ancient greece mediterranean ruler

Chapter 38 Rhode Island Slingers
It was impossible for the heavy infantry to catch up with the lightly armed archers, let alone the faster cavalry.The charge of the heavily armed heavy infantry was also impossible to last. When they stopped to rest, the Persian bow and arrow attacks began again.

The Greek heavy infantry hid their bodies under their round shields, which greatly reduced the chance of injury, but it cannot be said that there was no chance of injury. First of all, the arms and thighs were unprotected. Secondly, the thick breastplate was made of linen. Although it could prevent the penetration of bows and arrows, it was unavoidable. Some flesh wounds.

If you can't get close to the enemy, you can't exert the power of heavy infantry, and you can only stand and suffer arrows.Criano did not dare to send light infantry up, because the range of javelins was not as far as that of bows and arrows, and the protection was not as strong as that of heavy infantry, which would increase casualties.

At this time, Timasong sent two hundred Cretan archers to rush for reinforcements.

Cleanno, who had high hopes for them, was soon disappointed: the Cretan archers, who were famous for their bows among the Greek city-states, did not have as far a shooting range as the Persian archers who dominated the Mediterranean who mainly relied on bows and arrows in the military. Instead, they wanted to shorten the range. , broke away from the protection of heavy infantry, causing dozens of casualties...

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At this time, the entire mercenary team stopped, and the leaders were thinking of a way.

Davos was also anxiously listening to the messenger's report on the left wing.At this time, Tormid came on horseback: "Chief Davos, Chrysops wants you to send a force to take a long way to avoid enemy detection, go around behind the enemy, and attack them."

Davos thought about it carefully and understood Cleethorpes' plan.He looked at Felicius beside him, and Felicius nodded to him.

"Asistes, hurry up and tell Capps to come over!" Davos ordered.

"Yes!"

Felicius originally thought that Davos would discuss with him who to send, but he didn't expect that he made a decision directly, and he was the most suitable candidate. It seems that asking for advice from him along the way was not just a gesture. , this young leader has really strong learning ability.

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When Cappus led the heavy infantry squadron to set off, Hieronymus on the other side also sent out a heavy infantry squadron, all trying to get behind the Persians, and then cooperate with Crisano in the front to encircle and annihilate them.

However, the experienced Artauzus had already been prepared. The two wings of the wild goose formation were Persian horse archers, spread out widely, and they were also used as reconnaissance cavalry. He soon discovered the anomaly, so he quickly retreated to let the mercenaries The attempt failed.

As soon as the steady Cappus saw that his plan failed, he immediately retreated; while the leader of Hieronymus' side was Xenophon, who took the initiative to challenge. He was unwilling to give in and continued the pursuit. As a result, the pursuit stopped, not only Not a single Persian was injured, but dozens of people were injured. If Artauzus' army had not run out of arrows, the loss of the squadron led by Xenophon would have been much more than this.So upon his return, he was rebuked by Hieronymus.

Without the entanglement of Artauzus, the Greek army accelerated its advance and finally arrived at the villages mentioned by the guide before sunset.Although most of the villagers had fled, the tired soldiers were still refreshed. Davos had no intention of stopping the soldiers' robbery. He just suggested that Melses try to capture some Persian slaves and promise them freedom. In exchange for their sincere help, he rushed to the commander's tent.

Before entering the tent, I heard Crisano complaining: "These Persians are like flies, they can't be swatted or driven away. We don't have enough cavalry and there's nothing we can do against them!"

Davos and Felicius walked into the big tent, and everyone nodded to them. Compared with yesterday's alienation, they were much more proactive today.Obviously, Davos's performance won everyone's recognition, but he was not in the mood to express their enthusiasm because he was worried about Artauzus' attack.

"If the Persians attack us tomorrow the same way they did today, what should we do?" Crisiano said worriedly. He suffered the heaviest casualties today.

"What's even more worrying is that if we can't quickly find a way to repel the Persians, then the Persians will definitely think that this method of attack is the most effective against us. Not only will they continue to use this method, but they will also use it next time. Instead of hundreds of people, there are thousands of horse archers and archers! I think that will be our disaster!" Xenophon said with a heavy heart, he had suffered a lot today.

The other leaders also looked dignified. They won the big battle with the Persian king easily, and the patience of Ti Saphonis made them believe in their own strength.But today, a small Persian army composed entirely of archers and horse archers made their proud heavy infantry suffer, and they suddenly realized the shortcomings of their army.

"We must have the same range or a longer range than the Persians -" Chrysops said every word.

"Slingers of Rhodes!!" Xenophon suddenly shouted.

Davos's eyebrows jumped.He heard Antonios say: Among the Greek city-states, the Rhodes Islanders were good at throwing stones. The stones they threw could reach a distance of 500 meters and were extremely accurate within [-] meters. Therefore, all the city-states in the Mediterranean loved to hire Rhodes Island slingers. As an important auxiliary force of the army.

The reason why Davos is familiar with the name Rhodes Island is not only because of the slinger, but also the "one of the seven ancient wonders" widely circulated in his previous life-the Colossus of the Rhodes Island Sun God was built on this island, but it seems It was built after Alexander the Great.

Davos thought to himself: In fact, in terms of military, the Greek city-states have many unique and elite units, such as Cretan archers, Thessalian cavalry, Rhode Island slingers, Spartan heavy infantry, and the Athenian navy... ...If Greece is unified and these arms are united, they will surely dominate the Mediterranean!It is a pity that the freedom-loving Greeks have always been in disarray. The last Athens that tried to make this effort has been defeated, and the current Greek overlord Sparta, regardless of the historical outcome, cannot rely on its extremely closed and conservative political system. possible……

While Davos was sighing in his heart, Timasong said regretfully: "It's a pity that we don't have a Rhode Island slinger!"

"But we have Rhode Islanders!" !When we recruited mercenaries in Aeolia, many Rhode Islanders joined us. It was only because of Cyrus the Younger’s generosity and the preparation of a large number of weapons and equipment that they abandoned their slings and picked up their own weapons. Bucklers and bayonets cost a fortune. It's time they took up the sling again!"

"Xenophon is right, we should immediately gather them together to form slingers to fight against the Persian archers." Crisano then said.

Everyone agreed.

Chrysops nodded and said: "Then do it immediately. We have a lot of sheep. We will slaughter some of them and use the sheep intestines to make slings."

"In addition, we need cavalry, otherwise we will not be able to catch up with the Persians when they retreat. I suggest that each battalion gather the excess packhorses and select soldiers who are good at riding to form a cavalry team." Zantiparis said.

"agree!"

"agree!"

……

In times of crisis, leaders united and quickly reached consensus.

The whole army took action immediately.Soon, more than 300 Rhode Islanders who were good at throwing stones were organized, and more than 50 pack horses were also gathered. Most of the selected cavalry were from the Davers barracks, but most of the soldiers in his barracks were Thessalians. .

When Xenophon recommended the Athenian Lysius as the captain of this cavalry squad, Davos expressed objections. He believed that the Thessalian Ledes (recommended by Felicius) from his own camp was more suitable.

Since most of the cavalry were Thessalians, the chiefs finally agreed.

The next day, the mercenaries did not continue their march, but took a day off to conduct assault training on the newly formed slinger company and cavalry squad.

(End of this chapter)