Ilruolodellamonetamoltomegliodiarmidaguerra (Money in war is more important than weapons)

- Thucydides (ancient Greek historian on a par with Herodotus)

On September 20, a red sun had just risen from the sky, and the Roman army, which had long been ready, set out from the north and south camps at the same time under the orders of Scipio the Elder, and the main force of the southern camp crossed the Galdus River to join the northern camp, and then lined up in battle formations across the bank from Hannibal's camp to challenge Hannibal.

The Romans left nearly 2,000 Samonai legionnaires to defend the fortress, and more than 30,000 light and heavy infantry lined up three columns of hoplites and one of them. Due to the large number of Roman troops, if the previous formation had been followed, this Roman formation would have been too long. The superstitious Scipio the Elder, who believed in the breakthrough ability of the Chinese army's heavy armour, reversed the Roman army's practice of arranging formations, halving the number of people in each squadron in front, lining up a row of five, and doubling the depth to 12 rows. In this way, the Roman formation will not be too long, but it will be doubled, hoping to strengthen the frontal breakthrough ability of the Chinese army. The position of the Roman army was as follows:

On the right flank were a Roman cavalry formation of 1,200 men (each legion attached to 300 cavalry), who lined up against the river. On the left flank was a Roman cavalry of about 600 raids. The deputy commander Borus commanded the right flank corps and cavalry, the commander-in-chief Scipio the Elder commanded the left flank corps and cavalry, the right center corps was commanded by General Minusias, and the left center corps was commanded by General Severia.

The total number of Roman troops was huge, but the proportion of cavalry was only more than 7 percent, which was lower than normal, which shows that Rome has not yet recovered from the losses of the last cavalry annihilation. Not only that, due to the large number of Roman troops, the formation was quite crowded, and the Roman 100-man team, which had always been known for its strong mobility, was inconvenient to turn in the new formation, which increased the central breakthrough force while losing the unique advantages of the Roman army. For the weak cavalry, Scipio the Elder's intention was to block the advance of Hannibal's cavalry, buy time, let the Chinese heavy troops tear apart Hannibal's army, and then encircle and annihilate the enemy army with superior forces.

"They're finally out there!?" Hannibal looked at the Roman army on the other side, it was really a banner and the armor was dazzling. The continuous Roman shields formed a copper wall and an iron wall, and countless light and heavy javelins turned into layers of guns and swords. From the Roman army, Hannibal knew that the Romans were not trying to make a small profit, but were going to fight a decisive battle, because they had left enough space for Hannibal to line up by the river, just as Hannibal had lined up by the Trabia River.

Seeing the narrow frontal and crowded formation of the Roman army, Hannibal immediately understood the strategic intentions of the Roman army, and a brilliant strategy that was so bold that it was almost crazy quickly crystallized in the mind of this young general. Hannibal tried his best to suppress his joy, pretending to be careless, and dragged on until eight or nine o'clock in the morning before leading the army, which had long been ready to stop, to cross the river. Hannibal's formation looks like this:

In the center were a mixed formation of 5,000 battle-hardened Spanish hoplites and 3,000 fierce Gallic recruits, flanked by 2,000 brave Iberian hoplites. On the left flank were the Gallic barbarian mercenary cavalry, 2,000 men, commanded by the cavalry general Hasduba; On the right flank was the elite cavalry of Hannibal: 1000 Numidian iron cavalry. Hannibal himself commanded the left wing of the infantry, and his brother Marco commanded the right wing of the infantry. Hannibal's army numbered 15,000, and the ratio of infantry and cavalry was three to one, not only in proportion, but also in absolute terms more than the Roman army.

Such a layout is not distinctive, and the strange thing is that Hannibal's central army is not a straight line, but a bow formation with a central protrusion. This was a strange thing that the Romans had never seen before. Of course, the soldiers of Hannibal's army and their armament were even more colorful, and the Iberian infantry on both flanks were all Roman hoplites from head to toe, and it was difficult to distinguish them from the Roman army from a distance, which was Hannibal's strongest army.

Many of the Gallic mercenaries were shirtless, they were burly and muscular, and when they charged, they looked at death as if they were at home, their red hair fluttering like fire in the wind, and they wielded large swords with round shields in their hands, which was formidable; The Spanish mercenaries wore purple-edged white clothes, jackets with chain armor, oval shields, and were good at using extremely sharp Spanish short iron swords and iron-tipped thin iron guns, with strong assault ability and lethal ability.

When the two sides were in formation, Scipio the Elder, the commander-in-chief of the Roman army, and Hannibal, the commander of the Carthaginian army, galloped forward in their own formations, loudly encouraging their soldiers. Encourage them to fight for the motherland, for their wives and children, for the glory of survival, and for wealth.

The battle began with an attack by the Romans in light armor, with the Romans clearly gaining the upper hand. Scipio the Elder then ordered the Roman heavy armies to advance on all fronts, and they first collided violently with the center of the protruding Hannibal army, and the thunderous sound of battle on the battlefield of more than 50,000 men probably set a record for the highest noise decibel in Sicily.

The clash between the two armies was as fierce and blazing as the collision of planets, the blood of the soldiers was splattering and smearing on the surface of contact, the sparks from the impact of weapons were scattering in all directions, and the roar of battle was the most powerful roar. Under the fierce attack of the dense and solid Roman hoplite phalanx, Hannibal's Chinese army began to slowly retreat, and the scene was as unstoppable as an iron meteorite hitting a planet of earth, which was even greater than the planet, and the collapse of the planet was an irresistible and inevitable fate.

If Hannibal's army had only been Gauls, their fate would have been the same as that of the planet, and sooner or later they would have been crushed under the weight of the Roman army, as they had been on the banks of the Trebian River. Hannibal had anticipated this, so he paired his experienced Spanish and Gallic soldiers with them to strengthen their resistance. Therefore, although they were retreating, they were still in an orderly manner, and there was no confusion and rout. Compared with the bitter fighting of the Chinese army, the Iberian infantry on both flanks of Hannibal was as steady as a rock, and they kept their formations neatly to resist the attacks of the Roman army, but did not take the initiative to attack.

At the same time, as soon as the Chinese army made contact, Hannibal ordered the left flank cavalry to assault, and Huskiduba led his two thousand iron cavalry to rush into the Roman right flank cavalry position of only 1,200 men from the front and the flank at the same time.

The 600 cavalry on the left flank of Rome were equal in number to Hannibal's 1000 Numidian cavalry, so they bravely attacked the enemy under the personal leadership of the commander-in-chief Scipio the Elder. However, the tactics of the Numidian cavalry were completely different from those of the Roman cavalry, and they had no intention of dismounting and fighting, and after throwing javelins and bows and arrows from a long distance, they quickly broke away from the battle line.

When the Roman cavalry saw the enemy coming, they dismounted and lined up, ready to tear apart. But in a blink of an eye, all the Numidian cavalry turned around and retreated. So he hurriedly mounted his horse and prepared to pursue, when the enemy galloped in a different direction, and another rain of arrows attacked. For a while, the two sides were at a stalemate.

Hannibal's central army, under the fierce attack of the Roman army, had gradually changed from a protruding bow formation into a straight line, and then recessed backwards. The Spanish soldiers there were like the polymer material in bulletproof glass, absorbing the energy to cushion the impact, and gluing the shattered glass together, even though the glass had been dented by the onslaught of the bullet, it would not break.

Seeing that the Chinese army was about to succeed and the cavalry on the right flank was already exhausted, the deputy commander Borus made the crucial decision that could determine the victory, not to support the collapsed cavalry lightly armoured, but to personally lead a part of the flank soldiers to break into the aid of the Chinese army, hoping to tear a gap in the center of the enemy before Hannibal's cavalry achieved a complete victory. At this time, both armies were fighting against time to see who could hold on and who could achieve the strategic goal first.

After breaking the cavalry on the right flank of the Romans, the Husduba sent only a small number of cavalry to continue to pursue the fleeing Romans, while the main force rushed from behind the Roman formation to the left flank of the Roman army, and launched a surprise attack on the left flank cavalry of the Roman army from behind. Under the front and rear of the Hush and Numidian cavalry, the Roman left flank cavalry completely collapsed, and they desperately broke through the siege under the command of Scipio the Elder, and retreated to the west in disarray. Seeing that the Roman cavalry had been completely defeated, Hasduba let the Numidian cavalry carry out the pursuit, and he led his cavalry to attack the Roman army from behind.

At this time, Hannibal's central army had retreated into a huge concave shape, like a large sea bowl, and the Roman army on both sides moved closer to the middle, hoping to expand the results of the battle, which was about to be unable to support it. At this time, the Iberian infantry, which had been standing still on both sides, began to advance under Hannibal's orders, and at the same time, the light armor waiting behind the formation diverted to the two flanks, joined the Iberian infantry, and attacked from both sides to the center, driving the two wings of the Roman army into the "bowl".

The timing of everything was calculated by Hannibal almost every second, and it was at this moment that the Husdupa's cavalry returned and closed the "bowl" mouth, so that the entire Roman army was put into the perfect encirclement he had set up. The frontal assault capability of the Roman army, which was attacked on all sides, was suddenly reduced, the entire battle line was compressed, and gradually the gap between the soldiers became smaller and smaller, and Rome successively lost its unique mobility and combat capability. Although the deputy commander Borus tried desperately to encourage morale, where did they turn around?

So the end of the battle was decided, although the Roman soldiers were all extremely brave, and in the situation of losing their formation and having no mobility, they were cut from the periphery by Hannibal's army little by little, and the fierce fighting continued. Soon, the Greek legions, which had not faced Hannibal's legions, numbered less than 2,000, chose to flee. This caused the Legion of Wolves, which had been flanking the Greek legions, to be devastated by the Iberian infantry in Hannibal's legions; The remnants of the Greek legions were also killed and wounded by the returning Numidian cavalry.

The fierce battle did not end until dusk, and the combined army of seven Roman legions and one Greek legion was completely destroyed!