When the captain hissed and shouted "retreat", the light infantry quickly retreated backwards with relief, through the gap in the phalanx, to the rear. By this time, there were still about 700 of them, almost all of whom were wounded to some degree.

The Eighth Legion, 50 meters away from the Carthaginian army, slowed its advance and quickly transformed the checkerboard array into a tight phalanx.

The Balearic Slingers and Lusitanian Javelinmen also took the opportunity to withdraw from the small space between the two armies, and they suffered nearly 200 casualties, giving them a slight advantage.

When the soldiers of the 8th Legion saw the light infantry of the opposing side withdrawing, they slowed down their pace and drew their javelins at the same time to prepare in advance.

At this time, the Phoenician infantry on the opposite side, which was still stationary, suddenly began to stride forward under the orders of the officers, preparing to charge the Eighth Army.

This move by the Phoenus infantry disrupted the rhythm of the Eighth Legion's attack, and the soldiers had to charge and fight the enemy after throwing the first round of javelins.

………………………………………

Compared with the rapid advance of the right flank, the center and left flank of the Ionian coalition army are still slowly advancing, while the center and right flank of the Carthaginian army are still standing still, and even arranging formations, compared with the well-trained Phoenus infantry, both the Iberian infantry and the Lusitanian warriors seem to be a little sluggish, but fortunately there is Hasdruba in the formation on the right flank, under his loud shouts and command, the Iberians and Lusitarians on the right flank can't wait to advance after they are in formation.

Especially the Lusitarians on the far right, who run very fast.

At this time, the two sides were a hundred meters apart, and the left flank of the coalition army was still advancing unhurriedly, but the soldiers of Camanlina saw through the narrow eyeholes of the Corinthian helmet, and found that the other party had rushed to the front in the blink of an eye.

The strong power was transmitted to the body through the round shield, and if it were not for the thick array behind him as a support, the Kamanlina soldiers at the forefront would probably be knocked out. But even so, they were knocked to the ground and lost their best posture for defense.

Of course, the Lusitanian warrior would not let go of this great opportunity, and the sharp Fakata short sword in his hand stabbed fiercely.

The Kamanlina soldiers fell screaming one after another, and the soldiers who had resisted the attack were also terrified, and there was a trace of fear for the tall, burly, and vicious-looking enemies in front of them.

……………………………………

When the two sides in the center finally came closer, the battle between the Dionian coalition and the Carthaginian army had entered into a full-scale battle, and the battle between the two sides was completely in a large diagonal line, with the army in the north being the farther west and the army in the south being the farther east.

The front line that was more than three miles long was shrouded in dust and mist constantly stirred up by the soldiers fighting on both sides, and shouts, fights, and screams sounded everywhere...... In such a large and vast battlefield, Leotizides could not even spy on the leopard, and the only thing he could rely on was the scouts distributed in the rear of the battle array, who from time to time reported the battle situation of their position to Leotizides in the rear of the middle lane.

Are the soldiers advancing or retreating? Is it your own side that has more casualties or the opponent's more casualties? The former problem is easy to observe, while the latter is more dependent on the Rector's own judgment. The results of the scout's report were eventually recorded by Muqru on the wooden planks he carried, and he judged the outcome of the battle accordingly.

"Look, Commander," Mukru raised the plank to Leotizides with a serious expression, "This is the situation when the battle was first engaged!" This is the current situation! Our left flank had already retreated a lot, the middle was a little back, and the right flank of our Eighth Army Corps had not advanced much! ”

Leotizides stared at the wooden board full of data, in fact, he had heard everything reported by the scout, and he had a rough idea of what was going on, but the drawing on the board was more intuitive and clear.

Leotizides' already indifferent face became even more gloomy: it can be said that at the beginning of the battle, his mood was still relaxed, because his original plan was realized, and the Carthaginians did set up their formations in the same direction, and the two sides became a face-to-face battle of heavy infantry. He believed that with the super defensive strength of the Greek heavy infantry, he could form a long-term stalemate, thus consuming the physical strength of the opposing soldiers even more, which was conducive to the implementation of his next plan. What he never expected was that after only half an hour of fighting, the left flank was at a disadvantage.

He realized that he had taken this Carthaginian army very seriously, but the enemy still behaved beyond his expectations.

"Let the cavalry legions attack." He pondered for a moment and gave the order.

Mukru was slightly shocked in his heart, he knew that the original battle plan was not like this, but after a long time of fighting between the two sides, both sides were a little tired, and even the Eighth Army on the right flank still had a clear upper hand, and the attack of the 4th Cavalry Army would be the last step to establish victory, and now it was used early.

Of course, Muqru did not dissuade, he knew that now the situation was slightly unfavorable for the coalition forces.

"Wait a minute." Leotizides hesitated for a moment, and said decisively again: "Let the light armor brigade and the light infantry brigade follow the cavalry and attack the flank of the Carthaginians on the left flank together!" ”

Mukru was stunned for a moment, and this time he couldn't help but remind: "Your Excellency, the Light Armor Brigade is our only reserve!" ”

"The Carthaginians had slingers, and they were a great threat to the cavalry." Leotizides said calmly: "The reserve team is used at a critical time, and now it has reached a critical moment. ”

Muqru did not speak again, and when he sent heralds to inform the three forces, he felt a little uneasy, after all, Leotizides had put his few winning chips on the left flank of the Carthaginians, and since then he had lost the ability to interfere in the whole battle.

The 4th Cavalry Regiment and friendly cavalry, which had been waiting in the rear of the right flank for half an hour, were already impatient, so after receiving the order to attack, the commander of the regiment took the lead, followed by the other cavalry, and the 1,000 cavalry of the 4th Cavalry Regiment formed a long column of 4 cavalry, followed by 300 friendly cavalry.

The 4th Cavalry Legion of Dionyas is the weakest of the four cavalry legions of the kingdom, and in the territory of Greater Greece, Bruti, Mesapi, and Puchetti are all considered to be good at raising horses, and have the ability to provide cavalry, while Sicilian territory does not have such conditions. And raising war horses is different from ordinary horses, it not only needs a lot of forage, but also needs rich legumes, in order to ensure that there is enough strength to carry the cavalry, and at the same time frequently control the war horses, whether in battle, or training horses are very susceptible to injury, so often the cavalry family to raise at least two, in order to basically ensure the needs of training and combat. It can be seen that raising war horses is a great burden even for the wealthy citizens of Dionya and those who specialize in breeding, buying and selling horses.

There was no tradition of horse breeding in the Sicilian Territory, and most of the people in these territories were exiles who had been persecuted by Syracuse many times, and there were not many wealthy people, and the 4th Cavalry Regiment was first established with very few registered citizens. After years of development, the life of the people of the Sicilian territory has greatly improved, and the Senate of the Kingdom has passed many preferential bills for citizens who become cavalry, such as the families of cavalrymen do not have to pay land tax, and the Ministry of Military Affairs pays a certain amount of subsidies to each cavalryman every month...... It can be said that the cavalry was the only one of the branches of the Dionian army that received a fixed salary. Stimulated by these favorable factors, the number of the 4th Cavalry Regiment was just over 1,000, which was far from full.

All these years, the 4th Cavalry Regiment spent time in the barracks and had not yet experienced a war. And from the beginning of this war to the present, they only played a supporting role, did not make great achievements, and the cavalry were eager to prove themselves, so they bypassed the right flank of the army formation and pulled out a long arc a few hundred meters behind the enemy's left flank, the corps commander Assitmis, under the influence of the extremely high belligerence of the soldiers around him, deliberately ignored Leotizides's advice, and did not wait for the arrival of the light armor brigade and the light infantry brigade in place, but decided to attack tentatively first.

After the cavalry got the order to attack, they began to harness their horses, jogging in small steps, but before the speed was raised, they were first attacked by the flying stones of the Balearic slingers, even if the distance was hundreds of meters away, the flying stones of the Balearic people still had considerable accuracy, and they deliberately focused on the horses, compared with the cavalry of leather helmets and leather armor, the sensitive animal of the war horse was hit by a lead shot, and immediately screamed and jumped, leaving the soldiers on the horse, and running around in panic.

For a while, the neighing of horses was everywhere, and the cavalrymen who fell to the ground were in a hurry to catch up with their horses, the scene was chaotic, and the attack was forced to be aborted.

Assemis finally regrouped the cavalry, and after a rough count, he lost more than 90 cavalry, which reached 1/10 of the number of the legion, and he couldn't help but feel heartache, and he didn't dare to act rashly, but waited for the arrival of helpers.

More than 10 minutes later, two brigades arrived.

While the cavalry waited, the cavalry was not idle, and Assemis sent a small squad of cavalry to investigate, and after paying some casualties, brought back a general arrangement of the Carthaginians in the rear of the left flank: the enemy's slingers formed a loose line array at a distance of a hundred meters from the enemy battle formation, facing the 4th Cavalry Corps; In front of them were a few hundred javelinmen, as well as a few hundred alien light infantry guards (since the Celts were mostly shirtless and unarmoured, the Dionian cavalry considered them light infantry......