The Rise Of An Empire In Ancient Europe
Chapter 91 The Battle of the Great Riverbank (Part II)

Chapter 91: Chapter 91 The Battle of the Great Riverbank (Part II)

Severa staggered back a few steps, trying to throw the spear in his hand to counterattack. However, his already exhausted body was heavily injured again. Bereft of strength, he collapsed helplessly and slid down the slope...

Severa’s death did not frighten the warriors who followed. The belief in survival granted them temporary courage and strength. One after another, warriors fell under the hail of bullets, yet more kept charging forward. The Lucanian warriors were closing in on the top of the slope...

The bronze horns blared urgently at just the right moment. The light shield-bearers quickly retreated through the gaps in the mercenary hoplite formation, while the heavy infantry stepped forward, forming a long, dense phalanx at the top of the slope, ready to crush the enemy’s hopes of escape with their steel wall. Behind them, the light infantry, despite their aching and numb arms, continued to unleash volleys of javelins, arrows, and stones. These projectiles arced perfectly over the heavy infantry in front and landed on the slope below, inflicting continuous damage on the advancing enemies to prevent any cohesive assault. At the rear, slaves hurriedly brought bundles of arrows and javelins to replenish the light infantry’s ammunition.

Drakos stood at the forefront of the defensive line. Facing the enemies who were starting to charge up the slope in waves, he showed no signs of tension or fear. Instead, he was full of fighting spirit. "Brothers, push them back down for me!"

"Roar!!!" The soldiers, inspired by his energy, raised their shields and spears and shouted in unison.

As the chieftain of Grumentum and the leader of the Lucanian tribal alliance, Akpiru, who was over fifty years old, certainly could not recklessly join the pursuit like a young warrior. His four hundred Grumentum warriors, serving as his personal guards, naturally would not abandon him to pursue on their own. The same situation applied to Niutum and Laos, with their combined force of about seven hundred warriors.

After joining forces, they advanced at a brisk pace. As they neared the hot spring marshes, they heard the deafening sounds of slaughter and screams from the front...

The chieftains’ faces changed.

"Speed up and get there!" Akpiru urgently ordered.

The advancing troops suddenly encountered the mercenaries of Juleios, who were rushing to close the encirclement.

Philisius, seeing the enemy troops on the mountain path, felt a moment of panic. Fortunately, his rich experience allowed him to quickly devise a plan:

The 1st, 2nd, and 3rd companies, under the command of Kapus, were tasked with blocking the surrounded enemies. The 4th, 5th, 6th, and 7th companies followed him to attack the approaching enemy.

Simultaneously, Philisius called for a messenger. "Quickly notify Melsis to bring the slaves here at once!"

Akpiru, observing the Greeks’ decision to divide their forces even as he approached, felt increasingly uneasy. Why would these cowardly Greeks dare to do so unless something more urgent was at stake?!

He immediately ordered, "Attack with full force!"

Two fully armed forces, both composed of their elites, clashed head-on without forming ranks or deploying tactics...

Kapus led his troops to the western part of the Great Riverbank and came upon the frightened and disoriented Lucanian warriors who had just climbed up from the slope.

They immediately suffered a severe blow, leaving dozens of corpses behind as they rolled down the slope. The mercenaries promptly sealed the gap.

Now, the eastern side of the Great Riverbank was blocked by the Tarantine reinforcements; the northern side by Drakos and his mercenaries, along with all the light infantry and slave soldiers; the western side by Juleios’ mercenary hoplites; and the southern side by the flood-prone hot spring marshes and the Tino River in spring.

More than 9,000 Lucanian tribal alliance warriors were surrounded in a narrow, low-lying area about two li long and half a li wide. The encircling forces totaled only a little over 7,000 (including slave soldiers). Their defensive lines were thin, especially in the west, where only 600 mercenaries under Juleios, nearly forming a single line, stretched to connect with Drakos’ mercenaries to the north. This precarious line resembled a thin-skinned dumpling, ready to burst at any moment. Fortunately, the Lucanians within the encirclement were still disorganized and chaotic, like headless flies, unable to muster a coordinated assault.

In Juleios’ plan, the light infantry’s ranged attacks were the primary means of weakening the enemy’s strength. His Persian expeditionary force not only completed the encirclement but was also his most reliable assault force. Now, due to unforeseen circumstances, this force had been dispersed. When Juleios learned of this emergency through scouts, he was anxious but remained composed, as this was one of the possible scenarios he had anticipated. He had contingency measures in place.

He immediately dispatched cavalry to urge Melsis to accelerate his march, join Philisius’ forces, concentrate their strength, and annihilate the unexpected enemy before returning to the effort of annihilating the Lucanians.

Time was now critical for the Greeks’ victory.

Akpiru was equally aware of its importance.

The two elite forces fought fiercely. On one side were the warriors selected from the entire Lucanian tribal alliance, still relatively fresh as they had not yet endured grueling combat. On the other side were the Greek mercenaries who had fought in Persia, highly experienced and skilled but physically exhausted from constant running. However, the course of the battle surprised Akpiru.

He had assumed that without forming a phalanx, the Greeks would be at a disadvantage in this melee, where Lucanian warriors were supposed to excel. Yet, the Lucanians began to gradually retreat...

From his vantage point on higher ground, Akpiru observed that the Greeks often fought in groups of dozens, essentially the unique units of Juleios’ mercenaries. They were not only highly organized and flexible but also cooperated seamlessly, making them more lethal. The Lucanians, by contrast, were fragmented and scattered like grains of loose sand...

Realizing the gravity of the situation, Akpiru quickly dispatched a small squad of warriors to rush back to the camp and inform Chief Cincinnatus of Picosis: he must immediately lead the remaining warriors to join the fight, help him crush the current enemies, and further foil their schemes!

The returning warriors were pursued by the riders of Laedus. Last night, Juleios borrowed ten horses from Bourkos, allowing the mercenary cavalry to be reestablished. However, the rugged mountain roads prevented the cavalry from fully utilizing their speed. Several injured warriors managed to escape the pursuit, running desperately back into the Lucanian camp.

"Quick... go inform Chief Cincinnatus! We’ve fallen into an ambush, send reinforcements immediately!" they shouted urgently as they collapsed to the ground, drawing surprised looks from warriors preparing to evacuate the camp.

Yet the expressions of the surrounding warriors gradually turned strange.

"Trouble—Vigurans!" One of the messengers suddenly realized something was wrong about these people, his heart sinking.

A man squatted before him, speaking in a deep voice: "What ambush? What happened?"

The warrior seemed to recall that the speaker was Saru, a chief from Vigur...

Akpiru had entrusted Picosis and the Vigurans with the task of dismantling the camp. However, Cincinnatus had offloaded the entire arduous task onto the Vigurans. Meanwhile, he, his son, and several chiefs were in the main tent discussing how to secure Picosis’ interests after occupying the Sybaris Plain.

Suddenly, a guard burst in, exclaiming in panic, "Chief, it’s terrible! The Vigurans have attacked us!"

What!! Cincinnatus was stunned, then erupted in rage: "Damn those Vigurans! Are they courting death?!"

He strode out of the tent, but the sight before him was far beyond his expectations:

Thick smoke billowed everywhere in the camp, countless tents ablaze. Viguran warriors, armed with spears and divided into numerous small groups, hunted the unprepared Picosis warriors throughout the camp. Picosis men fled in disarray...

The air was filled with the anguished screams of his clansmen, driving Cincinnatus to near madness. "Ahh!!... I knew it! These despicable Bruttians should have been slaughtered long ago, but Akpiru wouldn’t listen!... Grenatt, quick! Organize the warriors to counterattack! Push them back! Kill them all! Destroy Vigur entirely!!... Ahh!!..."

Grenatt and several chiefs, already frantic, rushed off without needing further orders.

However, the situation was dire for the Picoxis. The Vigurans had come well-prepared, while the Picoxis forces had suffered heavy casualties the previous day over a thousand, most injured). Many warriors were staying in tents to care for their wounded comrades. The Vigurans set fires throughout the camp, trapping many Picoxis warriors, who were burned alive in their tents...