Moreover, Leotizides considered that there were many older citizens among Gera's soldiers (the Geralians were pouring out this time to defend their homeland), and deliberately thickened the array so that it could not be easily attacked by the enemy.

At the same time, taking into account the weakness of the Greek heavy infantry, which was vulnerable to attack on the flanks and prone to rout, Leotizides moved his left flank closer to the coast, thus preventing the Carthaginians from making a detour from the left and attacking the flanks and rear of the friendly forces.

In addition, he thickened the array for the purpose of shortening the length of the battle array, because although the land to the west of Gera was flat, it was not wide, only 7-8 miles from the coast to the mountains, and Leotizides needed to leave enough space outside the right flank for the cavalry to gallop, because he fixed the victory of the Dionian coalition on the right flank, because there was the 8th legion that he trusted. There were also 1,300 cavalry (1,000 cavalry from the 4th Cavalry Regiment plus 300 cavalry from Gera and Kamanlina) who could attack at any time around the opposite Carthaginian flank. He learned from Gerala that no cavalry had been found in the Carthaginian army that had come to attack the city, and the Dionian scouts had confirmed the news in the past two days.

After thinking about it carefully, he figured out why, so he dared to want to fight the Carthaginians so quickly, and cavalry was his greatest dependence.

Leotizides and his lieutenant Mukru rode at the front of the formation, watching the Carthaginians on the opposite side, and the scouts were ready to report to him on the entire formation of the Carthaginian army.

Although the Dionian intelligence service did not collect much intelligence on the Carthaginian army in Iberia (this was because Carthage, in order to protect the source of its precious metal mines, clearly stated in the previous peace agreement with Dionya that "Ionian merchant ships were not allowed to trade in the Carthaginian territory of Iberia", and Marco also had strict control over its territory and was full of vigilance against outsiders, and it was quite difficult for Dionian intelligence officers to enter the southern part of Iberia, to which Carthage belonged), Leotizides still had a rough idea: the Phoenician and Numibian infantrymen wore pointed helmets, white linen cuirasses, chain mail, and spears and shields; Wearing flat helmets, white undershirts with purple trim, coats and armor, and holding long shields and short swords were Iberian infantrymen; And the soldiers in black robes, armor, and long shields and short swords, who are also armed with long shields and short swords, may be the rumored Lusitanian warriors......

After a general understanding of the Carthaginian army's formation, Leotizides breathed a sigh of relief in his heart, turned to Mukru and said: "It seems that the Carthaginians are really worried about the attack power of our legionnaires, and specially put their main force in Iberia on the left flank, so that it will ...... We lined up first, and the purpose of using the Eighth Army to attract the main force of the opponent and reduce the pressure on the soldiers of friendly countries was achieved. ”

The reason why he said this was because Muqru had previously reminded him that it was best not to preemptively set up the enemy before he arrived, because the Dionian Military Law mentioned that it was best not to let the enemy know the deployment of his array before the battle, so as not to give him the opportunity to make targeted arrangements.

At this time, Muqru did not blindly agree, he reminded: "Commander, the Carthaginians have placed those Lusitanians on their right flank!" ”

"It was rumored that the Mesapi were fierce, the Lucanians were fierce, and the Samonai were fierce...... But they didn't pose much of a threat to Dionia, and now that the Lusitanians are rumored to be fierce, I don't think we should blindly listen to these rumors and see how the battle went. Leotizides had a hint of disdain in his calm tone, and he reminded Mukru in turn: "The greatest advantage of the Greek hoplites is that their frontal defense is very strong, and their attack is not weak, which is precisely where our coalition forces are superior to each other except for cavalry, so as long as it is a frontal battle, we will not be at a disadvantage." ”

At this time, the herald of the Eighth Legion arrived and reported to him that the Legion had finished arraying.

Leotizides immediately looked back to the left, and the noise was still continuous, and he couldn't help but be a little dissatisfied: "Send someone to urge the Gera and the Camanlinas at once, and speed up the formation!" ”

With that, he turned his horse's head, passed through the gap in the formation, and returned to the rear of the center.

"Woo! ......" More than ten minutes later, the Dionian coalition sounded the horn of the attack.

The entire formation began to move forward slowly, and the fastest was the light infantry brigade of the Eighth Legion, which passed through the gap in the checkerboard formation of the Eighth Legion and rushed to the enemy opposite in a loose formation, and they wanted to deliver the first wave of the enemy blow with bows and javelins, disrupting the enemy's formation and laying the groundwork for the victory of the next heavy infantry attack.

Hasdruba and Kisgow had learned about Dionia's past war advantages, and naturally knew about Dionia's set of heavy infantry tactics, and when they saw the Black Helmets and Black Armor Eighth Army on the opposite side of their left flank, they were on guard, so when the Light Infantry Brigade of the Eighth Army rushed out of the formation, Kisgow also correspondingly let the army that had been waiting behind the left flank be dispatched.

The army numbered about 1,700 men, 500 of whom were Lusitanian javelinmen dressed in black robes, armed with hooked javelins that were difficult to pull out after being stabbed in the human body, so the Lusitanian javelinmen were very interesting in Iberia.

Behind them, the 1,200 soldiers, dressed in white monoliths, with a heavy cloth bag tied around their waists, hung a dagger, wore no helmets or armor, and were even barefoot, except for a sling woven from a mixture of wool and linen...... Yes, they are slingers, slingers from the Balearic Islands.

The Balearic Islands are a series of islands in the western Mediterranean near the east coast of the Iberian Peninsula, and the inhabitants of the islands have a long tradition of training slingers, and the children are trained as soldiers from an early age, and their mother does not even give bread to the child at first, until he hits a distant target with a sling for the first time. The resource-starved and barren Balearic people defended the island with a large number of cheap slingers, and the highly skilled inhabitants often used this skill to obtain meat and improve their lives, such as using slings to hunt birds.

Marco occupied the southern (and mainly southeast) of Iberia, which borders the Balearic Islands, and he won the allegiance of the Balearic people by providing them with sufficient food, and the Balearic slingers played no small role in the conquest of Iberia. On this expedition to Sicily, Marco brought with him 1,500 Balearic slurs.

As soon as the Balearic had stepped out of the formation, they stopped their advance, and put their hands into the sack around their waists, which was divided into three compartments, and where the three types of lead were placed, they took the lightest lead shot, put it in the cloth pocket of the sling, and began to wave it.

Since the Dionian coalition had just begun to advance, and the light infantry brigade of the Eighth Army was still more than 400 meters away from the enemy on the opposite side after rushing out of the formation, they were advancing rapidly, and the formation had not yet completely dispersed, when they suddenly saw a dark cloud flying in the sky diagonally ahead.

"Watch out for the flying stones! Take care to protect your head! The captain of the light infantry group shouted loudly, and his face changed a little.

Under the reminder of the officers, the light infantry, who had never been attacked by the slingers, lowered their heads and clasped their necks with their hands. The Dionian light infantry, though dressed in single clothing, were equipped with leather helmets, and when the lead pellets fell, there was a snort, but there were few casualties.

"Speed up! Approach the enemy! Under the reminder of the officers, the light infantry, who had been beaten by the flying stones, accelerated their advance.

In the process, they were subjected to several more rounds of lead shots, and due to the closer distance, the Balearic slingers had already changed the small lead shot first to the medium and finally to the large one.

Since the Lusitanian javelinmen had already rushed forward, and the Dionian light infantry were of course about to attack, it was no longer possible to cover their faces with both hands, which caused their injuries to skyrocket, especially the archers, who were the main targets of the Balearic slingers due to their long range.

Archery is a delicate exercise that requires a lot of physical strength, and it requires most of the muscles in the body of the archer to work together to pull the bowstring and shoot precise and powerful arrows, and even if the lead shot does not hit the head and hurts the muscles and tendons in other parts of the body, it will seriously affect the archer's combat effectiveness.

There are slingers in the Carthaginians on the opposite side?! Leotizides listened to the urgent report of the scout, and his heart was slightly shocked.

"Commander, this may be the Balearic slinger mentioned in the intelligence!" Mukru reminded.

The Ministry of War has previously had information that "Marco's Numibian army had the Balearic slingers". But this time, after the army led by Margo landed in Sicily, it was not used in the siege of Selinus, the sneak attack on the Sikers, Enna, or Gera, so Leotizides ignored its existence for a while.

At this time, he immediately gave the order: "Let the trumpeters blow the trumpet to accelerate the advance on the right flank, and let the soldiers of the Eighth Legion engage the enemy as soon as possible, so as not to be disturbed by the slingers in our formation!" ”

The trumpets of ......the Eighth Army Corps at all levels, hearing the sound, immediately instructed the company and brigade flag bearers to wave the flags held high forward frequently, and the soldiers on the entire right flank gradually accelerated the speed of their advance.

The light infantry brigade was at a disadvantage in the long-range contest with the opposing side, but they were still gritting their teeth for support, and as a member of the entire legion, the light infantry officers knew very well that they had to buy time for their heavy infantry comrades in the rear, and could not let the opposing slingers free their hands to attack the phalanx of the legion at will.