Herald of Steel

Chapter 804

In Manuk's mind, Perseus's rhetoric that 40,000 vs 30,000 was a better deal than 50,000 vs 40,000 did not hold water in the current circumstances.

Because the terrain negated all that advantage.

In fact, Manuk would have argued that even with a 10,000 men advantage, they were in the backfoot due to the terrain.

But Manuk did not push these talks any further, for he knew his limits

He was ultimately a foreign dignitary and even his current privilege of being able to accompany the king to war was purely based on the fact that he had contributed so heavily to his army.

And even then Manuk had no control of the 8,000. something he had to give the entirety to Perseus to secure his trust. 

And he could only hope all the various legends regarding the king's military leadership were right.

"I believe His Majesty is right." And as the bald, bearded man was feeling quite down with himself, another gruff voice sounded from behind them, hammering the last nail into Manuk's coffin.

And if Alexander were to see the man, he would have certainly recognized this man too.

He was the only mercenary leader who had not accepted Alexander's offer of staying in Adhania and serving him but had chosen instead to leave and fight for Cantagena.

And riding high on his successful venture to Adhania, he was able to show greater accomplishments in numerous subsequent battles for Cantagena, due to which he was even granted full citizenship of the city state, a very big thing at the time.

And in a similar vein to his successful in his civilian life, his professional life too took a turn for the better, as his mercenary group, through its fame able to swell to an incredible five thousand, 5,000, with him being on track on to being the prime candidate who would replace Damious- the ten thousand, 10,000 men mercenary leader Alexander and Cambyses had assassinated.

So when this big shot threw his weight behind the king, Manuk was truly defeated, while the former further reasoned, 

"I was there when Alexander created the legionary formation." Petricuno referred to how he had participated in that battle against Amenheraft, which Manuk had led, recalling, 

"Its great advantage is being able to keep coherence between units in rough, hilly areas, whereas our bulky phalanx formations tend to become scattered and lose its effectiveness over there"

"But as long as we thicken our lines enough, even if we scattered, there will be no gaps."

"We have the numbers to be able to do so."

"And then our huge sarissas will destroy the short sworded legionaries with ease!"

Petricuno sounded very confident. 

And yes, Petricuno did use the word exact word- 'sarissa', which was a much longer spear.

Because it seemed back in Thesos, a military revolution had occurred.

It had happened around the time Alexander took Adhania, i.e.- there years ago, when one of Cantagena's allies led by a famous general managed to actually draw against one of Exolas's allies, even when they were equally numbered.

This itself might not sound like anything impressive, but the biggest point to note here was that the opposing ally was supported by a few thousand Exolites.

And since most battles in Thesos were still held in open, predetermined locations, it almost became a written rule that the one with the bigger number and better trained troops won.

And no one had better trained troops than Exolas.

So in all previous battles bar none, Cantagena was forced to rely on numbers to defeat Exolas.

Until that battle that is, when that general, after equipping his soldiers with the huge sarissas, 4 to 5 meters in length, denied the Exolites the close quarter fight they so sorely desired, hence forcing the aggressors back.

This great news of victory had spread like wildfire in Thesos and in the past three years, all nearby powers knowing the age of the sarissa was here had worked to upgrade themselves to that new weapon.

And Petricuno was eager to try this out against Alexander's famed legionaries.

"Mmmm, my thoughts exactly. " Finding support among his key ally, Perseus quickly sought to reinforce it, adding, "We always planned to charge down the hill and hit the Zanzan camp after our scouting was down"

"Now that they have come out, it will be easier."

"We will just take the top and then use the momentum downhill to bore through these soldiers equipped with only a tiny sword with our huge spears and sarissas."

"It will be easy!" 

Like Petricuno, Perseus sounded infectiously optimistic. 

And then knowing time was of the essence, quickly turned to Petricuno to order,

"I will take my remaining 14,000 and the 2,000 cavalry that Esteem Envoy Manuk has brought up the hills to the right right now."

"Petricuno, you take the rest of his 6,000 infantry, and the 2,000 mercenaries the Kaiser family has sent and then combine them with your own 10,000. These 18,000 men are the most experienced fighters here." 

"The plan is that I will go first ahead and pin the enemy down. You wait a bit and once you see the enemy has fully committed his force and is locked in melee, come up from the left and swing right to hit them in the flanks."

"This will surely shatter them."

Perseus had managed to form a battle plan right there, 

"Great idea! The hill and this fog will easily be able to hide me. They won't even know what hit them." And Petricuno approved, chuckling, "Hahaha, I heard Alexander caught Captain Flamino by surprise using the fog. Time to return the favor."

It seemed Petricuno, or anyone else in the Tibian camp was aware that the Zanzan commander was not Alexander.

While Perseus, seeing Petricuno's enthusiasm in facing Alexander felt a bit surprised, as he asked, 

"I heard you two know each other. Do you feel hesitant about fighting him?"

After all, Perseus knew Alexander was a great general, and it was natural for commanders to revere such people.

Perseus himself was one. 

But to this Petricuno first pulled a face like he was offended by the very question, and then remembering who was asking, quickly reformed himself and replied this in a very patriotic tone, 

"Alexander is a disgrace to all Thesians."

"He gave the jewel of the East- the city Adhan that should have belonged to us back to Adhania."

"He licked the boots of their king to become their Pasha."

"And now he even wants to destroy the ancestral place of all Thesians."

"He is no ally, he is our most hated enemy."

"I have no qualms about fighting him."

"In fact, the mere thought makes my blood boil with bloodlust."

"I would love nothing more than to have his head on a spike if I could."

Petricuno presented himself as being unable to wait a second longer to go chop off Alexander, something which Perseus was very pleased to see.

Though in reality, Petricuno's hatred for Alexander was much simpler.

It was the green eyed monster- Jealously.

Petricuno was jealous of what Alexander had accomplished.

So he wanted to destroy that.

Thus turning to Perseus, Petricuno advised, 

"Your Majesty, you should also take the 2,000 Pelomos pletist I brought. They are great at holding the enemy down and preventing him from moving. I'm sure they will be very useful."

Stone throwing peltists were extremely effective offensive units being perfect missile throwers and a unit of them could devastate the enemy.

"Good!" And Perseus immediately agreed as he got to preparing his forces.

While archpriest Manuk seeing all this only pursed his lips and was then left assigned a token force of 1,000- officially to act as a reserve, but really to suck his thumb and guard the camp.

Given the bad blood between the two sides, it would have been weird for Perseus to trust Manuk with any significant force. 

As Perseus got ready to battle, back in Menes's camp, the tall now armored general too was preparing himself, and once ready, he asked this of Melodias, 

"I will go up the hill with 20,000 on the left (Right from Perseus's perspective as the men were standing opposite of each other)."

"You wait here with the rest of the 9,000."

"This fog is too deep to see anything. Who knows that's the actual situation is up there."

"Wait till it clears up and then make a judgment on what to do on your own."

"Or until you get my signal to advance."

Menes prudently decided not to commit the entire army without seeing the full picture for himself and gave Melodias a large degree of freedom to act depending as the situation developed. 

And then soon once both sides were charging up their side of the ridge, turning what was supposed to be a scouting trip into a full fledged battle.

What was even more amazing was that given the slope and fog, neither side knew of the other's advance, so as each of them emerged out of the fog and came into view of the horizon, they presented the other with a great surprise.

'They are here!' Both Perseus and Menes shouted in their minds.

The battle of Sissilpond Ridge had begun.

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