Published at 7th of February 2024 8:46 pm

Chapter 877: Battle of Nola (II)

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Konteruk's words struck what Segobani feared most. Then, he went to privately discuss it with the other Caudini chieftains who were close to him and was also met with strong opposition, causing him to give up.

But the war situation changed so quickly that he hadn't had time to devise a better solution to the Nucerian problem. He had even spread rumours in Beneventum to confuse them, which had a good effect. However, it is only a temporary measure. Forcing the various tribes of Nuceria to spread out within the formation is also a temporary solution. And if he didn't bring them out, where would he place these over two thousand Nucerian warriors? Caudium or Abella? But that would only make Segobani more uneasy. Thus, he firmly believed that only under such an arrangement would the Nucerian warriors fight bravely and not dare to cause trouble.

That was indeed the case. Basani became anxious because the Nucerian army, despite seemingly united, had no actual leader who could convince everyone and make them obey orders. After all, all the current chieftains are young men selected temporarily, leading the army for the first time and having little prestige, including Basani. Although they knew Segobani's order was detrimental to them, under a numerical disadvantage and surrounded by other tribal warriors, none of the young Nucerian chieftains had the confidence or courage to stand up and raise their arms to lead the Nucerian warriors and launch an uprising.

So, despite the Nucerian chieftains' opposition, they could only reluctantly follow the orders and lead their troops away. And this scattering made it impossible for them to communicate with each other during battle, much less act unified.

Unable to do anything, Basani could only curse the cruel and cunning Segobani inwardly as he held himself back and waited for an opportunity.

Segobani adopted the Samnites' traditional method of fighting against Greeks by extending their army's row to one and a half kilometres, with the column also long. This strategic approach was possible because the Samnite army formed loosely, with enough distance between each warrior to allow each other to pass through the gap more easily.

At dusk, with the sun starting to set towards the western sea, dying the sky and sea in golden hues, the figures of the enemy finally appeared in Segobani's field of vision. Their thick armour emitted an eerie glow because of the sunset, yet it wasn't harmful to the eyes.

However, Segobani and his warriors didn't feel intimidated by the wall of light on the opposite side. On the contrary, they felt relieved because they had defeated such opponents countless times in the past; it's just that the length of the opponent's formation exceeded Segobani as it stretched out to both sides, making Segobani not even able to see both ends clearly, which was a little bit different from the previous dense and thick phalanx formation of the Campanian League's army.

‘Is this the way the Theonians fought?’ Segobani muttered to himself. After all, despite having fought against the Theonians once, it was where they were chasing him, so there had not yet been a formal battle between both sides.

When he saw the enemy soldiers still crowded among each other, Segobani thought the enemy's column must be thin. Segobani could naturally guess why the other sides formed before they reached the battlefield. It was evident that the Campanians had learned their lesson from the past, as they had always attacked the clumsy Campanian army from a distance while they were forming slowly.

Segobani hesitated momentarily but decided not to adjust their formation, thinking to test the enemy for a while and see the situation before proceeding.

Theonia and their allies halted their advance once they were less than four hundred metres from the enemy. Currently, their army formation, which was one kilometre and six hundred metres and had only three rows, had become convoluted after advancing for a distance, so they needed to straighten it before the battle.

The centre of this formation had over six thousand heavy infantry(including some one thousand five hundred soldiers from the Theonian reserves), with three thousand mixed units of light-armoured and light infantry soldiers. There are also Theonian Light Infantry Brigade at each end and the more than two hundred Campanian Cavalry on the outermost left flank, for a total of about eleven thousand four hundred troops.

Theonia's opponent, the Caudini, on the other hand, boasted a total strength of over nine thousand men. They organised themselves into a formation stretching one and a half kilometres long. The majority of their forces comprised light infantry, categorised into two types: pure javelin throwers and light-armoured infantry with long shields. Both groups were adept at javelin throwing and fighting with spears, and they formed the primary force of the Caudini. Finally, at the rear of the centre, Segobani led nearly one thousand armoured infantry.

The Caudini and the Campanian League, two mortal enemies, faced each other on the eastern plains of Campania with exhausted troops. They are about to engage in a battle that will determine their respective destinies.

But just as the Theonian forces stopped and began reorganising, Segobani immediately ordered the light infantry in the centre of the Caudini to move forward. With the centre moving, the left and right flanks also moved accordingly.

Unlike the Greek army, which is thick and slow, the Caudini army moves at a swift pace.

Aeoles, well aware of the enemy’s characteristics, stood in the front rank of the line as the commanding strategos of the Neapolitan army. Despite Xanticles urging him to command from the rear rather than being on the front line, Aeoles politely refused. During battles, many elected strategoi of Greek city-states often stood at the frontline to demonstrate no difference in status between them and the soldiers and also so as not to get blamed by citizens after the battle. And so, Neapolis was no exception at such a crucial time.

Without hesitation, he removed his Corinthian helmet and threw it to the ground. The other Campanian heavy infantry also removed their Corinthian helmets following the pre-battle plan. Much like Aeoles, everyone suddenly felt a sense of openness and relaxation in their bodies. The only exception was the Theonian heavy infantry, who didn't remove their helmets because theirs were of the open-faced type.

After Aeoles looked around, he raised his spear and shouted, “May Apollo bless us! We shall pursue the enemy bravely and never cease!”

The soldiers and officers also shouted, “Pursue the enemy bravely and never cease!!…”

As the Caudini army was only fifty metres away, almost all the soldiers of Theonia and their allies shouted, with their morale so high.

Xanticles, riding on a horse at the rear, heard the thunderous roar, which also calmed his tense mind.

“Attack!” He ordered loudly.

Then the military horn sounded, making the entire long army formation, whether heavy infantry, light infantry, light-armoured soldiers, or cavalry, start advancing.

Despite the sudden advance of Theonia and their allies, it had no discernible effect on the tribal warriors at the forefront of the Caudini formation. They adhered to their past tactics, halting at an appropriate distance to hurl their javelins and subsequently withdraw through the gap. Then, the warriors behind them would take the forefront and be responsible for continuing the javelin attack… This ensures that, even as the opposing side advanced, the tribal warriors maintained a safe distance from the enemy while relentlessly hurling javelins. As a result, this tactic inflicted heavy casualties on the enemies' dense phalanx formation.

In the past, the Campanian League had no specialised training either to have light infantry capable of competing with them or to create tactics specifically to have the light infantry break away. Thus, the temporarily recruited civilian light infantry simply couldn't contend with the formidable Caudini javelin throwers. Consequently, after three or four rounds of hurling javelins, the Samnites managed to force the Campanian formation to halt its advance.

Afterwards, the Caudini warriors would immediately switch from retreat to attack while still throwing javelins in waves. By the time they ran out of javelins, the Campanians, having suffered too many casualties, would have their formation fall into chaos, and it would be up to the armoured and light-armoured Caudini to make a final charge, often with a single charge to seal the victory.

But now, the Caudini warriors are taken aback as they witness the heavy infantry on the opposite side accelerating their advance, getting faster with each passing moment.

‘Are they going to charge?! Don't they know that we wouldn't clash with them, and they couldn't possibly catch up with us with their lumbering speed?!…’ Despite their surprise, they continued moving backwards as the enemy drew closer. As usual, their first round of javelins was thrown slightly upwards due to the distance being still far(over thirty metres), which allowed the javelins to fly a longer distance and often landed in the middle and rear of the enemy's formation, thus causing confusion throughout the enemy and disconnecting their formation to facilitate the next attack. However, the opponent's sudden acceleration and the too-thin column caused most of the javelins thrown to fall to the ground.

The heavy infantries became even more confident after emerging unscathed from the javelin attack. Then, they tilted their shields to protect their heads as their steps became firmer and faster to close the distance to within twenty metres rapidly. This swift approach caught the Caudini warriors off guard, forcing them to throw their javelins hastily without adequate time to prepare thoroughly.

The five hundred Nucerian warriors led by Basani were part of this second wave of attacks and had all received Basani's order beforehand. So, after most of them casually threw their javelins into the sky, they immediately retreated.

The imposing charge of the Greek heavy infantry made Basani palpitate.

Even though the Caudini warriors threw their javelins hastily, the experienced ones managed to hurl them at the enemy in this round. Countless heavy javelins, thrown by the warriors with strong arm strength, flew with some rotation and struck straight at the shields of the heavy infantry, many of which penetrated straight through the shields, wounding some of the heavy infantry.

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