"No, Printors, you are not only a good staff officer, you are also a good commander! The reason why I say so much is that I hope to get your approval and help me win this battle! Alexis said sincerely.

Printors was stunned for a moment, then looked ahead, and after a moment said, "Commander, you see...... The Carthaginians seemed to be stretching the array, so that their wings could extend beyond the valley floor and close to the mountains, which limited the might of the Numibian cavalry. Since the Carthaginians are desperate for a decisive battle with us, can we just ask them to go to the front and stay away from the mountains? ”

Alexis's eyes lit up and he smiled: "It's a good idea, let's try to command the Carthaginian army as well." ”

As soon as he said it, he selected a Carthaginian-speaking soldier from the convoy and made him an emissary, and went to meet the commander of the Carthaginian army and made this request to him.

Ten minutes later, the soldiers returned safely and relayed the words of the Carthaginian commander Samores: he agreed to move the army forward.

In fact, Samours was not angry when he heard the request of the Dionian envoy, but was a little happy, because he led his army out of the city to line up, which was to attract the Dionian army and engage in battle, and if the Dionian army did not pay any attention to it, all he had done would be in vain, and now the Dionians' request showed that they had the will to fight, and in order to achieve this goal, it was acceptable to give up even a little tactical advantage for the time being.

By the time Samours ordered the entire array to move eastward, Alexis had already returned to the camp, and he summoned Amintas, Matonis, and Lizarus to give them the order to engage in a battle with the Carthaginian army, to which the three commanders were excited.

Alexis then said solemnly: "Amyntas, Matonis, Lizaru, please go and tell the soldiers of the Legion that this may be the last battle in this long war, and that the Carthaginians will fight to the death to defend their homeland!" If the kingdom wins, they will win the supreme honor! If we fail, we will all have no way back! The outcome of the battle will ultimately depend on whether they give their best! ”

Amintas immediately said confidently: "Don't worry, the soldiers of the First Legion have been through a hundred battles and don't need us to be mobilized, they know what to do when and when."

The same opinion was expressed by Matonis and Lizaru.

Before landing in Africa, the three legions had experienced battles and casualties, especially the First Legion defended Selinus, the casualties were close to a quarter of the total number of the legions, and it was difficult to exert combat effectiveness without replenishment, but it was undoubtedly too long to draw reserve soldiers from Turiyi, so Davost allowed the three legions to draw soldiers from other legions to make up the establishment.

The three legion commanders took Davers's order, and excitedly went to each legion to draw elite soldiers, except for the fourth legion, the other legion commanders actively cooperated, after all, most of the officers and soldiers under his command were eager to go to Africa to make new contributions and win honors. Therefore, the three legions, which were almost fully formed at this time, were much stronger in terms of experience and combat effectiveness than at the beginning of the war, which gave Amintas enough self-confidence.

On February 6, 378 B.C. (16th year of the Dionian kingdom), the weather in the area of Ardis and Hadru Mentum was clear, and although it was still winter, the noon weather in this seaside area was breezy and suitable for travel, and the armies of Dioonia and Carthage set up battle here.

The Carthaginian army consisted of 6,000 Carthaginian heavy infantry, 4,000 Carthaginian Holy Legion infantry, 2,500 Carthaginian light armor, 1,500 Carthaginian light infantry, 600 Holy Legion cavalry, and 3,000 newly added Carthaginian reinforcements of old men and boys, plus 6,200 Phoenician reinforcements (including 3,000 heavy infantry, 1,000 light armor, 2,000 light infantry, and 200 cavalry), for a total strength of 23,800 soldiers.

The Dionian army consisted of three legions and the Sinumbian cavalry, of which the Dionian Legion consisted of 18,000 heavy infantry, 3,000 light infantry, 3,000 light armor, and 2,500 Sinumbian cavalry, for a total of 26,500 soldiers.

The Carthaginian army had already lined up in formation, and later, after observing the formation of the Dionian army, Samours made some adjustments, and the final formation was as follows: 4,000 Holy Legion soldiers were in the front in the middle, and 3,000 new reinforcements composed of old men and young men were arranged in the rear; 6,000 Carthaginian heavy infantry on the left flank, and 600 Holy Legion cavalry on the periphery of the left flank; 3,000 Phoenician heavy infantry in the front of the right flank, 2,500 light armor in the rear, and 200 Phoenician cavalry on the periphery of the right flank. In addition, Samors placed 4,500 light infantry in the rear of the array on average.

If the Carthaginian formation was relatively balanced on the left, center, and right, and the left flank was relatively strong, the left, center, and right forces of the Dionian array were exactly the same: the first army was in the center, the second army was on the left flank, and the third army was on the right flank, and the 2,500 Sinumbian cavalry were evenly distributed on the periphery of the two flanks, leaving only 3,000 light armor soldiers as a reserve.

There is nothing surprising about the formation of the two sides, that is, the most common formation of heavy infantry battles in the early years of the Greek city-states, even in today's war-torn Greece itself, is becoming more and more rare, but such a mediocre formation battle will determine the rise and fall of a city-state with a once glorious history.

The soldiers on both sides seemed to realize the importance of this battle, they stopped all the noise, and stood quietly, the dust and fog that had been stirred up before gradually dissipated, and the soldiers could clearly see the faces of their opponents hundreds of meters away.

In this wide, flat brownish-yellow land, the array of Carthaginian and Dionian armies formed for miles was like two parallel lines, one black and one white, and the contrast between black and white was so stark that it was like day and night, and it was destined to not coexist.

"Uh!! ......" the trumpets sounded, and the Dionian army attacked first, and the slingers, javelinmen, and archers rushed through the checkerboard formation like flowing water and rushed towards the Carthaginian army.

The Carthaginian army then blew the trumpets of the attacking army as well, but instead of letting the light infantry advance out of the formation against the Dionian light infantry, the whole formation accelerated.

By the time the Dionian light infantry had just burst out of the array, the East Numibian cavalry on both flanks had already approached the array on both flanks of Carthage.

However, the cavalry in the Carthaginian array did not attack, but withdrew further to the rear, after all, the Carthaginians had dealt with the Sinumbian cavalry too much and knew its characteristics.

As the Senumipian cavalry continued to approach and began to prepare to shoot arrows, the light infantry archers at the rear of the Carthaginian array, relying on the long range of their rifles, began to rain arrows at the Sinumbian cavalry on both flanks.

At the same time, the lead pellets thrown by the slingers of the 1st Dionian Army had already flown over the Carthaginian army......

Arrows, javelins, and lead pellets continued to fly into the Carthaginian array, and the screams continued, but the Carthaginian soldiers were unmoved, and they charged forward with determination, and soon fought with the Dionian soldiers.

The spear was broken, the shield was shattered, the flesh and blood were flying, and the sound of killing shook the sky......

On the one hand, there is the rising new power of the Western Mediterranean, and the soldiers are well-trained elites, with passion and pride, vowing to win more glorious glory; On the other side is the old power with a centuries-old history, the pride and glory of which are a thing of the past, but now that the enemy is invading, the soldiers have only one thought in their hearts, "defend their homeland and drive out the enemy", for which they are not afraid of sacrifice.

Thus, despite the superiority of the Dionian army in terms of strength, it was also stronger than the other side in terms of the quality of the soldiers, more efficient than the other side in terms of army organization, and more tacit than the other side in the cooperation of the soldiers...... However, after more than two hours of fighting, the entire Carthaginian front retreated from before, but the two sides remained largely evenly balanced.

Even the Carthaginians had the upper hand in cavalry. Samours used light infantry to fight against the Sinumbian cavalry, and after a long battle, the Sinumbian cavalry was tired of horses and arrows, and they never had a direct confrontation with the enemy, so it can be said that they had basically lost their combat effectiveness.

At this time, Samors sent out the Holy Legion cavalry and the Phoenician cavalry, which had been recuperating in the rear, and asked them to join forces and attack the flank of Dionia's left flank.

Alexis had to send three thousand light armor as reserves to the left flank to eliminate the threat.

Knowing that the attack of the cavalry unit was contained by the enemy, and seeing that the soldiers who had been fighting for a long time were already sweating and exhausted, the whole front was slowly retreating...... Samors's worries grew.

He had never fought against the Dionian army until then, and spent most of his military command career conquering and suppressing the Numibians, without defeat. Although he had heard a lot of terrible claims about the strength of the Dionian army, he did not think too much, and based on what he had learned about the war, he believed that the main reason why Carthage was facing the current predicament in this war was that the strength of the Dionian navy caused the Carthaginian navy to suffer a series of crushing defeats, and in terms of land forces, the strength of the two sides should not be much different.

Because in Samors's view, the real test of the Army's combat effectiveness is to conduct a battle, and there are not many battles in this war.