Mediterranean Hegemon of Ancient Greece Chapter 240: The Battle of Asia Minor (1)

lnmao.org, the fastest update to the latest chapter of the Mediterranean Overlord of Ancient Greece!

Fanabazos expressed his concerns, but most of the governors still insisted on fighting here with the Greek coalition forces. In addition to the Persian aristocracy’s contempt for the arrogance of the Greeks, there is another important reason for this. The location of the army is on the southwestern edge of the Missia area, not far from the coast. The Persian army has a large number and consumes huge rations. Coupled with more than ten days of continuous pursuit, the logistics transportation line has been sharply elongated and supplies have become difficult. Most of the nearby towns were surrendered to the Greek coalition forces. In addition, the Greek coalition fleet took control of the nearby waters. Instead, the logistics supplies took advantage. If the two sides confronted for a day or two, the Persian army would have to retreat due to the lack of food. If the previous efforts were in vain, it would also lead to the loss of Persia's prestige in this area.

Under their insistence, Phanabazos finally strengthened his determination to fight the Greek coalition forces here.

……………………………………………………………………

Learning about the news that "the Persian army is marching towards the camp", Leotichides, who had been prepared for a long time, immediately sent a messenger to inform the allied generals to gather their respective armies and prepare to go out to the camp.

At a distance of about one mile apart, the armies of both sides began to line up.

The Persian and Asia Minor Allied Forces are composed of armies from various regions in western Asia Minor, Greek mercenaries, Yoke Xinghai city-state reinforcements, and eastern Asia Minor reinforcements, with a total of nearly 80,000 soldiers. Since there are many Greek city-states in western Asia Minor and the Yoke Xinghai, this Persian army is somewhat different from the traditional Persian army. In addition, Phanabazos has learned the lessons of fighting against the Greeks in the past, and specially carried out military mobilization. It is emphasized that all regions should recruit as many Greek city-state infantry as possible. Therefore, in addition to the 15,000 Greek mercenaries led by Jason, there are more than 6,000 Greek heavy infantry with strong combat effectiveness in the entire army, as well as from eastern Asia Minor. Persian cavalry, Mesopotamia cavalry, and cavalry from other regions, the total number of cavalry is more than 8,000. In addition, there are more than 40,000 traditional Persian infantry and archers, the ratio is about 1:2.

The archers and cavalry are the strengths of Persia, the original weakness-the infantry has also been strengthened, and the number of troops is also more than the opponent, although the terrain is not dominant, Fanabazos is There is still a lot of confidence in the battle, so he adopted a relatively balanced formation: the Greek heavy infantry is at the forefront of the left, center, and right infantry arrays, and Jason’s mercenaries are mainly located in the middle. Cavalry, archers are behind the infantry array...

Leotichides and the Allied generals were not in a hurry to line up, or were they standing on a high place? After observing the Persian lineup for a while? I felt that they did not exceed their expectations? Then I started to follow them with confidence. The plan drawn up last night arranged in formation.

The Greek coalition consists of nearly 30,000 troops from the three Dionian regiments and cavalry regiments, about 27,000 troops from Greece and the Ionian Islands, and 7,000 troops from the Central Italian Confederacy, totaling about 65,000. . Among them, there are more than 35,000 heavy infantry. In addition, there are more than 2,000 medium infantry in the Central Italy Allied Army, which clearly has the upper hand in the medium and heavy infantry, but the cavalry only has the Dionian Thessaly Cavalry Corps and the Macedonian Cavalry. , And other Greek city-state cavalry, a total of more than 3,000 horses? Less than half of the Persian cavalry.

As for the light infantry, there are three light infantry battalions of the Dionian regiment, more than 1,000 Epirus light shields recruited by Leotichides in the mountains around Thessaly, and 2,000 allied troops in central Italy. The light infantry and the nearly 3,000 light infantry provided by the Greek city-states? The total number of light infantry is close to 10,000? But it is still far less than the number of Persian archers? And the javelinmen are the majority? The range is obviously not as good. Persian army.

According to the strengths and weaknesses of the enemy and our arms, and the number difference? The formation listed by Leotichides is: the center is mainly Dionian, and there are a small number of Greek soldiers; the right wing is the Greek city-state army; the left wing The front row of the formation was Dionian soldiers, and the rear was central Italian Allied soldiers; the cavalry was not placed at both ends of the formation, but stayed behind the center.

The entire formation of the Dionian army is not completely parallel to the Persian army. Its right wing is slightly forward and its left wing slightly behind? It is actually an oblique array? It is just the Thebes coalition forces in the battle with Leuktra. The array is different? Leotichides did not thicken his right wing? However, he combined the Spartan fighters led by Agcilius, the Theban Saints led by Ipamirunda, and Iphie The elite heavy infantry in Athens led by Kratus, the most combative armies of the three Greek allies were placed at the far right end of the right wing. From a distance, the right flank of the entire Greek coalition is full of Greek heavy infantry (Leotichides even strictly forbids Spartans to wear red cloaks)? Even the thickness of the array is the same, making the Persians unable to make accurate Judgment-the center of gravity of the Greek coalition's offensive is on the right wing.

In fact, Leotichides’ meticulous arrangement did make a difference. It took more than an hour for the two armies to line up, and neither attacked immediately. During this period of confrontation, the Persian military commander Phanabazos has roughly understood the formation of the Greek coalition forces, but has not made any adjustments. Obviously, he believes that the opponent's formation is not surprising and the Persian army is fully capable of dealing with it.

But the reason why he has not given an offensive order for a long time is because the Greek coalition forces are located at a high altitude, and the Persian army will suffer a lot when attacking upwards. Therefore, he has not ordered the whole army to advance, just to see if the opponent can go first. Attack, so that the Greek coalition forces would have to go down a gentle **** and fight them on flat ground. But obviously the commander of the Greek coalition forces is very cautious, and the control of the entire force is relatively effective.

Looking from a distance, the Greek coalition soldiers are like little trees standing upright, planted neatly on the half-slopes of the hill... This makes Fanabazos more cautious in his heart.

But after the half-hour confrontation between the two sides, the Persian generals couldn't help but rushed to question Fanabazos because it was already noon, the weather was relatively hot, and they stood facing the soldiers for a long time. The stamina consumption is relatively high, and if this continues, they will probably be unable to fight and can only retreat.

Even the Governor of Misia Theopempus threatened: If Fanabazos does not issue an offensive order, he will lead the Misia army alone to attack the Greeks.

Fanabazos couldn't hold back everyone's insistence, but he did not immediately issue an order for the whole army to attack, but first notified the archers to move to the front of the formation.

After completing this formation change, he once again ordered: the large group will not move, the archers will advance in advance and attack the Greek coalition forces from a distance.

More than 20,000 Persian archers lined up in a loose formation of six or seven miles to approach the Greek coalition forces...

Leotichides, who learned of this situation, immediately ordered: All the Allied light infantry move forward to the front of the formation, ready to shoot.

The distance between the two armies was only more than 500 meters. The Persian archers marched faster and approached a distance of 100 meters after a while. The enemy was still beyond their range; but for the light infantry of the Greek Allied Forces standing on a higher ground For the archers in China, this is worth entering their range.

The officers of the Dionia Light Infantry Brigade shouted one after another: "The archers are ready!"

The archers drew their bows and set up their arrows. Thousands of arrows were thrown into the air, and then scattered in the array of Persian archers, screaming one after another.

Led by the Dionian light infantry, other coalition archers also started shooting.

Although the Persian archers keep dropping soldiers to the ground, for their huge numbers, these are just little splashes of water. In addition, the Greek Allied Light Infantry, in order to fight the Persian archers, also stretched their formation to several kilometers long, but their total number is less than the opponent, and there are fewer archers among them, so the long-range attack power spread to each area is natural. Weakened a lot, not enough to cause a devastating blow to the Persian archers in the area, so the Persian archers firmly braced the arrow rain and moved forward faster.

When the distance was shortened to six or seventy meters, the javelinmen in the Dionian Light Infantry Brigade roared everywhere, and one after another heavy javelins threw at the Persians like lightning, and the archers started from the beginning. His projectile turned into a direct shot, and more Persian archers fell, but at the same time their counterattack began.

The arrows came and went between the two sides within a distance of tens of meters. Because there was not much protection, the casualties caused by the arrows and javelins that covered the sky and the sun were increasing sharply.

The Persian archer shot hastily from the beginning to gradually stabilized output, and gradually pulled the whole situation back, and gradually began to gain the upper hand. They are indeed one of the most powerful weapons that Persia dominates the Middle East and Asia Minor. In addition to the well-trained Dionian light infantry who can fight against the enemy, the light infantry of the allies are beginning to lose their support, the Epirus light shield. They even used a leather shield to cover the top of their heads, rushing over to start a close fight with the Persian archers.

The Persian archers were determined not to be afraid, and drew out specially equipped short blades to fight. Although the light shields were better equipped, the Persian archers actually had the upper hand with more versus less.

The whole battle started to be a bit unfavorable for the Greek coalition forces, but Leotichides, who had been paying attention to the battle situation from a high place, did not appear anxious. He only ordered the entire cavalry force to move forward to the far right of the entire army formation.

Then he calmly ignored the support of the coalition light infantry and stopped taking any action. Because in his opinion, although the coalition light infantry are at a disadvantage, they can take advantage of the high terrain and be able to deal with the Persian archers who are far more numerous than their own. Even if they are all damaged in battle, the Persian bows will be destroyed by then. The arrows in his hand have also been consumed almost, and there is not much threat to the infantry of the coalition army, so he would rather continue to confront, than give up the geographical advantage that he has finally obtained, and give the order of the whole army to attack, and he firmly believes The patience of the Persians may not be as good as his.