A cunning Mesapi cavalry swept diagonally forward, exposing the infantry phalanx behind them.

Then, Mesapi's army halted its advance, and once again entered into a standoff with Acheta's army a hundred meters away.

Archeta could not wait any longer, with twice the strength of the enemy, and the uneasiness in his heart prompted him to give the order immediately: blow the horn of attack!

In Tarantum, there are many people who are jealous or look down on the Ionian League, but Acheta does not. Not only did he have a good relationship with the Ionian consul Davers, but he also carefully studied the Dionian military tactics and absorbed some of them and applied them to his own troops. Increasing the number of light infantry, forming them individually, and making full use of their long-range attacks was a major change in the army he led.

When the light infantry preemptively attacked the enemy, Acheta sat in an array far beyond the rear of the enemy's right flank, directing the right flank heavy infantry to advance, preparing to outflank the enemy's left flank.

The Mesapi phalanx remained motionless, and the Mesapi cavalry that surrounded the Tarantum array on the periphery moved. They came up from all sides and threw javelins at the Tarantum soldiers in an attempt to disrupt and hinder the enemy's advance.

Acheta was unmoved, the trumpet of attack kept blowing, and the heavy infantry would soon be within a distance where they could charge.

"Woo! …… Woo! ......" suddenly sounded on the battlefield.

Acheta was taken aback: the voice was coming from behind?!!

"There are enemies in the back! There are enemies in the back!! ......" Some of the soldiers at the rear of the right flank of the phalanx began to shout in panic, and behind the side they could already see the shadowy figures in the distant morning mist, and heard rumbling footsteps.

Hit the trick! The Mesapi are in ambush here! Acheta's heart "chuckled", and the thought quickly flashed through his mind: should he move forward or retreat? He had to make a decision right away.

Fortunately, he learned from the Dionian army, and the commander was not in the phalanx, but outside the phalanx. Previously, because of this incident, some people accused him in the Senate: practicing a decadent aristocratic style in battle, not fighting side by side with the citizens, is an act of greed for life and fear of death.

He did not change his approach because of criticism, so now he was able to make adjustments before engagement: "The whole army stops advancing!" Immediately retreat to the left rear in an overall formation! Acheta immediately gave orders to the heralds and trumpeters, hoping that by retreating, he would turn the bad situation of the front and rear attacks into a frontal attack on the two enemy groups.

The bugle sounded. The heralds galloped behind the phalanx, shouting loudly.

For the usual Greek city-state army, retreating to the left was a complex tactical maneuver that would be difficult to do in training, let alone on the battlefield, but Acheta believed that his army, which had been fighting for half a year and had been trained by him like the Dionian army, could do it.

Having fought many battles with the Mesapi, he learned of the bravery and tenacity of this race, and he was not confident that he would be able to defeat an enemy to the west, twice as manifold, in a very short time, and that he did not want to be caught in the danger of being flanked in front and rear, so the only way was to leave the battlefield at once and rearrange the attack. Since the main forces of the Mesapi were attacking Manduria, he believed that there were not many enemies in this area, if not outnumbered his army, and he was confident that he could defeat them in a head-on battle!

The phalanx stopped advancing and began to retreat slowly, but the Tarantum army did not advance, and the Mesapi infantry began to charge. At the same time, the Mesapi cavalry also began to intensify their attack, howling and even driving their horses into the phalanx in an attempt to disrupt the retreat of the Tarantums.

The desperate fighting of the Mesapi cavalry frightened Acheta, and he sensed the determination of the Mesapi to annihilate his army here, and it was difficult to maintain his previous composure.

Will you continue to retreat or will you strengthen your defenses? Once again, Acheta is stuck in a difficult choice.

But time was pressing, the Mesapi cavalry had already rushed to the front, the light infantry hurriedly retreated to the flanks, and the Tarantum heavy infantry, which could not retreat with all their strength, was obstructed by the Mesapi cavalry, and had to turn around to meet the battle, falling into passivity at the beginning.

Acheta had no time to regret it, and in the face of such a predicament, he asked the light infantry to disperse the Mesapi cavalry with arrows, and informed the officers to shorten the length of the heavy infantry phalanx and thicken the columns; At the same time, let the soldiers at the rear of the phalanx quickly turn back, face the incoming enemy, and move forward for more than ten meters, so that the entire array has changed from the original "one-word long snake formation" to a "two-word formation", and the two parallel arrays protect each other's rear.

Acheta believes that even if his troops are temporarily passive, they can repel the Mesapi with their strong defenses!

The Mesapi cavalry in the rear had withdrawn to the flanks, and the rumbling footsteps and earth-shattering shouts could be heard clearly from the morning mist......

When the black-pressed enemy approached, the Tarantum soldiers were astonished: not only were they numerous, but they were not the Mesapi soldiers, armed with wooden shields and spears, and wore rudimentary helmets and cuirasses.

"Mistress Acheta, it's a Puchetti! It's Puchetti!! "When the scout received the report, Acheta was equally shocked: Mesapi and Puchetti have united! For decades, Mesapi and Puchetti, who have always harbored hatred and often had wars and conflicts, actually united!!

Seeing more and more Pchetti warriors rushing towards him, Acheta's whole body trembled, not only for the safety of this force, but also for the situation of Tarantum......

……………………

"Congratulations, King Puchetti! The Tarantum people are already surrounded by us! Timogolas, the consul of Igratea, shouted complimentarily.

"Yes, the Acheta who has caused you a lot of defeat is surrounded by my valiant warriors, so destroy them quickly! And then go to attack Brindisi! King Teremoni of Puchetti was overjoyed, and did not forget to mock the Mesapi.

However, half an hour later, the Tarantum flag in the encirclement was still standing, and the Meppu coalition did not make substantial progress except for compressing the encirclement to a smaller size, but because of the concentration of Tarantum soldiers, the attack was met with greater resistance.

King Puchetti personally marched and brought with him more than 10,000 warriors, plus the soldiers of Igratia, more than double the number of Acheta's army.

The battle went on so hard when the opposing side was already surrounded.

King Puchetti, the Archon of Igratea, and the generals of Puchetti all stared at the dusty battlefield with solemn expressions.

"Fight! Tarantum Fight! Descendants of the hero Taras, don't stop swinging your spear! Remember, every time you kill an enemy, your parents, wife, and children will be safe! ......"In the center of the encirclement, Acheta rode his horse back and forth, dodging the flying arrows and javelins, and shouting loudly to boost morale.

His voice was hoarse, his horse was spewing heat, but he didn't realize it. He knew that this time he was afraid that he would be more than lucky, but even if he died in battle, he would inflict heavy losses on the enemy and reduce the threat to his home state.

Tarantum's formation had changed from "two" to a circle, and with his encouragement, the light infantry in the center kept firing arrows in their hands, ignoring the slashing of their fingers by the bowstring and the strained muscles of their arms; The hoplites clinged to each other, working together to resist the enemy's powerful squeeze, and at the same time raised their spears in their hands, stabbing and retracting from above the tightly packed shield walls...... They knew that their way of life was cut off and they could only fight to the death, so the comrades around them kept falling, but they did not shake their fighting spirit.

…………………

An hour had passed, and King Puchetti had turned pale, for Tarantum's banner was still standing, while his generals had asked for a halt to the attack, because the soldiers were tired and the casualties were not small.

"Rubbish, a bunch of rubbish! Are you still the descendants of the heroic Arcadian king Lycaon? Look at the Greeks who are surrounded by you, they are not as tall as we are, and if you are all afraid, I will have to remove you and let true warriors lead my warriors! ......" Tremoni cursed, waving his arms, and almost swept the spear in his hand into the face of the general in front of the warhorse.

"Dear King Puchetti, Acheta is indeed a famous general of Tarantum, and the army he commands is indeed powerful! We also want to retake Brindisi, and we shouldn't lose too many of our forces here! Timogolas suppressed his gloating mood and persuaded.

"You mean to stop fighting?" Tremoni glanced at him and said with disdain.

"The Tarantum people are fighting to the death because they have no way to escape. If our encirclement could open a path......" Timograss smiled a sinister smile.

"Do you mean—" Tremoni was not a king of mediocre talent, he had led his army in battle for the strength of Puchetti in his youth, and at this time he was only too obsessed with victory, and after being reminded by Timoglas, he immediately came to his senses, and turned his eyes to the cavalry of Mesapi and Puchetti waiting on both sides of the battlefield, and they combined to have nearly a thousand horsemen, but they were useless because the enemy was surrounded.

"I think the same way!" Tremoni puffed up his chest and said loudly to hide his previous gaffe. He drove his horse forward, spear pointing at the Tarantum banner standing in the middle of the chaotic battlefield: "Just don't let Acheta go!" ”

Because of the large number of Puchetti troops and the urgent need for their help, the Mechpie coalition forces decided to give way to the Igratian infantry surrounded from the west.