Mediterranean Hegemon of Ancient Greece

Because Leotidides received an urgent request from Minoa again, the Carthaginian army attacked for days and days. The siege equipment they made caused a lot of casualties to the Minoan defenders. Minoah could no longer stand it. . At the same time, he also received news from Serinus. He led the army to leave the port of Serinus by boat, but the Carthaginian sentries patrolling the sea were not concealed. The next day, the Carthaginians attacked Serinus. The city launched an attack.

All these made Leotidides eager to solve the Carthaginian army under the city of Gera as soon as possible, so after discussing with the Gera and the reinforcements of Kamanlina, he decided to have a fight with the Carthaginians. battle.

In the early morning, Leotidides led 8,000 soldiers of the Eighth Army, 1,000 cavalrymen of the 4th Cavalry Army, 5,000 soldiers of Gera, and 3,000 reinforcements of Kamanlina, a total of 17,000 people, out of the city of Gera. , after marching four miles west, facing the Carthaginian barracks, he set up a battle.

The fact that the huge troop transport fleet entered the port of Gera could not be concealed from the Carthaginian army who built camp near the sea, so the Carthaginian army did not attack the city for the past two days. Ba called in some 2,000 soldiers to garrison Edgenorm, but kept only a few hundred. In addition, he also issued orders to the Carthaginian army under his control who participated in the siege of Enna, causing 1,500 soldiers to travel through the mountains and arrive at the starry night.

One of Kisgow's words struck Hasdrubal: ...according to what the Sentinels observed, there were no less than 200 Dionysian troop transports, so that at least 10,000 Dionysian soldiers entered Jaya. Pull. In this way, the number of defenders in the city is about the same as our soldiers, so the Dionians can never just defend the city, but want to defeat us, because of the huge army led by Lord Magog In comparison, our number is small, but we are the closest to the Dionysian territory, which is a great threat to them. As long as we can defeat the Dionysian army, we will be able to accomplish the goal promised by Lord Margo in the Senate as soon as possible. The Nians drive out of Sicily, and Hasdrubal you can be praised by the people of Carthage!  …”

So when he learned that the Dionysian army had left the city of Gerah, Hasdrubal couldn't wait to start gathering troops in the camp.

When the Dionian coalition forces were forming, Hasdrubal also led the army to leave the camp, came to the opposite side of the Dionian coalition forces, and also began to form.

Hasdrubal's army consisted of 10,000 mixed Phoenician and Numibian troops, 4,000 Iberian soldiers, 2,500 Lusitania warriors, 600 Celtic warriors, and over 1,000 more Special Soldiers, a total of about 18,500 soldiers.

Since the place where the two sides are about to fight is a flat grass, it can be seen for a few miles, and the Dionian coalition forces are the first to start the formation, so Hasdruba and Kisgow have a chance to observe.

The battle formation that the Dionysian coalition forces are lining up is about three miles long, all heavy infantry, they overlap, like a long iron wall.

Due to the unique black helmet and black armor of the Dionian Legion, which are very conspicuous in the army formation, Hasdruba's attention was first attracted, and he found that the Dionysian army was mainly concentrated on the right side of the battle formation (Dio the left flank of the Dionian coalition), so he and Gisgow, after a brief discussion, began to line up: 7,000 mixed Phoenician and Numibian troops on the left flank, facing the Dionian legionnaires .

This army was specially formed after the Margonid family prepared to develop in Iberia. For various reasons, they did not recruit Carthaginians at that time, but in the Numibia region and the Philippine coast of North Africa. A lot of poor people and refugees were recruited in Nikki's allies,

At the beginning, there were 20,000 people, and at the peak, it reached 40,000 people. They are the main force for the Margonid family to establish a firm foothold in Iberia and expand its territory. Under his leadership, he has fought countless battles with the fierce natives of Iberia, and is the most relied upon strength of the Margonid family. This time to attack Sicily, Marco brought 20,000 soldiers, and 10,000 soldiers stayed in southern Iberia.

And in the middle, Hasdrubal was prepared to have the remaining 3,000 Phoenician and Numibian soldiers guarded with 2,000 Iberian infantry.

The Iberian infantry is composed of indigenous people living in southern Iberia. Although they are not as fierce as their distant relatives, the Lusitania, they are more populous and more united. The southern conquest created a lot of trouble, and it took about 6 or 7 years for most of the tribes to submit to Margo.

Therefore, Marco did not dare to enslave the southern Iberian races like Carthage enslaved the Numibians, but heeded the advice of his nephew Haka: as long as they surrendered, they would not deprive them of their territory and allow them to be in the jurisdiction. They live freely within the country, do not tax them, do not interfere in the internal affairs of the tribes, and trade daily necessities with these tribes at lower prices...

But these races also have obligations to abide by: not to violate the laws of the colony (this law is not the law of Carthage, but the law of Jaca according to the situation in southern Iberia), when the Margonides wage war with foreign countries , they need to provide soldiers, and of course, after winning, they will also get rich spoils in return; in addition, there must be no war between tribes, and once there is a conflict, it is handed over to the Margonid family to coordinate and resolve, which is equivalent to letting The Margonid family became the big leader of the tribes in southern Iberia. The interests of the tribe were not harmed, but instead they gained a lot of benefits, and the resistance to Marco was naturally greatly reduced.

So far, Margo's territory in southern Iberia has not only remained roughly stable, but also has a large number of free soldiers, which greatly reduces the military cost of maintaining the security of the territory, and also reduces the number of hired soldiers (mainly referring to Phoenicia and Numibian troops), in this landing Margo brought 15,000 Iberian infantry.

The right wing is made up of 2,500 Lusitania fighters and 2,000 Libyan soldiers. The right flank had the least number of soldiers, but Hasdrubal pinned his hopes of victory on the right flank because of the presence of Lusitania fighters.

The Lusitanians were actually a branch of the Celts, they were tall and strong, they ran fast and powerful, they were good at shields and fakata, and they used weapons similar to their relatives, the Iberian infantry. , but the Iberian infantry is stable, and they are more violent when fighting and more suitable for attack, so Hasdrubal ranked them on the far right, hoping to use them to open the road to victory.

As for the 600 Celtic fighters, Hasdruba kept them in the back of the middle, not because he had the habit of keeping the reserve team, but because he had just vaguely observed Dionia The coalition has many cavalry.

Hasdrubal is not like Monte Ardeno. He and his uncle Marco have carefully studied the past war profits of the Dionysians and found that the cavalry played a very important role in it, and they even used it to In the war to conquer southern Iberia, cavalry was used many times to defeat the enemy and turn the tide of the war. After all, Carthage's cavalry resources are very rich, Carthaginian cavalry, Numibian cavalry, Mauritanian allied cavalry, and even Lusitania. There were also a lot of cavalry. This time, there were more than 7,000 cavalry in the army led by Marco.

However, since Hasdrubal was going to lead his army over the mountains, raid the Sikers, and then attack the rear of the Dionian army, the cavalry became a burden, so that there are no cavalry in the current army, so he must stay. The lower Celts came to protect another force against the Dionian cavalry's attack on the flanks of the army formation.

Of course, the Celts are rebellious, and it is difficult to cooperate with other troops in the battle formation, but it will hinder the attack, which is also the reason why they are singled out. In the rear of the middle lane, one of the tasks is to restrain this Celtic force.

After making these arrangements, Hasdrubal went to the right flank. He was going to attack the enemy with the Lusitanias himself. The head of a Carthaginian army actually lined up with a group of natives. And it is still in the forefront of the military formation, which is truly unique for the Carthaginian nobles, even Marco can't do it, but Hasdruba has won the Iberians, Lusitanias, Even the respect of the Celtics, everyone is willing to follow his command.

………………………………

After receiving the report from the scout, Leotizides learned that the Carthaginian army had left the camp, and his heart was settled: today's battle will definitely go on.

He started a more detailed arrangement: the 6,000 heavy infantry of the Eighth Army were lined up from the right flank to the center, with only 8 rows, so that the Eighth Army would occupy half of the entire length of the formation; It is the heavy infantry of Gera, and they will increase the row to 14; to the left of the Jera is the heavy infantry of Kamanlina, which is also 14 rows. . . .

The formation of the Dionysian coalition was like a hatchet, with a thin wooden handle on the right and a thick blade on the left. The reason why Leotidides arranged this was also a last resort: The Dionian Legion and the South Coast The allied armies have been fighting together for several months. He has a deep understanding of these Greek city-state armies. Most of them have relatively skilled heavy infantry combat skills, and they are brave in battle, but their discipline is relatively loose, and the battle cannot last for a long time. Frustration, it is easier to collapse, out of concern for them, so they thickened their array. In this way, even if the front-line soldiers who are wearing thick Greek heavy infantry armor and have limited mobility are timid and want to retreat, they have to push forward under the push of the soldiers in the rear, otherwise he will be more likely to die from the enemy. attack and trampling by his comrades.