Chlorbus did not expect that following lansius to war this ti would go so smoothly. They easily captured the city of Thurii, and Chlorbus managed to seize quite a bit of loot. No wonder many people said that lansius was the darling of the goddess of luck.
Moreover, he had heard that the Crotone city council was preparing to migrate to the Sybaris Plain. He started calculating: when he returned to Crotone, he would first sell off his loot, save money to marry a wife, and then join Crotone’s migration team. The land on the Sybaris Plain was flatter and more expansive than the Croton Plain, so he should be able to get a considerable plot of land.
That night, Chlorbus was having sweet dreams, only to be awakened by pain. When he opened his eyes, he saw his comrades in the tent swarming like angry bees, frantically running outside. Sleeping near the tent entrance, he had already been trampled several tis.
"Watch it!" he shouted angrily.
"Enemy attack! Get out and fight!" a comrade yelled as he dashed out of the tent.
"Enemy attack? Where are the enemies?" Chlorbus was still a bit confused.
At this mont, successive screams reached his ears, jolting him awake. Propping himself up with his hands, he barely managed to stand. He had drunk quite a bit of undiluted wine last night, and its strong aftereffects left his mind foggy and his body sowhat out of control. Almost falling, he had no ti to put on armor or a helt and grabbed a spear from the ground, staggering out of the tent.
Through his blurry vision, he saw heavily armored infantry in tight formations advancing rapidly toward them. Two companions, ard with spears, rushed to confront them but were quickly taken down. The coordinated movents and precise combat of the enemy completely woke Chlorbus up. Fear instantly consud him. He threw away his spear and turned to run.
"Run! Get out of here!" Chlorbus, driven by a strong survival instinct, ran while glancing at the position of the sun in the sky. He decided to flee eastward because that was where the city of Castlon was located.
After running for a while, he saw so others running toward him, shouting in panic, "There are enemies! Run quickly!..."
Enemies to the east as well?! Chlorbus panicked and could only follow the fleeing crowd. From then on, he ran around like a headless fly. The surrounding crowd grew larger, even including many pack animals, which caused chaos and injured many people, yet he still couldn’t find a way out.
At this point, even Chlorbus, as panicked as he was, understood that they were surrounded, and the encirclent was steadily tightening...
Juleios’ legion command was positioned behind the second brigade, between the Clitina camp and the city of Castlon. Thirty guards stood at attention, focusing mainly on the east. Their captain, Martius, held the legion’s banner upright. Juleios was intently listening to Ledes’ reports of the latest battle updates coming from the cavalry.
"The first brigade has begun its attack!"
"The second brigade has begun its attack!"
"The third brigade has begun its attack!"
"The seventh brigade and the Lucanian brigade have begun their attack!"
"The first brigade has successfully advanced, and the enemy offered no resistance!"
"The second brigade is advancing smoothly!"
"The first brigade has passed through the baggage area and is continuing to advance!"
"So quickly?!" Juleios was sowhat surprised and asked, "How did they manage that?"
Ledes responded, "The ones stationed around the baggage area were free citizens and slaves who had defected to Crotone. When they saw our attack, they all ran away. Kapus bypassed that area, leaving a detachnt to clear it slowly while the rest of the unit moved forward."
"Kapus made the right choice!" Juleios nodded in approval.
At this mont, another cavalryman arrived with a report: "The second brigade has ford two horizontal lines!"
"The first brigade has ford two horizontal lines!"
...
"Legatus, our attack is proceeding very smoothly, and the encirclent is quickly tightening!" Asistes’ face was full of excitent.
"Yes, smoother than I anticipated!" Juleios exhaled, easing his tension, and asked Ledes again, "Is there still no movent from Castlon?"
"None."
"It seems the enemy’s awareness of danger and response is very slow. Alpons won’t get a chance to fight this ti." Juleios now had the mood to joke, "When that athletic champion wakes up from his dreams, he’ll surely wonder, ’Where did all my troops go?’"
Everyone around him burst into laughter.
In reality, Juleios’ judgnt was sowhat incorrect. The sentries in Castlon had noticed sothing unusual about the Crotone camp. Although the camp was about three miles from the city, with forests and rivers in between, making the camp invisible from the city walls, the loud sounds of screams and shouts from over ten thousand soldiers faintly reached the sentries’ ears.
The sentries reported this anomaly to their captain, who thought to himself: the Crotone camp should be very secure! To the west, the Bruttians are blocked by mountains and cannot co over. To the north, Thurii has been burned down, not to ntion there’s the Trionto River for protection. To the south, Cria has defected to Crotone. To the northeast, we have Castlon itself as a shield. There shouldn’t be any enemies at all. Could it be that the arrogant Crotonians are having another early-morning revelry?
Out of professional habit, he symbolically sent a few cavalryn to investigate. However, the cavalryn were ambushed and killed by Alpons’ archers stationed in the woods.
As the encirclent further tightened, so units even had to form three lines due to the narrow attack front. The surrounded Crotone troops beca increasingly crowded as their space shrank.
lansius and other high-ranking officers were still feasting in the city and failed to return, but the centurions were still present. Those sleeping in the center of the camp noticed sothing was wrong and began struggling to organize their drunken subordinates to don armor and pick up weapons in preparation for battle. However, the Andolara soldiers were attacking too quickly, and the fleeing soldiers caused chaos, disrupting any hasty formations.
When the space beca so tight that the fleeing soldiers could no longer run, the centurions with bright-plud helts beca their rallying point.
"We are surrounded! Our only chance is to break through to the east! Break through to the east!" The centurions shouted loudly, drawing the attention of those around them. Under their leadership, the soldiers began rushing toward the rising sun. For the Andolara army, this marked the most severe challenge since the beginning of the ambush.
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