Davos narrowed his eyes, his sharp eyes passed through the soldiers fighting in front of him, through the pervasive dust mist, and saw the Persian king flags fluttering in the wind gradually getting bigger in his field of vision, he couldn't help laughing.
When Artaxerxes ordered all the reserve troops to be pressed, his chariot had to follow the main force slowly forward. If he stayed in place, only the royal guards were left to protect him, and the number of people was only A few thousand, and it was too conspicuous, making him feel very insecure.
The driver carefully drives the four "Nicea horses" that carry the royal carriage (this white horse is produced in the most fertile land of the Zagrosh Valley, the Nicea Plain, and is regarded by the Medes as the best and the tallest. Horses were once offered as a tribute to Assyria, and the Persian royal family even sanctified it, claiming that the white horse of Nicea was a sacred object bestowed by the gods to the Achaemenid royal family. Except for the Persian officials authorized by the king, no one Not to be owned privately) Follow the reserve force and march toward the battlefield that is fighting fiercely.
Some anxious Artaxerxes felt that the advance of the reserve force was too slow, and was about to order Trebassus to urge the troops in front to speed up the advance, but saw that the advisor suddenly restrained The warhorse put his hand on his forehead and looked up at the sky, and the royal guards beside him did the same.
Artaxerxes subconsciously looked at the sky ahead.
At this time, the sun was already in the west, and Artaxerxes raised his eyes hastily. Even with the dust and mist, he felt that the sun was particularly dazzling. He quickly closed his eyes and was about to open them when he heard Trebassus panicking. shouted, "Ballista! It was Dionia's ballista!"
Artaxerxes was startled, he ignored the stinging pain in his eyes, opened his eyes hastily, and saw more than a dozen round black shadows swiftly passing above his head, followed by a roar from behind.
Artaxerxes turned his head and saw that there was dust flying a dozen meters away from him, and dozens of round stones the size of coconuts had smashed a pit.
Artaxerxeston broke out in a cold sweat.
"Your Majesty, the Dionians are trying to attack you with ballistas! Hurry! Hurry back!" Trebassus eagerly asked the carriage to turn around and retreat without the consent of the Persian king.
The king of Persia's luxurious carriage was pulled by "4 Nicene steeds". It was not only larger in size than ordinary carriages, but also much heavier. It was not easy to make quick turns, let alone turn around. The carriage was surrounded by royal guards, and it was difficult to clear enough space in a short period of time.
At this moment, at the rear of the Dionysian infantry army, a simple three-meter-high sentry building has been erected at some point. Under the control of the engineering camp laborers, the experienced ballista troops are watching Standing on the outpost, looking ahead, and based on the impact point of the first round of the stone bullet and the position of the Persian king's carriage, quickly correct the ballista's firing data, and report loudly to the ballista unit next to the post.
The ballista players quickly adjusted the elevation angle of the ballista and the strength of the string... Soon, the second round of stone bullets were ejected.
At this time, the carriage that Artaxerxes was riding was still turning around, but he saw dozens of stone bullets roaring down in the air.
The first fell on the side of the carriage, smashing a royal guard to pieces, and even spattering the brain and blood on Artaxerxes' face.
In an instant, Artaxerxes' mind was blank and he stood dumbfounded, not responding to the panicked shouts of the guards.
"Boom!" Another stone bullet fell in front of the Nicea white horses, and the splashed dust hit them. The fertilized white horses realized the danger and struggled to break free from the yoke of the carriage, but did not listen to the driver at all. command.
While the carriage shook violently, Artaxerxes was thrown out.
"Your Majesty!!!..." The royal guards rushed to the rescue when they panicked. Just at this moment, a stone bullet hit the carriage, and the sawdust flew all over, and screams were heard everywhere.
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The senior generals of Persia knew that the ballista was a siege weapon made by the Dionians, and siege equipment was seldom used in field battles between armies, so they fell into a dead corner of their thinking and never thought of wearing them. The Onian army actually used the ballista to attack itself during the battle, so it entered the ballista's range completely unprepared.
In fact, before the war started, Davos ordered 30 ballistas to be placed behind the middle road. Although he was lucky to use the decapitation tactic, he did not have much hope for its realization, because according to Davos It is known that Artaxerxes, the Persian king, rarely came to the front line of battle in previous battles.
The key point of the ballista's attack is not in the middle, but the reserve army on the right flank of Persia, behind the Dukiya army, to prevent their timely rescue to the front.
According to Dionia's military system, a legion is equipped with 10 cannons, so there are nearly 200 ballistas in the army led by Davos, of which 170 are concentrated at the rear of the left flank of the Dionysian army. , facing the Dukeya troops, while the Kesokant tribe cheated and defeated, the ballista troops here also erected a sentry tower in time to closely observe the movements of the enemy's reserve troops.
Just when the ballista in the middle was aimed at the carriage of the King of Persia, some of the reserve troops on the right flank had been bombarded with stone bullets, because they were in a hurry to rescue and entered the ballista's range early.
The stone bullets fired by a single ballista do not actually cause much damage, but the concentrated launch of 170 ballistas is not only amazing, but also the killing effect is terrifying. A small bloody scene.
The front-line troops arranged by Artaxerxes in the battle were either the elite of the Persian army or the subordinate ethnic troops with fierce combat effectiveness, and most of the reserve troops were of average combat effectiveness, while the Caspian states located behind the Dukiya army. The troops were not even reluctant to contribute to Persia. They came here just to deal with errands. As a result, they were asked by the Persians to urgently come forward to rescue them. After being attacked by a few rounds of stone bombs, their morale disappeared , many people ran away in panic...
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During the time when the Persian right-wing messengers went to the Persian king for help, the Dionian legionnaires who had been fully prepared in advance poured into the gap in the Persian front, and they rushed to the rush with the soldiers of the Kesokant tribe. The Persian archers who came to seal the gap launched a fierce attack.
When the Persian reserves were dispatched, the Persian archers who suffered a large number of casualties had been forced to retreat. Taking advantage of the Persian reinforcements being attacked by ballistas halfway into chaos, countless Dionian legionaries continued to rush through the Persian front. the gap, and turned to attack the rear of the Dukiya army on both sides of the gap.
The Dukya warriors, who were already demoralized, were attacked from the front and back and collapsed quickly. Some even responded to the tribal warriors of Xoxokand and threw themselves into the Dionysian side.
When the messengers reported the battle situation on the left wing to the command center, there was laughter and laughter, both the veteran and the young staff officers were all excited because they knew the victory had been decided.
Davos also had a smile on his face and asked, "How is the battle with the cavalry on both wings?"
Philisius answered in a loud voice: "Your Majesty, the Persian cavalry has begun to retreat, and our cavalry is rearranging its formation and preparing to attack the flanks of the enemy formation on both sides."
"Very good! Very good! Very good!" Davos praised three times in succession, with even more smile on his face, completely relaxed in his heart, and looked back at these old comrades who were also chatting and laughing lightly: "The weather is very hot, everyone Are you all thirsty? Heney, let everyone drink the water you brought."
"Your Majesty, it's boring to drink too much water. We want to drink wine in the royal palace of Babylon!" Amyntas said loudly jokingly.
"Hahaha..." Everyone laughed.
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Although the Dionian Legionnaires continued to defeat the enemy on the left flank and widen the gap in the enemy's line, although the Dionian cavalry and light armour, after defeating the Persian cavalry, turned to attack the enemy's flank... The Dionysian army has grasped the victory But for the huge battlefield that stretches for more than ten miles, total victory will not come soon.
When it was almost dusk, the Persian army completely collapsed. The Persian undead army and Greek mercenaries in the middle of the battle were the ones who fought to the end. They were also surrounded by heavy siege and could not escape.
This great battle caused the elite troops of Persia to suffer heavy losses. Senior Persian generals such as Mardonius, Halpergus, and Persitida were either captured or died in battle. The only regret is Artaxer. The Sith fled the battlefield.
Therefore, Davos, who won the battle, issued an order: the cavalry units continued to pursue the defeated army, and each legion should shorten the rest time and speed up the march to Babylon.
The fastest chasing is of course the Numibian light cavalry. They did not have much advantage in the battle with the Scythian cavalry and other light cavalry in the Persian mixed cavalry, but because the main force of the Persian cavalry was defeated, The opponents were unwilling to fight and fled one after another, so they began to rest in the second half of the battle, so they had more physical strength than other troops.
The hurricane advance of the Numibian cavalry made the city of Nicefonia, which was not far from the battlefield, lacking sufficient defenses. When it was receiving the broken soldiers, it was rushed into the city and eventually had to surrender.
Before entering the city to rest, Davos sent a messenger to the west and told Leoticides, who was rushing in, that the Dionysian army had completely defeated the Persian army, so that he did not need to lead an army to join him. , but returned to Asia Minor and completely conquered the region.
Early the next morning, the Dionysian cavalry continued their pursuit eastward, overtaking Artaxerxes and the Royal Guard along a tributary on the north bank of the Euphrates.
The Persian king at this time was completely different from the high-spirited appearance when he led the mighty army to leave Babylon. After the army was defeated, the soldiers fled in all directions, and the prestige of the king disappeared, even his most trusted royal family. There were also many soldiers in the escort who fled in the dark, and there were less than 500 guards beside him.
And after he was attacked by the ballista and fell from the carriage, the 60-year-old was hit so strongly that he fell into a coma and is still awake, which also dragged down their speed of escape.
After being overtaken by the Dionian cavalry, Trebassus, who was still following the Persian king, led the remaining guards to simply surrender, and at the same time demanded the royal courtesy of Artaxerxes.
Davers, who arrived later, readily agreed and sent the best medical staff in the army to treat him.
With the Persian king in hand, the Dionysian army's eastward attack was smoother, and important towns such as Korsoti and Talmand that induced the Lati River to open their cities to surrender one after another.
In early December, the Dionian army entered the Babylonian region.
When Davos's unit passed a small town, all the veterans in the army became excited, because the name of the village was Kunasak.
"Back then, we camped here! I still remember that the tent I lived in seemed to be in this location!"
"Over there! That's the battlefield! We just charged down the left wing of the Persian king. It's a pity that little Cyrus was too reckless, otherwise we should have won that battle..."
"What a pity! Thanks to his failure, His Majesty will stand out, will lead us to create Dionia, and will allow us to return here today as conquerors!"
"That's right, we all have to thank Your Majesty! Your Majesty Wansheng!"
"Your Majesty Wansheng!!"
When the veterans cheered heartily to Davos to express their gratitude, King Dionia, the new overlord of the entire Mediterranean, sat motionless on the war horse, like a clay sculpture, he stared ahead The vacant lot where Giorgris stood was filled with emotion: it was there that he was reborn from a 21st century Chinese citizen into a lowly mercenary in the ancient Greek era, struggling to survive from the very beginning, I went to Yanlu Lanlui to create Dionia, and struggled hard in this strange world for more than 30 years...
At this moment, the past scenes flashed through his mind quickly, like a dream.
"Report! Your Majesty, the city of Babylon has surrendered, and the commander of the Kutchus army has entered the city!" The shout of the messenger awakened Davos, who was in a trance. He looked around at the soldiers who were already cheering. Slowly burst into a smile: No, this is not a dream! Here is the turbulent ancient Mediterranean world! And I, Hades Davos, am now the most powerful man in the world!
He waved his right hand vigorously: "Go! Let's go to Babylon!"
"Yes, Your Majesty!" The crowd responded in unison. Thousands of soldiers excitedly surrounded the great king, galloping towards the great eastern city that had already embraced them...
(End of the book)