Novels online

Chapter 47

"Will Persia do it too?" Asistes asked curiously.

"What about Greece?" Marigi immediately turned around and glared at him, not to be outdone.

Devers glanced at the two of them and said half-jokingly, "If you live long enough, you might be able to see it in 50 years."

"Is this an oracle?" Asistes asked excitedly.

Marigi obviously did not believe it.

Devers smiled and did not answer. If his butterfly wings were too weak to change the course of history, a few decades later (he could not remember the exact time), Alexander of Macedonia conquered the Greek mainland and then destroyed Persia. Because the Greeks did not consider the Macedonians of the north as their own, in a sense, he conquered the two most powerful forces in the Mediterranean at that time in one fell swoop.

… …

For the next two days, the Greek mercenaries marched briskly all the way.

Until the third day, when Tisafnese's army appeared.

Now, the Greek mercenaries' 50-man light cavalry team was basically sent out by Devers as scouts. After all, the Persia cavalry was strong individually. In a one-on-one fight, the Greek cavalry was no match for them. Therefore, they formed groups of five and did not dare to stray too far from the main force. They only moved within a radius of two to three miles. When they saw the Persia troops from afar, they immediately reported back.

"The Persia are here, prepare for defense!"

"Relay Risopus's order, prepare for defense!"

The messengers quickly roamed around the huge square formation, conveying the order.

The large hollow square formation used by the Greek mercenaries protected the supply camp in the center, so it was impossible for them to change their formation before they met the enemy. They only gathered the supply camp in the center, and the soldiers held shields and spears, raised their vigilance, and slowed down their marching speed to maintain the integrity of the formation.

Soon, the Persia appeared right at the back of the formation. From the fluttering flag, the soldiers knew that Tisafnese was here. The Greek mercenaries had easily defeated him during the Battle of Kunasak, so they did not take it too seriously.

Then, another army appeared on the left flank of Tisaphnis. As the formation advanced, the hearts of the Greeks tightened. This was another army of no less than ten thousand men! The emblem on the flag was very familiar to everyone. The arrival of the Armenian governor, Orontas, was also within the expectations of the leaders.

Then, another army appeared on Tissavonnys' right flank. There were no less than ten thousand of them, and their flags were very familiar to everyone.

"Oh, I remember! That's the army we met on the road. It's said to be led by the Persia King's brother! "Asistes shouted.

"This army that was supposed to be marching in the opposite direction from us actually appeared here! I'm afraid it's been following us! Disafniss has been hostile towards us for a long time! "Felicius said solemnly.

Dyvers nodded stiffly, his hands gripping the reins tightly.

Disafnese's army also included the remnants of Cyrus the Younger's army led by Alreus. The four armies gathered together and spread out in the shape of a goose, slowly approaching the Greek army.

The seemingly endless and dense crowd was the largest the Greek mercenaries had seen since the Battle of Kurasak. Last time, they had Cyrus the Younger to rely on, and the mercenaries were only responsible for the right flank. Now, they had to face the entire Persia army. Everyone could not help but feel nervous.

Despite their nervousness, the Greeks knew that only a bloody battle could save them. Cleano had been watching the distance of the enemy's advance. Seeing that they were about to enter the range of the catapults, he immediately ordered, "Catapults, get ready!"

The catapults in the rearguard immediately began to swing their catapults. The distance was more than three hundred meters, so the accuracy and strength of the flying stones would be a little lacking. However, there were so many Persians, and they were so densely packed. Almost every stone that fell would cause a cry. The Persian formation in the middle was thrown into chaos, and their advance almost stopped.

"Governor, the enemy's attack is too fierce! Should we retreat temporarily and let the two armies advance first? "An adjutant next to him suggested to Disafnese.

Disafnese's expression was also ugly, but he refused without hesitation. Although he was appointed by the king as the overall person in charge of the plan to expel the Greeks, Orontas was only assisting, and the king's brother, Sitiris, was only helping out in friendship. But one of them was the same rank as him and the son-in-law of the king, and the other was the king's brother. If he did not do his best, why would he expect them to do their best to help? Moreover, they were close to the king. If he went back and told Artaxerxes about his performance in private, the good impression he had built in the king's heart would be destroyed.

Disafnese glared at his adjutant and immediately ordered, "Hurry up and continue to advance!" This time, he had gathered nearly 50,000 troops. He had plenty of people! Since the Greeks wanted to compete with him in long-range firepower, he would compete and see who could shoot more accurately! Let's see who could endure it! In any case, he did not intend to fight the Greeks in close combat. After the battle at Kulasak, the Greeks' heavy infantry charge and easily defeated the Polish left wing had happened right beside him. It was too much of a shock to him.

The Persia screamed and ran all the way. Disafnese even sent his own soldiers to supervise the battle and cut down the deserters one by one to warn the rest of the army. Under such circumstances, the two wings of the Polish army quickly surrounded the mercenaries. As the Persia had too many soldiers and the mercenaries were in a square formation, the Persia army stretched out their lines and almost surrounded the entire mercenary army.

The Devers had already dismounted and led the War Horse to the supply camp in the center of the phalanx. Facing the approaching enemy, he was not as nervous as he was at the beginning. "Raise the shield wall!"

Asistes and two of his messengers passed on the Devers' orders to the entire left wing.

Four rows of heavy infantry began to move closer and closer. Shields stacked on top of each other, and soon, a long copper wall was erected. The round shield of the Greek heavy infantry was one of the best among the infantry of the Mediterranean countries. The round shield had a diameter of one meter, a wooden core, and was wrapped in copper. Furthermore, it was not held by the hand, but by the forearm through the two grips on the back of the round shield. This saved energy and made it difficult for arrows to penetrate it.

The archers behind the heavy infantry also quickly moved closer to the shield wall to reduce the damage of the enemy's arrows. Due to the destruction of Altauzus' 6,000 men, the Cretan archers in the mercenary army not only switched to the recurve bows of the Persia, but also selected heavy infantry and light shieldbearers who were good with bows to join the ranks of the archers. The number of archers in the mercenary army now reached 500. They were scattered in the rear and flanks.

When the Persia army was within 100 meters, both sides released their arrows at almost the same time.

Bang! Bang! Bang! A series of bowstrings sounded, and countless arrows flew into the sky like a large dark cloud, covering the blue sky and the scorching sun. The arrows were so dense that many of them even collided in the air. When most of the "dark cloud" landed on the mercenary army, there was a series of "Clang! Clang! Clang! " There were crisp sounds, and occasionally one or two screams. When a small part of the "dark cloud" landed on the side of the Persia army, screams could be heard again and again …

Both sides exchanged arrows.

The Persia army even pushed the front line to 50 meters away and stopped advancing. This was because the Persia army knew very well that if they advanced any further, the Greek light shieldbearers would enter the battle.

… …

The archer battle lasted for a while.

Other than the long square shield wall, which was relatively clean, the surroundings of the mercenaries were densely packed with arrows. The Greek archers, whose quivers were empty, did not have to worry at all. They casually plucked a stalk of "arrow grass" from the ground and returned fire.