ancient greece mediterranean ruler

Chapter 1315: Mediterranean Overlord (Complete Book)
Davos squinted his eyes, and his sharp gaze passed through the soldiers fighting in front, through the diffuse dust and mist, and saw the Persian flags fluttering in the wind gradually getting larger in his field of vision, and he couldn't help but smile.

When Artaxerxes ordered all the reserve troops to press forward, his chariot had to follow the large troops and move forward slowly. If he still stayed where he was, the only royal guards left to protect him would be only A few thousand, and it was too eye-catching, making him feel very unsafe.

The driver carefully controlled the four "Nicean horses" carrying the royal carriage (this kind of white horse is produced from the Nicean plain, the most fertile land in the Zagros Valley, and is regarded by the Medes as the finest and tallest horse. The horse was once presented to Assyria as a tribute. The Persian royal family even sanctified it, claiming that the white horse of Nicea was a sacred object given to the Achaemenid royal family by the gods. It could not be used by anyone except Persian officials authorized by the king. Not allowed to own) followed the reserve force and marched towards the battlefield where the battle was fierce.

A somewhat anxious Artaxerxes felt that the advance of the reserve troops was too slow. He was about to give an order to Tribasus to urge the troops in front to speed up the advance, but saw the counselor suddenly restrain him. The war horse put his hands on his forehead and looked up at the sky, while the royal guards beside him also did the same thing.

Artaxerxes subconsciously looked at the sky ahead.

At this time, the sun was already heading to the west. Artaxerxes hurriedly raised his eyes. Even with the dust and fog blocking him, he felt that the sun was particularly dazzling. He quickly closed his eyes and was about to open them when he heard Trebasus' panicked voice. Shout: "Ballista! It's the stone fired by Dionia's ballista!"

Artaxerxes was startled, ignoring the stinging pain in his eyes. He hurriedly opened his eyes and saw a dozen round black shadows passing quickly above his head, followed by a roar from behind.

Artaxerxes looked back and saw dust flying about ten meters away from him, and dozens of round stones the size of coconuts had made a dent.

Artaxerxes suddenly broke into a cold sweat.

"Your Majesty, the Dionysians are trying to attack you with ballistae! Hurry! Retreat!" Trebasus urgently asked the carriage to turn around and retreat without the consent of the King of Persia.

The king of Persia's luxurious carriage was pulled by "four Nicean horses". It was not only larger than ordinary carriages, but also much heavier. It was not easy to turn quickly, let alone turn around. The carriage was surrounded by royal guards, and it was difficult to clear enough space in a short time.

At this moment, behind the Dionia infantry formation, a simple three-meter-high sentry tower had been erected at some point. Under the control of the laborers of the engineering battalion, the experienced crossbowmen of the ballista unit were watching. Standing on the sentry tower, looking ahead, and based on the impact point of the first round of stone bullets and the position of the King of Persia's carriage, he quickly corrected the firing data of the ballista, and loudly reported to the ballista unit next to the sentry.

The gunners quickly adjusted the elevation angle of the ballista and the strength of the string pull... Soon, the second round of stone bullets was ejected.

At this time, the carriage Artaxerxes was riding in was still turning around, but he saw dozens of stone bullets roaring down in mid-air.

The first one landed next to the carriage, smashing a royal guard to pieces. Brains and blood even splashed on Artaxerxes' face.

For a moment, Artaxerxes' mind went blank, and he stood blankly, without any reaction to the panicked shouts of the guards.

"Boom!" Another stone bullet hit in front of the white horse of Nicea, and the splashed dust hit them. The fertilized white horse realized the danger, struggled to break free from the yoke of the carriage, and did not listen to the driver at all. command.

The carriage shook violently and actually threw the absent-minded Artaxerxes out.

"Your Majesty!!!..." The royal guards rushed to the rescue when they were in a panic. At this moment, a stone bomb hit the carriage, and sawdust flew across the carriage, screaming everywhere.

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The senior generals of Persia all knew that the ballista was a siege weapon made by the Dionysians, and siege equipment was rarely used in field battles between armies, so they fell into a blind corner in their thinking and never thought of wearing it. The Onian army actually used ballistae to attack itself during the battle, so it entered the range of the ballistae completely unprepared.

In fact, before the war started, Davers ordered 30 ballistas to be deployed behind the center. Although he was lucky enough to use the decapitation tactic, he did not have much hope that it could be realized, because according to Davers As we know, in previous battles, the Persian king Artaxerxes seldom came to the front line of the battle in person.

The focus of the ballistae's attack was not on the center, but on the Persian right wing and the reserve army behind Dukiya's troops, to prevent them from providing timely relief to the front.

According to the Dionysian military system, a legion is equipped with 10 ballistas. Therefore, there are nearly 200 ballistas in the army commanded by Daves, 170 of which are concentrated at the rear left wing of the Dionysian army. , facing the Dukiya troops, while the Xokant tribe faked defeat, the ballista troops here also erected a sentry tower in time to closely observe the movements of the enemy's reserve troops.

Just as the ballistae in the center was aiming at the Persian king's carriage, some of the reserve troops on the right wing had already been bombarded by stone bullets. Because they were anxious for rescue, they entered the range of the ballistae early.

The stone bullets fired by a single ballista actually do not cause much damage, but the concentrated firing of 170 ballistas is not only shocking, but also the killing effect is very terrifying. As long as it falls within a rough range, it can create A small bloody scene of blood and flesh.

The front-line troops deployed by Artaxerxes in the battle were either the elite of the Persian army or the subordinate racial troops with fierce combat effectiveness, while most of the reserve troops had average combat effectiveness, and the Caspian Sea states located behind the Dukiya troops The troops were even reluctant to contribute to Persia. They came here just to take care of some errands, but they were asked by the Persians to come forward urgently for rescue. After being attacked by several rounds of stone bombs, their low morale was gone. , many people ran away in panic...

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During the time when the Persian right-wing messengers went to ask for help from the King of Persia, the soldiers of the Dionian Legion who had been fully prepared in advance poured into the gap in the Persian front, and they would rush towards the border with the warriors of the Xokant tribe. The Persian archers who came to seal the gap launched a fierce attack.

When the Persian reserve troops 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 crossbows midway and falling into chaos, countless Dionian legionnaires continued to rush through the Persian front. gap, and turned to attack the flanks and rear of Dukiya's army on both sides of the gap.

The already low morale of the Dukiya soldiers was attacked from both sides and quickly collapsed.Some even responded to the Xokant tribe warriors and joined the Dionia side.

When the messenger reported the battle situation on the left wing to the command center, there was a burst of laughter. Both the veteran generals and the young staff officers had excited faces, because they knew that the victory was determined.

Davos also had a smile on his face and asked: "How is the cavalry on both wings doing?"

Felicius replied in a loud voice: "Your Majesty, the Persian cavalry has begun to retreat. Our cavalry is reorganizing its formation and preparing to attack the flanks of the enemy formations on both sides."

"Very good! Very good! Very good!" Davos praised three times in succession, with an even bigger smile on his face. He felt completely relaxed and looked back at the old comrades who were also chatting and laughing: "The weather is very hot, everyone. Are you all thirsty? Heni, give everyone the juice you brought to drink."

"Your Majesty, drinking syrup is boring. We want to go to the palace of Babylon to drink fine wine!" Amyntas said loudly and jokingly.

"Hahaha..." Everyone laughed.

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Although the Dionian legionnaires continued to defeat the enemy on the left wing and expand the enemy's gap, although the Dionian cavalry and light armor soldiers defeated the Persian cavalry, they turned to attack the enemy's flank... The Dionian army has mastered The key to victory, but for a huge battlefield that stretches for more than ten miles, comprehensive victory will not come soon.

It was almost dusk when the Persian army completely collapsed. The last ones fighting to the end were the Persian undead army and the Greek mercenaries in the middle. As a result, they were heavily surrounded and unable to escape.

This great battle caused the elite Persian troops to suffer heavy losses. Senior Persian generals such as Mardonius, Harpurgus, and Pesitidai were either captured or died in battle. The only regret was that Artaxerx The Sith fled the battlefield.

Therefore, Davos, who won the battle, issued an order: the cavalry troops continued to pursue the defeated army, and each legion also had to shorten their rest time and speed up their march to Babylon.

Of course, the fastest pursuit was 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 force. However, because the main force of the Persian cavalry was defeated, The opponents were not interested in fighting and fled one after another, so they began to rest and recuperate in the second half of the battle, so they had more physical strength than other troops.

The furious advance of the Numibian cavalry left the city of Nicephonia, which was not far from the battlefield, lacking adequate defenses. It was forced into the city while containing the defeated troops, and eventually had to surrender.

Before entering the city to rest, Davos sent a messenger to the west to tell Leoticides, who was in a hurry: The Dionysian army had completely defeated the Persian army, so that he no longer had to lead his army to join them. , but returned to Asia Minor and completely conquered the area.

Early the next morning, the Dionysian cavalry continued to pursue eastward, and overtook Artaxerxes and the royal guard by a tributary on the north bank of the Euphrates.

The king of Persia at this time was completely different from the high-spirited man he had led the mighty army to leave Babylon before. After the army was defeated, the soldiers fled in all directions, and the king's prestige was gone. Even the royal family he trusted most Many soldiers in the escort also took advantage of the darkness to escape, and there were less than 500 people guarding him.

After he himself was attacked by a ballista and fell off the carriage, the 60-year-old suffered such a strong impact that he immediately fell into a coma and has not yet regained consciousness. This also slowed down their escape speed.

After being overtaken by the Dionian cavalry, Trebassus, who was still following the King of Persia, led the remaining guards and simply chose to surrender, while demanding that Artaxerxes be given the royal courtesy that Artaxerxes deserved.

Davers, who arrived later, readily agreed and sent the best medical staff in the army to treat him.

With the King of Persia in hand, the Dionysian army's eastward attack went more smoothly. Corsoti, Talmand and other important towns on the banks of the Lati River opened their cities and surrendered.
In early December, the Dionian army entered the Babylonian region.

When Davos's army passed through a small village, the veterans in the army became excited because the name of the village was Kunasak.

"We camped here back then! I still remember that the tent I lived in seemed to be in this location!"

"Over there! That's the battlefield over there! We defeated the Persian king's left wing with one charge. It's a pity that little Cyrus was too reckless, otherwise we should have won that battle..."

"What a pity! Fortunately, he failed. Your Majesty will stand out and lead us to create Dionia. Only then will we be able to return here as a conqueror today!"

"That's right. We all have to thank His Majesty! Your Majesty is victorious!"

"Your Majesty is victorious!!"

When the veterans were moved by the scene and sincerely cheered to Davos to express their gratitude, Davos, the king of Dionia and the new overlord of the entire Mediterranean, sat motionless on his horse, like a clay sculpture, staring ahead. The empty space where Geogris stood was full of emotions: it was there that he was reborn from a Chinese citizen in the 21st century to a lowly mercenary in the ancient Greek era. From the very beginning of struggling to survive, He went to Juululanlu to create Dionia, and worked hard in this strange world for more than 30 years...

At this moment, scenes of the past flashed through his mind quickly, like a dream.

"Report! Your Majesty, Babylon has opened the city to surrender. Commander Cuchius has led the forward troops into the city!" The shout of the messenger woke up Davos, who was in a daze. He looked around at the soldiers who had begun to cheer, with a look on his face. Slowly a smile bloomed: No, this is not a dream!This is the turbulent ancient Mediterranean world!And I, Hades Davos, am now the most powerful person in the world!
He waved his right hand vigorously: "Let's go! Let's go to Babylon!"

"Yes, Your Majesty!" Everyone responded in unison. Thousands of soldiers excitedly surrounded the great king and galloped towards the great eastern city that had opened its arms to them...

(End of the book)

(End of this chapter)