The slingers put the lead pellet into the leather pocket in the center of the sling, and began to rotate their right arm, listening only to the sound of the wind "whining", and the slings spun faster and faster.

The Romans also saw through the misty dust and fog the new enemy a few hundred meters away, and although they were a little nervous, they had nothing else to do but advance.

At this moment, hundreds of lead pellets fell from the sky like hailstones, accurately spilling into the dense formation of the Romans, and suddenly the screams rang out.

In addition to the slight injuries of the heavy infantry in the center, the light infantry, who had little protection, were smashed and bleeding, and the Roman cavalry on both sides were also affected, and the horses hit by the lead pellets screamed and jumped, throwing the unprepared cavalry under their horses, and almost ramming the Roman array.

The Romans were attacked by slingers for the first time and were beaten unsuspectingly.

The Dionian cavalry, however, had been prepared, and while the Romans were in confusion, they immediately drove their horses close to the enemy, throwing the few short javelins that were left, and another scream rang out, but the fallen soldiers were far from being slightly wounded like scratching their scalps.

When the Roman light infantry picked up bows and arrows and javelins, and prepared to attack the Dionian cavalry that was moving away, another lead shot was smashed.

The successive blows caused the Roman light infantry to complain, and these soldiers, mainly from the Latin Confederation, fell into confusion and demoralization.

The Roman hoplites, who were in the center of the ranks, remained calm and shouted in unison: "Rush over!" Kill them!! ”

The first to act were the Roman cavalry, who hastily gathered hundreds of horsemen and rushed forward in spite of everything. The horses' hooves flew like flying, knocking on the solid ground and rumbling, as if the earth was trembling.

Satyrus still looked calm, and raised his right hand again: "The second company is ready!" ”

The archers on both flanks of the geese drew their bows and arrows, and the Dionian cavalry followed the Roman cavalry in parallel with the desperate charge.

When Rome was less than a hundred meters away from the 7th Brigade, 350 Dionian archers fired their arrows in unison.

Almost flat arrows shot from the flanks to the center, forming a crossfire of fire, and the fast-moving Roman cavalry, although holding their shields high, was difficult to defend, and the men neighed and rolled to the ground, and also hindered the march of the cavalry behind.

At this moment, a second round of arrows hit again, giving the Roman cavalry even more damage.

The few Roman cavalry who had rushed forward and dodged the bow and arrow attack, seeing that they were already closing in on the Dionian slingers, were attacked by the javelins of the third company that rushed out of the ranks, and there were few survivors left.

The Theorian cavalry also took the opportunity to surprise the Roman cavalry, which had fallen into confusion due to bow and arrow attacks on the way, from both sides.

This skillful succession of blows almost wiped out the charging Roman cavalry.

At this time, the Roman heavy infantry was still guarding the light infantry and moving forward with difficulty, and when they saw the tragic scene in front of them, they were all sad, but at this time, they heard the unfamiliar sound of military trumpets in the distance.

Enemy reinforcements are here again! The morale of the Romans hit rock bottom.

At this moment, "Woo! Woo!! Woo!! ......" A louder, higher-pitched trumpet sound came from afar.

"Our reinforcements are coming! Our reinforcements are coming!! ......" Hearing the familiar sound of the trumpet, the Romans finally became excited.

…………………………………

"Report to the legionnaire, the Roman army in the camp has been dispatched! About eight or nine thousand! The scout hurried to report to Amintas.

"So fast?!" The rapid reaction of the Romans surprised Amintas, he originally wanted to let the Seventh Brigade, the Eighth Brigade and the cavalry continue the siege, without annihilating this part of the enemy, in order to achieve the purpose of luring the Romans in the camp, and at the same time to allow the six heavy infantry brigades that had just arrived to rest for a while and recover some physical strength, but he did not expect the Roman army to come so quickly, and the large army of eight or nine thousand men was obviously not something that the Dionian light infantry, light armor and cavalry could stop.

Amintas looked at the sweaty Ionian soldiers in front of him, although they were tired, few of them sat down, but laid down their weapons, gathered together in twos and threes, walking slowly and chatting, because they knew that there would be a battle next, and if they lay down, the soreness of their muscles would increase, and their bodies would be lazy and not want to exercise.

Amintas immediately summoned the six captains of the heavy infantry brigade and said with a serious expression: "Our plan to lure the enemy has been successful, the enemy's large army has left the camp, I hope you can overcome the fatigue, catch them, and defeat them!" ”

"Captain don't worry! When the Romans come out, don't even think about running back! The words of the first captain, Chemisus, were echoed by the other captains.

"Then let's get ready to go!" Amintas immediately ordered.

Just as the captains were gathering their soldiers, Amintas gave orders to the heralds: "Go and inform the Wolsi in Setia and Polyfnonam at once that the main force of the Romans has come out of the camp and invite them to participate in the battle." ”

…………………………………

After guessing the intentions of the Dionians, Camillus did not hesitate and immediately gathered nine thousand heavy infantry, leaving only more than 3,000 men to defend the camp.

Originally, Frius asked to lead the troops and let the elderly Camillus guard the camp.

However, Camillus refused, he sent troops only to save the soldiers who had been blocked, and had no intention of fighting the Dionians to the death, but if the young and vigorous Frius led the army, it was likely to lead such an outcome.

Camillus led a squadron of more than 70 Roman heavy infantry to the west, as he knew that Dionia's army would also be coming in this direction, and he had to pick up the trapped soldiers as quickly as possible before returning to the camp quickly.

Camillus didn't know much about the Dionian army, and he had the impression that the surrounding forces and even the Greeks in Campania were fighting in the form of bloated phalanxes, except for the Roman army that he led the restructuring because of the squadron as the main force of the battle, whether it was a formation or a battle, it became more flexible, so he thought that even if the Dionian army arrived, it would be necessary to rearrange the formation, and he would have plenty of time to organize a retreat.

By the time Camillus arrived at the position of the battlefield, the 7th and 8th Battalions and cavalry of Dioonia had already retreated on their own initiative, and he was shocked by the sight before him: the ground was covered with dead bodies, dead horses, and groaning and struggling wounded soldiers, and nearly a third of the nearly 3,000 men (cavalry and light infantry) who had been ordered to come to the rescue had been lost, and the living soldiers were disheveled and depressed, some of them had blue noses and swollen faces, and their heads were bleeding......

Through the brief account of the trapped officer Commius, Camillus learned about the whole battle, and could not help but be amazed by the lethality of the Dionian light infantry and cavalry, and the close cooperation between them.

This is a well-trained army! Camillus had set a label for the Dionians in his heart, so he urged his soldiers to take the wounded and retreat immediately.

"What about our citizens who died in battle?" The light infantry generals from the allies demanded that the corpses be brought back as well.

Camillus, who has always loved soldiers like children, hardened his heart at this moment and said: "Put it here for the time being, and then deal with it later." Now we must hurry up and return immediately! ”

The allied generals were dissatisfied with this decision and wanted to say more.

At this time, the scout cavalry hurriedly came: "Officer Camillus, there are about six or seven thousand black soldiers attacking from the south!" ”

Camillus's heart tightened, and he galloped out of the ranks (according to Roman military tradition, Roman generals had to walk like soldiers, to show that there was no difference between the two, and that they shared weal and woe, but Camillus was too old and had limited physical strength, so the Roman Senate granted him permission to ride a horse......

Judging by his experience, the enemy was already a mile away.

He immediately returned to the ranks and gave the order: "Line up according to the array before the enemy and start retreating!" ”

The array he spoke of before receiving the enemy was a small square formation of 120 Roman squadrons arranged in a large formation in the shape of fish scales, because of the large intermittent between the squadrons, so the movement was flexible, and the retreat was relatively rapid, and once he could not retreat, he could switch to an offensive formation at any time. With a slight uneasiness in his heart, Camillus took this prudent approach.

However, how could the Dionian light infantry on the periphery allow the Romans to retreat easily, the slingers once again flicked the slings and threw lead pellets at the Romans, while the archers even boldly approached the outside of the Roman army and took a shooting pose......

Camillus had to move the Roman light infantry to this side as a defense.

But the Dionian cavalry galloped around the perimeter of the Roman army in formations and formations, and from time to time they burst inward to a distance of less than 20 meters from the Roman soldiers, posing as if they were about to assault.

Although the heralds sent by Camillus repeatedly warned the Roman soldiers not to heed the Dionians, the speed of the Roman soldiers was significantly disturbed.

At this time, the Dionian army was marching rapidly, approaching less than 300 meters according to the Roman army, and the Roman soldiers could already see the golden flags raised in the gray mist, and could hear the rhythmic sound of the snare drums, and the rows of black soldiers who seemed to be overwhelming pressed towards them with relatively orderly steps......

While the soldiers were attracted and shocked by the momentum of the Dionian army, Camillus was even more surprised, he found that the formation of the Dionian army was very similar to the tactical formation of the Roman army, which made him suddenly realize that the Dionians probably did not need to spend a lot of time to arrange the formation, they could attack him directly, and if he forcibly retreated here, he was likely to be pursued by the other party, resulting in confusion and a crushing defeat.