"What do you mean..." Zantiparis asked thoughtfully: "After passing through the canyon, directly form a formation and fight the Persians who are chasing."
"And the road in the canyon is not wide, which will slow down their retreat so that we can catch up with them. The more Persians come to chase, the slower they will retreat from the canyon, and the more we will kill them. !" Tima Song said excitedly.
"However, the Persians are not fools. When they saw that we were prepared, why would they risk passing through the canyon?" Xenophon's question surprised everyone.
Kerisopes said confidently: "So we don't attack near the Taniguchi. When the Persians catch up to us, we will attack! We will lure them to chase!"
"That's right! Anyway, the Persians dare not fight us head-on. We have slingers and cavalry again, which will definitely give the Persians a surprise! At that time, the whole army will attack together and drive them to Taniguchi, the narrow entrance of Taniguchi. It will slow down their retreat and help us catch up with them!…”
Everyone, you say my word, and this plan will soon be perfected.
At this time, someone suddenly said: "Why don't we ambush an army on this side of the canyon, and immediately block the canyon after the enemy passes."
Everyone was stunned and turned back suddenly. It was Davos who had been sitting in the corner and listened to them carefully.
"... Do you want to destroy them all?!" Kerisopes looked at Davos, tried his best to suppress the surprise in his heart, and said slowly.
Davos stretched out five fingers of his left hand, then clenched his fist into a fist, and swung it hard: "Of course! Just defeat them. After they flee back to repair, they will still come to attack us. Only by encircling and annihilating them can we give the Persians the greatest deterrent. !"
The Greeks admired strength and liked frontal assaults, and because the composition of their army was mainly heavy infantry, they emphasized this feature even more. Even the Spartans who were best at fighting, the Battle of Marathon, the Battle of Pradia... Not to mention that these big battles were won by the Greeks on the front, and even countless small battles were rarely detoured and outflanked. , ambush, attack, massacre... These military terms are familiar to even the most common later generations. They seem simple, but in this era, the military history of various Greek city-states with heavy infantry as the main combat force is almost blank. Of course, there are occasional similar battles, but few people pay attention and summarize it. It was not until hundreds of years later that Hannibal, the commander of Carthage, killed half of the males in the city of Rome with repeated annihilation battles, forcing Rome, the Mediterranean hegemon, to learn from their enemies and finally make the classical Western military tactics have taken a big step forward.
Davos, whose soul comes from later generations, is of course not limited by this era. Although his military experience is still immature, his military thinking is two thousand years ahead. What he thought in his mind at the moment was a saying that the ancestors of later generations often said: it is better to cut off one finger if it hurts ten fingers.
Kerethorpes looked at the young man with a young face calmly, but he was shocked by his vigor and conception. He admitted that Davos's proposal was very attractive and feasible, and he still asked cautiously: "There are dense woods not far from the valley, but if you have too many soldiers in ambush, it is easy to be caught by the Persians. The human scout cavalry found out; if there are too few soldiers, if there are too many Persians, how can you block their retreat? Besides, what if the Persians don't come to chase tomorrow? You know that they will not be there today. Come."
Davos had already thought about this for a long time, and he replied seriously: "No plan in the world is perfect, and there are risks in any military operation, so we should try our best to consider all possibilities. First of all, I want to ask you, Clethorpes, how far is this forest from the mouth of the valley?"
"About three miles," Clethorpes blurted out, as if the topography was imprinted in his mind. This makes Davos very admire: surveying the terrain, this is a necessary skill for a qualified commander, and he has to study hard!
At the same time, Kerethorpes' words relieved his biggest worry about this plan, he analyzed confidently: "According to what I said before, the whole army will set off before dawn, then when the troops to hide rush to the woods, the enemy will The reconnaissance cavalry should still be asleep, we only need to ambush three or four hundred soldiers, the possibility of being discovered is very small. Secondly, in case there are many Persians chasing, the troops in charge of ambush do not have to be To completely wipe it out, we only need to open a gap at the interception, let the Persians escape, and then intercept from it. The Persians are escaping with one heart, and there is no time to organize a resistance, so although we cannot wipe out the enemy, we will not get the results. Too bad!"
Wei Sanjueyi, the first military strategist Sun Tzu who theorized ancient warfare and rose to a strategic height should live in the same era! An inexplicable sense of pride rose in Davos' heart, which made him more calm: "As for the Persians not coming, don't worry. After noon, before the enemy appears, the ambush troops can take the initiative to withdraw, they have no baggage. , the action will be faster, and our large force will be in Taniguchi, so there will be no major problems..."
Davos's careful thinking finally conquered the leaders present, and they all agreed with Davos' suggestion: increase an ambush force.
Kelishorpes, who has always disliked Davos because of his youth, can't help but cherish his talents, but the Spartans' way of caring for their younger generation is different: "Davers, you are willing to command this team. To the troops in ambush?"
Davos was stunned for a moment. In the eyes of Kerisopes, what he saw was trust and expectation. He thought about it carefully, and regardless of Felixius's obstruction, he nodded heavily in the face of everyone's complicated eyes. :"I can!"
… … … …
The next day, before dawn, the Greeks got up at the urging of the bugle, packed their bags, packed their equipment, and set off sleepily.
Arriving at the mouth of the gorge, there was only a trace of light in the sky.
Davos led three squadrons of heavy infantry, one squadron of light shields, and the main force. The leaders all sent their blessings.
"Zeus will be with you!" are the words of Clethorpes.
"May Ares grant you strength!" These are Timasson's words.
"May Athena give you luck!" Xenophon said.
…
In order to fight the Persians with all their strength, the whole army is united.
"Leader take care! Come back safely!" Felixius said solemnly.
"Don't worry, Felixius, we'll take care of the leader!" Interjected Antonios.
"Take care of you too!" Davos said, giving Felixius a strong hug. Then, under the awe-inspiring gazes of the remaining soldiers and team officers, he led the troops along the foot of the mountain and rushed towards the forest on the left...
… … … …
In fact, Artauzus acted earlier than the day before yesterday, because his army had grown large, about 4,500 archers and 1,500 cavalry archers, which made him more confident and eager to destroy the Greek army as soon as possible. Gain the lieutenant position promised by Tisafonis.
The scout reported that the Greeks had already pulled out their camp and crossed the gorge, twenty miles away from the Persian army.
He took it for granted that the Greeks acted so quickly in order to avoid his own attack. When he thought of the oath he made at Tisafonis, he couldn't help but feel a little anxious: they must not be allowed to run away, they must be defeated today them!
So he urged the troops to speed up their march, and when they passed through the canyon, he did not stop, because the scout told him that the Greeks were five or six miles away from the exit of the canyon.
… … … … …
"The Persians have entered the canyon, Chief Davos!" Asisters ran back to the woods and reported to Davos.
"How many people are there?" asked Antonios on the side.
"Their queue is very long, I'm afraid there are several thousand people!" Asisters said, gasping for breath.
"It really caught a big fish!" Amintas whistled lightly.
"Then immediately implement the second plan we discussed last night." Although Davers was nervous, his facial expressions were well controlled.
"Brothers, start hurrying to work!" Caps shouted in a deep voice.