"But why can't I see the shadow of a Persian?"
"I heard that those Persians only know how to oppress their affiliated races. They are all lazy. I'm afraid they are sleeping in the camp, haha-"
"Hey, what are you doing?"
The soldiers who were chatting and laughing saw their comrades resting on the grass suddenly turned sideways and pressed their ears to the ground. After a while, they shouted: "The Persians are here!"
At the prompt of their teammates, the soldiers were surprised to find that the dry mud under their feet was shaking slightly.
After a while, the Dionysian soldiers began to vaguely hear a rumbling sound from far ahead, as if a dull thunder was rolling on the clouds in the sky, and the sound became clearer and clearer.
Then, a brownish-yellow cloud appeared at the junction of the sky and the earth, slowly drifting towards the direction of the Dionysian army. The billowing dust storm.
Under the reflection of the sun, countless rays of light shone in the gray dust mist, layer upon layer, like the stars in the sky. From the huge dust mist covering the four fields, people shouted, horses neighed, stepped, armored weapons collided, and even beast roars... All kinds of sounds were intertwined, like thousands of drums in unison, shocking the sky. terribly disturbing...
When the dust and fog moved closer, the sharp-eyed Dionysian soldiers were able to see the situation inside from a distance through the flying dust: this is a real sea of people! Tens of millions of soldiers dressed in various colors, held various weapons, and spoke different languages. They were densely packed and boundless, like the vast sea, surging towards them. Even suffocating them to the point of being unable to breathe...
Many Dionian soldiers changed their faces.
At this moment, the commander of the First Army, Matonis, laughed loudly: "The Persian army is still the same. Don't look at how many soldiers they have. In fact, they are not useful! I think back when we helped the Persian prince Cyrus the young to fight for the throne. , just a few hundred miles ahead, Kunaresa fought a battle with the Persian army. At that time, the commander of the Persian army was today's Persian king. The number of their soldiers was similar to today, far exceeding the little Cyrus 's army.
But at the beginning of the battle, a charge from the right flank composed of our Greek heavy infantry defeated the left flank of the Persian army. If it wasn't for the reckless behavior of little Cyrus, who risked his death and was killed, the Persian throne would have changed its owner long ago.
Today, we have far more soldiers than the army of Cyrus the Younger at that time, our army is more well-trained than the Greek mercenaries at that time, our arms are more complete than the Greek mercenaries at that time, and our tactics are better than those of the Greek mercenaries at that time. The soldiers are more advanced... We will definitely be able to easily defeat the seemingly strong but actually weak Persian army on the opposite side! "
Mattonis' words greatly boosted the morale of the soldiers of the First Legion.
At the same time, Trotiras and other veterans in the army were also giving similar speeches to the soldiers under his command.
Seeing that the soldiers had returned to normal, the legion commanders issued orders one after another: "Assemble the whole team and prepare for the formation!"
When Davos arrived, there was also a cloud of dust on the side of Dionia's army.
"Your Majesty!" Alexis, Matonis, Lizaru, Philisius, and Thormid rushed over on horseback.
Davos looked at the legion that was still in a marching column formation in front of him. After returning the salute, he asked, "Have you not started the formation yet?"
Alexis replied: "The Persian army is very large, but it is too disordered. It may take a long time to wait for the Persian army to take shape. So after a few discussions, we decided to let the soldiers first Rest. According to the slow speed of the Persians, it is completely too late to start the formation after determining the location of their central army."
Davos nodded slowly, and was about to speak when Amintas behind him shouted, "Since the Persian army is huge and chaotic, why not take this opportunity to attack?!"
Davos coughed heavily, and said in a deep voice, "This battle is attracting attention from all over the world. If we attack before the opponent is in line, even if we win, we will be ridiculed by the people of other countries. I need an upright and glorious victory to let The Persians are overwhelmed! Moreover, I need to hit the main Persian forces in this battle, so that the Persians are powerless to fight against us later. If we launch an attack in advance, it will only make the Persians retreat in advance, but we will not be able to obtain great results!"
Amyntas was speechless with embarrassment.
Davos had no intention of caring about Amyntas' mood at the moment, and he continued, "Come on, let's go ahead and take a look!"
After he finished speaking, he drove his horse forward, and the palace guards immediately stepped forward and surrounded him in the center. And Amintas, Hironimos and others could only stay where they were because they had no military affairs.
Davos rode through the gap between the legions and came to the front of the team. Looking east, the Persian army was stationed about a mile away. Although the dust and mist were still flying, the flat and vast plain was unobstructed. I can see the situation inside more clearly, and I can even hear the shouts of the Persian generals.
The Persian army stretched for more than ten miles from north to south. In order to have a more comprehensive understanding of the formation of the Persian army, Davos rode forward from south to north at the front of the Dionysian army, observing the enemy's situation while walking.
However, when the Dionysian soldiers saw their beloved king passing by, they were all excited and shouted: "Your Majesty is victorious!!! Your Majesty is victorious!!!..."
The news quickly spread throughout the army, and the noise increased greatly, like a thunderstorm in winter, completely overshadowing the noise from the opposite side, making Davos have to turn an enemy investigation into a pre-war army parade. , also aroused the curiosity of the Persians.
"What happened?" Artaxerxes, the Persian king behind the army, heard this thunderous roar, and couldn't help but ask Persitidai, the commander of the undead army in front.
Immediately after visiting the horse, the news came back: "Report to the king, it is the king of Dionia who is inspecting the army."
"The outcome of the battle is not determined by the strength of the voice." Artaxerxes said yin and yang in a strange way. In fact, he knew very well that if he were to inspect the Persian army, it would be very difficult to obtain such a long-term relationship. His applause was not only because of the subordinate armies, but also because of his lack of prestige among the Persian soldiers. It was because of this jealousy that he impatiently said to Trebassus next to him: "I urge all the troops to complete the column as soon as possible. Array, defeat the enemy as soon as possible, and end this noise as soon as possible!"
The Persian army stretched for more than ten miles from north to south. Although the Dionysian army did not expand, the legions were almost evenly distributed within a range of more than ten miles. In order to save horsepower, Davos had to smile and wave to the soldiers while waving. Slow down the horse.
After more than half an hour, he began to return from north to south.
"Your Majesty, look! There should be Artaxerxes!" Alexis suddenly pointed to the east and said loudly.
I saw a magnificent carriage in the Persian army on the opposite side, pulled by four pure white horses, and a person standing on the carriage, wearing gorgeous clothes, reflecting the sun, was particularly dazzling.
Davers stopped the warhorse, and was a little curious to take a closer look at what this opponent, known as the king of kings, looked like.
Artaxerxes was also staring at the crown-wearing King Dionia in front of him.
The two sides were separated by a distance of more than a mile and looked at each other for a while, and Davos turned his eyes to the front of the Persian king: dense arrays, thick round shields, helmets that completely covered the cheeks... It turned out to be Greek heavy infantry !
Davos was not too surprised, because he had learned from Leoticides' report on the battle of Asia Minor that there were a large number of Greek mercenaries in the Persian army.
He also carefully observed that the spears were erected in front of the Persian king's carriage, like a dense forest. It can be seen that the ranks of the infantry were quite thick, and there were longer spears behind the erected spears. In the gap between the infantry, he saw long-bearded soldiers wearing long robes, golden armors, spears and large shields. Corresponding to the information he had learned, he knew in his heart: the Persian undead army.
He immediately pointed to the Persian king's carriage and said firmly: "The middle army of the Persian army is there!"
In fact, there is no need for Davos to say that Alexis himself has made the same judgment, so when Davos returned to the rear of the team, the formation of the entire Dionysian army began.
The staff officer of the First Corps rushed to the front of the First Corps team and said to the legion flag bearer: "Let the troops follow me and go to the position where the First Corps is arrayed."
The flag bearer heard the words, waved the flag, and the soldiers of the First Legion who were resting immediately stood up and lined up quickly.
Under the leadership of the staff officer, 6,000 heavy infantrymen of the First Corps bypassed several fraternal troops and came to the position facing the Persian king's carriage.
"Dispersed formation!" The staff officer in front had just finished shouting, and the six heavy infantry battalion leaders directed their respective battalions to form a formation of three horizontal battalions and two vertical battalions, and widened the distance between them. Immediately afterwards, the soldiers under the command of the company captains quickly formed a square formation, and then the squadrons split it into four small square formations, which were arranged in front and back...
In less than 10 minutes, the soldiers of the First Legion completed the formation. The reason why Matonis did not command in person was because in this battle, he was not only the commander of the First Legion, but was also appointed by Davos as the commander of the middle road. Officer, he also needs to give orders to the other legions.
With the First Legion as the base point of the entire array, all the legions began to move, and the generals and officers did not command the soldiers by shouting like the Persians, but used semaphores to guide. The soldiers also strictly followed the orders and did not laugh at random during the formation process. In the stirring dust and mist, the only sound of footsteps and the collision of armor and weapons was heard, and there was almost no noisy human voice. .