ancient greece mediterranean ruler

Chapter 39 Respective plan

And on this day, the Persians were not idle either.

After the successful raid, Artauzus returned to the military camp, proudly showed his achievements to Arereus, and proposed: Let Arereus put all the cavalry and archers under his command, and he will definitely conquer Greece. People were defeated in one fell swoop.

Alireus congratulated him first, and then began to find reasons to perfunctory Artauzus.After all, this time Cyrus the Younger's army had been defeated in a battle with the King of Persia. After he gathered it, there were only more than 7000 people left in total. If Artauzus said it was done, Alireus's men would only There are more than 3000 people left.As the nominal commander of this army, the number of troops under his jurisdiction is actually not as many as his subordinates, so how can he command the entire army.Moreover, a Persian army is not a Persian army without archers.Therefore, the cautious and stingy Alireus did not approve of this gambling method.

When Artauzus saw that Arirus did not agree, he was furious.He thought: Ariros was jealous of him and didn't want to see him succeed.

So, in a fit of anger, he ran directly to Tissaphernes' camp.

..............................

"As long as you have enough horse archers and archers, you can defeat the Greeks?!" Tissaphernes asked with some doubt.

"My Lord Governor, because of little Cyrus, I have had many contacts with Greek mercenaries to understand the situation of their army. Most of their soldiers are heavy infantry and move clumsily. As long as they don't fight with them at close range, they will They couldn't exert any strength, and they had very few archers, so they were no match for us. Therefore, I only brought 500 cavalry and archers to attack them. Without losing a single soldier, I killed about [-] Greeks. The casualties (this is obviously an exaggerated result), if the bows and arrows were not exhausted, the Greek casualties would be even greater!" Artauzus said respectfully: "Therefore, I want to increase the number of horse archers and archers, and increase the number of archers. The long-range attack on the Greeks will increase their casualties, and I hope to defeat them as soon as possible, and solve these Greek barbarians for the Lord and the king as soon as possible!"

Then he changed the subject: "But Alireus rejected my proposal, I can only come to the governor!"

Tissaphernes did not answer directly, but said with a sad expression: "I am very sad and surprised that Mithridates died in battle!"

"At the same time, his death may also give the Greeks who have lost their leader confidence!" Tissaphernes' expression turned solemn: "I heard that the Spartan censor Chrysops became the leader of this army. New leader, right?”

"Yes, Lord Governor. That's what the Greek soldiers who escaped said." Artauzus said.

"We must not allow him to successfully take over this Greek army and gain prestige!" Tissaphernes said in a cold and firm tone: "We must continue to attack them and let them keep fleeing, crying for death and hungry. And wailing! Artauzus, since your method is very effective, then let me continue to use this method of warfare to attack the Greeks! I will give you two thousand archers and five hundred horse archers, and in addition, Alireus-"

Tissaphernes turned to Theaster who was standing aside and said: "I have to trouble you to go there first. Since Arireus does not dare to fight the Greeks, then leave the soldiers to capable people to lead them! Otherwise! , I wouldn’t mind discussing with him what he did during Cyrus the Younger’s rebellion!”

Cistus smiled indifferently and said, "My lord governor, don't be so angry. I believe Alireus is a sensible person."

"He'd better be like this!" A cold light flashed in Tissaphernes's eyes.

"Thank you, Lord Governor, for your trust. I will bring you news of victory!" Altauzus thanked him loudly and excitedly.

"When you win, you will be my lieutenant." Tissaphernes promised.

Seeing Artauzus happily following Sishit out of the tent, Orontas said with some worry: "Can this Artauzus really succeed?"

"Since he has won a perfect victory, why can't there be a second one? If he can get rid of the Greeks in one go, I'm willing to take a gamble!" Disafonis said firmly.

"I didn't expect that the Spartan censor was actually among this mercenary army! It seems that Cyrus the Younger's rebellion must have been supported by the Spartans!" Orontas said bitterly, as Artaxer The son-in-law of the King of Sith, he was certainly wary of any possible accomplices of Cyrus the Younger.

"The Greeks hate us and have always done so for decades. Back then I opposed funding Sparta to fight against Athens. Unfortunately, His Majesty Darius was deceived by Cyrus the Younger and removed me from my position. He re-appointed Cyrus the Younger and supported Sparta!" Tissaphernes said with a grudge: "What's the result! Sparta supported the rebellion of Cyrus the Younger in order to profit from it! The war between Sparta and Athens should be allowed to continue, instead of helping It is in our interests as Persians that Sparta wins!"

"You are right, Tisafornis! When the matter here is over, I will definitely suggest to the king to reconsider the relationship with Sparta."

"Yes, that's why I want to deal with these Greeks quickly. Artauzus will bring us good news, he will!"

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At dusk that day, the leaders once again gathered in the military meeting tent.

"The slingers company already has one sling in hand. After a day of training, they have used it skillfully and are ready to go into battle to kill the enemy!" Crisano reported to everyone that because his troops acted as rearguards, they suffered the most losses in yesterday's battle. .Therefore, at his strong request, this newly-built company was temporarily put under his command.

Then, Davers also made a report: "There is no problem for the cavalry to go into battle to kill the enemy." Because most of the cavalry came from his military camp and he was on the flank, the cavalry was temporarily under his control.

Davers spoke briefly.After watching a day of cavalry training, he also had a general understanding of the attack methods of cavalry in this era: horse collision, spear poking, javelin, and bow and arrow shooting.Since there are no stirrups, I dare not run with all my strength or fight with all my strength, otherwise I will easily fall off my horse.

The newly-built cavalry are equipped with only one weapon-the bayonet, so their best way to attack is to chase the fleeing enemy.

At this time, Crithorpes said: "Everyone, today I took my guide and went out of the camp to explore the route to march tomorrow and the surrounding terrain—"

"This is really too dangerous! Now the Persian scouts are wandering around our camp. If we encounter them, we will be in trouble!" Timasong shouted.

"I was prepared for this, and with the blessing of Zeus, I didn't run into any Persians." Cherythorpes nodded to Timason, expressing his gratitude for his concern: "On the contrary, I made an important discovery."

"What important discovery?!" Crisano asked urgently.

"I found that there are several high mountains about four miles ahead. There is only one canyon that can be passed, otherwise we can only take a long detour." Chrysops said while using a stick to draw on the grass: "This The canyon can accommodate about twenty people abreast.”

"You mean... afraid that the Persians will attack us as we pass through the canyon!" Zantiparis asked worriedly.

"This is indeed a problem. However, it can be completely solved. We set out to pass through the gorge before dawn. The Persians must not have thought of it." Xenophon said with an idea.

"This is a good way! The Persians are afraid of the night, especially their cavalry can easily fall off their horses when they can't see the road under their feet in the dark. So when Cyrus the Younger was in the past, they marched with the Persians. They always We have to wait until the day is completely bright before leaving the camp, and it took a long time for Mithradat to catch up with us the day before yesterday, if it was like this tomorrow, we would have already passed through the canyon." Cleano agreed, and the others followed suit. They all agreed, and then set their sights on Crithorpes, who had the final decision.

Chrysops glanced at everyone and said in a deep voice: "Everyone, I have a plan. Since the Persians are chasing us, we can use this canyon to hit them hard!"

(End of this chapter)