Davos was refreshed and immediately asked, "Great! Where are they?!"
Felixius handed the board over knowingly.
Izam breathed heavily, took the wooden board, carefully looked at the diagram of the Persian army formation drawn on it, then pointed to the central front row of its right wing, and said excitedly: "This is it! Remy agreed before I left. The secret code of the tribal people, let those people use the copper shields equipped by the Persians to sway up and down regularly against the sun, so that they are obviously different from other Persian troops. Even if I stand here, I can see clearly. Our Mountain Scout Brigade used a similar method when we captured Aspirustum—"
"Very good! You've done a great job!" Davos interrupted his chatter and asked, "Which unit are we against?"
"The 3rd and 4th brigades of the Eleventh Army Corps." Izam replied immediately.
"Your Majesty, you can send the 18th Army Corps as a reserve, so that when Second Brother Izam's troops retreat, they can make full use of this opportunity and increase the attack on this army formation in Persia!" Philip Hughes also suggested excitedly.
"One legion is not enough!" Davos shook his head, slammed on the wooden board, and said firmly: "Send the 19th Legion too, this will be a breakthrough for our infantry!"
… … … … … … … … … … …
Just as Dionia's two legions were quietly mobilizing at the rear of the formation, Mardonius had already rode to the carriage of the King of Persia, and said anxiously, "Your Majesty, the formation of the troops has already been completed, why? Haven't ordered an attack yet?!"
Artaxerxes said hesitantly: "… Do you want to wait for the Dionians to attack first?"
"Dionia has few soldiers, it is impossible to attack us first!" Mardonios endured his dissatisfaction, turned his head to look at Trebassus not far away, and vented his anger on him: " Aren't you the most resourceful minister in the kingdom? How did you give military advice to the king! Since the attack plan was made before the war, you should assist the king to execute it! It's been almost half an hour since the army was formed, and the soldiers were still standing dumbfounded. Wait, do you know that when I came here from the left flank, I saw that many of the affiliated units were already a little unstable, and even the formation of the Eastern Uksian people began to appear chaotic!"
Trebassus remained silent and did not refute. He had urged the Persian king several times before, but the Persian king seemed to have some concerns and never made a decision, so he delayed it again and again.
Artaxerxes changed his face, of course he could hear that Mardonios was referring to Sang and scolding Huai, but he was not good at scolding him on the spot. Before the war, he indeed formulated an offensive strategy after repeated discussions with several important officials, but when he saw the concise and quick formation of the Dionysian army on the opposite side, the soldiers in the array stood silently and calmly. Compared with the rambunctious army on his side, a strong unease suddenly surged in his heart, and the experience of several failures in the past came to his mind, which inevitably caused him to worry about gains and losses again.
But when he heard the words behind Maldonios, he was taken aback.
Trebassus, who was good at observing words and expressions, immediately said: "Your Majesty, those affiliated troops are not our well-trained Persian troops. Although they have been strictly trained during this period, it is difficult for them to maintain their formation for a long time. We We must attack as soon as possible!"
Artaxerxes looked at Trebassus, then at Mardonius: "Then order the attack?"
Mardonios said anxiously: "Your Majesty, don't hesitate, give the order quickly!"
Artaxerxes clenched the armrests of the carriage, and his eyes swept across the majestic undead army ahead, the impenetrable Greek mercenaries, the huge war elephants, the terrifying killing weapons chariots, the well-trained archers... Finally, he looked into the distance. Opposite the silent Dionysian army, after a moment of silence, he took a deep breath and said loudly: "Prepare to attack!"
Mardonios looked happy, and turned his horse to run back.
Trebassus then shouted: "Prepare to attack! Prepare to attack!..."
"Woo... woo..." At the same time as the Persian bugle sounded, Trebassus continued to give orders to the Persian king: "The archers attack!"
A flag embroidered with bows and arrows was held high in front of Artaxerxes' carriage, but the only people who could see the flag swinging were the archers in front of the center of the middle road. The entire army was more than ten miles long, let alone It is to see the flag raised, and even the soldiers at both ends of the flank may not be able to hear the bugle blowing, but the Persian army has its own way.
Two teams of Persian messengers in colorful military uniforms rushed out from both sides of the carriage, passed through the gap between the teams, rushed to the front, and then ran wildly to both sides along the army formation, shouting at the same time: "Archers attack! Archers attack! Strike!…”
The bows and arrows in the middle are manual! The bow and arrow on the left wing are manual! The bow and arrow on the right wing are manual! At the forefront of the Persian army formation, the archers lined up in a loose formation for a dozen miles, like a long snake that had just woken up from hibernation, and began to slowly advance towards the Dionysian army formation.
As soon as he heard the bugle sound coming from the opposite side, Alsinis immediately raised his spirits like other team officers, and shouted to the soldiers under his command: "Brothers, pay attention, the Persians are going to attack!"
While shouting, he saw that some soldiers in the detachment were too excited and eager to try, and immediately reminded: "Everyone must strictly follow the pre-war arrangement and prepare for defense! If anyone dares to violate the military order, You will be severely punished!"
The soldiers froze in their hearts, and their expressions became solemn.
"Captain, the Persian archers are here!" The soldiers in the first column shouted.
"Prepare for defense!" Alsinis tightened his heart, staring ahead.
The speed of the Persian archers' advance was very slow, because the Persian generals under their command all knew the details of the battle in Asia Minor, and knew that there were also a large number of light infantry in the Dionysian army who were not weak in combat, so they were careful. Be prepared for the appearance of an opponent.
However, they were already less than 250 meters away from the Dionian Army formation, and the light infantry of the other side still did not appear in front of the formation. Despite their doubts, the generals did not stop the soldiers from advancing.
When approaching the 100 meters of the Dionian Army formation, the archers consciously stopped their advance.
"Let the arrows go!" Amid the shouts of the generals, the archers drew their arrows and raised them at a high angle of elevation.
"Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!..." Thousands of sounds of bowstrings, which were originally very light, gathered together, and could actually be heard by the Dionian soldiers hundreds of meters away.
"Turtle Formation!" Alsinis shouted.
The soldiers of the detachment, which were originally lined up in a dense formation, quickly shrank inward, and at the same time blocked the long shield in their hands on the outside and above the small square. In the blink of an eye, it seemed that a layer of black iron had been added to the team of 50 people. , to protect them strictly.
Alsinis, who was in the middle of the phalanx, looked up through the small gap between the long shields, and saw the arrows that covered the sky and the sun in mid-air pouring down like a torrential rain, even with the protection of a thick long shield, He couldn't help feeling a little nervous.
"Peng! Peng! Dang! Dang! Peng!..." The arrows continued to hit different parts of the long shield and made different sounds, as if playing a death melody.
The Dionian soldiers in the Tortoise Formation were all nervous, but when the melody disappeared, no one was injured.
Before they could catch their breath, the melody sounded again.
After three or four repetitions, there was finally a long pause.
This is because the generals of the mixed force of Persian archers found that the front lines of the Dionysian Army had adopted this peculiar formation, so that their projectiles caused almost no damage, so they urged the soldiers to move on and use closer distance to increase arrow penetration.
Approaching a distance of 50 meters, the Persian archers did not dare to advance further, because they had heard that Dionia's heavy infantry could throw javelins, and they were too close to the enemy. The soldiers suddenly charged, and they could not escape. It is precisely because of this danger that not all archers are willing to continue to approach the Dionysian army, and some archers of other races are timid even if they are repeatedly urged by Persian generals.
The soldiers in the front row of the Persian bow and arrow troops used direct shots, while the soldiers in the rear row used projectiles, and they were more concentrated and shot at the tortoise shell arrays rather than large-scale attacks, which led to inefficiency, because Dionia’s checkerboard array made the entire army. The formation was relatively scattered, causing many projectile arrows to fall on the open space.
More intensive noises sounded outside the tortoise shell formed by Alsinis' detachment, like a heavy rain beating lotus leaves, each long shield was full of arrows like hedgehogs, and the soldiers groaned in pain from time to time. , it was a sharp arrow that penetrated the shield and touched the bare arms or thighs of the Dionian soldiers. Occasionally, arrows passed through the gaps in the shield, and because they were blocked by thick helmets and breastplates, No major damage was done.
The Dionian soldiers clenched their teeth and insisted, of course, they were almost side by side, with their backs to their chests, and even if they were injured, they could not dodge and retreat.
As a sub-commander, Alsinis not only had to spy on the movements of the enemy in front of him from time to time, but also listened to the frequency of arrows hitting the long shield.
Suddenly, he said in a deep voice: "Brothers, hold on for a while, the Persian arrows should be running out!"
As soon as his voice fell, the sounds outside the formation began to become sparse, and disappeared after a while.
The Persian archers had three or four arrows left in their quivers, but they chose to retreat at this time. On the one hand, their arms were sore and numb due to the continuous drawing of the bow, and they needed to rest. Provide support for the infantry in the close combat of the Persians, which is the traditional tactic of the Persians. Of course, the arrows cannot be exhausted at this time.