“Solikos, what's the matter?” Asked Philesius hurriedly after seeing Solikos' serious expression.
“Lord Commander.” Solikos, who was already in his 50s, was still vigorous and had a loud voice. After doing a simple military greeting, he said, “My scouts reported that about 500 cavalries came from the south and were approaching the camp.”
“Is it Syracuse?” Asked Philesius.
“I think so…those cavalries doesn't have any protectives and are good a throwing javelin, which is very different from the Greek cavalry.” Solikos answered seriously.
“Then what are you waiting? Immediately send your cavalry and drive these Syracusans away! Don't let them interfere with our soldiers' construction of the camp.” Said Drakos immediately.
Solikos was embarrassed and replied in a low voice, “Our cavalry are not their match…from what the scouts had reported, their horse control technique is much better, and their javelin throwing is quite accurate. Our cavalries had a distance of 50 metres between them and the enemies, yet they still managed to chase our cavalries quite close, threw a round of javelins, resulting in us losing…five of our brothers…”
“How powerful are the Syracusan cavalries?!” Epiphanes became slightly surprised. After all, he knew the strength of the Theonian cavalry legion due to their regular training, whether it’s riding, fighting or tactical execution are better than the cavalry of those Greek city-states.
“They might be the cavalries hired by Syracusan. While Syracuse was fighting Carthage, they hired Celtics and Numidian cavalries, all of whom grew up on horseback. Thus it is normal for their riding skills to be better than ours…Lord Davos had especially reminded me before leaving.” Said Philesius with a serious expression.
“Then have the light infantry of our fifth legion to go out with Solikos's cavalries to drive them away!” Drakos quickly made a suggestion.
Philesius nodded in agreement.
. . . . . . . . . . . . .
Dionysius led his men and approached the city of Caulonia where they saw a spectacular sight hundreds of metres away: On the vast flat land, thousands of men wield pickaxes and shovels digging trenches, carrying soil, building earthen walls and sentry towers…everyone is busy, yet they appear in order. Such a busy construction site was not the only one in front of them as it extends to the east and west and could even block the passage of the entire mountain range.
Dionysius, Phidias, Phacipessas and Astagoras all fell silent for a moment.
After a while, Dionysius pointed to the Theonian camp under construction ahead and said to Phacipessas and Astagoras in a reproachful tone, “Look at them, and look at the army you are leading!”
Faced with shame, Phacipessas and Astagoras understood what Dionysius meant: Both have arrived in a hurry, yet the Theonians were able to build a camp despite their fatigue while the Syracusan's camp could not even be called a camp at all. It was disorganised, and the soldiers were peacefully sleeping in their haphazardly built tents…
“Milord, the reason the Theonians are trying their best to build a camp was to defend against our attack, while no one dares to attack our army, so-” As soon as Astagoras began defending himself, Dionysius immediately interrupted him, “So your troops can sleep soundly and wait for Magna Graecia to surrender?!”
Dionysius was angry after learning some of the strengths of the Theonian army from the information coming from Theonia. Furthermore, some of the problems that surfaced in the battle between Syracuse and Carthage had also prompted him to reform the Syracusan army. He explicitly gave separate formations for the heavy infantry, infantry, cavalry, siege troops and the navy and worked together under unified and more effective command. He also followed the example of Theonia by increasing the number of military training sessions for citizens and establishing stricter rules to ensure that the army could carry out the new tactics. It was only after these reforms that Syracuse was able to secure the upper hand in the second war with Carthage. But the sight before him made him feel the difference between his army and the Theonian soldiers in terms of will and command execution, which caused the flame of jealousy and anxiety, and Astagoras was just a tool for him to vent his anger.
This really wronged Astagoras, but when he wanted to defend himself, another strategos of Syracuse, Phacipessas, tugged at his clothes obscurely while saying with respect, “Rest assured, milord. Once we return, we will gather the army and have them rebuild the camp.”
It was only then that Dionysius' expression cleared up a bit.
Then Acilita came forward and said, “Milord, it's now a good opportunity to attack the enemy while they are building their camp. Allow me to take my men and charge at them.”
Before Dionysius could answer, Phidias, who had been watching the Theonian camp closely, said, “Don't. The Theonian army is coming.”
Several cavalries and infantries poured out between the several passages reserved for the Theonians and quickly took up positions in front of the camp, with the cavalries on both flanks and the light infantry in the centre, and marched towards Dionysius without hesitation.
“It is useless no matter how many Theonians come. Milord, allow me to lead my men to attack. First, I will have my soldiers go around their flanks and attack their cavalry, disrupting their formation, and then take advantage of the chaos to storm the light infantry in their midst to give them a taste of what the Numidian cavalry can do!”
“We should instead go back!” Phidias suddenly said, with some panic in his voice.
Dionysius stared at him, surprised as this was the first time he had seen the cold and straightforward Spartan lose composure since they departed Syracuse. However, as the commander of the army, he had more important things to do than entangling with a small group of enemy troops at this time. So he complied with Phidias and ordered their return.
Although Acilita was wild and unyielding, he was still in awe of his employer. So he could only helplessly call back the eager Numidians and followed Dionysius' lead.
. . . . . . . . . . . . .
When Philesius learned of the enemy's retreat, he sternly said to the two legatus, “As you can see, the army of Syracuse would soon attack, so we much build our camp as soon as possible!”
This time, Epiphanes no longer has an objection.
. . . . . . . . . . . . .
On their way back to Locri, Dionysius asked, “Phidias, now that the Theonians are building their camps in Caulonia to defend against our attack. What do you think we should do next?”
“We must not allow the Theonians to build a sturdy camp and use the narrow terrain to offset our number advantage, thus consuming our time! That is why we must invade Terina and Scylletium as soon as possible, where the terrain is wide and beneficial to our large army, just in time to force them to meet us in a head-on confrontation, defeating them and capturing their cities! In this way, Theonia will no longer have any helpers while their main force is still trapped in Potentia, giving us a good opportunity to destroy them!” When he said the last sentence, Phidias expression has a bit of fierceness.
Dionysius looked at him curiously. He didn't understand why Phidias's resentment towards Theonia suddenly increased, but this was what he exactly wanted.
So, after thinking for some time, he made up his mind, called the strategoi and issued an order, “Astagoras, Phacipessas, immediately reorganise the army after we return. Tomorrow! I want to attack Caulonia and Terina!”
“Yes, milord!”
Listening to their conversation, Phidias became happy at seeing Dionysius make the arrangements he had suggested. However, his mind kept replaying the sight he had just seen: Whether it is the cavalries or light infantries, the Theonians were uniformly dressed in black, and he could even vaguely see that the leather shields of their cavalry seemed to have the same design painted. Although he did not see the Theonian heavy infantry, since the light infantries and cavalries were already like this, the attire of the heavy infantries must also be quite uniformed.
On the other hand, Dionysius was not too surprised as he had already gotten detailed information about the Theonian army beforehand. But for the Spartan Phidias, he saw something deeper through Theonia's black attire.
The Spartans warriors snickered in secret at the citizens of Athens, Corinth, Thebes and other city-states, who flaunted their colourful artistic aesthetics by painting all kinds of exquisite designs on their round shield that had not been used for half a year and had gathered dust to show their individuality and taste. After all, since the regent of Sparta carried out a reform a hundred years ago, the Spartans have trained since childhood under the whip and stick. After a hundred years of warring, they have already concluded the essence of War: That is to not care about any means, as long as you get the ultimate victory!
The Spartans claimed to be descendants of Heracles, but in fact, they worship the wolves more. Their warriors fight like wolves, emphasising discipline and psychological deterrence as a whole, and even if they are strong, they are not allowed to fight individually.
Therefore, when the other city-states armies fought Sparta, they could see rows of dazzling bronze walls (because the Spartan warriors polish their shield and spears) and scarlet cloaks dyed like blood, as well as the unified “λ” sign on their round shield.
