Did you break through? Philadelphius: They arrived?! Milon, who couldn't wait to go ashore with the soldiers, felt a burst of excitement in his heart. But after a while, the troops stopped advancing, and then they were forced to retreat little by little......

"Hold on, soldiers! If you work harder, the enemy is dying! Knowing that his shouts would not have much effect, he couldn't help but shout loudly to arouse their fighting spirit.

But Crotone's army never managed to move forward. At the forefront of the Dionian army, which had completed the transformation of the array, was the soldiers of the original second line who had been newly replaced, and their physical strength was quite abundant, which made up for their lack of experience in heavy infantry, while the soldiers of Crotone, who were fighting against them, were exhausted after fighting for more than three hours, and they were still struggling to protect themselves, and the attack was naturally powerless.

While they were struggling to hold on, the Crotone light infantry, which had retreated to the other side of the Trionto River, was suddenly shouted in alarm: "Enemy! The enemy is coming!! ……”

Although Milon at the back of the center of the phalanx couldn't hear what they were shouting clearly, the frightened voice made him subconsciously turn his head to look back, and he was stunned: he saw hundreds of cavalry on the river beach behind him pounce like wolves on the panicked Crotone light infantry, and behind the cavalry were countless unarmored soldiers, who quickly scattered in formation, stretched out their bows and arrows, and held javelins, aiming in their own direction. Where did so many enemies come from?! What about Philadelfoss and his troops?!! …… At this moment, countless thoughts flashed through his frightened mind, and in the end, there was only one sentence in his heart: We have lost!!

In fact, not only did he see the scene on the river bank in the rear, but also many of the Crotone soldiers, and the Dionian scouts standing on the opposite bank also saw it!! ”

The trumpet of the attacking army sounded, and the same trumpet sounded on the other side. Just as the Dionian heavy infantry began to attack bravely, nearly 6,000 Dionian light infantry made up of freedmen fired the first round of arrows, the first round of flying stones, and the first round of javelins at the rear of the soldiers on the right flank of Crotone......

In front of the heavy infantry who were still fierce after a long battle, with the cold river under their feet, and the arrows and javelins that were not fired to take their lives from the rear, the exhausted Crotone soldiers could no longer hold on, first the right flank retreated, then the center, then the left flank, Crotone's line of more than two miles long and more than a dozen columns thick was like an avalanche, quickly routed, the soldiers rushed to the south bank, and the freedmen's non-stop long-range fire attacks accelerated their retreat, And the charge of the Dionian heavy infantry took advantage of the situation to make this large-scale rout even more chaotic, and nearly 20,000 men were caught in two flanks, what kind of tragedy was it to cross the river and retreat?

Zantiparis, who had witnessed the whole passage on the south bank, could not bear to look back on the defeat of Crotone when he later told Ansitanos, who wrote the History of the Great Greece, that he recalled: "...... The people of Crotone shouted in terror, 'Run for your life!' We're defeated! ......' the sound of our bugles even drowned out the sound of our bugles, and they ran desperately to the south bank, pushing each other, and even the Crotonens, who were behind and being pursued by our soldiers, frantically knocked down those in front of them with shields and stabbed with spears in order to flee for their lives...... Alas...... The Trionto River is not deep, but almost no one who falls into the river can get up again, because once they fall, not only will there be no one to support them, but because of the heavy equipment on their bodies and the constant collision of others, they will eventually drown in the river...... In fact, neither the pursuit of the heavy infantry nor the casualties of our light infantry from a long-range attack could compensate for the damage inflicted on the Crotone by the river...... That must be Poseidon's wrath! I can't help but think of the time when the expeditionary force fought the Persians on the Kentrite River...... Alas, when the battle was over, when I returned, I saw that the Tricoin River was covered with the corpses of the Crotone, as if it had even been cut off, and it was a numbing scalp! It is said that more than 3,500 bodies were later recovered, not counting the ...... that drifted into the sea."

………………………

The Crotone soldiers, who fled back to the south bank, had no time to breathe at all. Although the Dionian heavy infantry was tired, at the urging of Davers, they were still attacking, and continued to put psychological pressure on the rout; The large number of free folk light infantry, who were not burdened by heavy armor, were the main force of pursuit, and they swooped up from the flank, and almost the entire right flank of Crotone was dumpled, and the Crotone, who had lost their fighting spirit, surrendered one after another in a desperate situation where they were blocked in front and pursued behind.

After handing over these prisoners to the heavy infantry, the light infantry continued their pursuit.

At this time, the cavalry became the main force of pursuit, and nearly three hundred cavalry spread out under the leadership of Ryders, crushing the routs back and forth, and the Crotone people were either knocked down by the running horses and could not afford to be injured, or were forced to change the escape route, and were finally captured by the light infantry who caught up.

The fleeing Crotone soldiers were in a state of turmoil along the way, and eventually collapsed on the road due to exhaustion, or, like the soldiers of Tratus, who had already been captured once, saw that there was no hope of escape, and simply crouched down and surrendered...... Eventually, the Dionian light infantry was all engaged in escorting the prisoners.

Eventually, the Crotone escaped into the swamp, and many of them panicked into the danger zone. The Dionian cavalry also followed into the swamp, but because of the unfamiliar terrain, many horses got stuck in the mud, and because the sky was getting dark, they finally had to abandon the pursuit.

The battle that would decide the fate of Dionia and Crotone came to an end.

The Crotone side threw in about 27,000 men, 7,000 casualties (because of the defeat, it was almost impossible for the wounded soldiers to escape), about 12,000 were taken prisoner, 8,000 fled the battlefield, less than 5,000 actually fled back to Crimesa, more than 3,000 were lost in the forests and swamps, some managed to escape after a few days, and some never came out again. Milon was desperately protected by the guards and managed to escape back to Crimesa.

The Dionian side also invested about 24,000 men, but in the end only more than 4,000 casualties were lost, and it was a brilliant victory.

…………………

On this day, Amicles, the chief general of Castron, has been paying close attention to the development of the entire battle situation with anxiety, in order to ensure that the firepower of the Dionian light infantry is sufficient, Davers has asked Castron City to provide enough arrows and javelins, so Amicrocles is also responsible for organizing the battlefield and transporting army materials. When Crotone's forces marching downstream were annihilated, he was informed even earlier than Davers, and he excitedly told the councillors of the Castellon council that Dionia's victory was decided.

Everyone will be skeptical, after all, Crotone has been strong in Greater Greece for many years, the city-states have been afraid of it, and its main force is not damaged, who knows if it will make a comeback.

It wasn't until an hour later that countless corpses floated down the upper reaches of the Trionto River, attracting the entire city to watch the harbor, and the guards checked them one by one, confirming that they were all from Crotone. When the news broke, the restless hearts of the people of Castron finally fell: there was no doubt that the Dionian Union had won! Our Dionian League has won!!

As cheers rang through the city, the shadow of Crotone's threat in the hearts of the people of Castron was finally removed. The generals and council members looked at each other and smiled with satisfaction: they had endured the threat of the Crotonens, and the decision to risk their support for Dionya was correct!

By the time Davers returned to Castelon with his army, the city was lit up by candles. Amicles led the council members and the people out of the city to greet them, and to the surprise of Davers, he hurriedly dismounted and walked.

"Wan Sheng, Dionian League!! The crowd erupted in a landslide and tsunami-like cheers, which were deafening.

"Congratulations, Master Davers! It's unbelievable that you've had a brilliant victory!! Amicles congratulated Davers from the bottom of his heart.

"It's all thanks to Hades! And you, the people of Castron, with all their help! Davers replied modestly.

"After the defeat of this battle, Crotone may not be able to attack again." Amicles tactfully wondered what Davers was going to do next.

Davers, of course, heard the meaning of his words, and smiled slightly: "If the wounded lion doesn't take the opportunity to hunt it, will it wait for it to recover before coming to take revenge!" Tomorrow we will attack Crimesa, take it, and then go straight to Crotone! ”

Amicles breathed a sigh of relief and reminded, "I think Crotone may ask for peace talks in order to release these captives, as he did last time. ”

"Peace talks?" Davos sneered a few times, looking at the twelve thousand captives who were escorted past him, he initially wanted to force these captives to be the vanguard tomorrow, attack Crimesa, and even attack Crotone, thinking that the Crotone people would inevitably shrink in the face of the attack of their own compatriots, so that Dionya could easily capture these two cities, which was one of the common tactics used by the Mongols and Jurchens to seize the world.

However, Davers, who had been living in this era for a year and a half, thought about it and chose to give up. Because he knew that the Greeks of this era still retained some of the characteristics of the ancient era, respecting heroes, advocating strength, and liking frontal fighting. Killing an enemy in battle is understandable, but using captives to siege a city and gain victory is undoubtedly chilling and despicable. So in previous city-state wars, no one had ever done it.