"Report, the Persians have come out of the canyon and have come after them!"
"Very well. How many?"
"There are about six or seven thousand people, all of them seem to be archers and cavalry!"
"Damn Persians! Must have the ridiculous idea of knocking us all down with bows and arrows!"
"That's right! The more they come, the more we kill!"
"Can Davers stop it?"
"So our attack must be fast and brave!" Kerisopes said firmly: "Everyone, please return to your command position immediately, immediately start the formation, and we will force up!"
"Roar!!..." The leaders geared up and started to act.
… … … … …
As soon as Artauzus left the canyon, he could not wait to set up a battle formation. Just like the day before, the archers were in the center and the cavalry were on the flanks.
Just after chasing Taniguchi Erli, the detective came back to report: "The Greeks are coming towards us!"
Although Altauzus was in a state of excitement, after all, he had rich combat experience. This harassment tactic required maneuvering space, and he did not want to be confined to the mouth of the canyon. So he immediately ordered the entire team to move to the left.
The cavalry and archers are considered to be highly mobile arms, but when the 7,000-strong team has already set up a battle formation, it takes time to change the formation, and the Greeks did not give him this time.
Not long after Artauzus gave the order, the Greek figure appeared in his field of vision. He suddenly became nervous, and he knew very well: when there was an enemy approaching, changing the formation again would undoubtedly lead to death.
He re-ordered to restore the battle formation, and quickly calculated in his mind: after a while, after shooting two rounds of arrows, after disrupting the enemy's advance, he immediately moved quickly to the left, got out of contact with the Greeks, and searched for a fighter plane again.
However, his expression soon changed, because the Greeks on the opposite side had a very long line, far exceeding his own flanks, and they continued to extend to the two flanks during the march.
Artauzus knew the traditional phalanx of Greece. They tended to stack the array very thickly, usually in more than seven or eight columns, and used a powerful impact to crush the opponent. And now the opponent's formation is so thin that there are probably only two or three columns, why dare to do this? Artauzus immediately understood: because he was full of light cavalry and archers, the Greeks could still win without relying on the crushing force of numbers.
The Greeks are trying to surround themselves! Careless! Artauzus was a little flustered, and his expression changed uncertainly. He wanted to retreat immediately, but felt that the formation had already been laid out, so he went back in a sullen manner, not to mention the impact on morale, the key was the delay.
But I made a promise, at least let me shoot an arrow. He thought to himself: The Seven Thousand Arrows can disrupt their formation, and maybe cause them confusion, even if they can't have time to retreat.
Thinking of this, Artauzus decided to take a risk. He quickly called his generals and told them to remember the order of retreat...
When everything was in order, he felt a lot more relieved. Looking at the approaching Greeks, he decided to wait for the distance between the two sides to be about 100 meters, and then order to shoot.
Come on, Greek barbarians come and die! He grinned. However, at a distance of about 200 meters, the sound of a copper trumpet sounded on the opposite side, and the Greeks actually stopped moving! He was in a hurry, but he didn't want to let the team push forward. Immediately turning from attacking to retreating was easy to cause confusion. Artauzus just wanted to retreat smoothly. Let's continue to wait for the Greeks to attack. He feels that there are more troops now. There are also disadvantages of poor command.
Then, he saw countless arms stretched out from behind the opposite Greek heavy infantry and began to circle around their heads.
Slinger! ! Artauzus was terrified. He remembered that there were no slingers in the Greek mercenaries. Why did they suddenly have them? !
At this time, there was no time for him to think about it. Countless fist-sized stones were smashed like hailstones at the center of the Persian army. These Persian archers were drawing their bows and were instantly hit. They were not protected by armor. The smashed head broke blood, and even was directly stunned...
The middle road of the Persian army was suddenly chaotic.
The firing frequency of the slingers was very fast, and in an instant, the opponent's array threw a piece of flying stone, obscuring the sky...
Artauzus was so anxious that his eyes were red, and he shouted hoarsely: "Retreat! Retreat!!..."
The trumpeter was about to sound the horn, but a high-pitched copper horn sounded first on the opposite side. The Greek heavy infantry who had been standing still shouted: "Aris!!!" and began to take big strides, rushing towards the Persians. The Greek front line is like a surging tide, not afraid of the reefs and shoals ahead, vowing to engulf the land, it is a powerful momentum of indomitable momentum, enough to defeat the morale of the Persians, which is not strong, and even split a line in the front of the Greek army's middle road. Passage, dozens of cavalry poured out, leading the charge to the enemy Persians.
The Persians are completely collapsed! They did not listen to the orders of the generals at all, and even wrapped them around and ran back. The pre-arranged retreat sequence could not be executed at all. The cavalry, archers, right flank, left flank, and middle road rushed towards the mouth of the canyon like a swarm. One thought: stay away from those horrible Greeks!
lost! lost! Lost without a shot! ! Artauzus had previously participated in the Battle of Kunasak, and as a teammate he cheered for the Greeks' easy defeat of the Persian king's army. But now when he faced the charge of the Greeks in person, he felt the horror of the Greek heavy infantry. At this moment, his mind was blank, he just held the horse's neck with both hands, surrounded by the attendants, and rushed towards the mouth of the canyon. Because he was in the back team in the middle, closest to Taniguchi, he and his cavalry attendants were almost at the forefront of the Persian army.
The front is the Taniguchi, where the vast space is suddenly narrowed, and the steep and continuous mountain peaks make the air only flow at the mouth of the canyon, so that Artauzus, who has just entered the mouth of the valley, is almost blinded by the fierce mountain wind.
"Drive!" He clamped the horse's belly, and he knew very well: The quicker he rushes through the canyon, the less he loses some men and horses!
The road in the canyon is not a straight line, but a curved "s" shape. For the Persian cavalry who have been galloping all year round, this is not a problem. They control the horses very well. Even if there is a turn in front of them, they are not too much. Slow down the horse.
Just as they turned quickly over the foot of the mountain, a half-human-high wall appeared in front of them, simply piled and cut from stones and wood. Artauzus and his cavalry squires stopped their horses and rammed straight into it. Suddenly people shouted horses neighing, screaming again and again...
Artauzus was thrown away, and what he finally saw was the rapidly enlarged mountain wall in front of him...
The Persian rout entering the canyon is like a raging flash flood, filling the canyon to the full and pushing forward...
When the remaining cavalry in the front stopped advancing in horror, the soldiers in the rear were still running forward desperately...
Then, a more tragic scene happened: the soldiers in front were squeezed, and before they had time to get up, they were trampled by the soldiers pouring in from behind, and they were struggling desperately and tripped over the advancing soldiers. Fleeing the killings of the Greeks, and still rushing in frantically...
In the canyon, people kept falling, being trampled, falling, trampled... After the stone wall, the Persians piled up in layers and stretched to the mouth of the valley. Some soldiers had been trampled into minced meat, and some were still struggling. Howling in the creek... It's like purgatory on earth!
"Vertical shield wall!"
"Javelin ready!"
Seeing the Persian soldiers crowded in front of the stone wall, although Davos was a little nervous, he still gave orders in a clear-headed and clear voice!
The Persians who struggled to climb over the stone wall were first shot by the light shield javelins led by Epithenes, and then the Greek heavy infantry formed a shield wall in a dense formation, blocking their way. Back, give strength to the first column of soldiers, and their lances can also reach the front of the first column of soldiers, forming a spear wall together, blocking the passage tightly, and easily stabbing the Persians who are panic and fleeing and have no organization. fall.
Davos asked the soldiers to carry stones and wood, and simply built this stone wall. The original intention was to prevent the impact of the Persian cavalry, because once the horses ran wild, the heavy infantry might not be able to stop them no matter how many rows they were in. , and would suffer heavy losses, so barricades were used to slow the Persian cavalry. Unexpectedly, the effect of the stone wall was far beyond imagination. It blocked the canyon with the piles of corpses, making it impossible for the forces of the defeated troops to gather and attack the defense line of the Davos organization.
The battle did not last long. The Persian troops were completely broken down mentally and surrendered one after another under the bad situation of chasing troops behind, no way forward, and hell in the middle...