Martonis cursed the timid Crotone, and reluctantly let some of the soldiers participate in the construction of the bridge.

The Wembrian River was not too wide or too deep, and with plenty of labor, and seeing that the soldiers on both sides of the river, under the command of the engineers, were about to complete the construction of a wooden bridge in accordance with the steps of the Code of Martial, Matonis received a report from the scouts: about 8,000 Crotone light infantry were attacking him!

His listless face suddenly had a spirit: "Brothers, get up for me, there is a battle!" ”

What kind of people bring what kind of soldiers. The soldiers who had been lying down and resting immediately turned over and stood up, put on their equipment, quickly approached the earthen ramparts, and looked out with excitement, while the soldiers who were building the bridge also rushed back quickly when they heard the news.

It wasn't long before they saw the Crotone.

……………………

After Milon fled back to Crimesa, he specifically questioned the few surviving soldiers under Phila Defos, and came to an astonishing conclusion: Phila Defus's army was actually defeated by Dionia's light infantry! And now he has the conditions of less heavy infantry and more light infantry, and it is also his decision to learn the enemy's tactics. He even had part of the sailors of the fleet docked in the port of Crimesa join the expedition.

8,000 men came ashore from the south bank of the mouth of the Wembria, and under his leadership, they marched along the Wembria River to the south bank garrison of Dionia.

Seeing the ditches and earthen walls built by the Dionians, Milon laughed instead: the Dioonians tied their own hands and feet, which was more conducive to the attack of light infantry.

At a distance of two hundred meters from the Dionians, he spread his troops loosely and encircled the Dionia, a makeshift defensive camp in a semi-arc with its back to the Wembrian River.

At the sound of the order, the archers advanced to within 100 meters and began to throw arrows.

For the Ionian hoplites, who were protected by earthen walls, the rain of arrows in the sky seemed scary and did not hurt them much, they only had to rest their round shields against the wall and block their heads. The Dionian soldier also joked, "The people of Crotone must have known that we were running out of bows and arrows in the last battle, so they kindly sent us arrows." But this relaxed mood of the Dionian hoplites soon vanished.

The Krotone light infantry continued to move forward at a distance of about 50 meters, and the accuracy of the bow and arrow increased considerably.

Of course, the heavy infantry with Oria with round shields and earthen walls still did little damage.

However, when the Javelinmen of Crotone continued to advance to twenty or thirty meters, the Dionian hoplites felt the pressure. Of course, squatting behind the earthen wall will not suffer any damage at all, anyway, the enemies are light infantry, and they dare not fight them head-on. But when the shrunken turtle is not Matonis's style, not to mention that once they shrink to the earthen wall, they will not know the other party's movements at all, what if they bypass the defense line and go down to the river to burn the wooden bridge under construction?!

Mattonis is now the commander of the South Bank force, and he knows very well what his responsibilities are.

"Javelin!" He roared angrily, stood up from behind the earthen wall, quickly lowered the round shield, leaned back, did not run, and with only his waist and hand strength, the javelin in his hand was thrown more than 20 meters, piercing the chest of a Crotone javelinman, and then immediately crouched.

The Ionian soldiers, who had been suppressed by bows and arrows, received orders from Matonis and immediately began to counterattack, and countless javelins flew over the earthen walls and trenches, and pierced into the army formation of Crotone, splashing blood and spraying blood one after another. Arrows and javelins rained down on the Dionian hoplites, and casualties on both sides began to mount.

Milon was in front of the archers, watching the situation unfold, and he began to realize the benefits of attacking a simple heavy infantry with a large number of light infantry. Unfortunately, the Dionian hoplites were not traditional Greek hoplites, and their javelins inflicted heavy damage on Crotone's weakly defended javelinmen, as well as the difference in casualty ratios between the two sides.

But Miron thinks that the trade between a few light infantry for a heavy infantry is worth making, and there is no shortage of freeman sailors in Crotone, but citizens who serve as heavy infantry.

……………………

"Captain Epitenis, the enemy on the south bank is fierce! Captain Matonis wants your reinforcements! The herald brought a message from Mattonis.

"I see!" Epitenis frowned and responded, he thought for a moment and said, "Ampiolex! ”

"The subordinates are here!"

"I want you to lead the slingers and cross the river immediately to support Matonis!" Epitenis looked at the captain of his company of slingers and commanded, "Remember! Don't enter Martonis' camp, or the small camp will make it impossible for you to hide from the sheer number of light infantry in Crotone! Go around the perimeter of the enemy and attack the enemy with the slinger's long range! ”

"I understand, Captain!" Ampialex hurried to gather his soldiers.

The formation of the light infantry brigade (i.e., the seventh brigade) in the Dionian regiment was somewhat different from that of the heavy infantry. According to the provisions of the Military Law, the heavy infantry brigade has five companies, each with 200 people, with a total establishment of 1,000 people; The light infantry brigade, although the establishment is also 1,000 people, has only three companies, namely the slinger company, the archer company, and the javelin company, and the number of people under the jurisdiction of each company is uncertain.

This is because light infantry is more skilled than heavy infantry, javelinmen are better, and archers and slingers are difficult to become a qualified light infantry without long-term training, so the composition of the light infantry brigade of the Dionian Legion is often determined according to the actual situation in the area in which it is located. For example, the light infantry brigade of the First Legion, the number of the three arms is not much different, but its javelinmen are actually Thracian light shieldmen; The light infantry brigade of the Second Legion was mainly from the reserve citizens of Turii, most of whom were born from freemen and sailors, so there were more archers, and there were also some light shields; And the light infantry brigade of the 3rd Army was mainly from the Lucalians, so the javelinmen were the majority. Because the light infantry has a loose formation, is more flexible, and rarely comes into direct contact with the enemy, there are more and fewer light infantry units of various arms, and the impact on command and combat is not very great.

"Captain, Ampiolex has taken the slingers, will the Crotone warships anchored in the river see that our numbers have decreased, and take the opportunity to go up the river and destroy the wooden bridge we have just built......" Zeniyaris, the leader of the Light Shield Company, said worriedly.

"I really want them to come, even if we have few soldiers, I have the confidence to destroy them! Instead of being like now, we can neither attack nor retreat, let the wooden boats that stay there hold us back, and we can't go to reinforce our comrades on the other side! Epitenis said angrily.

"Since they don't come, let's just attack them!" A handsome young man, a guard beside Epitenis, interjected.

Epitenis slapped him lightly on the back of the head, and scolded with a smile: "Stupid, where the enemy's warships are moored, the riverbank is low, we have to go there to attack those warships, just like attacking the enemy on the city wall, our own losses are large, and the enemy's losses are small, this kind of battle that I know will suffer, what will I, Epitenes, do?!" ”

"Now that we are on the high ground on the riverbank, and there is a barrage on the river, the enemy knows that rowing here will be passively beaten, will they do such a stupid thing?!" The handsome guard asked rhetorically.

Epitenis was speechless for a moment, then nudged him with his hand again, and scolded with a smile: "Okay, you are very advanced now!" Then, he sighed helplessly: "It seems that we are running out of ships with the enemy, and the commander asked us to protect the wooden bridge, I thought it was a simple task, but now it seems that it is really a troublesome matter!" ”

…………………

At the time of the battle between Milon and Matonis, Davers had already received the news that Miron dared to attack with all light infantry, although Davers was surprised, but he did not have any worries: "Inform Ryders that his cavalry is temporarily under the command of the First Army." I'm sure Kapus will be able to push the enemy back soon! ”

The commander of the 1st Corps, authorized by Davers, immediately mobilized three heavy infantry brigades and cavalry and crossed the river with rapid steps, intending to go around the rear of the Crotone and cut off their retreat.

Unbeknownst to him, Milon learned that Dionia's reinforcements were coming, and in the case of gaining the advantage, he simply ordered a retreat.

This battle ended hastily. Of the 2,000 heavy infantry led by Matonis, 500 were killed or wounded. More than 700 of Milon's 8,000 people were killed or wounded, but the number of deaths was high. However, Matonis believed that he had suffered a loss, while Miron, believed that Crotone had won a small victory, because it had dealt a blow to the arrogance of the Dionians, and would have slowed down the construction of the camp and the siege of Crimesa.

But when Miron returned to the city, he immediately got bad news: a large army had arrived from the north and was entering the camp in Dionia.

That must be reinforcements from Niutum! Milon suddenly tensed.

…………………

In fact, not only 5,000 soldiers from Niutum but also 3,000 Allied Laos troops entered the Dionian barracks, bringing the number of Dionian front-line troops to 22,000.

The Dionian barracks, which was already high in morale, were now full of cheers......

Davos came out of the camp to greet Avinogis, the consul of Laos, and many other high-ranking officers, such as Bagul, the first captain of the Third Army, the adjutant Asistes, and the second captain Lizaru.

"Your Excellency, we're late!" Asistes saluted respectfully, then said apologetically.

"From Niutum to Crimesa in more than three days, is such a march still slow?!" After Davers returned the salute seriously, he praised with a smile on his face: "You have come at the right time, and the next battle will depend on you!" ”