Not only the soldiers, but the moment the Dionian army appeared, Milon's mind was also blank, he trembled, his face was pale, he knew: he had been deceived! Deceived by the cunning Dionians! Thinking that there are too few enemies, and then rashly allowing your army to cross the river in front of the enemy's equally large army, this is an extremely wrong military operation for any qualified general! But now it's too late to retreat. Retreating in front of the enemy, and having to turn around and cross the river again, was a taboo for the city-state's citizens who were not trained much in normal times, which meant a great rout without a fight, while the Dioonians could easily attack, turning the seemingly gentle Trionto River into the grave of the Crotone citizens.

Milon didn't expect that the battle between Crotone and Dionya would start suddenly in the here and now, but in the face of this decisive battle related to the fate of the city-state, he tried to force himself to compose, put his guilt and fear behind him, and focused on the battle in front of him: "Blow all the bugles!" Beat all the drums of war! Let the soldiers rush forward! Brave the river! We can hope to win!! He raised his arms anxiously and shouted.

The heralds jumped directly into the river and shouted.

The abruptly strengthened sound of military trumpets and war drums urged the army forward, and the officers in the formation also knew the danger and took the lead in moving forward.

Crotone's army began to move at an accelerated pace, but the Dionian army was quickly regrouped and had pressed forward, because the ground was full of cobblestones, and both sides did not charge as they had in previous heavy infantry engagements, but were steadily approaching......

When the two sides were only more than 20 meters apart, Colebus saw that the enemy on the opposite side suddenly stopped advancing amid the shouts of the officers, the enemy in the front row squatted slightly, and countless cold lights flashed in the enemy formation in the back row. The other party's action made him immediately understand what was going to happen, and he didn't even have time to spit out the word "javelin", so he squatted down in a hurry.

Just listen to "Whoosh! Sou! Sou! ......" The continuous whistling sound, as if a gust of wind suddenly blew, accompanied by one after another screams, in the blink of an eye, the front row of the entire Crotone army fell one piece, not only interrupted the progress of the Crotone soldiers, but also the formation at the front of the army formation was somewhat fragmented.

And the Dioonians did not give up, followed by another round of javelin throwing. At such a close distance, the lethality of the heavy javelin is quite amazing.

While the Crotone soldiers were scrambling to dodge the javelins and save their comrades, the Dioonians took the opportunity to stride forward, striking the terrified Crotone with their round shields, and two or three bayonets at the same time at the surviving enemy under the javelins......

If it hadn't been for the timely filling of the back row, Crotone's front line would have almost collapsed. But as a result, Crotone's troops were held back on the banks of the river, and Milon's carefully prepared battle formations of more than 20 columns were now in trouble, and on most sections of the river they were half on the banks and half in the middle of the river. In addition to fighting face-to-face, the heavy infantry is also another effective way to attack in the same way as a tug-of-war game with the thickness of the array, so as to achieve a breakthrough, but the current situation of the Crotone people not only cannot effectively form a unified joint force, but slowly retreats under the strong push of the opponent.

……………………

When the javelin flew into Crotone, Milon felt his heart stop.

The heavy infantry of Dionya could actually throw javelins! Milon regretted that he had been too careless at the moment, and did not go to understand the tactical characteristics of the Dionian army in more detail, and look at their light infantry and heavy infantry, which was obviously a well-trained army with unique tactics!

Just when Milon was heartbroken by the death and wounding of his soldiers and regretted his negligence, his men stared at the battle on the opposite bank and anxiously shouted: "Damn the Dionians, there are so many heavy infantry!" It must have been their reinforcements from Niutum and Laos who had arrived! ”

Indeed, according to the return of the heralds on the left and right flanks, the Dionians' military formation was almost the same length, and they were able to press their own array back, and although it took advantage of the terrain, I am afraid that its thickness was not much thinner than its own array, could it be that the current Dionians also had about 20,000 men? Listening to the scolding of his subordinates, but like a lightning bolt crossed Milon's mind, he was bent on revenge, and he had always carefully studied the secret report sent back by Turiyi, so he also knew something about the Dionian Alliance.

He remembered that the secret report had said that it would take at least three days for Turii to reach Niutum, and it would take the same time to reach Laos, so even if the mobilization order of the cavalry reached Niutum and Laos, it would take six days to gather the troops and set off immediately, and arrive at Turui, after all, the construction of the Turiyi-Niutum-Laos road had only begun, and it had only been four days since the declaration of war, unless Dionia called in his troops in advance. However, three days earlier, the mercenaries had not yet attacked Crimesa, and he tortured several prisoners, including Cleano and Tolicos, all of whom unanimously admitted that they had concealed Davers and had secretly decided to seize Crimesa. Therefore, the reinforcements of Niutum and Laos should still be on their way to Turiyi, so where did so many Dionian heavy infantry come from?

There are not so many citizens in Turii and Amendora. Milon could be sure of this, and he suddenly remembered something...... Freeman?! It is those so-called registered freedmen of Dionia!!

Milon suddenly remembered that in the previous secret report, it was also mentioned that Dioonia frequently organized their freedmen to conduct military training. Milon remembered that many of the members of the Council of Crotone had mocked Dionia's hunger and turned the vulgar freedmen into citizens of the city-state. But everything in front of me shows that Dionia's method is still effective, and the armor and shield spears worn by the poor freedmen are probably all from the army of Crotone who were killed or captured in the last battle!

Although Milon was resentful, he realized more clearly that Turiyi had even sent these free people to the battlefield, and he was afraid that he had given everything he had, so did they still have extra troops!!

Milon looked at the battlefield in front of him, but his spirit was lifted: "Eutidemose! ”

"General, what's the matter?" The subordinate who had just yelled responded to him.

"Immediately lead these two thousand soldiers to the east, and hand them over to Philippus to lead."

"What?! Didn't you want this army to step forward and strengthen the middle lane?! Eutidemose asked suspiciously.

"Execute the order!" Millon's eyes widened, this friend's son worked hard, but he was too active by nature: "You tell General Philadvosus that there will not be too many enemies on the other side, let him cross the river as soon as possible at the expense of casualties, and after repelling the enemy, rush over to flank Dionia's army!" The outcome of this battle depends on his actions! Milon said very solemnly.

"Got it!" Euron reminded him of the opportunity to win, and rushed to execute the order excitedly.

Milon jumped off his horse, spear in hand, and led his convoy down the river to wade through the water, joining the battle formation, shouting incessantly for the soldiers to fight bravely.

Since the Dionian heavy infantry was mostly composed of reserve citizens, he did not believe that these novices, who had been free men half a year ago and had never had any experience in heavy infantry combat, could master the essence of heavy infantry combat in half a year, and this was where his confidence lies. He was convinced that even in the depths of adversity among the Crotone soldiers, they would be able to hold out until the arrival of the army of Philadelfous.

……………………

At the back of the middle of the Dionian army stood a large flag, the top of which was also inlaid with a statue of Hades, but it was significantly larger than the Legion flag, and the flag was also larger, with only the large golden letters "Davers" embroidered on it.

The Dionyan Alliance now had three legions, and of course Davers had to abdicate and return to his original position, according to the old tradition, the consul was also the commander of the city-state army, so Davers's highest position in the alliance army was the commander-in-chief (i.e., the supreme commander) of the Dionian alliance army.

At this moment, Davers was also paying attention to the movements of the enemy on the other side.

"Your Excellency, the enemy has troops downstream!" Aristocrates reminded loudly that as a talent that Davers fancies, Davers had the heart to train him in an all-round way like Acystes, so he also let him follow him when he fought, but after all, he was only a free man, so he could only temporarily take the title of clerk.

Davers had been waiting for this moment for a long time: "Tolmid! ”

"Your Excellency, Commander, please give the order!" Tommy Mead's answer was a heartfelt respect.

Crotone's rapid advance was a great surprise to the generals, and when the armies of Niutum and Laos could not arrive in time, the difference in strength between the two sides was a little large. During the military discussion, many people proposed: give up the reinforcements of Castelon and stick to Turiy, in order to wait for the arrival of reinforcements, and then fight a decisive battle. But Davers insisted on pushing the front to Castron, and because of the prestige he had built up for a long time, he was eventually convinced.

He conscripted all the citizens and registered freedmen who had participated in the training and were able to fight in Turri, and even some of the freedmen who had just arrived in Turii, which was indeed a great risk, knowing that at this time the large army of Dionya was concentrated in Castelón, and the rear of Turriy and Amendorala had almost no defensive force except for a few troops in the port. If Crotone's fleet had landed on the shores of the Sybari Plain, Dionia would have been unable to defend itself for a while, but Davers dared to make such a bold move.