” Thus the Battle of Finita River, which determined the ownership of the Bruttii region, began.

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

Hearing the thunderous roars from the other side, Tolmides ends up asking, “Lord Davos, the Bruttians are boosting their morale. Shouldn’t you….”

“In a match, it’s not who has the loudest voice wins. Rather, it is the calm player who wins. What the soldiers need now is to block the enemy’s attack first. Besides consuming the little strength they have left, unnecessary roaring will also make them lose their defensive position due to being too excited.” Said Davos while looking ahead.

Tolmides nodded his head with admiration.

“The Bruttians are attacking. Sound the salpinx!” When Davos heard the horn from the other side, he also began giving orders. At the same time, he took his guards to pass through the gap between the small phalanxes quickly and came to the rear of the formation.

Then a dozen bronze salpinx blew out a low sound, and the soldiers who were sitting down and resting had immediately picked up their spears and shields stood up and moved their somewhat sore and numb arms and legs. At the same time, their teammates moved closer to each other and arranged the somewhat loose formation closely to meet the upcoming battle.

The small phalanx formation in the front began to connect with each other quickly. The middle and left flank of the Theonian army soon integrated with the army of their allies in the right flank.

While Epiphanes and Cid led a total of four thousand light infantry and freemen from the outside of the left flank to the front, having their own division of labour. After leading the more than 2,500 men fifty metres forward, Cid stopped, and the slingers, archers and a few peltasts lined up in turn, while Epiphanes continued to move to the outside of the left flank with nearly a thousand light shield soldiers and peltasts. As they march, the column soon elongate and was almost out of the battlefield.

In the salpinx’ sound, the Bruttians’ long line of nearly four kilometres moved forward slowly without having reserve troops.

The Bruttian scattered their light infantry evenly. And due to the Bruttii mountains being densely forested and having a high plateau with many wild animals, it has caused the number of archers to be abundant. Thus the archers had made up the vast majority. Following the light infantry were the infantry, mostly spearmen holding shields and spears. And on the far right were six hundred cavalries. Although the Bruttians occupied the whole plateau, they mainly use this valuable land for grazing livestock to support their large population. Although they also raised some horses, they are mostly pack horses, and those few who owned war horses were mainly the high-standing men in the tribes. Thus the six hundred horses were almost the largest number the Bruttians could gather.

As soon as the Bruttians went down the grassy slope, the Theonians slingers immediately baptised the right flank of the Bruttians with a hail of stones. Causing their infantry to march slowly under the protection of their leather shield, and due to them still being too far away from Theonia’s formation, they could not charge too early. However, the Bruttian’s light infantry began to run, as their responsibility was to clear the way for the main force to fight.

The Bruttian cavalry on the far right flank was already speeding up. During battles, it was always a tradition for the cavalry on both flanks to engage the enemy fist, as they were the fastest. However, the previous attack of the Theonian cavalry could be said to be giving them a slap in the face, and now they want to get back at them.

The cavalry shook the reins and clamped the horse’s belly, increasing the speed of the horse. And the feeling of running at breakneck speed made their blood boil even more. They then saw the enemy cavalry just three hundred metres away from the rear of the light infantry.

The cavalry leader charging in the front was thinking in his mind that they have a high chance to win if they first disperse the scattered light infantry in front, then attack the idle cavalry of the enemy. However, he suddenly caught a glimpse of countless figures appearing a few dozen metres away on the right and quickly rushed towards them.

Uneasiness immediately crept to the cavalry leader. But before he could even respond, countless javelin flew thirty metres and struck the galloping cavalries.

In an instant, whether it is a man or a horse, once they got hit and fell on the ground, they will have difficulty in surviving and will also affect the nearby charging cavalry.

Epiphanes knew well about cavalries, so instead of confronting them from the front, he pretended to disengage from the battlefield, but in fact, he was prepared to strike the cavalry from the outside.

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