Mediterranean Hegemon of Ancient Greece

The Persian archers withdrew a great distance before Alcinis gave the order to withdraw.

The soldiers withdrew their long shields, stood up, and were astonished: the surrounding flat ground was filled with arrows, as was the long shield, causing a sudden increase in weight.

In order not to interfere with the use of the long shield, the soldiers immediately drew their short swords and slashed the shafts from the shield.

"Your Majesty, the Persian archers have retreated, and we have suffered few casualties!" After hearing the instant messages from the various heralds, Felicius reported to the king with a flourish.

Davos nodded with a calm countenance.

"The Persians are still using the old methods against us, and it is impossible for them to gain any advantage." Amintas said scornfully.

In the military meeting before the battle, it was due to the advice of the veteran generals that Davos decided not to use light infantry, but to let the heavy infantry to carry the Persian archers who were superior in long-range attack, in order to consume the opponent.

At that moment, Davos looked at the retreating Persian archers and said, "The appetizer has been eaten, now it's time for the main meal."

The mile-long distance made it impossible for the Persian king and Terebassus to see the casualties of the enemy across the river, but Terebassus was shocked to learn from the retreating general that the results were not satisfactory: he suggested that the Persian archers be sent forward first to face them. This was his suggestion because he had learned about the battle of Asia Minor in detail and had referred to some of Deionian's previous battles and found that Deionian army was different from Greek army in that their light infantry was not weak and they liked to fight first in the battle to disrupt the opponent's formation. The morale of the opponent's army, but did not expect the opponent's light infantry not to fight, and the long-range attack on the Dionysian heavy infantry did not achieve much success ......

And when Trebassus came to Altaxerxes, his face was not worried, but happy: "My king, the attack of the archers has caused many casualties among the Dionysian heavy infantry, we should take advantage of the victory and attack without letting the Dionysian army slow down!"

Artaxerxes was delighted to hear this and said without hesitation, "Then let's go on the attack!"

"As you command, my lord!" Trebassus returned to deliver the order, "Chariots and war elephants to attack!"

The horsemen were ordered to run out, partly to the front of the middle array, partly to the left flank.

Soon, Artaxerxes heard a high-pitched elephant roar coming from the front, and, energized, he slapped his wagon and said excitedly, "Crush the Dionysians!"

Fifty elephants, commanded by their elephant husband, started marching forward with their sturdy limbs, causing the ground to tremble with each step; while they were still slowly accelerating, the sickle chariots on both sides were already moving forward at full speed, with the horses flying on all four hooves and the fast-turning wheels making a rumbling noise, stirring up a cloud of dust, although there were only 200 chariots, creating the momentum of a thousand horses, like roaring beasts, viciously pouncing on the Dionysian army.

Even legionnaires like Alcinis, who had been trained to deal with chariots during their stay in Egypt, were nervous at the moment.

At that moment, the sound of rapid footsteps sounded beside Alcinis, and it turned out to be the light infantry, located behind the infantry array, running quickly through the passages between the detachment squads to the front of the array.

In fact, the Dionysian Light Infantry, knowing the position of the Persian chariots and war elephants on the other side of the line, had planned their tactics beforehand, so the five thousand light infantry ran to the front of the line and quickly formed up, with the javelinmen facing the war elephants in the middle and the archers facing the chariots on both sides.

Even though the chariots were still a hundred meters away, they shot straight instead of throwing, for they knew from their combat training in Egypt that it was difficult to hit a fast moving chariot with a throwing shot; on the contrary, even if they were far away, the fast approach of the chariots would make them collide with the arrows in flight.

The archers shot a single arrow without looking at the result and immediately drew and fired again, as they had very little time left.

After much deliberation, he finally decided to join Dionysia, and with the special approval of King Davos, he only needed to serve in the army for three years before he could become a full citizen.

The news, which was announced by the city hall of Thurii, caused a lot of excitement among the people of all the allied states, and the athletes were ready to train for the 2nd Dionysian Games in order to win the favor of the King of Dionysia, but the Dionysian Games, like the other Greek Games, were held once every four years, which was a long time.

After emigrating to Thurii, Megakides lived temporarily in the barracks, where he received military training and also assisted the military trainers in training and improving the archery skills of the new recruits.

In the traditional Greek army, archers had no special tactics and relied more on their individual skills, but the Dionysian army was different and required more tactical ability from archers. He was repeatedly asked to establish military service and become a full citizen as soon as possible. Considering his amazing marksmanship, the captain of the First Corps Light Infantry recruited him as an ordinary soldier.

At this moment, as he followed his teammates to the front of the array, the soldiers shot their arrows as they saw the lightning-quick chariots rushing toward them through the dust and fog. Although it was his first time to experience such a magnificent scene, he was born with a big heart, or else he would not have won the archery championship in the first Dionysian Games against many strong competitors. He did not release the arrow immediately, but quickly calmed his breathing, and while seeing the position of the chariot in front of him, he aimed slightly before releasing the bowstring.

As the main weapon of the Persian army, the Persians knew that the sickle chariot was too large and vulnerable to long-range attack, so they not only covered the horses with armor, but also put armor on the crossbowmen and archers in the chariot. Although many arrows hit the horses, they were blocked by the armor, and did not cause any fatal injury; on the contrary, under the eager whipping of the crossbowmen, the horses accelerated forward with grief.

At this moment, the arrow shot by Megakides pierced the horse's head, which was not covered by the armor, and the galloping horse suddenly fell down, and the whole chariot toppled over due to inertia, and the crossbowmen and archers were thrown into the air, screaming and smashing into the place where Megakides was.

Megakides and his teammates hurriedly dodged.

"Look out! Chariot! Chariot! ...... "The frightened shout of the soldier behind him made him turn his head in a panic, only to see a chariot not running straight ahead, but rushing towards them horizontally.

The distance was so close that Megakides crawled to avoid it, but there were soldiers who couldn't dodge it, and one of their legs was unfortunately grazed by a flash of white light on the axle of the vehicle, and then it was strangled into several pieces and fell to the ground, wailing.

The soldiers around him were horrified at the sight.

It was only then that Megakides noticed that the chariot's driver and archer had been hit by an arrow and had fallen.

When he and his teammates aimed their bows and arrows at the horses, the two frightened horses seemed to sense the danger and ran back with the chariot in panic, colliding head-on with one of their own chariots with a loud thud.

While the horses roared with grief, Megakides and his men were relieved.

In contrast to their teammates, who were standing still and shooting arrows, the javelinmen in the light infantry brigade did not stop after rushing out of the array, but accelerated forward.

When they were only a few dozen meters away from the slowly running war elephant, they struggled to throw their javelins at the risk of being shot by the archers on the war elephant's back.

But the Persians never imagined that the Dionysians, whom they scorned, would not only not be afraid of this giant, but would also take the initiative to fight it, firing dozens or hundreds of heavy javelins at a single war elephant, but enough to threaten its life.

To the Dionysian infantry, the war elephant was much easier to deal with than a chariot in motion because of its large size and low speed.

One war elephant was quickly shot into a hedgehog.

Although these war elephants had been specially trained, their gentle nature remained unchanged, and sensing the danger ahead, they turned around and ran back, completely disobeying the elephant husband's instructions. Only a few elephants, maddened by the pain, accelerated forward and then collapsed with grief as the javelinmen threw round after round.

As the light infantry rushed up, the legionnaires did not let down their guard, and Alcinez, as detachment commander, even ran to the forefront, staring nervously at the battle ahead.

Seeing a chariot in front of him that had broken through the blockade of light infantry and was heading straight for the phalanx, he shouted urgently, "Evade! Dodge!"

Since the Dionysian formation was a loose checkerboard grid, there was plenty of room for the soldiers to maneuver. The Dionysian soldiers took the opportunity to attack the chariot from both sides with bayonets, killing the pack horses and handlers.