Although Lockley's fleet had fewer warships, they did not hesitate to launch an attack. The warships of both sides quickly sailed towards each other and intersected with each other. However, Lockley's warships did not stop and continued to advance, which was out of the expectations of Crotone's fleet. Thus, after paying a small price of one or two warships, they easily broke away from Crotone's fleet.
Were the Rockley fleet trying to escape?! Ascamas was surprised to see the Rockley fleet's performance.
However, the Rockley fleet's actions once again surprised him. After putting some distance between them and the Crotone fleet, the Rockley fleet turned around again and assumed an attacking stance.
Ascamas did not think too much about it. Why did the Rockley fleet do this?
His fleet also responded accordingly.
The two fleets quickly approached each other again, but this time, the Rockley fleet did not escape.
The warships of both sides clashed and collided with each other.
Battles at sea were different from those on land. Battles on land were extremely particular about formation. Once the formation was broken, it usually meant defeat. On the other hand, once a battle at sea began, the formation would be broken. It was usually a one-on-one duel between warships. Victory depended on the quality of the warship and the skills of the captain and sailors.
Crotone and Rockley had been enemies for decades, so they knew each other very well. Ascamas was very clear about the strength of the fleet, the composition of the crew, and even the characteristics of the commanders. He firmly believed that with the six extra three-layered oars in his fleet, which had a total advantage of ten warships over the Rockley fleet, it was only a matter of time before they won this battle.
During the battle, Ascamas's warship retreated quickly and skillfully, narrowly avoiding the enemy ship's attack on the middle of the warship. After the danger was averted, the enemy ship landed horizontally in front of the bow of his warship — the bronze ram. This was a great opportunity. How could he let it go? He immediately ordered the sailors to quickly regroup, and the ship quickly moved forward.
However, the enemy ship also quickly turned its bow towards Ascamas's ship.
Although the enemy ship's reaction was fast, the experienced Ascamas did not give up. As the warship approached the enemy ship and was about to cross paths, Ascamas shouted, "Retract!"
The boatswain, who was listening to the order in the lower cabin, immediately relayed it to the sailors. The well-trained sailors immediately pulled back the oars. The enemy ship had just turned the bow and had not yet had the time to pull back the oars. The 20-meter-long three-story oar ship used the huge inertia of the forward charge to smash most of the wooden oars of the enemy ship that was close to it, causing the enemy ship to fall into a predicament where it could not move forward without oars.
Just as the sailors were cheering and Ascamas was about to turn his ship around and sink it, a fleet of more than 20 triple-hulls suddenly appeared behind Crotone's fleet and immediately launched an attack on Crotone's ships.
The Crotone fleet was in danger of being attacked from both the north and the south.
In the end, the Crotone fleet suffered a crushing defeat. Fifteen ships were sunk, eight were captured, and ten were severely damaged. Ascamas led a few warships out of the enemy's encirclement.
On the way to Crotone, Ascamas kept thinking in frustration: Where did Rockley's extra warships come from?
… …
The victory of the naval battle encouraged Rockley's army that was besieging Corunya. The next morning, when Crotone's reinforcements arrived near Corunya, Rockley's army ignored the fatigue of attacking Corunya and immediately launched a battle.
Crotone's army did not shy away from the challenge.
Therefore, the two sides engaged in a fierce battle in the suburbs north of Corunya.
In terms of military strength, Rockley had the advantage, but because they had to divide part of their forces to besiege Corunya, the two sides had almost the same number of people. However, Rockley's army was mostly made up of heavy infantry and light armor, while Crotone's light infantry, which was made up of 5,000 carefully selected free people, had an obvious advantage.
Because Rockley's general was worried about the impact of Crotone's heavy infantry, he thickened the formation. On the other hand, Crotone's army had learned a lot from the bitter battle with the Dionysian Army due to their limited resources. After the formation was completed, they immediately sent their light infantry forward to attack. Rockley's light infantry were too few in number and were quickly defeated.
Then, Crotone's light infantry began to throw javelins at Rockley's army, and Rockley's light infantry suffered a lot of casualties.
Under such circumstances, Rockley's army immediately blew the horn to attack.
Faced with the overwhelming charge of the heavy infantry, Crotone's light infantry did not have the strict organization and discipline of Diónia's light infantry, nor did they have experienced veterans to stabilize their morale. They also did not have excellent light infantry generals like Epitenis, Cspit, and Alpines to lead them, and they did not have the stimulation of citizenship, land, and other material rewards. Moreover, the dense formation of Crotone's heavy infantry did not have any extra space for them to retreat, so they could only flee from the battlefield in panic. As a result, many of the light infantry did not manage to escape in time and died under the charge of Rockley's heavy infantry. When they finally escaped, under the efforts of their general, the light infantry tried to regroup, but they were immediately ambushed by Rockley's cavalry and dispersed once again.
However, the harassment of the light infantry had also exhausted and distracted Rockley's infantry. Now, only infantrymen were left on the battlefield. One side had just escaped from the abyss of suffering in Diónia and had not fully recovered; the other side had continuously attacked Corunya and did not have enough rest. One side had fewer soldiers, but they had the belief to wash away the humiliation and defend their territory; the other side had more soldiers, but they had suffered a blow from the light infantry, and their morale was slightly low.
After fighting for nearly two hours, Rockley finally could not hold on any longer and retreated from the battlefield.
In this battle, Crotone and Rockley suffered similar casualties, about 2,000 people, but most of Crotone's casualties were free citizens.
Although Rockley was defeated, its casualties were not serious, and it withdrew from the siege of Corunya.
Crotone's reinforcements successfully entered Corunya and were warmly welcomed by the people in the city, but the situation was not in Crotone's favor.
Rockley's army retreated to the south of Corunya and set up camp, but they were still eyeing Corunya.
Rockley's fleet cruised the sea and blocked Crotone's sea routes. The pain that Diónia had suffered was now being experienced by Crotone.
At this time, Ciudad Crotone had already sent out all of its elite soldiers, but Rockley still had some strength left. Two days later, a thousand Rockley soldiers landed on the coast between Crotone and Siletina, burning and looting along the way, and invaded Crotone's territory north.
After the shock of the naval defeat, the people of Crotone heard the news of Rockley's invasion, and they panicked again. The council, on the other hand, blamed Lucias for his stubbornness, leaving the city empty and unable to send troops to repel the enemy's invasion.
Lucias did not refute the council's criticism. He was also shocked by the defeat of the fleet. At this time, he could only propose that the council mobilize the whole city, and at the same time, send messengers to Diónia and Asprustum to ask for help.
In this situation, Crotone actually had no other way. It was just that the war with Diónia had just ended, and the whole of Ciudad Crotone's cursing of Diónia had not disappeared. At this moment, they had to beg for help again. Both the councilors and the people were a little embarrassed.
Asprustum was not far from Crotone, and Sisprotis spurred on his horse and arrived at the south gate of Asprustum in less than two hours.
Although Diónia and Crotone had made peace, Asprustum's defense did not relax. Instead, it was even tighter. There were teams of sentries patrolling back and forth on the city wall, and there were guards stationed in front of the city gate. Although there were only a few pedestrians entering and leaving the city gate, they still carried out their duties seriously. This allowed Sisprotis to patiently accept the interrogation of the guards.
When the city guard captain appeared in front of him again, he brought with him the order of the governor, Hilos: he was allowed to enter.
As soon as he entered the city, he was shocked by the scene in front of him. The main street under his feet was not very wide, and some people were digging ditches with T-picks on both sides of the street. Some people were using hammers and awls to beat the stones piled up on the roadside, and then laid the cut stones on the dirt road. Some people were demolishing some buildings that blocked the road and building new brick walls …
Moving soil, stones, garbage … Countless strong men were busy, turning this place into a large construction site. Everyone was working in full swing, and almost no one stopped what they were doing to look at him.
"What are they doing?" Sisprotis asked curiously.
The city guard captain replied, "Because we will be moving here in the future, so we are building our own home. The roads in this city are too narrow, and the roads are uneven. Garbage and sewage are everywhere … "
The captain mentioned a lot of the city's shortcomings, and Sisprotis was amused. He often came to Asprustum and felt that it was no different from Tarantum. There were none of the problems mentioned by the people of Diónia. He immediately asked, "You are not Greeks, are you?"
"We are Lucarians, but we are citizens of Diónia!" The city guard captain said loudly.
"You speak Greek well," Sisprotis praised him, and then changed the topic. Then, he changed the topic. "I heard that the Lucania region is full of mountains, barren land, and people often don't have enough to eat. I didn't expect you to care so much about your living environment."
You've already exceeded your reading limit for today. If you want to read more, please log in.
Login
Select text and click 'Report' to let us know about any bad translation.
