Mediterranean Hegemon of Ancient Greece

The messenger continued to reiterate the order of the Senate: "Admiral Diomeras believes that the Mesapi army attacking Manduria is probably the last power of the Mesapi. Therefore, the Senate ordered you to ensure the safety of Brindisi Under the circumstances, lead as many soldiers as possible to return, meet with the reinforcements of Heraclea and Metapontum, march towards Mandulia, and completely defeat the Mesapi people! Thoroughly guarantee the safety of the newly occupied territory!"

Archita bowed his head and meditated: Before, in order to fight for Manduria and Brindisi, Tarantum had paid nearly 5,000 casualties, and the Mesapi casualties would not be lower than Tarantum. The Mesapi corpse buried later can be seen.Not to mention that the Mesapi League has seven or eight city-states. The only really big city is Rudiae. If you can send tens of thousands more troops, Mesapi’s manpower should have reached its limit... but why not come Attacking Brindisi, who wedge into the Mesapi territory, and attacking Manduria, which is closer to Tarantum and easier to rescue?

But he thought about it, and immediately cursed himself for being confused: Brindisi had 8,000 Tarantum civics stationed, and Mandunia had only 2,000. It was obvious which city was easier to capture.

He glanced up at the messenger still waiting for his reply, and asked again: "How many people have Metapontum and Heraklia sent?"

"Because the loss last time was not small, this time it is said that only 3,000 people were sent from the two cities," the messenger replied.

Akita's expression was slightly dim: before fighting side by side with the allies, his casualties were certainly clear in his heart.But the final result was exclusive to Tarantum, Heraclea and Metapontum only received some rewards.But isn’t Dionia defeating his opponent in this way and growing fast?

Thinking of this, he no longer felt guilty in his heart, but instead cared about the city-state alliance across the bay that made him feel complicated: "The Senate... Did you send a messenger to Dionia for help?"

The messenger stopped talking, shook his head, and looked strange.

After turning around, Akita immediately realized that not only was Diomeras one of the newly elected Archons this year, he always resented the Dionysian Union, but others also have this kind of psychology.As a Southern Italian state that has built its city for 300 years, asking for help from an emerging city-state alliance that has been established for less than two years is really a disgrace and honor. What would the allies and other city-states in Greater Greece think!What’s more, Dionia is not like Heraclia and Metapontum, they are mainly based on Tarantum, and Dionysia and Tarantum are equal offensive and defensive alliances, maybe it is now The overall strength is still stronger than that of Tarantum...It is impossible to ask Dionia for assistance without paying a certain price.Therefore, Tarantum will never send a messenger to Dionia until the critical moment.

Aqita pondered for a moment, and simply said: "I am going to let Pebariusius lead two thousand soldiers to stay in Brindisi. I will take 6000 people back. You will go with me because I don't have enough cavalry to escort me alone. You go back."

The courier was relieved and agreed quickly.But he was frightened by the light cavalry who was haunted by the Mesapi, and the cavalry squad that escorted him paid a dozen lives before he was safely sent to Brindisi.

In the afternoon, the free people who heard the news came one after another, and anxiously watched 6000 Tarantum civilian soldiers out of the city.Although Tarantum despised the emerging Dionysian city-state alliance with no historical details, he had already begun to learn from Dionysia on how to deal with the issue of occupation.After seizing the two towns, the Senate immediately promised the Gentiles and freemen in Tarantum that they would acquire land and become citizens of Tarantum as long as they were willing to move to Brindisi and Manduria. Brindisi and Manduria will also become affiliates of Tarantum.Therefore, despite knowing that there are risks, many free citizens still lead their families and come forward happily.Now that the war has broken out again, Brindisi's defensive strength has gone more than half, but how can they not make them nervous.

Between Brindisi on the east coast of Apulia and Tarantum on the west coast, there is an east-west mountainous area, and everything else is smooth.Therefore, Akita’s army can lead to Tarantum in two directions. One is to bypass the mountain north and travel west to Tarantum; or go west and pass Manduria to bypass the mountain and reach Tarantum.Akita certainly chooses the former, because in the north, except for the only Mesapi town, Igratia, the road is very safe.Choosing the latter means always being alert to raids in some Mesapi towns, centered on Udie, hidden in the dense woods to the south.

Shortly after Akita's army left the city, he bypassed the mountains.At this time, Tan Ma Lai: found a small group of Mesapi cavalry to spy nearby.

Akita didn't care too much.Although Tarantum captured Brindisi, there were still occasional Mesapi cavalry cruising in this area on the road from Tarantum to Brindisi, and affected Tarantum and Personnel exchange and material transportation between Brindisi.Tarantum had sent soldiers to attack these cavalrymen many times, but they relied on the horses and ran early, and when the troops returned without success, they appeared again.Tarantum took the Mesapi cavalry, and had to consider waiting for the complete stabilization of Brindisi. Between the two cities, he continued to build new villages and strongholds to completely occupy the area.Prior to this, Tarantum specially formed troops to protect the communication and transportation between the two cities. Heavy infantry and archers could deal well with these fast-moving cavalry, and Akita did the same.

After bypassing the mountain, the terrain leading to Tarantum was flat and wide. Akita divided the marching column into five columns, with a small number of light infantry in the center, and the heavy armored civilian soldiers on the outside. The length of the entire marching column was about three miles. .Tarantum and Brindisi are about a hundred miles away, and Achita estimates that at the current new army speed, he can arrive in the evening.

Akita controls the marching speed of the troops and moves forward without any hassle.

However, with the passage of time, more and more Mesapi cavalry appeared, and they were cruising around the marching troops to attack the reconnaissance horse of Tarantum, making Aceta had to recover the few cavalry, Therefore, the surrounding conditions beyond the field of vision of the troops can no longer be understood.

As a commander, although Aceta knew very well that after the last war, there was no strong force of Mesappi near the north of the hills between Brindisi and Tarantum, but this kind of like a blind person Feeling disturbed him, he immediately ordered: the troops speed up the march and rushed to Sigong as soon as possible.

Sigion is a village and town north of Tarantum. Before Brindisi was captured, it was built as a small stronghold because of its proximity to Mesapi’s territory. A sentry tower to defend against Mesapi invasion.

The bugle was sounded, and the commanding officers began to urge the hip-hop soldiers.

At this moment, a loud bugle sounded at the same time in front of the team.

The soldiers of the vanguard were stunned: Is our army here?

"This is the trumpet of attack!" Some soldiers have begun to exclaim.

Just when there was a commotion in the team, Aceta's order came: Stop moving!Immediately westward formation, light infantry first, heavy infantry behind!

The team officers immediately acted and commanded the soldiers to start the formation.

Under the guard of the cavalry, Akita drove to the front of the team on horseback.

Hundred meters away, the loose Mesapi cavalry stared at him like a wolf, and he looked forward through the gap between the enemy riders.He wondered: Now the Mesapi people are mainly in Manduria. If they come from their army, how many soldiers can they pull out to stop their troops from returning to Tarantum?

As he pondered, Tarantum's marching column began to slowly expand to the west.The team officers and soldiers yelled at each other, looking for their place, and the noise was violent.

In front of the array, Aceta and the Mesapi cavalry not far away faced off quietly...

coming!Akita's eyelids jumped, blinking hard, and staring even bigger: I saw a row of small black spots on the horizon hundreds of meters away, which gradually became larger and longer...

As the team moved closer, Achita saw them more clearly: they were also in the costumes of lances with bronze shields and spears, and they were also in dense queues, but this was not necessarily the team of Tarantum, because Mesa Leather soldiers have the same equipment, but this is the credit of the Athenians!

When he got closer and could see the high flag, the adjutant exclaimed, "General, Igratia's troops!"

Igratia is the northernmost city-state of Mesapi, adjacent to the territory of the Puceti. Whenever there is a conflict between Mesapi and Puceti, Igratia bears the brunt, so it is a border city , Its military capabilities are strong, and according to Brindisi recently.When Tarantum stormed Brindisi, the Igratias came to reinforce and were repelled by Aceta.

Aqita also set up a sentry post northwest of Brindi to monitor the movement of Igratia. Now Igratia's troops are here, and Achita has not received any warning. Apparently, the outpost in the north has been unexpectedly treated.

At this moment, Aceta was in no mood to observe silence. He stared closely at the array of enemies, and quickly calculated from the mathematician's mind that the enemy had less than 3,000 troops.

Nearly 3000 people dare to stop themselves from going home?!Akita did not feel relaxed, but was even more puzzled.

But at this moment he could not allow him to think about it. The original quiet Mesapi cavalry screamed and rushed over. He led the cavalry to turn the horse head quickly and retreated back into the array. The light infantry who were already in the front of the square array came forward and prepared Shoot the arrow in your hand.