"It's not there yet."

"Tell the front, slow down the march, and let Philadelphius make the momentum louder and attract the enemy's attention. And also...... Let Alissosis (Captain of the Crotone cavalry) withdraw the cavalry, and now that the situation is clear, don't waste our cavalry in vain! ”

"Yes!"

After giving the order, Milon's eyes fell on the woods ahead. It was a place that he was quite familiar with, for through it, farther west was the place where Melanthius's army had been attacked, from which Milon personally led thousands of corpses, both allied and Crotone, after the peace agreement with Dionya was signed...... That tragic scene he will never forget for a long time!

Milon tightened the reins: this time Crotone would wash away his shame and avenge them!

The troops came out of the woods, and in front of them was a flat, elevated wilderness where the Trionto River narrowed, making it impossible to wade through the water, which was why Melanthius camped here in the first place.

"Enemy! Look at the enemy!! "The soldiers near the river bank became agitated.

At the front of the line, on the other side of the Trionto River, a heavily armed Dionian team marched rapidly west along the riverbank.

It seems that the Dioonians have detected their movements and are preparing to prevent them from crossing the river. Miron was not too worried, although he could not see the whole picture of the enemy on the other side, but he felt that the number of the team was not too large, as stated in the secret letter, the vanguard sent by the Dioonians to Castelon was less than 4,000 men, and he had to defend against Philadfus, how many enemies were left to block his army from crossing the river in front!

The upper reaches of the Trionto River rush in a narrow valley between the mountains, until it rushes out of the gorge, but encounters a flat lowland, and it is like a child who has escaped from control and happily expands its territory to both sides, so that the river is thirty or forty meters wide, and at the same time, the flow of water is slowed down, the depth is reduced, and after flowing slowly for more than two miles, the river narrows and deepens again because of the elevation of the terrain......

At this moment, on the south bank of the Trionto River, Milon had lined up his 22,000 men (including 2,000 light infantry) in a column of ten columns thick, more than two miles long, covering the entire stretch of the river in a zigzag, for the enemy, who numbered only about 5,000 men on the opposite bank, had also set up an array as long as Crotone, but not only was it noticeably thin, but the formation was also very loose. Milon was convinced that even with the help of the Trionto River, the Ionian army, which was too small in manpower, would not be able to stop the advance of the Crotone army, and their thin front would inevitably be broken by the heavy Crotone army!

"Attack!" Millon, who was at the rear of the middle lane, gave orders to the commanders with pride.

The sound of high-pitched trumpets resounded on the quietly flowing Trionto River, and the two thousand men led by Milon at the rear of the middle road stood still, because he felt that his own forces were far superior to the enemy, and there was no need to throw them all into battle, and the whole phalanx began to move slowly towards the riverbank......

Colebus was one of the 20,000 soldiers, the last time he was captured by the Dionians, he had been under guard for half a year to build roads, he had suffered a lot, and his family owed a large debt to redeem him, this time he was called up by the city-state to fight against Dionyas again, in addition to a strong desire for revenge, he also hoped to defeat the Dionians, get a lot of booty, and pay off the debt. Instead of soft sand, the river beach here is covered with pebbles of various shapes and sizes, and the ground is hard but easy to stumble, so Kolebus walked slowly and steadily......

The Trionto River was ahead, and Colebus, who was in the forefront, saw through the eyes of the narrow Corinthian helmet that many people were rushing out of the enemy array on the opposite bank, and without waiting for the commander to warn him, he had quickly raised his round shield and blocked it in front of his chest.

"Ding!" The Dionian's arrows struck his brass shield with a piercing sound, but it could not be dampened, and his right foot was already in the river.

"Watch the top of your head!!" The shouts of the team officers echoed in the dense helmet, the voice was faint and distant, and he subconsciously looked up, only to see countless black dots in the air falling sharply.

"Damn, it's a projectile!" He hurriedly raised his shield to protect his head.

At this time, I heard the team officer shouting urgently: "Be careful ahead!!" ”

However, the heavily armored soldiers' hearing and eyesight were severely impaired, causing them to react more slowly than normal people, and many people were unable to take care of them quickly, including Kolebus. He felt like a light punch in his chest, and then a hint of pain, an arrow was piercing his left chest, it should have pierced through the layers of densely woven and glued linen breastplate, but the kinetic energy had been exhausted, the tip of the arrow had just touched his skin, and the experienced Colobs knew that it didn't hurt much.

However, the teammate next to him was shot in the thigh without armor protection, screaming and falling into the river, the blood was about to turn red, looking at the teammate struggling in the water, Kolebus wanted to help him, but he was more than capable of it, the cunning Dionian used both projectiles and direct shots to make them all take care of themselves, watching his teammates who finally stopped struggling floating on the river, Kolebus felt a little sad in his heart......

"Stride forward! Stride forward! ......" the officers screamed, urging the soldiers to speed up and cross the river.

The river was indeed not deep, just below the knees, but there were many pebbles at the bottom of the river, and it was a little slippery, so Kolebus and the others half-crouched down, blocking their heads and chests with a round shield, and the river water covered their legs, so the chance of being shot by a bow and arrow was greatly reduced, but the speed of progress could not be fast. After the initial panic, the soldiers gradually calmed down, slowly moving forward, while guarding against the arrows, and at the same time, in the process of advancing, readjusting the formation that had been somewhat chaotic just now.

Almost in the middle of the river, the depth of the water did not increase much, and even Colebus, who was on the right flank of the phalanx, did not feel the slightest impulse of the water because of the long array on the left to block the river. At this moment, he observed that some more men had rushed out of the enemy formation on the opposite bank, and they had almost run to the river, less than twenty meters away from them, and the tips of their spears gleamed in the sun...... Klebs's heart raced, and he instinctively sat down, submerging almost his entire body in the water.

"Watch out for the javelins!! ......The officers were noticeably louder, and that was because javelins were significantly more damaging to heavy infantry than arrows.

Kolebus heard a whistling wind in his ears, and then "Bang! The javelin pierced straight into the round shield, the tip of the spear pierced through the copper skin, smashed the wooden plank, and directly nailed his left arm, and the strong impact pushed him backwards, and at the same time brought down the soldiers behind, if it were not for the timely help of the teammates next to him, I am afraid that these soldiers wearing heavy armor would be soaked in the mouth and nose by this seemingly gentle and harmless river, causing choking and finally suffocating, which shows the great power of the enemy's javelin throwing, causing a panic in the front of Crotone's army.

At this time, the light infantry in the rear also followed, and they could finally start to return fire. Their arrows rained down on the opposite bank, forcing the enemy's javelinmen to dare not attack the front at close range.

The casualties of the Crotone were only a drop in the bucket compared to this huge army, and although Milon was a little heartbroken, he did not pay much attention to it, he was only surprised that nearly half of the five thousand men of the enemy on the other side were light infantry, and these light infantry were skillful, cleverly tactical, and fierce and precise in attack, which he had never seen in previous battles, which aroused his vigilance. But the outcome of the battle this time is beyond doubt, because-

"General! Our army has come ashore! We're ashore! ......" cheered his subordinates.

Before, Milon thought that crossing the Trionto River would be very easy, but looking at the corpses floating on the surface of the river, and looking at the relieved expressions of his men, it showed that the light infantry of the other side was more powerful than they expected.

"Beat the drums of war! Don't let them escape! Milon on his horse could faintly see that by the time the leading soldiers of his team stepped onto the riverbank, the enemy's light infantry had quickly retreated through the gap in their array to the rear.

"Yes, General!" As soon as the herald's words fell, he heard the high-pitched sound of military trumpets on the other side, and the deafening sound required at least ten trumpeters to play at the same time.

Milon couldn't hide the shock in his heart. Could it be that Dionya sent more troops to Castron than five or six thousand men at the front?! This startling thought flashed through the minds of Milon and his men at the same time, and their eyes were fixed on the back of the river beach on the opposite bank.

"Boom! Boom! Boom! The war drums of ......" were quickly beaten, reaching the ears of Kolebus, who had already come ashore, and lifted his spirits.

"Attack! Offensive! ...... "Without the blows of bows and arrows and javelins, the orders of the officers were full of excitement.

Crotone's soldiers shouted the name of "Apollo" and strode to charge the enemy in front.

But there was an even louder shout of slaughter from the opposite side, and a crimson flag suddenly rose behind the riverbank, followed by the unsightly and closely packed soldiers, who rushed to their comrades in front of them to serve as bait, and the flags that were raised one after another and waved in the wind evoked the painful memories of the Crotone soldiers who had served as prisoners like Kolebus.

Fooled! Ambush! A similar thought crossed the minds of each of the Crotone soldiers, and the thought quickly ate away at their high morale, causing them to hesitate and wander on the shore, cowering as they watched as the Dionian army joined up with their previous forces and began to regroup......