Chapter 1313
More than half an hour later, almost all the Diónia troops had completed their formation. This side was soon quiet again, but the Persia side was still noisy.
Two days ago, after listening to Terebassus's description of the situation in the Diónia camp, Artaxerxes' confidence in winning the battle increased. Now that he was on top of the carriage, he could clearly see the situation on the opposite side. The fast and efficient formation of the Dionysian Army was too obvious compared to the chaotic procrastination of his own side, which made him feel a little uneasy. As far as his eyes could see, there was nothing but darkness. The sense of uniformity of the formation was so oppressive that he could not help but shout, "Terebassus, urge all troops to hurry up! Hurry up! "
"Yes, Your Majesty!"
After the Dionysian Army finished their formation, the sun had almost risen to the middle of the sky. The soldiers received orders from their officers one after another, "Hurry up and replenish your food and drink."
Just as the soldiers of the 1st Division of the 2nd Brigade of the 1st Legion were chewing on the bread they carried and passing water bags to each other, someone exclaimed, "Captain, look! The Persia really have elephants! "
Artaxerxes, who was standing at the back of the division and serving the soldiers, immediately walked to the front of the formation and looked forward. He saw dozens of elephants in cloaks and with sharp swords tied to their tusks, slowly walking to the front of the Persia formation under the command of the elephant handlers.
The elephants were huge and particularly eye-catching compared to the troops around them. Their appearance immediately caused a commotion among the soldiers of the 1st Legion and the surrounding legions.
Artaxerxes took a deep breath, then turned around and shouted to the soldiers who were talking among themselves, "Commander Matonis has already told us before that the Persia army may have war elephants. What's there to be surprised about?"
"Captain, we're just curious. The Persia actually sent such docile animals to the battlefield!" a soldier responded.
"No matter how docile an animal is, once it goes crazy, it can be very scary. Don't take it lightly!" Arsinis reminded him, and then laughed, "But the Persia don't know how many times we have seen elephants in the Turií Zoo. They think they can scare us with it. When the time comes, we will make the Persia suffer from the abuse of elephants!"
"Captain, don't worry. We are not afraid of elephants. We just think that elephants are so cute. It would be a pity if they all died in this battle," another soldier said half-jokingly and half-seriously.
Another soldier immediately replied, "I don't feel that it's a pity. It's not our fault that these elephants died in battle. On the contrary, it would be great if we could taste the meat of the elephant after the war! "
"Cripps, you glutton! You've eaten so much good food these past few days, and you're still not satisfied? Do you think you can become as strong as an elephant after eating elephant meat? "Arsines laughed.
"Captain, he just feels that the thing down there is too small, so he wants to make it bigger," a soldier joked loudly.
The soldiers roared with laughter.
… …
More than an hour later, the Persia army finally got into formation.
The Persia archers in the middle were in a loose formation, followed by Indian war elephants and sickle chariots. The war elephants were in the middle, and the chariots were on both sides. Behind them were 3,000 Persia cavalry in armor. Behind the cavalry were 20,000 Greek heavy infantry and 10,000 undead soldiers. Artaxerxes was in the rear. Behind him were troops from Mesopotamia and Persia along the Gulf of Persia.
At the front of the right wing were Persia archers and a mixed group of archers from Armenia, Parthia, and Media. Behind them were 100 chariots from Media and Babylon. Behind the chariots were infantry from Dugea, Ameria, and Persia. Behind them were troops from tribes around the Caspian Sea, such as the Sulcalians and the Tapurians. At the far right of the right wing were more than 10,000 cavalry from Ameria, Parthia, and Media.
Foremost on the left flank was a mixed force of Persian, Arab, Bactrian, and Arahosian archers, followed by the infantry of Persians, Carians, and Eastern Uxians and Western Tarkanes, east of Susa, and then by the Far Eastern races, led by Arahosian and Bactrian troops. At the far left of the left wing were more than 10,000 cavalry led by Persia, Scythia, and Bactria. The 500 camel cavalry of Arabia were in the front.
From the formation of the Persia, it could be seen that the Persia formation had a thick depth, and the middle was the strongest.
The reason why the Persia made such an arrangement was that they took into account the fact that the Dionysian Army had many heavy infantry and strong close combat abilities. Therefore, they increased the depth of their formation to increase their close combat ability. Whether it was for safety reasons or to dispel Artaxerxes' fear (Artaxerxes had been traumatized by Cyrus's javelin attack in the battle with Cyrus the Young), the strength of the middle had to be strengthened.
Therefore, Lalabassus took the opportunity to propose a suggestion: Amass a large number of soldiers in the middle, use war elephants and chariots to tear open the enemy's defense line, then use armored cavalry to charge and completely disrupt the enemy's heavy infantry. The Greek heavy infantry and undead army would then charge and completely crush the enemy, thus winning the battle …
In the end, Artaxerxes accepted his suggestion.
The formation adopted by the Dionysian Army was:
The middle consisted of the First Legion, Legio IV, Seventh Legion, Twelfth Legion, and Fifteenth Legion in a chessboard formation. When combined, the thickness was 10 columns, with five light infantry brigades at the back. The commander of the entire middle was Martonis.
The left wing consisted of the Second Legion, Fifth Legion, Eighth Legion, Fourteenth Legion, and Sixteenth Legion in a chessboard formation. When combined, the thickness was 10 columns, with no other troops at the back.
The leftmost part of the left wing consisted of the First Cavalry Legion, Third Cavalry Legion, Gallic Cavalry Legion, and 2,000 Numibian light cavalry. At the back were nine light armored brigades. Behind them were six light infantry brigades and 2,000 Balyali stonecutters.
The right wing consisted of Legio III, Legio VI, Eleventh Legion, Thirteenth Legion, and Seventeenth Legion in a chessboard formation. When combined, the thickness was 10 columns, with no other troops at the back.
The rightmost part of the right wing consisted of the Second Cavalry Legion, Fourth Cavalry Legion, Iberian Cavalry Legion, and 2,000 Numibian light cavalry. At the back were nine light armored brigades. Behind them were six light infantry brigades and 2,000 Balyali stonecutters.
The command center where the King of Devers was located was located at the back of the middle. In addition to the palace guards, there were also the Eighteenth Legion, Nineteenth Legion, and Twenty-First Legion on the left and right as reserves.
From the formation of the Dionysian Army, it could be seen that Diónia had gathered a large number of troops at both ends of the flanks. Obviously, they wanted to defeat the Persia cavalry first, and then outflank them from both flanks. The Persia cavalry was obviously stronger than the Diónia cavalry, but the Devers actually wanted to attack the enemy's strongest point. It could be said that they knew there was a tiger in the mountain, but they still chose to go to the tiger's mountain.
Although the Persia army was twice the size of the Dionysian Army, due to the caution of the Persia king, Artaxerxes, the depth of the formation was significantly increased. On the other hand, due to the confidence of the King of Devers, the Dionysian Army's infantry formation was only 10 columns thick. Therefore, the length of the formation of the two sides was almost the same, 15 miles long.
The Persia army had many different types of troops. Not only did they wear different clothes and weapons, but even the soldiers themselves were very different. Therefore, even though the entire formation was mostly a dense formation, and they stood on a flat battlefield, the experienced Diónia cavalry could still roughly determine the distribution of troops at the front of the Persia formation through careful observation.
On the other hand, the Dionysian Army was almost entirely made up of black helmets and black armor. The types of troops were relatively simple, and the Devers deliberately did not let the enemy see the actual situation of the formation. Therefore, after the heavy infantry and cavalry at the front of the formation were completed and could block the enemy's line of sight, they began to arrange the troops at the back.
At the same time, the Devers specially ordered that the soldiers at the back of the formation were not to raise their weapons before the battle began!
At this moment, according to the reports of the cavalry scouts, Felicius and his staff had already drawn a sketch of the distribution of troops at the front of the entire Persia formation.
The Devers took the wooden board that Felicius handed over. After carefully reading the sketch on it, he was slightly surprised. "Hey, the Persia have 100 more chariots. This is a little different from the number that Izam told us."
"Maybe they just arrived recently," Felicius explained.
The Devers thought for a moment and quickly made a decision. "Then … let the light infantry on the right send 2,000 men to deal with these chariots."
"Yes, Your Majesty." Felicius immediately went to pass on the order.
"Your Majesty, it's already past noon. Let's eat something first," Henneporis reminded him from the side.
"I'm not hungry yet." Henneporis had already asked this a few times, so the Devers waved his hand impatiently. After the messengers set off, he kept looking to the left with concern, even though he could not see the movements of the troops a few miles away from where he was.
After a while, he suddenly realized something and asked, "Have Hieronymus and Amyntas eaten?"
Before Henneporis could answer, Hieronymus's voice came from behind, "Your Majesty, we're old and don't participate in the battle. It doesn't matter if we eat or not —"
"Yes, Your Majesty, we don't have the leisure to eat now. We just have to wait for the battle to begin!" Amyntas interrupted impatiently.
"There's no rush," the Devers said calmly, "The longer we delay, the more disadvantageous it will be for the Persia …"
As he spoke, Izam galloped from the left and shouted, "Your Majesty, I've found the position of the Xokant warriors in the Persia formation!"
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