Vol 9 Chapter 261: Battle of Taposakus (3)

Daves lifted his spirits and immediately asked: "Great! Where are they?!"
Felicius passed the plank over knowingly.
Izam panted heavily, took the wooden plank, and carefully looked at the diagram of the Persian military formation drawn on it, then pointed to the center front row of his right wing, and said excitedly: "It's here! Remy agreed before I left. The secret sign of the people, let those people use the copper shields equipped by the Persians to swing up and down regularly against the sun, so that it is clearly different from other Persian troops. Even if I stand here, I can see clearly. I think back then When we captured the city of Asprostum, our mountain reconnaissance brigade also used a similar method—"
"Very good! You did a great job!" Daves interrupted his chatter, and then asked, "Which unit are we against?"
"The third and fourth squadrons of the Eleventh Army Corps." Izam responded immediately.
"Your Majesty, you can send the Eighteenth Army Corps as a reserve, so that when Brother Izam's troops retreat, they can make full use of this opportunity to increase the attack on the Persian army!" Hughes also suggested excitedly.
"One legion is not enough!" Daves shook his head, lit the plank hard, and said firmly: "Send the 19th legion over, here will be a breakthrough for our infantry!"
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When the two armies of Dionia were quietly mobilizing behind the array, Maldonos had already rode up to the carriage of the Persian king, and said anxiously: "My lord, the troops have already been lined up, why? Haven't given an offensive order yet?!"
Artaxerxes said hesitantly, "...Would you like to wait for the Dionians to attack first?"
"Dionia has few soldiers, it is impossible to attack us first!" Maldonos endured the dissatisfaction in his heart, turned his head to look at Trebasus not far away, and vented his anger on him: " Don’t you claim to be the most resourceful minister in the kingdom? How did you advise the king on the military! Since the offensive plan was formulated before the war, you should assist the king in execution! The army formation is almost half an hour, and the soldiers are still standing stupid. While waiting, did you know that when I came here from the left wing, I saw that multiple affiliated units were already a bit unstable, and even the formation of the East Ukxis began to appear chaotic!"
Trebasus 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 procrastinated.
Artaxerxes changed his face. Of course, he could hear Maldonos being criticizing Sanghuai, but he was not easy to be angry on the spot. On the one hand, the current enemy would affect morale, and on the other hand, he was guilty. Before the war, he indeed worked out an offensive-oriented tactic after repeated discussions with several important ministers, but when he saw the concise and quick array of the Dionian army on the opposite side, then the soldiers in the array stood silently and calmly. Compared with the hustle and bustle of his own army, he suddenly felt a strong anxiety. The past few failures came to mind, which inevitably caused him to suffer again and again.
But when he heard the words behind Maldonos, he was taken aback.
Trebasus, who is good at observing words, said immediately: "The king, those affiliated troops are not our well-trained Persian army. Although they have been rigorously trained during this period, it is difficult for them to maintain their formation for a long time. The attack must be launched as soon as possible!"
Artaxerxes looked at Trebasus and then at Maldonos: "Then order an attack?"
Maldonius said anxiously: "My lord, don't hesitate, give orders now!"
Altaxerxes squeezed the armrests of the carriage, his eyes swept across the imposing undead army, the Greek mercenaries like copper walls and iron walls, huge war elephants, terrible murder weapon chariots, well-trained archers...Finally Looking at the silent Dionian army on the opposite side, after a moment of silence, he took a deep breath and said loudly, "Ready to attack!"
Maldonos looked happy, and ran back.
Trebasus then shouted: "Ready to attack! Ready to attack!..."
"Woo...Woo..." While the Persian bugle sounded, Trebasus continued to give orders to the Persian king: "Archers attack!"
In front of Altaxerxes’ carriage, a banner embroidered with bows and arrows was raised high, but only the archers in front of the center of the banner could be seen swinging. The entire army was more than ten miles long, let alone Seeing the flag being raised, even the soldiers on both sides of the wings may not hear the bugle sound, but the Persian army has its own way.
Two teams of Persian messengers in colorful military uniforms galloped out from both sides of the carriage, through the gap of the team, rushed to the forefront, and then ran along the army to both sides, while repeatedly shouting: "Archers strike! Archers! Attack!..."
The bow and arrow in the middle road are manual! The bow and arrow of the left wing are now manual! The bow and arrow of the right wing are now manual! At the forefront of the Persian army, the archers lined up in a loose formation for more than ten miles, like a serpent that had just awakened from hibernation, began to slowly advance towards the Dionian army.
Just hearing the sound of a bugle from the opposite side, Alsinius immediately raised his spirits like other team officers, and shouted to the soldiers under his command: "Attention brothers, the Persians are going to attack!"
While shouting, he saw that some soldiers in the squad were overly excited and eager to try, and immediately reminded: "Everyone must strictly follow the arrangements before the war and be prepared for defense! If anyone dares to violate the military order, Must be severely punished!"
The soldiers' hearts shrank, and their expressions became solemn.
"Captain, the Persian archers are here!" the soldier in the first column shouted.
"Prepare to defend!" Alsinius' heart tightened, staring forward.
The advance speed of the Persian archers was very slow, because the Persian generals in their army knew the details of the battle of Asia Minor, and knew that there were also a large number of light infantry in the Dionian army, which were not weak in combat effectiveness, so they were careful Guard against the appearance of opponents.
However, they were less than 250 meters away from the Dionian army formation, and the opposing light infantry still did not appear in front of the formation. Although the generals were puzzled, they did not stop the soldiers from advancing.
When approaching 100 meters from the Dionian army, the archers consciously stopped advancing.
"Let the arrows!" In the shouts of the generals, the archers used arrows to draw their bows, raising them high at a large elevation angle.
"Swish! Swish! Swish!..." Thousands of thousands of light bowstrings gathered together, and it made the Dionian soldiers who were a hundred meters away heard very clearly.
"Tortoiseshell formation!" Alsinis shouted.
The soldiers who had lined up the detachment quickly shrank inward, and at the same time they blocked the long shield in their hands from the outside and above the small phalanx. In the blink of an eye, it seemed as if the 50-man team was covered with a layer of black iron. , To protect them strictly.
Located in the middle of the phalanx, Alsinius looked up through the small gaps between the long shields, and saw arrows that covered the sky and sun in mid-air pouring down like heavy rain, even if protected by a thick long shield. He couldn't help feeling his heart tighten.
"Peng! Peng! Clang! Clang! Peng!..." The arrows continued to fall on different parts of the long shield and made different sounds, as if they were playing a melody of death.
The Dionian soldiers in the Tortoise Formation were all nervous, but when the melody disappeared, no one was injured.
Before they could take a breath, the melody played again.
After repeated three or four times, there was finally a long pause.
This is because the generals of the mixed forces of Persian archers found that the front units of the Dionian army had adopted this peculiar formation, so that their projectiles caused almost no damage, so they urged the soldiers to move forward and use closer ones. Distance to increase the penetration of the arrow.
When they reached a distance of 50 meters, the Persian archers did not dare to advance because they had heard that Dionian heavy infantry could shoot javelins and were too close to the enemy. When they shot arrows, the opposite Dionian The soldiers charged suddenly and it was difficult for them to escape. It is precisely because of this danger that not all archers are willing to continue to approach the Dionian army, and some archers of other races shrink back even if they are repeatedly urged by Persian generals.
The front ranks of the Persian bow and arrow troops used direct shooting, and the rear ranks used projectiles, and they were more concentrated on the tortoise shell formations, instead of large-scale attacks, which caused inefficiency, because the Dionian checkerboard array made the entire army The array is relatively scattered, making many of the arrows projected fall on the open space.
More intensive noises sounded outside the tortoise shell formed by Alsinis's unit, like a heavy rain hitting lotus leaves, UU reading www.uukanshu. Every long shield of com is filled with arrows like a hedgehog, and the soldiers groaned in pain from time to time. The sharp point of the arrow pierced the shield and touched the bare arms or The thighs occasionally had arrows passing through the gaps in the shield formation, and because they were blocked by the thick helmet and breastplate, they did not cause much damage.
The Dionian soldiers clenched their teeth motionlessly. Of course, they were almost side by side and close to the chest. Even if they were injured, they could not evade and retreat.
As the squad leader, Alsinius not only watched the movement of the enemy ahead from time to time, but also listened to the frequency of the arrows hitting the long shield.
Suddenly, he said in a deep voice: "Brothers, hold on for a while, the Persians should not have many arrows!"
As soon as his voice fell, the noise outside the array began to become thinner, and it didn't take long for it to disappear.
There are three or four arrows left in the quiver of the Persian archers, but they choose to withdraw at this time. On the one hand, because of the continuous draw of the bow, the arm is sore and needs to be rested. On the other hand, they need to be in the next step. To provide support for infantry in close combat is a traditional Persian tactic. Of course, you can’t use up all your arrows at this time.
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